“Revisiting Church Discipline” (Matt. 18:15–20)

Series: Topical Text: Matthew 18:15–20

By: Shaun Marksbury Date: August 18, 2024

Venue: Living Water Baptist Church Occasion: AM Service

I. Introduction

I taught on this a couple years ago as part of our “Whats of the Church” series. That was a Sunday evening series, and not everyone can make it to those. Recent events have warranted that we revisit this topic, which may be a review for some of you. Yet, my guess is that there are a few who don’t know what church discipline is or why we should practice it.

There are concepts that typically have a bad name among Christians. One of those is church discipline. Yet, as we see in Matthew 18, this is something our Lord requires.

God wants us to live our lives submitting to church discipline. While it can be misapplied, it’s a command of our Lord here as well as a means of God’s blessing. Committing to church discipline helps us deal with sin and resolve conflict in our church, striving to live at peace with one another (cf. Matt. 5:9; John 17:20–23; Rom. 12:18; Eph. 4:1–3) and avoiding the involvement of the secular courts (cf. Prov. 19:11; Matt. 5:23–25; 1 Cor 6:1–8; Gal 6:1). It gives us great assurance when solid brothers and sisters affirm our commitment to the Word, and we know they’ll come alongside us if we unwittingly or purposefully drift from a commitment to Scripture. The goal is both peacemaking and holiness within the church with the Lord’s blessing.

Before we can talk about church discipline, though, let’s consider the foundational question of judgment within the church.

II. Biblical Church Discipline Involves Judgment

The simple exercise of judgment seems wrong to many believers. This is due in part to the unwritten 11^th Commandment, “Thou shalt be nice!” This is also due to one of the most abused verses in all of Scripture —Matthew 7:1, “Do not judge.” Because of this, many Christians falsely assume we should never exercise judgment about other people.

Yet, Scripture doesn’t condemn judgement; it condemns unrighteous, hypocritical judgment. In Romans 16:17, Paul instructs, “Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.” Similarly, in 2 Thessalonians 3:6, we read, “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us.” There are those in the church who have a form of godliness but are involved in all manner of sin, and we’re commanded to avoid them (2 Tim. 3:6).

Matthew 7:1 is a verse taken out of context. It begins the log-speck passage, which we should rightly consider before making any judgment. There, our Lord says, “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (v. 5). So, this means that we are to help others with their sins — after we’ve evaluated ourselves. This same Jesus said, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24).

We’re commanded to judge within the church, to know right from wrong. With righteous judgment, we’ll be able to identify spiritually-dangerous individuals. Yet, righteous judgement keeps us from a spirit of judgmentalism, where we operate like schoolmarms. There’s a reputation among some more theologically-conservative Christians to rush to judgment, almost as though confrontation becomes a spiritual act of service. Some are indeed pugnacious, itching for a fight.

Instead, as 1 Thessalonians 5:14 says, we’re to “admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” Patience arises when our goal is love. Compare this to Galatians 6:1 — “if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.” If we love the transgressing brother or sister, then we will aim for gentle restoration.

This is part of the personal preparation process. Preceding this section in Matthew 18, Jesus speaks of personal holiness and seeking the straying sheep (vv. 7–14). The offended party or concerned Christian should properly consider himself and his motivations before approaching anyone (Gal. 6:1). He should then prayerfully examin himself, taking any responsibility for contributing to the problem (Matt. 7:3-5). Having done that, he should also prayerfully seek to discern whether the offense is too serious to overlook (Prov. 19:11; comp. Prov. 12:16; 15:18; 17:14; 20:3; Eph. 4:2; Col. 3:13; 1 Pet. 4:8 — this is why we’re not quick to jump to church discipline over every issue). If, after all that, a confrontation must take place, then our Lord calls us to follow certain steps.

So, judgment is a part of church life. We’ve seen that it has a couple of stipulations, but when done properly, it forms the basis of the proper administration of church discipline. That said, let us look at the process our Lord outlines in this passage.

III. Biblical Church Discipline involves a process

A. Step One: Private Confrontation (v. 15)

Jesus explains, “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother” (v. 15). The words “show him his fault” means that the sin should be clearly articulated according to Scripture (i. e, this isn’t a matters of preference), so he or she can recognize it, repent, and be restored. (If you as the confronter have contributed to the wrong, this is the time to confess it in seeking reconciliation.) Most church discipline ends here, when two saints work it out without anyone else in the church knowing about it.

