Sermon Tone Analysis

“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.

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.

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.

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”[1]

Discipline is virtually unknown among the congregations of the Lord in this day.

When discipline is administered, there is a surprisingly strong reaction from untaught or disobedient church members.

Throughout the years of my service among the congregations of the Master, I have frequently heard church leaders bemoan attitudes of rebellion witnessed among the members.

Yet, when discipline is called for I have frequently heard those same church leaders lament, “That won’t work.”

In the eyes of many church members, discipline is the unworkable solution to conflict in the church.

While evangelical churches are united in acknowledging Jesus’ teaching concerning discipline as it is recorded in our text, it is virtually neglected across the spectrum of churches identified as holding to the Faith of Christ the Lord.

Realistically, church discipline had as well be absent from our Bibles.

I suspect that a major reason for this neglect is that we have become so culturally sensitive that we are effectively biblically illiterate.

Knowing what is written is a long way from doing what is written.

I am under no illusion; I know that even though we may know what is written, should the need for discipline arise, cultural sensitivity, personal loyalties or fear of consequences will impel some to cry out that we have no business judging anyone.

Tragically, every casual Christian knows the words of Jesus that cautions Christians, “Judge not, that you be not judged” [*Matthew 7:1*].

However, few know that we are responsible to judge ourselves [see *1 Corinthians 11:31*].

Moreover, we seem ignorant of Jesus’ teaching that we are to “Judge with right judgement” [*John 7:24*].

Likewise, dissenters from common sense and the Word seem unaware of Paul’s rhetorical question, “Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge” [*1 Corinthians 5:12*]?

The church is responsible to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” [*1 John 4:1*].

It should be obvious that judgement falls within the purview of the congregation.

This is clearly evident from the summary statement Jesus provides which is recorded in John’s Gospel: “If you [plural] forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you [plural] withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld” [*John 20:23*].

It should be obvious, both from this statement and from the text we will consider today, that the church is responsible to judge both what is taught and the actions of its own members.

There is a significant consideration I must note before moving beyond this point.

It is a plea for those who love the congregation, yet hold themselves apart from uniting with the congregation, to consider the implications of their choice.

Those who are not members of the church have neither warrant nor right to judge those within the congregation.

Whenever the church holds its own accountable, those who are not members of the congregation must be excluded from the deliberations, save for evidence they may be asked to present.

In other words, those outside the congregation may present evidence, if such is required, but they are debarred from all discussions.

There is a final consideration.

The message deals with the theme of conflict in the church.

I suppose that when we hear of conflict, our minds turn almost automatically to personal confrontations.

Perhaps we have witnessed confrontation between individuals, or between a cabal and church leadership, and we are hard-pressed to move beyond that.

However, the conflict may be an ethical violation that is known only to a few individuals—perhaps even to only one person other than the violator.

It is possible that the conflict consists of moral transgressions which, though known to only a few individuals, has the possibility of insinuating itself into the very fabric of the church.

Certainly, it must be known that the conflict may arise from doctrinal deviation which, if not addressed, promises ruin for the assembly.

Move your mind beyond the thought of mere disagreement to actions or attitudes that threaten the health of the congregation, and you will begin to understand the serious nature of the message.

Now, turn your attention to the words of the Master as He instructed us through instructing those first disciples.

*The Propensity Toward Disobedience* — “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him.”

There is a textual matter which is important.

While my translation includes the words “against you” in the fifteenth verse, it is possible that the words are an early interpolation into the original text.[2] The earliest copies of the Matthew’s Gospel that are available for study omit these words.

In fairness, it must be acknowledged that it is equally possible that the words were omitted by a copyist.

What is evident, however, is that the words “against you” reflect the sense of what is recorded.

For the sake of our understanding, we will accept that the words are genuine, imposing on each Christian the responsibility to take ownership for his or her own response to that which offends, and to accept that each of us is, after all, our brother’s keeper.

