Lost & Found: The Biblical Priority of Church Discipline

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Several years ago, a popular film sought to capture the indelible true story of the enigmatic Oskar Schindler. Schindler, as you probably know by now, was a member of the Nazi party. He was a womanizer. He was a war profiteer. But he was a man who eventually learned of the horrors that were being endured by the Jews and he became determined personally to save as many Jews as possible. Most of the Jews at the time were being brought into Poland to the concentration camps there so Schindler set up a factory and he bribed the Nazis to give him Jews to work in his factory. He ended up spending everything so that he could employ as many of them as possible, some 1,100 Jews, rescuing them from a sure and impending death. This was a man on a mission. This was a man on a rescue operation at great personal cost.

That's the kind of lifesaving rescue that God holds every believer in Jesus Christ responsible to do - not rescuing people from the horrors and atrocities of war and of the holocaust but, instead, rescuing people from their own sin. Christ outlines the process that we follow for rescuing others - for rescuing our brothers and sisters in Christ, those who were caught in a trap of personal sin - in Matthew 18, where I want us to turn this morning.

Most theologians and commentators refer to this passage as the process of church discipline. Perhaps no other issue or no other passage of scripture is more neglected in American evangelicalism than this one. To confront someone about his sin is seriously out of step with the prevailing tide of being sensitive to seekers and making people feel comfortable about their visit to church. But as I've reminded you many times, our first question, the first question that should come to our minds is not "what do I think?" or "what do I want?" or "what am I comfortable with?" or any other question that has "I" as a part of it. The question that we must ask, the first question we must always come to is: what does the Bible say? What does the Bible teach? You see, scripture is often counterintuitive. It runs against the grain of our own natures and certainly against the grain of our culture. The Christian life is a life of faith. That means trusting God, even when it doesn't make sense to us and even when it runs contrary to the culture in which we live. Faith is trusting God when it makes no sense to us.

In our day, one of the most difficult and counterintuitive commands in all of scripture is the command laid out in Matthew 18, the command that's often called church discipline. They're very few churches that practice it. The truth is: the faithful practice of church discipline is essential to the existence of the church. Some of you have never even seen it practiced. You've never been in a church where church discipline was carried out in any form And yet, the great voices of the Reformation said that the practice of church discipline was part of the essence of what it means to be a church and that without it, you may have a crowd of people, but you don't even have a church.

In Matthew 18:15-20, Jesus deals with this issue very clearly, very specifically, and very directly. Listen to me, carefully. Church discipline is nothing but the simple process of seeking to rescue a fellow believer from their own sin. The process our Lord outlines here is a rescue mission. It's a rescue operation designed to rescue a fellow believer from the choices of their sin and from the tragedy that it would be to allow them to continue in it. Jesus here teaches us this very exacting process and He tells each of us that we are to follow this path when we see a fellow Christian sinning. Now, this passage answers four questions about this crucial issue and I want us to ask and answer those questions together this morning.

The first and most obvious question is: when? When should we do this? When should we practice church discipline? Notice verse 15. "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private." Now, in this context, the word "brother" here refers to any professing Christian. It's modified by the personal pronoun "your." "Your brother." That means that we're talking about someone, you know, someone within the sphere of your influence. You see, you and I aren't supposed to be some sort of glorified bounty hunters, tracking down sin wherever we can find it. We're simply called to deal with people with whom we have a relationship. Notice the little word "if" that begins verse 15. This word establishes the condition. You see, when a Christian sins, you and I have a responsibility at that moment to initiate a rescue attempt following the process that our Lord outlines in this passage. It doesn't matter whether it's a spouse. Doesn't matter if it's a child, elder, a parent, or friend. If the person professes to be a Christian, then this is the path we must follow. Paul makes this clear in 1 Corinthians 5 where he says we're to do this toward any "so-called brother." In other words, if they profess Christ, whether they are or not, is not the issue. If they claim to be a Christian, this is the path we're to take. Now, does that mean that every time I think I observe a sin in others that I've got to go immediately and confront them? No. There are some biblical exceptions. Let me give them to you.

First of all, when the sin is a personal wrong against you that you are willing to forgive and cover, you don't need to go and confront them. When it's a personal wrong or affront against you that you can cover, that you can overlook, that you can forgive, you don't need to confront. 1 Corinthians 13:5, "love does not take into account a wrong suffered." 1 Peter 4:8, "above all, keep fervent in your love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins." If you and I spend our lives confronting every sin of every person around us, we will do nothing but that because we're all sinners and given to sin. But if it's a personal affront to you that you can overlook, that you can forgive, it's not a blight on that person's character, then you can pass without confronting it.

