United In Our Holiness

Amen. You may be seated.

Children, you can be excused to your King's Kids classes.

And if you would open up your Bibles

to Matthew chapter 18, 15 through 20.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

It's on page 979 of your Pew Bible.

And this is Jesus speaking.

Hear the word of the Lord.

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.

But if he does not listen to you,

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.

May God bless the hearing of his word.

Our church has been saved by the blood of Jesus

to be holy and blameless unto Jesus.

Individually that's personal holiness.

Corporately that means relational holiness.

How we conduct ourselves with one another.

So the question becomes,

what do we do

when one member of our church

sins against another member of our church?

What's the plan?

This topic is particularly important for us right now

in light of a meeting we've got coming up.

Last Sunday, Steve Bickle made an announcement.

He's the chairman of our elder board,

and he announced a special membership meeting

next Sunday, February 9th.

And that special membership meeting,

unless we hear otherwise,

we'll be taking a step as a church membership

in this process of church discipline.

We're going to tell something to the church.

We'll inform the church members

this is a member-only meeting

of a particular situation.

We're going to name a name, Lord willing,

and call the members of Christ the King Church

to act.

The reason why we would do something like this

is because we love Jesus,

and we love His church,

and we love members entangled in sin.

Maybe you've never heard a sermon

on church discipline before.

You've never heard those two words before,

church discipline.

Or maybe you've heard the words church discipline.

You know that there's something out there

that should be some kind of process,

but you've never been a part of something

like that before.

Or maybe you've witnessed church discipline

done poorly.

Or maybe you've witnessed church discipline

done well.

We've been needing to grow as a church

in this process that Jesus lays out

in Matthew chapter 18,

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

because we need to be a church

that does church discipline well

in love to restore and help.

Because we want to protect

the name of Jesus.

And we want to preserve the holy health

of our membership as a church.

And Jesus tells us what to do.

In Matthew 18, 15 through 17,

in particular,

He walks through four stages

of church discipline.

Step by step.

How to love a church member

entangled in sin,

and what to do if they don't listen.

Here's the definition of church discipline

from the start.

Church discipline is the loving process

the loving process

appointed by Christ

by which Christians seek to restore

a fellow church member

entangled in sin.

Church discipline is the loving process

appointed by Christ

by which Christians seek to restore

a fellow church member

entangled in sin.

And so in light of next Sunday,

the elders wanted me

not just to kind of refresh

your thinking about church discipline,

but to prepare you for action.

So here's how we're going to proceed

this morning.

I want to share with you briefly

just some general principles

about church discipline.

That will be kind of the first move.

But then I want to walk through

these stages with you,

giving attention to stage one

and stage three in particular,

so that we understand it,

so we know how to act.

Church discipline is the loving process

appointed by Christ

by which Christians seek to restore

a fellow church member

entangled by sin.

And so let's just look at briefly

some general principles

about the process of church discipline.

I'm going to rattle off four for you.

The first general principle is this.

Church discipline

is to be normal church practice.

It's just to be normal.

It's part of our life as a church.

Jesus is a realist.

And so when he tells us in 1815,

if your brother sins against you,

he's being realistic.

It's going to happen.

He knew we would sin against each other,

so he tells us what to do

when a brother sins against us

or a sister sins against us.

Now behind this

is an understanding

of what a church is.

A church is a group of Christians

in a specific time,

specific place,

with a specific leadership

that they have committed together

to follow Jesus.

It's a formalized commitment

Christians have made

to say we're living for Jesus together.

And with that comes a responsibility

for one another.

So every time we have

a membership Sunday,

the members stand up

and they kind of

re-communicate their commitment

to take these steps together,

even submit oneself

to church discipline.

It's a kind of mutual commitment

we're making together.

And then what Jesus does here

is he authorizes us to act.

If you look at verse 18,

he says,

truly I say to you,

whoever you bind on earth

shall be bound in heaven

and whatever you loose on earth

shall be loosed in heaven.

Because we have a responsibility

with one another,

he authorizes us to act.

The you,

the Y-O-U,

in verse 18

is not a singular you,

but a plural you,

a y'all.

He's speaking to the church.

He's authorizing the church

to take steps

to help a brother or sister

entangled in sin.

