Handling Conflict Biblically

A Theology for Conflict Resolution: How to Handle Conflicts Biblically.

"Where there are people, there are problems." "It generally takes two to tango."  "Conflict is not necessarily bad or destructive. Even when conflict is caused by sin and causes a great deal of stress, God can and will use it for good (see Rom. 8:28-29; Genesis 50:20f). As the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1, conflict actually provides three significant opportunities. 

By God’s grace, you can use conflict to: 1) Glorify God (by trusting, obeying, and imitating him). 2) Love and Serve other people (by helping to bear their burdens or by confronting them in love).  3) Grow to be like Christ (by confessing sin and turning from attitudes and actions, that promote sinful conflict; by forgiving others just as God in Christ has forgiven you, Eph. 4:32; by displaying the "fruit of the Spirit, {Gal. 5:22f- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control} as to be part of the God-honoring solution; not the Christ-dishonoring problem).

These concepts are totally overlooked in most conflicts because people naturally focus on escaping from the situation, winning an argument, or overcoming their opponent. Therefore, it is wise to periodically step back from a conflict and ask yourself whether you are truly doing all that you can to take advantage of these special opportunities.  

God's Word must guide every step of our lives (Prov. 3:5-6; Joshua 1:8).  Here are The 4 G's of Biblical Conflict Resolution and Judging that Honors the Lord.

1st G: Glorify God

When the Apostle Paul urged the Corinthians to live “to the glory of God,” he was not talking about one hour on Sunday morning. He wanted them to show God honor and bring him praise in day-to-day life, especially by the way that they resolved personal conflicts (see 1 Cor. 10:31). “How can I please and honor the Lord in this situation?” What does the Lord God require of me (Micah 6:8; Col. 3:15-17)?  As mentioned above, you can glorify God in the midst of conflict by trusting him, obeying him, and imitating him (see Prov. 3:4-6; John 14:15; Eph. 5:1). One of the best ways to keep these concerns uppermost in your mind is to regularly ask yourself this focusing question: “How can I (most) please and honor the Lord in this situation?”

2nd G: Get the Log Out of Your Own Eye

One of the most challenging principles of peacemaking is set forth in Matthew 7:5, where Jesus says, “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

There are generally two kinds of “logs” you need to look for when dealing with conflict. First, you need to ask whether you have had a critical, negative, or overly sensitive attitude that has led to unnecessary conflict. One of the best ways to do this is to spend some time meditating on Philippians 4:2-9, which describes the kind of attitude Christians should have even when they are involved in a conflict.

The second kind of log you must deal with is actual sinful words and actions. Because you and I are often blind to our own sins and shortcomings, you may need an honest friend or a trusted church leader who will help you to take an objective look at yourself and face up to your contribution to an unresolved conflict.

When you identify ways that you have wronged another person, it is important to admit your wrongs honestly and thoroughly.  "Conflict is often fueled by good desires that you have elevated to sinful demands”

The most important aspect of getting the log out of your own eye is to go beyond the confession of wrong behavior and try and identify the root cause of that behavior. The Bible teaches that sinful conflict comes from the desires/lusts that battle in your heart (James 4:1-3; Matt. 15:18-19). Some of these desires are obviously sinful, such as wanting to conceal the truth, bend others to your will (my way or no way), or have revenge. In many situations, however, conflict is fueled by good desires that you have elevated to sinful demands, such as a craving to be understood, loved, respected, or vindicated.

Any time you become excessively preoccupied with something, even a good thing, and seek to find happiness, security or fulfillment in it rather than in God, you are guilty of idolatry. Idolatry inevitably leads to conflict with God (“You shall have no other gods before me”). It also causes conflict with other people. As James writes, when we want something but don’t get it, we kill and covet, quarrel and fight (James 4:1-4).

There are three basic steps you can take to overcome the idolatry that fuels conflict. First, you should ask God to help you see where your have been guilty of wrong worship, that is, where you are focusing your love, attention, and energy on something other than God. Start by asking where I have fallen short of God's perfect standard?  How have I contributed to this situation?  Second, you should specifically identify and renounce each of the desires contributing to the conflict. Third, you should deliberately pursue right worship, that is, to fix your heart and mind on God and to seek joy, fulfillment, and satisfaction in him alone.  As God guides and empowers these efforts, you can find freedom from the idols that fuel conflict and be motivated to make choices that will please and honor Christ. This change in heart will usually speed a resolution to a present problem, and at the same time improve your ability to avoid similar conflicts in the future.

