When a brother or sister is caught in sin and slips and falls, what should be done?
Scripture is clear, believers are to restore them. The word for ‘restore' in Greek, "katartizete," is a word that is used for setting a broken arm or leg or for mending nets or cutting a tumor out of a body. Believers are to help their erring brother or sister, to set them right, to restore them, help cut the sin out, mend them, and lead them back into the fold. However, there is a right way and a wrong way to help the fallen one. This is the point that is being stressed and that is desperately needed by believers and the church today. All believers are mere men and women of like passions with all other men and women, and there will always be some who are overtaken by sin. This of course, means that we need to constantly stay alert and available to those who have fallen. But again, how we approach a fallen brother or sister is utmost importance; it is a very delicate matter. The person may be very sensitive and perhaps embarrassed and easily shamed; so much so that they could become too embarrassed to return to the fellowship of believers. They could also feel that they would be unwelcome, for what they have done is just not acceptable among believers. They have failed and failed publicly, and have damaged the name of Christ and hurt the image of the church, they know the attitude of the church about the matter. The person must be approached in the right spirit, the ministry of restoration, is the ministry of God. We are to walk restoring men to the kingdom of God, and the fellowship of his church. |
