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.
The passage we are using for study today may not seem to fit the theme of church discipline. It is really a discourse by our Lord on Christian conduct toward one another and forgiveness and reconciliation.
I’ve chosen to begin here however because I want to avoid a common and very destructive error. That being, the tendency to go to the epistles of Paul, pick out several related verses from I Corinthians, and 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus and a few others, and build an argument for discipline in the church and then finish by saying ‘this is what is pleasing to the Lord’… instead of going first to see what Jesus says and then make everything else line up under that.
This error of epistle-blending can lead quickly to epistle-bending and before you know it you have a convinced pastor spiritually spanking everyone in his congregation who breathes the wrong way, and eventually you have a very lonely preacher standing behind a pulpit staring at dust.
Now we who are in the local body of Cornerstone Christian Chapel are in the process of developing our By-Laws and Constitution. In this process which we take very seriously we have come to this issue and we want it to be addressed very clearly and carefully so as not to create a statement that can at some later date be used as a club or a legalistic lever against any present or future member of this body, by either the present or future leadership.
It is for this reason and no other consideration or set of circumstances around us that I felt it necessary to address the issue of church discipline from the pulpit, so that we might come at this task of completing our By-Laws with clear heads and hearts properly lined up with God’s Word and His constant leading.
PRIORITIES
As we come to look at our text verses, let us note that this entire discourse of Jesus’ from verse 3 to the end of chapter 18 is in response to a question from His disciples in reference to who would be greater in the Kingdom of Heaven.
As usual, their priorities were backward. Let’s not criticize them; if we chuckle, let’s include ourselves in their folly.
Looking back very briefly at chapter 17 we see that Jesus has told them openly in verses 22 and 23 that He is going to be delivered up and killed and that He would be raised on the third day.
We know they understood on some level because the text says they were grieved deeply. Maybe they missed the ‘raised up’ part, maybe not. There should still be grief that the death has to occur, right?
If the person we love the most has a cancer and they must go through intense chemotherapy and other painful procedures to get rid of it, and the doctor assures us that after the process they are going to be fine, we’d still be grieved for our loved one that they have to endure the pain and hardship, wouldn’t we?
In any case, with this information swimming in their heads they go to Capernaum where Peter is confronted by tax-collectors about Jesus paying taxes, so when Peter comes in the house Jesus teaches him a brief lesson about choosing his battles.
Yes, we’re sons of the Kingdom. We’re princes and princesses of the King of Kings, who owns all there is. And in even earthly kingdoms children of the king don’t have to pay taxes. That’s for the commoners to do.
But so as not to cause offense, we’ll pay taxes.
Ok, now, that’s all another sermon. But I want you to think about what might be going on in the minds of the disciples. Jesus has said He’s going to be put to death and then raised up.
On whatever level they understand this, at the very minimum they are thinking, ‘alrighty then; that which we have waited for is about to happen’.
If Jesus is going to die and come back to life, it must be time for Him to do some triumphing and taking control type stuff.
Next, He talks about them as sons of the King and being exempt and so forth.
So can’t you just imagine Jesus listening to them over in a corner, arguing in coarse whispers about which one of them is going to be higher ranking in the new order?
We need to get some things settled in advance here. Things are apparently about to happen very quickly. Jesus is talking to us and about us in terms He hasn’t used before, and we’d better get our foot in the door early. After all, it’s not just us 12 we have to think about. Right now there’s a lot of people following Jesus around, and we don’t know what ambitions and agendas they might have.
You know what I mean. Nothing has changed. If you’ve ever been in the workplace in any office, store or organization in our society you know how people act when they think there’s a changing of the guard coming. New manager. New boss. New director. Or there’s several vacancies and there needs to be several promotions to fill those spots and then others to fill the newly vacated ones and so forth.
Oh, my! The schmoozing, the backstabbing, the pettiness, the immense volume of busy work getting done, the predictions, the second-guessing, the water-cooler rumors.
So finally the group breaks up, maybe after a ‘you ask Him’ ‘no, you ask Him’ ‘no, you’ ‘oh, for goodness’ sake, I’ll ask Him’, and they make their way to where Jesus is and pop this self-serving question.
Now if it was some smart aleck like me and they asked, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” The answer might have been “God is, you lamebrains.” Fortunately we have a Lord who is Love, so in response to their selfishness He begins this invaluable lesson on love-based relationships.
I have to move along here so we won’t go into detail over the next 12 verses. Just note that He responds to pride with an exhortation toward humility; the kind of humility that is found naturally in a small child because they see themselves as the smallest and the weakest. They aren’t seeking greatness; rather, they are seeking to please and to be protected and helped.