3rd G: Gently Restore

Another key principle of peacemaking involves an effort to help others understand how they have contributed to a conflict. When Christians think about talking to someone else about a conflict, one of the first verses that comes to mind is Matthew 18:15: “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you.” If this verse is read in isolation, it seems to teach that we must always use direct confrontation to force others to admit they have sinned. If the verse is read in context, however, we see that Jesus had something much more flexible and beneficial in mind than simply standing toe to toe with others and describing their sins.

8 Marks of Authentic Worship

How shall we formulate a biblical definition of worship for our time?

A bewildering array of definitions has already been proposed in the ever-expanding literature on the topic. Neither the First [the Old] nor the New Testament tried to capture the concept with a single word. We may characterize constituent parts of worship as mystery, celebration, life, dialogue, offering, or eschatological fulfillment, but to define biblical worship is to confine it.

At best we may try to describe the phenomena.

Pagan worship focuses on corporate and individual cultic efforts seeking to mollify the gods and secure their blessing. Today many Christians’ understanding of worship differs little from that of pagans, except perhaps that God is singular and the forms of worship come from traditions more or less rooted in the Scriptures. Largely divorced from life, such worship represents a pattern of religious activities driven by a deep-seated sense of obligation to God and a concern to win His favor. But this understanding is unbiblical; it separates worship from daily life and compartmentalizes human existence into the sacred and the secular.

To account for the dimensions of worship reflected in the Scriptures, we need a much more comprehensive explanation. In simplest terms, worship is ‘the human response to God.’ However, to reflect the complexity of the biblical picture, I propose the following:

True worship involves reverential human acts of submission and homage before the divine Sovereign in response to His gracious revelation of Himself and in accord with His will.

This is not so much a definition of worship as a description of the phenomena. Let me lay the groundwork with some brief commentary.

FIRST, THE SCRIPTURES CALL FOR WORSHIP THAT IS TRUE AS OPPOSED TO FALSE.

Everyone worships. The problem is that not everyone worships truly.

Those who direct their worship to gods other than the God revealed in Scripture or who worship the living God in ways contrary to His revealed will worship falsely. Whether we interpret obedience ‘before YHWH’ in everyday conduct cultically or ethically (Deut. 6:25), to walk before Him in truth and faithfulness with our whole heart, mind, and being (1 Kings 2:4) demands integrity: consistency between confession and practice and consistency between what God seeks and what we present.

SECOND, TRUE WORSHIP INVOLVES REVERENT AWE.

On listening to and spreading gossip!

On listening to and spreading gossip- Satan, the archenemy of Christ, seeks to distract, discourage, divide, devour, and destroy the true church. One subtle way he divides the people of God is through the tongue.  James 3:6, "The tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body."

The Word of God has much to say about gossip, slander, and bearing false witness against one’s neighbor (Proverbs 6:16-19; Exodus 20:16).  Pastor Mike Riccardi provides a helpful biblical overview concerning these "respectable" sins and explains why Scripture describes gossip and slander as serious transgressions against God and man (James 3:9; Proverbs 17:4). I've expanded Pastor Mike's post turning it into a full article.  In effort to “keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” we humbly ask that you prayerfully consider the following biblical precepts.  

Riccardi writes: "Scripture calls those who give false testimony 'worthless’ (NASB, ESV) or 'vile' (1 Kings 21:10, 13). So also the one who devises evil and spreads strife (Proverbs 6:12-14), and who digs up evil (Proverbs 16:27). 'Worthless.' 'Vile.'  Severe language in Scripture is reserved for serious sins.

It also calls the one who 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴 to gossip “an evildoer” and “a liar” (Proverbs 17:4).

In a fallen world, it does seem unavoidable that there will be vile people who happily publish (spread) hearsay in an attempt to stir up dissension and attract attention to themselves. But it’s especially grieving to see so many who name the name of Christ eat up the dainty morsels without a moment’s hesitation or discretion. And even worse, to pass them along as if it were biblically permissible to give them any consideration at all! Still worse: to treat them as if they were settled fact!

