I Will Build My Church (2)
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 2 viewsNotes
Transcript
Matthew 18:15-20
Matthew 18:15-20
15 “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 your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 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. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
MARKS OF THE CHURCH
Presence - Order - Authority
Last week we looked at Matt 16 briefly. We saw that building the church is Christ’s purpose and mission, far from being an invention of man, the Church is the divine plan of God.
But despite this truth - many Christians in the UK according to recent surveys see Church as incidental to their personal faith, rather than vital. Despite over 40% of the UK population identifying as Christian an recently as 2021, only around 5% actually attend church regularly.
As Pastor Terry Johnson said of American Christians - ‘Church membership is seen like gym membership’, it’s good for me if I can make it, but if I can’t it’s ok, I’ll just work out at home.
And this attitude is absolutely acceptable if The Church is like every other organisation or institution. There are many wholesome and healthy organisations and activities to attend, and if Church is simply one amongst many, then there is no problem with treating the church membership like gym membership, or the tennis club or anything else.
But is it?
Verse 20 in this passage is one of the most often quoted passages - “where two or three are gathered there am I among them.” We use it to encourage ourselves when we meet in small groups or for prayer - but actually the immediate context in Matt 18 is the gathered church!
Jesus Christ has promised that He will be present whenever we gather together as Church. He hasn’t promised that to the gym, or the office, or the tennis club, but He has to the Church.
We know that God is omnipresent - He is everywhere. Psalm 139:7-12
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
We know He is present with us individually when we call on Him - Psalm 145:18-19
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry and saves them.
But there is a special unique promise of His presence to The Church.
The Church in the Wilderness - 21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. Ex 13:20–22.
This presence in the wilderness was the shekinah (or dwelling) presence of God.
And now the presence of God, His shekinah presence is promised to the Church
300 Quotations for Preachers from the Early Church The Presence of Jesus and the Church
Wherever Jesus Christ is, the catholic church is there.
IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH
Jesus has promised to be among us when we come together - to be in our times of worship, to be in our times of prayer together and even when church discipline is taking place, when tough decisions need to be made.
Sometimes it’s hard to believe that promise - that He is with us in a powerful way when we gather. It’s hard because of the ordinariness of church - the sounds, the sights, the smells, the paint peeling off the walls, the overwhelming normality of it all. Church can be messy and frustrating at times - But Jesus has put His name to this gathering and He has said He is here with us right now as we gather as an ekklesia, whether we feel it or not!
How is He present?
He is present with us by The Holy Spirit dwelling in each of you.
He is present in the preaching of His word.
He is present in the administration of the sacraments - of baptism and of the Lord’s supper.
Why would we want to pass up the opportunity of being in His presence for the sake of something else?
O - Church as institution - offices/order - Titus 1
Moreover, the church according to Jesus isn’t just a bunch of individuals, nor is it simply a community of Christians, it is an organisation, it’s an institution. He says - tell it to the church ‘He Ekklesia’, and also listen to the Church. You tell something to an entity, you tell something to an organised body of people. So is Christianity an organised religion? Yes it is.
Jesus vs religion myth
Just as God’s church in the wilderness had officers, priests and chiefs, so too does the new covenant church. The offices of pastor, overseer, elder, deacon.
5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.
Paul says that without elders the local church is unfinished. Without overseers something is missing.
These offices aren’t man made, they are God given, they are His means for facilitating and for overseeing His church. Their job is to oversee the church and to aid it’s health and growth through teaching God’s word.
28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
1 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
Elders, overseers, pastors are to administer the sacramemts of baptism and the Lord’s supper, encouraging and moving in the gifts of the Spirit and guarding against the creep of carnality and false teaching.
300 Quotations for Preachers from the Modern Church Church Leaders Can Be a Blessing or a Curse
As God can send a nation or people no greater blessing than to give them faithful, sincere, and upright ministers, so the greatest curse that God can possibly send upon a people in this world is to give them over to blind, unregenerate, carnal, lukewarm, and unskilled guides.
GEORGE WHITEFIELD*
As Jesus implies in this passage - just because we’re in the church doesn’t mean there won’t be messes to clear up, sins that need to be confessed, and relationships that experience strain. “If your brother sins against you..”
Jesus says that we are responsible to keep short accounts with one another in the Church - to go to one another and be honest if we are feeling hurt rather than sitting on it.
The church eldership is the last and highest port of call in terms of restoring relationships within the church. If an issue of sin isn’t resolved privately or between two or three other Christians it must come to the Church. And whatever they decide to do will have the seal of heaven’s approval.
What they have bound on earth is bound in heaven. What they have loosed on earth is also loosed in heaven. It is a happy privilege when they can loose the bound one. When repentance is expressed, when the backslider is restored, when the church has reason to believe that the work of the Spirit is truly in the heart of the offender, then the bond is loosed on earth, and it is also loosed in heaven. - Spurgeon
AUTHORITY
Jesus has given extraordinary authority to His church. One manifestation of this authority is in this thing mentioned here as binding and loosing. In this passage the context is church discipline - to bind means to condemn and to loose means to approve. 1 Cor 5:5
5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
A case of binding.
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
The Church has been given the keys to the kingdom - keys are always a picture of access; of authority to permit or deny entrance. The Church has been given the authority of preaching the Gospel - the one way of access into God’s Kingdom - this isn’t just about supernatural signs and wonders! This is about the rule of Christ coming upon peoples lives. The Gospel is the key!
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
We have also been given authority through our communion with God in prayer.
19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
In Christ we also have been given authority over the enemy and the powers of darkness.
19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
If he is there, the blessing is not what he gives: but he himself is the blessing. It is not what he does: it is himself. It is not even what he says: it is himself. Oh, blessed be his name for what he gives, and blessed be his name for what he does, and blessed be his name for what he says: but still more blessed be his name because he himself loved us, and gave himself for us, and now comes himself into the midst of his people. - Spurgeon
Ministry