Workplace Safety and Response to Correction

This morning I was walking through a jobsite with the site superintendent when we saw one of the dumbest things I can ever remember seeing. At this site, they've cut several shafts for new stairways and elevators, and of course they have guardrails up all around them. One of the ironworkers on the 4th floor was trying to get some equipment to a guy on a lower floor, so he had tied it to a rope and was trying to swing it down to him. When it didn't work well, he stepped out through the guardrails, and was leaning out over the unprotected elevator shaft, swinging this heavy equipment at the end of the rope, with no fall protection at all. Yeah, what could possibly go wrong?

The superintendent saw this guy narrowly escaping a 50-foot plunge to his death and persisting in his stupidity, and of course went over to talk some sense into him (i.e. if I see anything that stupid again, you're getting kicked off all our sites forever). And of course the guy was thrilled that someone cared enough to warn him about how dangerous his situation was, and expressed tremendous gratitude to the superintendent for correcting him rather than letting him fall to his death. Not only that, the ironworkers' manager came over a few minutes later to express how grateful he was that one of his workers had been spared the consequences of his stupidity, and to declare how excited he was to be working on a jobsite where they care enough about worker safety to take corrective measures.

Nah, just kidding.

You know what happened. The worker responded to the rebuke with indignation, declaring that he was perfectly fine as he was, merely a gentle breeze away from a plunge to his death. He complained to his manager, who registered his disgust at all the [many, many expletives] rules on this site that keep anything from getting done, and threatened to take his company off the site if things didn't change (an offer that was very nearly accepted). No gratitude for likely saving the dude's life, but anger at the oppressive rules.

How much can you relate to that? If you care enough to warn someone about the dangers of their perversion, greed, hatred, unwillingness to forgive, indifference to the things of God, persistent disobedience, refusal to do the good they know they should do, or any of other sins, how often does he thank you for caring more about his life (both here and eternally) than he cares for himself? Or is it more likely that you'll be the bad guy, the judgmental one, derided as the holier-than-thou jerk who butts in where he doesn't belong?

It reminds me of the image of the spider lowering itself into a bonfire. A caring person sees it happening, and grabs the spider to save it and put it onto good ground. The spider, far from being grateful for this intervention, lashes out in anger and bites the hand that's trying to save it.

Of course, this is nothing new. We see this same type of reaction throughout scripture. God rebukes his people to get their attention and turn them back from their self-destructive ways, and rather than being thankful for the call back to the right path, they are angry and rebel even more. A frequent complaint God registers through the prophets is Israel's terrible response to judgment. As Isaiah says, "The people did not turn to him who struck them, nor inquire of the LORD of hosts" (Isa 9:13). Or consider this lament of Amos:


"I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
   and lack of bread in all your places,
yet you did not return to me,"
         declares the LORD.
"I also(C) withheld the rain from you
   when there were yet three months to the harvest;
I would send rain on one city,
   and send no rain on another city;
one field would have rain,
   and the field on which it did not rain would wither;
so two or three cities would wander to another city
   to drink water, and would not be satisfied;
yet you did not return to me,"
         declares the LORD.

"I struck you with blight and mildew;
   your many gardens and your vineyards,
   your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured;
yet you did not return to me,"
         declares the LORD.

"I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt;
   I killed your young men with the sword,
and carried away your horses,
   and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;
yet you did not return to me,"
         declares the LORD.

"I overthrew some of you,
   as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
   and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning;
yet you did not return to me,"
         declares the LORD. (Amos 4:6-11)

Or as Hebrews begins a discussion of this issue, "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him."

Two takeaways from this:
1) When rebuked, take it seriously and learn what you need from it. Be thankful for the brother who loves you enough to risk losing your friendship by putting himself between you and the sin you love.
2) If you're on the other end, care enough that you risk the spite. Remember the end of James: "My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins." People are stepping outside the guardrails and dangling over the precipice. Love them enough to tell them to come back.

How Not To Respond

Last week was the annual Shepherd's Conference, hosted by John MacArthur's church. If you know anything about John MacArthur, you know to expect that this conference exists to proclaim the word of God without compromise. Actually, if you don't know about MacArthur, now would be a great time for you to pick up a copy of The Gospel According to Jesus or Hard to Believe (only four bucks! I may buy a few more at that price just to give away), and just read it. You absolutely will not regret it.

MacArthur believes that the Bible is God's word, and actually acts like it. He preaches like it. And this conference exists to proclaim it. I've heard that Al Mohler's message is a beauty - that's currently downloading for tomorrow's listening pleasure.

The first conference message I got to listen to, and perhaps the most instantly notorious one (for this year, anyway), was a beauty by Phil Johnson. Phil examines what scripture has to say about the recent trend he calls the "pornification of the church", churches using graphic sexual speech (and images) and other gutter language in the name of being relevant. This behavior obviously falls extremely far short of the standard set by scripture, and as expected Phil brings the full weight and authority of the Word to bear against those who shame the church by promoting such filth.

Now, after listening to this message, one of the conference attendees - an audience consisting largely of pastors, mind you - was so furious that he vandalized a bathroom, with some incredibly obscene graffiti. A few questions immediately leap to mind here. Was he just trying to clearly illustrate Phil's point? What exactly was he expecting to hear at this conference, if not the Word of God brought fully to bear on the issues affecting the church? Could there be a worse response when sin is exposed than to revel more fully in it? Am I any different?

OK, that last question might be a surprise. But it's ultimately the most important one, isn't it? See, it's easy to shake my head at this guy, whose response to conviction is frankly beyond parody. I mean, he goes to a conference to hear God's word proclaimed boldly, and when it comes to a part he doesn't like, he flies off the handle and sins boldly and shamelessly. Phil's message was in session 7. I can picture this guy sitting through the first six, cheering on as MacArthur and Mohler and the other speakers bring the word, and call people out for the various ways they fall short of their calling as pastors. One of the speakers tears into emerg*s? You tell 'em! Taking apart easy-believism? Go get 'em, take no prisoners! Soft-peddling the Word, going easy on sin and repentance? Bring it! Keep going, this stuff is great!

Tarnishing the pulpit with filthy language and inappropriate material? Whoa, hold on now, why'd you have to go there? And so when his pet sin is hit, he can either repent or rebel. In this case, he chose to rebel.

Again I ask, am I any different? Are you?

It's so easy to cheer when the preacher brings the Word, when it's something they need to hear. When it's something I don't struggle with, but I see it running rampant in the church or society as a whole, oh yeah, I can listen to that preaching all day. But what happens when he hits my favorite sins? Do I zone out, just sort of skip over that part? Do I seek to self-justify, and explain how scripture doesn't really mean that, and even if it does it's not like what I'm doing is so bad, right? Do I go into full-on rebellion, and flaunt the sin because of my 'freedom in Christ', and take on the "Oh yeah? I'll show you!" attitude of a particularly immature three-year-old?

Or do I accept the Word of God as it is, and humbly confess my sin, and repent of it?

Yes, what this guy did is stupid on so many levels. It's foolish, moronic, disgusting, completely indefensible. But in the rush to (rightly) condemn his sin, let's examine our own hearts and how we respond to conviction. What he's done is obviously shameful. Let's not join him. When sin is exposed, let's repent of it and put it to death by the grace of God.

(Related: I was just cleaning out the RSS feed and saw this. Wow. Now that is how to respond to temptation and conviction of sin! So to sum up: be like this guy, not like vile graffiti guy.)