A friend does wrong things against you
15 Jesus said, ‘If your Christian friend has done something wrong against you, you must go and speak to him. When you are alone with him, tell him what he has done that is wrong. He may agree with what you say. If he does, then you can call him your friend again.
16 But maybe he does not want to listen to you. Then take one or two other people with you to speak to him. They will then know what wrong things your friend has done. Remember what the Bible says: “There must be two or three people to say certainly that another person has done something wrong. Two or three people must agree what has happened.” 17 If your friend still will not agree that he has done something wrong, then go and tell the church leaders. If he does not agree with the leaders, stop being his friend. He is like somebody who refuses to obey God.
18:17The word ‘church’ means a group of Christians. They meet together because they are obeying Jesus. It does not mean the building where they meet.
18:17This does not mean that we should only be friends with other Christians. We can be friends with other people too. But perhaps a person says that he follows Jesus. But he does not obey Jesus. Then we should not be a special friend of that person.
18 I tell you this: You will tell people here on earth what is right for them to do. And you will tell them what is not right for them to do. God in heaven will give you this authority. He will agree with what you say.
19 Two people may agree together to ask God for something. If they agree like that, then my Father in heaven will give them what they ask for. 20 Two or more people may meet together because they believe in me. If they do that, I will be there with them.’
18:19People must ask God for the right things. They must be things that God wants to give to them.
