THE ROAD TO RECONCILIATION

What do you do when a brother or sister sins against you?  The relationship is too important to ignore. Jesus gives us the steps to take in Matt.18:15-20.

1.  GO TO THEM. “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.” (v.15‬). Take the initiative.  Reach out in private.  And if they are still unrepentant?

2.  GO BACK WITH AN INTERMEDIARY.  “But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’” (v.16‬). Perhaps, one or two other mature Christians can act as mediators. Should repentance not be forthcoming, then another step is taken.

3. TAKE IT TO THE CHURCH. “And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. (v.17‬a). The witness of the church can be compromised by the conflict. So, the church must demand repentance.  What if he or she stubbornly refuses to repent at this stage?

4.  EXCOMMUNICATE THE SINNER. “But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.” (v.17b). In rejecting church authority, they show that they are perhaps not even regenerate. Even so, this is not meant to be punitive but redemptive. Should they be a child of God, by casting them out, the Father will chasten them.  They have been delivered over to Satan to learn not to blaspheme (see 1 Tim.1:20).  If they repent, their membership is to be restored.  Should they not repent, and there be no evident discipline, then they are false converts, (Heb.12:8), and we reach out with evangelism, as we would to any sinner.

The church has been given this authority, when we prayerfully come together.  Christ is among us.  “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” (v.18-20‬). Members are accountable to the local congregation.

For an actual case of church discipline, see. 1 Cor.5:1-6:11 and an excessive application of authority following in 2 Cor.2:4-11. The discipline had become abusive.  This is a sobering responsibility that few churches exercise today.

SIN-SICKNESS IN THE SANCTUARY

 

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife!... Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”  (1 Corinthians 5:1,13b)

We have an immune system that fights against disease.  Thank God, because there are germs everywhere!  They are continually probing for a weakness in our body’s defenses, and when they enter we become sick, and may even die.  This sinful world is a disease-plagued environment.  Sadly, in most churches, the immune system is scarcely functioning.  Sin-sickness has invaded the sanctuary.  This is nothing new, of course, and Scripture prescribes the antidote of church discipline.  The Corinthians were infested with all kinds of spiritual maladies.  Rather than influence the culture, their culture was influencing them.  Paul confronts this with a call to urgent measures.

He doesn’t beat around the bush.  The Apostle hits it head on.  When someone is rolled into the ER, and in danger of dying, action is called for—perhaps even drastic intervention.  This scandal was public knowledge, so he felt no need for private confrontation.  He drags the dirt right out into the open, rather than try to sweep it under the carpet.  It was the talk of the town anyway—and in a place notorious for immorality, this was sexual sin of a sort not even condoned by the heathen.  Yet, in the name of grace and love, it was tolerated in the church—even celebrated—as a sign of their inclusiveness.  That is like saying about a cancerous tumor: “You know I really like it.  It has become so much a part of me.  It would be horrible to have to go through an operation.”

Well, operations are not fun.  I have had them, and they hurt.  The removal of certain diseased organs is painful, yet, sometimes unavoidable.  That isn’t the first option, but may become the final one, if other treatments fail.  Scandalous sin must be lovingly and faithfully confronted or the church will be sin-sick—the infection will spread.

Unlike a physical limb that has become so diseased that it must be surgically severed, a member of the church body that is removed by church discipline may be restored to the body, once the disease clears.  The purpose of church discipline is redemptive, not punitive!  A good doctor sometimes must hurt to heal.  Paul, the spiritual physician, tells the Corinthians to deliver the unrepentant member over to Satan—that is, to remove him from the church, and out of the protection of the body—so that in the world he may be broken and then driven back to the church in contrition and confession.  People can be like the Prodigal and come to their senses in that state, returning to the Father’s House as changed people!

This is not a matter to be taken lightly.  It is not a procedure to be entered hastily.  There is a time, however, that if a scandalous sin among the members is not faced, the church will be drained of its spiritual power, defiled in its testimony, and in danger of death.