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When we speak of blessings as American Christians, we often think of tangible, materialistic things—homes, cars, jobs, financial abundance. But there are blessings far more powerful than material possessions. After salvation, after health, after time itself, perhaps the greatest gift God has given us is the blessing of kingdom relationships.
Think about the people in your life who have opened doors for you, counseled you through difficulty, comforted you in pain, and loved you unconditionally. These blessings have come to you on two legs—through relationships. As you grow in Christ, you will look back and realize that some of the greatest things God has done in your life He has done through the blessing of a relationship. This is one of the most valuable and precious gifts God has given to His children.
Yet it is the enemy—that ancient serpent, the devil—who works cleverly and aggressively through people to dismantle, destroy, and hinder kingdom relationships. He works even through people in your own church to hurt you and to egregiously sin against you, that he may bring division between brothers and sisters.
Biblical community relationships are difficult to build and tragically easy to destroy because of the flesh that manifests itself in the offenses we commit against each other. When the Lord Jesus gave birth to the church through the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, He envisioned a gathering of people—the ekklesia, the called-out ones from the world—who would live with such purity, holiness, and unity that they would put His name on display. The outsider would see such love amongst brothers and sisters, such unity, that they would be jealous and run to be part of that gathering.
So what the Lord does for us in Matthew chapter 18 is give us ethical teaching and values—a built-in framework to guide, govern, and protect this beautiful organism called the church. Throughout the chapter, He teaches us:
All of these metrics protect us from hurting ourselves and from hurting others. But what comes next is perhaps the pinnacle of how we protect ourselves.
Matthew 18:15 — "If your brother sins against you, go tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother."
This is Christ's framework for dealing with conflict resolution inside the context of community. Let me draw your attention to several key words.
The word if presupposes that in the context of biblical community, there will always be a possibility that you may get hurt deeply by somebody inside the church. What the Lord takes off the table is this false narrative: that you can join a church and never get hurt by someone in that church.
Many come into a gathering thinking, "Because these people are supposed to be holy, I will never get hurt here." But the Lord taught us this before the church was even formed: as long as you are in community with brothers and sisters, there will always be the potential for you to get wounded as a result of somebody else sinning against you.
We live in an American context for church, not a biblical one. The Lord is not promising you a pain-free experience. He is promising you a framework for dealing with pain when it comes.
Now, what is not in view? Annoyance is not in view. Being hyper-emotional is not in view. Being rubbed the wrong way is not in view. Frustration is not in view.
If the Lord were telling us to confront somebody every time we were annoyed, we would not survive. We would be in the lobby and parking lot "running up on each other all the time." But when we are mature, there are some things we take to our prayer closet. They offend you? Pray. They annoy you? Pray. They frustrate you? Pray.
Immature believers have to say something every time they feel something. But mature believers learn how to absorb certain pains. Someone cuts me off in traffic—I'm just going to pray for them when I get home. Someone talked to me funny in the lobby—I'm just going to pray for them when I get home. I don't like the way they're acting on this team—I'm just going to pray for them when I get home.
The Lord did not envision a church that will be fighting against each other every week. But when someone egregiously sins against you—when they slander your name, destroy your witness, tear up the team you built—when it is a legitimate sin that's committed against you and you have been wounded and hurt, the Lord has given you a license to go and address the issue. Don't be passive about your pain. Don't be indifferent about your pain.
If you're up at night wounded, if you feel grieved by what that person is doing, the Lord is giving you permission to go talk to that brother or sister.
If you don't go and address the wound, what happens? The pain you're carrying will ripen into resentment, into hatred, into unforgiveness. You let that thing sit on the side, and it grows into a whole tree when it started out as just a little bush.
The Lord is saying: to protect your heart from carrying wounds that deep, I am encouraging you to go talk to your brother and sister.
I know it is not easy for some of us. You may be shy. You may think, "I don't want to be confrontational. I don't want to step out of my comfort zone." You're content to just be a doormat and let people sin against you. I get it—for some of you this may be difficult.
But if you can pray when people sin against you and move on, then praise God—you're doing that. But the Lord has given us grace to have healthy conflict amongst ourselves. He is not telling you that you're going to be in church and never get wounded. But He has given you a framework, a presupposition: as long as you are part of a church, no matter how great that church is, how good the preaching is, how good the worship is—as soon as somebody hurts you, don't take flight and vomit on social media.
The Lord says: Go.
The next word I want to draw your attention to is the word tell. This doesn't mean fight. It doesn't mean argue. It doesn't mean go and attack the person who sinned against you.
Tell means have an intelligible conversation. It is articulate your feelings. It is tell them the tears you've been shedding and the wound you've experienced.
Let me share a story. There was a sister who used to work for me at a church, maybe five years ago. We had a falling out, and she had to go her separate way. About a month ago, I was on my face in prayer, and the Lord showed me her face in my prayer time. I didn't know if her number had changed, so I just got in the DMs at 5 in the morning and shot her a message: "Sister, I see your face in my prayer time. I don't know if your number has changed. I don't know how you feel about me, but I just want you to know I'm praying for you in this moment."
To my surprise, she's up and she DMs me right back: "It's so good to hear from you. I've been thinking about you too."
Before she could type anything else, I start typing back: "Listen, if I hurt you in any way—God, if I sinned against you when you were here—if I was not a good employer, if I was not a good shepherd, if I was not a good boss, if I hurt you in any way, I want you to hear that I am sorry for how I hurt you. I take responsibility for the wound that you incurred. I take responsibility for your tears. I am deeply sorry for how I hurt you."
I'm waiting for her response, and I see the bubbles. Here's what she says: "I'm sorry for hurting you too, and I'm sorry for the things that I said and the things that I've done."
Then here we are at 5 in the morning having this beautiful back-and-forth exchange. It's tranquilo—everything came down. Now I'm loving on her and she's loving on me, and we're apologizing to one another. In the DMs, we're trying to outdo each other with honor.
A couple of weeks ago, she's going through a difficult season and she reaches out: "Can you pray for me?" I said, "Do you want to come to the house?" She comes to the house with her children, goes down into our basement, and stays the whole weekend. My wife and I just love on her, feed her, wrap our arms around her, listen to her tell her story, watch her shed her tears.
All of this is happening—and notice the next word in the text.
Alone. Not on social media. Not blowing her up for everybody to know. Not blowing me up for everybody to know.
