Matthew 18 - Part 4

 

Read Matthew 18

Jesus answered Cain’s question:  Am I my brother’s keeper?

And the answer is, yes.  We serve God, honor God, love God and each other but we are in this together.  We look out for one another.  We share burdens.  We encourage each other.

And here is one that we overlook again and again.  We confront each other as an act of love.  Many will read this section and skip straight to the end.  Where 2 or 3 are gathered…

We like that part.  We like to skip over the part about confronting our brothers and sisters when they go astray, but did we just not read about the man who goes after the 1 and leaves the 99 in the open country?  Do you suddenly decide to right off the 1 because it might be a difficult conversation?

Be private.  Be gentle.  Bring help if needed.  Garner the support of the entire body if you must, but don’t write off the person who has strayed.  Remember he or she is still of value to you Father in heaven, who loves them very much.

Christian up and do your part.

OBTW—when 2 or 3 gather in his name, Jesus is in your presence so it’s not you judging your brother.  You are bringing the Truth to them.  The church has been given power and authority in this age.  Use it to fulfill the will of the Father.

Amen.

Full of Grace and Truth

Read John 1

And the word became flesh and pitched his tent among us.  The Greek word is σκηνόω (skay-no'-o).  You might think that you missed that part in the gospel.  You didn’t.  Words have changed over the past two thousand years and somewhat in translations.

The word became flesh and tabernacled among us.  You probably have not seen tabernacles used as a verb in most of your readings, but that’s what happened.

For the Christian, Jesus did more than pitch a tent.  He came to dwell with us as his Father dwelt in him.  It’s more than just claiming a camp site and making sure that your satellite television antennae is set up right.  It’s about intimacy between the Creator of the universe and us.  He is with us and within us.

We have been talking about truth for a few weeks and we come to this wonderful pericope about grace and truth.   The gospel author notes that Jesus came in glory that could only belong to the one and only Son of the God who sent him.

He came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  Grace and truth have a nice ring to them but in actuality may seem to be opposed to each other.

Let’s look at truth.

We know God is the Creator of all things.  He has the right to make the rules.  He has authority to reward and to punish.  He is eternal and not swayed by man’s thoughts about what is right. 

We miss the mark on a recurring basis.  Truth says that we deserve punishment.  We deserve punishment. 

Truth says that we do not have a passing grade.  Truth says that we did not live up to expectations and requirements.

Truth is sometimes a bitter pill to swallow.  Had Jesus come only in truth, our pucker factor might have been off the charts.

But he came from the Father full of grace and truth.  I have earned nothing as far as right standing with God goes, but he loves me more than I can comprehend. 

I have missed the mark so many times, but Jesus tells me that he took care of that.

John wrote that the law came through Moses but grace comes through Jesus Christ.  Both are from God and essential to our relationship with the Almighty. 

We know that we have all fallen short of the glory of God.  We know that.  I don’t know anyone here who thinks otherwise.  We have all fallen short, but that is not the end of the story.

In some cases, realizing that we missed the mark is truly our beginning. Having eyes to see that:   We can’t fix it.  We can’t mend it.  We can’t make it like it was.

But God can.  David, a man that sought after God perhaps more than others noted in the Old Testament, knew that he was broken.  He knew that he could not fix his own brokenness.

David had done many great things in the Lord’s name.  David was a warrior’s warrior.  David was a poet and musician.  David brought a broken kingdom together.  David had many accomplishments to his credit but he could not cleanse himself of his transgressions.

Sure, there were sacrifices required by the law but David pleaded with the Lord to create in him a clean heart.  Create in me a clean heart.

David knew the truth.  He had sinned against God and his fellow man.  He had lived in the favor of God and God had richly blessed him but now, he had thrown all of that away.  God had done so much for him; yet he gave in to his selfish nature.

But David had some insight that we could all learn from.  He sought to be made right again.  He pleaded with God, he petitioned God, to create in him a clean heart.

Truth said, “You blew it.  You threw it all away.”

Grace said, “Let’s move forward after I put you back together.”

Truth brings us to the cross.  Grace leads us to life.

Truth brings us to confession.  Grace says, I have already forgiven you.

Truth shows us our acts of omission.  Grace tells us, there is still time so long as it is called today.

Truth examines our history.  Grace leads us to eternity.

Both truth and grace came in one package.  The only human flesh to have lived in God’s heavenly presence who was in fact God in the flesh, came in grace and truth.

We love the grace part, but sometimes we avoid the truth. 

We live in a world of idolatry.  We don’t want to admit it, but we have more idols than Rome or Greece or Asia Minor had two thousand years ago.  

