When Someone Else is Sinning

Janet Aucoin June 30, 2023

Sooner or later, someone is going to sin against you. It’s just a fact of life in living in a broken world. So are we ready to know how to respond when — not if — that happens? Janet and Jocelyn walk us through a biblical response to others sins, including passages like James 5:20.

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Resources

Episode Transcript

Resources

Books

A Fight to the Death - Wayne Mack

Diehard Sins - Robert Jones

Killing Sin Habits - Stuart Scott

Website

Faith Bible Seminary Masters of Arts in Biblical Counseling

Transcript:

Jocelyn: I don't just need to feel better. I need the truth. And ultimately that will make me better.

Janet: I just want to make it as totally simple as possible for ladies to see that the Bible is really applicable to their everyday life.

Jocelyn: When they understand theology, the application flows out of it quickly with joy.

Janet: It is a journey, but even the journey itself is joyful when I'm doing it, holding the hand of my savior and trusting him all along the way. This is the joyful journey podcast, a podcast to inspire and equip women to passionately pursue beautiful biblical truth on their journey as women of God. When you choose truth, you're choosing joy.

Janet: Welcome back ladies. This is Janet and I'm here with Jocelyn.

Jocelyn: Hi friends.

Janet: Who is gonna be leading us on an episode that I am excited to hear more about.

Jocelyn: In our March 24th, 2022 episode called Right and Good, we talked all about the concept of righteousness. In that episode, we talked about how God designed us to know and love him and to represent his values accurately to the world around us through our interactions. We also talked about how God, as our creator, has the right to define what is right and good for his creation, and how he's authorized to warn us from what is bad or evil for us. We learned about how the best path to a good life is to bend the knee to him as our master. To allow him to be the one that teaches us how to think about the world. And then to live in that way that he says is right and good.

Janet: Absolutely. We also talked about how being right in God's eyes, living in the ways that He's told us are right and good, is one of the requirements for being in a relationship with him. But in our human rebellion against the creator, we chose to think and live in ways that God says are evil. And as a result, we experience spiritual and physical death and separation from God. But Jesus' perfect life and sacrificial death makes it possible for those who believe in him and accept the gift of his death as payment for the cost of their sins, to be able to have their sins forgiven and to have the righteousness of Jesus imputed or applied to them.

Jocelyn: I think that's really helpful for us to think through and to ponder because what God has said is right and good for his creation, it has implications to our everyday lives in like a million ways. But today we're gonna talk about this same topic from a different angle. In that episode, we discussed how we can be proactive and correct in our own decisions. But today we're gonna talk about how we can rightly respond to situations where someone else has chosen to not live according to God's definitions of what is right and good. Today we're gonna talk about how to respond when someone else is sinning.

Janet: Oh, wow. Talk about being practical. How does my desire to do what's right and good impact how I'm gonna respond to someone else when they're just not doing that?

Jocelyn: Yeah. So to start, we're gonna get technical and define some terms because God has defined for us what is right and good, and that theological term is called righteousness. We say that word a lot, but that's what that means. In many cases, God also defines what is wrong and evil. The theological term for that is called unrighteousness or evil, or even wickedness. God makes it super clear for us humans to know how to live in a way that he agrees with or that pleases him. And he also defines for us the many ways that we can miss the mark from living in a way that honors him. So the theological term for that is sin. Sin means literally to miss the mark. So if God's definition of what is right and good for any number of things is the bullseye in the middle of the target, to sin is to hit anywhere other than the bullseye. So literally you missed the mark.

Janet: Well, and if we're growing to live more righteously, even then we're all gonna miss the mark.

Jocelyn: Yeah.

Janet: Daily.

Jocelyn: Yeah.

Janet: That should at least give me some compassion for others missing it as well.

Jocelyn: Absolutely. There's nothing like my own sin to make me generous with

Janet: for sure.

Jocelyn: forgiveness for others. So today we're gonna be discussing how we should respond. So the right and good way to respond when another human that we're in a relationship in some way has missed the mark. I think it's super important to begin with a good theological understanding of what righteousness and sin are at the very beginning. Because if not, we're gonna be in pretty big danger of thinking that the biggest problem when someone else around us sins, is how it affects us.

Janet: Well, and don't we just naturally do that?

Jocelyn: Yeah.

Janet: We make it about us. But if God has defined what's right and good, and the way we should live, and we've been saved through the sacrifice of Jesus, and redeemed to live in relationship with God again, where we can be righteous, now we're gonna start understanding that problems between us and other humans, we're gonna see them in a totally different way.