The Lord said: when you have grief with your brother or sister, go to them in private. Seek private reconciliation before public approach. Try to deal with the matter in private.
But we do just the opposite, don't we? Somebody sins against you in the church, and the first thing you do is air your grievance on social media. You go back to your team and air your grievance. You go back to your squad and air your grievance. As soon as somebody hurts you, instead of listening to the words of the Lord, the first thing you do is run and tell everybody in the church.
What is the Lord trying to protect us from? An acquired offense. He's trying to protect innocent brothers and sisters from being soiled in their heart by the hurt that you're carrying because you did not take the time to go and talk to that brother and sister in private. And because you got hurt and aired your grievance, now you are in sin.
The Lord is teaching us: do your best to mitigate beef between brothers and sisters in private.
Now, follow the text. In the original manuscripts, there are no chapter and verse breaks. Matthew 18 is one continuous argument that Jesus is making.
If we are humble, if we are childlike, if we treat other people like they are Christ, if we are not causing others to sin, if we are dealing with our own sin, if we have the character He taught us about in the beginning of the chapter—then when somebody confronts us, we have the character to hear what they have to say.
What the Lord expects in this moment is that both believers desire the same thing: peace and reconciliation.
But you know, some of you love to keep drama going. You've got a spirit of revenge. "It's been at me too—you hit me, I'mma hit you. You don't like me, I don't like you. You unfollow me, I'mma unfollow you. You shoot at me, I'mma shoot at you."
Some of us, our hearts are so dysfunctional that we thrive on drama. We love to keep drama going. We love to hold people in our hearts. We love to keep grudges. We love to be killing our own hearts, keeping people pimped up inside there, so they wounded you at church—they grieved you deeply—and instead of using the framework God gave us to release that resentment from your heart, you bottle it up on the inside and you've been dying on the inside.
If two believers make it to the point where one gets confronted because they sinned against the other, what the Lord expects—if we're following the rest of the chapter—is that it ends right there. Look at what the Lord says:
"If he listens to you, you have gained your brother."
This word gain in Greek is the kind of word that talks about things that are material or valuable. If you go to the brother and you talk to the brother, and you're humble with the brother, and you're loving with the brother, and you're just telling them, "This is what you did to me. This is how I feel. I'm not coming to fight. I'm just telling you how I was wounded"—and the other brother says, "Dang, I didn't know I did that"—and he says, "Man, if the brother listens, man, you've gained. You've won back something valuable. You got back fellowship. You got back peace. You got back intimacy. You got back grace: we good now, ain't got to carry that to my grave."
Peace is a valuable thing.
But watch the master teaching of Jesus. He uses another if, which means that sometimes you'll go and talk to someone and they will not listen to what you have to say.
Why? Some people are too immature to listen. Their hearts are too hard. They're too insecure. They're too prideful. They're too arrogant.
Here's the thing: when you confront people about sin, the only thing you get back from them is their character. It doesn't matter how loving you are. It doesn't matter how kind you are. It doesn't matter how gentle you are. When you talk to people about sinning against you, the only thing you get back is their character. If they have good character, they probably yield. If what you're saying is loving, humble, Godly, and receivable, they'll hear it. But if they don't have good character and love to keep drama going, you need to know that.
So what does the Lord say? "Just leave it alone"? No—that's not what He said.
The Lord didn't say leave him alone. He gave us a second step.
"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." (Matthew 18:16)
The Lord is going back to Old Testament doctrine: "Let not any charge come without two or three witnesses."
Here's what the Lord is saying: If somebody sins against you in the church—it is egregious, it is hurtful, it has wounded you—go and talk to that brother or sister alone. If you win them, it's over. The drama is supposed to stop right there. It's done. No need to air them out. No need to put it on social media. It just dies right there.
But if they don't want to listen, the Lord cares about His children being in unity so much that He says: if they don't listen, go get two or three other people and go back and talk to them a second time.
Now, watch what the Lord does not say. He does not tell us who to bring. So we have to use biblical wisdom on who to bring and who not to bring.
Here's who I do not bring to this conversation:
Instead, I bring someone who is objective. I might bring someone who has more authority. I might bring someone who's more mature. I might bring someone who has some word on the inside of them.
Why? With the hopes that if I can't convince them with my words, hopefully the two or three I brought with me might be able to say something to the person that I wasn't smart enough to say.
This has happened to me many times in pastoral ministry. A team member is going through something. They say, "Pastor, can you talk to this team member for me?" And here we go—two or three of us go to talk to some team member, to be diplomatic, to help them to see the error of their ways, with the hopes that we can mitigate the sin issue in the person's life.
It's at this point—listen to me—that 99% of all conflict in a church should end.
Let me remind you: The Lord is saying to you—if you attend a church, you will have the opportunity, you may get hurt by somebody. But when you get hurt by somebody, if it is a sin against you, I want you to go and talk to them in private. I want you to mitigate the issue in private. I want you to do everything you can to win back your brother or sister, to help them to see the error of their ways.
If they don't listen—I'm so concerned about your relationship, that thing that's so valuable—go get two or three other people who are wise, God-fearing, who can talk to them on your behalf.
Now, at that point, if we are mature, if we are humble, if we are Christlike, if we are Godly, if we treat each other like Christ—it should end right there. 99% of all church conflicts should end right there.
But you already know that's not the reality, right? Because some of you have been in churches where stuff is getting torn up all the time, and people don't want to end the drama. They want to keep the drama going.
I know I'm not the only one who's ever been in a church where you see people fighting, and they like to keep the drama going. They're fighting to win, but they're not fighting for reconciliation. They're fighting with hatred, but they're not fighting with love.
So we hear stories—ongoing stories. They've been at it for months. They've been at it for years. They hate each other. They're trashing each other on social media. It went from DMs to squads, from squads to teams, from teams to so many people. They keep the drama going. Now you've got 10 people involved, 20 people involved, 50 people involved. Now you split the church—because you weren't Godly enough to end the drama at that point.
So now the Lord says: "Man, if they don't listen to two or three people..." Does He say, "Just leave them alone"?
No. He doesn't say that.
Now, the next verse—the next verse is the most difficult one. When I read it to you, you're going to be like, "Nah, Jesus ain't say something like that. Jesus don't talk like that. No, He's cutesy. He's demure. He floats around, man. No, my Lord will never talk to us like that, right?"
