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UNION GROVE CHURCH OF CHRIST, CLEVELAND TN. |
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AN APPROACH TO WAVERING OR ERRING SAINTS
The Lord charges His children, "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering . . ." (Hebrews 10:23). Sadly, despite this word of exhortation, some members of the church waver in their faith and service to the Christ. Tragic, indeed, is the reality that some do not stop at the point of wavering, but go on to "err from the truth" and stand in need of conversion back to their first love (James 5:19,20). When we see in the local congregation a brother or sister that is not walking faithfully, what should we do? It is written, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted" (Galatians 6:1). It is no secret that our Lord wants us to make an earnest effort to help restore the erring one. We might determine to send a card or letter to the saint about whom we are concerned. That is one way of approaching him/her. We might deem it appropriate to call such a one on the phone. In many cases, the most effective means of communicating our concern is by a personal visit or personal meeting with the erring brother or sister. In any case, we have to communicate with the one about whose soul we have such great concern. But what should we say? Do you sometimes feel inadequate or uncomfortable when it comes to expressing yourself with the words that are in your heart? Most of us do. What I want to suggest is one possible approach to the situation. It is "an" approach, not "the" one and only way to go about it. I have done enough visiting of erring members of the Christ’s body to know that in far too many instances we never really seem to get down to the matter at hand. We may talk about the weather, current events, family, and the good old days. These are fine up to a point, but we must not lose sight of the fact that our goal in approaching the erring saint is to help restore him/her. Sooner or later, we have got to bring up the item of his/her unfaithfulness and deal with it from a scriptural standpoint. To just say, for instance, "You need to get back in church" seems to be lacking in biblical oomph, don’t you think? We admit up front that our approach is not a 100% guarantee of having success. There is no such guarantee for any approach, and we ought to be leery of anyone that claims to have a sure-fire way of "getting ‘em back every time." What we do suggest, however, is this line of reasoning. If we use the Bible to convert lost people outside of the Lord (Romans 1:16), does that not sound like a wise approach to use in trying to help bring a lost member back to the Christ? It makes sense to us, and so we suggest making an appeal to what the Bible says in a number of areas. There is no magic order to the thoughts that we will mention below. Perhaps the ideas that we note will cause you to consider other scriptural ideas and passages to use in addition to these, or even in place of them. Here are five items that are appropriate to mention or discuss in trying to help a brother or sister that has erred from the faith: (1) Remind them of the Lord’s love for them. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all . . ."(Romans 8:32). "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). (2) Remind them of what God wants from His children. "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples" (John 15:8). "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded . . ." (Matthew 28:20). "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness . . ." (Matthew 6:33). (3) Remind them that God is willing to forgive His children. What about those three great parables of Luke 15? The stories of a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son are moving messages that point to the Lord’s love for lost people and His willingness to accept them. It is written to Christians, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). (4) Remind them that there is coming a day of accounting. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:10). "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting" (Galatians 6:7,8). (5) Remind them of the uncertainty of life. "And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided" (Luke 12:19,20). "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that" (James 4:14,15). Our love for our erring brothers and sisters must compel us to work for their restoration and salvation. How shall we approach them? We prefer an effort to convict them that is based on an appeal to the word of God. You may have your own personal approach to those saints that are living unfaithfully. If it is in harmony with the Bible, great, use it for God’s glory. The bottom line is this: we are charged to try and restore the erring. Let us put our mind, prayers, and effort to that worthy task. -- Roger D. Campbell |
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