I invite you to turn this morning to Matthew's, the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, 18. You will remember the context here. The disciples had come to Jesus asking about greatness. It's found on page 978, asking about greatness, who's the greatest in the kingdom, and of course, Jesus didn't take very well to that. Jesus corrected that and refocused their work in ministry upon the little ones. That was the section that we considered last time. And now today we come to what that looks like in a life of discipleship. We're going to pick up the reading today at verse 10, and it'll be our text, verses 15 through 20. Let's give our attention this morning to God's wonderful, holy word. See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. What do you think if a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray? Does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. And now our text. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you've gained your brother. 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. 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 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 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 for where two or three are gathered in my name there am I among them and there will end the reading of God's word today well nobody ever said that being a Christian is easy in fact the wisdom that is so put on display in this passage really shows that what you're involved in is truth because what I just read no people do not follow in the world whatsoever the challenge is just to get christians to follow this right that's the challenge the wisdom here puts on display it's the wisdom from god contrary to the wisdom of man and so this is really an important text today but i begin by saying kingdom life is hard kingdom life is challenging in ways that we often don't think about and that is most shown when we are actually being Christians, right? Actually being Christians in this world. We want to look at what that looks like and think about that in light of this context today. One of the most important statements made by our Lord in our last text that we considered last week was really about the mission of the church, wasn't it? In a sense, he is training them for the great commission that he's going to give at the end of this book this whole book anticipates that this book shows us that all along the way you don't have to figure out what the great commission is if you don't know just study the whole book of matthew that's what we've been looking at and it really comes front and center here today remember what jesus said what do you think if a man has a hundred sheep and one of them just just one goes astray does he not leave the 99 on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray what a capture of the mission of the church well what is that what does that look like um what does leaving the 99 and going after the one straying one what does that look like what is that well that was in context of jesus setting a little child up in front of the disciples after they had asked about greatness and he was teaching them and training them no no no no we're going to correct this right now we got to cut out that sin right now this should be where your pursuit is one of these little ones if anyone causes them to sin be better if a millstone were hung around his neck and he's taken out in the pacific taken out to the pacific and dropped right in the middle of the ocean to the depths he cared about the little ones jesus was very focused on the children and we looked at the broader application of little ones jesus beat back that propensity to greatness in them to think that the ministry is about their own personal greatness and then he said something surprising which is so wonderful to think about And whoever humbles himself and becomes like this little one, this little child, is the greatest in the kingdom. How do you humble yourself? How in the world do you do that? My initial title was How To, How to Go After Straying Sheep. And I didn't want you to get too nervous that I'm only doing how-to sermons as Reformed people. But how-to sermons are important. But I titled it a little differently for a reason. We'll look at that. Becoming like little children, we then, denying our greatness, we pursue little ones. We pursue little ones. So much so that we join the heavenly choir, right? Where the angels in heaven rejoice when one sinner repents. How does that happen? Jesus challenges us to what that actually looks like in a very unique way today. Going after straying sheep. Going after little ones. Christ is here teaching us today about a crucial dimension of Christian discipleship. A crucial dimension of Christian discipleship. And it challenges us the way that it comes to us today. This is not going to be an easy here. but it's a good here for us. It was good for me to be constantly reminded of this and I realized how important this wisdom is. So today we're looking at this very challenging pursuit that Jesus calls us to and then providing us an accountable solution to what we think is an impossible task and then a confident perspective in the Lord's working through it. We're looking at that text through those lens, again, a challenging pursuit, accountable solution and a confident perspective through the whole thing that this would become a priority in christian discipleship among us that this would become a priority among us in christian discipleship in the previous section jesus had warned about the dangers of tempting others to sin he said that you remember woe to the world for temptations to sin for it it's necessary that temptations can come but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes that was in verse 7 and he then redirected pursuits here