So imagine a church with a brother who has egregiously sinned against a sister—he tried to molest her in the bathroom. She goes back and talks to him: "Yo, that thing you did to me in the bathroom, man, it was so wrong. I've been up at night thinking about this all the time. It scarred me."
He says: "I don't give a darn how you feel. You was giving me some vibes, so I went after those vibes in the bathroom. You was acting like you really wanted it, so I don't care."
She comes back a week later with an elder and an associate pastor to try to talk to him again. He says: "I don't care what none of y'all have to say. She was giving me vibes. I felt some motion, so I did what I wanted to do. I ain't got to care what none of y'all got to say."
She says, "I could leave this church. I could..."
They don't want to listen. The Lord says, "Man, this man is in trouble."
So if they don't listen in a private conversation and they don't listen with two or three, there is a third and final step that we hopefully never get to. But with some people, you got no choice but to go there with them.
"If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church." (Matthew 18:17)
Listen. I know you can read. It's on the screen behind me. You might be shocked, but Jesus is not advocating for slander. He's advocating for accountability.
He's saying: if they won't listen, go tell the authority figures of the church. Tell the pastors and elders. Tell the people on their team. Tell as many people as connected to the situation as possible, so that people will be held accountable.
So when they run from you and they bump into somebody else and they try to tell their story, that person says: "Nah, we don't want to hear that story. We heard about what you did in the bathroom. You need to go and repent."
They go to somebody else's squad and try to tell their little sorry story, and people say: "No, we don't want to hear your little sorry story. We heard what you did to her in the bathroom. You need to go and repent."
Every time they keep hopping to different places, they keep bumping into Christians that obey God's word, and people say: "Brother, we're not going to trust your story. Brother, you need to repent, because..."
"Let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector." (Matthew 18:17)
That is, if the person will not repent, treat them like an outsider.
The Lord is fighting for unity in His church. That's why He's so aggressive. He's saying: "I want y'all—once the whole church knows—block him out altogether. Excommunicate him. Put him out. If he tries to bump into you, don't give him nothing."
That is: if you can't honor the principles of community, deny him the blessings of community.
Since you can't respect the unity of community, we—together—are going to block you from enjoying the blessings of community. You can't come to the crib. Can't come to the squad. Can't serve on this team. Can't preach anymore. Can't sing anymore. We're going to block you from feeling the blessings of community—with the hopes that he feels so isolated that it forces him to go back to that sister whom he touched in the bathroom and repent.
But you know what we like to do? They come to you with their little sorry story, and you cuddle them—because they're your friend, because there's affinity, because you don't want to hurt them. You say, "Man, God knows his heart." Yeah, He knows his heart is wicked and full of sin, and the Lord wants him to repent because the Lord loves him. The Lord wants him to be changed. And if we help him in his sin, he will never be changed. So love says throw him out.
In 12 years of pastoral ministry, I've only had to do this one time. One time. A brother was tearing up the church. I went to him privately, and he cursed me out in that private meeting. I tried to talk with more people, and he fussed it out. I said, "Brother, look, if this is the way you feel, you can't stay here any longer."
He splits the church, takes people with him, is aggressive in his sin. Never came back. Never apologized. Never heard from that brother again. I have no idea where he is and what the Lord has done.
What the Lord has given us right here is the metrics for church discipline. Nowhere in the scriptures are you ever calling adults anything other than children of God. And children who disobey need to be disciplined.
The Lord is saying that a church should deal like this with a person who's tearing it up and remains unrepentant.
I know y'all think that is harsh. But you know what's more harsh? To dismantle a whole family because we don't have the courage to deal with one person. To ruin a whole team because we don't have the courage to deal with one person. To ruin a whole ministry because we don't have the courage to deal with one person.
The Lord is saying: treat them like an outsider.
Now, when the Lord is teaching this, the church does not exist. The church will be born a couple of months later on the day of Pentecost.
Is there any evidence in the New Testament that they actually listened to what the Lord said? Is there any evidence that they carried this out? That they treated holiness serious? That they treated purity serious? That they treated unity serious?
Yes. Look at 1 Corinthians 5.
The Apostle Paul—a former murderer turned Christian—writing to a crazy church full of gifted people but reckless, listen to what he says in chapter 5, verse 1:
"It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that is not even tolerated among pagans. For a man has his father's wife." (1 Corinthians 5:1)
A man is banging his father's wife in the church. A man is digging in the box of his father's wife in the church. Y'all know this is happening in the church. Y'all are talking about it, laughing about it, DMing about it. Ain't nobody doing nothing about it.
That's what Paul is saying.
"Are you arrogant? Ought you not rather to mourn?" (1 Corinthians 5:2)
That is: should your heart not be broken over the sin of this brother who's taken down his father's wife? Should your heart not be grieved to see how this one young man is destroying a family and destroying a church?
Instead, you're just letting this happen like it's nothing.
Watch. It's going to make sense to you in a second.
"Let him who has done this be..." (1 Corinthians 5:5)
You read that word, and it's foreign to you. You know that's foreign to you because in the first century, people did not church-hop. Churches were so close-knit that to be excommunicated from a church would cause a person to feel so much pain they would fight to get back into that church.
But it's only in the West, and it's only in modern culture. We don't really have a church—we just have loose coalitions of people that sit in rooms all around the country.
So as soon as you're sinful, as soon as you're nasty, as soon as we try to help you with your sin, instead of yielding to church discipline and being transformed in your character, you say, "I don't like the fact that y'all confronted me." You bail, and you end up in another church to tear that church up. Now you're ten churches in. You've destroyed hundreds of relationships. And nobody has got the courage to confront you.
Every time you get confronted, you put on sneakers and you bail—instead of put on prayer and deal with your heart.
Come on, man. I know you feel convicted because this is your fifth church. And then you try to come to 2819 with the same sinful practice. And if we find you and confront you, here's your first opportunity: run again.
Or—say, "You know what? It's time for me to deal with my sinful ways."
But see, in the first century, churches were so close-knit that if a person was removed from the fellowship, they would feel the pain of the loss of fellowship. It would cause them to think: "Is it worth me being out here by myself?"
See, that doesn't matter to some of y'all, because we live in an individualistic society where you've got Christians who think this is not necessary, that it's a "demonic doctrine."
"Nah. I... I don't care. I love Jesus, but I don't need the church."
Here come the emails.
"I love Jesus, and he and I got something going on, but I don't need the church."
