How to approach people who are in the wrong.

This was a church that had seen many people come to faith in Christ. It was a large church with small groups but these were not healthy, they were cliques and each had their own charismatic ‘hero’. The most challenging of groups were those of rich and poor. They wouldn’t even sit together at the Church fellowship events. Church teaching that called for righteous living had been on the decline and this showed in the pews. The leaders were struggling to hold on to their authority as no one was listening anymore. Everyone was doing their own thing without the slightest concern for one another. Some were taking their fellow believers to court and others were not interested in whether or not they hurt them by their own behaviour. They loved the charismatic gifts, the louder and more dramatic the better. But no one was too concerned about love.

Welcome to the Church. This is Corinth. And this is the Apostle Paul’s first letter to them. He co-wrote it with a man known by everyone, Sosthenes, or perhaps he transcribed as Paul dictated his letter. He wrote it probably from the city of Ephesus around AD53-55 and he did so because someone had told him of how I described the church above.

“Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1 v 1-3)

So the Church that I described is receiving a letter from the Apostle addressing these problems. How will he commence that letter? If he is angry then the opening doesn’t show this. He certainly doesn’t start letting off steam.

It helps us. We may not write letters anymore but we still respond. When things have gone wrong; when Christians are hypocritical; when the Church is not what it should be: how do we respond? Do we just let our anger spill over to them or about them to others? If you see a Christian wander from the truth how do you bring them back? The final question and probably the most difficult: if you have heard that Christians have spoken against you what do you then do?

The way Paul commences his letter gives us some help towards having a more Christ-like response:

• Be confident about yourself. Know your own position in God. Have no doubts about your own calling. Step forward knowing that you are here for such a time as this appointed by God.
• Remind the person/s of their position in God. They belong to God. They are not just a church they are the church of God. It is God’s church. Not yours and not theirs.
• Bring God into the front end of what you are about to say. It is easier to confront when God’s presence is acknowledged. He has cleansed them and separated them for a life with Him. Paul is thanking God for what He has done in their lives.

There are times in all our lives when we have to confront people who are just wrong. Paul certainly helps us with these 3 principles. Don’t go in angrily but do go in confidently, knowing these people belong to God and they do have an experience of Him.