Jocelyn: Exactly. When someone sins and it affects me, or even when someone sins against me, that's not actually the biggest problem. So when people sin in my vicinity, it certainly sometimes splashes all over me. And that certainly sometimes connects with my own heart and I wanna respond in all sorts of ways, sometimes in ways that would certainly not be righteous whatsoever.

Janet: No way.

Jocelyn: I know.

Janet: This is shocking, Jocelyn. But actually for real, that is so tempting. And then we're both not living righteously.

Jocelyn: Right. We're both sinning. So the very first thing I wanna advise you to do when someone else is sinning is to remember that the biggest problem in this mess is that that person actually sinned against God. It just happened to affect you. Yes, they may have also sinned against you in the process, but the person most affected by sin is God. Psalm 51:4 says, Against you and you alone have I sinned. I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say and your judgment against me is just. Psalm 51:4 urges us to remember that when we sin, it's first and foremost missing the mark from what God our creator commanded us to think or want, or act like, and what he's defined as the right and good way to think and act and want. So Psalm 51 is the recording of King David's response to prophet Nathan confronting him about how he'd committed adultery with Bathsheba and had Uriah, her husband killed. So since David's sin had definitely affected Bathsheba and definitely affected Uriah,

Janet: no kidding.

Jocelyn: Yeah, really. He was with us no more. But ultimately, David's actions were defined as unrighteousness and sin because he had missed the mark about what God had commanded was righteous behavior for his people. God had clearly taught in his law to not covet and to not commit adultery. And David had clearly engaged in those God defined unrighteous behaviors. So when he was confessing his sin to God, he was absolutely right in clarifying that the greatest wrong was that he had disagreed with God about what was right and good behavior, and he had done whatever he wanted, whatever he pleased.

Janet: Absolutely. And the fallout was huge. If David had chosen to live righteously before God, many people's lives would've been spared much pain. So even though his sin was against God, it had a devastating effect on at least both Bathsheba and her son.

Jocelyn: Yeah.

Janet: And Uriah, but really lots of other people, and there were lots of consequences involved.

Jocelyn: Yeah. So bringing this back to us, I think it's helpful when you're in the thick of a conflict where someone else is sinning and their actions are affecting you. It helps if you can remember that you are not the one who is most offended in this situation. Because it doesn't feel that way. It feels like

Janet: for sure.

Jocelyn: It feels like a personal offense. God is the one whose definitions of what was right and good in that situation had been violated or ignored. He is the primary offended person. So it's right for God to respond with wrath in that situation. If the sinner is a redeemed person, we know that Jesus on the cross absorbed. All of the wrath of God that was due for their sin. If the sinner is not a redeemed person, we know that they'll face that wrath of God themself unless something changes that situation.

Janet: And those two sober realities can honestly help us to respond to a difficult situation without reacting sinfully ourselves.

Jocelyn: Right. So God is the primary affected person when we sin. But people are also affected. So let's think through how we can righteously handle that situation. And just to make this clear, we're gonna break this down into three main categories as we go further. So this first category would be when someone else is sinning, but they realize it themself and they care for it righteously. Isn't that a great thing?

Janet: Absolutely.

Jocelyn: First Peter 4:8 teaches most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other. For love covers a multitude of sins. That passage is in an application chapter of First Peter. And this section that's telling us how to live in light of all the great theology from the first part of the book. So it's saying because of the fact that Jesus triumphantly conquered sin and death, his redeemed disciples can embrace living the way he did and that we too can be triumphant in suffering, even unjust suffering because we're remembering that we are permanently free from the consequences of death. The worst thing that can happen if someone sins against God and it affects us is death. And the best thing that can happen if someone sins against God and it affects us is death. So because in any case, when we die, we get to go to be with our savior. The greatest threat that the enemy has against us, the threat of death, it's not even a concern for us anymore. That's great news.

Janet: Yes.

Jocelyn: So because our greatest threat was removed, we're free to love others without fearing how they can harm us.

Janet: Of course, that doesn't mean that we should just be gluttons for punishment or wet noodles or doormats, but we can respond to other people sinning, fearlessly and lovingly.

Jocelyn: Which is so different than anyone would be able to do without Christ.

Janet: Yes.