There's a second exception, and that is when the supposed sin is not a clear-cut violation of a command of scripture. You see, you and I are not to confront what we think is sin in others if it's merely our personal preferences, if it's merely our own personal convictions. There are a lot of people who spend their lives enforcing their personal convictions in other people's lives. That's not what we're urged to do here. Romans 14 makes it clear that if it's not clearly spelled out in scripture, then it's within the scope of those things that are called "issues of conscience" or "matters of conscience" and every Christian is responsible to decide how they're going to behave in those issues before God. We're only talking about things that are clearly spelled out in the word of God.

Number three. There's a third exception. You don't have to confront when you've heard about it second-hand. If someone comes to you and wants to tell you about a fellow Christian's sins, happens all the time to me as a pastor, "Pastor, did you hear about so-and-so?" My response and yours should always be this: "You know, that's a that's a terrible thing to here. Let me ask you, have you gone to them yet? Have you gone personally to them and urged them to leave that sin?" I don't have an obligation to confront what I hear second and third hand. I do have an obligation, however, to send the person that I know has first-hand knowledge of it back to them to follow this process. And obviously, if I hear about it second or third hand and there's no one else and I don't know how to get it back to them, then I still need to act out of concern for them.

There's a fourth exception. You don't need to confront when you haven't repented of your own sins. You're not in any position to go confront the sins of others if you are dealing with your own sin. Jesus, in Matthew 7:3-4 gives the illustration of trying to get a splinter out of your friend's eye while you've got a log in your own. It's a pretty potent picture. We're in no position to go confront the sins of others until we've dealt with our own. Get the log out of your own eye, and then you can see to get the splinter out of your friend's eye.

Those are the only exceptions, however. Other than those exceptions, we are commanded by Christ to practice this process. Now, the New Testament lists a wide assortment of sins that are deserving of moving through this process and of ultimately following through - even in putting out of the church. Let me give these to you.

First of all, there's incest, in 1 Corinthians 5:1. In 1 Corinthians 5:11, there's immorality, covetousness, idolatry, reviling - that is slandering others - a drunkard, a swindler. All of these, we are to be handling this way. False teaching, according to 1 Timothy 1:20, is to be handled like this. In 2 Thessalonians 3, not working. There were those who were piously saying they were waiting for the return of Christ and weren't working, providing for their families. Paul says they were to be treated like this. In Titus 3: 9-10, those who are divisive, who tried to divide the church, who are constantly sowing discord among the church they're to be treated with this process.

Now, when you think about that list, think about the categories there for a moment. That list includes sins of action, sins of inaction, sins of the heart, sins of the tongue, sexual sins, dishonesty, and lack of self-control. In other words, there really is no category of sins that is exempt from this command of our Lord in Matthew 18:15. If your brother sins, go. That's the "when."

Now, the second question we need to answer is: what should our attitude be? You see, sadly there are many Christians who abuse other Christians under the auspices of our Lord's teaching here. People, sad to say, who genuinely enjoy confrontation. They relish every opportunity to bloody and bruise fellow Christians with the club of their own sin. To obey this command, with the wrong attitude is to disobey. Now, the context of our Lord's words here, in Matthew 18, help us to see the attitude with which we must go. The attitudes that must control this entire process.

The first is genuine love. Notice Matthew 18:12.

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 in the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying. 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. So, it is not the will of your Father, who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

Now, "perish" here is use not in the sense of a believer eternally being damned. Better to translate it here "spiritually devastated, destroyed." Jesus is saying, God is genuinely concerned for that lost sheep that goes astray and so should you be. There's an attitude of genuine love here. There's an attitude of genuine concern for that person. In 1 Thessalonians 3:15, Paul says about the one who is under this process, "do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish (warn) him as a brother." This process is to be carried out in the heart of genuine love and concern for the person.

