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Psalm 23 “A Psalm of David.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
INTRODUCTION
We are continuing our study today about relationships in the church.
The subject today is, “dealing with sin in the church”.
Paul made this comment in his letter to the Corinthians, “a little leaven levens the whole lump” (1 Cor.
5:6).
Sin is like a cancer that begins as one tiny spot and begins to spread over the entire body.
If it is not dealt with it will disease the entire body and eventually lead to death.
When sin becomes an issue in the church, it must be dealt with to keep the church healthy.
And a mark of a true church, is church discipline.
A church that refuses to carry out church discipline, forfeits the power of God.
So today Jesus is going to teach us exactly how to carry this out church discipline in a biblical manner and to make sure it does not lead us to sin.
SIN must be dealt with in the church
“if your brother sins”
This is talking about relationships in the church
A brother is referring to another believer
Someone who is an active member of the church who has stumbled or fallen into sin
Your translation may say “if your brother sins against you”
And if you look in your Bibles there should be a number there to show that there is an alternate translation
I think that is the correct translation because Peter says specifically in verse 21, “how many times shall my brother sin against me?”
So the issue at hand is WHAT TO DO “if your brother sins against you”
How do we do this
1) Go show him his fault in private
Go to that person and tell them how they sinned against you
Church discipline is to be kept as private as possible.
We each have a personal responsibility to hold each other accountable for their actions
If I am offended by someone, then I am the one who has the responsibility to speak to that person
If you are offended by someone, then you are that person who should be going to confront them
If we follow this principle, we will cut down on 90% of conflict in the church
Most church conflict begins with something small that does not get dealt with
And it grows and grows until it is out of control
So to keep fires from burning up the church, we must deal with them immediately
Notice the reason for going to that person: “to win your brother”
The whole purpose of confronting someone else in sin is to to restore that person.
And the whole purpose for church discipline is to help bring the person back to where he needs to be with Christ
The entire process is to win your brother
It is never punitive!
It is never revengeful!
And if you have revenge, or anger in your heart I would recommend not confronting them until the Lord has taken that anger and resentment away
What do you do if they wont listen to you?
2) If they refuse to repent, take one or two witnesses back with you
(v 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.”
We do not just write people off, we get more people involved so that the brother in sin may repent and turn from his ways
You must make sure you have the facts
Never make the mistake of assuming something that may not be true!
That is a recipe for disaster
Assuming someone did something without concrete proof will end very badly
We are not mind readers
We do not know what people have in their hearts
Concrete facts are absolutely necessary
Now what if that person still refuses to repent?
3) Tell it to the church
(v 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 Gentile and a tax collector”
The issue is now to be brought out into the public for the whole church to hear
And this is really where things can get ugly
The hope is that by having the entire church involved in the issue, then that individual will repent
If they do not accept the decision of the church, then they are now to be seen as an outsider rather than a covenant member of that body
The individual who refuses to repent can no longer be considered as a Christian
That does not mean mistreatment!
It does not mean the church looks down on them
But it does mean that individual is not behave that way and be ion communion with the church.
Some churches cringe at this and refuse to follow through with it because they think its too harsh
But the individual who sinned has made that decision,
And that person is now disgracing the name of God, the church of God, and the people of God!
And he is harming the fellowship of the saints.
And he is causing damage in that church, and the church is see him as lost!
Paul would say to deliver him over to Satan.
Do not make him feel like he is still part of the church body!
There should be some clear lines of separation from one that refuses to repent
The church has the authority to make the final judgement
This whole thing is like a courtroom scene
There is a transgressor
There is someone who was offended by that transgressor
There are witnesses
And the church is to become the jury
That is what verse 18 is talking about.
“Binding and loosing” refers to “permitting or forbidding”
And what Jesus is saying is that the church has the authority to forbid or permit certain behavior
So the church has the right exercise authority according to the Word of God
The members are under the authority of the church, just as the church is under the authority of God’s Word.
Take either authority away and you no longer have a church!
How does the church make such a judgement upon someone?
What if it is something in the gray area?
What if it there is no clear answer in God’s Word?
How does the church know how to make the right decision?
IT MUST BE BATHED IN PRAYER
“if two of you agree on anything that they may ask” (by praying)
God guides church is disciplinary actions when the church seeks God through fervent prayer
Making final decisions cannot be based upon opinions
It also cannot it be based upon favoritism
It is wrong to acquit someone because they are a friend
It is wrong to acquit someone because they have been in the church for 30 years
It is wrong to ignore sin because someone serves or contributes a lot of money.
This is a call for righteous judgement!
Imagine being in a court room
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