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1. Step One: Overlook minor offenses (Pro 19:11).
2. Step Two: Talk privately (Mat 18:15).
3. Step Three: Take one or two others along (Mat 18:16).
– To mediate or arbitrate (1 Cor 6:1-8).
– To encourage control and courtesy.
– To ask questions, clarify facts.
– To counsel or admonish by God’s Word.
– To observe conduct and report to church or churches.
4. Step Four: Tell it to the Church (Mat 18:17a).
5. Step Five: Treat the other person as a pagan (Mat 18:17b).
– To convict and restore those who stray (1 Cor 5:1-13)
“Nothing is so cruel as the tenderness that consigns another to his sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe rebuke that calls a brother back from his sin.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
– To guard others from stumbling (1 Cor 5:6; 1 Tim 5:20; Tit 3:10-11)
– To protect God’s name (Rom 2:24)
6. Step Six: Forgive and restore the repentant (Mat 18:12-14; 2 Cor 2:5-11).