But there's a second attitude given us here in verse 21 and following. Right after our Lord teaches about this process Peter, as always, has a question. "Peter came and said to Him, 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" You see, Peter's thinking this thing through, and he realizes: what about somebody who sins against me? What if the sin is not just generally a sin but it's against me and the guy keeps coming back and keep sinning against me, how often should I forgive him? And so, Peter, understanding the rabbis taught you were obligated to do that three times, doubled it, and added one for extra measure, and he says, "what about seven?" thinking he's being really generous, and Jesus says to him in verse 22, "I did not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven." Jesus is saying: be incredibly generous with your forgiveness. This doesn't mean you can stop at four hundred and ninety. Jesus is using hyperbole and He's saying an infinite number of times. In other words, be eager to forgive. This is the second attitude with which we should approach this process. Not only an attitude of genuine love for the person but an eagerness to forgive where repentance is offered, or repentance is voiced. Those are the attitudes found here.

Paul gives us a couple of other attitudes over in Galatians 6:1. Turn there with me. Here Paul says, "brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass." So, here we have the same situation. "You who are spiritual" - that is, who aren't in the process of sinning and who are living in obedience to the Spirit – "restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness." You don't have to go beating them over the head with the truth. You're to go in gentleness, out of concern for them, and urge them to do the right thing. We're not to go brutalize them. We're to go in gentleness, even as our Lord so often did. There's another attitude here in Galatians 6:1, "restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself so that you too will not be tempted." Here's the attitude of humility. Look into yourself. This is not, I repeat, not the spirit of: how could you do this? Instead, this is the spirit of: I understand my own sin and my own heart, so I understand exactly how you made these choices, but let me urge you to leave it. The attitude that says, "I understand, because if I gave into my own sinful heart and my own sinful desires, I would pursue a path of sin just as you have, but I'm urging you to leave it. I'm urging you to turn from it."

By the way, this attitude of humility, or the spirit of humility, also demands that we show deference or respect to those who are over us either in age or in position. Paul tells Timothy this in 1 Timothy 5:1-2. He says, "don't sharply rebuked an older man, but rather admonish him (or appealed to him) as a father." Same thing with an older woman, "as a mother." In other words, there's to be an attitude of deference and respect if we go to someone who's over us – a parent, let's say, or a boss, or an elder, someone that God has placed in a position over us or perhaps they're older than us in age. Watch our attitude. We're to go in a spirit of humility. So, our attitude, the Bible tells us, as we pursue this process, this rescue operation, is to be one of genuine love, forgiveness, gentleness, and humility.

Now, that brings us to the third question that we need to answer, and it's really the heart of Matthew 18. And that is: what is the process itself? What is the process? Jesus lays out here a simple, but thorough, four-step process. We're not talking about a twelve-step program here. It's a four-step program. This is the rescue plan designed by our Lord and you and I have no right to monkey with it. What exactly is this process? Well, there are four steps.

The first step is private confrontation. Notice verse 15. "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private." The word "go," by the way, is a command. It means you and I must take the initiative. if you know of the sin, of a sin in the life of someone you love, it's never acceptable to do nothing. "Go," Jesus says. Take the initiative. Go and show him his fault. "Show" here means to convince or to expose. "Brother, let me show you from God's word why what you're doing isn't right. It's disobedient to the word of God. It's out of step with the directives Christ has given us." Jesus adds, "in private." Literally, in the Greek text, it says, "between you and him alone." No stronger way to say than leave everybody else out of it. You don't talk to everybody else about this. When you know of a sin in a brother or sister in Christ, you privately - between you and him alone - go to that brother or sister. Now obviously, you need to use some discretion. If you're a woman and you're going to meet with a man that isn't your husband, it's always wiser to have either that person's spouse or your own there, or a friend. But the principle here is: it's to be private.

Now, there are two possible results of this initial confrontation. Verse 15 says, "if he listens to you." That is, he repents. He hears you. He sees his sin in light of scripture and he repents or - and this happens on a few occasions - there is a reasonable, logical, clear, explanation for what happened, and, in fact, it wasn't sin. One way or the other, Jesus says, "then you have won your brother." You've won and you've rescued him. If this happens, then your responsibility is done. You are now to forgive that brother or sister and to let it drop. Now, I say that because that's the general response you should have but there are a couple of exceptions here as well, Biblically. You can't just let it drop - even if the person's repentant - if the sin involves someone else. They need to go and deal with that person, seeking that person's forgiveness or if the sin is so public that it requires a public action for the testimony of the gospel. And there are times when sin, even repented of, must have consequences. Then you can't drop it either. For example, let's say it's a pastor or elder and the sin that they have committed disqualifies them from leadership. Even though they're repentant, even though they're forgiven, they are now disqualified. And so, there are consequences. So, it can't just remain between you and that person alone. But generally, Jesus is saying here, if he listens, you have won, you have rescued your brother.

