The Loving Ministry of Dealing with Sin in the Church (Part 2)

Two Responses

Last week we saw that sin cannot go unnoticed or unresolved in the church. It is not loving to ignore sin, but rather to speak about it for the purpose of restoration. Sin is never brought up to hurt, discourage, criticize, or triumph over a brother or sister. We saw that any time we bring up sin with another Christian, our first priority is their good. Like a doctor who diagnoses an illness before treating it, sin is brought up so that healing may begin. This requires humility and a recognition of our own sin, and is to be done gently and with great compassion and care. It is people’s souls we are dealing with, and so the wound of rebuke must be made with surgical precision so that true healing and restoration may take place. Our motivation for rebuking a Christian in sin is always for the sake of healing and not to punish or condemn. We saw last week that we should consider the sinner more of a victim of their sin than we are, since all wrongs which we might endure in this life will be completely reversed in the next whatever happens. But sin, as we’ve already seen in this passage, leads to eternal death. In the long run, you have lost nothing, but they have potentially lost everything if they continue in that way without repentance. So in rebuke our hearts are set not on justice, for justice was already carried out on the cross. Not for justice, but mercy. It is to lead them back to that very same cross that they may be forgiven, reconciled, and renewed for a beneficial life in Christ. This has OT precedent in Lev 19:17

Leviticus 19:17 NIV 2011

‘ “Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbour frankly so that you will not share in their guilt.

Again, we are reminded how Christ did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it in the establishment of the Kingdom of God.

With this being the case, we see that Christ gives us two possible reactions to biblical rebuke.

“If he listens...”

The first reaction is what we looked at last week, that your brother listens to you. If they do, you have gained your brother. You have benefited from their repentance because they are valuable to you. Every member of Christ’s body is necessary and beneficial, and so it is a great joy to both of you when reconciliation, followed by forgiveness, happens.

Another passage underlines this truth, and here Jesus shows that the person may fall into the same sin multiple times, and yet forgiveness must still be shown after any necessary rebuke.

Luke 17:3–4 ESV

Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

There is a practical difficulty here, and that is that some who are truly unrepentant will lie and say they repent in order to avoid trouble. Sometimes this is obvious, sometimes it is not. What are we to do in these situations? Are we to take them at their word every time?

This isn’t an easy question, but Luke’s account of Jesus’ words would lead us to understand that our immediate assumption should be forgiveness. Sinful habits take work to overcome, and we all know sins in our lives which we have confessed and forsaken thousands of times and have found ourselves falling back into them. Pride, anger, selfishness, unkind words, and many other sins may appear multiple times a day and have to be repented of whenever they are pointed out or recognized. However, someone with an unrepentant heart may take advantage of this, pretending to be sorry or even convincing themselves they are when really they have no true intention of changing.

Searching this out and applying it to each situation requires wisdom and discernment. A couple of principles can help guide us in this:

First, although sin may continue to ensnare someone, there should be evidence that the repentance is genuine over time. In the doctrine of sanctification, we trust that holiness is growing in us by the power of the Spirit. This growth should be visible over time in real attempts to overcome the sin. However, this may takes years of hard work to accomplish, so it is the hard work that should be judged first. Over time, is the person who sins over and over showing evidence that they really are trying to battle the sin (even if it is at times a losing battle)?

Second, the confession must be genuine with no strings attached. Most people who feign repentance but are not really repenting usually show this in the way they repent. Genuine repentance is not filled with excuses, it is not casual or unconcerned, and it does not shift the blame. I have at times heard someone say sorry, only to then give reasons why it really wasn’t their fault. This is not repentance. Genuine repentance takes full responsibility for their sin. They do not shift the blame and they do not change the subject to start talking about your sin. They may explain how they fell into sin, but they do not use this as an excuse but rather as an explanation.

An angry husband who is truly repentant might say to his wife, “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I’ve had a hard day at work and I let that stress out on you. That was wrong of me. Please forgive me.” But if he is truly repentant he will not say, “I’m sorry, but I’m just so stressed at work that I cannot help yelling.” Do you see the difference? One explained how he fell into speaking angry words, the other used an excuse to remove guilt. True repentance does not seek to remove guilt by any means except by gracious and undeserved forgiveness.

Third, there must be no hidden details. True repentance doesn’t limit itself to confessing what they got caught in, since it is a change of heart, not just words. If someone is consistently hiding important details related to the sin they are struggling with, then they have not truly repented. If a spouse is caught having an affair and confesses to it with words of repentance, but doesn’t mention another affair they had 5 years ago, this confession is almost certainly not genuine.

However, again our assumption should be that a fellow believer’s confession is genuine unless some of these red flags begin to be present. At that point, it may be helpful to bring in a couple more people into the conversation since the genuine nature of the repentance is in serious doubt.

“If he doesn’t listen...”

Of course, this leads us to the next part of the text; the second possible reaction to rebuke.

The Process of Church Discipline

Here, Jesus gives a systematic progression for discipline in the church. This gives the sinner many chances, with more and more witnesses to testify to the need for repentance. Since the goal is reconciliation and not punishment, mercy is given to the sinner here as the congregation as a whole is pulled in to bring about a repentant heart.