that instead of being focused on us go after my sheep go after my sheep what an important challenge for us today what leads to this very important after he had said may you never be the agent of leading one of my little ones into sin it leads to the important connection of now what follows without a break without a break as Matthew has put this together for theological intent and interpretation without a break Jesus addresses immediately and have has the disciples think about how to recover the straying sheep who has fallen into some kind of sin in this life. Remember, the issue was spiritual, Jesus said, of those who lead people into sin. So he's really concerned about that. How do we recover those who've fallen into sin? It's not what we think it is. We've not put this together in this way. That going after a lost sheep has a lot to do with discipline. Oh, we don't like that. That's exactly what he's talking about here. Notice that he raises the issue right away in verse 15. If your brother sins against you, go to him and tell him his fault. This is going to be as practical as you can get today. For all of you who want practical instruction, I'm giving you my best. Because that's what Jesus does here. So important. You have an insinuation of the Great Commission here. Go to him. Go. Go and make disciples. How do I make disciples? Well, this is sort of the brass tacks on what that looks like. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault. that's directly contrary to our thinking you see the wisdom again of this almost without question the way we approach any interaction with our brothers and sisters is the way we approach sin and offense offenses in this life is that if anyone sins against me if anyone does something wrong against me it is their responsibility to come and apologize eyes. They have to make it right. And what then becomes our attitude toward that person? Oh, this gets to real Christian disciples. This gets like sincere Christianity. Jesus, when you think about this, only our Lord could say this for the very problem when someone sins is that they don't often see it or maybe they do but they don't often regard it and that actually the heart can become so hard in that sin against you that rarely do people come to us think about this how rare is it that people actually come to you and say in humility they don't even say i just apologize to say i seek your forgiveness can you count on your hands how many times people have come for the wrongs they've committed against you it's thought-provoking and i hope you see the important connection again i don't want to miss it if a man has what do you think a hundred sheep and just one goes astray does he not leave the 99 and go after the one you see you got to go so he's this is how he's applying it and you see why i said up front that being a christian called to a life of discipleship means that in self-denial because they had asked about greatness in self-denial it's aimed for the good and discipleship of others right that's the whole point of this that's the whole thread here that's the whole context here but what we run up against here is the challenge of the age in which we live also that's another dimension to this never has there been such a passive aggressive age and never have we seen so much constant fear of offending anyone we think the christian life is equated with being nice. And nice is not always the same thing as being kind, but just niceness. And niceness translates to never wanting to address anything in anyone's life, lest we give the sense, this really weird incessant fear that, hey, I'm going to give the insinuation that I think I'm better than this person. We've got to get over that. Nobody would ever confront anything if we lived in that so that the effect of that thinking is this whole section is fundamentally ignored i read this the other night in our devotions and i always like to get reactions from my children and family and i made the point you know the call here is not for us to sort of wait around for people to come to us but the call here is for us to go to them and we discuss this and one of the comments immediately was whoever does this and then the next comment came it never works it never works well we got to address that that that's like what we have to tackle front head on is that thinking in this regard do you see the responsibility though before i get there of discipleship here do you see the importance of discipleship when we're talking about the nitty-gritty of christian discipleship someone sins and has gone wayward jesus is saying here is are you looking how are you looking at that sin how are you looking at that person and what they're doing and here's the heart of genuine discipleship go go tell them tell them their fault now it may not work but the result is not the basis of action the success or failure is not the basis of action the fear of that if i based that as a pastor it'd be a tough job it's all the lords notice the wisdom go go to him between you and him alone there used to be an old german and dutch phrase everyone knew if you can quote it that's good between four eyes between four eyes obviously this is not some gross public sin we're talking about here but a private one against us jesus sees this jesus sees this as the heart of christian discipleship jesus sees this as what it means to be a disciple for that's what he does all the time but notice the motivation that you really see the wisdom in this in the motivation that aside from the gossip and the talk and the slander that often goes on when somebody sins. I mean, the first thing we do is pick up the cell phone. Go to your brother and do it privately. And what's communicated through that is that the person wants to keep this private with his brother. He doesn't want this put