What is the church?
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 6 viewsNotes
Transcript
Baseball- Every minute you are late the whole team had to run that many sprints. You can bet there was some encouragement to that person, Don’t you be late again!
Baseball- Every minute you are late the whole team had to run that many sprints. You can bet there was some encouragement to that person, Don’t you be late again!
Last week we began this discussion where we are seeking to answer to the question:
What is the church?
Last week, I mentioned that we only see the word “church” twice in the Gospels (MMLJ)
Last week, we dealt with the first passage in which it was mentioned.
Matthew 16 -
And from that passage and the exchange between Jesus and Peter.
We learned:
The church is being built by Jesus.
The church belongs to Jesus.
The church will succeed because of Jesus.
We also discussed that the church is not a building. It is a people. Those who have been called and collected by God.
Now this is not a group of perfect people. I think we all know that.
Its a group of forgiven people.
But while it is not a group of perfect people, it is also not a group that can tolerate sin in its midst.
In fact the other passage where Jesus mentions the church is in respect to this.
Look at Matthew 18:12-14
12 “What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? 13 “If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. 14 “So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.
This parable, I believe is speaking of the church.
Because I because it is to be connected with the verses that follows it.
Read with me Matthew 18:15
15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.
Matthew 18:15 is super clear. There’s virtually no disagreement on what this verse means.
Let’s walk through it.
If your brother sins.
Its not talking merely familial bonds. Its talking about the bonds that exist between believers.
So it is talking about a sin a professed believer commits
If someone who is a brother or sister in Christ sins,
What are we to do?
Go and show him his fault.
I think this is probably one of the most neglected commands in the New Testament.
Why do you think we disobey this command? Get Answers-
We are disobedient and need to repent.
At times we are more comfortable to talk to someone else about another persons sin that to talk with them personally.
Thats disobedience and sin in and of itself. We ought to repent of our gossip and go to that person.
Comfort (It makes us uncomfortable to confront.)
Misunderstanding of Scripture.
Particularly Matthew 7
Matthew 7:1-5
1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
We have taken this passage and warped it to mean that no one ever has the right to tell another person what they have done wrong.
We have warped this to mean that “Only God can judge me, and no one else has the right to say anything about my life.”
Or we have warped it to mean- Well I see that they did something wrong but, “Well you know, Don’t judge.”And what we have done is conflated two words that are completely different. We have mistaken judgment to mean any form of disagreement whatsoever.
Therefore we have misunderstood this passage to mean, Don’t judge ever ever ever.
But if we hold to that interpretation of Matthew 7, you are going to have to deal with the fact Matthew 18 teaches the complete opposite. Or maybe, We have misunderstood Matthew 7. Matthew 7 is not saying, We are not to judge ever ever ever. In fact, it goes on to speak of how we should go about inspecting other people’s lives. We are first to deal with the sin in our lives , before we go to others to point their sin out.
We believe it will “Push people away.”
Parent “I don’t want to force him to come to church because I don’t want to push him away from the church.”
Now this one is interesting.
Its interesting because the very thing God tells us is used for restoration, we think that it will accomplish the opposite.
Here is where we must decide who knows better? Does God know better or do we?
Is it better to leave the wandering sheep alone and just believe that they will come back on their own?
Or should we do what God says?
It is my understanding and argument that confrontation of sin church discipline is not a means by which we drive people away. It is a means of grace that pulls the wandering sheep back home.
When you think about it that way, it pushes them away when we disobey him.
Because look at what God says
15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.
The goal of that first conversation is to win the brother not to lose him.
If he listens to you you have won your brother.
I’ll just be honest, this should happen more frequently than it does.
When is the last time you had another brother or sister in Christ confront you personally about a sin in your life?
That should be happening within a body of believers. With the goal of keeping the sheep together.
Now if he listens, you have won your brother.
But what if he doesn’t- Then there is further action.
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.
The next step is to gather one or two people with you to confront and confirm the sin.
He quotes here from Deuteronomy 19:15
15 “A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed.
There is beauty and strength in numbers.
The goal here is not to gang up, but again with the hope that the person will acknowledge, its not just one person offering this critique or correction. Its multiple people.
They then, are to go to the person in sin and confront them. That ain’t easy. In fact, its easier to just leave it unaddressed. Its much easier to say, Well I’ve done my part by confronting them personally, now it is what it is.
No there’s another step, if we desire to biblical.
And the hope and principle behind this is: that two people are stronger together to bring back the wandering sheep.
But what if they still don’t listen.
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.
Then, they are to tell it to the church.
And here we see the church is seen as another step.
The church then is to speak to them as a whole. Where we, together would exhort the person to repent.
If the person still refuses, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
In other words, view them as an unbeliever.
Now, that is the last step in church discipline.
Its not the first. Too often we jump to step 4.
There are steps leading up to this.
But even in this, the goal is not to push them away, the goal is for the ultimate redemption.
The principle is this:
They have proven to be unbelievers by their willingness to remain in their sin after having been confronted not once but three times.
So now, there has to be a different approach. We now evangelize them as we would an unbeliever. We love them. We preach the Gospel to them.
But part of loving them is not allowing them to remain within the membership of the church as if everything is ok. They can come to the worship services and be apart of the church worship gathering, but there is an understanding that they do so, not as a member, but as someone to whom the church is seeking to reach with the Gospel.
We see an example of this in Scripture as well.
1 It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. 2 You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst. 3 For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
What is the purpose in verse 5 again?
Now I know that when we hear that, the immediate reaction is a lack of comfort.
And here is where the excuses begin to pile up of why we should not obey God here.
But again. Who knows best?
Furthermore, What is better for their eternal soul?
If they go to hell, will they appreciate our allowing them to continue as if nothing was ever wrong?
I don’t think so.
(Do we want doctors to beat around the bush with us about our health? Or do we want them to tell us the reality?)
We want to know.
And this is part of what being the church is about.
Church membership is important. A biblical understanding of church membership is vital to the health of the local church.
Which means this has to happen.
Now you may say- What gives us the right?
Look at verse 18
18 “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.
This authority is given to the church by Christ Himself.
Which mean you and I have the responsibility and the authority from Christ to open and to close the door of the membership of the church HERE ON EARTH.
Church membership is really important.
Now we should take careful pains to do this- It is not something we should do flippantly. We do this with fear and trembling.
Making sure, we are addressing actual sin.
We do heavens work on earth when we do this.
Look what he goes on to say in verse 19-20.
19 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
Its not something we do apart from the body. We do this together in agreement with each other.
Thats what verse 20 means.
How have you heard verse 20 used?
Its not talking about a poorly attended worship gathering.
He is talking about church discipline.
Read with me again the three verses that came before this passage-
12 “What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? 13 “If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. 14 “So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.
What is the church?
The church is being built by Jesus.
The church belongs to Jesus.
The church will succeed because of Jesus.
The church is a body that holds each of its members accountable to their confession of Christ.