Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. (John 10:1)

Today, when a church member is lovingly corrected or rebuked, it's normal for him to respond by rejecting the discipline. When the older women encourage a younger woman to stop gossiping, often the younger woman will lie about what the older women said; or worse, accuse them of evil motives in saying it. If youth leaders ask to meet with a father and mother about their teenage son's obsceneties or physical aggression toward other boys in the youth group, the Dad makes excuses for his son, then goes to the elders with the report that the youth leader is lying about his son.

If initial steps to correct a member are stiff-armed, more formal steps will usually fail, also. When the elders ask the member to meet with them, he'll refuse; and if they ask a second time, he'll refuse again and likely leave the church.

But leaving, such souls aren't done with the church--not by a long shot. They have to justify their departure so they slander the church they've left behind. The lies may attack the elders, older women, deacons, pastors, or youth leaders. They may even attack the church's children.

Regardless of where the attack's aimed, it's here the danger occurs for the leaders of the new congregation. These bright new faces will arrive in our congregation with subtle (or not-so-subtle) demands that we listen...sympathetically to their complaints about the congregation they left behind. Just a few "Well, I've wondered about that church and you're confirming my suspicions" will do handsomely. And if we're zealous to add these souls to our own congregation, we could continue along these lines:

You're not serious--they did what? They spit in your face, slapped your wife, and decapitated your firstborn daughter? Where in the Bible does it tell us to decapitate anyone? We're so sorry you had to suffer such abuse.

But listen, that's all over now. You're safe here. I'm a sensitive kind of guy with loads of compassion and I think you'll find my sermons very encouraging. Trust me, here at Church of the Good Shepherd we'll love you and your children. You know, we have a great youth program and our youth pastor's excellent at relating to the kids. I think your son will love him. Next week, they're all going to Cedar Point--does your son like Cedar Point? When does school start for him? We all know the routine. Regardless of how ludicrous the report brought to us against another church or its leaders is, we bring out the Kleenex and cluck sympathetically, never uttering a word in the direction of questioning the slander or probing for inconsistencies. We're the very picture of credulity.

This is sin.

When a church corrects or rebukes one of its own, it's the privilege of other pastors and elders to reinforce that correction. Discipline is so rare today. We should rejoice over a single shepherd who goes out to seek and to find his lost sheep.

How could we be so hard-hearted as to undercut his most difficult act of faithfulness? How could we alienate the affections of the sheep whose safety he has sought? What are we doing, climbing over the wall of the sheepfold God has put under his care, stealing his sheep for our own flock?

Our very first child should have taught us the foolishness of allowing a child to divide his father and mother in order to escape discipline. It's no different with church members except that we're dealing with sheep--not children--and most of us have taken ordination vows not to subvert or betray our fellow shepherds. We vowed to co-labor with them in love.

Instead, our chests puff out as we think to ourselves, "I'm such a better pastor. If they'd only come to me instead of him, they wouldn't be in this situation, now. If they'd been in this church, they wouldn't have been treated the way those elders treated them. Think of all the pain that could have been avoided. Our church is so much more accepting and compassionate than their church. We would never have slapped his wife or decapitated his daughter! Can you imagine that? What on earth gets into people's heads? So many people are on authoritarian head trips today, but not me! I'm humble. I'm balanced. I'm fully integrated, psychologically. I'm level-headed and have a sense of proportion. I'm not insecure like he is."

Right then, we need to stop and remember that what goes around comes around. Or, as our Lord put it, by the same measure you have judged others, you yourself will be judged.

If we're tempted to undercut another church's discipline and encourage someone's slander of their elders, if we nod sympathetically when a man whines about his son being corrected by his church's youth pastor, we ought to keep two things in mind:

First, that Proverbs tells us we've never heard a story until we've heard both sides:

The first to plead his case seems right, Until another comes and examines him. (Proverbs 18:17)

And second, that by the same measure we judge others, we ourselves will be judged. How many times do we have to learn that people who come to us unhappy with their present church and its leadership will soon be unhappy with our church as well?

Of course there's always the possibility that when we check on the story's other side by setting up an appointment with the pastor or elders of the man's church, we'll find out the elders did, in fact, cut off his daughter's head.

Really, though, it's inconceivable, isn't it? So most times we carefully avoid talking to the man's pastor or his elders, the more easily to believe his lies. Questioning and disbelief don't flow in the direction we want to take, do they?

Yes, there will be cases where we check with the former church and confirm the man's story. Then, it may be the family will be happy with our church and not bolt when the older women exhort his wife.

It's more likely, though, that they'll be happy and get along with people at our church because we don't discipline at all. Or, because we reserve discipline for cases where the sin is so notorious that we'd lose all credibility with the women of the church if we didn't act.

Let's not kid ourselves: If our church's leaders have any sort of practice at all of loving and protecting the sheep God has entrusted to our care, chances are good that in a few years the new family will be sitting in another pastor's office telling him lies about us just as he and his wife are now sitting in our office telling us lies about someone else.

I have a wise sister-in-law who's spent years managing the staff at an ophthalmology practice. A few years back, she told us she has an iron-clad rule never to hire someone who's critical of a former employer.

Not a bad rule, is it?

But please notice I haven't even mentioned the judgment of God against those who subvert faithful shepherds in their care for His sheep. If our Heavenly Father loves His sheep and His flock, He's not likely to bless those who attack faithful shepherds, alienating the affections of their sheep to the end that he can shear some wool or eat a little mutton.