The Process of Christian Conflict Resolution [Part 5]

Open your bibles one last time to Matthew 18...

This morning we finish our series on Christian Conflict resolution. In doing so we will see the last step in the process of church discipline, step 5, as well as the authority Jesus gives to the church to carry out such a counter cultural task. So, lets hear the word of the Lord one more time from Matthew 18:15-20

Matthew 18:15–20 ESV

15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 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 be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Like I said, we have come to the end of the process, the fifth step. In the fourth step you will remember that we moved out of the informal nearly private conflict resolution and moved into the area of formal church discipline because now the whole church is involved. This step is no different. The whole church continues to carry out the wisdom of Christ together as a body.

In this fifth step Jesus says, And if he refuses to listen even to the church....if you remember that step involved Elders, and every church member. If he won’t listen to them, Jesus says let him be to you as a gentile and a tax collector. What does that mean?

Well essentially this means the person who was a friend of yours, and even deeper than that, this person was a brother in Christ being discipled with you in the Church, this brother or sister is to be treated as if they were not a christian at all.

A gentile was someone who was not of jewish decent, and had not converted to Judaism. The jewish saw these people as unclean. They did not eat with them and they did not fellowship with them because they were seen as people against God. They were people who did not worship yahweh, the only God.

Now, tax collectors were seen as even worse. Tax collectors mentioned in the new testament are jewish people, or jewish decent, brother and sisters and family that sold out and went to work for the roman government collecting taxes from the Jews. This was seen as betrayal. Because of the occupation of the Romans in Israel these tax collector were understood to have joined forces with the enemy.

Worse yet, many of them took the Roman advice to forcefully take more taxes from the people than their law commanded and pocketed the profit. This would be like that county sending out your property tax bill and it was maybe double what you knew it should be. And when you approach them about it they say, “We don’t care, its the amount we want, we are in charge, you have to pay it”. And the state would tell you its ok for them to do that.

Now, this does not mean that the disciples of Jesus are to have some kind of aversion to gentiles and tax collectors. If you recall Jesus called Matthew as one of his disciples and apostles, and he himself was a tax collector. Shortly after that we are made aware of a time when Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinner, something that religious people of the day would NEVER do, but Jesus gave a defense for doing so, saying…

Matthew 9:12–13 ESV

12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The point is, that this brother or sister, just as gladly as they were brought before the church and welcomed as a member of the church, their name is now brought before the whole of the membership to say, our brother or sister so and so are no longer members of this church for these sinful reasons…

Let me be clear, the church is nor judging the heart of this person. We do not know their ultimate destiny if they are saved or not in the eyes of God. We are judging their fruit, and if they are still unrepentant up to this point we can see their inability to obey the word of God.

This also does not mean that you can never talk to this person again… But it does mean that it is your job to evangelize them as you would an unbeliever… Jay Adams helps us out here too with what a part of a conversation might look like with this person…

Handbook of Church Discipline: A Right and Privilege of Every Church Member Mourning

“And John, let me tell you something important that you ought to know about. The Bible says we are all sinners who need a Savior. That’s why Christ came into this world. He . . .”

“Hey, wait a minute! What are you trying to do, evangelize me?”

“Well, as a matter of fact, yes.”

“Well, let me tell you a thing or two. I may have been put out of the church, but I’m still a Christian.”

“I have no reason to think so. You refused to heed and obey Christ’s Word, just like an unsaved person. Now let me tell you about the gospel. . . .”

My friends, this seems harsh, I know. Mainly because it is so counter cultural in thought. We live in a culture of totalitolerence. We are made to believe that we must at all costs tolerate everyone always.

But this is not the way of the church. The church is a body of believers that are dedicated to a number of things, one another being one of those things, but they are specific things that if ignored, or rebelled against, risks the health of the whole body.

That is where we started this thing, that the whole need for Christian Conflict Resolution was because the body of Christ is precious. Those whom Jesus has shed his blood for are a loved people. And if you have submitted your life to Jesus, you need a committed body of believers that will guard you. You need shepherds who know you and are dedicated to guard your life in Christ. You need a shepherd who has your best interest in mind. And one way of doing all of that is guarding the body through church discipline.

Now, there is a reason this is to be countercultural. Because we are the church, and a purpose of the local church is in part to sort those who make up the world and those who are living in the world but are not of this world. The local church is made of Christians, who have committed their lives to Jesus, who have committed their lives to each other, who have the spirit of God in them, which makes something about them a little super natural.

