A man in our church came to me recently with a heavy heart. His daughter was married to a man who had recently been caught in adultery. The couple went to another church here in town, and the father contacted their pastor to see if he would confront sin with his son-in-law on this obvious sin. The pastor refused, not seeing it as his duty. What? Not his duty? If we’re really pastors, it’s actually one of our primary responsibilities, especially if we love the people we lead.
Not surprisingly, fewer and fewer church leaders are willing to go to confront sin with people who are living in open sin and confront them. Why? Do we lack the courage? Are we ignoring the biblical mandate as leaders to protect the innocent from the harmful?
Many times in my role as pastor and elder, I have had hard meetings with people in the church. I never look forward to them, and I certainly get no joy from them, but they are super necessary if the church is to remain healthy. In fact, some of the great spiritual breakthroughs I’ve experienced as a leader have happened after I had dealt scripturally with sin issues. God tends to show up in churches where there is repentance, grace and spiritual health.
Primarily, I believe elders and pastors have a responsibility to graciously confront sin in three key areas.
1. Confront Sin That Is Unrepentant
“But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked man from among you.” 1 Corinthians 5:11-13 NIV
More from churchleaders.com: 7 Deadly Sins of a Dying Church
Paul is talking about people who are aware of their disobedience but refuse to repent and change their behavior. Obviously, Paul is not talking about moral perfection, but he is challenging us to confront people so they can turn away from the very things that will destroy their lives. Compassion, not angry judgment, is the motivation for challenging their behavior. Notice, also, that Paul is not talking about confronting unbelievers who show up to explore Jesus in our churches. We must love them and model grace, by all means. He is talking about people who call themselves Christians but are purposely being deceitful.
