Rebuke and Restore

IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Rebuke and Restore

Date: Sep. 21, 2015

Passage

Matthew 18:15-20 (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. 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. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV) is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. All rights reserved.

For information on how the ESV can be quoted, please visit our permission site.

Daily Bread

Key Verse: 18:19

Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

First, the purpose is restoration (15-17). Sometimes one of God's precious 'little ones' gets caught up in sin and goes astray. God's steps for restoration are first, in a spirit of humility, to go one-on-one to the one in sin. If that doesn't work, take one or two others. If that doesn't work, the whole fellowship goes. If that works, thank and praise God for his grace and merciful promise to "purify us from all unrighteousness" (1Jn 1:9). If not, treat the one in question as if not part of the church. But do we ignore or abandon them? For heaven's sake no! We love them as if they did not know the Lord, as a precious lost "pagan or tax collector." If God's child sins, God's purpose is restoration.

Second, God leads in restoration (18-20). When we fervently pray for a brother or sister gone astray, God will restore him or her. In fact, when we follow God's steps for restoration, we are affirming what God himself has already done: "whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven." God's will is the restoration of his precious 'little ones' that go astray, and we follow his lead by obeying his method for restoration.

Prayer: Lord, give me grace to truthfully, humbly approach a brother or sister in sin, discerning clearly when my sight is hindered by a plank in my own eye.

One Word: Rebuke and restore a precious brother or sister in sin.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

Acts 5:1-16

Key Verse: 5:3

Today's Question

Did our first parents remain as they were created?

See answer and references