Adding a Step 0 to church discipline...Matthew 18:15-20






Starting off with some pictures of the season.  The first is a trip up Trail Ridge Road before it closes.  Longs Peak in the background and this was taken at the Forest Canyon Overlook.  The second is a barn on the Bowen Gulch Trail.  I hope to snowshoe to it to take was winter shot in the future.  The third and fourth are a 9 mile hike up the Colorado River Trail with Stephanie and 5 other ladies from the church.  The last is what I see on my walk from our living quarters to the church at this time of the year.

This Sunday we covered the Matthew 18:15-20 passage. Listen below if you weren't able to be with us or again to let the Scriptures sink in a little deeper. The steps of church discipline are blurted out as something we know. Our goal was to see it in relationship to Jesus' search and rescue for one of His sheep who have strayed and especially a "little one who believes in Him" (a new believer), one who is not to be despised for "messing up" or "messing around" but we are rather deployed to bring them back to God's standard for His children.

Step 1 - go privately and tell him where he has missed the mark God has given us - if he listens to God's word and repents (returns) then rejoice

Step 2 - if not, take 2 or 3 witnesses from the church family to witness if it is of God's word, the response of the lost sheep of either repentance or rejection, and the presentation to be of humility and not pride, if there is still rejection...

Step 3 - tell it to the church - enlarge the search party for this loved one who is rejecting God's words for him or her and the whole flock, if there is still rejection...

Step 4 - then the church changes its obligation to the person not as a strayed sheep but as a lost soul needing Christ - a revealing has happened that shows you if this person truly is part of the family of God or not

I introduced a Step 0 at the end of the sermon. Drawing upon other Scriptures, if you are the one the Holy Spirit has tapped on the shoulder per say to reach out to your brother or sister in Christ about a missing the mark, what should you do before Step 1?

I give a list in the sermon but here I will say be in much prayer; be in much Scripture, and be in much humility. Bath that conversation in prior prayer. Make sure that what you are bringing God's words rather than your own. If you sense a prideful bone in your body, don't go to Step 1 until your love for them is stronger than your sense of being right or another way to say it is that you are not pointing a finger but rather offering a hand.

What if you are the one that should have Step 1 happen to you? What is your Step 0?

If you are a child of God then you have been given the Holy Spirit within you. The Holy Spirit will alert you when you have done something that has missed God's mark. He will remind you of what you have learned and heard. Respond to that nudge. That nudge might come from a brother or sister in Christ who isn't doing Step 1 but rather sharing with you what they have observed and giving you "a heads up" that could be to your advantage and to the whole of the church family. This leads to being proactive or going 1st as Jesus gave instruction in Matthew 5:23-24 to leave your gift at the altar and first be reconciled to your brother. Go first so that Step 1 never happens. Remember, we will all be in this category because we will all sin at times.

One of the ways for the sheep or the flock to encourage the shepherd is to take the words of God being preached and taught to them and applying them. We spoke of this in the 9 am adult class in the library. I was witness to this Sunday immediately following the worship gathering in the lobby. Someone took Step 0 with another in my presence. They admitted where they had erred and wanted to make things right. They embraced in a hug to show the love they had for each other. As the shepherd of this flock, I was busting at the seams!

I hope you listen to the video below. I do these each week as your shepherd because a physical shepherd watches over and provides for his physical flock 24/7. I strive as your spiritual shepherd to do the same.

Adam




 

A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 39th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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