out for everyone to know. Let me challenge us here. sin is sin is sin is something else in people's lives it and you know in your own life and i know in my own sin sin is never static meaning it always takes a step in people's lives so so in other words sin begins like a tiny just think of a tiny weed i always tell my kids if you don't go pick those weeds because i'm not doing it right um that's why we have kids you know this is the very purpose go pick up those weeds and you know if they don't do it a week later it's something else sin grows in people's lives and what happens in the human heart is that it it has a hardening process that goes on remember what james said about sin sin is sin is when it's initial it's different but when it's it's fully grown it brings forth death in someone's life the end path of sin is in the worst case scenario is somebody romans 1 has given over to it right you care about that i i think we should think of all the church discipline cases where we have seen a hardening process and It never starts that way. And sin has never started that way in your own life and in my life. Initially, there's a softness. Sin hasn't taken the deep root that it does. That's why we tell young people, don't get immersed in some sin in hidden corners. That takes root. It'll grab your heart and it'll sink right in. and into those roots will go deep into that heart. How many cases have people ended up at the end in abandoning the church altogether and abandoning Christ could have been averted if this kind of loving discipleship had taken place early? But what do we see? When finally it comes to the church, we'll get there in a minute, everyone's kind of disgusted that we even do this. that's the whole attitude toward it and often nothing has ever been addressed about this path and has never been followed with people who get to that point by those closest to them and then we reap the sad fruits of having to address a much harder heart along the way right? and people get mad at the church is that fair well and there's the issue here with us when we are sinned against when nothing is ever addressed i think about this imagine if god never came to you in the ministry of the gospel and addressed it i mean that's single sinclair ferguson made the great point one time god would not rather shame you god would rather deal with it right here from the pulpit right that's his way he's so wonderful to us that way math imagine if none of this had ever been addressed in the paths that we've followed in the sins that we have pursued well what does it do to us when we don't address the sin of somebody who sinned against us it's also not good for us what does it make us to be toward that person bitter hard-hearted ourselves and disregarding of them so that we never would talk to them that's not christian discipleship think of how many people in life we completely disregard because of sin and offense and jesus's challenge i told you it's not easy nothing's easy about i say that again nothing's easy about christian discipleship but but the true character of the christian the true character of the mission and denying our own greatness which was the whole thing that prompted this thing the true character of the christian shines here that they are to be in us our primary objects of mercy and compassion it's the very thing that happened this morning now it's just almost get emotional god didn't wait for you what you did this week to come to him he constantly does this to you calling you back sweetly so what jesus is saying what an encouragement to boldness and an encouragement to love love when you privately see somebody erring in the life of the kingdom in a personal offense you're not really looking out in the world jesus most certainly confronted the sins of people in the world that takes a different kind of strategy jesus is speaking of believing little ones he said that i think in verse seven here those of his flock he's looking at his flock jesus is looking not at the world jesus is looking about christians by by this all men will know that you're are my disciples by the love that you have for one another right so this is his focus here he's looking at those among your brothers and sisters who've slipped into some kind of sin evidenced in the way that they sinned against you and for those of us closest to the person maybe a parent to neglect this is not love to avoid the very discipleship in our homes we are called to this to lovingly go to our brother and sister our daughter our son our granddaughter grandson that's always amazing at funerals when you had a very strong believing grandparent or great grandparent how many of those children in when their wayward ways deeply respected them when they came to them along the way it's a great testimony and jesus frames this in the positive it's not in the negative in the sense for when the sin is addressed there is early it's a real benefit that they may hear you softness still this is everywhere in the bible where where do i where do I begin my brethren if if anyone among you strays from the truth and one turns him back let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins a multitude of sins follow when people go through the hardening process and it just gets harder right brothers if someone is caught in a trespass you who are spiritual should restore him with the spirit of gentleness we always focus on the last which is absolutely true but hear it you should restore him you should restore him this is the way again when we don't do this it's like watching a sheep stray from the fold and say farewell i hope you do well that's been our approach that's not love think of the kind of person though who does this i mentioned the older one at a funeral or memorial but if someone is sin i if someone is in sin i can