Matthew 18:15-20

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Introduction

If Your Brother Sins Against You

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.”

As we continue in Matthew 18 I want to remind us of some of what has lead us up to this point. Chapter 18 is focused primarily upon the church, and specifically how we are to treat one another. This discussion was preceded by the arrogant musing of Jesus’ disciples who would be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus responds by telling them that they must be willing to humble themselves like that of a child, who naturally posses no greatness within society. That the disciples would have to learn how to humble themselves in this way if they intended to enter the kingdom of heaven.
In verse 7 Jesus warned them against causing any of his little ones to sin, that we are all charged with protecting one another from sin. Then, in verse 10, Jesus gave his disciples a parable to describe the love he has for his disciples, and not to despise any of them, or to look at any of these little ones with disdain, because his sheep are of such value to him that he would leave his flock to track down even one of them that had gone astray. Jesus loves his sheep and means to protect them, not willing that any of them should perish.
Therefore, in the same way, verses 15-20 are intended to teach us to care for one another in the same way, willing, like Jesus, to go after our brother if he has gone astray. So we are to protect one another, love one another and be ready to restore one another.

Pay attention to yourselves!

There is a parallel passage to this text found in Luke 17 that’s very brief, but it’s also very insightful as we study this text. In Luke 17:3 we read,

3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,

I love how Jesus begins that verse, he says, “Pay attention to yourselves!” In other words, this is not every man for himself, pay attention to your brother. Like a shepherd watches out for his sheep, watch out for one another.
On multiple occasions I’ve been a chaperone for large groups of children, and one of the most important tasks is to simply pay attention, to not lose sight of any of them. So you’re always counting them, watching out for them, making sure all of them get on the plane or the bus, and that none of them have wandered off. And sometimes we would even setup a buddy system where each person was tasked with keeping track of their assigned partner. It’s how we would keep each other safe and from wandering off, or getting lost. And so it should be within the church, Jesus says, “Pay attention to yourselves!”

If your brother sins (against you?)

Then he says there in verse 15,

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.

Now, I want to point out that there is what’s called a textual variant here in verse 15, some Greek manuscripts do not include the phrase “against you,” so the translators have to decide, with the best manuscript evidence available to them, whether to keep the phrase or not. And given what we read in Luke 17 (where the phrase is not included, and there’s no textual variant) I believe it fits best if the phrase is left out and the text reads, “If your brother sins, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.” In other words, I think this text isn’t limiting Jesus’ command here to just those sins that your brother has committed against you, but rather, any sin that your brother commits.
And don’t worry, even if my exegetical work is wrong, the Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 6:1 that,

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

In other words, it’s completely within the bounds of Scripture that you should confront your brother even if a sin hasn’t been committed specifically against you . We should be concerned with any transgression that our brother may be caught up in, and seek to restore him. And I point this out so that we don’t get the wrong impression that we should only seek to confront and restore a brother if he has committed a sin against us, rather, we should always seek to do so.

Church discipline includes you

What else is striking about this verse is that its talking to all of us, not some church hierarchy. I think we often think of church discipline as something the church at large does, or something that the elders of a church take care of, apart from us (as members), but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Church discipline is the day in and day out admonishing that takes place within a local church, and between its members.
And we often only think of church discipline when it reaches its most serious point, excommunication, whereas the vast majority of church disciplinary matters should be carried out by each and every member within the church, one on one. In other words, admonishing one another, and rebuking one another as the need arises is intended to be typical and normative for a healthy body of believers, where we’re all deeply concerned for one another’s welfare and spiritual well-being. Where a church’s members are corporately seeking to purge the sin that still remains within it. In fact, it’s typically when matters of sin aren’t addressed early and often, within the context of the local church, that a person’s sin more easily, and eventually results in more serious actions by the church corporately.
It would be like trying to discipline a child when you’ve neglected to do so for the first 18 years of their life. And while discipline is hard, time consuming, and uncomfortable, it yields good fruit for all.
So remember, every believer has an individual responsibility to one another. And if we think that such a passage is only for those in church leadership, then we may find ourselves, like Cain, arguing with God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Well, the answer, of course, within the church, is “Yes, you are!” Therefore, take this responsibility seriously, for church discipline is intended to be the immune system of the body of Christ.
You may recall that sin is often compared to leaven (or yeast) that affects the entire batch of dough. Well, church discipline is intended to purge such leaven, to purge sin from within the church, therefore church discipline is essential.

The authority behind church discipline

Now, don’t misunderstand me when I use the phrase ‘church discipline’. When I use the phrase discipline, for many of us, it implies someone having authority over another, but remember that the authority that we carry with us when confronting a brother about their sin is not our own, and our words are only authoritative in so far as God’s word is appropriately applied. This is discipline that is ultimately upheld and defined by God’s word. So don’t get tripped up over the fact that God has ordained that the church, and its members, be the means by which that authority is carried out or applied. Church discipline is God’s discipline, carried out by his church according to his word, for God’s glory and for our good. And remember the writer of Hebrews tells us that God disciplines us precisely because he loves us. Which should also be the motive that drives our participation in church discipline.

