Sermon for Sunday, August 23, 2026 at Unionville Presbyterian Church (BPC)
Old Testament Text:
[Proverbs 25:6-10 ESV] 6 Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great, 7 for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble. What your eyes have seen 8 do not hastily bring into court, for what will you do in the end, when your neighbor puts you to shame? 9 Argue your case with your neighbor himself, and do not reveal another’s secret, 10 lest he who hears you bring shame upon you, and your ill repute have no end.
New Testament Text:
[James 5:13-20 ESV] 13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. 19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Gospel Text:
[Luke 17:1-4 ESV] 1 And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
SermonText:
[Matthew 18:15-17 ESV] 15 “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. 16 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. 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.
Introduction:
The Lord has here told us the way to rescue a brother from sin and to regain unity with them as fellow Christians. This is the Lord’s way.
This is a horizontal text. I don’t mean that the text runs horizontally on the page – even though that is undoubtedly true – but rather that this is about horizontal relationships; those interpersonal relationships, not the vertical relationship you have with God.
“If a BROTHER sins against you.” This is direction for SOME interpersonal relationships; those between Christians. That is evident against later when Jesus says “tell it to the church.” “The church” can only be the court of jurisdiction for Christians; non-Christians will not listen to the church.
BUT, what are we to do if a non-Christian sins against us? That is simply not addressed here. That requires another sermon; and another text. Perhaps Matthew 5:44 (“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you) or Romans 12:17-19 (Repay no one evil for evil … never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” )
But, for a Christian, as the passage, says, when a Christians sins against us we are to “Go and tell him his fault.”
An important point here is that this is NOT OPTIONAL. While there may be some small things that you judge best to leave be, if it a brother has truly sinned against you, you MUST tell him. This is FOR HIS OWN GOOD; that he may repent of that sin; that he may be aware of it, and turn from it. Don’t just “leave it be,” or “give him a wide berth,” or move on; if it is truly sin, you ought to address it for his own good.
This may not be easy, to tell another of their fault. And it becomes even more difficult if they won’t listen.
This then is how Jesus, in this passage, addresses an escalating series of steps to take in such a situation.
1. Tell him his fault, between you and him alone.
2. If he doesn’t listen, then take one or two other with you.
3. If he still doesn’t listen, take it to the church.
Those are the steps.
STEP 1
First, “tell him his fault, between you and him alone.” You are to KEEP HIM FROM EMBARRASSMENT. There is no need to broadcast another persons sins. If they are private sins, between you and them, leave it there; don’t make it public. If they are public sins, then the sins are already known anyways, and so there is against no need for you to broadcast them. And you certainly wouldn’t want others to broadcast your sins. How much more important is this is in our day and age and so many grievances are taken to social media that ALL may know someone’s fault. That is not the Christian way. You are to “tell him his fault, between you and him ALONE.”
Not to attack him, or to ruin his reputation, but OUT OF LOVE, to RESTORE your brother to fellowship.
And then there are two paths. Two paths that the person may take. (And while in this case the accuser is YOU and the sinner is THE OTHER GUY, you can easily imagine the roles being reversed. You will find yourself on the other side as well. And there are two paths for the sinner.
One, “he listens.” In that case, a beautiful thing has happened. “You have gained a brother.” You have restored a relationship. So it is that THAT is our goal: to restore the relationship, not to “win an argument” or “punish the offender” or “prove that you are right.” The whole approach is IN LOVE.
The father who loves his son, disciplines him.
The lost sheep that is found is rejoiced over.
Likewise, when the prodigal son returns, there is rejoicing, not criticism of him for leaving.
That the Christian direction – to speak truth in love. You won’t win back a brother through any other method. Attacking them will only make them harden their stance. The goal is for them to “listen.”
But the other path is when “he does not listen.” In that case, you have to go to Step 2.
STEP 2
“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.”
This is an Old Testament idea; charges require more than 1 witness.
[Deuteronomy 19:15 ESV] 15 “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.
