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Last Sunday we learned from the Apostle Paul what love means and in this Sunday’s Scripture Lesson we are looking at a very serious issue and concern of this church, of many churches. For we call ourselves Christians but we often have an issue with the one sitting next to us, the one sitting right here in this very worship service this morning whom we are worshipping with.
In the New Testament of the Bible one of the things I like best is that it is so practical and applicable to our lives. And sometimes Christians disagree among the congregation of believers. Sometimes they speak of each other behind each other’s backs, and they quarrel. Sometimes they hold grudges against each other that may date back to generations upon generations. Because there are elephants in their family genetics THEY DON’T FORGET AND THEY MAKE SURE YOU KNOW TODAY IN THE YEAR 2008!
Our Scripture Lesson this morning says that we must never tolerate any situation where there is a breach of personal relationships between us and another member of this church and or the Christian community.
In this eighteenth chapter of Matthew Jesus admits that disciples are going to have conflicts; but they are to resolve them.
It is very true at this moment that the behavior of church members on this very issue makes Christianity to the outside world either repulsive, or attractive. Every community has a let out what you are feeling, AKA NEGATIVE-NEGATIVE-NEGATIVE, in public, place. It might be a bar, a restaurant, a place of business, so whoever is present at the moment can get their ears full.
“LISTEN TO THEM! THEY CALL THEMSELVES A CHRISTIAN BUT DID YOU HEAR WHAT THEY JUST SAID ABOUT HIM/HER? THEY WERE BAD MOUTHING AND PUTTING HIM/HER DOWN IN A MATTER THAT WAS FAR FROM BEING A CHRISTIAN. LISTEN TO THEIR RESPONSE. IF THAT IS HOW YOU REPLY AND ACT AS A CHRISTIAN RUNNING THEIR MOUTH I’M NOT GOING TO THEIR CHURCH!”
Ever heard that before? I have weekly and frankly sometimes I just want to scream, “TIME OUT, ENOUGH ALL RIGHT! NOW YOU GO TO YOUR ROOM AND YOU GO TO YOUR ROOM AND WHEN YOU CAN GET ALONG, AS YOU SHOULD, YOU CAN COME OUT. UNTIL THEN YOU’RE GROUNDED WITH NO PRIVILEGES! AND YES! YOU CANNOT TALK!”
Comus, a Duke of Florence, had a saying that indicated the limitations of his religion: “You shall read that we are commanded to forgive our enemies, but you never read that we are to forgive our friends.”
We spend a lot of time in our pews learning about how Christians are admonished by Jesus to love and pray for their enemies. When in reality, right there in the pew beside them, in the pews in worship, are Christians who hold petty grudges, hanging onto petty differences and hurts, refusing to forgive. Refusing to move on, and love one another within the fellowship.
And when this happens the church and Christianity, and the whole practice of faith, is not only not a joyful experience but also a large part of belonging to God’s family is missing.
The issue isn’t a matter that Christians are prefect and will not have conflicts. There will always be opinions and differences on how and who. There will be disappointments with preacher’s, village councils, and mayors. Hurt feelings, bent pride, loss of face, and lots of mistakes that come from breathing. The point is Christians can resolve their issues if they just practice what they sit in the pews digesting and praying.
As we examine our Scripture Lesson this morning we learn that Jesus gives us instruction specifically on how to keep it together in the Church. Keep in mind our Scripture Lesson offers unto us, collectively and individually, a whole scheme of action for the mending of broken relationships within our “Family of God” called the Christian fellowship.
Let’s open our Bible to our Scripture Lesson, Matthew 18:15-20.
“If your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. (NOTICE JESUS DOES NOT SAY TO DISCUSS HIS FAULT IN AN OPEN FORUM FOR ANYONE TO HEAR/OVERHEAR). If he listens to you, you have gained a brother.
But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you. (Jesus does not say openly discuss your concern where two or three in addition to the ones who are already listening can hear/overhear you) If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, (A prayer request, confiding in the pastor not the community) 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 (your tongue) shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, (Jesus says “they ask” not that you talk to everyone about) it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.”
The first rule Jesus gives us is don’t play the game “You Hurt Me - Telephone” by talking to everyone else about what happened to you. By the time the story of your pain gets to the person who hurt you it usually is distorted and blown up 100% more than what you originally said. Thus there is unto pain and resentment that can result from something that could have been avoided with some common sense. Listen carefully, Go and tell the one who has hurt you. Do not keep it brewing inside of you and tell everyone else.
Do not live as my mother did brewing over something that happened years ago between her and her siblings. And then die miserable, isolated and unable to tell those you love “I love you”. Do not live to die alone instead of surrounded by love.
Irving Stone, in his book Love is Eternal, concludes his narrative account of Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln with an interview between Mrs. Lincoln and Parker, President Lincoln’s guard: “Parker entered, a heavy-faced man with half-closed lips. Parker trembled, ‘Why were you not at the door to keep the assassin out?” Mrs. Lincoln asked fiercely. Parker hung his head, ‘I have bitterly repented it. But I did not believe that anyone would try to kill so good a man in such a public place. The belief made me careless. I was attracted by the play. I did not see the assassin enter the box.’ ‘You should have seen him. You had no business to be careless.’ Mrs. Lincoln fell back on her pillow, covered her face with her hands. ‘Go now. It’s not you I can’t forgive, it’s the assassin.’ ‘If Pa had lived,’ said Tad, ‘he would have forgiven the man who shot him. Pa forgave everyone.”
