Bowman Community Church
2025-11-16
  • There is Power in the Blodd
  • I Will Give You All The Glory
  • Cling To Christ
  • Take My Life (I Am Yours)
  • My Worth is Not in What I Own

      • Matthew 22:15–33ESV

  • Text

    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.”

    Prayer

    The Blood-Bought Family of God

    Today, I’m going to be talking about something outside of the regular programming: church membership and discipline. This text is key to understanding both. However, I’d like to lay some groundwork first.
    As you know, there are many different kinds of communities within human society. There are national communities (towns, cities, states, etc), family communities, working communities, and, of course, church communities. When you add add all these together, eventually you get all of human society.
    God has talked to us about these communities. He’s explained how the people in these communities are to get along: marriages and families, citizens and rulers, employers and employees, pastors and parishioners, and others.
    When these communities are well-run—meaning, they’re run as God directs them to be—then they are run under the blessing of God.
    But what happens when things go wrong?
    God has laid out ways for that to be handled across human society. He has not left us without instruction.
    Our text today is the instruction that Jesus gave to his disciples on how to manage what is most commonly called church discipline. What to do when sin rears its head in the family.
    And that imagery of family is so important. Nations discipline. Employers discipline, and families discipline. So does the church, the family of God. Ephesians 2:19 explains this kingdom-family perfectly.
    Ephesians 2:19 ESV
    19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
    See, now, how deep this connection truly is.
    Matthew 12:49–50 ESV
    49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
    When you became a Christian, you became both a citizen of a new Kingdom and a member of a new family. Jesus stretches his hands out towards you and says, “Here are my brothers and sisters.”
    This is a tremendous thing. Jesus says to his people, “I am yours, and you are mine.”
    The church belongs to and is ruled by Jesus Christ.
    A verse Pam mentions a lot and captures this well is 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, which says:
    1 Corinthians 6:19–20 ESV
    19 … You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price…
    Interestingly, the context surrounding this verse is that of disciplining sin. Paul said, “he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him… Flee sexual immorality and glorify God in your body.”
    Paul then asks, “Do you not know that you are God’s? That his Spirit dwells within you, and that Christ has bought you?” Paul confronted the sin in Corinth by reminding them they belong to Christ.
    This is the groundwork that must be done before approaching discipline. This is clearly what we forget and must be lovingly reminded of by our brothers and sisters—You aren’t your own! You don’t run the show! And thank God that’s not the case. His ways are so much better than ours.
    His rule over us is like a firm and unyielding castle amidst the storm, and his love is the warm fire and sizzling feast. We should yearn for and appreciate the castle that contains the warm feast.
    With this groundwork laid let’s return to our text and ask these questions:
    Who, what, how, and why?

    Who: Church Membership

    The who is a helpful question to answer. Ask yourself, who are all the different people mentioned in our text? If this were a scene in a movie, who are the characters present and visible?
    You
    Your brother (or sister)
    Others in the church
    Jesus
    God the Father in heaven
    This is an in-house, family-only process, and its something Jesus has commanded his church to do. We should feel the weight of that.
    Christ is building his church, and one of the ways he does it is through the church confronting sin within itself.
    But who is the church, when it comes to confronting sin? This is where the rubber meets the road.
    If our text today means all Christians everywhere, then someone a thousand miles away from you can bring you up on charges, and all Christians everywhere would need to be notified. No, Jesus clearly isn’t meaning the entire church, but the local church.
    Still, we must answer the question: who is the local church?
    A helpful way to think about this question is to consider how the New Testament letters were addressed.
    Romans 1:7 ESV
    7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
    Ephesians 1:1 ESV
    1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
    Colossians 1:2 ESV
    2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
    Philippians 1:1 ESV
    1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:
    Galatians, 1/2 Corinthians, 1/2 Thessalonians—all of them addressed to the church in that region.
    Somewhere, there’s a line between the church in Rome and the church in Ephesus. There’s a line between the church on Bowman Rd and the other churches in our area. All Christians are one in Christ, but scattered together on the earth.
    If we received a letter, “to the saints at Bowman Church,” who would we say that letter is for? Is it for the first-time visitor? Is it for a person who used to go here but hasn’t in years? Is it for the Christian who lives a mile away but attends church elsewhere? You see my point.
    The answer to this question is also the answer to who the church should discipline, i.e. the members of a particular local body.
    Church Membership as a topic could be multiple messages on its own, and many books have been written on it. It has also been practiced in different ways throughout history. Even with this variety of practices, the core issue membership seeks to resolve is answering the question, “Who are the people who make up this church?”
    In the interest of time, I’d like to suggest to you a simple way to think about membership.
    Who’s your family? Families spend time together. They pour into each other, and love one another. If Christianity became illegal tomorrow, which local church knows you and is going to look after you? That’s your church.
    And it’s through that church that Jesus is leading you here on earth.
    Bowman has formal church membership, but it’s not something we talk about often. Some choke on this idea of membership because it seems exclusive and club-like. This is a wrong-headed way to think about it. If God plants someone at a church, wouldn’t both the church and the person want to commit to each other? Because that’s what formal membership is—a commitment between a church and its people. This helps us answer that question of “who the saints at Bowman” are.
    And I want to be clear: if you’ve been going to this church for awhile and aren’t a formal member because you disagree with it (or didn’t know we had it), before the Lord, you’re seen as one regardless. This doesn’t remove the seriousness of the matter, and only members can vote on church business, but, again, before the Lord, there are a number of informal members here who we would recognize as “a saint at Bowman Rd.”

