THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
The Prince of Wales, who was later to become King in England, had a falling out with his longtime friend of twenty years, Charles Beresford, in the early 1900s. Lord Beresford wrote this line to then Prince. The days of dueling are past, but there is a more just way of getting right done than can dueling, and that is- publicity. The threat concerned the issues that had caused the falling out between the two friends of twenty years. By bringing the matter into the public domain the royal family would have been hurt. Lord Beresford was interested in vindication at all cost.
When faithful brethren suffer injury there are more roads than one that can be taken. The high road prompted by a love for the kingdom of our Lord will cause the traveler on such a road to act in such a way as to avoid injuring the kingdom and cause of Jesus the Christ. Those who chose the low road will desire to make as public as possible the nature of the injury and those who caused the injury, the end result being the suffering of the cause of Christ before faithful brethren and before the world as well.
The case cited by our Lord in Matthew 18, deals with one brother injuring another. The injured brother is to go to the one who harmed him and explain how the action was injurious (Matthew 18:15). The idea beginning in verse 18 was a sincere effort to do two things. One was to address the injury and the second was to prevent it from getting into the public domain. Had the sinning brother admitted his wrong, the problem between the two would have been settled and no one else would have had to know the problem that existed.
The move to bring one or two more into the situation, though expanding the level of knowledge, was still an attempt to keep it from being public (verse 16). The bringing in of witnesses was not done to get people on the side of the injured brother. They are to be brought in so that "every word may be established". At this stage there is no doubt who is in the wrong. One sinned against another. The one sinned against is striving to get the brother who is in the wrong to admit the wrong and thereby restore the friendship which had been lost.
If we injure one another because of our actions, such injury does not of necessity speak of one brother sinning against another brother. Much of the Christian life is based on our application of the Word of God to our own lives (James 1:22). We are made then by the application of Gods Word to our lives, to make judgments of one kind or another. Those judgments may injure a brother. Consider for example Paul when he came to Jerusalem in Acts 21. He met with James and all the elders (verse 18). Their judgment was that Paul was teaching the Gentiles to not circumcise their children nor walk after the customs of Moses (verse 21).
The matter of the Gentiles had already been settled back in Acts 15. They wanted Paul to purify himself with four other men in order that the Jewish Christians would know that Paul "walkest orderly and keepest the law" (verse 24). Brethren it was a judgment call. No doubt such instruction or advise would have been hurtful to Paul who was working among the Gentile world trying to convince them that the Law of Moses had been nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:14). Was this meeting therefore brought into the public domain? It was a judgment call behind closed doors with no intention of the church being disturbed by their judgment.
Why then today do we abandon this principle of working hard to keep things out of the public domain? If we have internal problems here, should they not remain internal? Why would it be the concern of anyone beyond our local work? Sometimes the depth of the problem may not be easily solved within the local work because feelings are involved and too many words have been exchanged. Even if we would search for outside help, it is still the principle of trying to keep it from the public domain as much as possible.
Brethren in matters of judgment may we all work hard to keep things as private as is possible. Suffer wrong and take the high road that speaks of proper concern for the Lord and His church. May God bless all of our local works with a renewed interest in the salvation of mens souls that are outside of Christ.