That's one response. But there's another response. Notice verse 16, "but if he does not listen to you.," then you go to the second step. There's been private confrontation. The second step is private confirmation. Notice verse 16, "but if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you." So now, you go back to your brother a second time, if he doesn't repent the first time, but this time you take one or two others with you. It's still essentially private. You don't go telling everyone in the church. There're still just a very small number of people that know about the sin. Now, why do you need to take witnesses? Well, there are two reasons given here. The witnesses are there to do two things. First of all, verse 16 says, "so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every fact may be confirmed." This is a quote from Deuteronomy 19:15. It's a key principle of the Mosaic Law. You couldn't be accused and convicted on the testimony of a single witness. There needed to be others who were a part of the process. Now, these witnesses are not necessarily witnesses of the original offense. They may or may not be, but they're there to be witnesses of the confrontation - of the confrontation that happens privately - because if it goes to the next step, three people now know what has gone on thus far. But there's another reason these witnesses are there. They're not simply wallflowers listening so they can later give testimony. Notice verse 17, "if he refuses to listen to them." In other words, the clear implication is that the witnesses have now joined the first person in trying to persuade the sinning brother to repent. Now again, there are two possible outcomes: either he listens and there's repentance and resolution or there is continued rebellion against the scripture. If that's true, then the process goes to the third step.

Notice verse 17, "if he refuses to listen to them," Jesus says, "tell it to the church." This is public proclamation. Now, although Christ doesn't mention the elders here, since the rest of the New Testament makes them responsible to lead all aspects of the life of the church, it's understood that, at this point, they become involved. And if the elders, as they hear these concerns, brothers and sisters come to them determine that there is, in fact, clear Biblical sin and that steps one and two have been accurately and Biblically carried out, then Jesus says, they are to tell the church. That is, they are to tell the assembly of believers. They're to tell the people that make up the church. Why? Well, there's a hint to this in verse 17, "if he refuses to listen, even to the church." Again here, the church isn't told just to satisfy their curiosity. The church is told in order that all those who know the person may join the two or three who've already gone - and now the elders - in calling that person to repentance. The goal here, if you can picture this way, is to have an ever-widening group urge the sinning brother or sister to repent. It's interesting, by the way, that Paul does give one reason to skip this third step. He does it in Titus 3:10-11. There he says, if you had a factious or divisive person - someone creating division in the church - he says, after the first and second admonition, in other words, after the first and second step, put them out of the church. Reject them. Skip the third step. Why? Well, what does the factious person want more than anything else? He wants everybody in the church to come to him so that he can sew more discord with them. So, Paul says, in the case of somebody like that, skip the third step.

Now, here's a crucial point, the church now, the entire church, is involved in this rescue operation. A crucial point and a crucial question that always arises is this, I hear this all the time: so, what kind of sin rises to the level that it should be told to the entire church? We saw a brief list of sins a few minutes ago but the truth is, listen carefully, any sin which a professing believer will not listen to the truth regarding and will not turn from should be told, ultimately, to the church. You see, church discipline is reserved for hard-hearted rebellion against scripture. There are always people in the church who struggle with sin. We all do. But there're some people who particularly struggle. Paul calls them the weak, and we are to admonish the weak. We're hold up their arms, as it were, and give them help as long as they're willing to voice repentance and to attempt to change. Those weak people should never be disciplined. Discipline is reserved for those who are hard-heartedly committed to disobeying the scripture. They say something like this: "I know what the Bible says, and I don't care. I understand you've shown me from the scripture what God says. I understand that's what the church has taught for 2,000 years, but I've got my own views and I'm going to do exactly what I want." Now, you would think that a person under the pressure of the entire church would repent, if for no other reason than peer pressure, but sadly, I can tell you from experience and on authority of the words of Christ here that that's not always so.

The question that comes to my mind is: how can a professing Christian justify continuing in sin after all of this has taking place? Well, if you've been involved at all in trying to urge people to leave their sin, these are the kinds of excuses, you'll hear - and I've heard them over and over again. They run down the same path. You'll hear things like this: "I know that's what the Bible says but I also know that God wants me to be happy." "Well, that may be what you think but this other church I've found - or this Christian author I'm reading - he really understands me. You're just too black and white over there at that place." "There's just no grace and no love in this church." Or: "I know it's wrong, but I want it and I'm going to do it and when I'm done, I'll ask God to forgive me, and I know He will." Jesus says, in verse 17, if he refuses to listen to the church, then you bring the fourth step to bear.