Jocelyn: In verse two and three, Paul says, because that's true, you're not gonna spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. You've had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy: their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols. So because we strive now to be controlled by God's definitions of what is right and good, we're not gonna handle other people's sin however we want. So that brings us eventually to verse eight, where we are urged to love each other earnestly and let our love for others cover a multitude of sins. So let's talk about what it means to cover someone's sin. First, Janet, let's talk about what it doesn't mean.

Janet: I would love to do that. I think we hear this verse misused or misunderstood sometimes to mean that if you love someone, then you just cover it up when they sin.

Jocelyn: Right.

Janet: You don't confront them when they sin. Some might think that love covering sin might mean overlooking sin, not addressing sin. Some might think that you just relentlessly, endlessly absorb the cost of others' sins against you because you love them. Some might think that love covering sin means blind forgiveness without their repentance.

Jocelyn: And the problem with that is that that would be inconsistent with what we see in other parts of scripture.

Janet: That's right.

Jocelyn: So first of all, we know that God loves us more than any other human can ever love someone else. But second of all, we know that God cannot just overlook sin or absorb the cost of our sin and not address our sin against him. Thirdly, We know that the true price of sin has to be acknowledged and addressed. Sin has a cost. Sin requires the payment of a life. Blood has to be shed for sin to be forgiven.

Janet: Yeah.

Jocelyn: Fourth, we know that the payment for the true price of sin could only be supplied by the righteous Jesus dying in our place. And five, we know that God is willing to cover over our sin with forgiveness because the payment of sin was made when we place our faith in Jesus's death, burial and resurrection on our behalf, and we turn from our sin and repentance. And six, we know that we're told to forgive other people in a way that mirrors God's forgiveness of us. And finally, we know that we can forgive others based on their repentance, which mirrors how God has forgiven us, based on our confession, which means we agree with God about that topic, and repentance, which is turning away from sin.

Janet: Yes. So we also need to see, That we're not commanded to let love cover sin. We're just told that love does cover sin.

Jocelyn: Right.

Janet: So what does cover mean? I believe it means to forgive, to not gossip. To not hold their sin against them. I don't think it means to not bring it up.

Jocelyn: Right.

Janet: Or to cover it from others necessarily. But to cover it from gossip and bitterness.

Jocelyn: Right.

Janet: I think that's important to clarify. The word cover means hide or conceal. It's for the purpose of covering. This leaves me then with the question, covering it for what purpose. And there's two passages that I think discuss this concept. Proverbs 10:12, which is what this one is based on, it says that love covers all transgressions, and then it contrasts it with hatred stirring up strife. So apparently covering it meant the opposite of stirring up strife.

Jocelyn: Right. Right.

Janet: And then James 5:20. And in that passage we're told, turning someone sinning back and away from their error covers a multitude of sins.

Jocelyn: That's helpful.

Janet: So we see that the covering is done by addressing the sin.

Jocelyn: Yeah.

Janet: It's like Adam and Eve, they were aware of their nakedness and exposure after they sinned and it says God covered them. And we see all through the Old Testament, sacrifices were a way to cover sin. And now we're told that Jesus covers us. In every example that I've just mentioned, everything is motivated by God's love to cover. So it's love that causes us to cover sin and we get to cover it when we forgive it.

Jocelyn: So love covers by doing what specifically?

Janet: Okay. Number one, by forgiving sin. All the things we promise not to do when we forgive: bring it up to myself, bring it up to others, talk about it in order to hurt you. All of that is a covering, motivated by love. And of course the ultimate one is that Jesus covered. Think about the fact that he was on the cross, and they were mocking him, and he said, father, forgive them. In that moment he was saying, bring them to a point of confession and repentance, so that what they're doing right now would be covered.

Jocelyn: Right.

Janet: Love covering means that we don't gossip. Matthew 18:15 to 17 tells us how to handle sin issues without involving other people. If the other person repents, it's covered.

Jocelyn: It is covered. Right.

Janet: We saw back in James 5:19 to 20 bringing the person back covers that sin, instead of blabbing it to everybody else. And then again, Proverbs 10: 12 instead of stirring up strife. So covering it is forgiving it, not gossiping. And covering it, I believe includes not making it about a personal offense.

Jocelyn: Right.

Janet: Proverbs 19:11 says, it's a virtue to overlook an offense. I just don't make it about myself being offended. It doesn't mean I don't address the sin, it just means I don't make it about myself.

Jocelyn: Right.

Janet: If I do make it about me, I'll end up growing in bitterness, and it will squirt out all kinds of places. It will not be covered.

