Exercise Protective Speech, Part II: Corrective Speech

November 2, 2025
Exercise Protective Speech, Part II: Corrective Speech
Sermon Audio

CENTRAL TEXT: Galatians 6:1; Matthew 18:15-20

Gal. 6:1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 

Matt. 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. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” 

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 92:1-2, 12-15

LEADER: It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
  to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
 to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
  and your faithfulness by night,

ALL: The righteous flourish like the palm tree
  and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the LORD;
  they flourish in the courts of our God.

LEADER: They still bear fruit in old age;
  they are ever full of sap and green,

ALL: to declare that the LORD is upright;
  he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

PRAYER/SCRIPTURE READING/CONFESSION OF FAITH: 
Leviticus 19:17, 18; Psalm 141:5a-b; Luke 17:1-4

LEADER: You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness;
  let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head;
  let my head not refuse it.

And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

  The Word of the Lord

ALL: Thanks be to God

BENEDICTION: Colossians 3:12-13

LEADER: Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 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.

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

Leviticus 19:17, 18
Psalm 1
Psalm 119
*Psalm 141:5
Matthew 5:43-48
Matthew 7:1-6
2 Timothy 3:14-16
Hebrews 5:12 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 

  1. Who was more likely to come with the word of correction–mom or dad? Who seemed to demonstrate greater effectiveness at it? 
  2. An admittedly subjective question: when may a hurt caused be looked past rather than addressed? When is a line crossed that refusing to address it is a cost too great?
  3. What hesitations–or perhaps impulsiveness–stands behind your willingness to confront a brother or sister in their sin? What is risked by not addressing it?
  4. What is the ultimate goal of every confrontation of this sort? Where can that goal get obscured by what feels like other worthy goals? How can you tell if His goal is yours?
  5. How does (must) the Gospel compel our motivation for this and our manner in this?
  6. Can you speak of an experience when either you confronted someone, or were confronted by someone else? Describe the situation (if you can) and the experience, and the outcome(s)? What did you learn?
  7. Is there anyone with whom you either need to go to in order to address harm–whether theirs or yours (Mt 5:23-24)? 

QUOTES:  

This is a people who are to love one another so intensely that they refuse to risk the loss of the one who has gone astray–or the loss of ourselves in harboring resentments. 
- Stanley Hauerwas
Great caution ought to be exercised in receiving accusations from any person who is known to indulge a malignant spirit towards the accused; who is not of good character; who is himself under censure or process; who is deeply interested in any respect in the conviction of the accused; or who is known to be litigious, rash or highly imprudent. 
- Book of Church Order, 31-8
When the church disciplines Christians she will more effectively disciple non-Christians. A disciplining church will prove more loving in the long run than a church that advertises God’s love but then shows no great interest in whether this love is practiced by her members. 
- F.D. Bruner
The principle of separation has been abused, but it remains a biblical principle. There is a biblical separation that applies at the personal, the fellowship, and the ecclesiastical level. Overstep here and we do damage to the unity of the church. But fail here and as individuals and fellowships we will become like jellyfish with no central nervous system. Instead of swimming against the tide, we will simply float with it and eventually be thrown onto the shore, there to remain until another tide sweeps us out to sea. 
- Sinclair Ferguson

Books/Docs

“The Church is your Mom,” Tish Harrison Warren
Devoted to the Church, Sinclair Ferguson
Contesting the Body of Christ, Myles Werntz
Church: A Guide to the People of God, Brad East
C.S. Lewis and the Church, eds. Judith and Brendan Wolfe
The Church and its Vocation, Michael W. Goheen
“What is Church?” Jason Micheli
Life Together, Dietrich Bønhoeffer (tl;dr: start here)
Resident Aliens, Stanley Hauerwas
From Isolation to Community, Myles Werntz