As an aside, it’s worth noting Jesus speaks of personal offence; public sins may require public confrontation. For instance, Paul confronted Peter publicly when his behavior was publicly out of step with the gospel (Gal. 2:11–14). False teaching would require an open rebuke, while good but inaccurate teaching can be handled in private (like with Apollos in Acts 18:24–26). Righteous and loving judgment is required for such circumstances.

Whatever the case, don’t move too quickly to the next step. Perhaps the initial confrontation didn’t bear fruit, but a follow-up private conversation might. Be prayerful, flexible, and sensitive to the needs of the situation. It’s only when obstinance ends the value of private interactions that we move on to step two.

B. Step Two: Confrontation with Witnesses (v. 16)

Citing the Law (Deut. 19:15), Jesus explains the next ethical step to take. He says, “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed’ ” (v. 16). Someone else should be available to either confirm or deny the matter.

This loving act affords the accused an opportunity to demonstrate his innocence. It’s also a good opportunity to confirm that sin has occurred and to kindly help the accused realize it. Hopefully, where private confrontation failed, confrontation with witnesses will lead to restoration. It may that may take more than one meeting, as there could be related issues that require time to untangle.

These “two or three” might include fellow church members, deacons, or even elders. Depending on the situation, you may need to seek other mutually-respected Christians in the community, perhaps even trained mediators or arbitrators from a biblically-based ministry like the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC, formerly NANC) or Peacemaking Ministries. Even so, the matter should remain a local church issue, and at the request of either party, the church can assist in resolving their differences or overcoming sin.

However, if even this fails, then it may be necessary to bring in more authoritative witnesses. Even if an elder is already involved in this issue, we would inform all involved parties in writing to come to a special meeting with the elders. There’s a lot to get into here, but stated for brevity’s sake, the goal is to provide every chance of grace and mercy, and the accused might still plead a case of mistaken identity. The elders will patiently bear with this process, but it may be that the determine the nature of the accusation requires immediate action of some kind (such as the accused stepping down from a ministry position, ceasing communion, etc.).

If this fails, then the elders can assist the accuser to present the case to the congregation, the next step.

C. Step Three: Tell it to the Church (v. 17a)

In the case of hard-hearted, unrepentant sin, Jesus says to “tell it to the church” (v. 17a). If the elders find that the accused remains in sin, they must bring the rest of the congregation in on the issue. (For the sake of our present age, this is typically preceded by certified mail to the accused, but not always.) They will inform the church of the nature of the accusation (as appropriately as possible) as well as the previous steps taken in the church discipline process. The elders will direct the congregation to join them in praying for the individual and urging his repentance at every opportunity for a length of time suitable to the issue.

This will result in shame for the individual, but that’s not the primary goal. Hopefully, this drastic step will result in a positive response as the whole congregation is involved in calling the individual to repentance. Because restoration is the goal, we’ll wait an appropriate amount of time, but the issue cannot continue indefinitely before moving to the final step.

D. Step Four: Dis-Fellowshipping (v. 17b)

In the second half of v. 17, Jesus says that “if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” What does He mean by this? Well, we always must first consider how His audience would have interpreted this.

Ancient Israel had physical as well as moral boundaries that separated them from the Gentiles. They weren’t allowed to intermarry or in any way emulate the Gentiles. On the flipside, Gentiles were not allowed to partake of the feasts of the land like Passover, unless they were first converted. In other words, a Gentile had no part in Israel — he would be an outsider.

The tax-collector would have been a Jew — supposedly someone who was a part of God’s people — who chose to chose to partner with the Gentiles for profit. This wasn’t just a job; a tax-collector commonly swindled his own people. In other words, he betrayed both them and sinned against God.

Jesus’s meaning becomes clear: consider the sinner unrepentant, which warrants some level of ostracism. The former church member is removed from the protective shade of the local church, having his rights as a member revoked as well as his invitation to attend church services and receive the ordinances. He even loses the peripheral benefits of membership, such as attending church functions, receiving child-care, etc.

However, Scripture goes a step further. This means that individual members should cease from normal activities with the individual. We no longer invite him to dinner or to the ballpark. We don’t “like” or otherwise boost their content on social media. Otherwise, we’d give the unintentional message that everything will be alright, that it will all blow over in time. We would also continue to bless him with something that’s no longer his: Christian fellowship. Our interactions become that of pleading for repentance as we would an unbeliever.

That might seem harsh and counterintuitive. After all, shouldn’t this person stay under the teaching of God’s Word to hear the truth? However, there is something dangerous about the one who claims Christ but refuses to repent. When Paul is dealing with a church discipline issue in 1 Corinthians 5, he says in v. 5 that they should “deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” In other words, they should remove the protective shade of church and put him out into the world where Satan rules (cf. Hymenaeus and Alexander in 1 Tim. 1:19–20). Hopefully, like the prodigal, sin and Satan will eat everything up in his life, eventually leaving him desperate for Christ.

