Grace and peace are yours through the forgiving love of our Lord Jesus, who seeks his fallen brothers and sisters. Amen.

Matthew 18:15 "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ¹⁶ But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony 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, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. ¹⁸ "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. ¹⁹ "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

Forgiving and loving Father, help us in bringing our erring Christian brothers and sisters to a realization of their sin so that what was lost may be regained. What great rejoicing there is in heaven over every straying sinner that is brought to repentance! Amen.

In the 17^th century there was a French explorer named Samuel de Champlain. Champlain reported back to the Old Word on many of the wonders he encountered while journeying through the New World – especially Canada. In these writings, he told one story of a community in Nova Scotia that was served by both a Roman Catholic priest and a Protestant pastor. Champlain does detail the doctrinal disputes that arose between these two servants of the Gospel, but he explains the means by which they sought resolution of their differences. At regular intervals, the priest and the pastor engaged in public fistfights. According to the explorer, crowds of settlers, Native Americans, and voyagers who were passing through would gather at the center of the village to cheer on the combatants.

Have you ever noticed that wherever there are people, there are conflicts? Wherever two or three are gathered together, there's going to be disagreement – and eventually, someone is going to be unhappy. It's true in business. It's true in politics. It’s even true in church, perhaps especially in church.

Jesus understood this and that is why he instructed his disciples on how to resolve conflict. What do you do when a brother or sister in Christ, in Jesus’ words, "sins against you?" What do you do when you find out a fellow Christian lies, steals, causes physical or emotional scars, cheats in school, commits adultery, or in some other way clearly misses the mark of what God requires of all of us?

How often don’t we overlook the sin as if it isn’t that big of a deal? Or we excuse the sin knowing that we have fallen into that sin ourselves? Or we are afraid to confront the sin in others because they might say to us: "Judge not lest ye yourselves be judged"? Or instead of reaching out to others in love, we use the sinful strategies of gossip and backstabbing instead of honest confrontation?

Where two or three are gathered together there will be conflict because we are sinful human beings. But when two or three are gathered in the name and knowledge of Jesus they have the motivation and the means to get along together – to win over fallen brothers and sisters. We have enough to fight against – we don’t need to fight each other. But with Jesus’ way of handling one who has sinned, we have his way of winning over your fallen brother or sister.

During our lives, people are going to sin against us. We won’t always have the opportunity to correct strangers who sin against us, but for our fellow believers with whom we share our homes or our church pews, it is extremely important that we learn how to confront them with their sin and call them to repentance. When sin is present and we have first-hand knowledge of it, Jesus makes it crystal clear that we have an obligation to go to the erring person.

Too often, though, instead of confronting sin, we ignore it hoping that it will go away or we feel we have to tell others about it. Ignoring it leaves the person in willful, unrepentant sin which is deadly. "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God." (Hebrews 10:26f)

Telling others about it is gossip. There have been too many times when I have had well-meaning church members come to me for help. The conversations usually go something like this: "Pastor, I have it on ‘reliable sources’ that such-and-such did so-and-so. Don’t you think you should deal with it?" I will always answer: "No. You deal with it. If I deal with it, I am sinning by listening to gossip and hearsay. If this person has sinned against you, then you go and show him his fault. If he hasn’t sinned against you, then it’s none of your business. Besides, if you haven’t spoken to the person involved, then your information isn’t really reliable is it? It is hearsay!"

Then I’ll point them to Jesus’ words in Matthew 18:5: "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over." We are to speak to the erring individual, in person, one-on-one. Our goal is always to win our weak brother or sister over to Christ. If our aim is to win a wounded soul for Christ, then we will seek out that person to help him/her to improve themselves out of love for them and their soul. If we go about gossiping about someone in every corner of the building and rooting around in the filth, telling about the sin (real or perceived) nobody will be reformed. Then we are the ones who are sinning.

Then I’ll usually quote Martin Luther (you can never go wrong quoting Luther). He has some very strong words about this. "Christ says, ‘If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, just between you and him alone.’ Here you have a fine, most valuable lesson on how to rule the tongue, a lesson we should carefully note in order to avoid the repulsive sins of the tongue. Conduct yourself according to this rule so as not to begin talking behind your neighbor’s back and spreading reports about him, but rather admonish him privately in order to help him to change. Likewise, if someone whispers in your ear what this or that person is supposed to have done, tell the whisperer to go himself and reprove the man in case he saw him doing the wrong, but if he did not see it, tell him to keep his mouth shut."