Jocelyn: Yeah. So when someone else sins and it affects us, the first step will most often be that they see they've sinned because it was held up against God's righteousness, and they see that they miss the mark of what God expected of his redeemed people. So they'll confess it to God. They ask forgiveness, and based on their repentance, God forgives them. If it affected me and they ask my forgiveness, I also grant forgiveness. God gives us the spiritual strength to cover their sin with our forgiveness, which mirrors God's forgiveness and that's so cool. God's

Janet: What a privilege.

Jocelyn: Yeah. God's forgiveness of sin is expensive. Like, literally it cost Jesus his life. So we have to remember that our forgiveness of others, us covering their sin, it's going to cost us too. It's gonna cost us like our pride, our willingness to not foster resentment, our willingness to not gossip about it, our willingness to not make it about us.

Janet: Yep. So we cover sin by acknowledging it and then extending the forgiveness God has given us to others.

Jocelyn: Absolutely. So that's category one. Someone else is sinning, but they realize it themself and they care for it righteously. Now let's talk about category two. Someone else is sinning, but they don't realize it themself and it must be pointed out to them. In that case, the most loving thing you can do, the most earnest way you can love is to confront that sin. For a bunch of reasons.

Janet: Yeah. I mean, maybe that person's blind to what they're doing. So we go with compassion and not assuming the worst.

Jocelyn: Right.

Janet: Maybe they've become habituated to acting that way and they don't even realize they're sinning.

Jocelyn: Yeah.

Janet: Maybe it's hurting someone else and they're not aware.

Jocelyn: Yeah. So God teaches us in his word that sometimes when someone else is sinning, there are times that it is appropriate to confront them about it. And why? Because essentially we assume that anyone who has been forgiven a great debt, and had the wrath of God paid for by Jesus' sacrifice is legitimately excited to be redeemed back to Team Righteousness.

Janet: I love that. Team Righteousness.

Jocelyn: They said at Salvation, they were forsaking thinking through things on their own. And they wanted to be able to live righteously through Jesus' death and also his imputed righteousness. So when we talk to someone about their sin, it's with that in mind. They said they wanted to live God's way. We are on the same team.

Janet: That would really affect how the conversation goes, wouldn't it?

Jocelyn: Absolutely. So Galatians 6:1 and 2 says this, dear brothers and sisters, If another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall under the same temptation yourself. Share each other's burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. So here are a couple of key phrases I just wanna point out in that passage. First of all, this passage is about a believer who's sinning cuz it's addressed to brothers and sisters. And this is a passage about a believer who is overcome by some sin, not just randomly, accidentally operating outside of God's righteousness from time to time. So the person who should help is anyone who's godly, which means saved, not only just like an expert or something. The person who helps should be humble and gently, and the person who is helping them back onto the right path, so God's defined way of living righteously. The person who helps should be very careful to not fall into the same temptation. So beware that we're all liable to lose sight of what God has said is right and good, and just do whatever we want. So we'll remember commands like Matthew 7:1 through 6, where we're told to examine our own lives first to make sure that we're not sinning. And we're to get the log out of our own eye first so that we can clearly see to help somebody else. So the last thing I wanna point out from this passage is that when we help each other to overcome sin, we're sharing each other's burdens, and that fulfills a law of Christ to love each other sacrificially in a way that looks a lot like God's love for us.

Janet: I'm not gonna go to that sinning brother all high and mighty. I'm not gonna go accusing or blaming. I'm not gonna go being prideful.

Jocelyn: Right.

Janet: I'm gonna go thinking, what's the most helpful way to guide this sinning friend to righteousness? How can I craft the conversation to make it most likely that they'll be gently and humbly confronted so that they're gonna want to repent.

Jocelyn: Right. Because we're remembering the point of the conversation. We're helping someone who is overcome with a sin to see what is righteous and to be repentant that they've not been righteous, and then to confess to God and others if that's necessary. But the goal is to get them back on the right path. Our goal is that they see what's righteous, God's definition of right and good, and that whatever that specific life situation is, and then they quickly get on God's team again with how they're living. So the expectation is that any a follower of Jesus is gonna be quick to repent and they're gonna be super sensitive to the scripture and ready to reject any form of sin. That would be our assumption. So, for example, I work really hard to not be a jerk when I confront my kids who are,

Janet: Well, good for you.

