Jesus' Instructions for Church Discipline

This powerful message confronts one of the most misunderstood verses in Scripture: 'Do not judge.' We've all heard it quoted, often by those who want to avoid accountability. But when we examine Matthew 7 and Matthew 18 together, we discover that Jesus wasn't calling us to ignore sin in the church—He was teaching us how to address it with humility and love. The teaching walks us through the progression Jesus outlined: first approaching a brother privately, then with two or three witnesses, and finally involving the church if necessary. This isn't about being the 'holiness police' or finding fault in others while ignoring our own struggles. Rather, it's about loving God enough to take sin seriously and loving our brothers and sisters enough to help them walk in freedom. The message becomes even more urgent when we look at 1 Corinthians 5, where Paul addresses a church that had become arrogant about their tolerance of serious sin. They thought they were being loving and gracious, but Paul calls them out for their pride. The wages of sin is death, and true love means caring enough to confront what's destroying someone. This isn't comfortable teaching, but it's essential if we want to be a mature body of Christ. The question we must each ask ourselves is: Have we hardened our hearts to correction? Are we hiding behind grace while refusing to deal with sin? God loves us too much to leave us unchanged, and the church should be the safest place to bring our struggles into the light.