Without multiple witnesses it is just 1 persons word against another’s.
An accuser can simply make something up, or could just be wrong in what they heard.
But with multiple witnesses, the truth of something is established.
EXAMPLE
Good detectives use this method: they take 2 witnesses and put them in separate rooms. And ask them the same questions independently. Assuming those witnesses did not have time to collude, their response (if they match) will bring out the truth of what happened.
So it is with bringing a sin to a brother and being witnesses of his response: the minimum is two (you and one other). The maximum is three (you and two others.) You need multiple witnesses (at least two, and that can include yourself). BUT, you don’t want to gang up on a person.
And you NEVER want to SKIP step 1. That is; you never take a group of people to the one who has sinned against you, UNLESS he has first been unwilling to listen to you. You never start with a crowd. That is too harsh, too shocking, too much for the person, and they may be liable to react negatively to that. Better — best — is to go by yourself. You have to be tough and do it. But if they don’t listen, THEN bring another, or bring two with you.
Now, the text doesn’t say what happens here if they listen, but it is implied that it is the same as the first: “you have won a brother.”
But if they don’t listen, you go to step 3: take it to the church.
STEP 3
What does this mean? The WHOLE church in all places? The local church and all its members? Or, as we Presbyterians believe, it means THE LEADERSHIP OF THE CHURCH. It simply can’t mean every member of the church. That is impractical if there are 1000 members. And it doesn’t make sense to bring up sins to new Christians who might not yet know how to respond. It is TO THE LEADERSHIP; the elders and pastor of the church. It is then their authority which should impress upon the sinner the SERIOUSNESS of the situation.
We’ll look at “church discipline,” Lord Willing, more next week, as that is the continued topic in the verses to come.
But for now, we ought to point out again the order of operations here; the steps taken. DO NOT come to the church FIRST. First, speak to the person, then get a couple others involved, and only then do you come to the church. I honestly love this as a pastor – don’t bring your problems to me, unless necessary!
Then, there is what some call a 4th Step: have nothing to do with the person. If they don’t listen to the church, they are not OF the church. It is just as the disciples were told to shake the dust off of their feet; if someone will not listen, you are not required to keep pressing. The blood is not on your hands; it is on theirs.
Application: Not for public sins.
Sometimes a person will contend that you’ve done them wrong when you confront their public sin publicly. They’ll say “you should have brought this to me.”
Well, once the cat’s out of the bag, then it isn’t private anymore.
If there is, for example, some national news about a person’s sin, and I speak against that sin, they cannot say “you shouldn’t have done that.” Interesting, some times with public figures, you’ve never met them personally; it isn’t even feasible to bring their sin to them.
Of course, if we are going to oppose some sin, we ought to have proof that the person is guilty of it. You might remember a few years ago, for example, a well-known pastor said “I’d attend a homosexual wedding.” It was a statement made in a sermon that many people heard and was recorded. And I think his advice is sinful. It is perfectly correct to oppose that sin without coming to him directly.
Application: This process is loving.
People often think Christians are not loving for we call out sin!
But it would be far more unloving to not call out sins; to let people fester in them.
Application: The Goal is Restoration
In all of this we are to speak truth in love; with the goal of restoration.
The non-Christian would never have this approach. He might bring a “sin” to another person, but that doesn’t even make sense, for what is a “sin” if not for the law of God? There are no standards outside of the Bible. But if a non-Christian brings up a sin against another it is not likely to be for restoration, but to prove themselves right. They want submission not reconciliation. Either that, or that want vengeance.
But that is not the Christian way. We seek reconciliation with a brother; not attacking them and making the circumstances worse, but ending the strife once and for all.
Conclusion: The character of God
We really can see much here about the character of God, can’t we? That is the throughout the Scriptures; “his ways” are forgiveness and discipline; two words that find little favor in the non-Christian world.
So let us forgive others as he forgives us.
And let us heed His discipline for our own good and for His glory.
Let us pray.