Instead of compounding the sin by making it public and usually misinformed through gossip, we are to work hard to win our erring brother or sister back to Christ and his lifestyle. The first step is to go show him or her their sin, just the two of you. Take the initiative and show him his fault. Lovingly and compassionately show her what she has done wrong. But just between the two of you, privately. This is no one else’s business. Hopefully your friend in Christ will listen and repent.

However, if the one-on-one fails, perhaps the loving concern of another Christian or two will help you win over your brother or sister in Christ. It is significant that Jesus doesn’t say, "Marshall the troops," or "Round up the posse," to chase down the straying brother. Jesus says, "Take along one or two others." These people are to be witnesses to add weight to the seriousness of the sin and the testimony of Scripture. If this still doesn’t elicit a change, then you finally need to involve the church – the pastor, elders, and the congregation of believers. However, if after being rebuked by the church, he still persists in his unrepentant attitude and refuses to listen to the words of Scripture, which points out his sin, Jesus directs us to expel the member from our midst. There is never any joy in doing this, but to do so is an act of love devoted to trying to save that person from judgment on the Last Day.

All of this takes time. It isn’t a quick three-step process and you’re done. It is a process that involves time, care, concern, and compassion. It is a process that we commit ourselves to so we may win over our erring brother or sister in Christ.

Let me give you an example of how God wants this to work. I had a member at my former congregation who used to belong to the WELS church in Louisville. We’ll call him Wes. Unfortunately, Wes stopped coming to church and receiving God’s Word and Sacraments. First, his friends who belonged to the church talked with him and encouraged him to repair his broken relationship with God and his Church. When that didn’t work, one of the elders from the church called Wes, spoke with him and told him how concerned he was about the lack of his spiritual faith-life. Eventually, another elder went with the first to visit Wes in his home, point out the importance of the Means of Grace, and confront Wes’ excuses about his lack of worship. Then the pastor started calling, writing letters, and contacting Wes. Unfortunately, after a long time without any signs of repentance and renewal, Wes was excommunicated from the church.

This was a final call to repentance. It was meant to shake him up and let him know that he was not right with God. Well, Wes became angry about this and stayed away from church for a number of years – which wasn’t any different from before since he wasn’t coming to church as a member. Wes finally started coming to our church in Radcliff after a mild heart attack. He told me that his heart attack was sent by God’s grace. It was a mild enough heart attack to get his attention, but not kill him. He said it was "God’s kick in the pants to get his butt back in church." And it worked. Every step. A fallen brother was won back. It took time. It took a lot of effort. It took a little kick in the pants. But one of God’s lost sheep was called back into the flock. And as soon as Wes repented, he received God’s forgiveness and was immediately became a member of our church and the WELS again.

You see, the salvation of souls on the Last Day is always our motivation. It is extremely difficult and not much fun, to make others aware of their sin and carry out church discipline. However, it is our God-given responsibility. If a sinner refuses to repent of his sins, we must tell him plainly, "Your sins are not forgiven by God and if you die right now, God would send you to hell." It is never pleasant to have to say these words to a family member or a church member, but remember these are words of love.

Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." If you remember this from your Confirmation classes, this is called "the ministry of the keys." Jesus gives you the power to use the key of withholding forgiveness and locking the door of heaven to people. This is a powerful key. We bind people to their sins and the penalty that goes along with those sins, until they repent. We can’t offer forgiveness until they are truly repentant.

But when Christians who have strayed come to realize their sin and repent, we can leap for joy and immediately assure them of the forgiveness of sins won for them by Christ Jesus. When we speak words of forgiveness to the repentant sinner here on earth, those words of forgiveness are just as valid as if God himself were speaking them from his heavenly throne. We use the key of forgiveness to unlock the door of heaven so the repentant and forgiven may enter. What a great responsibility we have. What a great privilege we enjoy.

And finally, we enjoy a great unity with our repentant and forgiven Christian brothers and sisters. Jesus said, "I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Where two or three gather together, we don’t have to disagree and fight. We can unite in blessed prayer, worship, and praise. Through our work of love with one another, we will enjoy this unity on earth and one day enjoy this unity in heaven.

The most important word in this whole section of Scripture is in verse 15. Jesus said, "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault." These are our marching orders from God who has, by his own blood, purchased and won all sinners for himself. As we go to call sinners to repentance may God bless us with the strength, courage, and compassion to go to those who are living in error, not in the spirit of haughtiness and judgment, but in the spirit of love and concern for the souls of our friends. God will bless us and he will bless those who hear what we have to say in Jesus’ name. Amen.

May the peace of God which transcends all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.