Matthew 18.15-20

Matthew 18:15-20

15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. 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 have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

19 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

This passage provides one of the most important and practical passages in all of scripture for resolving problems that arise in relationships and the practice of church discipline.  Unfortunately, it is ignored by so many individuals and churches.  So many misunderstandings and hard feelings could be avoided if believers would simply follow the clear instructions of this text.  Too often churches have members that have bad testimonies in the communities because leaders don’t have the courage to do what Jesus teaches in this passage.  There are four steps that ought to happen whenever a believer sees another believer sin.

PRIVATE COMMUNICATION: Sin is an unfortunate reality in all our lives.  Even though we all know that we are sinful, we all have a difficult time recognizing and repenting of our own sin.  It is so easy for us to rationalize our sin, excuse it or even ignore it all together.  However, we all seem to have a much easier time seeing the sinfulness of others.  This is the reality behind the instructions in this passage.  Too often, when we see someone else sin, we presume they are aware they are sinning and just expect them to apologize and seek forgiveness.  When that doesn’t happen, we have the responsibility to personally, privately and politely communicate to our brother that we believe they are sinning.  When we do that, one of three things are possible.  First, they many recognize and repent of their sin in which case immediate restoration should take place.  Second, they may explain things from a different perspective and convince us that they did not sin or explain that it has already been made right; in which case, the relationship should remain strong and close.  Third, they refuse to recognize their sin, take offense or simply make light of their actions.  Too often, instead of one of these three options, the person who saw the sin will take their concerns to other people.  They may pretend to be requesting prayer but, the reality is that it is nothing less than gossip.  We must avoid this at all costs by not speaking ill of others or listening to others who speak poorly of others.

PARTNERED COOPERATION: If the brother who sins does not recognize or repent of sin and we are convinced that we have done all we can in our attempts to restore out brother, then and only then, are we to speak to others about the situation.  We are to invite one or two other mature believers to cooperate with us in the restoration of our brother.  There are at least two important reasons for this vital step in the restoration process.  First, these partners may be able to communicate with the offending brother in a more effective way than we are capable.  As a small group, we may succeed where an individual failed.  Second, these mature brothers may come to understand things that the first individual didn’t understand and conclude that there was not a sin in the first place and that we have misunderstood the situation.  The ideal result is that the sinning individual will be convinced of their sin, repent and rejoice in the restoration that is available in Christ.

PUBLIC CONFRONTATION: Unfortunately, there are times where a person will refuse to turn from their sin even with two or three people pleading with them to repent.  If that happens that person is to be confronted publicly in front of the church.  This is a cooperate attempt to convince our brother to repent.  If this effort causes the person to finally break down and turn from their sin; the congregation should rejoice at the restoration of their brother.  However, if the person continues their rebellion, they are to be removed from the fellowship of the church and treated as an unbeliever.  Too many leaders are not brave enough to follow through on this final step.  They don’t want to offend people or lose financial support so they become tolerant of sin and the church begins to suffer and gain a terrible reputation in the community.  This negligence of discipline leaves other believers vulnerable to temptation as they fail to see the consequence of sin.  The individual also suffers because they remain in their sin.  The people who were faithful to lovingly follow the first two steps can easily become discouraged and not follow these steps in the future.

PATERNAL CONFIRMATION: When individuals and churches are faithful to follow the Word of God in this way, Jesus assures His disciples that the Father will confirm in heaven what this group of believers has decided.  When believers are faithful to the Word of God, they will be guided by the Spirit of God.  Anyone who tries to convince themselves that the church is wrong in their treatment of the discipline should beware that the Father is in agreement with the actions of brothers in Christ who act biblically.  We must quickly learn to repent any time we are confronted about our sin.

APPLICATION: Privately and humbly communicate directly with anyone we believe has been overcome by sin.  Quickly and fully repent any time someone might confront us with sin.  Be ready to cooperate with the confrontation of others who sin. As church leaders we must courageously and consistently practice church discipline.