Trouble In The Family

INTRODUCTION

• Isn’t it wonderful to be a part of the family of God!

• It is so good to be around people who love and care about you. This congregation is full of people who care about and love one another. As I look out into our congregation I would have to say we are a healthy happy family. You could really sense this during our revival. By the way if you missed it, you really missed out.

• Speaking of the church.

• HERE ARE THE TOP 9 THINGS YOU’LL PROBABLY NEVER HEAR IN CHURCH 9. Hey! It’s MY turn to sit in the front pew! 8. Preacher, I was so enthralled, I never noticed your sermon went overtime 25 minutes. 7. Personally, I find witnessing much more enjoyable than golf. 6. I’ve decided to give our church the $500.00/month I used to send to TV evangelists. 5. I volunteer to be the permanent teacher for the teenage Sunday School class. 4. I love it when we sing hymns I’ve never heard before! 3. Since we’re all here, let’s start the service early. 2. Preacher, we’d like to send you to this Bible seminar in the Bahamas.

• . . . And the number one thing you’ll probably never hear in church: 1. Could you please preach more about money!

• As I said, it is great to be a part of such a healthy, happy church. In our personal lives, I think we all want to have a happy healthy home life also.

• What makes a home a good home? Love? Patience? Peace? Kindness? Trust? Acceptance? Affection? Caring? Protection?

• All these things should be a part of a healthy family and they should be a part of a healthy church.

• What is missing from this partial list?

• As a parent, what happens in your home when one of the children does something that is not acceptable? What if they are going down a bad path? What would we do?

• In the church when one of us starts to stray down the wrong path, what should we do?

• The title of today’s message is “Trouble In the Family.” It is taken from Matthew 18:15-20 verses along with a few other supporting scriptures.

• This is one of those tough messages to preach because of the preconceptions that people have in dealing with this subject.

• What do we do as a church when we see one of our brothers or sisters in Christ heading down the wrong road? Do we just ignore the situation? Do we drop the holy hammer of justice on them? These things happen all too often in churches today.

• Within the church family, we will face a situation when we see a brother or sister in the Lord doing things that God tells us we ought not to do.

• The way we handle these times says a lot about the church we are a part of. Ignore the situation, the new are seen as too permissive. Drop the hammer on people, we are seen as being judgmental. What are we to do when this unfortunate situation occurs?

• Today we are going to see what Jesus tells us to do when these heart breaking situations happen within the church family.

• We are going to look at the person who needs discipline; the correct procedure for discipline; where the power comes from that allows us to discipline; and the true purpose for exercising discipline.

• Church discipline is something we do not see much of today. It is too easy to hop from one church to another. This is a message we need to hear today so if and when the situation occurs, we know how to properly handle it in a way that glorifies God and helps the person who is struggling.

• Today, let us see how we are to react when there is trouble in the family.

SERMON

I. THE PERSON WHO NEEDS DISCIPLINE (15)

• Who is the one who needs to be confronted? Look at verse 15. It tells us if your BROTHER (or SISTER) sins. All who are Christians are God’s children therefore all Christians are brothers and sisters.

• Because of the context and nature of this passage we are specifically speaking of brothers in Christ who belong to the same congregation, but we have a duty to help any brother in Christ.

• I had a good friend of mine who I worked with who confronted me with my choices in music at the time. We did not go to the same church, but nevertheless we were still brothers and my brother John helped me.

• We are not called to discipline those who are outside of Christ. We are called to help those who are in Christ.