Matthew 18 15-20 2005
Pentecost 16
Matthew 18: 15-20, Exodus 32:1-14,1 Corinthians 3:1-11, John 20:19-23
September 4, 2005
A God With Skin - The Office Of The Keys: Why Pastors?
ESV Matthew 18:15 "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.
The story goes that a terrified little boy came running into his father's bedroom during a thunderstorm. Dad told him, "Don't be afraid. You can go back to your room because God is with you." "But," replied the boy anxiously as he continued to burrow into bed next to his father, "I can't see Him, and what I really need now is a God with some skin on Him."
Since the beginning of history, mankind has wanted to see God. Few, however, have laid eyes on God. Adam walked with God in Eden, but that came to an end when Adam tried to take God's place. Enoch walked with God, but vanished one day, leaving behind no report of what he saw. Moses got to see God's backside. Nebuchadnezzar saw Him briefly in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. In the days of the apostles, God became flesh in Jesus Christ and many people saw Him walk their streets, heal their sick, and finally suffer torture and death on a cross. The rest of humankind, however, has not been so fortunate.
Yet this has not stopped them from coming up with substitutes. In the days of Moses, for example, the people made for themselves a golden calf as a representation of God. This was a common symbol used in worship in those days. Since most people were agricultural, a calf represented life and strength, qualities of God. In the same way that America is pictured as an eagle swooping down on her enemies, people pictured God as different kinds of animals or heroic men.
We know what happened to Israel's attempt to visualize and locate God in some man-made object. What would you think if someone showed you a penny and told you, "This represents America"? What would you think if someone showed you a gold-plated ant and told you that it reminds them how smart and strong you are? In like manner, people's attempts to represent God as animals, or even as heroic men like Hercules or Jupiter, are an insult to Him.
Worse, since idols so grossly lie about God's abilities and work, people who use them are led to believe false things about God. Instead of seeing God as a holy and righteous God who cannot permit evil to endure, idols lead people to think that God can be managed or controlled in some way. That is why God pronounced death on idolatry; which is also why God rolled up His sleeves and told Moses, "Stand aside, I've had it with this stiff-necked people. I'm going to blast them to cinders. Then I'm going to start all over, and raise a new nation from you, Moses."
We know the rest of the story. Moses prayed to God. "Remember the bargain You made with the people You brought out of Egypt? If You blast them, then people like the Egyptians will say, 'Get a load of this, Jehovah brought His people out of slavery so He could incinerate them in the desert.' " So Moses begged God to forgive the people, and, of course, God did.
This wasn't the first time forgiveness worked this way. When God came down to earth to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham pleaded that God would spare one family from the judgment they deserved. So God made sure that Abraham's nephew Lot and his family had a chance to escape. When King David confessed to adultery, murder, and deceit, the prophet Nathan forgave David. Besides this, of course, the whole sacrificial system of the Hebrews constantly proclaimed forgiveness. It is no surprise, then, that the Lord Jesus told His disciples that they were to go about and announce the grace of God, and in His stead, and by His command, they were to forgive the sins of those who repented.
Of course, the apostles did not get the job done of forgiving and retaining sins. So before they died, they trained up men to take their place in this important work. The Bible calls these men "pastors." That's where we are today. We still don't get to see God. But we can have God "with skin on" by going to one of His agents, a pastor.
The word "pastor" means "shepherd." It is related to the word "pasture," the place where sheep go to eat. Think about Psalm 23: "The Lord is my shepherd." We could just as easily say, "The Lord is my pastor." This makes me think of something the Lord Jesus tells us: "I am the good shepherd, the good pastor. I lay down my life for my sheep." Think also what the Lord Jesus said to Peter after He rose from the dead. He took Peter aside and asked him three times, "Do you love me?" Remember what Jesus said when Peter replied each time, "Of course I love you"? He said, "Then feed my sheep, feed my lambs." Jesus, the Good Shepherd, appoints other shepherds to help Him.
How did Peter feed the lambs of Jesus? First, Jesus fed, watered, and restored Peter's soul by putting him back to work as though Peter had never denied Jesus or sinned against Him. Jesus told Peter to now go and feed, water, and restore the souls of others. In other words offer to them the forgiveness that he, himself, received.
Doesn't that fit the work of a pastor? We come to a pastor, whether in a church service, or the privacy of his office, with a load of guilt and shame that has accumulated. In our prayers before him, we confess to God that we are poor miserable sinners who have sinned against God in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We admit that we have not loved God with our whole heart and that we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We even announce that we justly deserve God's punishment now and forever.
That's when the pastor gets to lead us to green pastures and quiet waters and restore our souls. The green pasture is found in these words: "Almighty God, our heavenly Father, has had mercy on us and sent his only begotten Son to die for us, and for his sake forgives us all our sins." He restores our souls, saying, "Upon this your confession, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (leading us also by these words back to the quiet waters of baptism, where the name of God was first spoken over us).
It often bothers some people when they first hear a pastor talk this way. They wonder, "How can he say such a thing? Only God can forgive sinners!" This is true. But was it a voice that boomed from heaven that told those who made the golden calf that they were forgiven? Was it a voice from heaven that answered each sacrifice offered with good news that sins were atoned? No, God used human agents, like Moses or the priests. Even when God went to rescue Lot and his family from Sodom and Gomorrah, He did so in human form.