The Progression

The progression is simple.

First, the one-on-one approach is necessary so that the person is not humiliated any further than necessary.

If they refuse to listen, one or two more saints are brought into the conversation. The purpose is for these to act as witnesses. Now, it isn’t necessary that they witnessed the sin itself, but based on the obvious facts they are there to testify that repentance is needed from the sinner.

Here, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 19:15. This is an interesting quotation because it shows a parallel between what Jesus is teaching about the Kingdom of God and the establishment of the law in the OT. In the law, the witnesses testified to bring a sinner to condemnation. The goal was punishment so that Israel would fear and obey the LORD. Here, things are different. The witnesses to not testify in order to condemn, but rather to save. In the New Covenant, this is always the purpose of bringing up sin, even to an unbeliever. We preach sin so that we may preach the hope of the cross, not so that people feel condemned and hopeless. Under the New Covenant, the guilt of sin has been paid for by Christ on the cross, and here Jesus is preparing his disciples to establish His Church with that payment as the central theme. Now the church does not seek judgement for sinners, but rather mercy. Preaching or talking about sin should always be done with great gentleness and compassion, for the reason is to win them to the forgiveness that is in Christ and is expressed by his people when they forgive. So these witnesses do not testify to condemn, but to save by convincing the person’s conscience of their guilt, rather than a judge, so that they may turn to Christ in repentance and not experience wrath.

If they do not listen to these witnesses, the next step is to tell it to the church. Of course, this would be a much more shameful experience which the sinner has brought on themselves, but for their good now the members of the congregation all testify with one voice, pleading with the person to see their error and repent. At any point here, repentance would be met with forgiveness.

The last phase is the hardest for us to understand or hear. If they refuse to listen to the testimony of the local church, they are to be considered an outsider. Their membership is suspended, and not only are they to be considered, for the purpose of the discipline, as an unbeliever, but they are to be shunned as a “gentile and tax collector”. Gentiles were unclean and Jews would not eat with them, and tax collectors were seen as traitors and faced ostracism in their society. Essentially, Christ is telling the church that if someone continues in sin despite the testimony of the church, they are to be avoided and cut off from any fellowship or friendship. Paul gives a similar command when someone is divisive or teaching heresy in the church in Titus 3:10-11

Titus 3:10–11 ESV

As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

The Purpose

This seems harsh to us, in fact it seems downright unloving. How can Jesus, the Lord of love who gave us the quintessential example of love in his bloody death on the cross for sinners like us, tell us to treat someone with contempt and rudeness? Doesn’t this go against all that the Gospel stands for? Are we not to show love and kindness to all?

Here we see how easily our human minds skip over the nuances of the love of God. It is true, the Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of love. However, because it is a Kingdom of love, those who belong to it must love as God loves. When they sin and do not repent, they are making it clear through their actions that they are not interested in love, and so can only serve as a stumbling block to the church and its members. This is why the only response to continued repentance, despite rebuke, is excommunication and exclusion from the church and her ordinances. This is actually the most loving thing we can do for a few reasons:

First, it is in love for Christ that we keep his body pure. Our love for him must transcend all loves, and the reason the command to love your neighbour is second to love the LORD your God is because it is both secondary in importance and yet an overflow of that love. If Christ is not our first love, we are humanists and not Christians. Christ died for a pure church, and we must rid ourselves of sin, both personally and corporately, in order to love Him.

Second, it is loving for the congregation, who entrust themselves to God and live a life of forgiveness. In the world, crimes are punished in order to verify the social contract. If Canada stopped arresting criminals, which we see Toronto and Vancouver have moved in that direction, crime would increase not only because people could get away with things, but because people would have no reason to trust society. If my neighbour can kill me without repercussions, maybe I need to kill him first. There can be no trust or order in society without the rule of law. In the Kingdom of God, sin is not punished but forgiven through the process of rebuke, repentance, and forgiveness as God in Christ forgave us. But if that forgiveness is taken advantage of, the entire community is affected. The church stops being a place of safety and love, instead becoming a den of suspicion and bitterness. For the sake of God’s people, the law is fulfilled in this when it says in Deut 17:7

Deuteronomy 17:7 (ESV)

(Y)ou shall purge the evil (one) from your midst.

In order to love God’s people, we must guard the church against those who are not committed to love and obedience to God. If the church continues to allow unrepentant sin to run rampant among its members, Christ will remove her status as his church and the Spirit which dwells in her.

Third, it is loving for the person themselves. If in their unrepentance, they continue to take of the Lord’s Table, enjoy fellowship with the saints, and and receive the service and kindness of the church, they are being lied to. In doing this, they come under the impression that they are still in Christ when they are not. When Jonathan Edwards preached his famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God in 1741, it was not a sermon delivered in condemnation, but rather in love for his hearers who sat in church be did not know God.