The fourth step is final excommunication. Verse 17, "let him be to you as a gentile and a tax collector." The NIV here captures the sense of the expression "let him be to you" they translate it something like "treat him as you would. "Treat him as you would a gentile and a tax collector." Now, there's a very important point in the Greek grammar at this point. In English, we have one word for "you." We use it both singular and plural. I may be talking to you and say "you" or I may be taking talking to all of you and say "you." But in the Greek language, there is a word for "you" that is singular. It's the word Jesus uses here, and he uses a singular verb. Now, why is that important? Well, it's because Jesus is not addressing the church as a whole. He's addressing you individually and me individually. And He's saying, "you, Bill," and, "you, Bob," and, "you, Jane. Let Me tell you how you ought to act." You see, when the church and the leadership have spoken on this issue of church discipline, every Christian is to respect that discipline. Jesus says, if he still hasn't repented, "let him be to you as a gentile and a tax collector." Now, what does that mean? Well, in the first century, the believers knew exactly what He meant. The gentiles and the tax collectors were considered outside of the nation of Israel. They were God's enemies. They were considered not part of the people of God, as living in sin, and as those who simply refuse to turn from sin and repent. You know what Jesus was really saying? Put them out of the church. Put them out of the church. Be kind. Be gracious. Treat them just as you would any other unbeliever, but whatever you do, don't treat them as if everything is the same and as if they're a brother and sister in Christ. They may be. They may not be. But Jesus says we're to treat them as if they're not.

Now, why is that? Well, let me ask you how you would respond. Let's assume, for a moment - and I hope this is true - that you have a tender heart toward God that you want to obey Him and a brother or sister in Christ comes to you privately and says, "I'm really concerned about this issue in your life," and they can point to a genuine problem, genuine sin, and show you in the scripture where you're sinning. And then they come back to you, and they bring one or two others with them and together these two or three people urge you the same thing, but then you still don't turn. And so, they tell the whole church and now everybody you know in the church is coming to you urging you to leave your sin and repent. How would you respond to that? What do you do? Well, you would gladly, willingly turn from your sin. And that's what most Christians would do. And so, this fourth step is absolutely crucial because it doesn't let a person living in rebellion against God continue to cling to some ancient profession of faith they made and act as if everything is fine. Treat them as if they're an unbeliever because they may well be. It lets them know that from the church's perspective and from the Lord's perspective, they have no reason to think that they are believers at all.

Now that's the process. Very clear. Very straightforward. Step 1: private confrontation. Step 2: private confirmation with the witnesses. Step 3: public proclamation – tell the church. And step 4: final excommunication.

But there's one final question we need to answer and that's: why? What are the Biblical reasons? Well, first of all consider the sinning Christian. What are the reasons this process should be played out for that person? First and foremost, to restore him or her to the Lord. Galatians 6:1, "you who are spiritual, restore such a one." This is about rescue. This is about reconciliation. Matthew 18, you saw there, go after the lost sheep. But it's not merely to restore that sinning Christian. It's also to create a sense of shame in them. 2 Thessalonians 3:14, Paul in talking about this process says, "do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame." Thirdly, for the sinning Christian, this process will deliver them over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh. 1 Corinthians 5:5, Paul says that when we put someone out of the church, we're putting them out of the church into Satan's realm and we're basically asking God to do whatever it takes to unleash all of the powers that He has at His disposal to bring them to true repentance and/or faith. We're saying, "God, destroy whatever You have to destroy of this life in order to - and this is the final reason for a sinning Christian - to save his soul. 1 Corinthians. 5:5, Paul says, "do this, that his spirit may be saved." You see, it's more likely for a person like this to be saved through the process of discipline than if allowed to continue in the church with an unrepentant pattern of unrepentant sin. So, it's to restore, to create shame, to deliver them to Satan for the destruction of the flesh and to save their souls.

