IF YOUR BROTHER SINS

11/7/2022

November 7 -Start Your Day Right Devotion

Matthew 18:15 “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.

IF YOUR BROTHER SINS

In Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus provides the proper methos of confronting, correcting, disciplining and restoring a professing Christian who sins (violates God’s standards of conduct) against another member of the church in a private manner. Neglecting Christ’s instruction will spiritually compromise the purity and purpose of a congregation (1 Peter 2:9; Matthew 5:13) and can destroy a church’s effectiveness.

The purpose of church discipline is to protect God’s reputation (Matthew 6:9; Romans 2:23-24) and to guard the moral purity and doctrinal (dealing with foundational beliefs and principles) integrity of the church (1 Corinthians 5:6-7; 2 John 1:7-11). This discipline is also aimed at saving members who drift away from the path of righteousness and restoring them to Christlike character and behavior (1 Corinthians 5:5; James 5:19-20).
The offender must first be confronted and challenged privately about his or her actions. If the person listens and responds positively, he or she must be forgiven (Matthew 18:15). If the offender refuses to acknowledge and change his or her behavior after being confronted by the first individual (the one offended, if appropriate, Matthew 18:15-16) and by one or two others, if necessary (Matthew 18:16). Then the issue should be brought to the local church community. If the person still refuses to change, they must b released to their own way as “a pagan” (like on who is not part of God’s kingdom) because they have refused Christ’s mercy and broken their relationship with Him (Matthew 18:17, Galatians 5:4). This does not mean that people should teat the offender with cruelty, but the person should not be given the right to church membership and should be removed from the congregation.
This practice of maintaining purity in the local church is important not only in areas of sin and immorality, but also in cases of false teaching and unfaithfulness to the original New Testament message (Galatians 1:9; Jude 1:3)
Church discipline must be carried out with an attitude of humility, love, regret and self-examination to ensure that those who would confront the individual are not also guilty of some offense against God or the church (Matthew 22:37; 2 Corinthians 2:6-7; Galatians 6:1).
Sins withing the church involving continued and open sexual immorality must be dealt with according to the instructions in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 and 2 Corinthians 2:6-11. These types of spiritual offenses should be matters of grief and regret by the whole congregation (1 Corinthians 5:2). They must include “punishment … sufficient” for the offender (2 Corinthians 2:6). The person who has defied God in this way must be expelled from the church (1 Corinthians 5:2, 13). After a while, if it is evident that the person has truly repented (changed his or her attitude toward God, admitted and turned from sin and submitted and turned back to God), the individual can be forgiven and restored to participation in the church (2 Corinthians 2:6-8).
Sins involving a church leader, after being dealt with privately, must also involve public exposure and discipline – “rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning” (Galatians 2:11-18; 1 Timothy 5:19-20)
Leaders within the church and pastors of local congregations must remember their duty to “keep watch over … all the flock”. Spiritual leaders will be accountable to Christ for ‘the blood of all men” (Acts 20:26) who are lost because they failed to discipline, expel and restore people according to God’s plan and purpose (Ezekiel 3:20-21 ; Acts 20:26-27)

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