It must be stressed that even now, as we treat them with disdain, this is an outward thing only. Our hearts, on the other hand, bleed for them. We mourn and pray and fast for them. We desire their repentance enough to set them at a distance and trust the Lord to do the work of repentance in their hearts. Paul makes it clear in 2 Cor 2:5-11 that a repentant sinner is always welcomed back into the fold, and their sins are forgiven. He also says in 1 Cor 5 that we are not to treat those in the world this way. If a sinner is living in sin, we should welcome them into our homes to evangelize to them. But if someone who calls themselves a saint is living in the same sin unrepentantly, then we are not to welcome them. With our welcoming, we invite the sinner to know Christ. With out harshness, we plead with the hard-hearted hypocrite to be reconciled to Christ and his church.

Finally, it is loving for the world we are seeking to save. Look today at what people’s biggest problem with Christianity is and time after time you will hear the word hypocrisy. Scandal, abuse, and self-righteousness run rampant among churches of every stripe. How did the church get such a shameful name? Much of it is because they do not practice church discipline. When we do not expel the unrepentant, we are not able to be a hospital for sick and weary sinners. If a man with a plague came into a hospital but refused treatment, and instead went from room to room spreading his disease, he might be arrested for biological terrorism. Surely, containing such a person would be necessary for the hospital to keep functioning as a place for the sick. So it is that in our love for lost sinners, we must keep our church pure from unrepentance and hardness of heart. Our reputation matters as much as we are in control of it, and if we are to invite people to Christ and, by extension, to his church, we are inviting them to a place where sinners are healed, not where they make themselves and others more sick.

Exceptions (Public Sin)

With these rules given, there are going to be some exception and variations as to how an event of discipline plays out. For example, Paul tells us in

1 Timothy 5:20 NIV 2011

But those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning.

That is, elders who are caught living in unrepentant sin are brought before the congregation immediately for rebuke, since theirs is a public ministry. This does not mean that every time a pastor sins this happens, but rather the Greek word indicates an ongoing sin that has not been repented of.

Augustine gives us a good rule as to exceptions to the process Jesus gives us:

“those sins are to be reproved before all, which are committed before all; they are to be reproved with more secrecy, which are committed more secretly.”

Public sin must be reproved and repented off publicly, since these sins are against not an individual but against the whole body. We see an example of this in 1 Corinthians 5 which we read last week.

Being Christ’s Tools for a Holy Church (vs 18-20)

At the end of this text, we see Jesus give us the theological reason behind what is going on during church discipline. Here, we see clearly that the keys of the Kingdom, first given to Peter in Matt 16:19, given to the entire church. These keys are for binding and loosing, and when done biblically and fairly it reflects the heavenly reality. We looked in more detail at what binding and loosing refer to when we were in that text, and I encourage you to go on our church website and listen to it again.

Essentially, this shows the authority of Christ which rests in the congregation on the church, and dismisses any notion that Peter was the first pope since this binding and loosing is given when “two of your agree about anything they ask”. The plurality of the church alone has the authority to determine the biblical move, and if they submit to Scripture in doing this then Christ is seen to act in the same way. In no way is the church forcing Christ’s hand, but rather in obedience they are carrying out Christ’s decrees, and he honours that in heaven.

In verse 20, Jesus gives us the simplest and most basic definition of a church. Where two or three are gathered in His name, he is among them and therefore a biblical church community is established. This cannot be taken so far as to believe that we can each start our own church without any accountability over church planting, or that we can just get our friends together and do church our way. This has to be read in the context of the rest of the NT. Rather, this shows the basic necessities for a church. If two Christians are stranded on a desert island, they can form a church. If an indigenous tribe hears the Gospel through a radio channel and believes, they may form a church. Any group of believers committed to each other in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ can be a church, and in them the authority of Christ is present to exercise church discipline, partake of the Sacraments, and grow in grace.

Because of this, we see that every biblical church has this authority and responsibility from Jesus. We must keep his people pure and holy, both in our personal lives and from those whose hardness of heart and lack of repentance will infect the entire church with sin and division.

Conclusion: Embrace the Humility to be Corrected

In speaking of this, there is no better thought to end on than the serious need for holiness in our own lives. We all stumble in many ways, the Scriptures say, and the Church is a hospital for those who have come to the great physician for healing and life. If we are submitting to his treatment of Sanctification by the Holy Spirit, we will get better and better all our lives, though we will battle this spiritual disease until glory. But there is a fear that should drive us to seek a humble heart when our sins are pointed out to us. We saw earlier in this chapter how seriously we should take sin, and so in this passage we see how seriously we should take any rebuke that may be made against us. That doesn’t mean the rebuker is always right, but our goal should be to have such a heart that we will earnestly and honestly consider the rebuke. If we do not, we open ourselves up to the dangers of hardheartedness and pride. The Puritan Thomas Watson described this reality well:

“Grace can live with sin, but not with the love of sin.”

So let us take care. The church has authority to exercise church discipline biblically out of love for us when our hearts become rebellious. I do say “biblically”, however how many excommunicated members of this church do you think are convinced that we did it biblically and in love? Not many, and that is the point. We are easily deceived by our own hearts, and that is why we are in such of the church. They are a gift to us on our way so that we do not get trapped by sin and unbelief and are able to make it to the end which we are aiming for. I’ll close with Paul’s description of that purpose in

Titus 2:11–14 ESV

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.