IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Daily Bread

Key Verse: 18:19

First, the purpose is restoration (15-17). Sometimes one of God's precious 'little ones' gets caught up in sin and goes astray. God's steps for restoration are first, in a spirit of humility, to go one-on-one to the one in sin. If that doesn't work, take one or two others. If that doesn't work, the whole fellowship goes. If that works, thank and praise God for his grace and merciful promise to "purify us from all unrighteousness" (1Jn 1:9). If not, treat the one in question as if not part of the church. But do we ignore or abandon them? For heaven's sake no! We love them as if they did not know the Lord, as a precious lost "pagan or tax collector." If God's child sins, God's purpose is restoration.

Second, God leads in restoration (18-20). When we fervently pray for a brother or sister gone astray, God will restore him or her. In fact, when we follow God's steps for restoration, we are affirming what God himself has already done: "whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven." God's will is the restoration of his precious 'little ones' that go astray, and we follow his lead by obeying his method for restoration.

Prayer: Lord, give me grace to truthfully, humbly approach a brother or sister in sin, discerning clearly when my sight is hindered by a plank in my own eye.

One Word: Rebuke and restore a precious brother or sister in sin.