Sometimes we may bristle at how often Paul tells Timothy and Titus to confront and admonish people in the church. “Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,” Paul writes to Titus about some troublemakers in Crete (Titus 1:13). “Exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you,” he says later to Titus (2:15).
“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching,” Paul writes to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:2).
Paul commands it, but we may struggle to do it. Who wants a ministry of scolding within the church? If you do, that may indicate a problem you need to address.
The longer I serve as pastor, though, the more I see the importance of the ministry of rebuking.
Of course, rebuke should rarely become the dominant theme of our ministries. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones once confronted a Canadian pastor about his divisiveness. “You suddenly changed and became negatory and denunciatory. I feel it has ruined your ministry. Why don’t you come back! Drop all this; preach the gospel to people positively and win them!” God has given us good news to proclaim and people to love, and in general we should aim to love and encourage our people as much as possible.
But loving sometimes means that we exercise the ministry of rebuking.
I once knew a church that had problems. Their congregational life was characterized by division and talking behind people’s backs. Leaders were distrusted and attacked. It was ugly.
I began to realize the problem: someone had once engaged in this behaviour and it was tolerated. After a few decades, this kind of sin had become normalized within the church, and it began to kill it.
I wish that someone, long ago, had rooted out this sin from the congregation. All it would have taken in the beginning was some gentle but firm rebuke. “We don’t talk like that here. We’re committed to you, but you can do better. We don’t want to let that kind of behaviour become normal in our church.”
Ten years ago, when we started our church, I realized that one of my roles as a pastor is to protect the church against habitual sin. I didn’t confront a lot, because I didn’t need to confront often if I confronted early. When someone started acting in a way that threatened the spiritual health of the church, I, along with others, tried to address it right away. We had a few more difficult conversations up front, but hardly any difficult conversations later because sin wasn’t allowed to fester.
I didn’t need to confront often if I confronted early.
As someone once said to Ray Ortlund, “When a sinner is repentant, the elders should protect that sinner from the church. When a sinner is defiant, the elders should protect the church from that sinner.”
Charles Spurgeon calls rebuke a neglected duty. “The Word of God is very plain as to the duty of rebuking sin, although, from the neglect into which the work has fallen, one might have imagined that it was left optional, or allowed, rather than commanded,” he said. “To leave others in their sins unreproved is to be ‘partakers of other men’s sins.’”
Don’t fall in love with rebuking. When you do rebuke, do so carefully and gently. But don’t neglect this important ministry either. Others need it, and the health of the church requires it. Sometimes, done well, it’s the most loving thing we can do for others and for the church.