I don’t know about you, but this verse scares me to death. The Bible says that one day I will stand before God and give an account for how I watched over the souls in my congregation. Pastor, that should scare all of us. That means I must live life on my knees praying for wisdom. God will hold me accountable. And he will hold you accountable as well.
With accountability comes authority. If you don’t have the authority, you can’t be held accountable for it. God gives pastors authority to make decisions, to lead the direction of the church. We need to teach our churches the biblical basis of our authority. We don’t do this to prop ourselves up. We do it because the unity of the church is at stake. And that matters dearly to God.
5. Practice God’s method of conflict resolution. Matthew 18 gives us the procedure we’re to use when someone is blowing it. In the passage, Jesus says: "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector" (Matthew 18:15-17 NIV).
People often come to me as the pastor when they have a problem with another person at the church. I always ask them if they’ve talked to the person with whom they have a problem first. The first step of conflict resolution is to go to the other person. Don’t let people go behind their back – even if they’re coming to you.
Then, the Bible says, if the other person won’t listen, take someone else along and confront them. If they still don’t repent, you bring them before the whole church. If there’s still been no repentance, you treat them like a pagan – like an unchurched person. The church still needs to love them. They can even attend the church. But you’ve got to make it clear that for them to be a member of the church, certain behavior is expected. Following what God’s Word says can flat out change lives. I’ve seen it happen over and over again.
Jesus tells us that a church that sticks together is a tremendous witness to the watching world. You see, it isn’t normal for people from different backgrounds and social statuses to come together as a family. But it happens every day when local churches work together to do God’s work in the world. People who aren’t believers see that unity. And it’s attractive.
I pray that your church will have the kind of unity that honors God and draws others to the cross.
About Rick Warren:
Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America's largest and best-known churches. In addition, Rick is author of the New York Times bestseller The Purpose-Driven Life and The Purpose-Driven Church, which was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th Century. He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for ministers. Copyright 2005 Pastors.com, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
