Try Christ’s “Recipe”
Ellen White’s counsel was totally in harmony with the instruction of Jesus given in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, where our Lord “shows us the principles upon which we are to act in all cases and under all circumstances.” 72The Upward Look, 136. (Italics supplied.) She would amplify it further in these words: “Whatever the character of the offense may be, this does not change the plan God has made for the settlement of misunderstandings and personal injuries. Act out the spirit of Christ. Take the recipe God has provided, and carry it to the spiritually diseased [one]. Give him the remedy that will cure the disease of disaffection. Do your part to help him. Feel that it is a duty and privilege to do this, for the sake of the unity and peace of the church, which is very dear to the heart of Christ. He does not want any wound to remain unhealed on any member of His church.” 73The Upward Look, 106.GVEGW 144.2
In Matthew 18 we find Christ’s three-step “recipe” for problem-resolution:GVEGW 144.3
First, if you have a grievance against your brother in the church, you are to go to him “alone” to discuss the fault (verse 15). Second, if he refuses to deal with you privately, then you are to take with you “one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established” (verse 16). And, third, if he yet refuses to receive you, then you are to “tell it unto the church” (verse 17).GVEGW 144.4
Notice, though, that you are not at liberty, even now, to proclaim it to the world, even after you have taken the third step. Said Mrs. White:GVEGW 144.5
“Do not put him to shame by exposing his fault to others, nor bring dishonor upon Christ by making public the sin or error of one who bears His name.... We are not to make it a matter of comment and criticism among ourselves; nor even after it is told to the church are we at liberty to repeat it to others. A knowledge of the faults of Christians will be only a cause of stumbling to the unbelieving world; and by dwelling upon these things, we ourselves can receive only harm; for it is by beholding that we become changed. While we seek to correct the errors of a brother, the Spirit of Christ will lead us to shield him, as far as possible, from the criticism of even his own brethren, and how much more from the censure of the unbelieving world.” 74The Desire of Ages, 440, 441. (Italics supplied.)GVEGW 144.6
How much untold damage has been done by Seventh-day Adventists with their own private printing presses who seek to parade the evils—real and imagined—perpetrated by church members and leaders before the church, and also the public at large, contrary to this inspired commandment!GVEGW 145.1
Even in Bible days there were some things that, though true, were still not to be blazed abroad: “Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph” (2 Samuel 1:20).GVEGW 145.2