1. Conversations 2016 Session 3 Dysfunctional Community Learning to Utilize the Biblical Model

2. Matthew 18:15-20Matthew 18:15-20:  If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that "every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses." If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.

3. Often believers do their own version  If your brother or sister sins, go to one or two others and talk about the offender. Build your case. Assassinate their character. Hold resentment against them. Snub them at every turn. Make them so uncomfortable that they will eventually leave.

4. Jesus wasn't advocating any kind of triangulation or co-dependency in his teaching. This is a straight forward approach.

5. If I sin against you, then before you consult with everybody we know, you and I need to sit down—face to face, eye to eye— and you need to point out my fault in a way that recognizes your own falleness as well as mine.

6. This is key  We might not be able to resolve all of this in one conversation, so let's keep talking. As long as we're willing to talk to each other, we don't need to involve anyone else. But if at some point, I refuse to admit my fault or seek forgiveness, it's time to find a third party to bring into the conversation.

7. Go to the Church?  If the assistance of a third party helps things, we're good. If not, we need to involve more people. "Church" here could mean different things. Let's say the incident occurred within our small group. We don't need to call a membership meeting of the whole church to address it. But we do need to discuss this in our group. Again, this is the last resort.

8. Like a Pagan?  If I continue to refuse you after all of these folks who care about me have intervened, Jesus' instructions were to treat the person like a pagan or a tax collector. But what does that mean? In Jesus' day, a pagan simply was an unbeliever, and tax collectors were Jews who turned against their own people by collecting taxes for the Romans and skimming some off the top for themselves. Both pagans and tax collectors are essentially unbelievers. How are we supposed to treat unbelievers?

9. Repentant Heart  The church's mission in the world is to love unbelievers and challenge them with their need to repent. After putting an unrepentant believer out of the circle, his fellow brothers and sisters should continue to love him and challenge him to repent. But they don't include them in their circle of fellowship. The admission for that is a repentant heart.