Refusing to give heed to unsubstantiated claims is not optional, or some application of advanced Christian maturity. It is a basic, ground-level principle of Christian decency."

You could call it Christianity 101 with respect to receiving reported information:

1) Should I involve myself in this conflict? Proverbs 26:17 teaches, "Like someone who grabs a stray dog by the ears is someone who rushes into a quarrel (conflict) not their own." Much wisdom from above is needed before entering a battle zone. Prayerful consideration and sound judgment are essential (Prov. 3:5-6).

2) Confirming facts via biblical corroboration.  "In general, every matter is to be confirmed by the mouth of two or three truthful witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15; Matthew 18:15-16; 1 Timothy 5:17-19)."  Sometimes you may not be in a position to receive all the relevant facts.      

3)  Proverbs 18:17, "Be careful, one seems right until another comes and examines him."  There’s often two (or three) sides to a story/conflict/dispute.

20+ years ago a pastor-professor told a seminary class of a time when a neighbor lady came over during a family yard sale with bruises on her wrists. This man and his wife were naturally very concerned. "What happened to you? Are you ok?" Their neighbor went on to explain that her husband was responsible. "Last night he grabbed me and hurt my wrists!" This loving pastor quickly marched over to his unbelieving neighbor's house believing he needed to courageously confront this tyrant of a man.  “Someone needs to hold this guy accountable for his actions.” But after interacting with his neighbor he heard the complete story (Prov. 18:17).  He found out that this man's wife had been drinking before this incident transpired. When the husband confronted his wife over her drunkenness, she angrily came after him with two kitchen knives. When his wife raised her right and left arms to stab him, the husband grabbed unto her wrists, and did not let go until his wife dropped the kitchen knives. This pastor apologized for sinfully rushing to judgment.  He then circled back to confirm that these new details were true. The neighbor lady said, "Sadly, what my husband shared is true."  She then apologized for misleading them.  She also noted, “I'm actually very grateful my husband did not call the police.  Had they, I would have been the one arrested.” 

For another example of why applying Proverbs 18:17 and 26:17 is so important, compare and contrast Netflix's, "Making a Murderer" docuseries with the Daily Wire's, "Convicting a Murderer" docuseries.  Liberal, lesbian activists seemingly duped millions of Netflix viewers into believing that Steven Avery was a good man.  A victim that was wrongly convicted of kidnap, rape, and murder by a corrupt legal system. Once all of the pertinent facts were presented many humbly admitted that they had drawn the wrong conclusion. They wrongly assumed Netflix was presenting the evidence fairly.  Suffice it to say, if you do not have access to the pertinent facts, it is difficult to draw just conclusions, especially if/when it involves judging a fellow believer? 

In church disputes, there are generally three sides to a story:  1) Person 1 or group A; 2) Person 2 or group B; and 3) The position of your shepherd-leaders (1 Thess. 5:13-15). For many reasons, a believer must join a local church that has biblically qualified, pastors and elders; (hence 1 Timothy 3; Titus 1:5f).  It’s essential because these human shepherds are called by God to serve as the “overseers” and human “guardians of the flock” (Hebrews 13:17).  When moderating conflicts, church leaders often make difficult decisions based on private information and facts that the entire church is not privy to.  Malicious gossip and serious slander sometimes forces leadership to share details that they’d rather not trouble the entire congregation with. 

4) Be discerning and cautious before rendering judgment.  Proverbs 18:13, "To give an answer before you hear is folly and shame to you."  See points above. Note Matthew 7:1-5.

5) “Do not associate with a gossip (Proverbs 20:9)." Puritan Thomas Watson said, "The scorpion carries poison in its tail, the slanderer in his or her tongue."

Pastor Riccardi concludes with some cautionary words of wisdom- "Therefore, when someone makes disparaging claims about anyone or anything without meeting the biblical standards of corroboration, that person is displaying his own wickedness and discrediting his reputation. To people of Christian character, such behavior should be like a blinking neon sign that reads: Don’t take me seriously. I refuse to meet ground-level standards of Christian behavior and speech. 

Such a person has disqualified himself from being taken seriously.

But when Christians of good conscience fail to do that—when they do lend credence to unsubstantiated accusations and claims of secret knowledge—they culpably (even if unknowingly) participate in the worthless man’s wickedness.

