CHURCH DISCIPLINE

 

As we meditate the Word of the Lord in Matthew 18, in verses 15-20 Jesus showed us the authority of the church to discipline – He encouraged the people of God to stand and be firm in a gentle way. But the purpose of discipline must always be to RESTORE the offender and repent.

The way the world deals with conflict is either to take revenge or to walk away.  But God's people are called to a higher ethic- we are to confront our offenders about their sin. Not in bitterness or in a vengeful spirit, but in a spirit of gentleness and love. We are to love one another and to restore one another from ongoing sin.

Oftentimes as believers we were caught up between the fear of – “I do not want to hurt them, what if they get offended, what if they find me unfair, what if they say I am judgmental, or losing people in the church if we confront them and get offended. BUT in this text before us today, God does not give us an option to cop out here. He says in Matthew 18 and verse 15, “If your brother …” that is someone in the faith, a brother in the church, “… he sins against you, go and tell him his fault.”

Jesus tells us, it's so important because, “If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.” [Matthew 18:15] This is a rescue mission! This is a recovery process! When someone lives in sin and if you love him, you wouldn't want him to keep on sinning. So, it is good; it is right; it is loving to go and tell him his fault, so that you may rescue him; gain him; recover him and prevent him from going deeper into his sins.

Though before we confront, we must battle everything with our knee first, pray that they may find the correction with humility. If not, Jesus gave us the process in this verse – bring to the church leaders with witnesses. However, if still they don’t submit and repent let them be – as Jesus said let them be a gentile or tax collector to you-means they do not belong to the faith –BUT it doesn’t mean we cease to pray for them until they are restored.

Let us reflect:

Are we afraid or intimidated to confront or correct our brethren because they might find you judgmental, unfair or unkind? How many times we just close our eyes and ignore the stubbornness of our brethren just to save ourselves from being hated by them? Jesus, gave us the process to discipline for a reason, as a church we must not close our eyes to our sinning brethren. If we truly love them let us correct them and restore them in a Christian way.

And if we are the offenders, let us acknowledge humbly our sins and repent, break down all your pride and be restored. It’s easier to say “sorry” than to sacrifice your relationship with the brethren.
Let us remember, how we receive corrections show how mature we are in Christ.

I pray, that each one of us will have humility to accept any rebuking and corrections for us to be restored. Amen.