Reconciliation is Great! (Until You Actually Have To Do It)

Biblical Reconciliation Is Personal, Not Theoretical

Reconciliation is great until it gets really real. You hear all the talk about racial reconciliation and this kind of a thing, and it sounds so good, it sounds so nice, and it makes the person who's talking about it look like such a virtuous person.

But it's all theoretical, right? Like racial reconciliation, I've said many times, I got this from Daryl Harrison, races can't reconcile, races don't exist. Everyone in this debate agrees that race is a made up concept.

And so the black race can't reconcile with the white race because they don't exist. Things that don't exist can't reconcile. The only thing that can reconcile is people. So if a person has something against you, you can reconcile that situation.

Matthew 18 and the Steps of Church Discipline

And the Bible talks about how to do that. If somebody sins against you or somebody is sinning, you go to that person directly and you say, hey brother, sister, stop sinning. In a nicer way, obviously.

But, you know, and then if they stop, the Bible says that you've gained your brother, and that's a good thing. That's reconciliation right there. And repentance is all about reconciliation between a victim and a perpetrator.

And then the Bible also says, you know, look, if the person doesn't repent after you go to them, you know, bring somebody else with you. Have a couple people confront this person about their sin, and hopefully you're reconciled that way.

And if that doesn't happen, go to your elders, go to your pastor, and maybe they'll be reconciled that way. And if that doesn't happen, then, you know, you don't have anything more to do with that person.

And so it's a messy process, and it requires a little bit of courage. It requires some direct action. All this talk about racial reconciliation is ultimately just a distraction, because if you're a black person and a white person has done something to offend you, you can't wait for racial reconciliation to happen for that to change.

You gotta go to that person directly. I see a lot of gripes on Twitter. I see tons of hashtags. I see tons of stuff where people of color, or even white people for that matter, it doesn't even matter, it could be anybody, are just griping about all of these problems, and you know, Seminary While Black was one of these, where it's like, oh, when I was in seminary, this happened, and they're just griping and griping.

Confronting Sin Directly Instead of Complaining Online

And as an elder, I think to myself, dude, if that happened to you, go to that pastor, or go to that teacher. Confront them. And if they don't listen, take somebody with you. And if they don't listen, go to their pastor.

Like, that's how you reconcile. I don't know if they've done it or not, but there's not a fourth step after that that says, if then, if it doesn't happen, then complain to everybody on Twitter about it.

And so a lot of this racial reconciliation stuff, it's just all, it sounds nice in theory, but there's really no substance to it. If somebody has offended you in a racially charged way, you have, God has commanded you to go to that person.

Go to that person. And I see a lot of people making excuses as to why you shouldn't go to that person. Oh, you feel traumatized by it. You feel this and that. No, the Bible commands you to be a man and go to that person.

A Personal Situation of Unreconciled Conflict

I gotta be honest with you all. I'm having a situation in my life right now where me and another brother need to be reconciled. And I did go to that person. The person was unwilling to talk to me about the perceived sin that, he thinks I've sinned against him, you know?

And I don't think I have, and I wanted to talk to him about it, but he refused to do it. So he's jumped the steps. He's jumped the steps all the way from, all right, there's someone who sinned against you.

Now I'm gonna have nothing more to do with you. He hasn't talked to me. He hasn't brought anyone to me. He hasn't talked to my pastor, which I've encouraged him to talk to my pastor, and he has not done so.

And so, and this is the kind of guy who is all about this racial reconciliation stuff. And the sad reality is that it's, you know, when you talk about this kind of stuff publicly, it might make you look good.

It might seem like it's a really like cutting edge, sort of, oh, wow, you're really gospel centered. But the real thing is dirty, man. You gotta confront people. You gotta have the courage to do it. And that's the reality.

The Church's Prescription for Reconciliation

And so I would encourage you, if you're all about racial reconciliation, make sure you're reconciling things according to the way God says you should do it. Person to person, man to man, individual body to individual body.

That's how you have to do it. That's the prescription for reconciliation within the church. It's not making a hashtag that makes the church look bad. Anyway, I hope this was helpful. God bless.