Alicia Gray
I just read a story and watched a video provided by the Christian Post about a 28 year old school teacher, Alicia Gray, who “plead guilty to charges of second-degree sodomy, second-degree sexual abuse and being a school employee who has had sexual contact with a student younger than 19, after she was charged last February.” The headline reads, “Church Rallies Around Teacher Who Had Sex With Student, Films Video of Her Asking for Forgiveness“.
Not surprisingly and right on schedule, some Christians have taken up their stakes to crucify this young lady and her church, Deeper Life Fellowship, for the way they handled the situation. I have grown weary of how some are so quick to pass judgment on others hearts, seemingly having the eyes to discern the hearts of those who do not meet their standards. A breeding ground for such graceless activity is among so-called “discernment circles” of the interwebs. Much of what is out there these days in terms of “discernment ministry” is akin to the gossip found in tabloids. It not only cultivates Pharisaical attitudes, but takes ones eye off of Christ and the joy and hope and peace He brings to each of His children. This is evidenced in the way some are more inclined to express what they don’t like in Christendom more than the riches and glories of Christ the Lord has so graciously given us in His Son.
The comments I have seen regarding this story range from the church not being a genuine church to Gray not showing genuine repentance and thus still being dead in her sins. After watching the video at the above link, I came to a different conclusion that may go against the grain of the gossiping “discerners” out there. Here are my thoughts as posted on facebook:
I am seeing this article posted, with folks doing what they often do best: passing judgment on this church and this young lady for what they perceive to be a lack of church discipline and lack of genuine repentance (according to their standard). Here are my thoughts as shared elsewhere:
Who is to say the church did not confront her in her sin, albeit lovingly? That they didn’t say, “we instituted church discipline” does not mean they didn’t do so. It may be they came alongside her in love (which is how church discipline begins, with the hope of forgiveness, repentance, and restoration), talked about the evidence of her not being a Christian, and further church discipline was no longer necessary as she repented and trusted Christ alone for salvation.
I clearly heard in the video that she had confessed her sin, she owned up to it, didn’t make any excuses for it, [asked forgiveness] and expressed conversion in the best way she could as an infant Christian. It seems like her conversion took place months ago, so why should she or must she express a degree of remorse on a video produced months later, to a degree that you find acceptable? She stated she is changed, she has a new identity in Christ, she’s not who she once was, and she recognizes she does not need to live up to man’s standards. I heard her trusting in the blood of Christ alone, who washed away her sins, and she is no longer under condemnation.
Yet, I see people out with pitch forks and desiring to see her church condemn her as the naysayers condemn her until they would see an acceptable level of what they consider repentance. My encouragement to anyone attempting to judge the heart of this young lady, and the church that came alongside her to love her to genuine faith, examine their own hearts for passing judgment as the likes of Monday morning quarterbacking.
It is shameful, and instead of passing judgment from the sidelines of faux discernment, pray for her, her church, and those she sinned against. She clearly desires and trusts the Lord will use this for His glory and for the good of His people, so I encourage you to join her in that.
For anyone with a genuine desire to rightly discern the situation and the context in which this video was made, just take a look at the church’s statement of faith. As one will observe, the Gospel is clearly proclaimed along with faith and repentance being the fruit of regeneration:
We believe that those who repent and forsake sin and trust Jesus Christ as Savior have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and have become new creatures, delivered from condemnation and recipients of eternal life.
If you have judged the heart of this church and young lady based on your standard, you have some repenting to do if this church practices what it preaches, which it seems they do.
I for one rejoice in what I have seen take place. This young lady was a wretched sinner who did what came natural to her as a sinner. Her life was one of disgrace, transgressions, and guilt under the just condemnation of a holy God. I have no reason to not accept her testimony of the riches of God’s grace applied to her life by the blood of Christ, and would encourage each of you who were once as she was, consider who you once were:
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. – 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
I am thankful for the grace the Lord showed Alicia Gray through her church, who came alongside her to see her reconciled to the God of peace through Jesus Christ our Savior. May God also give you grace and compassion toward those who need His grace and deliverance from the bondage of their sin, and may you rejoice when He does.
Here is the video for your convenience:
airō 
ezekielcountdown
January 16, 2014
Well said. Alicia’s voice is shaky and tears are shed while reading the statement made in court, I believe she is both repentant and redeemed. Thankful this church body loved her and, while exercising church discipline, demonstrated the gracious forgiveness our LORD extended to each of us through rebirth from deadness of sin to newness of life. Reblogged …
Justin Edwards
January 16, 2014
Amen, EC, and thank you for sharing. May many read it and be careful how they assess this story.
ezekielcountdown
January 16, 2014
Reblogged this on Ezekiel Countdown.
Michael A. Coughlin
January 16, 2014
Good points. An actual application of Matthew 7:1, too, which is rare as discernment circles are usually explaining how that verse permits judging…but often not reminding themselves of the type of judging it permits.
Nevertheless, we ought be as graceful toward those who appear Pharisaical as we wish they were to fornicators and whoever else. For me to condemn someone for being Pharisaical…is…well, Pharisaical, in a sense.
