The Sinner And Church Reconciliation: A Bit More Risky Than People Supposed It Was
Last weekend I had the good luck to hear an excellent sermon built around Paul's letter to the Galatian church. Galatians is one of my favorite books because it is pretty much all about living the Christian life by means of the Holy Spirit. As a former "fundamentalist" I am an expert on living life by means of ordinances and restrictions, and I am profoundly cognizant of the spiritual death that results. The sinner and church reconciliation was a frequent topic of discourse, not to say debate, in those groups. Hold on for some rough news!
The preacher began his analysis by discussing Paul's first orders to the church in chapter 6: "Brethren, if anybody is caught in any sin, those of you who are spiritual, reestablish such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each of you looking to yourself, so that you too will not be enticed." We are aware that Paul is speaking of Christians who are "caught...in...sin" since 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 problematic is that everything that is biblically desired of us is contrary to the flesh. The flesh is not comfortable with confrontation and, in its presence, calls up "fight or flight" responses. Biblical principles, on the contrary, require us to stay engaged and be submissive. Here are three specifics from Galatians 6:1 to examine:
1. Ignoring the offender is not optional. "if anyone is caught out in any sin... restore such a one." This is a requirement. We may not overlook and we cannot banish, except as a last recourse.
2. The purpose of confronting sin is restoration. "...restore such a one." Even Matthew 18:15-18, which ends in possible excommunication from the church, has restoration as its ideal intent: The initial stage of confrontation finishes: "...if he listens to you, you have won your brother." The following measures contemplated are clearly designed to have the same consequence. 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 intent is to make clear to the sinning Christian what he is losing by refusing to confess his sin. If and when he does so the church will commence the plan of restoration that is the opposite of the process that contributed to his banishment. Similarly, Paul tells the Corinthian church that there is a man or women among them whose sin is so obvious that "I have made a decision to present such a one to Satan for the destruction of the body, so that his spirit may be saved at the judgement of of the Lord Jesus." Note that Paul's objective is that the person in time be "saved."
3. You must have the correct motives to be eligible to confront. "... you who are spiritual, bring back such a one in a spirit of gentleness." Anger and anxiety are flawed motives for church reconciliation and wholeness.
Whenever we find ourselves reacting to Christian sin within the congregation with anger, self-righteousness, stress or dread, we ought to immediately be aware that the individuals or church involved are in jeopardy from both the sin and the reaction to the sin. We are not competent to even begin talking about the sin until we have handled our reactions to it. We have to pray and yield our reactions to the control of to the Holy Spirit until we can truly say that we are able to fight the sin but reconcile the sinner.
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