And what Jesus is doing here

is he's just normalizing something.

This week,

Kelly is going to send out

on Tuesday in her email,

there'll be a link in the email

to an article by Colin Hansen

and Jonathan Lehman

on the nature of church membership.

I would really encourage you

to take a look at that.

So the first principle is

church process is normal.

This church discipline,

it's to be normal.

We're dealing with sin in our lives.

Second,

church discipline

is a sanctifying process.

The goal is holiness.

You see in verse 15,

if your brother sins against you,

go tell him his fault.

But the goal is restoration.

The goal is sharing

in God's holiness

to rescue a brother

from their sin

and then to restore

that sinning sister

back to a fellowship

with God

and one another.

It's shalom.

It's peace.

It's holy peace.

Christians are simultaneously

justified and sinful.

We have been saved,

justified,

and we're being saved

in the sense

we're being sanctified,

and so we're not

a sin-free community.

And so we're going to need

to be dealing with sin

so that we would be

experientially more and more

holy and blameless

unto Jesus.

Hebrews chapter 12

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

talks about

we have a God,

a Father,

who out of love for us

will discipline us

so that we would share

in His holiness,

and that would happen together.

This is a sanctifying process.

Both personal holiness

and corporate holiness.

It's a loving process

to make us holy.

Sanctifying.

The third general principle

is that this is

an intensifying process.

These four stages,

as we walk through them,

I just want to tell you right now,

each one is going to intensify.

Jesus wants there to be

this increasing public nature

to each stage

of church discipline.

And the reason for that

is to bring a brother or sister

who's in sin

to bring them to their senses,

to help them see

the seriousness of their sin.

We don't do these things

to humiliate people.

We're doing these things

to call them back to Jesus.

This intensification

is to get people's attention

in stage three

where you tell it to the church.

That's where the church membership

is made aware.

Remember that this is

a loving process

Jesus has given

to seek to restore

church members

entangled in their sin.

It's a loving process,

which is the fourth principle.

This is a loving process.

Church discipline

is a loving process.

It's out of love for Jesus.

Jesus,

we want to honor Him.

We want to obey Him.

It's out of love

for His church,

His bride,

that He purchased

with His own blood

to make holy.

This is us loving

Jesus' people.

This is us loving

brothers and sisters

entangled in their sin.

Not this week,

but the week before

in our life group,

a brother asked,

what is this love

that we're talking about

in Ephesians 4?

Christian love

is a commitment

to do what's best

for another Christian

for the glory of Jesus.

We will exercise

our commitment

to one another

so that Christ

is magnified

in each other's lives.

That's how we love

one another.

That's Christian love.

I want to just point you

to a passage.

You see in Matthew 18 here,

in 15 through 20,

we have this process

of church discipline.

If you just look up

at the passage beforehand,

it starts in verse 10

through 14.

It's the parable

of the lost sheep.

It's this parable

of the shepherd

who leaves the 99

to go get the one,

the sheep that's astray.

Isn't it interesting

that after Jesus

speaks this parable,

He then talks

about church discipline?

You can't help

but make the connection.

Our good shepherd church

is going to use us

in order to go after

straying sheep

out of love for them,

to bring them back

to the fold.

These general principles,

let me just reiterate them.

Church discipline

is normal church process.

We are sinners.

We will sin against each other.

We need to be taking

these steps.

It's a sanctifying process.

The goal is to share

in God's holiness.

It's an intensifying process.

It's not necessarily comfortable,

but it's for other people's good,

and it's loving.

This is an act of love

to seek to bring people back,

rescue them from sin,

and restore fellowship

with God and others.

So with those in mind,

let's turn now

to the actual stages

of church discipline.

It starts with stage one

in verse 15.

If your brother sins against you,

go and tell him his fault

between you and him alone.

If your brother sins against you,

that's the beginning

of the early stages

of church discipline.

It's more common

than we think.

It's to be more normal

than we think.

Now, if you're wondering,

in Matthew 5, 23, and 24,

Jesus addresses the one

who's done the sinning.

He says,

if you're on your way

to the altar

and you remember,

you've caused an offense

with your brother.

If you've sinned against them,

stop what you're doing.

Go to them.

Make peace with them.