And on the other hand, as repulsive as all sin is in the eyes of the regenerate, I can’t say I was any better than this woman prior to Christ’s intervention.
Justin Edwards
January 16, 2014
Amen, brother. And thank you for the admonishment…I removed a short sentence that lacked grace toward those with Pharisaical attitudes.
Michael A. Coughlin
January 16, 2014
And thank you for your example of humility – always. Bless you, brother.
Jules
January 16, 2014
God’s grace is all sufficient to lead this young woman to repentance and to guide the Church in her restoration. Having said all that, I would not allow her to babysit my son.
SLIMJIM
January 17, 2014
I desire to see her repentance more than her being condemned
Jules
January 20, 2014
The pastor’s response upon hearing the news of her arrest was flatly unbiblical. He stated, and I quote…
“As you know, about 11 months ago, last February, we got word that one of our church members, Alicia Gray, had been arrested and charged with sexual relationship with one of her students. She’s a high school teacher here in Mobile.
“And, we decided then and there that the degree of her guilt or innocence would not be a deciding factor in how we loved her. So we decided to rally around them and we knew that was the right thing to do.”
This pastor and congregation disregarded the instructions found in 1 Corinthians 5. Rather than removing the sexually immoral person from among them, as Scripture directs, they boasted in their own form of loving tolerance, as did the church at Corinth.
To quote Paul, “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.”
This pastor created his own standard when he said, “THE DEGREE OF HER GUILT OR INNOCENCE WOULD NOT BE A DECIDING FACTOR”, a complete contradiction of God’s Word.
The pastor when on to add, “We knew that was the right thing to do,” even though Scripture clearly instructs us otherwise.
Such are the dangers of Charismaticism, an open canon and personal revelation.
Note: From the Deeper Life Church statement of faith…
“We believe that all the gifts of the Holy Spirit at work in the church of the first century are available today and are to be earnestly desired and practiced in an orderly manner; and that these gifts are essential in the mission of the Church in the world today.”
Justin Edwards
January 20, 2014
Hi Jules, I addressed that in the article. What more loving way to rally around a sinning member of their local church than to confront her in her sin? The passage from 1 Corinthians 5 would be a final step of church discipline, not the first step. If the church practices church discipline (and there is no reason to believe they do not according to their SoF), then no additional steps were required as she apparently deomonstrated repentance from a changed heart.
I don’t understand why you have a problem with the church loving her despite whether the allegations were true or not. It turns out they were true, and the church stood by her to minister to her that she would repent and trust Christ alone – isn’t that what we should want to see? I’m dumbfounded.
Had she not repented and not confessed her sin and guilt for her crime, I suspect we would not be having this conversation and the church would still be loving her that she might come to Christ.
Justin Edwards
January 21, 2014
John MacArthur on 1 Corinthians 5: “Now, look at the objective here, verse 2. You should mourn in order that “he that has done this deed might be taken away from among you.” That’s excommunication. You need to get that person out of the church. You say, oh, my brother, but what he really needs is the church. Yeah, but we don’t need him. He doesn’t do us a bit of good cause he just brings about impurity. Discipline is a part of the responsibility of the church. He is to be excommunicated, put out. This is discipline. This is a divine act. I mean, it says in Hebrews 12, verse 6, “whom the Lord loves He chastens, and every son He scourges.” This is a divine thing. God does it. It’s commanded. Go back to Matthew 18 and look at that sequence. Matthew 18:15, “If a brother shall trespass…go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone…he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.”
“I’ve had that happen to me, a situation where there was immorality about to go on, I found out about it. And I found out where it was gonna happen and I happened to find out the right phone number and I dialed the right phone and I just said, Hello, this is John at the church. What’s going on? Whee!…you know. (Laughter) Well, it happened and I thank God. But you know what happened; I gained my brother because in tears of repentance he said, I didn’t think anybody would care enough to even call. And he packed up and left and that was it. And that’s the first obligation of every Christian. We’ve had other situations where there wasn’t a hearing and then we took two. And then they didn’t respond and then we put them out of the church and we’ve done it publicly. This is the pattern. He says go to him alone. If he hears you, great, if he doesn’t, verse 16, take one or two more that it might be established in a legal manner. Then if he doesn’t hear, tell it to the church and treat him as a heathen. He’s acting like a heathen because he’s refusing to submit to the elders.”
http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/1823/immorality-in-the-church-part-1-delivering-the-immoral-to-satan
Justin Edwards
January 21, 2014
Part 2 from MacArthur: “How do you deal with it? This is the action you take. Paul says in verse 4, “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, in my spirit, and the power of the Lord Jesus, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord Jesus.” Now, he says that if you know about this immorality, and you’ve gone to the guy, and you’ve taken two or three witnesses to the guy, and you’ve gone through all the procedures of disciplining him and trying to get him to change, and he continues, or she continues to live in immorality, the next thing you do is meet together and put him out of the church. Turn him over to Satan.”
http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/1824/immorality-in-the-church-part-2–disciplining-sin-in-the-church