tell you the the the greatest people in my own life are those who have come to me with this kind of concern who had the courage to do it and even if i rejected it deep down i respected that person i may have never said it but i respected that person for between the four eyes i could see they loved me and they cared for me instead of ripping me elsewhere i say this along the way there are many points of departures in my own life few ever did this and those who did are heroes to me now but now we move to this accountable solution let's just say they don't hear you let's say that they reject you jesus presses us here again on discipleship on true discipleship one pastor said what we have laid out here is a path it begins with this is the title self-discipline and then it moves to mutual discipline and then it moves to church discipline. And with that path in mind, Jesus says, don't give up. Don't give up. He doesn't with us. Tell me in your life when you have seen what I'm about to describe here ever done. part of the great challenge to discipleship is simply trusting our Lord in the wisdom He's given us. If only for the honor of His name. You again see Jesus' wisdom. You will only follow this next step if indeed you really love the person and are concerned that this sin has to be addressed because it is that big of a deal because of the path you see them on and because they are little ones going astray. It says in verse 16, but what if he doesn't listen? Well, if he does not listen, take one or two others with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of the two or three witnesses. That's the Old Testament principle from Deuteronomy 19 that matters are established when two or three witnesses agree as to the nature of the wrongdoing, right? So typically we might say something, but then it stops. But Jesus says, no, no, no, no, no, keep going with this. Don't give up on this. Take two others. You can hear the thought in Jesus' words. Godly people, take other very important people, Christian people who are convicted with the same concern. And the wisdom of this is this. It brings a weight to the concern. And if they agree that the sin has been committed, the witnesses, you see what's just happened. It's directly confronted with the same sort of greater weight of accountability, the hardening process that's happening in the heart. When other respected brothers or sisters are brought in, godly followers of Christ are brought into the equation, their hardness of heart is met with a greater weight of a call to repentance and somebody not thinking it's just your personal vendetta. It's combat. It's combat against the hardening process. Christ says, if at that point you've done that, after you've done this, you've exhausted those avenues, Then you bring the matter to the church. What a church man Jesus was. I have to say that today. He had a really good ecclesiology. It's put on full display. It becomes an elder matter. You see the point here. Almost always elders have to pick up the pieces on very complex things when none of this has been followed. And Jesus calls all of us to disciples to be about going after the erring sheep. It's a church, it's a community, it's a family. Because that's exactly, again, what he did. The church then at this point has the solemn responsibility to exercise the keys of the kingdom if there's no repentance. And so Jesus says, if he refuses to hear even the church, let him be to you a heathen and a tax collector. 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. That means when the church exercises what are known as the keys of the kingdom through discipline, lovingly and purposely going after a sheep, Jesus just said, that's heaven's position. It's not an individual thing where you just stand off in the corner and say, I disagree. It's heaven's position. When they are cast out or the person is restored. See, hopefully the weight of being brought to the church finally will so combat the hardness of the heart to draw back the erring sheep. That's always the goal. That's why restoration is always the goal. And that's why discipline has to be exercised. Listen to the Heidelberg Catechism, question 85. How is the kingdom of heaven closed and opened by Christian discipline? According to the command of Christ, those who, though called Christians, profess unchristian teachings or live unchristian lives and after repeated and loving counsel refuse to abandon their errors and wickedness and after being admonished by the church and its officers fail to respond to their admonition. That's right out of Matthew 18. Such persons the officers exclude from the Christian fellowship by withholding the sacraments from them and God himself, Matthew 18, right here, excludes them from the kingdom of Christ. Such persons when promising and demonstrating genuine repentance are received again as members of Christ and of his church. always the goal along the way i have um come across many people when the church exercises the keys of the kingdom with church discipline and i think this is the silent position just to be very frank that the process is mean that the process is cruel shaming and shouldn't be done whatsoever no discipline well I agree that it should be done in love but if you ask Jesus about this what do you think his response would be your approach is effectively denies his whole plan of recovering sinners that's what you're doing it's the very purpose of christian discipleship and his discipline for you has always been as a son or daughter right my sons do not despise the what discipline of the lord for whom he loves he does what lets them go chastens the modern approach of never doing discipline which is so common today in the church of Jesus Christ is the death and curse of any church it's the death and curse of any church