Brothers and Sisters, we have come to yet another terrible section of Scripture in the middle of 2 Samuel 13.

Amnon has committed a terrible and grave crime by violating his half-sister. Worse still, he does not repent after the deed and even blames her for making him sin, hating her. Yet, David does not do his duty as king to kill his son and fulfil the lawful punishment for rape (Deuteronomy 22:25), denying his daughter justice. Because of his weakness, Absalom retaliates. While we might admire Absalom for the noble act of defending his sister's honour, by taking things into his own hands he has placed himself above God's chosen executor of His justice, David. Instead, Absalom becomes just as bad as Amnon, plotting and scheming. This begins a sequence of events of more and more plotting scheming ultimately sending us into a huge civil war. Sin has created a cycle of more sin, and hurt people hurt people.

Amongst the many other things the church needs to do, this passage demonstrates that we have to be tough on sin. Unrepentant sins like Amnon's harm and scar our brothers and sisters, threatening the church's understanding of God and His kingdom. When we let sin fester and pollute the church, the yeast leavens the whole batch of dough (as we have heard in 1 Corinthians 5:6). Quickly, when sin is not nipped in the bud and addressed, there arises hatred and even more scheming, as members seek to destroy each other to execute justice as they see fit, without the church fulfilling its role as God's chosen instrument to discipline His people.

While our Lord is a Lord of love, slow to anger and rich in mercy, He is nevertheless a refining fire, removing the chaff from the wheat. As God's body on this earth, we must acknowledge that the church has the authority, and the duty, to judge its members (*please note, judging those outside the body is a separate issue, here I only refer to those within the body) and seek to expel those who refuse to repent and acknowledge their sins (1 Cor 5). Just imagine if Amnon had been a member of our church and had violated a sister here, and then started a hate campaign against her to shame her for causing him to sexually sin. If the church allowed him to remain, without pursuing justice in kicking him out, what message would we be telling BOTH those inside and outside church? That God's kingdom does not protect its own citizens? That it has no power to speak on obvious moral wrongs, which even the world can easily tell is wrong?

We are used to messages of God's infinite, boundless and endless love. But only focusing on God's love and forgiveness without an equal view of God's Holiness and His awesome Justice creates a God that holds no hope for those whom grave injustices have been committed against, such as Tamar. For Tamar and others who have had to endure such pain, would you deny their pain and the grievous wrong committed against them and tell them to "forgive and forget?" No, we must uphold justice for those who have been sinned against, protecting them and being their safety and refuge.

Our Father is a jealous God who protects His people, just as a shepherd defends his sheep from wolves. As a church, even though we must acknowledge that the wolves could actually become sheep if they believe in Christ, we must not get so caught up trying to forgive and love the wolf with blood dripping from its mouth, overlooking the fact that it is still very much trying to eat the half-eaten sheep. We must follow our Shepherd in protecting His flock.

Prayer : Father Lord, we pray that you would help our church to know when we must protect our own people and be tough on sin. We pray that something as terrible as what Amnon has done, and Absalom's following response, never happens to us. Yet we pray that even if it does, that you may guide our paths as a church to see how we might respond to it. Give us grace to be as loving as we can even while we are tough on sin, and forgive us when we err on either side, harming brothers and sisters within the church. Amen.