Look at verse 18… Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven… This verse is a repeat from earlier in the gospel of Matthew… in chapter 16 Jesus asks Peter a question. Who do you say I am? And Peter emphatically replied, you are the Christ! The son of the living God!… Which, if you are tracking, this is the confession that is required of every church member. This must be asked of every church member as they meet with the pastor or elders of a church. Who do you say that Jesus is?

Answers such as, “He is a good man… He did some good things..and then died… or he was one of many Gods… or he is was a man sent by God but he is not God...” any of those answers are not worthy of being recognized as a member of the church and still need evangelizing. Jesus is the Savior, the one who died for your sin and for mine. That we may have a relationship with the God who formed us in our mothers womb, to know the glory of our Lord Almighty, and so that we may not bear the wrath of God for all eternity.

Peter responds, he makes his confession of faith, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God!” and Jesus replies…

Matthew 16:17–19 ESV

17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

This binding and loosing is something supernatural… Right? What you bind and loose on earth is bound or loose in heaven, Jesus says. But how is this to be understood? It is to be understood in the light of the context, this decision making. Jesus uses the illustration of keys. Keys open, or lock the door in order for it to be used either as a way forward or to keep certain things out.

Therefore, the binding and loosing is referring to Christians’ making entrance to God’s kingdom available or unavailable to people through their witness, preaching, and ministry. This entrance to the kingdom will include the assurance of the forgiveness of sins.

Meaning, the Church has an authority given to them on the earth to welcome people in and discriminate really, if they are a brother or sister in Christ, or if they are not. Not that the church has the final say in a man’s eternal destiny. Not by any means… But the church has a responsibility, in the elders and in the members to be disciples of Jesus. Being taught his commands and being held accountable to them. To believe the bible together in an obeying way…

Come with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 5…

So, Paul is writing on this very subject of Church discipline to the church at Corinth. This chapter is very helpful in understadning what jesus means by removing from the church, and what he is sayin in verse 18-20 about the authority of the church…

Starting in Verse 1… Paul gives us the issue..

1 Corinthians 5:1–2 ESV

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

Now… he goes further. How can we remove him Paul? Isn’t that mean? Verse 3

1 Corinthians 5:3–5 ESV

3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, That is a church right? And the spirit of Paul is there.... What spirit is that? The same spirit of the conversation. The spirit of judgment Paul has pronounced. When you are gathered in the name of the Lord jesus and remember what Paul says ....you need to act on this guy… How?

Paul says, with the power of our Lord Jesus… With that power you are to deliver this man over to satan. Meaning, remove him from your body. Don’t welcome him to communion. Stop calling him a brother. Evangelize him, yes. But this man is to not be associated with as long as he is calling himself a Christian and doing what he is doing…

If he is a brother Paul says the discipline of the Lord will come down upon him. The destruction of his flesh. Paul tells us that it is possible for a legitimate christian to go through all of this and still be so stubborn and obstinate… We are to be faithful, we are to bind and loose, but even in their sin God is not done with them yet. The Lord uses bodily illness to reprimand us. Do you see the hope in this as well? Do you see the mercy of the Lord in this as well?

Paul says, deliver him over to satan so that his spirit may be saved. Even here, even in this last step, as with every other step, we desire for this person to be saved…

My friends, do you see how this passage correlates with Matthew 18? This removing from the church is done through the authority Jesus gives to the church. Verse 19 of Matthew 18 says, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my father in heaven… And again verse 20, where two or three are gathered in MY NAME, there am I among them.

I have heard many used this scripture to say, when we pray together it is more powerful than if we pray on our own... I would agree with that statment but I don’t agree that this verse teaches that. Many have also used this verse to say, when two or three of us are together, then the Lord is with us… No, God is omnipresent, he is everywhere all the time, but he is with us in a unique way in this context.

This concept must be understood in light of the context. The context is decision making. The context is acting as a church… When the church acts together, as members committed to one another, committed to the ministry, they act as the visible body of Christ on Earth…

So my friends, take heed, Jay Adams made a comment in my study that this is why the christian church is so weak… I will state it in the positive. The church could be so much stronger is men and women who are believers in Jesus would submit themselves to the local church. To learn and grow with like minded believers in jesus. To Submit to and obey the word of God in enacting church discipline. But even in the most basic sense, for the church to grow by having relationships, and learning to overcome conflict in those relationships, not fleeing from the church, but staying together and overcoming for the sake of the gospel, the glory of Jesus, and the humbling of your flesh.

Jesus Christ died to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. We need to guard one another, to hold each other accountable, to encourage one another, to carry each others burdens, to grow, but to remember the Lord Jesus together. God has been so kind in granting us the gift of the local church, may the Lord create in us a body that seeks to be the light and salt of our Lord Jesus.