But if the church is His body, then how do you love Him? You can't find no doctrine in the New Testament that gives you license to be solo. He calls all of His children to community—because He does His best work in your life through the sanctifying work of community. Rubbing you, coaching you, loving you, disciplining you, training you, breaking you, building you, comforting you—He does His best work through community.
But because we live in a radically individualistic society, you have Christians all over social media who say, "We love God, but we don't need the church."
You have been deceived.
Now, is there any evidence that this man—that they threw out—felt the pain of his sin and probably came back and said, "I'm sorry"?
Yes. There is.
This is the first letter that some time will pass. Paul will write a second Corinthians—another letter. And in 2 Corinthians 2:5, Paul says:
"Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough." (2 Corinthians 2:5-6)
That's the church. He's come back now.
Gosh, this is so powerful. So you should block him? No.
"Rather, you should turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him." (2 Corinthians 2:7-8)
He's recognized that he was wrong. He was too padded to see. He was too hardened to see. He was too much in his flesh to see. He was too lustful to see. He's been running from y'all for years. He's been in multiple churches. He's coming back where he belongs to say, "I'm sorry. Would y'all invite me back into the fellowship? I just want to be loved and accepted again."
So should you rather turn to forgive him and comfort him? Yes.
"For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we—the fellowship—would not be outwitted by Satan." (2 Corinthians 2:9-11)
That is: we're not going to let him trick us. We're going to love each other so hard that the devil does not get the last laugh.
Now, let's finish. The Lord knew that exercising this level of church discipline would be difficult. It would not be easy. It would be stressful for a leadership team.
So what the Lord does next, He gives the church a group of two sets of assurances.
First, look at Matthew 18:18:
"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."
Whenever we quote this, we attach it to prayer. "Satan, we bind you in the name of Jesus. We loose blood..." And if that makes you feel thugged out in your prayer, then do that. But in this proper context, you know what this is really saying? In the Greek, this is past tense.
That is: whatever you bind on Earth, I have already bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on Earth, I have already loosed in heaven.
"Preacher, I don't get it."
This is about church discipline. What the Lord is saying to leaders who have to do this is: if you put someone out—bind—I will back your decision from heaven.
Then, if you loose that person—that is, invite them back into fellowship—I will back your decision from heaven.
So if you bind, I back your decision by not letting that person feel peace. I will deal with their soul until they repent. They have been bound. But then, if at some point in time they have humility, the Lord says, "Then I will loose you."
Bind, I bind you. Loose, I loose you. That is: I'll back your decision if it's done right, if it's righteous, if it's holy, if it's Godly, if it's in the context of what I've taught you.
And then, because He knows that would be so difficult, He gives them one more assurance.
"Again I say to you, if two of you agree on Earth about anything—about any task, situation, conflict—if y'all agree, and if you ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:19-20)
"Preacher, I don't get it."
The Lord says: man, if y'all come together to pray for that brother who assaulted that sister in the bathroom, y'all pray for him. What kind of prayers are we praying? "Lord, kill him"? No. "Lord, deal with him. Lord, save him. Lord, deliver him. Lord, open his eyes. Lord, let him feel your love. Lord, bring him back. Lord, crush his soul."
We're praying that he would repent.
And the Lord said: if you cry out for somebody who's in a sinful, unrepentant, rebellious state, the Lord said, I will hear from heaven to deal with that person.
That is: love. The Lord is not calling us to confrontations of warfare. He's calling us to confrontations of love. He's not calling us to be fighting brothers and sisters. He's calling us to seek after reconciliation. He's not calling us to throw people away. He's calling us to fight to keep the community of saints together.
Of all the things the Lord is about to give birth to—a church—and of all the things He could address first, He didn't address teaching first. He didn't address serving first. He didn't address giving first.
Of all the things, the Lord gives to His church first, the very first teachings He gives His church is:
You can hear what the Lord is trying to do. He's actually trying to create bodies of believers that live in harmony, peace, and holiness.
Because this right here—community—feels more enjoyable when we're not at each other's throat all the time. And when we do have conflict, we deal with it in such a way that we come back to a place of peace and fellowship.
That way, man, we grow in character together. We grow in morality together. We grow in witness together. And then we have testimonies—not of people running from conflict, but of people being reconciled through conflict.
What a beautiful church it is to deal with people's sin and come out on the other side with stronger relationships.
This is what the Lord wants for us. And this is my prayer for you: that you would remember the words of Jesus, who led by example.
Because it was you and I who sinned against the Lord. You were born in sin, and you've committed so much sin. And the Lord could have left you out to sin, but He didn't do that.
What Jesus did—through the Holy Spirit—was come after you. Left the 99, confronted you with conviction, and tried to woo you back to the Father. "Come back to the Father. Come back to the fellowship. Come back to the gathering."
And what the Lord did was woo you into faith. Jesus came. He lived. He died. And then He used the Holy Spirit to woo you to the cross—not leave you out there in sin, but woo you back to the Father.
Woo you back to fellowship. Instead of let you be out there headed for damnation, He wooed you back—watch—in reconciliation with the Father.
So in the same way you have been reconciled, He says: "Go to others and reconcile."
Be a people that's continuously loving each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sin.
Eternal God and ever-wise Father, we thank you Lord for the power and the truth of your word. We thank you Lord for your holy teachings. We thank you Lord for your wisdom and for your genius.
I pray right now for the gathering of 2819—local and abroad—all of our digital disciples. I pray for the church in the West. I pray for the church globally, Lord: that we would turn from secular humanistic doctrines, that we would turn from the ways of the world, that we would turn to the word, turn to your teachings, turn to your exaltations, turn to You Lord in every way.
I pray, God, especially in the West, there would be revival and outpouring of repentance upon this nation. In the name of your Son, we pray: your church would move on from empty sermons and empty gatherings, empty conferences, empty books—all these things that are dead, that are empty of the scriptures.
We pray there will be a revival, God—a people being raised up—an active church that is deeply devoted to these scriptures. We want You to be Lord and Savior, hallelujah.
And so I pray for healing of wounds. I pray for reconciliation of broken relationships. I pray this week phone calls will be made. DMs will be sent. Relationships will be restored. Husbands will love wives. Wives will love husbands. Friends will say, "I'm sorry." Relationships will be put back together.
Do it through us, Lord. Hallelujah.