But understand, dear brother or sister: to do this is to expose yourself—not only as one who fails to grasp the basics of Christian conduct, but also as one whom Scripture calls an evildoer and a liar (Proverbs 17:4).

Why? Because with his 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 the godless man 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘴 his neighbor (Proverbs 11:9).

If a good name is to be more desired than great wealth (Prov 22:1), then maliciously acting against someone’s good name—speaking 𝘰𝘳 listening—is to act against his very life (Leviticus 19:16)."

 Serious sin that impacts the unity and health of the Body OR that unfairly destroys someone’s good name, demands a serious, biblical response.

Prepared to Stand Alone- The Faithful Example of J.C. Ryle

"John Charles Ryle was born of well-to-do parents at Macclesfield on 10 May 1816. After a period of private schooling, he entered Eton in February 1828, where he excelled at rowing and cricket. Going up to Christ Church, Oxford in October 1834, he continued his sporting prowess, and captained the First Eleven in his second and third years, achieving a personal 10-wicket bowling triumph in the 1836 Varsity match at Lords (which Oxford won by 121 runs).

Various circumstances and incidents in his own and others’ lives had awakened Ryle to the knowledge that all was not well with his soul, but matters came to a head not long before he took his Finals in 1837. He was struck down with a serious chest infection, and for the first time in fourteen years he turned to his Bible and prayer. Then one Sunday, arriving late to church he was in time to hear the reading of Ephesians chapter two. As he listened, he felt that the Lord was speaking directly to his soul. His eyes were opened when he heard verse 8, ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.’ He was converted through hearing the Word of God, without comment or sermon.

Ryle took a first in Classics, but turned down the college fellowship which was offered. His intention was a career in politics, and he went to London to study law, thinking this would be a help to him. However, he had to give this up after six months due to a recurrence of his chest problems, caused by the London smog. When his father’s bank crashed in 1841, Ryle had to give up all hope of a political career, as he now had no money behind him.

With his Oxford degree, Ryle could enter the ministry of the Church of England, and it was to this he turned, being ordained by Charles Sumner, Bishop of Winchester on 21st December 1841. Long afterwards Ryle wrote, ‘I have not the least doubt, it was all for the best. If I had not been ruined, I should never have been a clergyman, never have preached a sermon, or written a tract or book.’

Christian Leadership and Pastoral Ministry Is Not For Wimps

"A question was submitted for the 2019 G3 Conference questions & answers session that asked the following question:  “I’m a young man who is preparing for pastoral ministry in the local church. As a seminary student, what counsel would you give to me as I prepare for the future?”

In the fall of the year just before we would move to Louisville to attend seminary the following January, my wife and I made an agreement that we would not purchase Christmas presents for each other and we would save money for the upcoming move. Without my knowledge, she wrote to several preachers asking for them to write a letter to me in order to provide wisdom for me as I prepared to move away to attend seminary. She compiled each of those letters in a nice binder and provided it to me as a gift that Christmas. I still look through it to this very day as it sits on the shelf in my study. One letter stands out to me as it states the following:

My word to you is to always remember that you are merely a vessel and He is the Treasure. Just a river bed for the river to flow. Any demands God makes on you is not on your ability but on the Christ who promised to be your sufficiency for the journey. Remember that any old bush will do if God set it on fire for His glory. May the Holy Spirit give you enough problems to keep you trusting, enough hurts to keep you broken, and enough victories to keep you praising Him. Only God can take nothing and indwell him so he can be more than a conqueror.

Before You Quit the Ministry: Learning to Count Like Jesus.

Before You Quit the Ministry: Learning to Count Like Jesus. Some helpful biblical instruction from Pastor Mathis.

We have over two hundred pastors in this room, and if Barna’s recent report is accurate, then about 85 of you considered quitting in the last twelve months. This past March, Barna’s survey on pastoral confidence and vocational satisfaction reported that 41 percent of the pastors they queried thought about walking away in the last year. That was down 1 percent from 2022, which was up 13 percent from 2021.