But here, in 15,

Jesus is addressing

not the one

who did the sinning,

but the one

who's been sinned against.

If you,

if your brother

has sinned against you,

he says, do this.

He says, go and show

him his fault.

You're not to wait

for him or her

to come to you.

You are to initiate

the conversation.

Now, you may wonder why.

I believe it's

to not to allow sin

to fester,

to not to give the devil

an opportunity

to keep short accounts.

You know, I'm not sure

if you've experienced

this yourself.

I'm guessing you have.

when sinners are

sinned against,

we tend to sin back.

But Jesus here

is saying this.

If your brother

sins against you,

don't sin back.

Love back.

Go and show him

his fault.

Instead of sinning back,

we love back.

It's the way

of the kingdom.

freedom.

It's the way

of Jesus.

And now you may

be thinking,

oh, how do you

do that?

Because that

sounds extraordinary.

The way that we

do that is by

laying hold

of our Jesus,

by abiding

in him,

by saying,

Jesus,

you are the

controlling center

of my life.

You're the

treasured center

of my life.

And I'm going

to live for you

even in a situation

like this.

I mean,

Jesus went

to the tomb

dead,

and he came

out of the tomb

alive so that

he would become

the controlling

center of our

lives,

that we would

treasure him

above all else,

that we would

obey him in all

that he commands,

even Matthew 18,

that we would

magnify him

among all people,

even among each

other,

and that we would

belong to Jesus

with the whole

church,

even those who

sin against us.

The way we go

about doing this

is not trusting

in our own power

and wisdom,

it's trusting

in Jesus.

It's tethering

ourselves to

Jesus.

If Jesus was

like an O2

tank, it's like

starting to breathe

in Jesus' air,

the rich grace

that comes from

depending on

Jesus.

Now, there's two

mistakes that we

tend to make

when it comes to

being sinned

against.

Mistake number

one is the one

I'm prone to,

and that's to

avoid it.

You don't want

to deal with it.

And what we're

talking about here,

when Jesus is the

controlling center

of your life,

he must compel

you to,

to do what's

pleasing to him,

to obey him.

The other mistake

is more of an

inner Pharisee

mistake.

That's when you've

been wronged,

and you pull out

both guns blazing,

and you go after

somebody.

both are not

pleasing to the

Lord.

And here's how

we can kind of

temper our hearts

when sinned

against.

Remember Matthew

7, 1 through 5?

Remember what Jesus

says there in the

Sermon on the

Mount?

He says,

before you try to

take the speck out

of your brother's

eye, would you

please take the

log out of your

own eye?

Before you go,

when you're

sinned against,

before you go to

someone, do the

heart work first

of self-examination

of, say, hey,

is there a log in

my own eye?

Here's what that'll

do.

It'll tenderize you.

It'll tenderize you

to this brother who

has sinned against

you, because it'll

make you remember,

oh, they're not the

only sinner in the

room.

They're not the

only one who is in

desperate, habitual

need of God's grace,

for so am I.

And what'll also

help is make you

realize that, yes,

this brother may

have sinned against

you, this sister may

have sinned against

you, but they've

also sinned against

God.

They've grieved

him.

Jesus must be the

controlling center of

our lives before we

go and tell our

brother or sister of

their fault.

fault.

Now, you may be

asking the question,

the weeds question,

well, how do you do

that?

What does that look

like?

Well, it starts with a

phone call.

You say, hey, so-and-so,

can we talk face-to-face

sometime soon?

We have something

serious to talk about.

Just be honest.

And then when you get

with them, it's just

between you and him

alone, you say

something like, you

know what?

Thank you for getting

together.

I love you.

But I want you to

know that when you

did this or did that

or didn't do this,

according to this

passage right here in

the Bible, I think

you sinned against

God and me.

And I just wanted to

get together with you

to tell you that.

At that moment, you've

been faithful to

Jesus.

You've done what he

has called you to.

You're not responsible

for your brother's

response at that

point.

You've been faithful

to him.

Did you notice it's

between you and him

alone?

This first stage is the

most informal and

private stage of church

discipline.

If you imagine the

circle of people who

are involved, it's the

smallest.

It's you and the one

who sinned against you.

You.

Now, stepping into

this may be

uncomfortable for many

of us.

Let's say there's

something in your mind

right now, but you

don't know what to do.

