September 10, 2023 – Matthew 18:15–20

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Hope Lutheran Church
Manhattan, Kansas
September 10, 2023
Matthew 18:15–20
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Coaching basketball during time as a dorm supervisor

• Found out very quickly that most players didn’t react super well to being called out in front of everyone when they did something wrong
  
• It was way more effective when I had the chance to pull them aside during practice or during a game and talk to them privately
  
• They were more likely to listen to advice and critiques in those situations. And a lot of times, it actually gave me the opportunity to encourage them in personal, meaningful ways
  
  • And I did all of that because by serving as one of the coaches, I was accountable to our team and each of those individual players
    
  • I did all of that and took the time to talk to them, because I wanted to see them improve and grow as athletes, and really, as Christian young men
    

Jesus tells his followers we have a similar kind of responsibility. 

• Because even though we are here in the church, we’re still not perfect. We still make mistakes. We still get trapped in sin. And so today Jesus tells us to take care of one another, especially when it comes to sin.   He tells us…
  
  • 1) Who we’re accountable to (v. 15)
    
  • 2) How to carry out Christian accountability (vv. 15–17)
    
  • 3) Why we do any of this in the first place (vv. 18–20)
    

1) Who

• Who does Jesus instruct us to talk to? He tells us right away. He says, “If your brother or sister sins…” 
  
  • First, he says that this is our brother or sister. In other words, this is a fellow Christian, a fellow believer. Someone who is in our church
    
    • And by telling us who we ARE to go to, Jesus is also in effect saying who we AREN’T to go to
      
    • Jesus isn’t telling us to go out to everyone in the world around us. Sure, it can be helpful for us to be aware of the sins in the culture and people around us. But it’s not for us to pass judgment on them, as easy as it is for us to do. That’s for God and God alone to do
      
      • It’s a bit like when I was coaching basketball. I was really only asked to help with coaching the basketball team 
        
      • It wasn’t my place to show up at football practice and tell all the football players about how they could do better. That probably would have fallen on deaf ears. It probably would have even caused them to resent me a bit. Even if I knew something about football, that wasn’t who I had been asked to coach and critique
        
    • In the same way, Jesus here tells us to direct our attention and focus on our brothers and sisters – our fellow believers in Jesus
      
  • And there’s another part of who Jesus asks us to go to. He says that we are to go to a brother or sister who has sinned
    
    • Jesus isn’t asking us to be the sin police. He’s not asking us to monitor every moment of every day in each other’s lives
      
    • And he’s also not telling us to go and confront someone who does things differently than I do. Or dresses differently for worship than I do. Or has different tastes and preferences than I have
      
    • He’s talking specifically about a brother or sister who has gotten wrapped up in some kind of specific sin. They’ve been doing something that clearly is out of line with God’s will for his people. They’ve been taken hold of and captured by this sin, whatever it is
      
  • Finally, there’s one more answer to who Jesus is talking about – Me
    
    • At some point, I’m going to be the brother or sister who has sinned
      
    • And so when a Christian brother or sister comes to me and shows me my sin, Jesus is calling on me to be humble and recognize that this a fellow Christian who cares about me so much that they’re putting in the time and effort needed to see me turn from my sin
      
• So, who is Jesus calling us to deal with in these verses? It’s a brother or sister – a fellow believer – who has sinned. And sometimes that person might even be me. Next, Jesus tells us the how of Christian accountability
  

2) How

• Jesus starts this way: “Go and point out your brother or sister’s fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.”
  
  • Now, if you’re like me, this might be the part of Jesus’ teaching I fail at most
    
    • Because when we notice someone else caught in sin, what is so often our response? We gossip about it. We tell someone else about it. We go online and post vaguely about it.
      
    • Or maybe we go the other way. We don’t say anything. We avoid the sin and hope that sooner or later if we just stay quiet, things will fix themselves
      
    • Either way, it’s basically, the complete opposite of what Jesus says here
      
  • But what’s the advantage of doing it the way Jesus says? 
    