    What/How: Church Discipline

    Now, having answered the question “Who?” with a working definition of the local body, let’s move to “What?”.
    Church discipline is not a humiliation ritual—no, it rebukes, yes, but only so that the person may be recovered. Preserved. Held fast.
    Look to verse 15:
    Matthew 18:15 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.
    Those last five words are key. Church discipline seeks to win souls, not lose them.
    Church discipline is rooted in the Law of God, and cares about truth. Look at verse 16:
    Matthew 18:16 ESV
    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.
    This is not a shoot-from-the-hip process. You want to know why we have a jury of peers in the legal system? You have this biblical principle to thank, that charges only be brought by multiple independent lines of testimony.
    Church discipline is ultimately God’s discipline.
    Look at verses 17-18:
    Matthew 18:17–18 ESV
    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.
    While the church implements it, the plan is God’s. It’s initiated and confirmed by God. And if we understand that God is in control of all things, it’s all ultimately God’s work of grace. He goes after the unrepentant sinner at least three times through his church.
    But what does this binding and loosing mean?
    Matthew 16:19 ESV
    19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
    As it relates to discipline in this world God created:
    The state bears the sword to discipline evil.
    The family bears the rod to discipline disobedience.
    The church bears the keys to discipline unrepentant sin.
    In a very real sense, God declares who is and isn’t a Christian through the voice of his church.
    When you become a Christian and are baptized, that is the church with joy declaring that God has received you into his family.
    When a person refuses to be corrected by God, through his church, then they are rejecting what their baptism signified, and the church declares what that means: they are not a Christian, but a Gentile (unbeliever) and a tax collector (a traitor).

    Why: The Goodness of It All

    Take in the encouragement of God regarding this matter.
    Hebrews 12:10–13 ESV
    10 … he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
    This is the goodness of it all, the goodness of discipline.
    Beneath all that we see in discipline, we must see Christ pursuing the lost sheep.
    Song of Solomon 2:8 ESV
    8 The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.
    He chases after those he loves. And a church full of sinners who understand the love of God for them, despite their sin, is going to be a place where discipline is done for God’s glory and our good. It’s going to be done with courage in the face of fear, and faith that God is writing a perfect story.
    Even with the situation in Corinth, where a incestuous man was excommunicated, what was Paul’s hope for him?
    1 Corinthians 5:4–5 ESV
    4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
    His desire must also be ours in the completion of our duty as a church in disciple, that souls would ultimately be saved and not abandoned to destruction.
    How does a family take heart and remain courageous facing such a task?
    By looking at the man in our midst, trusting his ability to pursue the lost.
    Matthew 18:20 ESV
    20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
    Song of Solomon 2:8 ESV
    8 The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.

      • Matthew 18:15–20ESV

      • Ephesians 2:19ESV

      • Matthew 12:49–50ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 6:19–20ESV

      • Romans 1:7ESV

      • Ephesians 1:1ESV

      • Colossians 1:2ESV

      • Philippians 1:1ESV

      • Matthew 18:15ESV

      • Matthew 18:16ESV

      • Matthew 18:17–18ESV

      • Matthew 16:19ESV

      • Hebrews 12:10–13ESV

      • Song of Solomon 2:8ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 5:4–5ESV

      • Matthew 18:20ESV

      • Song of Solomon 2:8ESV

  • One Thing Have I Desired of the Lord
Bowman Community Church
mclugg@gmail.com
5303476130
http://www.bowmanchurch.org
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