Motivated by love

And not only should church discipline be motivated by love but it’s intended to promote love toward one another. And we can see this in Leviticus 19:17-18, where this idea of confronting your brother finds it origin. Leviticus reads,

17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

In other words, if you don’t confront your brother about his sin, you put yourself at risk of harboring hatred toward him, holding a grudge against him, or even seeking vengeance against him. When we refrain from confronting one another concerning sin we aren’t loving our brother.
And I understand that not confronting someone on difficult issues like this is altogether contrary to what our culture teaches. Our culture defines love as never to offend anyone no matter what, no matter whether your brother is in sin, just let him be “true to himself.” Well, let me tell you, if one professes to be a Christian, then living in sin is not being true themselves, it’s being in contradiction to their claim to be Christ’s disciple. And if that Christian is a genuine brother in Christ then he’ll thank you for seeking to restore him. If he isn’t then his unrepentant heart will be shown for what it is, and the church will have such evil purged from within it.
The bottom line is this, if we truly love one another we’ll take church discipline seriously. We’ll love one another enough to speak up, and we’ll take take seriously our responsibility to one another.
Therefore, confront your brother if he sins, tell him his fault, help him to recognize it, bring the wrong into the light, admonish and rebuke him as is necessary. And remember that when you do the goal is to win your brother, not to destroy him, but to seek his good, because,

If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

Have charity toward your brother, be patient with your brother. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:14,

we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

Remember that God is patient with us, therefore be patient with your brother.
And judge one another with right judgement, first removing the plank from your own eye before removing the speck from your brother’s. These are all the prescriptions that Scripture gives us that must come to bear upon our minds when we carry out church discipline.

Confront one another privately

And finally, almost all church discipline should begin one on one. Confronting your brother is not an opportunity to Lord their sin over them, or to be puffed up by your own sense of self-righteousness, or to publically put your brother to shame. Therefore, social media is not an appropriate means of carrying our church discipline. If a brother is posting or re-posting material that is unbecoming of a Christian don’t “call them out” in the comment section, instead send them a private message, or better yet, pickup the phone. The love we have for one another should compel us not to put our brother to shame, but to privately save them from the danger of their transgression. This is why Jesus says,

go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.

I’ve often said it this way, private rebuke, not public humiliation.

Two or three witnesses

Then Jesus goes on there in verse 16,

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.

So if your brother will not listen to you, then we’re commanded to take two or three other brothers with us, who are intended to back up your concern for your brother’s sin. In this way your accusation is confirmed by other members of the church to give additional weight to your concern for your brother’s sin. For there is more authority in the united testimony of the two or three than just the one. The small group is intended to strengthen the appeal in hope that the offender will listen.

Excommunication

Then in verse 17,

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.

If your brother remains impenitent, or without shame or regret for his sin, then you are to take him before the entire congregation to plead with him. Again, this is to further strengthen the appeal of the one in hope that the offender will finally listen, but if they will not then the church is to remove them from their assembly, or to excommunicate them, to treat them as a Gentile and a tax collector, having no place among the holy people of God or at their table of fellowship. This is why churches have historically denied certain individuals who have been excommunicated from participating in the Lord’s Supper, because the table is only for those who are a part of God’s family, and an unrepentant person who is unwilling to forsake or acknowledge their sin is not welcome at the Lord’s table.

Delivered over to Satan with hope

In fact, when Paul addresses a case of unrepentant sexual immorality within the church at Corinth he writes in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 this,

5 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.

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.

Such a person is to be excommunicated and so delivered over to Satan. However, even in this most difficult of church disciplinary actions the hope and intention is not for the person’s destruction, but ultimately for their salvation. The hope is that they might still ultimately repent and return after being delivered over to Satan.

Promise and comfort

And because of the difficult nature of such disciplinary actions, Jesus rounds out this section with words of promise and comfort. Now, unfortunately, so many Christians rip these following verses right out of context and give them all sorts of meaning they weren’t intended to carry, but as we read verses 18-20, keep in mind their context, and keep in mind that they’re intended to comfort us as we strive to carry out church discipline as Jesus has instructed,

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.”

First, verse 18 speaks of the authority given to the church. That the church has authority, insofar as they affirm and carry out what the Scripture teaches. Jesus isn’t giving the church some special authority outside of himself, but rather an authority that is already rooted in himself and revealed in his word. For example, if a person is willfully living in sin, the church can rightfully say, with confidence and authority, that that person’s sins are not forgiven. Or, conversely, if that person willingly confesses and turns from their sin, the church can rightfully say, with confidence and authority, that that person’s sins are forgiven. The binding and loosing of verse 18 is a binding and loosing in accordance with Scripture, which gives the church the authority to carry out church discipline, to identify a person’s impenitence and excommunicate them accordingly. So, again, verse 18 speaks of the authority given to the church.
Second, verse 19 speaks of Jesus’ support given to the church. When the church agrees upon anything according to God’s word it shall be done for them by our Father in heaven. Again, the church has Jesus’ support in carrying out church discipline if it is carried out in accordance with Scripture.
And finally, third, verse 20 teaches us that God is present with us in uniquely when we carry out church discipline. Notice how Jesus references the two or three (mentioned earlier) who are gathered in his name, or gathered to carry out this particularly difficult work of church discipline.

Conclusion

So Jesus tells us that as we carry out church discipline, we have the authority to do so, his unwavering support and his promise that he will be with us, uniquely, as we do it. Therefore, let us think about these things, take them seriously, and care enough for one another to confront one another when it’s necessary. Let us be ready to receive criticism as well as to give it. Let us not shy away from opening our mouths out of love for one another, and let us be careful to not devour one another either. Let our efforts be done in love and care for one another. Let us pray....

Prayer

Lord, give us wisdom to carry out these commands. Give us courage, and give us patience toward one another. Humble us that we all might be able to receive correction when we need it. Stir up in us a love for one another that compels us to protect one another from sin, to run after after anyone one of us who might go astray. May be pay attention to one another. Help us to remember that our discipline is for your glory and for our good. Give us hearts that desire holiness, hearts that want to please you, and help us to love our neighbor, particularly our brother, those of the household of faith.
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