Proverbs 22:10. Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarreling and abuse will cease.
Not all arguments are caused by a disagreement about the facts. Sometimes quarrels happen because there is a scoffer involved. The scoffer just wants to fight. They love disagreeing for disagreement’s sake. To put it mildly, the scoffer has a bad attitude. They never apologize. Never concede. Never listen in order to understand. They have closed off their hearts to others and are only happy when everyone else admits that they are right.
A scoffer in your midst is a big problem. With the scoffer comes strife and abuse. Injustice and dishonor. The scoffer judges everyone without ever facing judgment. As a result, the scoffer destroys unity and brings only shame to a community.
How should a community deal with a scoffer? Drive them out.
Separation is and always has been one of God’s primary discipline strategies. Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden. Cain was driven out, east of Eden. Canaanites were driven out of the Promised Land by Israel. Israel was driven out by Assyria and Babylon. Jesus drove out the money changers from the temple. And, of course, Jesus’ prescription for church discipline involves driving out the unrepentant scoffer.
Matthew 18:17. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
Driving out the scoffer serves two purposes. First, it preserves the community. The scoffer would watch the community suffer without remorse. To remove the scoffer is to practice restorative justice for the church as a whole. Without the scoffer present, the church can function as God intended, as the loving and caring body of Christ.
Second, driving out the scoffer prayerfully preserves the scoffer. The purpose behind removal must always be restoration. As Paul says so strongly in 1 Corinthians, turn the scoffer over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that the spirit may be saved (5:5). A repentant and reformed scoffer is always welcome to return to the community in love, forgiveness, and grace.
But before we go around on our high horse labelling scoffers and seeking their expulsion, let us remember that we too are all natural scoffers. Every single one of us was born already driven out. We were all born east of Eden. That’s where Jesus found us, among the Cains and the Canaanites. Christ allowed himself to be driven out. Jesus carried his crossoutside the city gates, to Golgotha, where he was crucified amongst the scoffers, even though there was not a disagreeable cell in his body.
Why? For love of the scoffers. You. Me. The world.
In Christ, we never have to scoff again. By faith in our union with Christ, we can live from submission to the will of God and the edification of the church. When you know that in Christ you have everything you will ever need, you can put your needs and desires behind those of others. You can bring quarrelling and abuse to an end. You can restore others in the name of Jesus. You can drive out the scoffer in your own heart.
You: Have you ever been a scoffer?
You in Christ: How does union with Christ remove our need and our desire to be a scoffer?
Christ in you: Is there a scoffer in your life? How can you compassionately confront them in the grace and truth of Jesus?
Pray: Father, by your Spirit, confront any scoffing in me before I have to be driven out. Let the love of Christ in me bring quarreling and strife to an end in the communities where you’ve placed me. Amen.
To Live is Christ 