Understanding Scripture is not just a question of understanding a particular passage, but also of understanding its place in all Scripture, and the balance we are called to have in the face of what might appear to be conflicting instructions.
In Matthew 18, Jesus teaches us how to confront sin in our midst (and the necessity of doing so), and this fact appeals a great deal to those who have personalities that like to confront. Generally speaking, conservative churches are made up of people who like confronting, and this accounts for why we have so many conservative churches. Fulfilling the Great Commission through church splits is our idea of a good thing. This is why so many conservative churches blow up, members heading in all directions. We even have a name for it—a Scottish revival.
But Jesus also teaches us that there are times when we are to deal with sin by just letting it go. He tells us not to resist an evil person. He says that the tares should not be uprooted lest the wheat be hurt. The simple and striking nature of His non-commonsensical advice—”Don’t weed the garden, you might hurt it”—should indicate that something profound is going on here. Of course liberals like to seize on this aspect of Christ’s teaching, and this is why they never confront anything. This is also why none of will be really surprised when the next debate in one of the mainline church revolves around whether we should be ordaining homosexual house pets.
But the entire Bible is for the entire church. This means we need to learn to confront and discipline when biblical wisdom requires it. And we must also learn when to leave a fool in his folly—when biblical wisdom requires it. Some sins must be carefully and biblically addressed yesterday. Others must be allowed to grow until the harvest.
Letting things go in the liberal sense is compromise. But so is pounding everything into the ground. That is more difficult for us to deal with because it is our compromise, not theirs.