Church Discipline, Church Unity – Matthew 18:15-20

A Google search reveals a plethora of headlines regarding church discipline: What does the Bible say about church discipline, 10 things you should know about church discipline, 22 mistakes pastors make in practicing church discipline, Avoiding liability when disciplining pastors or church members, and Why we fail at church discipline. Have you ever been in a church that exercised church discipline? It seems to be a rare practice. And yet, Jesus tells us to do it, outlining it step by step for us.

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matthew 18:15-20 ESV)

Jesus has been talking about causing one of his “little ones” (believers in Jesus) to sin and the severe consequences of that. But what about those who have been sinned against? How are they to respond?  From the standpoint of the one who has been sinned against (not necessarily made to stumble or be tempted, but possibly so) that other believer is a brother or sister, and Jesus outlines a process for healthy interaction over it.  If we were to follow this procedure it would vastly improve our spiritual health individually and corporately.

• Go privately to the one who sins against you and seek an admission of fault.  If that believer acknowledges his fault and asks forgiveness there is healing between the two of you and the one who sinned has grown.  Admittedly you will get those who keep coming to you over every little fault, but that becomes a chance to address an issue they have and a chance to be humbled yourself and minister to them at the same time.  Both of you grow.  If the one who sinned against you helps you realize you have also sinned, you both grow.
• Failing this admission of fault and an open wound still is unaddressed, bring two or three others to enter into your conflict and judge both of you.  If they judge that your brother has sinned against you he will have an objective witness besides you to help him move toward repentance and seek your forgiveness.  There is now also an accountability in place for future interaction and only a few people are aware of the issues.
• If the brother won’t listen even to the two or three witnesses it must be brought to church leadership (just telling everybody in the church what is going on would not address the issue) and if they judge, as final court of appeal, that your brother is at fault, he has a chance to repent yet again and seek your forgiveness.
• Failure to listen at this final level means your “brother” is not evidencing the fruit of salvation (repentance for sin and submission to God’s direction) and must be treated as an unbeliever and considered outside the fellowship of believers.

Jesus says that the church has this authority to loosen (forgive) or bind (hold at fault), but that involves not just one individual making such a judgment but two or three, so that this cannot be some private vendetta.  There must be agreement in asking for God’s discipline in this way (this is not a statement by Jesus about personal prayer).  This is a profitable check and balance on leadership.  Jesus says he will be among us with his authority exercising church discipline to ratify our judgment if it is done in this way.

Why do we not want to follow this procedure? Do we not care enough about the unity of our family of faith? Are we too afraid of conflict? Are we overcommitted to the privacy of the individual? Are we afraid of lawsuits? Shouldn’t we trust the process Jesus gave us? It may go counter to our culture, but praise God for that. Jesus knows what we need.