    • There’s always a chance that I misunderstood the situation and didn’t have all the details. Or by going to other people first, I risk ruining the reputation of another person
      
    • Maybe most importantly, it shows genuine care and love for the other person. It tells that person that you care about them so much that you’re willing to have a hard conversation with them
      
  • If at that point someone admits their sin and asks for forgiveness, then as Jesus says, “You have won them over.” And you have the chance to tell them that they’re forgiven in Jesus’ name
    
  • But sometimes you might do all that. And even though you come to them with the best intentions, they don’t listen. And so Jesus says what’s next
    
• “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.’”
  
  • Jesus knows that as this process moves along, it can be helpful to bring in a few more people. Not to gang up on anyone, but to show that there are multiple people who care about the person
    
    • There’s a lot of practical wisodm in this too. When these tough conversations are happening, it’s easy for people to get angry and emotional. Having more people can…
      
      • Help make sure things don’t get out of hand during these conversations
        
      • Help the person see that there are multiple people who care about them
        
      • And help us make sure we’re seeing things the right way
        
  • And again, if at this point the person repents of their sin, that group of people has the chance to tell them they’re forgiven
    
  • If, however, they won’t listen to a group of two or three people, Jesus says the next step is to let leaders in the church know the situation
    
• “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”
  
  • Let’s be clear – When Jesus says to treat them as a pagan or tax collector, he’s not saying that we are to shun or shame them. He’s not saying we should never interact with them again. One of the biggest problems people had with Jesus was that he spent too much time with the pagans and the tax collectors teaching and preaching the gospel to them 
    
  • It is, however, acknowledging that at this time they aren’t part of the community of believers. Their faith and the fruit of their faith aren’t in line with each other. And so we, as the church, need to do something about it
    
    • Now, we can hear everything Jesus is saying in these verses and think it sounds cruel or unfair, that it’s not a very loving thing to do. But maybe think about it like this…
      
      • No one wants to pound on their next-door neighbor’s door at 6:00am on a Saturday morning to wake them up. That wouldn’t be a very kind, neighborly thing to do
        
      • But imagine that your neighbor's house was on fire and they didn’t know about it, but you did. They’re still soundly sleeping, unaware of the fire that’s about to consume them. At that moment, you would do everything you could to wake them up. You would shout and scream. You might throw something through their window to get their attention
        
  • When we as the church do what Jesus has been telling us here in Matthew 18, it’s not because we want to shame someone or shun them or exclude them. It’s because their house is on fire and we want them to be saved. Which brings us to our final point – Why we do all of this in the first place
    

3) Why

• When a person is trapped in sin, Satan and sin and their flesh are winning them over. We don’t want to see them fall into the hands of Satan. 
  
  • We want to see them won back to and free to live in the grace and forgiveness they have been shown in Christ
    
  • It’s not about making the most morally upright people in the world. It’s about God’s grace seeking out people with the goal of forgiveness and restoration at the end of it all
    
• And we do all of it because Christ has given each of us the opportunity and privellege to be the ones who bring that grace and forgiveness into the lives of our brothers and sisters
  
  • That’s what Jesus was talking about at the end of our lesson when he said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
    
  • We get to be the ones who tell our brothers and sisters their sins are forgiven. We get to share the gospel with them. We get to tell them about the greatest “why” of all
    
• You see, Jesus is the epitome of Matthew 18. Jesus went to his brothers and sister, you and me who had sinned. Because he wanted to win us over. He wanted to save us from the wrath we deserved
  
  • And all along the way, he got treated the opposite of what he says here. Jesus was falsely accused of sin, he was put on public display to be shamed and ridiculed, and on the cross he was placed outside of God’s family where I should have been. All that so we could be won over, so we could be saved. And now he invites us to bring that message to others. Amen.