What about for the church? This has a purpose for the church as well. First of all, to keep the church pure. Turn to 1 Corinthians 5. Here Paul deals with this, in the church in Corinth. Notice verse 6. He says, "do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?" He says, "listen, if you tolerate this, you're going to contaminate everything with sin." And I can tell you this: in churches where discipline is not practiced, sin is rampant. That's exactly what Paul is saying here. Verse 13, "remove the wicked man from among yourselves," quoting several passages, actually, in the Old Testament. So, it's to keep the church pure. But it's also - and this is very important - it's to make all of us afraid of sinning. 1 Timothy 5:20, here, the context is the discipline of elders who sin but notice what Paul says, "those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all. So that the rest (that's us) also will be fearful of sinning." God wants to put a little of this fear into us and so He's put this process in place to remind us to seriously examine our own hearts. Listen, we don't take pride in the process. We immediately say, "God, where am I tolerating sin that might lead me down the same primrose path?" By the way, this whole process is very serious business. Turn back to Matthew. Look at the words of our Lord in verse 18. Matthew 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. 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.

Now, this is in the context of church discipline. This "two or three" here has reference back to verse 16, the two or three witnesses, the two or three people involved. So, what's going on here? Jesus is saying that when you follow through with the process outlined here, it has the stamp of divine authority. The church doesn't have authority to say you're not forgiven. But Jesus is saying the church, when it says, "you're not forgiven," is simply declaring the decision of God based upon the clear teaching of God's word. If you say it hasn't been forgiven, then it has not been forgiven in heaven because you're basing it on the word of God. And God says, "that's how I always act." So, this process carries divine authority, but it also carries - and this is amazing - the divine presence. Notice verse 24, "where two or three have gathered together in my name." You know, you often hear that quoted in the most inane of contexts but here, it's about discipline. The same two or three we've been talking about, "if they have gathered together in My name. I am there in their midst." Listen, when you set out to follow the process our Lord put in place, He is with you. A very serious thing. The follow this process.

Now, as you can see, folks, Matthew 18, the scripture is very clear. So, why don't most Christians practice this clear command of our Lord? We're running out of time. We're really out of time but let me give you a couple of reasons very quickly. Why don't they practice it?

First of all, there're some who just disagree with scripture. They'll admit to you, "I just don't agree. I mean frankly, to me, it seems harsh and unloving." Really? Well, what could be more unloving than to see a friend in extreme danger and not try to rescue them? You would never think about doing this if you're talking about somebody walking into a house fire. "Well, I don't want to be unloving, so I'm going to let him wander on in."

Others disagree because, to them, it appears proud. "I mean, after all, who are you or who am I to judge?" On the face of it, that sounds like a reasonable response. But God's perspective is exactly the opposite. In 1 Corinthians 5, you know what Paul tells the Corinthians? He says, you have become arrogant by not removing this person from your midst. You see, pride is not practicing church discipline. Pride is refusing to do it. Why? Because you're saying you know better than God. You know better than Christ.

Others don't practice discipline because of their own sinfulness. They're tolerating sin in their own lives.

Some are simply ignorant. They don't know they're supposed to do this. They've never been taught through this passage because a lot of churches ignore it. But brothers and sisters, you can't say that after this morning.

Some say personality is the reason. "I mean, by nature, I'm just not a confronter." Well, join the crowd. Nobody enjoys this here. If you enjoy it, there's something terribly wrong with your soul. "Well, you know, I just avoid conflict at all costs." Search as you might, there are no personality exemptions in Matthew 18.

Some say it's history. "I've only seen that practice done unbiblically or with the wrong attitudes." That doesn't change what Jesus commanded here.

Others refuse to do it for fear. They're afraid that it will damage the relationship irreparably or, in the case of elders and leaders, they're afraid that it's going to run people off from their church. "The fear of man brings a snare, but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Who are you going to fear?

Maybe today you know somebody who professes Christ and yet is locked in a pattern of unrepentant sin. Are you going to believe the culture? Are you going to believe yourself? Or are you in a believe Jesus Christ? This is the best way to deal with that person in their sin. Maybe today, as you've heard the words of Christ about sin, you've been convicted that you aren't taking your own sins seriously enough. You're tolerating and excusing it rather than confessing and forsaking it. Listen, you need to get alone with Christ this afternoon. Don't take communion. You need to get alone with Christ and confess that sin and commit to Him that you're going to forsake it. As Proverbs says, "one who covers his sin will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion." God will forgive you. There's nothing that you and I can ever do that is greater or deeper than the forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ, but you've got to be willing to confess it and forsake it.

The Lord's table calls all of us to confess our sins as well as to rejoice in the reality that God has made a way, a path of forgiveness, in the person of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Bow your heads with me, would you, as we pray.