The Correction of God’s Children Part 1 | Matthew

Introduction:
The importance of the passage that we come to today cannot be overemphasized.
What a church does with these verses says a lot about that church.
Is it healthy?
Does it have a high view of God and a high view of our relationships in the family of God?
Does it love God, and does it love itself (members loving one another) in a godly way?
Does it reverence God’s Word?
Is it striving for holiness?
Is it humble?
Does it see people in the terms of the soul? Does it see people in the terms of eternity? Does it understand how deadly sin is?
And that is just a sampling of what is manifested.
But the importance of this passage is manifested in more than one way.
Its importance requires that we think about it positively and negatively.
It is important that these truths be practiced. We must not ignore them.
It is equally important that these truths not be wrongly practiced.
A church will suffer, individual believers will suffer if we go astray on either front - when either of those things is ignored.
If the people of God refuse to love each other in the ways these verses call for, the consequences are disastrous.
But if the people of God attempt to practice what these verses teach in a way that is proud and superficial- mechanically embracing its form (in terms of the steps taken) but absent the HEART for the kind of correction described here, the results are disastrous.
On the one hand, we must beware the pride that would refuse to obey the verses.
On the other hand, we must beware the pride that would result in a fleshly application of these verses.
The Spirit produced practice of these verses will bring blessing to the people of God.
The flesh produced distortion of these verses will bring evil to the people of God.
Today we think about the correction of God’s children.
We will take our time with these verses (spending more than one sermon on them) because of their neglect in our day, and because of their mistaken application, in so many churches in our time.
It is vital to our own spiritual health as a church that we carefully understanding of them.
• THE CONTEXT FOR THE INSTRUCTION
I want to begin by reminding us of the context for what our Lord says. He is dealing with living in this world as a child of God.
We said that the chapter can be divided in the following way:
Verses 1-4 - The Kingdom belongs to God’s children.
Verses 5-9 - The King identifies with God’s children.
Verses 10-14 - The children of God are to be cared for.
Verses 15-20 - The children of God are to be corrected.
Verses 21-35 - The children of God are to be forgiven (which follows, beautifully, the instruction given about correction).
When Jesus talks about the church in these verses (vs.17), He is using the term in its informal sense. The community of God’s people.
The church, as Christ promised to build it (His own assembly) - His body, indwelt by the Spirit - began at Pentecost.
The formal elements necessary for a New Testament congregation of those saints - elders, deacons, the ordinances - follow the ascension of Christ into Heaven.
But, Christ is giving instruction that certainly anticipates the church as we know it, and must be applied in the church as we know it.
From Matthew 13 onward, He is preparing His disciples for the time when He will leave them in this world, give the Holy Spirit, and build His church through the proclamation of the word of the kingdom.
SO THAT THE PRINCIPLES TAUGHT HERE APPLY WHEREVER THE CHILDREN OF GOD EXIST TOGETHER.
These are truths for correction in the community of the people of God - the CORRECTION OF GOD’S CHILDREN.
• THE ELEMENTS OF THE INSTRUCTION
So, before we dig down into the details of the instruction, let’s simply note what is included here from a big picture perspective.
This is not exhaustive but let me mention at least 9 distinct elements that are included in what our Lord teaches His disciples.
I’m going to describe each one using the words “the discipline of sin” because that is what our Lord is focused on. When a child of God has sinned, and needs correction, how is that to happen in the family of God, the community of God’s people?
There are NINE things that we are taught here.
• THE DISCIPLINE OF SIN IS A FAMILY MATTER - “a brother”
Twice in verse 15 our Lord makes clear that what is involved is a sin issue involving a professed brother. This is how BELIEVERS live together, and serve together, and function together.
Throughout all the instruction, He makes plain that the correction is taking place in a community of people who are HIS PEOPLE, who function IN HIS NAME (vs.19-20).
In fact, if someone proves to be outside the discipline of this community, then they are regarded as an unbeliever (vs.17).
When our Lord gets to the matter of forgiveness, in verse 21, again the context is difficulty that arises between brethren (“how often will my brother sin against me”).