I would say reach out

to one of the elders.

You don't need to name

names, but you can be

able to say, hey, this

is a new step for me.

Am I doing this right?

And whether it's an

elder or a mature

Christian, a life group

leader, they then can

help you, pray for you.

Before moving on, I

just want to say this.

Just take the moment.

Has the Spirit of God

put someone on your

mind that you need to

get right with?

That you've either

sinned against or they've

sinned against you?

Don't wait.

For them to take a

step.

You've got precedent,

both for Matthew 5 and

Matthew 18 to initiate.

You've been authorized.

This is loving Jesus

and loving one another.

Now, in verse 15,

Jesus points to one

response.

If he listens to you,

you have gained your

brother.

If he listens to you,

what that means is this.

They're like, you're

right.

I did sin against you.

Will you please

forgive me?

That was grievous in

God's sight.

And at that moment,

you've been part of what

God is doing in rescuing a

brother from sin and

restoring him to

fellowship with God and

others.

Process is then done.

But what happens if he

doesn't listen?

That's where we move to

verse 16 in stage 2.

But if he does not listen,

take one or two others

along with you that every

charge may be established

by the evidence or two or

three witnesses.

I'm just going to quickly

move through this so we can

get to stage 3.

This is the step where the

circle of people involved

goes from two people now to

three or four people.

So this is an intensifying

process.

More people are being brought

into the situation.

More people are aware of it.

Now you might be asking,

who are these witnesses?

Well, it's a reference back

to Deuteronomy 19.15 where

every charge is to be

established by one or two

other witnesses.

And what they're witnessing

is not the original sin,

but they're witnessing this

brother who's been sinned

against, sister who's been

sinned against, going back to

the brother or sister that

sinned against them and

taking this step.

They're witnessing the

charge made.

And so if you've been

sinned against, you go to

your brother, he doesn't

listen to you.

At that point, you bring one

or two other mature

Christians in, preferably

who know the person who

sinned against you, and you

bring them and you make the

same case.

But now it's being witnessed

by one or two other people.

It's intensifying.

It's verifying it.

It's validating it.

It's establishing that this

has actually taken place.

And so if you find yourself

in that situation, it would

be like you saying something,

what do you say?

You'd be like, thank you for

getting together again.

I love you.

And because you didn't listen

to me the first time we met,

that's why I brought so forth

and so and so.

When you did this, or said

that, or didn't do this,

according to God's word,

I think you have sinned

against God and me.

And we've come to tell you

that.

And at that point, you've been

faithful to Jesus in stage

two, bringing one or two

witnesses with you.

You've been authorized to do this.

You don't need elder

approval to do this.

Jesus is telling us to do this.

Practically speaking, I would

encourage you to, if you find

yourself in this situation,

choose one or two mature

Christians to go with you.

Ideally, that know the person

who sinned against you.

It reduces the embarrassment.

And another note is when you

reach out to these one or two

people, you will need to explain

what's happening.

You will need to explain to them

the nature of the meeting that

you're bringing them to be a part

of.

One of the benefits is that these

one or two people, they will

observe you in the meeting as

well.

To help you.

So, Jesus doesn't say it, but if

your brother hears you at this

point, you've gained your brother.

You've gained your sister.

They're taking responsibility for

their sin.

They've asked you and God for

forgiveness.

And now what we're talking about is a

restoration of peace.

Shalom.

But what happens if he or she

doesn't listen to stage two, stage

three?

And we see that at the beginning

of verse 17.

If he refuses to listen to them,

you and the one or two witnesses,

tell it to the church.

It's this one sentence in verse 17

that represents the step of bringing

into a whole membership, into an

awareness of a situation.

Now, you may be saying, well, that

seems a little excessive.

I just want to remind you, this is

intensifying.

This is a way we love someone who is

demonstrating a arching.

And not listening.

This is a way that Jesus has

prescribed to bring all of a church

membership into a process out of love

for a member entangled in sin.

And so now the circle of people

involved, it expands to include a

membership of a church.

It's a little bit more formal because

now you have to have a church meeting

like ours next week.

You've got to make people aware.

It intensifies things.

And that intensity is actually good.

It's Jesus prescribed.

To raise the seriousness of sin.