Jocelyn: Yeah, I know. They're both believers. So, I'm clear and confident cuz I'm assured that the standard of righteousness about that issue is from the Bible. But I also try to be really gentle and humble. So like if my kids are being rude to each other or something, I don't say like, repent you sinners. Scripture has commanded us to be kind to one another and tenderhearted and forgiving one another. You're sinning in the way you're missing the mark of what God has commanded. Like you could say that, I guess.

Janet: That's all true.

Jocelyn: Instead, it would sound more like, I'm afraid it sounds like you're being unkind in the way you're talking to each other right now. Like maybe it's unintentional, maybe you're just not aware. Maybe you're doing it on purpose and you just don't really care. But like literally, that is not the way that Jesus has taught us to talk to each other. He's taught us to be kind and to be tenderhearted and to be forgiving, and I'm sorry, but right now it sounds like you're being mean and hardhearted and bitter. You're missing the mark of how Jesus has taught us to treat each other so, I, you gotta handle this, handle this biblically inside of yourself, and also between your sister. So here's something cool that happens. Matthew 18:15 says this, if another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses, you have won the person back. So, if another believer is sinning, go privately and point it out with all the theological steps that we just talked about in Galatians 6:1 through 2. So we're humble and gentle, and we're focused on the goal of helping them back onto the right path. If that person who's sinning listens to God's definitions of what would've been right and good in that situation, and they confess and they repent, you have won the person back onto the right path and the conflict is resolved.

Janet: And rejoicing happens. That's so wonderful when someone sees that they've been missing the mark and then repents toward righteousness right away. And in so many cases, that is exactly how these kinds of difficult conversations go.

Jocelyn: Yeah.

Janet: You notice a friend overcome by a sin. You have gentle and humble conversations about what God's standards are, and they're quick to admit they miss the mark.

Jocelyn: Yeah.

Janet: They confess and experience God's forgiveness and everyone rejoices. But sometimes it does get a little more tricky.

Jocelyn: Yep. That brings us to category number three. Someone else is sinning and they're not necessarily interested in repenting when it's pointed out to them. There are unfortunately times when the person is not amenable as they should be toward God and they're stubborn or maybe even disagree with your observations. That happens to all of us.

Janet: Yep.

Jocelyn: I'm not always happy to have to change the way I'm doing something to match God's righteousness. The Matthew 18 passage we just cited doesn't end there. We just looked at the first step in Matthew 18:15, but Matthew 18:15 through 16 is actually a three step process that teaches us how to handle when someone else is sinning and they are unfortunately unrepentant in their sin. So the second step in that process is seen in Matthew 18:16, but if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. So in the first conversation, you asked questions about what was going on because it really looked and it seemed like that person was engaging in some behavior that violated God's standards, but they didn't confess, they didn't repent. So step two says, go back again and take somebody else with you so that they can also listen to what's going on and make sure you're understanding the situation correctly. Cuz maybe you just misunderstood, maybe the other person misunderstood. And in any case, you get a third or fourth person involved so that the situation can be clearly understood.

Janet: Yes.

Jocelyn: So the objective is still the same. Live out Galatians 6:1 and 2. So if the situation is laid out clearly and it really is accurate that the other person is sinning or missing the mark, then do what you can do to gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. The goal is that anyone sinning will give up the sin and embrace living God's way. And if the sinning person confesses their sin and repents and gets back on the right path,

Janet: There's much rejoicing.

Jocelyn: Yes. And it hap-- like so many times.

Janet: Yes.

Jocelyn: sin is resolved at that step. But Matthew 18:17 then goes on to say, in the extremely rare case that someone who claims to be a believer is sinning, and they're not willing to give up that sin and live the way that God is defined as right and good, then here is the third step. If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won't accept the church's decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector. It's sad, but there may be rare times within church life that someone is claiming to be a believer and they're resistant to living the way that God has defined is right and good. So the third step when a person who claims to be a believer is sinning in an unrepentant way, is to communicate that to the entire church for this reason, so that every single believer who declared that they are united to that person in salvation, and committed to their holiness. We can all join them in the urgent conversation with them about their sin. So the entire church motivated out of their earnest love for that person will urge them to abandon living however they want and begin to live according to what God has defined as right and good. After a period of time, if the sinning person refuses to confess or say the same thing God does about that topic and repent, or give it up and get back on God's path, then unfortunately the only thing we conclude is that they might not have ever been a believer to begin with. Maybe they were able to convince themself for a really long time that they really wanted to forsake their sin and live God's way. But when it came to this issue, it was revealed to them that they weren't willing to be completely committed to forsaking thinking through things on their own. And that's the original rebellion. And they're not committed to being redeemed, to living God's way, which is the point of salvation. So the most earnest way we can love that person is to say, we can no longer count you in the membership of this church, because this church is made up of people who have accepted salvation, forsaken their sin, and they've been brought back to living out the remainder of their life on God's path. So the best way we can love you is to urge you to take care of your salvation problem first. Maybe the reason you're willing to be overtaken by a sin is that you're not actually on God's team like you and we thought you were. Maybe they actually are a believer, but they're just like super stubborn and resistant to repentance. In either case, they should not be counted in the membership of the church because they're living in unrepentant sin.