In Matthew 8:15, Jesus tells us, “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 a brother.”
We are not called to talk down to another, to humiliate another, but to gain a brother and or sister through honest, kind confrontation of how we have been hurt. Notice, Jesus does not say, “Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain what was said to me.” Jesus says that we should go and speak alone to the one who has done something that has hurt us.
Go alone and discuss what has occurred and in the grace of God a friendship/fellowship could develop instead of disgust and anger over unsettled issues. For what Jesus advises us in verse 17, “let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” in other words you don’t have to be buddies. If anything use common sense and be cautious, but be respectful while knowing where they are. You are no better than the way you conduct yourself verbally and non-verbally.
I have a vision for this church and frankly I am not worried about the future of this church, I am concerned. I am not worried about the future of this church, for God is in charge, not any of us. I am worried about the future of this church, not the building, but the church, you and I, who are the church as a body of believers.
Matthew 18: 19-20:
“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 the Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.”
The vision in my heart is if something is on one’s heart they can go to whom they need to speak, in private and express their concern. My vision is this concern can be openly heard with not only open ears and an open mind but also an open heart.
Matthew 20:17-19 tells us that Jesus knew what was to happen to Him. Jesus knew He was going to be humiliated and die to rise from the dead on the third day and ascend into heaven. And in that knowledge the mother of James and John asked Jesus which one of her sons would sit in places of honor next to Jesus, on Jesus right and left. And Jesus told their mother that God has it all planned and it would all work out according to God’s plan.
What did Jesus do? Jesus went to His Father and voiced His concerns, his worries. Jesus cried in the privacy of time with His Father and in this Jesus found something that is missing in so many.
In seeking out His Father Jesus experienced Isaiah 26:3,
“You will keep in perfect peace all that trusts you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!”
As long as our thoughts are fixed on not being at peace we will never be at peace.
If there is someone you are at odds with this morning pray for your inner peace and forgiveness to God for what they have done for you.
I firmly believe as Jesus sat in the Upper Room on the night of His betrayal Jesus was at inner peace with all who He knew would not be loyal to Him to His death and resurrection. How else could Jesus have faced His disciples?
As Jesus took the bread, blessed it, and said, take, eat, this is my body broken for you. Eat this often in remembrance of you. How else could Jesus have taken the cup after supper, blessed it and gave thanks and then said, take, drink, this is my blood of the New Covenant shed for the forgiveness of he sins of many. Drink this often in remembrance of me.
The table of the Lord is set. Come as one, not as units, but as one, and receive from one bread and one cup the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
A college professor gave a pop quiz that consisted of five questions.
1. A little girl named Liz was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery was by a blood transfusion from her five-year old brother who had survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her brother and asked if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. The little boy hesitated for a moment and said, “Yes, I’ll do it if it will let her live.” Then his face grew pale as he asked the doctor with a trembling voice, “Will I start to die right away?” Being young the little boy thought he was going to have to give his sister all his blood for her to live.
What is the lesson here? We must give when it counts.
2. In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then the king hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and couriers came by and simply walked around the boulder. Many loudly blamed the king for not having the boulder removed, but none did anything about moving the boulder. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. After much pushing and straining, he finally moved the boulder. After he picked up his vegetables the peasant noticed a purse lying in the middle of the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King indicating that the gold was for the person who moved the boulder from the road.
What is the lesson here? Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition/situation.
3. In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10-year old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him. How much is an ice cream sundae the little boy asked? “Fifty cents, replied the waitress. The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied the coins in it. “Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?” he asked. Growing impatient the waitress replied, “thirty-five cents. Now what do you want?” The little boy replied, “Plain ice cream please.” The waitress brought the ice cream and left the bill. The little boy finished his ice cream, drank his ice water, paid the cashier and left. When the waitress went to wipe the table down she sat where the little boy had sat with tears in her eyes staring at the bowl that had contained the little boy’s ice cream. Stacked next to the bowl was two nickels and five pennies.
What is the lesson here? Always remember those who serve for answering the call to service is not an easy calling.
4. One night, at 11:30PM, an older African American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rain. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride. Soaking wet, she decided to flag the next car down. A young man stopped to help her, generally unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960’s. The young man took her to safety, helped her to get assistance and out her into a taxicab. She seemed to be in a hurry, but wrote down his address and thanked him. Seven days went by and a knock came on the young man’s door. To his surprise, a giant color console TV was delivered to his home. A special note was attached. It read, “Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes, but also my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband’s bedside just before he died. God bless you for unselfishly serving others. Sincerely, Mrs. Nat King Cole
What was the lesson learned here? God calls us to serve even in turbulent weather and we should answer irrelevant of whom it is.
5. “What is the name of the lady who cleans the school?" A student asked, "Does this question count toward our final grade?” “Yes,” replied the professor.
What is the lesson learned here? In our life, in our careers, in the church, we will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your respect and to walk away not feeling inside because of how you present yourself, “A little of you goes A LONG WAY and I do not care if I ever see you, let alone associate with you again.” We need to treat others as we wish to be treated. If we have a concern we need to make the choice. Make the choice to speak to them in love for only then may the bridge of peace be built between two people.
Let us pray,
Bind us together Lord; bind us together with cords that cannot be broken. Bind us together Lord, bind us together, bind us together with love, sweet love. There is only one God, there in only one King. There is only one body. That is why we sing: Bind us together Lord; bind us together with cords that cannot be broken. Bind us together Lord, bind us together, bind us together with love. Amen
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