Resolving Disputes Among The Brethren

Maintain Peace In The Body Of Christ

Ephesians 4:1-3 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:30-32 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Keep Satan From Gaining Advantage Over Us

2 Corinthians 2:10-11 Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

Matthew 18:35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Restore A Fallen Brother

Galatians 6:1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.

Matthew 18:15 “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.

18:16 But if he will not hear you, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

18:17 And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. 

John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

First: Meet privately with your brother. (Matthew 18:15)

1 Corinthians 13:6-7 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Luke 17:3-4 So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”

         Second: Seek out another brother. (Matthew 18:16)

a.   To witness to the serious effect of the confrontation.

b.   To collaborate the exhortation of scripture.

c.    To amplify the LORD’s presence in the meeting.

d.   To verify the exchange of testimony.

Third: Should the first two attempts fail tell the Church leadership.           (Matthew 18:17)

a.   Jesus said to tell the Church (Pastor and elders only).

b.   To bear responsibility in dealing with the offending party.

Finally: Should the first three attempts fail the Church is no longer required to consider the trespasser one of their brothers. (Matthew 18:17)

If You Are To Do If You Trespass

Matthew 5:23-24 "Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift".

a.   If you are the trespasser, you are then responsible to go to him and seek reconciliation.

b.   Even if you don’t believe you are the trespasser, but your brother does, you are then responsible to go to him and seek reconciliation.

c.    If you know your brother holds offence against you, you are then responsible to go to him and seek reconciliation.

d.   Don't be so rigid and self-righteous that you stand in the way of a brother or sister's reconciliation with you or with God.

Romans 15:1-3 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”

e.   Offer your unpretentious, sincere apology for any unintentional offense and make every effort to reconcile, so that your relationship with God will not be hindered.

My Job: The Great Commission

We as Christians are commissioned to do one thing in particular. It is called the Great Commission: Matthew 28:16-20 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

We are to teach the Gospel to people, and baptize them when they become born again (believe on the LORD Jesus Christ and be baptized in water as a public testimony that they are a child of the King; a Christian. Then it becomes the mature Christians responsibility to teach these newer Christians all the Bible commands us to do and not to do. 

The only way to do that is to explain what the Bible states is right and what the Bible states is wrong. We teach new believers, not judge them. As a matter of fact we are not to judge anyone, but we certainly need to judge their actions and conduct. We need to not be afraid to call sin what it is “sin”.

So the question becomes “What do we do when someone doesn’t accept truth of the Bible?” The answer is we walk away. You can pray for them if you wish – God hears all of our prayers, but we can in no way force salvation on to anyone. We teach (share the Gospel with the lost), the Holy Spirit convicts them of their sin, the individual chooses. If they choose to believe we teach them more; if they choose not to believe we leave it alone.

Just as a side note: Preaching the Gospel to the lost is a commandment. Praying for the lost is not. That is not to say we shouldn’t pray for some ones salvation, but there is no commandment to do so. Point being: it the preaching of the Gospel that we are commanded to do. It is convicting power of the Holy Spirit that forces a sinner to choose. It is the sinner who makes the choice.

Jesus said to His disciples, “follow Me”. If they followed Him, then fine. If they didn't that was their choice. Jesus didn't stand around and worry about those who didn't follow, pleading with them to please, please follow Him. He preached, He taught, He said “follow me” and then He went on His way.

As a Christian it is my job (calling) to preach, teach, and live the Gospel … period … not save anyone. For me to follow such a calling I feel compelled to address sin when I see in in myself or in others, and to do the same with righteousness.

Homosexuality: Is It Really a Sin?

Recently a Christian friend questioned me about my judgmental position on the sinfulness of homosexuality. I told my friend I believed that sex between two men or two women is a sin, because that is the Bible says.

In Romans chapter one Paul writes “Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.”

In Genesis 13:4 we read, “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” The whoremongers and adulterers spoke about are those folks who engage in sexuality activity outside of marriage, which includes all homosexual activity.

In Genesis 19 Sodom and Gomorrah is the first time in the bible where men were to be punished for their sexual perversion. There were two angels that visited Lot’s home in Sodom.  The passage says “all the men from every part of Sodom” had Lot’s house surrounded. These men demanded that Lot force his visitors (the two angles) to go outside where the men were “so that we can have sex with them.” Their sin was not simply one of violence (rape) but of sexual immorality (homosexuality).  As further evidence of the sinful nature of homosexuality, Leviticus 18:22, and 20:13 both describe homosexuality as an abomination.

Leviticus 18:22, “Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.”

Leviticus 20:13, “If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”

The 7^th verse of the Book of Jude, “In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire”, indicates that Sodom and Gomorrah’s punishment was due to their sexual perversion, which obviously included homosexuality. 

The writer of the Book of Hebrews in chapter 13:4 wrote, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” In other words all sexually activity outside of marriage (which by definition includes homosexuality) will be judged by God.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:9, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind.” Malakos is the Greek word for effeminate and literally means something soft to the touch, used in a negative context to describe a boy kept or used for homosexual relations with a man. “The abusers of themselves with mankind,” are men who practice unnatural sexual relations with other men – in other words homosexuals.