Jesus uses what is known as a third class conditional sentence.

The concept of conditional sentences is difficult for many of us to grasp when working in the Greek language used in the New Testament.

The construction of His words sets up a situation where He envisions a potential, but not necessary, condition.

In other words, it is possible that someone will offend us; but we cannot say that people “will” offend us.

Let’s think about this at greater length.

Believers are accountable to the congregation for what they teach and for how they act.

The sin that could cause offence would be either doctrinal deviation, violation of biblical ethics or moral deviation.

Each of us is susceptible to offending in any of these areas of life, and the Community of Faith to which we belong is responsible to hold us accountable, just as we are responsible to hold our fellow believers accountable for their words and conduct.

Ever since the Fall, man has been warned that “sin is crouching at the door” [*Genesis 4:6*].

The Word of God is very pointed in exposing our sinful nature.

Dedicating the Temple, Solomon exposed mankind’s propensity to sin in his prayer before the Lord.

“If they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near, yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land, which You gave to their fathers, the city that You have chosen and the house that I have built for Your Name, then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause and forgive Your people who have sinned against You” [*2 Chronicles 6:36-39*].

Though the prayer seeks God’s mercy, it is this acknowledgement that startles us: “There is no one who does not sin!”

Among the wise sayings Solomon delivered to us is found this sobering question:

“Who can say, ‘I have made my heart pure;

I am clean from my sin’?

[*Proverbs 20:9*]

His rhetorical question confronts our proclivity toward, our predisposition to, our predilection for, our penchant for sin.

The tragic answer to the question is that there does not exist even one person who is able to say that they have made their heart pure—there is not one who is clean from his sin.

In his search through the dark recesses of the soul of fallen people, that same wise king wrote these sorrowful, sobering words, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins” [*Ecclesiastes 7:20*].

The Apostle considers the whole of humanity and sadly concludes, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” [*Romans 3:23*].

You will remember John’s assessment even of us who have been redeemed by the grace and mercy of the Master.

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us… If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” [*1 John 1:8, 10*].

Were it not enough that we sin in our choices and through our actions, James reminds us that it is our mouth that often—perhaps always—leads us into sin.

He writes, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

For we all stumble in many ways.

And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body” [*James 3:1, 2*].

Long years ago, Solomon cautioned, “In … many words there is … vanity” [*Ecclesiastes 5:7*].[3]

Speak enough, and you will eventually say something that is foolish—perhaps even errant.

Words can wound; words can lead the unwary astray.

The potential for introducing error increases the more one speaks.

Were we not fallen people, we could speak the truth and never sin with our mouths.

For this reason, we are warned, “Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God” [*Ecclesiastes 5:2*].

This sage advice is delivered together with other cautionary warnings, “Let your words be few,” and “Let not your mouth lead you into sin” [*Ecclesiastes 5:6*].

In recent messages I have noted the human condition.

We dare not imagine that because we are saved that sin is no longer a problem for us.

You need but recall the Apostle’s gloomy assessment of his own condition.

“I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.

For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members” [*Romans 7:21-23*].

Again, recall the compilation of verses he provided to give us insight into the human condition, taking especial note of the universal, inclusive language used.

“*/None/* is righteous, no, */not one/*;

*/no one/* understands;

*/no one/* seeks for God.

*/All/* have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

*/no one/* does good,

*/not even one/*.”

[*Romans 3:10-12*]

It is a tragic truth that though we may want to do what is right, we nevertheless struggle against sin.

The Apostle exposes the ongoing conflict in each life when he writes, “The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do” [*Galatians 5:17*].

What a dark secret is revealed when James writes of the conflicts we experience!

“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?

Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you” [*James 4:1*]?

Your passions are at war within you! Were this an occasional situation, it would be serious enough; however, this is the normal condition for each of us.

What is worse, we */do/* surrender to these passions, and we surrender more than occasionally.