The hardest and most misunderstood, part of the Restoration Principle outlined in Matthew 18:15-20, is found at the end of of verse 17 through the end of this section (v20). Most people see this as harsh treatment of the one in sin, to remove them from the membership of the church. This has lead some to go to the extreme of “shunning” those who are removed, and acting in a very judgmental and ungracious way toward the one who is enslaved in sinful behavior. That is when we are to remind ourselves that the principles here are restorative, not punitive. When you look at verses 18-20, we get a better picture of the purpose of that exclusion. When we become a member of a local church, we join together with a redemptive community, who says, based our on confession of faith we believe that you have a relationship with Christ and therefore, are a member of the family of God. James 2 reminds us that our relationship with Christ is not based upon simple words, but rather it is built upon a life that manifests obedience. Just as the testimony of those in the church confirms our decision to follow … READ MORE

As we focus on the purity of the church, and necessity to lovingly encourage all to live obedient lives. We have been looking at Matthew 18:15-20 to understand the process that Jesus set forth to help the church maintain a body that is living in obedience to the Lord. We have seen that the first two steps are private exhortation (v15) and Private Conference, if the person in question still refuses to repent of their sin, what do you do. The next step, is one that must be addressed carefully. That is Public Announcement. Here we are told that if a person has refused the quiet and consistent exhortation of those who have spiritual oversight over a person, the next step is to make the church aware of the behavior, and that those who are able can privately approach the sinner, and attempt to draw them back to Christ. How is this to be practice? A practical approach is to call a private “members only” meeting where you share the attempts that have been made to bring restoration to the sinning member. After working through the principles of Matthew 18, it has become apparent that the one living in disobedience … READ MORE

The restoration principle of Matthew 18:15-20 is designed by the Lord to bring help and harmony to the Body of Christ as we serve in the church. Yesterday, we saw that the first step outlined was a private conference with the one who has offended (cf. Matthew 18:15). Ideally, this would be enough to deal with the offense, and nothing more needs to be done. However, we live in a sin cursed world, where everything does not work ideally. So, that brings us the question, what do we do when this private meeting does not work. According to Matthew 18:16, the next step would be a PRIVATE Conference with the offender. In both of these situations the goal is to keep the information in as tight a circle as possible so that the behavior is not put on public display. Again the goal here is to resolve the issue and bring about restoration. The purpose of these witnesses is to verify that what is being done is being brought about by love and a desire to bring restoration and hide a multitude of sins. As a result, the “witnesses” spoken of in Verse 16, should represent the leadership of the … READ MORE