The Church Is Committed to Restoring the Wandering

No one enjoys the action of telling another person they are living in sin. No one wants the opportunity to have a conversation about a supposed secret sin that is about to be made public. But the Bible teaches us that these very experiences are examples of loving one another (Galatians 6:1-3). No one’s ongoing sin should be overlooked.

I say “ongoing” because the ministry of rebuke is really for those who are habitually living in sin and not the person who happens to make a sinful decision that is out of character. Restoring someone from their sin is loving. Restoring someone from their sin is necessary. Restoring someone from their sin is a family matter, because Paul addresses all of us as “brothers” in matters of rebuke. Removing someone from sin is how we help keep the church pure.

First, let’s make sure we understand the one who would presumably be the object of our rebuke – the one caught up in a particular “transgression.” The idea is that they have been “overtaken” or “overpowered” and carries the connotation of someone who has been habitually choosing to sin. It’s someone who is not gaining victory over sin but giving in to it over and over. They are the professing Christian who is choosing the sin over obedience. That’s why some translations say this person is entangled. As Thomas Watson would say, this person at one time was just messing around with a fox, but now they’re letting the lion roam in the fields of their heart.

So, we have our habitual sinner, and Paul says habitual sinners need someone to love them. He calls that person who loves them a “spiritual” person. The “spiritual” person is the one living differently from the sinner by walking in the Spirit and manifesting the fruits of the Spirit.

Paul says, “Seek to restore them.” It isn’t sin-pointing or fault-finding that is our aim; it is restoration. Now, what does that look like? What does restoring a person to fellowship entail?

And that is where Matthew 18:15-17 is helpful. There are 4 steps we must take when we become aware of ongoing sin in a believer’s life. This is how we apply Galatians 6:1.

1. Go privately. We go to them, because they will never likely come to us if they are living in sin. So, as soon as the sin becomes known, we are to go them. We go to them and tell them their sin. We expose the sin, so they are aware that we are aware of it. We go privately, so we have an opportunity to hear if we have misunderstood the situation and to give the sinner an opportunity to acknowledge their sin before it becomes more public. Jesus says, “If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.” That is restoration. Now, if they doesn’t listen, their heart hardens, there is no grief, they get defensive, or they make excuses, then …

2. Take multiple witnesses. We don’t return to the “sinner” alone. Why? To prove the validity of what was said by both parties (Deuteronomy 19:15-20), to confirm the sinner was properly rebuked, to show them the concern of their sin with other members of the church. If the sinner repents, you’ve won your brother. You’ve met the goal of restoration. But, if the “sinner” resists repentance and enough time has passed where all the parties involved are convinced the “sinner” has hardened his heart, then we move to the next stage.

3. Tell their sin to the church. We do this with the same goal as before. Even though we make their sin public, our goal is not to shame them into repentance. Restoration is still the hope. Making it public is for the purpose of getting more involved in the process of restoration. If they continue to refuse to repent, then…

4. We remove them from the church. This is excommunication. This is giving what the sinner has wanted all along – separation from living righteously. It is what the Corinthian church should have done with their sexually immoral member in I Corinthians 5. In church discipline, the sinner is not given oversight by elders any longer, their faith is no longer affirmed, and they are released back to the world.  And, if by God’s grace, this person eventually repents, he is to be welcomed back into the fellowship with all forgiveness and restoration.

Matthew 18:15-20 is how we apply Galatians 6:1.

Nobody enjoys this process. No one wants to start with Stage 1 and then go to Stage 2 or 3 or 4. No Christian I have ever met has said, “I love confronting people’s sin.” But we must do it to protect the purity of the church and to seek to fight for the purity of the sinner’s life.

We are not to “tolerate each other’s sin”. We are to carry burdens jointly. The loving thing to do is walk with people in their sin. To love others is to labor with them, as long as there is still hope.

It’s simple – if we see a brother in habitual sin and we excuse ourselves from calling them out on their sin, how can we say that we love them? (Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 5:14; James 2:8).

God never says any of this will be easy. It would be easy if the church was an institution or organization or business, but the church is made up of people. But in rebuke, Christ has got your back (Matthew 18:18-20). When the church rebukes the way Christ commands, it receives Jesus’ approval; it is as if it comes not just from the church’s authority, but heaven itself.