Bonhoeffer: 6. the ministry of proclaiming

Monday, February 11, 2019
Meditation:
    Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
    —Galatians 6:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Seven principles for eradicating selfish ambition in the fellowship:
    6. The ministry of proclaiming

    Where Christians live together the time must ultimately come when in some crisis one person will have to declare God’s Word and will to another. It is inconceivable that the things that are of utmost importance to each individual should not be spoken by one to another. It is unchristian consciously to deprive another of the one decisive service we can render to him...
    The more we learn to allow others to speak the Word to us, to accept humbly and gratefully even severe reproaches and admonitions, the more free and objective will we be in speaking ourselves... The humble person will stick to truth and love. He will stick to the Word of God and let it lead him to his brother...
    Reproof is unavoidable. God’s Word demands it when a brother falls into open sin. Where defection from God’s Word in doctrine or life imperils the fellowship... the word of admonition and rebuke must be ventured. Nothing can be more cruel than the tenderness that consigns another to his sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe rebuke that calls a brother back from the path of sin. It is a ministry of mercy, an ultimate offer of genuine fellowship, when we allow nothing but God’s Word to stand between us, judging and succoring.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Life Together [1954], tr. Daniel W. Bloesch & James H. Burtness, Fortress Press, 2004, p. 104-107 (see the book)
    See also Gal. 6:1; Col. 3:16; 2 Thess. 3:14-15; 2 Tim. 2:24-25; Jas. 3:13; 5:19-20; 1 Pet. 3:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have called me from sin.

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