I ask Him in the mighty and the majestic and the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
When we speak of blessings as American Christians, we often think of tangible, materialistic things—homes, cars, jobs, financial abundance. But there are blessings far more powerful than material possessions. After salvation, after health, after time itself, perhaps the greatest gift God has given us is the blessing of kingdom relationships.
Think about the people in your life who have opened doors for you, counseled you through difficulty, comforted you in pain, and loved you unconditionally. These blessings have come to you on two legs—through relationships. As you grow in Christ, you will look back and realize that some of the greatest things God has done in your life He has done through the blessing of a relationship. This is one of the most valuable and precious gifts God has given to His children.
Yet it is the enemy—that ancient serpent, the devil—who works cleverly and aggressively through people to dismantle, destroy, and hinder kingdom relationships. He works even through people in your own church to hurt you and to egregiously sin against you, that he may bring division between brothers and sisters.
Biblical community relationships are difficult to build and tragically easy to destroy because of the flesh that manifests itself in the offenses we commit against each other. When the Lord Jesus gave birth to the church through the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, He envisioned a gathering of people—the ekklesia, the called-out ones from the world—who would live with such purity, holiness, and unity that they would put His name on display. The outsider would see such love amongst brothers and sisters, such unity, that they would be jealous and run to be part of that gathering.
So what the Lord does for us in Matthew chapter 18 is give us ethical teaching and values—a built-in framework to guide, govern, and protect this beautiful organism called the church. Throughout the chapter, He teaches us:
All of these metrics protect us from hurting ourselves and from hurting others. But what comes next is perhaps the pinnacle of how we protect ourselves.
Matthew 18:15 — "If your brother sins against you, go tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother."
This is Christ's framework for dealing with conflict resolution inside the context of community. Let me draw your attention to several key words.
The word if presupposes that in the context of biblical community, there will always be a possibility that you may get hurt deeply by somebody inside the church. What the Lord takes off the table is this false narrative: that you can join a church and never get hurt by someone in that church.
Many come into a gathering thinking, "Because these people are supposed to be holy, I will never get hurt here." But the Lord taught us this before the church was even formed: as long as you are in community with brothers and sisters, there will always be the potential for you to get wounded as a result of somebody else sinning against you.
We live in an American context for church, not a biblical one. The Lord is not promising you a pain-free experience. He is promising you a framework for dealing with pain when it comes.
Now, what is not in view? Annoyance is not in view. Being hyper-emotional is not in view. Being rubbed the wrong way is not in view. Frustration is not in view.
If the Lord were telling us to confront somebody every time we were annoyed, we would not survive. We would be in the lobby and parking lot "running up on each other all the time." But when we are mature, there are some things we take to our prayer closet. They offend you? Pray. They annoy you? Pray. They frustrate you? Pray.
Immature believers have to say something every time they feel something. But mature believers learn how to absorb certain pains. Someone cuts me off in traffic—I'm just going to pray for them when I get home. Someone talked to me funny in the lobby—I'm just going to pray for them when I get home. I don't like the way they're acting on this team—I'm just going to pray for them when I get home.
The Lord did not envision a church that will be fighting against each other every week. But when someone egregiously sins against you—when they slander your name, destroy your witness, tear up the team you built—when it is a legitimate sin that's committed against you and you have been wounded and hurt, the Lord has given you a license to go and address the issue. Don't be passive about your pain. Don't be indifferent about your pain.
If you're up at night wounded, if you feel grieved by what that person is doing, the Lord is giving you permission to go talk to that brother or sister.
If you don't go and address the wound, what happens? The pain you're carrying will ripen into resentment, into hatred, into unforgiveness. You let that thing sit on the side, and it grows into a whole tree when it started out as just a little bush.
The Lord is saying: to protect your heart from carrying wounds that deep, I am encouraging you to go talk to your brother and sister.
I know it is not easy for some of us. You may be shy. You may think, "I don't want to be confrontational. I don't want to step out of my comfort zone." You're content to just be a doormat and let people sin against you. I get it—for some of you this may be difficult.
But if you can pray when people sin against you and move on, then praise God—you're doing that. But the Lord has given us grace to have healthy conflict amongst ourselves. He is not telling you that you're going to be in church and never get wounded. But He has given you a framework, a presupposition: as long as you are part of a church, no matter how great that church is, how good the preaching is, how good the worship is—as soon as somebody hurts you, don't take flight and vomit on social media.
The Lord says: Go.
The next word I want to draw your attention to is the word tell. This doesn't mean fight. It doesn't mean argue. It doesn't mean go and attack the person who sinned against you.
Tell means have an intelligible conversation. It is articulate your feelings. It is tell them the tears you've been shedding and the wound you've experienced.
Let me share a story. There was a sister who used to work for me at a church, maybe five years ago. We had a falling out, and she had to go her separate way. About a month ago, I was on my face in prayer, and the Lord showed me her face in my prayer time. I didn't know if her number had changed, so I just got in the DMs at 5 in the morning and shot her a message: "Sister, I see your face in my prayer time. I don't know if your number has changed. I don't know how you feel about me, but I just want you to know I'm praying for you in this moment."
To my surprise, she's up and she DMs me right back: "It's so good to hear from you. I've been thinking about you too."
Before she could type anything else, I start typing back: "Listen, if I hurt you in any way—God, if I sinned against you when you were here—if I was not a good employer, if I was not a good shepherd, if I was not a good boss, if I hurt you in any way, I want you to hear that I am sorry for how I hurt you. I take responsibility for the wound that you incurred. I take responsibility for your tears. I am deeply sorry for how I hurt you."
I'm waiting for her response, and I see the bubbles. Here's what she says: "I'm sorry for hurting you too, and I'm sorry for the things that I said and the things that I've done."
Then here we are at 5 in the morning having this beautiful back-and-forth exchange. It's tranquilo—everything came down. Now I'm loving on her and she's loving on me, and we're apologizing to one another. In the DMs, we're trying to outdo each other with honor.
A couple of weeks ago, she's going through a difficult season and she reaches out: "Can you pray for me?" I said, "Do you want to come to the house?" She comes to the house with her children, goes down into our basement, and stays the whole weekend. My wife and I just love on her, feed her, wrap our arms around her, listen to her tell her story, watch her shed her tears.
All of this is happening—and notice the next word in the text.
Alone. Not on social media. Not blowing her up for everybody to know. Not blowing me up for everybody to know.