They come in the form of star athletes, our favorite teams, movie stars, and even in shows named America Idol and all of its spinoffs.  We adorn our homes and our cars with posters and stickers and license plates.

We covet like no other nation in no other time.  It’s not so much that our neighbor has something, it’s that the world has something and I want one.

God is seldom first.  We work him in after ourselves and our kids and the things we just have to have.

We often do not worship in Spirit and in Truth.  More and more, we look at our phones during worship.  Are we bored with this He is worthy stuff?

Sometimes it seems easier to throw some money at somebody’s problem instead of speaking the truth in love.  How many times do we forget that to come to salvation we first repented of our sin and then rejoiced in the good news.

I’m not going to go on.  We could be here a long time.  When you get home, look in the mirror and ask the man or woman in the mirror who is first in your life.  Do a fearless and searching inventory of your life.  Anyone who has been through a 12 Steps program knows this as step 4:  Conduct a searching and fearless moral inventory.

You don’t have to be an addict to conduct this inventory, but if we did a searching and fearless inventory instead of the surface level look we give ourselves day-to-day, what would we find?

And here is what I can say with confidence to every one of you.  God still loves you.  In spite of everything that truth revealed to you, grace has yet embraced you.

The mercy of God is more than we can fathom.

The love of God is more than we can comprehend.

The grace of God that we know in Christ Jesus goes far beyond any sin that the truth has revealed to us.  We need the truth to receive God’s grace.  If we do not have eyes to see that we have fallen short of the glory of God, why would anyone believe they need the grace of God.

The western world today is so afraid of offending someone that God’s truth has been glossed over if not outright set aside.  Why do we need grace if the world says that however we live is just fine?

There is a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln that goes like this.

How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg?

Four. Saying that a tail is a leg doesn't make it a leg.

We who seek to follow Christ must stand in and live in the truth of God every moment of every day.  We are not going to get everything right, but knowing God’s way and seeking it are essential to our well being.

Remember, God told his own people, I’m giving you these directives for your own good.  The law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Christ Jesus.

We need to know where we stand with God.  The law helps, but the truth that came with Christ is what prepares us to receive his grace and continue to live in his grace.

The law without Christ was incomplete.  Jesus came to complete the law, not so that we could be condemned but so we could finally live.  Jesus completed the law.

Truth and grace came in one package.  His light shone in the darkness and the world did not comprehend it but that same dark world cannot overcome it.

We are a mess.  We who follow Christ know that we are a mess.  We have the truth.  We can’t fix our condition.

But the truth also introduces us to grace, favor from God that has always been there but which we could not see before the truth set us free.

God has never stopped loving us.  He will never stop loving us.  We are his and he wants to keep us close to him for all eternity.  Where we are weak, his strength is even more visible.

We are saved by grace.  To which everyone says, “Amen!”  But we already knew that.  Couldn’t you save this verse for Christmas.  The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  Merry Christmas!

We know this but are we conversant in what we know.  Can we, without condemning another person, explain the truth to them, and lead them to the grace of God that we know in Christ Jesus?

Can we do that?

If we are following Jesus, we need to be people of truth and grace.  We need to help people understand that we all have fallen short of God’s glory.

We all have fallen short but he loves us anyway.  If we can’t speak the truth, why would people think they need Christ?  The world has convinced them otherwise.

Jesus showed us the glory of the Father.  He came in grace and truth.  We are to live in grace and truth.  We should not be afraid of the truth for it prepares us for God’s grace.

Again, you say, we know this.

So again, I say, share this.

This is our message that leads people to Christ.  Let us live as people not only of grace but of truth.

Amen.

Unity

Read Ephesians 4:11-16

This year which has flown by and is about to wrap up had topical messages:  Love, Action, Peace, and Rest were the major headings.  Next year I will remain topical for the most part with faith, grace, and hope and of course our messages that go with Advent, Ash Wednesday, and Resurrection.

At the First Light service, we will look at gifts, the Spirit, and the Gifts of the Spirit.

This morning, I will rest from the topic of rest and talk about unity.  Why?

Several months ago, I talked with Terra Sisco—the pastor the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Marlow about leveraging the fact that the Marlow church was a polling station.

You can’t put up political signs at a polling place, but you can announce a community service.  The church had been recovering from past hurts in the community and needed a jump start.  I suggested that we practice the connectional nature of our denomination and get some pastors and others to come to Marlow and reintroduce the church to the community.

Terra was onboard and without hesitation said, I want you to preach on unity.

Unity—I love the topic.  In today’s diverse and divisive world, it seems to be an anomaly.

Diversity is a wonderful thing.  We are blessed with so many abilities, talents, and so many gifts of the Spirit that we should be producing fruit galore.

