“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.” (Matthew 18:15-17 ESV)
I live in the USA, so my understanding of how this is or is not being put into practice today is based on my own experiences and on what I know and understand of how much of what is called “church” today here in America has gotten far away from the biblical concept of what church is supposed to be. But I cannot speak for what is going on in other countries. So if you live somewhere other than the USA, you will have to look at this passage from the perspective of how things are being done in your countries.
So let me say first of all that “the church” is not a building called “church.” The church is not a church denomination. It is not a business incorporated under the state. It is not a social club, and it is not a civic center. And it is not a physical location. It is not something you go to. We who believe in Jesus Christ with God-persuaded faith are the church. The people of God are the church. And the church can gather together anywhere, even on the internet, any time of day or night, and any and every day of the week.
And then let me define what it means to believe in Jesus Christ. For in America many people profess Christianity as their religion and Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. But it appears that not many are practicing Christians, according to the Scriptures. Not many have been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to God. And not many have forsaken their sins to follow Jesus in obedience to his commands.
So, when this says to “tell it to the church,” the intention is that we would tell it to the collective body of Christ, to those of genuine walks of faith in Jesus Christ who have died with Christ to sin and who are now living for him and his righteousness in walks of obedience to the Lord’s commandments (New Covenant). For only true followers of Christ, who are not being led by the ways of the world, would have the spiritual discernment to respond to this situation in the biblical manner in which God intends.
And here in America, it appears that the vast majority of what are called “churches” are now creations of human origin, or they have been turned into such, and they are now businesses incorporated under the state operating like any other businesses, marketing the church to the people of the world using worldly means and methods in order to attract the people of the world to their gatherings. And so they are following business models and marketing schemes for how to make “church” appealing to the ungodly.
And since so many of these “churches” are modeling their gatherings after business and marketing models for how to “grow their churches,” and for how to “draw in large crowds from the world,” they have largely taken on the practices of the world in order to attract the world to their gatherings. And so they are “soft-pedaling” the gospel to make it less offensive, and they are trying to make everything upbeat and fun and entertaining and enjoyable. So they don’t want controversy or anything they regard as “negative.”
Also, since so many of these “churches” have now gone the way of the world, and they have now altered the gospel of Christ, most of them are not teaching against sin and calling for repentance and for walks of obedience to the Lord. But they have oversimplified the gospel message to make it as though you can just make a profession of faith in Christ and now all your sins are forgiven, heaven is your eternal destiny, it can’t be taken away from you, but regardless of how you live. But that is not biblical salvation.
So, because of that, they mostly are not coming down hard on those who profess faith in Jesus Christ but who are living in deliberate and habitual sin against God and against other people, but rather they cater to them, and they pacify them in their sin. And they are telling people, “stay in your own lane” and don’t be negative and don’t say anything to offend people and to not be judgmental, etc. So the ones being sinned against have no advocate in “the church,” and sometimes they are the ones who get “the boot.”
So, although this is biblical, and this is what should be done in these kinds of cases, if you try to follow this biblical model, and so you report someone for sinning against you who will not repent – although he calls himself a brother, or she calls herself a sister – don’t be surprised if you are not supported by other Christians nor by pastors nor by “the church,” but rather you become the enemy and they come against you while they support the one who is doing the sinning. And that is because that is the world we live in now.
For those who call out sin for what it is, and who call for people to repent of their sins and to obey God, and who warn of the dire consequences of not coming to genuine repentance, and of not walking in obedience to the Lord, have largely become the enemy, while those who go from sin to sin get treated as though they are the “good guys.” And this is because this is what is being taught and pushed, this whole idea of being non-judgmental and not confronting sin and of not warning of judgment.
So if you are one who is trying to do what is right, and who is trying to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, and who is trying to follow the biblical models given to us for how to deal with unrepentant sin among professers of faith in Jesus Christ, don’t get discouraged if it all just blows up in your face because so many today are being taught the opposite for how to deal with habitual sin in the lives of those professing faith in Jesus Christ. And get your support from the Lord when and if you get attacked by other humans, instead.
Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897
Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.
O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg
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