The Lord said: when you have grief with your brother or sister, go to them in private. Seek private reconciliation before public approach. Try to deal with the matter in private.
But we do just the opposite, don't we? Somebody sins against you in the church, and the first thing you do is air your grievance on social media. You go back to your team and air your grievance. You go back to your squad and air your grievance. As soon as somebody hurts you, instead of listening to the words of the Lord, the first thing you do is run and tell everybody in the church.
What is the Lord trying to protect us from? An acquired offense. He's trying to protect innocent brothers and sisters from being soiled in their heart by the hurt that you're carrying because you did not take the time to go and talk to that brother and sister in private. And because you got hurt and aired your grievance, now you are in sin.
The Lord is teaching us: do your best to mitigate beef between brothers and sisters in private.
Now, follow the text. In the original manuscripts, there are no chapter and verse breaks. Matthew 18 is one continuous argument that Jesus is making.
If we are humble, if we are childlike, if we treat other people like they are Christ, if we are not causing others to sin, if we are dealing with our own sin, if we have the character He taught us about in the beginning of the chapter—then when somebody confronts us, we have the character to hear what they have to say.
What the Lord expects in this moment is that both believers desire the same thing: peace and reconciliation.
But you know, some of you love to keep drama going. You've got a spirit of revenge. "It's been at me too—you hit me, I'mma hit you. You don't like me, I don't like you. You unfollow me, I'mma unfollow you. You shoot at me, I'mma shoot at you."
Some of us, our hearts are so dysfunctional that we thrive on drama. We love to keep drama going. We love to hold people in our hearts. We love to keep grudges. We love to be killing our own hearts, keeping people pimped up inside there, so they wounded you at church—they grieved you deeply—and instead of using the framework God gave us to release that resentment from your heart, you bottle it up on the inside and you've been dying on the inside.
If two believers make it to the point where one gets confronted because they sinned against the other, what the Lord expects—if we're following the rest of the chapter—is that it ends right there. Look at what the Lord says:
"If he listens to you, you have gained your brother."
This word gain in Greek is the kind of word that talks about things that are material or valuable. If you go to the brother and you talk to the brother, and you're humble with the brother, and you're loving with the brother, and you're just telling them, "This is what you did to me. This is how I feel. I'm not coming to fight. I'm just telling you how I was wounded"—and the other brother says, "Dang, I didn't know I did that"—and he says, "Man, if the brother listens, man, you've gained. You've won back something valuable. You got back fellowship. You got back peace. You got back intimacy. You got back grace: we good now, ain't got to carry that to my grave."
Peace is a valuable thing.
But watch the master teaching of Jesus. He uses another if, which means that sometimes you'll go and talk to someone and they will not listen to what you have to say.
Why? Some people are too immature to listen. Their hearts are too hard. They're too insecure. They're too prideful. They're too arrogant.
Here's the thing: when you confront people about sin, the only thing you get back from them is their character. It doesn't matter how loving you are. It doesn't matter how kind you are. It doesn't matter how gentle you are. When you talk to people about sinning against you, the only thing you get back is their character. If they have good character, they probably yield. If what you're saying is loving, humble, Godly, and receivable, they'll hear it. But if they don't have good character and love to keep drama going, you need to know that.
So what does the Lord say? "Just leave it alone"? No—that's not what He said.
The Lord didn't say leave him alone. He gave us a second step.
"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." (Matthew 18:16)
The Lord is going back to Old Testament doctrine: "Let not any charge come without two or three witnesses."
Here's what the Lord is saying: If somebody sins against you in the church—it is egregious, it is hurtful, it has wounded you—go and talk to that brother or sister alone. If you win them, it's over. The drama is supposed to stop right there. It's done. No need to air them out. No need to put it on social media. It just dies right there.
But if they don't want to listen, the Lord cares about His children being in unity so much that He says: if they don't listen, go get two or three other people and go back and talk to them a second time.
Now, watch what the Lord does not say. He does not tell us who to bring. So we have to use biblical wisdom on who to bring and who not to bring.
Here's who I do not bring to this conversation:
Instead, I bring someone who is objective. I might bring someone who has more authority. I might bring someone who's more mature. I might bring someone who has some word on the inside of them.
Why? With the hopes that if I can't convince them with my words, hopefully the two or three I brought with me might be able to say something to the person that I wasn't smart enough to say.
This has happened to me many times in pastoral ministry. A team member is going through something. They say, "Pastor, can you talk to this team member for me?" And here we go—two or three of us go to talk to some team member, to be diplomatic, to help them to see the error of their ways, with the hopes that we can mitigate the sin issue in the person's life.
It's at this point—listen to me—that 99% of all conflict in a church should end.
Let me remind you: The Lord is saying to you—if you attend a church, you will have the opportunity, you may get hurt by somebody. But when you get hurt by somebody, if it is a sin against you, I want you to go and talk to them in private. I want you to mitigate the issue in private. I want you to do everything you can to win back your brother or sister, to help them to see the error of their ways.
If they don't listen—I'm so concerned about your relationship, that thing that's so valuable—go get two or three other people who are wise, God-fearing, who can talk to them on your behalf.
Now, at that point, if we are mature, if we are humble, if we are Christlike, if we are Godly, if we treat each other like Christ—it should end right there. 99% of all church conflicts should end right there.
But you already know that's not the reality, right? Because some of you have been in churches where stuff is getting torn up all the time, and people don't want to end the drama. They want to keep the drama going.
I know I'm not the only one who's ever been in a church where you see people fighting, and they like to keep the drama going. They're fighting to win, but they're not fighting for reconciliation. They're fighting with hatred, but they're not fighting with love.
So we hear stories—ongoing stories. They've been at it for months. They've been at it for years. They hate each other. They're trashing each other on social media. It went from DMs to squads, from squads to teams, from teams to so many people. They keep the drama going. Now you've got 10 people involved, 20 people involved, 50 people involved. Now you split the church—because you weren't Godly enough to end the drama at that point.
So now the Lord says: "Man, if they don't listen to two or three people..." Does He say, "Just leave them alone"?
No. He doesn't say that.
Now, the next verse—the next verse is the most difficult one. When I read it to you, you're going to be like, "Nah, Jesus ain't say something like that. Jesus don't talk like that. No, He's cutesy. He's demure. He floats around, man. No, my Lord will never talk to us like that, right?"
