Biblical Conflict

Matthew 18:15–35 ESV

“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. 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. 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. 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 my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” 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?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 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. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 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.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 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. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

Intro - Story of Mr. Templeton and overcoming racism through a common goal.

TR: When it comes to the people of God, how we deal with what divides us will define us...

Intro -

Action (v. 15-17)

This section started with the question of “who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”

This is how folks in the Kingdom should act.

Matthew 18:15 ESV

“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.

“if your brother sins against you, go....”

Cowardice is not allowed.

American church culture is pervaded with passivity and/or passive aggressiveness

And if you aren’t a part of the passive culture you’re more than likely part of the outrage culture.

People will tweet about an offense before they’ll talk about it.

And when we do talk about it we will tell everyone EXCEPT for the person that offended you.

Notice that there is an emphasis on personal responsibility to address the person that offended YOU. NOT their responsibility to recognize their offense on their own.

This is the Christlikeness that is produced when you engage those who offended you.

After personal engagement reconciliation is sought.

The point of engaging isn’t to air out frustrations but to reconcile.

We’re all we have!

After engaging one on one THEN you’re permitted to bring in outside counsel to witness & advise.

Mind you this is how a Kingdom Citizen ought to behave.

If that proves unsuccessful then you tell the congregation in a PUBLIC attempt at reconciliation.

Lastly, if they are irreconcilable then they’re removed from the assembly.

Interesting note, who was separated from the congregation? The person that sinned NOT the person offended.

We do the exact opposite. If offended, not only do we not engage but then WE separate.

Disconnecting from the community wasn’t even considered an option!

They were occupied by an enemy force and to disconnect meant loss of access to so many things.

To disconnect was actually the PUNISHMENT of unrepentance not the CONSEQUENCE of being offended.

Church comfort has bred immaturity. The belief that you don’t have to deal with this because you can just relocate or isolate.

TR: However, if that is your mindset than you are out of step with the wisdom of Heaven...

Agreement (v. 18-20)

Matthew 18:18–20 ESV

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 my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

If you handle things this way, the Kingdom of Heaven has led your wisdom.

If you handle things this way, the Kingdom of Heaven has led your wisdom.

The idea here is if you come together with the goal of reconciliation and ask God to guide you on it He will.

Heaven is going to be in agreement with your conduct.

Even Jesus Himself is present with you.

Jesus places his stamp of approval and lends you His counsel.

Why? Because He is about reconciliation and will empower you in your attempts to do it.

If you are offended and instead of confronting someone you disconnect you are NOT led by God and Jesus is NOT in agreement with you.

By placing Jesus’s name on it they are putting the full authority of Jesus behind that decision.

This is the Kingdom way to deal with offense.

Then to forgive “70 times 7” which literally means continually without end.

TR: To further emphasize his point, Jesus gives an analogy which teaches us a lot...

Analogy (v. 21-35)

Lastly, Jesus gives us an analogy to highlight his point.

The backdrop is showing that the POINT is not punishment but RECONCILIATION.

If we are to be a family displaying Christ’s love to Kansas City we must be willing to confront each other with the goal of reconciliation.

If you are anti-confrontation you are anti-reconciliation.

Notice that the focus in this story is the FORGIVER.....NOT THE OFFENDER!!!

In so much of church offense we focus on the offender, the sinner, rather than the forgiver.

Why? BECAUSE WE THINK WE’RE GOD!!!

You’ll say “no I don’t Pastor”. You believe that you DESERVE right conduct…like God. Therefore, when offended, you think it’s an opportunity for someone to fix how they behave around YOU!!

We believe that Christlikeness is more about behaving with righteousness rather than forgiving unrighteousness.

The former has a focus on YOU…the latter has a focus on those YOU LOVE.

The offense is opportunity!!! Not to turn inward or isolate but to FORGIVE!!!

So who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? Those that use offense as an opportunity to abundantly forgive.

The offense, the conflict, the frustration, the painful situation, etc. tells more about YOU than it does the offender.

I recently read through the Bible and it’s always interesting to see what you see this time around.

This time the Lord really had me realize different things such as the role of women in the Bible

I was astonished by the care and impact women had and how as the tall figures of scripture stood up there they were, almost always subtly but powerfully keep things together.

What would Moses had been had the midwives done as commanded by Pharoah or Rahab snitched on the Israelite spies. Had Abigail not stopped David from killing her foolish husband or Hannah not earnestly prayed for her son Samuel and then gave him to be trained as a powerful High Priest of God.

So in honor of today I’d like to center our focus on what God has done through our women, both past and present. How they have been at times our greatest strengths, our loving mothers, and our tireless laborers amongst so many other things.