But there’s not much fruit in divisiveness, and our nation is suffering in divisiveness.  There is no shortage of opinions as to who is at fault and those opinions often solidify the divisiveness.  If you get into a discussion these days, you had better wear safety goggles so one of those pointing fingers doesn’t poke you in the eye.

Jesus as he was rebuking the religious leaders two thousand years ago set forth this truth:  A house divided—a kingdom divided—against itself cannot stand. 

About 160 years ago a young Abraham Lincoln noted this about our nation.  He would see it lived out in the blood of nearly 700,000 young Americans. 

About 80 years before that E pluribus unum was adopted as our national motto. What a perfect thought for this Grand Experiment we call the United States of America:  Out of many one.

It not only signified the divine miracle that brought forth this new land, it seemed to also mark the challenge of each generation.  One of the paradoxes of this republic is that it seeks unity while preserving liberty for the individual—for each of us. 

It is the nature of our republic, that our domestic tranquility is afloat on a sea that separates revolution and tyranny.

This thing that we call self-government, representative government is a continual struggle.  You might think that balance would prevail over divisiveness, but the world will have none of it.  Even in this nation so blessed in this broken world, struggle is the nature of our existence.

Enough of the political scientist in me.  I must let him out time and again.  What about the body of Christ?  What about us?

We as a community of believers must be a community.  We must live in one accord. Christ alone must be our head, our Master, our King.  Christ is the head of the church.

We must be one in the Spirit.  That doesn’t mean that we don’t observe our separate traditions, we just don’t let them get in the way of our unity. 

If the body of Christ does not practice and exhibit unity, can we expect more of our nation?  We must be a model of unity.

In the first part of the scripture from Ephesians 4 that I read, we most often focus on the Christ gave us apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers part.  That’s important, but sometimes we forget the rest of these purposeful words—words that equip us for service to our Lord.

Paul continued:  so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

What’s Paul saying?  Unity is our destination not our starting point.  Even we in the body of Christ have some work to do.  We are to mature.  We are to grow.

Christ did everything for our salvation.  We have some work to do on our discipleship.  As we follow Jesus, we should look more and more like our Master each day, each week, each year.  Sometimes, growing in God’s grace takes a little work.

Often, we have to overcome our own human nature as we take on God’s holy nature.  Salvation is a gift.  Amen!  Hallelujah.  Praise the Lord!  Discipleship takes work.

What if we want a benchmark of our work and our growth?

One of those indicators of growth is unity.  Unity signifies that we are maturing in our faith.  We are growing.  We are growing in God’s grace.  God will never stop loving us, even if we are at the bottom of our class.  We grow in his grace.

Unity is one of the markers of our growth.  The ability to work with other believers with diverse thoughts, attitudes, culture, language, gifts, and abilities because Jesus is the head and we are one in the Spirit.  Being of one accord is a mark of maturity.

You have heard the phrase, speaking the truth in love, right?  I have taken this phrase out of context many times, most of them with good application.

Most of the time we think this is for the benefit of the one with whom we are speaking.  Often it is, but in the original context, it is about us and our growth. Listen to Paul’s words once again.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.  Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.  From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Speaking the truth in love is a precursor to growth. If we are to navigate this modern age and move towards unity of the body, we must be able to speak the truth in a spirit of love with those that do not agree with us.

If we were to follow Paul to Chapter 14 in Romans, he talks about disputable matters.  The Greek word that we most often translate as disputable is  διαλογισμός  (dee-al-og-is-mos').  You might think that sounds more like dialogue than dispute.

You would be correct.  The original meaning of the word is essentially, back and forth reasoning.  Today in our modern nation, it seems that every dialogue becomes a dispute or argument or irresolvable conflict, but the original language did not carry the burden of our modern connotations.

It meant back and forth reasoning.  Who misses that other than me?  Who misses a good, wholesome, healthy discussion instead of everyone talking at once, often with ever-increasing volume.  The author Stephen Covey calls this mass babble that we pass of as modern discussion, the dialogue of the deaf.  Everyone is talking, and nobody is listening.

We as the body of Christ not only must be capable of but practice back and forth discussion.  We must speak the truth in love, not out of selfish ambition nor condemnation.  This is a mark of our maturity as believers.

Will we get to the point where we agree on everything?  No.  But we will live in one accord knowing that Jesus is Lord.  He is our Master.  He is the head of the church.

And the things that we don’t agree upon will not get in the way of serving Christ, loving one another, or being unified as his body.