But most of us don’t need survey numbers to know that these last few years have been hard times to be a pastor and to endure in the challenges of pastoral ministry. And in such times, Philippians is a great choice for a pastors’ conference.  In particular, I love the pairing of “the epistle of joy” with this theme of endurance. Paul wrote while enduring incarceration, and he wrote to a church enduring opposition. And yet Philippians is known for radiating with joy. No other epistle, and maybe no other biblical book, shines so brightly with so many explicit mentions of joy and rejoicing and gladness in such short space. So we are set up very wisely and wonderfully for illuminating both this theme and this letter, and for learning to count the joys of ministry, not just the costs.

Unity, Humility, and Joy:  Chapter 2 continues the focus on unity begun in Philippians 1:27, with exhortations to unity within the church (verses 1–2, 14–16), and humility in the soul (verses 3–4), and with four personal examples.

Verses 1–2 extend the charge to unity, and verses 3–4 commend humility as the channel to such unity. And the Philippians are not on their own to obey, but God himself is at work in them (verses 12–13) to humble themselves, and so, in the face of external opposition, to strive side by side for the gospel, not against each other.  For the Philippian church, opposition was not new. Acts 16 tells us how quickly persecution followed on the heels of the gospel first coming to Philippi. Paul cast the spirit out of a slave girl, and he and Silas were soon beaten with rods and imprisoned. What’s new, and newly threatening, is that Paul has heard of some emerging divisions inside this local church. So Paul, imprisoned again, now in Rome, writes with the burden that the Philippians freshly seek unity and humility, and follow four tangible examples of humble, joyful endurance.

Chapter 2 is wonderfully concrete with these four personal examples: Timothy and Epaphroditus in verses 19–30, and Christ himself in verses 5–11 — which is the heart of the chapter and the Christian faith. And it’s where we’ll focus in this session, and see not only that Jesus endured but ask how. And there’s a sneaky fourth personal example, Paul himself, in verse 17.

If we try to capture Paul’s essential structure in this chapter of exhortations and examples to a church newly encountering tensions within, perhaps it would go like this: pursue (1) unity in the gospel, (2) through humility in your minds, (3) learning foremost from Jesus’s enduring to the cross. So: unity in the gospel, through humility of mind, like Christ at the cross..."

“...In pastoral ministry, unity, not conflict, is our long game. We’re not angling for conflict. We angle for real peace and unity in the gospel. Our calling is not to spoil the peace, but to pursue true peace, -even when- it requires tension and conflict to get there. At heart, pastors are peacemakers, not troublemakers. And we sometimes (if not often) discover trouble that regretfully requires more trouble, in order to pursue true unity and, in the end, have less trouble. But we don’t delight in trouble. Nor do we seek to add unnecessary trouble to the sad amount of necessary trouble we already have in this age. Rather, we delight to be unified in the gospel — and unity in the gospel is precious enough that we’re willing to endure intermediate tensions and conflicts along the path to peace and unity.

Which presents us as pastors with countless needs and challenges for wisdom. We need to know when to handle challenges to gospel unity with one-time private conversations, and when to give trouble more extended private attention, and when to address trouble with public attention in some form, as in a sermon or sermon series, or in a congressional letter, or via church meetings.

In other words, how much attention do we give to sin and error and for how long? These are some of the most difficult challenges in pastoral ministry. And this is why plurality in leadership is so important and precious. Alone, none of us makes such decisions perfectly. We need a team of brothers to help discern what challenges in our own congregation to unity in the truth are worthy of our attention, and how much attention, and for how long.

And is this unity uniformity? Twice verse 2 says to be “of the same mind” and “of one mind.” We might call it like-mindedness, a shared perspective or cast of mind. It doesn’t mean sameness, that everybody believes all the same things about all the same things, but that at the heart, and in the end, there is a like-mindedness in what matters most..."

"So, we are not afraid of relational tensions in ministry, and we check ourselves to make sure that our part in those tensions is owing to the long game of unity, not division, and especially those divisions that stem from selfish ambition and conceit….

Progressive Sanctification, the Pursuit of Holiness, and the Quest for Full Assurance: 2024 Summer Sermon Series

 Progressive Sanctification, the Pursuit of Holiness, and the Quest for Full Assurance

Lake Country Bible Church

2024 Summer Sermon Series

Sermon 1- Confusing and Abusing Grace in the Name of the Gospel

Jude 3-4; Romans 6:1, 15-18.  

 

Sermon 2- Working Out Our Sanctification as God Works in Us.