So imagine a church with a brother who has egregiously sinned against a sister—he tried to molest her in the bathroom. She goes back and talks to him: "Yo, that thing you did to me in the bathroom, man, it was so wrong. I've been up at night thinking about this all the time. It scarred me."
He says: "I don't give a darn how you feel. You was giving me some vibes, so I went after those vibes in the bathroom. You was acting like you really wanted it, so I don't care."
She comes back a week later with an elder and an associate pastor to try to talk to him again. He says: "I don't care what none of y'all have to say. She was giving me vibes. I felt some motion, so I did what I wanted to do. I ain't got to care what none of y'all got to say."
She says, "I could leave this church. I could..."
They don't want to listen. The Lord says, "Man, this man is in trouble."
So if they don't listen in a private conversation and they don't listen with two or three, there is a third and final step that we hopefully never get to. But with some people, you got no choice but to go there with them.
"If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church." (Matthew 18:17)
Listen. I know you can read. It's on the screen behind me. You might be shocked, but Jesus is not advocating for slander. He's advocating for accountability.
He's saying: if they won't listen, go tell the authority figures of the church. Tell the pastors and elders. Tell the people on their team. Tell as many people as connected to the situation as possible, so that people will be held accountable.
So when they run from you and they bump into somebody else and they try to tell their story, that person says: "Nah, we don't want to hear that story. We heard about what you did in the bathroom. You need to go and repent."
They go to somebody else's squad and try to tell their little sorry story, and people say: "No, we don't want to hear your little sorry story. We heard what you did to her in the bathroom. You need to go and repent."
Every time they keep hopping to different places, they keep bumping into Christians that obey God's word, and people say: "Brother, we're not going to trust your story. Brother, you need to repent, because..."
"Let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector." (Matthew 18:17)
That is, if the person will not repent, treat them like an outsider.
The Lord is fighting for unity in His church. That's why He's so aggressive. He's saying: "I want y'all—once the whole church knows—block him out altogether. Excommunicate him. Put him out. If he tries to bump into you, don't give him nothing."
That is: if you can't honor the principles of community, deny him the blessings of community.
Since you can't respect the unity of community, we—together—are going to block you from enjoying the blessings of community. You can't come to the crib. Can't come to the squad. Can't serve on this team. Can't preach anymore. Can't sing anymore. We're going to block you from feeling the blessings of community—with the hopes that he feels so isolated that it forces him to go back to that sister whom he touched in the bathroom and repent.
But you know what we like to do? They come to you with their little sorry story, and you cuddle them—because they're your friend, because there's affinity, because you don't want to hurt them. You say, "Man, God knows his heart." Yeah, He knows his heart is wicked and full of sin, and the Lord wants him to repent because the Lord loves him. The Lord wants him to be changed. And if we help him in his sin, he will never be changed. So love says throw him out.
In 12 years of pastoral ministry, I've only had to do this one time. One time. A brother was tearing up the church. I went to him privately, and he cursed me out in that private meeting. I tried to talk with more people, and he fussed it out. I said, "Brother, look, if this is the way you feel, you can't stay here any longer."
He splits the church, takes people with him, is aggressive in his sin. Never came back. Never apologized. Never heard from that brother again. I have no idea where he is and what the Lord has done.
What the Lord has given us right here is the metrics for church discipline. Nowhere in the scriptures are you ever calling adults anything other than children of God. And children who disobey need to be disciplined.
The Lord is saying that a church should deal like this with a person who's tearing it up and remains unrepentant.
I know y'all think that is harsh. But you know what's more harsh? To dismantle a whole family because we don't have the courage to deal with one person. To ruin a whole team because we don't have the courage to deal with one person. To ruin a whole ministry because we don't have the courage to deal with one person.
The Lord is saying: treat them like an outsider.
Now, when the Lord is teaching this, the church does not exist. The church will be born a couple of months later on the day of Pentecost.
Is there any evidence in the New Testament that they actually listened to what the Lord said? Is there any evidence that they carried this out? That they treated holiness serious? That they treated purity serious? That they treated unity serious?
Yes. Look at 1 Corinthians 5.
The Apostle Paul—a former murderer turned Christian—writing to a crazy church full of gifted people but reckless, listen to what he says in chapter 5, verse 1:
"It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that is not even tolerated among pagans. For a man has his father's wife." (1 Corinthians 5:1)
A man is banging his father's wife in the church. A man is digging in the box of his father's wife in the church. Y'all know this is happening in the church. Y'all are talking about it, laughing about it, DMing about it. Ain't nobody doing nothing about it.
That's what Paul is saying.
"Are you arrogant? Ought you not rather to mourn?" (1 Corinthians 5:2)
That is: should your heart not be broken over the sin of this brother who's taken down his father's wife? Should your heart not be grieved to see how this one young man is destroying a family and destroying a church?
Instead, you're just letting this happen like it's nothing.
Watch. It's going to make sense to you in a second.
"Let him who has done this be..." (1 Corinthians 5:5)
You read that word, and it's foreign to you. You know that's foreign to you because in the first century, people did not church-hop. Churches were so close-knit that to be excommunicated from a church would cause a person to feel so much pain they would fight to get back into that church.
But it's only in the West, and it's only in modern culture. We don't really have a church—we just have loose coalitions of people that sit in rooms all around the country.
So as soon as you're sinful, as soon as you're nasty, as soon as we try to help you with your sin, instead of yielding to church discipline and being transformed in your character, you say, "I don't like the fact that y'all confronted me." You bail, and you end up in another church to tear that church up. Now you're ten churches in. You've destroyed hundreds of relationships. And nobody has got the courage to confront you.
Every time you get confronted, you put on sneakers and you bail—instead of put on prayer and deal with your heart.
Come on, man. I know you feel convicted because this is your fifth church. And then you try to come to 2819 with the same sinful practice. And if we find you and confront you, here's your first opportunity: run again.
Or—say, "You know what? It's time for me to deal with my sinful ways."
But see, in the first century, churches were so close-knit that if a person was removed from the fellowship, they would feel the pain of the loss of fellowship. It would cause them to think: "Is it worth me being out here by myself?"
See, that doesn't matter to some of y'all, because we live in an individualistic society where you've got Christians who think this is not necessary, that it's a "demonic doctrine."
"Nah. I... I don't care. I love Jesus, but I don't need the church."
Here come the emails.
"I love Jesus, and he and I got something going on, but I don't need the church."
