Message on Rebuke. Matthew
18:15-20
Speaker: Pastor Hsu from FICCC
4/11/08
·
If one of your housemates is doing something
wrong, would you say or do anything about it?
·
SITUATION: If one of your housemates (a
Christian) has his girlfriend sleep over in his room, would you do anything about
it?
·
Most Christians don’t know what to do when they
are in this situation
PASSAGE: Matthew 18:15-20
·
Verse 15
·
“against”--> when a brother sins,
it affects us as a community and we have a responsibility to talk with him
·
“sins” is present tense --> how to help a brother
committing an on-going sin, not meant to address some past sin
·
Jesus gives us FOUR steps
1) One
person go talk to brother who sins [v.15]
a. Goal:
restoration; to win brother over
b. “Just
between the two of you”
i.
Keep sin as private as possible: testimony of the
church
ii.
Prevent gossiping
iii.
Easier for change in person
c. Situation:
Typical responses if an apartment-mate has significant other sleep over in room
i.
Gossip
ii.
Ignore it b/c it’s not my business
iii.
Talk with him/her
iv.
Go to someone like a pastor
d. Situational
Discussion: Why we feel uncomfortable with approaching a “brother who sins
against us”
i.
Judging or self-righteous
ii.
Scared to let go of own pride
iii.
Inadequacy
iv.
Don’t like confrontation
v.
Need to be prepared
vi.
Society tells us that we have our own rights and no one
can tell us what to do
vii.
Doubts as to whether or not the relationship is
solid/close enough to do it
2) Take
one or two others (if first step doesn’t lead to real repentance) [v.16]
a. Goal:
restoration
b. What
can be accomplished to having one or two more
i.
More witnesses
ii.
More easily persuaded perhaps
iii.
More authority
c. Situational
Discussion: What would you say to the brother as a group?
i.
Ask questions to understand what is going on to avoid
making presumptions
ii.
Establish that you care for the brother and are
concerned
iii.
Explain how what the brother is doing is not pleasing
to God and use Scripture
3) Bring
the issue to the church [v.17a]
a. Goal:
restoration
b. Often
times we jump to this step…why might this be harmful?
i.
Brother might feel betrayed
ii.
We might be jumping to conclusions
c. When
bringing it to the church, what does that mean? How do you do that?
i.
Go to the community and preferably a small group of
more mature Christians
ii.
Pray
4) Treat
him as you would a pagan or a tax collector [v.17b]
a. Goal:
restoration
b. He
is not behaving like a Christian, so don’t act like he is
c. Love
them, reach out to them, share gospel with them, help him to put trust in God,
help to point to the fact that the gospel is worth believing
·
Look at larger picture contextually. Themes of all the sections of Chapter 18:
o v.
1-4: humility
o v.
5-9: weight of sin
o v.
10-14: evangelism
o v.
15-17: rebuke
o v.
18-20: prayer
o v.
21-35: forgiveness --> To bring Christians and Non-Christians closer to God...to not cause anyone to stumble.
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