Instead of taking pride in showing unrepentant sinners grace, the Corinthians should instead take pride in being pure like Christ who called them. As Paul writes in vv. 6–7, “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.” Such a one “leavens the whole lump” of the congregation, and leaven must be purged just like in the Passover feast (vv. 6–8).

In case this still sounds too harsh, consider Paul’s final words in v. 13: “Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.” He’s citing the Law, where each occurrence of this phrase refers to carrying out the death penalty for sin (Deut. 13:5; 17:7, 12; 21:21; 22:21). Now, thankfully, God doesn’t command Christians to stone those under church discipline, but this shocking language indicates a level of severity to this final step of the process.

This is a grave process, but consider the importance of Jesus’s next words. “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” (vv. 18–20).

Sometimes, we misunderstand these words. For instance, we think that the “two or three gathered” is a reference to a small group study at a coffee shop ending in prayer-circle time. Remember, though, Jesus’s words in Matthew 6:6, “when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret.” We don’t need two or three to pray, but we do need two or three for the church discipline process (cf. v. 16).

In context, then, this is a promise of blessing during church discipline. The “binding” and “loosing” then also speaks of church discipline, though it’s often misused as a reference to spiritual warfare (though we might consider the purity of the church spiritual warfare). Jesus isn’t calling for the binding and loosing of Satan but of another person’s eternal state. In other words, when a church removes a professed believer from the fellowship, they are simultaneously declaring him to be an unbeliever. When Jesus said to consider the individual “a Gentile and a tax collector,” He’s saying that this man or woman is not a Christian. Such a reality is too weighty for us—but, thankfully, Jesus promises to be with us amid of the process.

E. An Implied Fifth Step: Restoration

Of course, considering someone to be like “a Gentile and a tax collector” doesn’t call for contempt or shunning—it calls for evangelism. We might not any longer consider the person a brother, but we now lovingly preach the gospel and pray for the sinner’s true conversion. We must not treat the disfellowshipped as an enemy but like a former brother (2 Thess. 3:15), though one must exercise caution around a brother falsely called (cf. Titus 1:16).

If repentance happens (and it sometimes does), restoration is important. Paul emphasizes this in his second letter to the Corinthians. Most of them obeyed Paul’s command to discipline (it should’ve been all), but it was sufficient (2 Cor. 2:5–6). The time had come to “forgive and comfort him,” reaffirming “love for him” (vv. 7–8). Indeed, all of heaven rejoices when that wandering sheep returns to the ninety-nine (Mt 18:12–14), so a warm reception is in order!

F. ASIDE: Elders are not immune to these steps

With that word on restoration, we have to consider one more aspect with this. If there’s an unrepentant, sinful way within an elder, he is to submit to the same process. In 1 Timothy 5:19–21, Paul explains the scenario: “Do not admit a charge against an elder except [SM—here’s that OT citation again] on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.”

Down with that “touch not the Lord’s anointed” nonsense that wolves use to escape accountability! God protects His people from corrupt leadership. If two or three church members can confirm a pattern of unrepentant sin in the elder’s life, he must be rebuked in front of the entire congregation. God will not accept prejudice or partiality from a congregation that looks the other way while the pastor remains in sin. Regardless of the spiritual proclamations of the errant elder, where two or three are gathered for the purposes of discipline, they can be sure that Christ is with them.

Repentance and restoration remains the aim—but it may never be the same in the case of an elder. Since an elder must be “above reproach” (1 Tm 3:2, cf. v. 7), a teaching elder may not be able to reclaim the pulpit. If he used his office to embezzle funds or engage in an adulterous relationship, he could never be trusted with that office again. It should be noted, then, that the restoration we speak of is that of relationships but that is not akin to a reset button.

IV. Conclusion

This isn’t a pleasant aspect of church life, and those of us who’ve witnessed the church discipline process know just how gut-wrenching it can be. Even so, it’s a necessary marker of church life. When it’s properly practiced, the entire church is brought to a holy state of fearfulness (1 Tim. 5:20). We also testify to a watching world that we believe what we say about sin; otherwise, God’s name may be blasphemed because of us (cf. Rom. 2:24). So, may we be an unleavened people that judges with righteous and loving judgment.

Search This Blog

Pastor Shaun Marksbury

SERMON: “Revisiting Church Discipline” (Matt. 18:15–20)