If you get miffed at your church today, there is another one down the street you can visit tomorrow. You don’t even have to go down the street. You can turn to your computer and participate in a church online.

I am not against options. I have myself moved from one church to another more than once, though after careful reflection and prayer and just before problems erupted. I know enough about people, however, that this many choices makes “tell it to the church” a challenging command.

Jesus is talking about what to do when someone does what he (Jesus) said not to do  (Matthew 18:15-20). He says that after talking with the person individually and then with a couple other people, quietly, caringly, restoratively, if the person is, in fact, intentionally continuing their behavior, you are to tell it to the church.

Here’s the obedience challenge.

Did Jesus mean a small house church, where doing what he says means sitting on the deck with 20 people that you know well, that you have shared life with, that you have seen struggle, too? Did he mean a country church of 70, where everyone is related? Did he mean a group of 10,000 that gathers in 5 venues and 10 time slots every weekend? Did he mean a group of 100,000?

When Jesus said these words, there was no church, not the way we think of church, with buildings and structures. There were just the ones gathered around Jesus, the ones who had decided to follow him, to listen to what he said and do it the best they could. They didn’t have options, they couldn’t go down the street to another denomination because there was one Body.

Of course Jesus knew about all the variations that would follow. He gave the directions anyway. They must still apply.