Diversity of opinion, methods, and traditions will not get in the way of unity within the body of Christ.  When we as believers start picking at each other for how others practice their faith—whatever it is—baptizing, preaching, music, celebrating the Lord’s Supper and other things, remember the church body that you are picking at belongs to our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.

His Spirit abides in the believers of that body.  If the Lord has some corrections or redirection for that body, his Spirit is already there, and none of us have been retained to advise the Spirit.  Who among us may counsel the Lord?

We do have the mind of Christ.  We have God’s Spirit.  We are one body.  We must grow to unity.  We must mature as believers so that we can have back and forth discussions without causing the new believer to stumble or doubt that we have a clue about this Christianity stuff.

We are called to live in one accord, and I don’t mean a Honda.

Oh, by the way, it’s going to be work.  Salvation is a gift from God.  Discipleship, growing in grace, and unity take work.  Are we up for the work?

I am not talking about carrying burdens that we have surrendered to our Lord.  I am talking about taking his yoke and learning from him.  Are we ready to learn from our Lord and grow in his grace?

It’s going to take some work.  Many look around at a divisive nation and are about ready to throw in the towel, but we must stay the course.  We must press on towards the goal.  We must never give up on unity.

You have endured me this far, but I am making a return to something of a Marine story.  I’ve used it in different contexts, so some may have heard it before.

During the First Gulf War which was just called Desert Shield and Desert Storm back then, I was training reservists.  I was the active duty commander.  Many reserve units were called up and I went with them to Camp Lejeune for 2 weeks of refresher training before shipping out to Southwest Asia.

After they deployed, I went back to my command and waited for my orders.  I got them and went to Camp Lejeune to go through the same sort of refresher training I had just taken the reserves through.  This was a group composed mostly of officers and senior NCO’s.  We were near the end of this two-week period and headed to the pistol range and a close combat refresher. 

You might say that we had copped an attitude.  What attitude?  We’ve done this.  If things get down to pistols and knives, the battleplan did not go according to plan.  Most of the officers were thinking, “just wrap this stuff up and get me on a plane to the desert.”

There was a crusty old gunnery sergeant in charge of this last part of the training.  He detected the malaise that accompanied us.  He couldn’t really chew us out as half were officers, but he could relate a story from decades earlier.

He was a young Marine on an outpost with his fireteam.  A lance corporal was in charge of this 4-man outpost.  That is to say that a 19-year-old kid was in charge of three 18-year old’s.  The gunnery sergeant was one of those 18-year-old kids long ago.

They had fought through most of the night.  Everyone was wounded.  Ammunition had run out.  Everyone was just leaning back against a tree or a berm waiting to die.  They could hear the enemy moving in on them as the grass and reeds made noises not caused by the wind.

These few young Marines had given up hope.  This lance corporal team leader did the most compassionate thing he could think.  It may be one of the most compassionate things one Marine has ever said to another.

He said:  GET OFF YOUR BUTTS AND GET IN THE FIGHT!  You may die by the enemy’s bullets or bayonets, but you will not give in to self-pity and hopelessness.  GET IN THE FIGHT!

Of the 4 young Marines, three survived the day.  They were ready to throw in the towel but this 19-year-old kid who happened to be in charge, reminded them that throwing in the towel was not who they were.

Get in the fight!

We are not people who give up either.  We know that to live is Christ and to die is gain and sometimes we want the second part now.  Come, Lord Jesus, come.

But we are overcomers.  Our work here is not finished.  Part of that work is to share the gospel.

Part of that work is to model unity for the world.  They can’t get there on their own.  They need leadership.

How can we lead?  We follow Jesus.  We take his yoke and learn from him and put his words into practice.

If the body of Christ will not model unity for the world, the world will never get there.  The world knows uniformity.  The world will gladly conform you to its patterns, but it cannot know the unity that we as maturing believers must know and put on display for the world.

It will take some work.  Salvation is a gift.  

Discipleship takes work.  The part of discipleship that we ventured into this morning was unity.  We can do this.

Will the world follow our model?  Probably not, but those living according to the world will see that we are different.  Some will ask why, and we will tell them of God’s love that we know in Christ Jesus.

That is, if they can tell us apart from the world.  Can we be diverse, yet live in one accord?  Can we maintain different traditions, yet live in unity as the body of Christ?  Can we do this?

I’ll do this exercise once again. 

Raise your right hand as high as you can.

Now raise it higher.

We like to think we are doing the best that we can, but there is always a little more if we reach for it.  My challenge, my request, and my prayer are that we work a little harder when it comes to unity in the body of Christ.

The world doesn’t know this sort of unity and the peace and hope that come with it.  The world will be the world, but Jesus told us to be the light of the world.

One way to be that light is to live in unity as the body of Christ.

Amen!