Matthew 18:15-20, Dealing With Sin in the Church

    ¹⁵ “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. ¹⁶ But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ ¹⁷ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

   ¹⁸ “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be^[e] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

   ¹⁹ “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

How do we approach a fellow believer who is sinning…or has sinned?

This is surely one of the tougher admonishments (not an option) in scripture. Actually, if you’re one of those who think this isn’t difficult…I don’t want to live next to you.

It’s helpful if we view this teaching in the context of the last few verses. After all, wandering away is really just a polished way of describing sin…but it’s instructive.

My beloved Golden Retriever, Bailey, is a wanderer…has been for almost 13 years. I’ve paid the Dumb Friends League hundreds of dollars to get her back. I guess that makes ME the “retriever!” It’s difficult for me to get angry with her because she is so good natured about her wandering. It’s who she is.

Still, she has to be taught…and disciplined.

Personal experience tells me we are a lot like Bailey. We wander, but we aren’t malicious or ugly about it. We’re often rather pleasant about it. We still need to be corrected, and most of us want to be corrected…and our willingness to be corrected is one of the ways we can know we are Children of God. It’s just that we prefer being corrected with a similarly pleasant spirit.

So, I made a commitment to myself years ago. If anybody is willing to expend the energy…and risk…required to correct me I will be gracious and thankful with them. I want to encourage them to continue supporting me.

After all, only bad things happen when we don’t listen. “If they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ ¹⁷ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector”.

Listening is better…

So, I guess here’s the test: If we have to do this, can we be as good natured in correcting others as they are with our own wandering? That’s the way Jesus would do it. How do I know this? Verse 13 says “if He finds it (the wandering sheep) he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.

And…guess what? If we get Jesus involved amazing things can happen because “where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Live boldly out there today…