Matthew 18:15-17

Matthew 18:15: “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.”

The idea is pretty clear: if one Christian sins against you, go talk to him. If he won’t listen then take a few friends along. If he still won’t listen then bring it before the church. If that fails then disown him – the idea being that this will shame him, cause him to realize the error of his ways, and lead him to repent, at which time fellowship would be reinstated.

If you have been attending church for any length of time then you know this procedure is not followed. If you confront someone they will ignore you. If you bring it to others they will get mad. Churches, for their part, will not evict anyone no matter what sins they commit. The idea of church discipline is as dead as it can be. Christians are never going to stop fellowshipping with someone, even if they cheated on their wife, moved in with their unwed girlfriend, and are filing for custody of their son (and no, I did not make that example up). It really doesn’t matter. The church is not going to discipline anybody or hold anyone to any kind of standard. In other words, the church has no teeth, and Christians just do not take this kind of thing seriously.

Today’s churches are astonishingly corrupt – and that is not a point in their favor. Churches seem to be filled with petty arguments and self-centered people. They’re not serious and they don’t mean business. There is constant fighting and division. It’s not a place to go to form relationships and bear one another’s burdens. It’s not even a place that teaches doctrine. Modern pastors are too busy saying “There are many opinions” and “Other people disagree” to get around to saying what the Bible actually teaches.

But all we can do is do our own part.