Membership Matters – Exercising Forgiveness, Part 2

Approach Your Brother as a Congregation

Matthew 18:17 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.

Step three in this procedure, after two or three witnesses have deemed there to be a legitimate sin or offense, is to bring the situation before the church (1 Cor 5:4-5; 2 Cor 2:6-7). Here, the church acts in unity to admonish the sinning brother and seeks to restore him to fellowship (Gal 6:1-2). This restoration can happen only after repentance and reconciliation (Luke 17:3)

Becoming a member of a church means that one is choosing to submit to the the spiritual oversight of its leaders and to make oneself accountable to fellow church members. If the sinning brother does not heed the admonition of the church then he has made it clear that he is no longer in submission to the authority of the church and refuses to be accountable to it. The church then has no choice but to move on to step four in this procedure for church discipline which is to remove your brother from your company.

Remove Your Brother From Your Company

Matthew 18:17 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.

Lastly, Jesus tells us that if our brother has not taken heed to our desire for reconciliation, or our admonishment against his sin, neither has he obeyed the counsel of two or three witnesses, nor has he submitted himself to the authority of the church, then the next step is to remove him from our fellowship.

Paul confirms this principle in his epistles to the Thessalonians and Corinthians:

2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

1 Corinthians 5:11-13 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler–not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

It is no small matter for a Christian man or woman to reject the efforts of the church to restore him to Christ and to reconcile him to their fellowship. The church is the very body and bride of Jesus Christ and operates with his authority and on his behalf. When we obey Christ in dealing with these matters we are executing His will on earth. This is made clear in Matthew 18:18-20.

Matthew 18:18-20 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. 19 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. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Remember, this passage is still in the context of the procedure for forgiveness and discipline in the church. Christ’s desire for his church is that it remain pure and free from sin and division. When a cogregation follows the biblical pattern for discipline and executes judgment or restoration, they are carrying out God’s will in the church.

Hebrews 12:4-11 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Discipline is a reality for all of God’s children. At times he exercises our faith through conviction, trials and rebuke. He uses circumstances, His word and confrontation by others to expose sin in our lives and to purge it from us. Anytime He disciplines one of his children it is always for their spiritual benefit – to separate them from sin and encourage them to holiness.

Church discipline as taught by Christ in Matthew 18 is simply the church carrying out God’s will for discipline in the lives of those who claim to be His. This is why it can be said that whatever is “bound or loosed” on earth will also be bound or loosed in heaven. Church discipline is a matter of obedience for the church and when they faithfully carry it out, God affirms their actions from Heaven. He then promises his presence and his authority in matters of judgment when he states in Matthew 18:20 – “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

The church which does not employ this procedure for forgiveness, or in the worst case scenario, church discipline, does not operate with the authority of Christ and does not have the promise of Christ’s approval on matters of judgment. It is the faithful adherence to Christ’s commands in Matthew 18 that brings his blessing and authority upon the church.

Church discipline is always for the ultimate spiritual benefit of the sinning brother and the church at large. First, it prevents one who claims to be a believer from persisting in sin. If he repents and is restored then church discipline has done it’s job and this brother is the better for it. If he refuses to repent and is put out of the church, God then continues his discipline by allowing this man to suffer the consequences of his own sin. This too is done with the purpose of ultimately bringing him to repentance.

Secondly, church discipline purifies the church at large. The church is purified by having an unrepentant member removed from the congregation and it is also purified by setting a high standard against sin – which serves as a fearful detterent for others.

It is easy sometimes to ignore sin or offenses in the church in the name of “keeping the peace”. This is a foolish thing to do as it foreits Christ’s blessing. He desires the unity and purity of his church and has, therefore, commanded the church to confront sin and seek reconciliation when necessary. After all, it is his church and not ours. We exercise church discipline because it is Christ’s prescribed method of keeping his church pure. The church which desires the blessing of Christ will follow his procedure for forgiveness.

The Perpetuity of Forgiveness

What if our brother does respond to this procedure for forgiveness and repents of his sin but then later repeats the offense? What if he sins, repents and repeats it again? Surely there is a limit to the forgiveness which God would have us show to one another! This is the exact question that came into Peter’s mind after hearing Christ’s teaching on forgiveness:

Matthew 18:21   Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”

Having heard Christ’s prescription for forgiveness, Peter wonders at what point the Christian should be allowed to withhold forgiveness. What if our brother keeps offending us? What if asks forgiveness but sins against us again? Surely there is a limit!

Matthew 18:22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

Jesus is not telling Peter that he should forgive his erring brother 490 times. He is using a figure of speech to illustrate the perpetuity of forgiveness. That is, we should be willing to forgive our brother as many times as he sincerely repents and seeks our forgiveness. In doing so, we are modelling the longsuffering forgiveness that our Lord has shown to us (1 John 1:9; Eph 4:32). That being said, if a believer continues in a particular sin as a pattern of life, we must be willing to question the sincerity of his supposed repentance. Genuine repentance will always bear evidence.

God’s forgiveness is unending. When we come to God, repenting of our sin, we can count on Him being faithful to forgive us our sins. As beneficiaries of this endless forgiveness, we should be willing to show the same mercy to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Spiritual growth and Christ-likeness in the life of a believer will lead him to practice forgiveness. On the other hand, a lack of forgiveness in the life of a Christian is an indication of a spiritual problem. It reveals that he has forgotten what God has done for him and it exposes his unloving heart. The man or woman who is closest to God is furthest from pride. He understands that he was indebted, unable, and undeserving when God forgave him of his sin and responds by freely forgiving others.

The church has a responsibility to exercise forgiveness and restoration when a brother sins and later repents. It also has a responsbility to carry out church discipline when he refuses repentance and reconciliation. What does that mean for us as individual church members? It means that we must have a willingness to freely forgive others and also a determination to defend the purity of the congregation through church disicipline when necessary.