Restoring a Brother Who Sins

Matthew 18:15-17

I love the Lord’s Church. There is no other assembly of people who will love you, pray for you, fellowship with you, teach you, correct you, and help you like the church of Jesus Christ. And generally, we find very little problem maintaining our Christian relationships when other believers do the right thing and behave toward us and others as they should. The problems arise when we and they sin—sin against God and sin against one another. How do you respond when a fellow Christian wrongs you? What do you do when a Christian brother or sister is caught in sin?

I have seen Christians and churches respond in a number of ways to sinning members—not all of them beneficial or biblical. Some respond with indifference, saying things like, “Well, we can’t be judgmental. We all sin. It’s none of my business.” Jesus shows that this response is neither loving nor scriptural. Some respond with self-righteous hypocrisy, trying to remove the speck from your brother’s eye with a plank in your own eye (Matt. 7:1-5). Others respond by spreading gossip or slander about them to others. Regrettably, that is just adding more sin and division in the church. How does Jesus teach us to respond to a brother or sister who sins against us? In Matthew 18:15-20, Jesus teaches to humbly, gently, and firmly seek to restore a brother or sister.