MATTHEW 18:15Winning Your Brother“Search and Rescue”

VS. 15-16"Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. "But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that 'by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.'

ROMANS 3:23“all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

PSALM 51:1-4Please Turn in Your Bibles

VS. 15Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.

“The goal is complete restoration of the relationship. The motive is love, and the goal is to make it as easy as possible for the straying brother or sister to receive the message and make the change. We are to make every effort to avoid public or private humiliation...

This is every church member’s responsibility, and we are to remain focused on the central purpose of restoration. Maintaining the focus to correct the straying believer in a spirit of love will guide us in selecting the best words, setting, timing, and manner for the confrontation. To do this properly takes time and prayer.”

Holman New Testament Commentary

PRAY BEFORE YOU GO!Pray for you own heart – for the Lord to humble you to be fit for the meeting. That will enable you to go in humility!

MATTHEW 7:1-5"Do not judge, or you too will be judged….Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?...You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.”

GO ALONE!

LUKE 6:31 “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.”

JEREMIAH 1:8“Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you," says the LORD.

PROVERBS 28:23 He who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than he who flatters with the tongue.

GO AT THE RIGHT TIME!

PROVERBS 15:23 Everyone enjoys giving good advice, and how wonderful it is to be able to say the right thing at the right time!

HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO GO?“Go” is in the present tense (imperative mood), implying a “gentle, patient series of confrontations”.

HEB 3:13But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

PROVERBS 9:7-9He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself, and he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself. Do not reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you, reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser, teach a righteous man, and he will increase his learning.

WHY SHOULD I GO?This whole process of going to another brother sister is an expression of God’s love for them.

PROVERBS 27:5-6Better is open rebuke than love that is concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.

LEVITICUS 19:17Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.

LEVITICUS 19:16-17Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. I am the LORD. Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.

“When someone wrongs us, we often do the opposite of what Jesus recommends. We turn away in hatred or resentment, seek revenge, or engage in gossip.” Life Application Bible

EPHESIANS 4:29-32Please Turn in Your Bibles

If we feel that someone has wronged us, we should immediately put our complaint into words. The worst thing that we can do about a wrong is to brood about it. That is fatal. It can poison the whole mind and life, until we can think of nothing else but our sense of personal injury. Any such feeling should be brought out into the open, faced, and stated, and often the very stating of it will show how unimportant and trivial the whole thing is. Barclay

VS. 15Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.

PROVERBS 10:12Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all transgressions.

VS. 15If he hears you, you have gained your brother.

1 JOHN 1:7-9But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

LUKE 17:3 Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.

1 JOHN 4:7-11Please Turn in Your Bibles