How Should We Handle Unfaithful Members?
As we commit to a local church, what happens when we fail to represent Jesus? The Bible is clear on expectations of how we are to confront one another to avoid drifting spiritually.
Author
Travis Agnew
Lead Pastor
The Church
How Should We Handle Unfaithful Members?
As we commit to a local church, what happens when we fail to represent Jesus? The Bible is clear on expectations of how we are to confront one another to avoid drifting spiritually.
Travis Agnew
Lead Pastor
Current Trend
- Every believer has an unspoken list of sins that is acceptable and a pronounced list that is unacceptable.
- Christians tend to protest the sins outside the church and overlook the sins inside the church.
- Satan loves to deceive us into believing that our sins don’t affect anyone but ourselves.
Biblical Example [1 Cor. 5:1-13]
- Any supposed believer who claims the freedom to engage in unrighteousness is actually in sinful bondage (5:1-2).
- Church discipline is necessary for the restoration of the sinner and the protection for the church (5:3-5).
- Unchecked sin always swells and spreads into further ungodliness (5:6-8).
- We reverse the biblical command when we expect sinners to behave like saints while enabling saints to behave like sinners (5:9-13).
Personal Application
- Church discipline is handled best within the context of existing relationships (cf. Matt. 18:15-20).
- The goal of removing the log from your own eye is so that you can clearly see how to remove the speck from another’s eye (Matt. 7:1-5).
- We need each other to serve as moral guardrails for our lives.
