Why, yes! That is the name of Project 86’s sophomore album from back in 2000 that still ranks as one of my favorite metal releases ever. Sadly, that only fits into this exhortation tangentially, but it does fit in eventually.
I want to write about the necessity of making distinctions between right and wrong, good and bad, Godly and ungodly, in the church. It's a job that never stops needing to be done but isn’t ever any fun. A case in point would be 1 Corinthians 5.
In this chapter, Paul has to tell the church to remove a man that calls himself a believer who is having an ongoing incestuous relationship with “his father’s wife”. (Just to mitigate the gross factor, let’s go ahead and assume this is his stepmother). The church thinks it's to their credit that they are tolerating this behavior. Paul demands the guy be removed from the fellowship.
Then, lest we think it takes incest to be cut off from the body, Paul drops this bomb:
“I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people… Expel the wicked person from among you.”
Whaaaaaaat? Isn’t there grace? What about forgiveness?!
Of course there is, and in 2 Corinthians we find out this dude has repented and is welcomed back into the church. Paul isn’t talking about excommunicating anyone who messes up or fails to be perfect, he’s talking about a person/people practicing continued, willful, unrepentant sin and a church that is proud to house them. Both, according to scripture, are unacceptable.
No one wants to be separated from the church. No one likes being corrected, much less rebuked, and thankfully God has given us an internal test to make sure we don’t need to be. We can draw the black lines for ourselves! This is how we know we’re doing it right:
1 John 5:3 (NIV) “In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.”
If following God’s commands and keeping “in step” with the Spirit are becoming a burden, perhaps some internal lines need to be redrawn. Having confidence about what is right and wrong, good and bad, comes easier the closer we get to the Lord, and it is a wonderful help as we navigate this confusing world we live in. As Andrew Schwab, the lyricist for Project 86, said: "Drawing Black Lines is not just a catchphrase or an album title... When I am faced with challenges, my true character is revealed. And only by drawing a definite line, which separates me from every wrong choice, will I be able to be all I am meant to be."
May it be so with us as well.