In verse 17, we read,

if he refuses to listen to them,

tell it to the church.

The it is the fault, the sin.

It's the people, the person involved.

You're going to name a name.

You're going to explain a situation

sufficiently, honoring privacy.

Lastly, we don't want to air laundry

unnecessarily.

But enough for a membership

to become aware of a situation.

And so this tell it to the church

is in one sense an informational meeting.

We just want to let you know

what's going on here

with one of our members

and how serious this is.

But it's also a call to action.

What this stage is

is a rallying of the membership

of a church,

not just to be informed,

but to act.

To be used by our good shepherd

to bring back a straying church member.

We're getting all hands on deck

in one sense.

Here's what this is going to look like.

The question that we need

to be asking is this.

When we enter a stage

like this together,

we're asking the question,

what is the most loving thing

we can do

for our brother or sister

entangled in sin?

What is the most loving thing

that we can do?

And so when we make the church aware,

the members of our church aware

of a specific situation,

first and foremost,

it is a call to prayer.

A call to pray for this person

who's entangled by sin.

To ask God to move by His Spirit

to bring about repentance,

full repentance,

full ownership

of a wrong or wrong's done.

To take these things to heart.

To call for fasting

and praying on behalf

of this brother or sister

entangled in sin

because we love Jesus

and we love them

and we don't want them to stray.

We want to give them

every opportunity to come back.

Baby, come back!

So this step we'll take

is a call to prayer

for a particular person

and particular name.

But this is also going to be

a call to act

for our members

and the members

who particularly,

who know this person,

who have a relationship

with them.

It's a call to act.

To not avoid it,

not to ignore it.

Shoot them a text,

shoot her an email,

leave a voice message,

say,

hey, we had this church meeting.

I was brought,

made aware of what's going on.

I am praying for you

and that God,

you would humble yourself

and turn back to the Lord

and be restored.

I love you.

I don't want you straying.

Could you imagine a church

that loves a straying sheep

that way?

Not looking to shame them

to shame them,

but to call them back

to shalom.

And as for those members

who don't know this person,

don't have a relationship

with them,

but are aware of them,

know of them,

this informs what happens

when you bump into this person

at Woodman's

or Festival

or Chick-fil-A.

You don't talk about the Packers.

perhaps,

you say something like this.

I'm glad to see you.

I just want to let you know

that I'm praying for you.

That the members of

Christ the King Church

are praying for you.

That you would,

that you would turn

from your refusal

and that you would

humble yourself

and turn to the Lord

and seek peace.

Would you please talk

to the elders?

elders.

Speaking the truth

in love.

Not all speaking

the truth in love

shows up as church discipline,

but all church discipline,

every word of it

is speaking the truth

in love.

These are some practical steps

we're going to be taking

if we get to this point

next Sunday.

And I just want to make sure

you understand

and you're hearing

loud and clear,

this is out of love.

for a brother

or sister

who is entangled

in their sin.

But what happens

if they,

what happens

if they don't listen?

If they listen,

we've gained our brother

or sister.

We rejoice,

but if,

if they don't listen,

then what?

That's the second,

second sentence

of verse 17.

Stage four,

and if he refuses

to listen even

to the church,

if he refuses,

if she refuses

to listen even

to the church.

I forgot to mention

that process,

that time frame

when the church

is brought in

and we want to give

that sufficient time,

right,

for God to use

his church

to have these conversations

and to be praying.

so we don't necessarily

have a time frame

on it.

It's not going

to be 72 hours.

It's not going

to be two years.

We want to give it

sufficient time

for God to work.

But if,

but if this,

if this member

doesn't listen,

doesn't even listen

to the church,

what then?

Well,

let me just,

let me just help you

see the pattern.

in verse 16,

what if he does

not listen?

First sentence

of verse 17,

if he refuses

to listen.

Second sentence

of verse 17,

and if he refuses

to listen even

to the church.

There is this pattern

of refusal.

It's unrepentance.

It's,

it's an arching

of the back.

It's saying,

I will not

do that.

And it's,

it's made evident

in actions,

not so much

in words.

A straying sheep

who is refusing

to be brought

back to the fold.

Are they a sheep?

If we reach

that point,

Jesus is very clear

that the members

of Christ the King

Church are to

recategorize

how we think

about this person.

