Yesterday, I preached week 2 of our sermon series called “The Freedom of Grace.” In part, we looked at Galatians 2:11-14 where Paul calls Peter out for his hypocrisy. Peter was sharing meals with the Gentiles until the Jews showed up and Peter pulled away. Paul recognized that Peter’s actions were inconsistent with the Gospel and had led many astray, so he called him out publicly.

Paul’s exact words in verse 11 are, “…I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.” Paul didn’t call Peter out because he was offended (though he may have been), or because he wanted to prove a point, or because he was trying to get the heat off himself and onto Peter. Paul called him out because he saw that Peter was not living in a manner worthy of the Gospel (see Philippians 1:27). This is such a timely message for us in our culture of outrage.

Somewhere along the line, we have gotten this false notion that we are called to condemn others for their actions if we think they are in the wrong. But if someone is in sin, they are already condemned.

Side note: we are not talking about eternal condemnation (see Romans 8:1). We are talking about a believer who is not walking in fellowship with God because of unrepentant sin in their life.

Our calling is not to condemn but to rebuke and exhort in love with the ultimate goal of that person’s repentance and restoration. Paul will later say in his letter to the Galatians: “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” (Galatians 6:1) Are you picking up on the humility and gentleness that are required when calling a brother or sister out in their sin? Obviously, boldness is also a necessary component here, but I believe it looks a lot different than the outrage we often see around us.

The goal of our arguments often seems to be to prove that we are right rather than to see the Truth win out and Grace upheld. We feel accomplished if someone has realized their error and feels guilty about it and then we often leave them adrift in a sea of shame without actually pointing them back to the forgiving and restorative Grace of Jesus. In our efforts to ‘defend the truth’ we often hurt the testimony of Jesus because we are displaying ungodly anger and disunity with our fellow believers.

On the flip side of that, there are those who never address sin in the lives of their fellow believers for different reasons. That approach can be dangerous as well because left unchecked, it leads to all sorts of distortions of the Gospel. In both extremes, the Gospel is compromised which is why this is so important. We must be willing to speak the truth in love. Paul lays out the kind of Gospel unity that happens when we are willing to do this:

“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
Ephesians 4:15-16

Let us seek to continue building the body of Christ in love so that the Gospel can continue going forward.