At Any Cost
Journey Through The Gospels • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 4 viewsWho are the lost, the least, and the last? Those who are separated from God or those who are separated from the fold?
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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.
Jesus told this to Peter :
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.”
“Shall have been bound,” “shall have been loosed.”
The first time was in regard to the application and oversight of the ceremonial aspects of the law.
This time in regard to judging right and wrong between believers.
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.”
In Deuteronomy, accusations were to be made by two or three witnesses in the presence of the Lord, priest, the judge.
17 then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days.
Here, Jesus declares that believers, the assembly of believers, are the priests and judges and when working in agreement and in the Spirit, He is in our midst - He is present!
Jesus didn’t say this in regard to prayer and worship, but in judgments concerning believers.
This is why their were so many Church councils in Church History.
Church leaders from all over would come together to decide church doctrine and practice.
This became ineffective when church leaders were established by government rulers and not by ordination recognizing a clear call of God on their lives.
Church discipline didn’t require church councils - that could be decided where 2 or 3 spirit-filled believers are gathered before the Lord as witnesses. Not just a statement of presence in agreement, but the authority of the presence.
Once again, the heart is reconciliation.
The offender is responsible for restitution, but we are responsible for restoration.
23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,
24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Win the lost - the one who has wandered off the path
at any cost - what do we really have to lose but pride?
Jesus isn’t teaching a high limit of forgiveness, but unlimited forgiveness.
23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.
24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.
26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’
27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’
29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’
30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.
31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.
32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’
34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.
35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
The king was settling all accounts.
Whether owed or due we wanted to square up with his servants and his servants to square up with him.
In the parable of the talents, the kings goes away on a long journey for a long time and entrusts talents with his servants. When he gets back, he settles accounts.
If I borrow $50 from you, I owe you $50.
I become your debtor, in a sense, I should work for you now:
7 The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
What if I turn the tables and ignore you - I refuse to pay you back.
As long as you seek restitution, you are subject to my will.
Your mental, emotional, physical, and even spiritual energy will be consumed to some degree with the injustice I caused you - in a sense, you are enslaved now by me.
That is what unforgiveness will do. It will bind you and hold you captive.
You are bound by things of this world and held captive if you cannot let go.
Jesus says in
32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.
35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
How much do I owe you if you forgive my debt? $0
Who paid the $50? You did.
Forgiveness sets the offender free from the guilt of the offense.
The one who forgives (or steps in and pays) pays the cost.
But the one who forgives is also set free!
There are many people who have hurt others - sinned against them and God - committed crimes that are completely unforgivable apart from the grace of God. They owe a debt they cannot pay.
Only the one who is offended can pay that debt and win that lost sheep back.
Years after her harrowing experience in a Nazi concentration camp, Corrie ten Boom was speaking in a church when she found herself standing face-to-face with a man who had been one of the cruelest guards she had ever met in the camps. This man had humiliated and degraded both her and her sister, jeering at them and visually ‘raping’ them as they stood in the delousing shower. Now he stood before her with an outstretched hand, asking, ‘Will you forgive me?’ Corrie said, ‘I stood there with coldness clutching at my heart, but I knew that the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. I prayed, “Jesus, help me!” Woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me, and when I did I experienced an incredible thing. The current started in my shoulder, raced down into my arm, and sprang into our clutched hands. Then this warm reconciliation seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes. “I forgive you, brother,” I cried with my whole heart. For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I have never known the love of God as intensely as I did in that moment.’
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
We must fix our attitudes
not on being the greatest but on serving the least,
not on being first, but happily being the last by putting others first,
and not be content with being the found but doing all we can to seek and save the lost.
The least. The last. and the lost.
We must win them all at any cost!
It is our mission.
Our very reason for existence.
Every breath we breathe,
Every heart beat,
Must be surrendered in fulfilling this cause.
Will you receive the forgiveness Jesus extends to you?
Will you allow the forgiveness Jesus extends through you?
When you became His - every debt that was owed was forgiven.
Anything owed you is owed Him and He has more than paid the cost through His shed blood on the cross!