Did you notice this?

In verse 15,

if your brother

sins against you.

And at the end

of verse 17,

let him be to you

as a Gentile

and tax collector.

How about that

for intensification?

You treat him first

as a brother in Christ

and then you're going

to treat them

as a Gentile

or tax collector.

In Jesus' day,

what that meant

are those people

who are deliberately

in sin.

They're hardened

in their sinning.

They're refusing

to change.

I think Jesus

is speaking of

treat them

as a non-Christian.

Treat them

as someone

who has not

experienced

the transformational

grace of Jesus

that they're not

alive in Christ.

Christ.

And what we've

seen here

is the evidence

of that.

This is Jesus

helping us see.

Now what this means,

what this step is,

when we think

of them this way,

this is technically

what we call

removal from membership.

It's an act

of discipline

where we're saying,

no,

they're no longer

a part of our church

because they're no longer

seen as a Christian.

It also involves

a step of

excommunication

and what I understand

that to mean

is they are no longer

allowed to the Lord's table.

That's the reference

when I was doing

the communion meditation.

It's got implications

to that table

of our participating

together

in what Christ

has done for us.

It's terribly serious.

But this brings closure

for us as a church.

church.

We've taken the steps.

We've made the appeals.

We've brought in the church.

We've given it time.

And now,

the Lord Jesus

is giving us release.

Treat them now

as a non-Christian.

And this may raise

a couple questions

for you.

Could this person

who's been removed

from membership

excommunicated

from the Lord's Supper,

can they come

to a service

on a Sunday?

And the answer

to that is,

well,

unless there's

a legal reason

why not

or a safety reason

why not,

then yeah,

we would welcome them

as a non-Christian.

Praying

that they would

hear the gospel

and repent

and believe.

Take full responsibility

for what is done.

Another question

that may come up

is this,

well,

wait,

at that moment

in stage four

when you remove

them from membership,

did they just

lose their salvation?

Now,

this is

not an easy thing

to navigate.

I do think

there's this

ever so slight

possibility

that an actual

spirit-indwelt

Christian

could walk

through something

like this,

but I think

it would be

incredibly rare.

Incredibly rare.

In fact,

Jesus says,

treat them

as if they're

a non-Christian.

So I think

the better explanation

in terms of

did they lose

their salvation

would be

kind of thinking

in terms of

Matthew 24,

13?

The one who

endures to the end

will be saved.

The book of Hebrews

will make a claim

that a saving faith

is a persevering faith.

So if someone

falls away,

likely they were

never saved

to begin with.

This is the practice

Jesus outlines

for church discipline.

four stages

and after the service

next Sunday

we'll be stepping

into stage three

where we tell

the church.

Inform the church

of the person

involved,

the situation,

and call the church

to act

out of love

for him.

Church discipline

is the process,

the loving process,

the loving process.

Appointed by Jesus

himself,

by which Christians

seek to restore

fellow church members

entangled in sin.

It's a normal process.

This is responsibility

for one another.

We've been authorized

to do this.

This is a sanctifying process

that more and more people

would share in God's holiness

because that is good.

It is an intensifying process.

It becomes more and more public

as a brother or sister

refuses to listen.

That's not on us.

It's them.

It's a loving process.

Love for Jesus,

love for his church,

love for members

entangled in sin

who need to be rescued

and restored.

Think about it this way.

If you had a brother

or sister entangled

in sin

and you did nothing,

is that loving them?

It's not loving them.

This process

is a loving process

to track down

and bring back

straying sheep.

would you pray with me?

Lord Jesus,

we're thankful

for this passage

you've given us.

It's weighty.

It's serious.

It's important.

It's messy.

We don't do it perfectly.

We make mistakes.

Oh, but Lord,

we want to please you.

We want to guard your name

among the nations

and we want to preserve

the health of your people.

So, Father,

would you pour out

your spirit upon us

that as we walk

through these situations

together,

whether this Sunday

or down the line,

God, would you by your spirit

make us together

courageous,

gentle,

restore a brother

caught in a trespass

and a spirit

of gentleness,

loving,

faithful.

And we pray

for our brother

that, God,

you would grant him

repentance

and full restoration.

We pray this

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.