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“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector". Matthew 18:15-17.
This passage has been used to prescribe the steps taken when a Christian is found to be in sin and refuses to repent. Let’s consider that this may not be the primary application of this passage at all.
Certainly the word “church” is used and the direct implication would be the Christian church but remember “ekklesia” can and is sometimes translated simply as an assembly.
I find it interesting that Jesus said the unrepentant person should be treated as a “pagan or a tax collector”. Certainly Jews were to have no company with pagans or tax collectors but that is hardly true of Christians. Christians were and are obligated to treat everyone in a loving way… even our enemies. So it doesn’t make sense to be telling Christians to treat a brother as a “Pagan or Tax collector” when Christians were supposed to be treating “Pagans and Tax collectors” with love.
So let me suggest that Matthew 18:15-17 is an instruction placed under the realm of the Mosaic Law to teach Jews how to be better Jews and the “assembly” mentioned is the assembly that assembles in the synagogue.
If Matthew 18:15-17 were to be an exact recipe for dealing with the un-repentant brother in Christ I find it interesting that the recipe is never repeated anywhere in the New Testament.
For instance what an opportunity for Paul to validate this procedure in 1 Corinthians 5 when dealing with the church member sinning in a sexual way. He could have told the congregation… go talk to him… several go talk to him then if he doesn’t repent inform the church and let him be treated as a “pagan or tax collector” but Paul doesn’t do that. He simply said… cast him out of the church and have no company with him. Similar but not the same.
So as students of the Bible what does this mean to us? Does it mean we completely disregard Matthew 18 when dealing with a brother we see in the death grip of sin? I don’t think so.
Obviously the Old Law was a tutor to bring us to Christ and in Matthew 18 we are being tutored a principle about correcting sinful behavior in fellow Christians with whom we are associated with in a congregation in future times. It is just not an exact recipe and was not intended to be an exact recipe.
This Wednesday night Marc is going to talk about the importance of song selection and it reminded me of something David Smitherman told me. I’ve forgotten his exact words but it was something like the song service could make or break his sermon. I’m guessing that he meant if the song leader and the song service struggled then it either impacted him or the congregation in a negative way (maybe both). Contrast that with the concept that if songs are thought provoking and easy to sing and led in a way that lift the spirits of the congregation how that could impact the lesson in a positive way.
I know that for me I like to lead a song just prior to the lesson that is not doleful or sad. Those kinds of songs have their place but not right before the lesson. I like to get the congregation on their feet and lead a song that builds a little energy and blows out the spiritual cobwebs. Sometimes after a song like that I’ll make the comment to Marc… “they’re ready and they’re all yours”
James 1:5, “If any f you lacks wisdom let him ask of God who gives liberally… and it shall be given to him”
Pretty nice promise right?
Of course there are several ways of acquiring ordinary wisdom. We get ordinary wisdom by learning from our mistakes. We also can get ordinary wisdom from watching others and learning from them.
We can get ordinary wisdom from reading the Bible. In fact you don’t even have to believe in Jesus Christ to get wisdom from the scriptures.
But the wisdom promised in James chapter 1 is not ordinary wisdom at all, far from it… it is special wisdom special because it is a gift from God and the only thing we have to do is be in a relationship with him through belief in Jesus Christ and just ask for that special non-ordinary wisdom.
We should not only ask for God’s wisdom for ourselves but also on behalf of others who are ruining their lives with stupidity and ignorance.
What a great gift… don’t ignore it. Believe in what God says.
Most of us are familiar with the account of the Parable of the Sower and the Seed in Luke chapter 8.
The seed is the word of God and it’s planted in different kinds of hearts… the “wayside” where Satan snatches the word out of their hearts before it can even grow a root. The “rocky soil” where the word takes root but before faith can grow they are tempted and fall away. The “thorny soil” where the word is choked out by things that compete for our time and the good “rich soil” where the word develops a deep root and is very productive.
The primary application of this parable is not to the planter of God’s word… it is to the hearer of God’s word.
Note that Jesus’ explanation transitions from the agricultural side to a description of a lamp and light and the need to let it shine. The words “hear and heard” occurs six times in the parable and the explanation of the parable and then culminates with the light/lamp explanation and the words “Take heed therefore how you hear…”
You can be a “wayside” hearer, a “rocky soil” hearer, a “weed choked” hearer or a “good soil” hearer. You are in control of how you hear God’s Word… Jesus said so.
And then at the close of this explanation Jesus’ mom and brothers come looking for him and Jesus addressing the crowd said to them those who “hear the word of God and do it” are my mother and brothers.
Those who hear and do are those who believe and shine. If you do that you will be productive.
In our congregation if I see someone in regular attendance I broach the topic of placing membership with the congregation. I did that recently and the person asked me what the reasons were for placing membership. Excellent question.
First of all when you place membership with a congregation you place yourself under the oversight of the Elders of a congregation who function to help you grow into spiritual maturity. They do that by helping you come to a complete knowledge of the scriptures, by encouraging you to identify and utilize your spiritual gifts and to strengthen you so that you won’t be tempted to sin.
In addition, when you place membership in a congregation you are recognizing that the members can also help you in the exact same way as the Elders do. We are mutually responsible to each other.
So are there any attendance requirements when you become a member? We certainly recommend that you attend all the services but for many that is unrealistic. We have elderly members who are home bound, we have members who cannot drive at night and we have members who have to drive long distances.
We have some in regular attendance who are not members but who attend better than many of our members. They just don’t want to place membership. The reality is that functionally they are members. They look like members, they act like members and the congregation for the most part thinks of them as members. I call them “common-law” members.
We have members on our rolls who we may not see but a handful of times per year who are in fact able to attend more but they don’t. Are they really members? Not really… not functionally. Few people know them and the reality is they are members in name only… they don’t contribute anything to the other members.
What about members who could come but prefer to watch livestream services? Are they members? Not really because they don’t function as members… they don’t participate at all… its like a one-way street.
Homebound elderly members are members because if they could attend they would attend and participate. They’ve demonstrated that throughout their lives and now serve as opportunities for our younger members to serve them.
When you place membership with a congregation you are telling them that you have confidence in them to help you on your spiritual journey. You’re telling them that you’re planning to get involved in all the responsibilities and activities that are associated with the congregation.
I had a client bring in a stray dog the other day that they “rescued”. She said… we don’t really need another dog but it needs a home. I told her that if someone offered her $10,000 for that dog today that she would take it in a heartbeat but give it 4-5 years and if someone offered her $20,000 for that same dog she would laugh in their face.
That’s kind of like placing membership in a congregation on day one you might not appreciate it that much but somewhere along the line it can be one of the most precious relationships you have. Get off the bench and get in the game.