God doesn't bless churches who refuse to discipline who put up their fist at God and say we refuse to discipline wayward sheep it denies his mission remember the context a real disciple a disciple is one who leaves the 99 on the mountains when they're safe and good and goes and gets the wayward sheep this is how it equates to this it equates to the strength sheep and discipline and jesus gives to close us out a confident perspective on this have you ever thought maybe the reason we don't see the fruit of response the way that we would like to when we discipline is because our whole attitude toward it is wrong that we've neglected the sheep but to appreciate that this is the lord's plan for recovering the sheep when met with faith and confidence and prayer good fruit will follow here's the mystery to this today jesus says when it comes to exercising discipline casting them out their status changes they move from being inside the covenant community to being outside the covenant community on par with the tax collectors and the heathen and that sounds harsh to us but this is exactly what the apostle paul is founded on in first corinthians 5 when that man who was sinfully involved with his father's wife they did nothing about it in the church probably all tied to family nobody wanted to say anything and he said listen listen the next time you come together deliver such a one over to satan for the destruction of the flesh that what he might be saved you're doing nothing is not promoting their salvation right that's what he was saying put them back into the realm cast them back outside of the covenant community where there's the loving protection of the covenantal status and the benefits of god's loving care of his flock put them back out there that they might be saved what that's counterintuitive that's faith it's a mystery that when they are put out guess what happens they have opened themselves up to all the direct assaults of the evil one And in the mystery of this, this is what the Lord has told us is the best place for them in their hardness of heart. That when they face all the sorrows of their choice and they are outside, then they might wake up. But us, you know, doing nothing, they're not going to wake up. That was the prodigal in the pigsty. Left his father's house. One day he's in the slop of the pigsty and he's eating the pods which pigs ate. And he wakes up and looks at himself and says, what in the world am I doing? Yeah, that's exactly what this is about. I'm going to go home. and the father killed the fatted calf. The father threw his arms around his son. Jesus encourages us to this. If any of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them. What he's saying is I support your decision on this. Well, there'll be many naysayers, but I support your decision. It's not a personal Bible study verse where two or three are gathered. The aim here is where two or three are gathered exercising the keys of the kingdom, I'll work on through that. I'll bless that. That's the model. Going after the 99, leaving the 99 and going after the one. Aren't you glad that Jesus loves us enough to put this in place for us and our children? If they wonder, Jesus says, do this. They stray, do this. Trust him. Pastoral application for those of you who have a loved one who's strayed, maybe a child. He cares about that coveted child. He cares for your wandering sheep more than you do. And he put this in place for them. He came after you, right? Where would you be without discipline? Do not despise the discipline of the Lord, my children. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, disciplines. Privately, he does this every week by convicting your conscience when I read the law. When you open his word, mutually, he has sent to you in your life all kinds of brothers and sisters and influences to disciple you. What a blessing a church family is. And then he's given you his church to keep you through word and sacrament ministry, exercising the keys. You are here today because of his very discipline. That's how much he loves us. You want to be his disciple or not? Then you have to deny your own greatness to get your hands dirty. This is what he has put in place for you and your children's good. And if you never really want to see it get to the church, then be a part of the process is the encouragement. Join the cause. You can't be on the periphery. Get to the discipleship early in someone's life. We do our best as pastors, we fail. It doesn't all rest on us, we can't. We need you. The elders need you. The deacons need you. So I ask in closing, do you love his little ones? Are you willing to go after them? Then it will start by believing and implementing what he put in place here. The other way is to leave them alone and wandering. But Jesus loves his sheep too much for us to stand in that way. Thank Him for His shepherding love. Thank Him for His care. He loves His flock. And what was the end verse of 14? Let's park on that to close. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. Amen. Lord, thank you for your discipline in our lives. Forgive us as parents and leaders that we have been embarrassed and compromised on this. Forgive us and help us to have courage. We know that the Christian life is not easy and we need your Holy Spirit to give us wisdom in how to do it. There may be a million scenarios here, O Lord, where questions arise. May we commit this to prayer to you. And may we follow your wisdom and care for your flock. Forgive us where we have failed. We have done not good in this area. And as a church, may it please you, Lord, as we implement the keys of the kingdom. May it receive the support of your flock for the recovery of wayward sheep. Thank you, O Lord, for your disciplining love in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.