We need unity.
We need unity so that we know what to
pray for, things will happen and Jesus will be present.
Matthew 18 is about how as Christians,
as people who are citizens of the Kingdom of God, we live together. It is
remarkably helpful and practical
It tells us (vv1-5) that we need to
come into the kingdom as little children - not standing on our status, but
receiving it as a gift
It tells us (vv6-14) that because God
has welcomed us we need to welcome each other - whoever we are, even the person
who we consider the most insignificant. We are not to put obstacles in their
way; we are not to despise each other
And it tells us (vv 21-35) that because
we are forgiven, we are to forgive each other - not once, not twice, not seven
times, but seventy times seven.
And then we have our verses, verses
15-20.
They seem a bit out of place because
they speak of church discipline.
But I guess that for a body of people
to live together in unity there does need to be some church discipline.
But we need to get it right.
Most of the time we run away from it.
We don't like conflict, so we are not prepared to challenge. But that is not
great because we end up with churches which stand for nothing, in which
anything goes, and which have no prophetic voice.
Or we are big on church discipline. But
that has its own dangers. People can be crushed. And so often when churches try
to discipline individuals, unless the issue is absolutely clear, you end up
with serious division: If I throw the book at you, there is a strong likelihood
that you will pick up the book and throw it back at me!
Rather ironically in the CoE, I am told
that the clergy discipline measure, which was introduced to give bishops some
control over wayward clergy, is used more often by clergy against their
bishops: and at one point there were more active cases of clergy using the
measure against bishops than of bishops using the measure against clergy.
The only time in my 25 years of
ministry that I have had to tell two people that they were not welcome to the
Lords table, was when a married woman in the congregation told her husband that
she was leaving him, because she was moving in with a single man who was a
member of the congregation. They said it was OK because they had prayed about
it, and they had peace. I said, and the church said, it was not OK.
But if we look more closely at these
verses, the thing that strikes me is that the key word here is the word
'listen'
V15: if the member listens to you
V16: but if you are not listened to
V17: if the member refuses to listen to
them
V17: if the offender refuses to listen
even to the church
If someone sins against you, then Jesus
tells us that we are to go and see them privately, and we are to pray that they
will listen to us.
In other words, we are not to talk
about them, but to them.
And if we want them to listen to us then can I suggest we do not shout at them, and we do not go to condemn. After all, it is possible that we have got it all wrong. That is particularly the
case when we come from different cultures and backgrounds: what you think is
normal, might be perceived to be very rude in a different culture.
The purpose of this is not to condemn
the other; it is to listen to the other.
The goal of this is restoration. It is
to win them; it is to restore our relationship.
And the additional steps only come into
play when the other person refuses to listen: refuses to listen to you, to the
two or three others, to the church.
And at that point they have really
broken fellowship with you - because you cannot be in communion if you refuse
to listen to those you claim you are in communion with.
And I have to add that if you are not
prepared to listen to your Christian brother or sister, there will come a time
when you are not prepared to listen to God.
So I hope and pray that we will be a
people who listen to each other - especially when we hurt each other.
It means when we are hurt we don't
crawl into a corner and sulk (that's me!) or we don't throw the toys out of the
pram.
But we learn to be honest with each
other and to listen to each other.
And unity is so important because
1.
When we are united, we know what to
pray for
V19: If two of you agree on earth about
anything you ask ...
We think that we want something, but it
is not really what we either want or need. We may even claim that the Holy
Spirit has led us to pray for something. But we are experts, we have level 5s,
in deceiving ourselves.
And there is a danger that we are so
full of ourselves, of our own ideas, of what we think needs to happen that when
we pray it is just an exercise in self obsession.
Jesus told the story of the tax
collector and the Pharisee. They both went into the temple to pray. The tax
collector cries out to God for mercy, but the Pharisee prattles on telling God
how great a person he is, how spiritual, how righteous. And Jesus says that God
hears the tax collector, but God cannot hear the Pharisee because, in Jesus
words, 'he prays to himself'.
And the answer to our self-obsession?
It is to listen.
It is when we listen to others, when we
listen to what hurts them, when we listen to how we have hurt them, that our
prayers can come alive. We can pray for them, and we can pray for ourselves. We
can ask God to fill us with us love.
So we need others, and we need each
other.
Notice here how many times in our
reading that one needs to become two (or more). You go to your brother or
sister, so that the two of you are alone (v15), you take one or two others
along with you (v16), if two of you agree on anything (v19), where two or three
are gathered (v20)
And as we meet together, as we listen
to each other and to God, so we will gradually learn what it is that we are to
pray for.
2. When we are united, things will happen
I guess that is sort of what Jesus
means when he speaks about what they loose on earth being loosed in heaven, and
what they bind on earth being bound in heaven (v18)
A Jew at the time would know what Jesus
meant.
The ones with the power to loose and
bind, were the ones who had the power to interpret the law, to say what was
acceptable and what was not, and they had the power to admit or exclude from
the community.
And now Jesus is saying to his
followers that they have that power - not to be used by yourself, for yourself
- but to be used with others on behalf of the one who we serve.
And there is a power when we are
united, when we listen to each other and when we pray: 'It will be done for you
by my father in heaven'.
Things happen: God opens doors, real
deep heart work takes place, there are new opportunities for service, amazing
'coincidences' happen, people are healed, relationships restored, the Kingdom
of God grows.
When we are united, when we listen to
each other, things happen. It was when we prayed and talked together with other
churches in our town, that the really remarkable work was able to be done: town
pastors, debt relief work, food bank - and we were able to put on some of the
most effective evangelistic work.
You've seen that. It is as we work
with, for instance, MPC, that we can do so much more.
Things happen when God's people are
united and we take God seriously.
3.
And finally, and most importantly, when
we are united, Jesus is present.
"For where two or three are
gathered in my name, I am there among them"
That is what all of this – church,
services, robes, communion - is really all about: It is about meeting with
Jesus, the Son of God. It is about knowing Jesus.
Now we know him by faith. We trust that
he is with us. We believe his words.
There are moments when we feel his
presence with us, and there long periods when we do not feel his presence. But
Jesus reassures us that he is with.
And he promises that he is particularly
with us when we meet together, when we listen to each other, especially when we
have hurt each other - united in his name. He will walk with us, he will guide
us and teach us, he will help us in our prayer, he will feed us - not just with
physical bread, but with the real true bread, and he will make us more like
himself.
So we can call to him, we can trust him
even when we do not understand, and as his people who love him, we can know
that - whatever it seems, whatever life throws at us - all things work for
good.
And one day we will know him not by
faith, but by sight. We will see him. He will fill us just as we will be fully
part of him.
So I do thank God for you, and for the
privilege of coming to work with you, and I pray that God will give us the
grace to listen to him and to listen to each other. Because when we listen
there can be unity. And when there is unity, we will know what to pray for,
stuff will happen, and Jesus will be present.
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