But if the church is His body, then how do you love Him? You can't find no doctrine in the New Testament that gives you license to be solo. He calls all of His children to community—because He does His best work in your life through the sanctifying work of community. Rubbing you, coaching you, loving you, disciplining you, training you, breaking you, building you, comforting you—He does His best work through community.
But because we live in a radically individualistic society, you have Christians all over social media who say, "We love God, but we don't need the church."
You have been deceived.
Now, is there any evidence that this man—that they threw out—felt the pain of his sin and probably came back and said, "I'm sorry"?
Yes. There is.
This is the first letter that some time will pass. Paul will write a second Corinthians—another letter. And in 2 Corinthians 2:5, Paul says:
"Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough." (2 Corinthians 2:5-6)
That's the church. He's come back now.
Gosh, this is so powerful. So you should block him? No.
"Rather, you should turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him." (2 Corinthians 2:7-8)
He's recognized that he was wrong. He was too padded to see. He was too hardened to see. He was too much in his flesh to see. He was too lustful to see. He's been running from y'all for years. He's been in multiple churches. He's coming back where he belongs to say, "I'm sorry. Would y'all invite me back into the fellowship? I just want to be loved and accepted again."
So should you rather turn to forgive him and comfort him? Yes.
"For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we—the fellowship—would not be outwitted by Satan." (2 Corinthians 2:9-11)
That is: we're not going to let him trick us. We're going to love each other so hard that the devil does not get the last laugh.
Now, let's finish. The Lord knew that exercising this level of church discipline would be difficult. It would not be easy. It would be stressful for a leadership team.
So what the Lord does next, He gives the church a group of two sets of assurances.
First, look at Matthew 18:18:
"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."
Whenever we quote this, we attach it to prayer. "Satan, we bind you in the name of Jesus. We loose blood..." And if that makes you feel thugged out in your prayer, then do that. But in this proper context, you know what this is really saying? In the Greek, this is past tense.
That is: whatever you bind on Earth, I have already bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on Earth, I have already loosed in heaven.
"Preacher, I don't get it."
This is about church discipline. What the Lord is saying to leaders who have to do this is: if you put someone out—bind—I will back your decision from heaven.
Then, if you loose that person—that is, invite them back into fellowship—I will back your decision from heaven.
So if you bind, I back your decision by not letting that person feel peace. I will deal with their soul until they repent. They have been bound. But then, if at some point in time they have humility, the Lord says, "Then I will loose you."
Bind, I bind you. Loose, I loose you. That is: I'll back your decision if it's done right, if it's righteous, if it's holy, if it's Godly, if it's in the context of what I've taught you.
And then, because He knows that would be so difficult, He gives them one more assurance.
"Again I say to you, if two of you agree on Earth about anything—about any task, situation, conflict—if y'all agree, and if you ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:19-20)
"Preacher, I don't get it."
The Lord says: man, if y'all come together to pray for that brother who assaulted that sister in the bathroom, y'all pray for him. What kind of prayers are we praying? "Lord, kill him"? No. "Lord, deal with him. Lord, save him. Lord, deliver him. Lord, open his eyes. Lord, let him feel your love. Lord, bring him back. Lord, crush his soul."
We're praying that he would repent.
And the Lord said: if you cry out for somebody who's in a sinful, unrepentant, rebellious state, the Lord said, I will hear from heaven to deal with that person.
That is: love. The Lord is not calling us to confrontations of warfare. He's calling us to confrontations of love. He's not calling us to be fighting brothers and sisters. He's calling us to seek after reconciliation. He's not calling us to throw people away. He's calling us to fight to keep the community of saints together.
Of all the things the Lord is about to give birth to—a church—and of all the things He could address first, He didn't address teaching first. He didn't address serving first. He didn't address giving first.
Of all the things, the Lord gives to His church first, the very first teachings He gives His church is:
You can hear what the Lord is trying to do. He's actually trying to create bodies of believers that live in harmony, peace, and holiness.
Because this right here—community—feels more enjoyable when we're not at each other's throat all the time. And when we do have conflict, we deal with it in such a way that we come back to a place of peace and fellowship.
That way, man, we grow in character together. We grow in morality together. We grow in witness together. And then we have testimonies—not of people running from conflict, but of people being reconciled through conflict.
What a beautiful church it is to deal with people's sin and come out on the other side with stronger relationships.
This is what the Lord wants for us. And this is my prayer for you: that you would remember the words of Jesus, who led by example.
Because it was you and I who sinned against the Lord. You were born in sin, and you've committed so much sin. And the Lord could have left you out to sin, but He didn't do that.
What Jesus did—through the Holy Spirit—was come after you. Left the 99, confronted you with conviction, and tried to woo you back to the Father. "Come back to the Father. Come back to the fellowship. Come back to the gathering."
And what the Lord did was woo you into faith. Jesus came. He lived. He died. And then He used the Holy Spirit to woo you to the cross—not leave you out there in sin, but woo you back to the Father.
Woo you back to fellowship. Instead of let you be out there headed for damnation, He wooed you back—watch—in reconciliation with the Father.
So in the same way you have been reconciled, He says: "Go to others and reconcile."
Be a people that's continuously loving each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sin.
Eternal God and ever-wise Father, we thank you Lord for the power and the truth of your word. We thank you Lord for your holy teachings. We thank you Lord for your wisdom and for your genius.
I pray right now for the gathering of 2819—local and abroad—all of our digital disciples. I pray for the church in the West. I pray for the church globally, Lord: that we would turn from secular humanistic doctrines, that we would turn from the ways of the world, that we would turn to the word, turn to your teachings, turn to your exaltations, turn to You Lord in every way.
I pray, God, especially in the West, there would be revival and outpouring of repentance upon this nation. In the name of your Son, we pray: your church would move on from empty sermons and empty gatherings, empty conferences, empty books—all these things that are dead, that are empty of the scriptures.
We pray there will be a revival, God—a people being raised up—an active church that is deeply devoted to these scriptures. We want You to be Lord and Savior, hallelujah.
And so I pray for healing of wounds. I pray for reconciliation of broken relationships. I pray this week phone calls will be made. DMs will be sent. Relationships will be restored. Husbands will love wives. Wives will love husbands. Friends will say, "I'm sorry." Relationships will be put back together.
Do it through us, Lord. Hallelujah.
I ask Him in the mighty and the majestic and the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
