Surprising week when I was introduced to, Matthew 18:15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.” I happened to be on the receiving end, and was also guilty as charged. If I’m honest, the offense was a result of just exactly what the Bible says it is always about. In James 4:1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? The source of conflict, offense, schism, is as we are told always the result of sin.
Why is conflict, offense, or schism so vitally important to confront? In addition to the harm caused to the individual’s psyche, or to the relationship, of infinitely more importance is this. Our witness of Christian unity is damaged, and seen by an unbelieving audience. In John 17:22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Our witness is not our knowledge of the gospel, it is not our understanding of prophecy, it is not found in our knowledge of greek, or any degree conferred by man. Our Christian witness, and the evidence for our faith is found in this one thing. It is as Jesus Christ proclaimed, that we may be perfectly one, just as tightly interwoven as the God head itself. It is a command and a mystery that I am not humanly speaking able to either comprehend, or attain. I love what the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church has to say.
“822 Concern for achieving unity “involves the whole Church, faithful and clergy alike.”287 But we must realize “that this holy objective—the reconciliation of all Christians in the unity of the one and only Church of Christ—transcends human powers and gifts.” That is why we place all our hope “in the prayer of Christ for the Church, in the love of the Father for us, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.”288
Excerpt From: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. “Catechism of the Catholic Church.” Apple Books.
So why would I claim that receiving a rebuke was a reward. First of all I was simply taken aback that the individual rebuking had cared enough about: our church, our relationship, and me in order to do so. So many times we simply walk away from relationship, walk away from the church body, or simply stew, none of which is healthy or edifying for the body of Christ. I was truly blessed and encouraged by the event. I am not perfect and will require similar conversations in the future. My hope and prayer is that when they come the result is not a blemish on our witness for Christ but rather an absolute slap in the face of Satan and Sin, that when we faithfully relate to one another as Christ would have us, we shine in the unity and love of his grace. May we always live in the light of,Colossians 3:13 Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Thank you unnamed individual for your faithfulness, and strength to live life as we are called to live it.