Then He warns against being a stumbling block to any of these humble, innocent children of the Kingdom, and take special notice of the significance to our theme of church discipline of this illustration of the Father’s love and caring for lost and straying sheep.
This illustration which ends with the declaration, “Thus it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish” immediately precedes His instruction concerning church family relationships. So we sit up now, take a deep breath, let it out slowly and pay attention.
IF YOUR BROTHER SINS
‘When people are right with God, they are apt to be hard on themselves and easy on other people. But when they are not right with God, they are easy on themselves and hard on others.’ John Newton.
First let me address the issue of who has been sinned against in the thinking of Jesus here. My version is the only translation of the Bible I was able to find that only says ‘If your brother sins’ and does not add some form of ‘against you’.
But since my translation is the best one, mine is right and all the others are wrong.
Not really. The fact is that later manuscripts had the words ‘against you’ or something like that where earlier manuscripts do not. There is no violation done to the meaning by adding those words however, since it ought to be the person sinned against, the person who could rightly take offense, who should go to their brother and get the matter settled.
It seems to me that in the American church there is a whole lot of confessing of other people’s sins and whining about the actions of others, even when those actions have not directly affected the confessor/whiner at all.
That makes it gossip. Another sin. Romans 1:29 2 Tim 3:3
Jesus says if you know your brother has sinned, go to him privately.
Privately. That means alone.
And who is supposed to go? The one wronged by the sin, or in a case where there is no one directly wronged but it has come to the light, then the person who will be pained the most by going should be the one to go.
The going should be preceded by prayer, asking the Lord for humility and for the right words, and that He would prepare the heart of the offender to hear truth and respond to it in a Godly way.
And before I get ahead of myself, remember that Jesus said ‘your brother’. There is no admonition to go to one who is not a Christian and confront him with some individual sin. He needs to be saved from sin and until he is, there is no possibility of him not sinning, so getting in his face about it and telling him to stop is like telling a dead body to stop stinking.
This instruction is for the family of God and indeed it can only work within the family of God, loving one another with Godly love.
Well the instruction is that if he will not listen, and by that I would understand Him to mean he is unrepentant and/or indicating he will continue committing the offense, then you are to quietly go back to him with at least two witnesses.
Now there is a great deal of teaching on this subject; most of us are familiar with this instruction even though we would be loath to find ourselves in a position of having to do it.
But I’ll just make a couple of statements on it to be sure we’re clear to proceed with our main agenda.
First, Jesus is quoting Old Testament scripture when he says to take two or three witnesses. Good plan, to follow a scriptural pattern in our relationships.
In fact, let’s go to Deuteronomy 19:15-19 and read it before we move on.
15 “A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. 16 “If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing, 17 then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. 18 “The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.
Two items of note from this: One, if we functioned under the Old Testament dispensation in our churches there would be a lot of dead Christians. In fact, there would be a lot less churches judging by the way some operate.
(Notice my marvelous restraint in not mentioning any names?)
Two, don’t miss the inequity here. Jesus Himself is quoting this passage in reference to our relationships to the brethren, yet this very instruction was deliberately violated by the Chief Priest and the Pharisees at Jesus’ trial.
There were many rules broken that day, but one was that they brought in false witnesses who couldn’t even keep their stories straight, and condemned Him based on lies, when according to Deuteronomy those very two should have been crucified.
Let’s move on.
If the offending brother is unrepentant go to him with two or three witnesses. Not necessarily witnesses to his sin.
They are there to witness your approach. Your demeanor. Your humility and brotherly love as you gently confront your brother again and plead for his reconsideration of both his circumstances and the damage his behavior may be causing.
Because this is visit number two, and if he rejected you the first time there’s a pretty good chance he’s going to become angry with you the second time. You need witnesses both for your safety, so that evil cannot be spoken of you later, and to keep you honest. We’re more likely to maintain our own Christlike composure when the Elders are sitting with us, right?
I had a story come to me via email, which probably means everyone has heard it by now, about a woman who was driving down the road and got into heavy traffic. She was cutting people off, yelling at them, red-faced and angry, shaking her fist and honking the horn.
Finally a police officer who was following her turned on his red lights, got her stopped and out of the car and placed her under arrest.
Later, at the police station he came into the holding room, apologized and told her she was free to go. When she asked why he had arrested her he said, “Well, I saw a bumper sticker on the back of your car that said, ‘Jesus loves you’, and another that said, ‘Come to church this Sunday’, and the way you were acting I thought for certain the car must be stolen.