Philippians 2:12-13

 

Sermon 3- Fruits of Genuine Faith  (Pastor Josh)

1 John (sermon overview of the entire book)

Sermon 4- The Hole in our Holiness and the Great Commission Omission.

Titus 2:11-14; Matthew 28:18-20

Confusing and Abusing Grace in the Name of the Gospel. Romans 6:1, 15-18; Jude 3-4 (part 1)

Beloved, while I was making every effort to write about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to (go the opposite direction) and to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. (WHY?) For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, these are ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 3-4)  

Jude understood how glorious it is to celebrate our common union in Christ.  Magnifying the redemptive grace of God and our undeserved salvation never gets old, does it?  Having said that, this emergency 911 epistle (aka Jude), illustrates that it is pastorally negligent to ignore a clear and present danger!  To act like everything is spiritually ok, when it's not, is both dangerous and wrong!  True shepherds protect the flock at all costs (John 10).  On the other hand, when danger appears "hirelings" leave the sheep unprotected.  Jesus reminded his disciples that hirelings really only care about themselves.  Their personal comfort and well-being is what they are most concerned about.  Add to that, Jeremiah 6:14 reminds us that false teachers say, "'Peace, peace!' when there is no peace at all."

After a wonderfully enriching five year journey through the signature Gospel of John, my original plan was to begin a new expository study of a brief, yet power packed, epistle. Philemon. Sadly, I cannot do that at this time.  Though the heresy of flown blown Antinomianism has NOT crept into our beloved church family (as was true in Jude's case), hyper-grace sanctification and lower-case “a,” Reformed antinomianism- has!  To do nothing and just hope for the best would be a dereliction of duty.  

Allow me to illustrate. How would you react if you heard that your city fire station captain responded like this?  "Fire station 401. Fire chief Caleb speaking."  "Sir, please calm down!  So just your attached garage is on fire? Well, we’re really busy waxing our trucks and few guys are catching up on sleep. We had a really busy weekend… Please call us back if the fire spreads to the entire house- bye for now!"  You would be outraged...and rightly so!

How Church Discipline Can Be Like Doctor Shopping

How Church Discipline Can Be Like Doctor Shopping

Article written by Dr. Moore

"Law enforcement officials use the term “doctor shopping” to refer to the way those addicted to prescription pain medications seek to avert accountability. If you go to your doctor to ask for Vicodin, and your physician refuses to prescribe it, you are doctor shopping if you then seek out multiple doctors until you find the one who will prescribe the Vicodin. Sometimes an addict will have multiple doctors going at once, all prescribing different medicines, often those that are dangerous to mix. I’ve noticed the same thing going on when it comes to church accountability.

The truth is, there’s a certain type of personality that doesn’t want accountability, but affirmation. If one wants to divorce someone one shouldn’t divorce or marry someone one shouldn’t marry or do something one shouldn’t do, he seeks out a pastor’s “accountability.” When the pastor tells him the opposite of what he wants to hear, he leaves and goes to find a pastor or counselor who will. And this goes on and on.

This isn’t being shepherded. It’s the same old autonomy of the self, that first manifests itself in the life-cycle of a child saying, “But Dad said it was okay…” except now grown up into something with a far more malevolent motive and a far more dangerous outcome.

Sadly, there are too many ministers of the gospel out there willing to empower this sort of behavior. If you have a church member who has been warned or disciplined by another pastor or church, you have a responsibility to investigate what’s going on. True, it might be that the old church spoke where there is no authority to speak, disciplining a parent for not homeschooling, for example. But, even then, if you will give an answer for the soul of this person, you bear the responsibility to find out what exactly is going on.

If you’re the kind of minister who refuses to acknowledge the discipline or accountability structures of other churches, you might simply be more enlightened than those churches and leaders. Or you might not know what you’re dealing with. And you just might be fighting against a word spoken by Jesus himself, handing over an unrepentant soul to Satan, with the hopes of ultimate repentance (1 Cor. 5:4-5).

Your affirmation of an unrepentant and fugitive-from-discipline church member isn’t an act of love or mercy. It’s an act of hatred. You are empowering the unrepentant to “bear the name brother” or sister (1 Cor. 5:11), to assuage a conscience that should be convicted by the Spirit. If so, you’d be better off just prescribing an addict another round of Percocet." 

Originally posted in 2013.