Silas
Beloved of All
Your concern for obedience to everything Jesus commanded and for the purity and salvation of souls is right and biblical, and it is good to bring it before the Lord.
The Great Commission is not only to go and to baptize, but to teach people to observe all that Christ commanded. That includes the hard teachings about sin, repentance, holiness, heaven and hell, and the call to follow Him fully. We are not free to pick and choose which commands to teach. The church is described in Scripture as the pillar and ground of the truth, which means it has a responsibility to uphold and declare the truth of God's Word, not to adjust it to what people want to hear.
When Scripture speaks of church discipline, as in Matthew 18 and in 1 Corinthians 5, it presents it as an act of love, not harshness. Love has strength to intervene when someone is doing what will destroy them. As a father disciplines a child to stop self destructive behavior, so God in His love disciplines His people, and He calls the church to do the same. The goal is always restoration and salvation, to turn a person back from a path that leads to death and to awaken them to repentance. At the same time, discipline protects the whole body. A little leaven spreads through the whole lump, so unaddressed sin is allowed to remain, it harms the entire fellowship and dishonors Christ.
That is why Scripture links discipline with a holy fear. When God dealt with hypocrisy in the early church, great fear came upon all who heard. When the church in Corinth was told to purge out the old leaven, the purpose was so that the church might be pure and experience the power of God again. Purity and power go together. The fear the Bible commends is not a terror that God is waiting to hurt us, but a reverent awe that we would not want to hurt or grieve the God who loves us and gave His Son for us. It is the fear that keeps us from presuming on grace and helps us to walk in holiness of both flesh and mind. And when the church acts faithfully, others learn to take sin seriously and to walk more carefully before the Lord.
God is no respecter of persons, so this love and truth must be shown equally to all, without favoritism. And our calling is to speak the truth in love whether people listen or not. From Ezekiel to Jesus to the apostles, the pattern is the same. The prophet was told to speak whether they hear or refuse to hear. Jesus came to His own and many did not receive Him. The apostles preached and some believed and some did not. Our responsibility is faithfulness to the Word. Jesus said the very Word He spoke will judge on the last day, so we deliver the message with grace and boldness and leave the results to God, trusting that we have access to the Father only through the blood of Jesus and that He will give wisdom for each step.
If you are walking through a situation that may require this kind of loving correction, seek to follow the biblical order with humility, prayer, and with two or three witnesses, with the aim of winning your brother or sister. Let the motive be love for their soul and love for the church, not anger or a desire to win an argument. Speak the truth clearly, call for repentance and faith in the gospel, and pray that God grants a heart that fears Him and desires to obey Him.
May the Lord give you courage to teach all that He has commanded, to love enough to confront sin when needed, and to do it in a spirit of gentleness that seeks restoration. May He guard the church in holiness and keep it as a faithful witness to His truth, and may He bring those who have wandered to repentance and life through Jesus Christ, who alone is the mediator between God and man and in whom we have boldness to come before God.
The Great Commission is not only to go and to baptize, but to teach people to observe all that Christ commanded. That includes the hard teachings about sin, repentance, holiness, heaven and hell, and the call to follow Him fully. We are not free to pick and choose which commands to teach. The church is described in Scripture as the pillar and ground of the truth, which means it has a responsibility to uphold and declare the truth of God's Word, not to adjust it to what people want to hear.
When Scripture speaks of church discipline, as in Matthew 18 and in 1 Corinthians 5, it presents it as an act of love, not harshness. Love has strength to intervene when someone is doing what will destroy them. As a father disciplines a child to stop self destructive behavior, so God in His love disciplines His people, and He calls the church to do the same. The goal is always restoration and salvation, to turn a person back from a path that leads to death and to awaken them to repentance. At the same time, discipline protects the whole body. A little leaven spreads through the whole lump, so unaddressed sin is allowed to remain, it harms the entire fellowship and dishonors Christ.
That is why Scripture links discipline with a holy fear. When God dealt with hypocrisy in the early church, great fear came upon all who heard. When the church in Corinth was told to purge out the old leaven, the purpose was so that the church might be pure and experience the power of God again. Purity and power go together. The fear the Bible commends is not a terror that God is waiting to hurt us, but a reverent awe that we would not want to hurt or grieve the God who loves us and gave His Son for us. It is the fear that keeps us from presuming on grace and helps us to walk in holiness of both flesh and mind. And when the church acts faithfully, others learn to take sin seriously and to walk more carefully before the Lord.
God is no respecter of persons, so this love and truth must be shown equally to all, without favoritism. And our calling is to speak the truth in love whether people listen or not. From Ezekiel to Jesus to the apostles, the pattern is the same. The prophet was told to speak whether they hear or refuse to hear. Jesus came to His own and many did not receive Him. The apostles preached and some believed and some did not. Our responsibility is faithfulness to the Word. Jesus said the very Word He spoke will judge on the last day, so we deliver the message with grace and boldness and leave the results to God, trusting that we have access to the Father only through the blood of Jesus and that He will give wisdom for each step.
If you are walking through a situation that may require this kind of loving correction, seek to follow the biblical order with humility, prayer, and with two or three witnesses, with the aim of winning your brother or sister. Let the motive be love for their soul and love for the church, not anger or a desire to win an argument. Speak the truth clearly, call for repentance and faith in the gospel, and pray that God grants a heart that fears Him and desires to obey Him.
May the Lord give you courage to teach all that He has commanded, to love enough to confront sin when needed, and to do it in a spirit of gentleness that seeks restoration. May He guard the church in holiness and keep it as a faithful witness to His truth, and may He bring those who have wandered to repentance and life through Jesus Christ, who alone is the mediator between God and man and in whom we have boldness to come before God.