She must have forgotten the bumper stickers.
GENTILES AND TAX COLLECTORS
Now here is the part we need to address more specifically in reference to the answers we’re seeking concerning church discipline.
Matthew 18:17 (NASB95)
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.
“Let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector”.
Now let’s not forget who it is who is talking here. The average Jew of that day despised Gentiles and they despised tax collectors. Gentiles weren’t Jews therefore they and their homes were unclean. Tax collectors were Jews who were seen to be collaborating with the oppressive Romans. So they were hated.
But Jesus ate with these people. He sat and talked with them and answered their questions about the Kingdom of Heaven.
Does it sound like our Lord to be feeding the monster? To be supporting this attitude of hatred and prejudice by telling His disciples to treat their sinning brother the same way the Jewish society and even the religious leadership treated Gentiles and tax collectors?
I mean, sure it happens in our churches all the time but that spirit didn’t come from Jesus and the attitude just cannot be reconciled with the nature and character of the God revealed to us in Scriptures. It also goes against our beloved doctrine of eternal security. If we believe that the true believer is eternally acceptable to God, why would we think God would tell us to evict a believer from church? It’s inconsistent.
So what does Jesus mean?
Don’t continue to trust yourself to them. Consider them someone who is not saved, and treat them with the love and gentleness you would show to a pagan you’re trying to convert.
You’ve gone to them twice in love, once with witnesses, they remain unrepentant and unwilling to change. According to what the Apostle John would later write to the churches under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the person may not have the Christ-life in him at all and he should be treated as such.
1 John 3:7-9 (NASB95)
7 Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; 8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
1 John 5:18 (NASB95)
18 We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.
Now we understand this phrase ‘no one who is born of God sins’ to mean he cannot continue to practice conscious and deliberate sin without conviction and repentance because of the Spirit of God in him. That is well-established in the New Testament and I won’t dwell on it here.
It simply does not mean that the person born of God will never sin. We all know that experientially, if we are at all honest with ourselves.
So the unrepentant brother is to be to us as an unsaved person. Do we reject him completely? Did Jesus say to kick him out of the church? NO!
If he is to any degree desirous of being in Christian fellowship seeing that he is now considered an outsider may cause him to do some soul-searching and maybe even some inviting of God to search him out.
“We need to rediscover the almost lost discipline of self-examination; and then a re-awakened sense of sin will beget a reawakened sense of wonder.” - Andrew Murray
So what I get from the words of Jesus here in connection with discipline within the church is that an unrepentant brother, after this series of confrontations that ultimately involve the assembly, the fellowship, the congregation; that’s what He means by the church; is that the brother should not be in a position of teaching or leadership or entrusted with any spiritual business, just the same as any attendee who has not made a profession of Christ.
Does that sound harsh? No, indeed it is not. It provides for the protection of the church and affords that person the opportunity to realize his folly and get his heart right with God.
We’ve discussed the statements of Jesus that led up to this admonition and how they express the Father’s desire that not one little one would be lost.
Now go past our text and see that it is immediately followed by Peter’s question concerning forgiveness and our Lord’s surprising answer.
Peter thinks he’s being generous in forgiving a brother seven times, and Jesus corrects him with the ‘seventy times seven’ response, which we understand to be a reference to an infinite number of times.
So it would be ludicrous to take these verses 15 through 17 and suppose that Jesus has altered His tone in the middle of His discourse and turned a sharp tongue to offenders. Quite the contrary, He is admonishing us when there is conflict, and there will always be conflict among us while we are in this flesh, to go to one another led of the Holy Spirit, as one who is pained to go, not in self pride and self righteousness and not for any self gain, and love our brethren back to wholeness.
Richard Gillard wrote some words that I think express the spirit Jesus had in mind as He gave this instruction:
We are travelers on a journey, fellow pilgrims on the road;
We are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.
I will hold the Christ-light for you in the nighttime of your fear;
I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear.
I will weep when you are weeping, when you laugh I’ll laugh with you;
I will share your joy and sorrow, till we’ve seen this journey through.
When we sing to God in heaven, we shall find such harmony,
Born of all we’ve known together of Christ’s love and agony.
I think Jesus is telling us that if we go to an offending brother in a spirit of servanthood, forgiving and seeking restoration, that will leave the door open for the Holy Spirit to cleanse, mend and redeem.
There’s more to say on discipline in the church but we could not go there without first going here. In part two we’ll ask the Holy Spirit to guide us closely as we line up the exhortations of the Apostle Paul with the foundation laid here in Matthew 18.
