Last weekend I had the great luck to hear an excellent sermon using Paul's letter to the Galatian church. Galatians is one of my favorite books simply because it is all about living the Christian life with the help of the Holy Spirit. As a previous "fundamentalist" I am an authority on living life by means of ordinances and restrictions, and I am profoundly mindful of the spiritual death that results. The sinner and church reconciliation was a frequent subject of conversation, not to say disagreement, in those groups. Get ready for some rough news!
The preacher began his assessment by discussing Paul's very first admonition in chapter 6: "Brothers, if a person is discovered in any sin, those of you who are spiritual, reestablish such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each of you looking to yourself, to ensure that you too will not be tempted." We recognize that Paul is speaking of Christians who are "caught...in...sin" because of the fact that he demands that they be restored, and Paul would not have considered non-Christians to have anything to be restored to.
The main reason that confronting the sinner among Christians is so difficult is that just about everything that is biblically desired of us is avoided by to the flesh. The flesh is not comfortable with confrontation and, in its presence, calls up "fight or flight" responses. Biblical guidelines, conversely, mandate us to stay involved and be humble. Here are three specifics from Galatians 6:1 to examine:
1. Ignoring the offender is not optional. "if anybody is trapped in any sin... build up such a one." This is a requirement. We cannot overlook and we cannot banish, except as a last choice.
2. The purpose of confronting sin is restoration. "...restore such a one." Even Matthew 18:15-18, which terminates in conceivable excommunication from the church, has restoration as its preferred intent: The initial stage of confrontation finishes: "...if he listens to you, you have won your brother." The following actions provided for are unmistakably meant to have the same results. Even when the church is constrained to "let him be to you as a Gentile and a person who collects taxes," we must infer that the goal is to show the sinning Christian what he is cutting off by refusing to confess his sin. If and when he does so the church will get started with the plan of restoration that is the opposite of the process that contributed to his banishment. Likewise, Paul tells the Corinthian church that there is a person fellowshipping with them whose sin is so obvious that "I have opted to present such a one to Satan for the destruction of the body, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." Bear in mind that Paul's goal is that the particular person in time be "saved."
3. You must have the correct motives to be eligible to confront. "... you who are spiritual, recover such an individual in a spirit of meekness." Fear and anxiety are flawed motives for church reconciliation and harmony.
Whenever we discover ourselves reacting to Christian sin within the church with irritation, self-righteousness, apprehension or dread, we ought to immediately recognize that the individuals or church involved are in hazard from both the sin and the response to the sin. We are not eligible to even get started in talking about the sin until we have handled our reactions to it. We have to pray and surrender to the control of to the Holy Spirit until we can truly say that we are prepared to confront the sin but reconcile the sinner.
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