Janet: Oh, that's a very, very difficult time for any church to walk through. But it's the right and good way to handle when someone's sinning and they aren't repentant.

Jocelyn: Yeah.

Janet: But even though it's hard, we've seen so many times when God's way of dealing with an unrepentant sinner caught in their sin, it works.

Jocelyn: Yeah.

Janet: And the pressure of guilt and conviction pushes them to repent. And then they're brought back into fellowship with the church.

Jocelyn: And there's rejoicing.

Janet: Yes.

Jocelyn: We've had such great times as a church family welcoming someone back into our fold who has given up their sin that they were disciplined over. It's never ex-communication or refusing to talk to them or resisting loving them. Like we're actively aggressively loving them just as we would love any believer and we're totally urgently praying that they would either be saved or become repentant.

Janet: With hearts of love and humility.

Jocelyn: Yeah.

Janet: And because we believe God is right and good, we're confident that his way, even in this is best.

Jocelyn: I think it's super helpful to have been able to talk about this topic of when someone else is sinning one coherent thought like this. Like we talked about how when someone else is sinning most times, the situation will be handled the first category way. They saw God's righteousness and realized they were sinning.

Janet: Yep.

Jocelyn: They confessed and repented, and we covered their sin with our forgiveness as an evidence of our love for them, and a representation of the way that God has loved us. We also talked about how in category two, there are sometimes cases when someone's caught in a sin and they don't see it. So we need to confront that sin and urge them to repent. And they do, and the situation is taken care of. Then we also talked about what to do in category three situations where someone is confronted of a sin but they're not repentant. And you know what's cool about this is that we don't have to spend much time thinking about if we like these methods or prefer to handle it this way. We can handle times when someone else is sinning because we have confidence that God's way of handling someone else's sin is always right and good. We just need to humbly and gently apply this right and good solution when the situation calls for it.

Janet: Yeah. We do hope this episode helps you think about this challenging situation with some good basic theology. But we know that in real life, these situations can sometimes be hard, messy, or complicated. So we do wanna urge you in cases where you're not quite sure what to do.

Jocelyn: Yeah.

Janet: Get other Godly people involved to advise you or help you.

Jocelyn: Yeah.

Janet: Start with your deacon or small group leader, or talk to your pastor. Seek shepherding in complicated situations. But if it's not complex, don't make it harder than it needs to be. Let love cover through granting forgiveness when sin has been repented of, and learn how to gently confront toward repentance in a biblical way when needed.

Jocelyn: Yeah, we're gonna include a couple of links for some resources in our show notes that we'd love you to check out. But this situation is pretty clear. When someone else is sinning, handle it the way that God has defined is right and good.

Janet: Excellent. So as always, we look to the word and we know that when we choose God's way, the truth here, we're choosing joy. Thank you for coming with us on this adventure.

To keep from missing any future episodes, please sign up for our newsletter on our webpage joyfuljourneypod.com. From there you can also subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Google, or Spotify. You can also visit us on our Facebook page or Instagram at Joyful Journey Podcast. If you have questions or comments for us, you can email us at joyfuljourneyquestions@outlook.com. Joyful Journey Podcast is a ministry of Faith Bible Seminary. All proceeds go to offset costs of this podcast and toward scholarships for women to receive their MABC through Faith Bible Seminary.

Host Janet and her husband, Brent, also speak at a variety of conferences as a way to raise money for the seminary. If you want to look at what they offer or book them for a conference, go to their website.

Janet Aucoin

Bio

Janet is the Director of Women's Ministry at Faith Church (Lafayette, IN); Host of the Joyful Journey Podcast (helping women learn that when you choose truth you choose joy); ACBC certified; teacher in Faith Community Institute; Coordinator of FBS seminary wives fellowship, retreat and conference speaker; B.S. Human Resources, University of South Florida.