Monday, March 21, 2011
Why Should I Forgive, Part 6 of 34
TEXT: "Then Jesus said to the disciples, 'Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him' ” (Luke 17:3).
"Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear you, take with you one or two more, that, by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector” (Matthew 18:15-17).
IDEA: We are to rebuke Christians who sin, but we are to do it carefully.
PURPOSE: To help Christians confront others in a healthy manner.
Can you imagine a department store clerk rebuking you for the way you acted in the store?
Yet Jesus instructs us in Luke 17:3, “If your brother sins, rebuke him.”
If we think of Christians in a church as “consumers” rather than as members of a family, we will be reluctant to do what Jesus requires.
Yet Jesus gives us explicit instructions on how to go about a ministry of rebuke.
STEP 1: We are to go to the person alone in order to win him. But what happens if nothing happens?
STEP 2: If he doesn't repent, then we are to take one or two others with us so that the matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses (Matthew 18:16).
The purpose is still to restore the brother or sister who has sinned.
That instruction to take “one or two others” is probably based on Deuteronomy 19:15-21. Jesus takes a principle given in a criminal matter and applies it to the ministry of rebuke and restoration in the church.
In Deuteronomy 19, in the criminal case, the witnesses observed the crime. In the restoration case in Matthew 18, either the witnesses observed what happened (1 Tim 5:19-20) or they determine the facts of the case and the confrontation.
What is the qualification in Deuteronomy 19 for the “two or three witnesses”? They are to be objective and honest.
How might you choose the “witnesses” in a case of the restoration of a sinning Christian?
What might the witnesses decide as a result of hearing the matter out?
This might occur several times in a loving attempt to lay hold of someone’s conscience, and to make the person aware of the danger into which he has placed himself and the hurt he may be inflicting on others.
Bringing others into the situation is clearly designed to impress erring Christian that sin is serious.
They also serve to keep tempers down and keep accurate reports in case something further needs to be done.
Another principle that seems to emerge in the first two steps is this: Keep the matter as limited as possible.
If the person listens, then you are to forgive and restore. Nothing further needs to be done.