One day, some people brought a paralyzed man to Jesus, hoping He would heal the man. But the first thing Jesus did was to say, "Your sins are forgiven." That caused many people to think, "Who does he think he is? Only God can forgive sins." That's when Jesus said, "So that you will know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins -- " He turned to the paralyzed man and said, "Get up and walk." The people then praised God that such authority to forgive sins had been given to men on earth. Even Jesus forgave only with authority given to Him from heaven!
So it's not really the pastor who forgives sins, any more than it is the pastor who washes away sins in baptism, nor is it the pastor who offers the body and blood of Jesus in Holy Communion. Only God can do these things. But pastors do these things "in the stead, and by the command" of Jesus. "In the stead" means "in Jesus' place." "By His command" means that Jesus told pastors to do these things. Let's say I hire a lawyer to make a land purchase. I empower him to use his good judgment in arriving at a price. So the lawyer goes to the seller and says, "Okay, this is what I can offer," and he names a price. But who is really making the offer -- the lawyer?
The Apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesians that when Jesus ascended to heaven, He gave gifts to His church, people who would speak for Him in various ways. Included in the list are pastors. Among many responsibilities Jesus gave to pastors, He has handed to each a key, one that can lock or unlock heaven's door to a sinner. The key is simple: with the turn of a few words, a pastor either keeps a sinner out of heaven or lets one in. He has been commanded to keep out those who refuse to give up their sins; but He has been commanded by Jesus to let in those who repent of their sins and are willing to amend their lives.
With these keys comes an awesome responsibility. In our Old Testament lesson God speaks to Ezekiel about how he should pastor the people. Ezekiel 33:7 "So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 8 If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 9 But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. Did you here that? To not warn, to refrain from speaking the truth to those who act wickedly, to not call a spade a spade when people live in a manner that is not befitting a Christian is to risk allowing that person to die in their sins and go to hell. God says that while the man remains guilty for his sin, the pastor is guilty and held responsible for the person that has perished. When I read these words I tremble, now I no longer am responsible for my own sins but I am responsible for the sins of others. I fear for my own life knowing that I have not always been faithful and consistent in warning you for the sins that you commit right before my eyes. I run head long to the cross and my Savior Jesus Christ asking Him to forgive me, to guide me, and to help me be the pastor He wants me to be.
But I am not alone. You, the Church of Jesus Christ is in this with me. You share in this responsibility with me as members of priesthood of believers. Jesus said, Matthew 18:15 "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. So this binding or loosing, this forgiving or withholding of forgiveness is the responsibility of the people of God.
How does that make you feel? Now, when a fellow Christian sins around you or against you, lives in a manner not fitting to a Christian, if you don’t say anything, you risk that person’s eternal death and you will be held responsible. Further more, if we neglect the sharing of the gospel with the non-Christians around us, they will certainly die in their sins. When we get to heaven God may look us in the eye and say you had the treasure, why didn’t you share it. You had the message of life and death, why didn’t you speak it. Their blood is on your hands – you are responsible. Does this make you tremble? It should. I hope it does.
With this great responsibility comes the wonderful gift of God’s grace and forgiveness which He freely gives to us for the sake of Jesus Christ and His death on the cross through which all of our sin and failed responsibilities are forgiven.
The people of the world long to see a God with skin on Him. That is exactly what He has given. He first gave us His son Jesus Christ who became man. Through Him God offers all people forgiveness. Now, He still comes to the people of the world through flesh and blood people, you and I. We in turn share His word of warning and word of love. But most of all we are given the wonderful responsibility to offer forgiveness and life that we have been given through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Office Of The Keys And Confession
What is the Office of the Keys? It is the peculiar church power which Christ has given to His Church on earth to forgive the sins of penitent sinners, but to retain the sins of the impenitent as long as they do not repent.
Where is this written? Thus writes the holy Evangelist John, chapter twentieth: The Lord Jesus breathed on His disciples and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.
What do you believe according to these words? I believe that, when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His divine command, especially when they exclude manifest and impenitent sinners from the Christian congregation, and, again, when they absolve those who repent of their sins and are willing to amend, this is as valid and certain, in heaven also, as if Christ, our dear Lord, dealt with us Himself.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, we thank You for the gift of pastors and the forgiveness of sins which they offer to us in so many different ways, especially when they announce to us out loud that our sins are forgiven. By Your Spirit, make us always willing to confess our sins and to believe that when one of Your called ministers forgives us, it is as valid and certain in heaven as though You have done it Yourself. Amen.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace, from whom comes the Holy Spirit, the Giver of life: Help us always to confess our sins and our faith in You. Help us make confession so that others will be attracted to the hope that You offer. Forgive us when we, like hypocrites, don't really think we have much sin to confess. Make our confession pure so we can truly enjoy the forgiveness You offer. Amen.
The Office Of The Keys And Confession
What is Confession? Confession embraces two parts. One is that we confess our sins; the other, that we receive absolution, or forgiveness from the pastor as from God Himself, and in no wise doubt but firmly believe that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven.
What sins shall we confess? Before God we should plead guilty of all sins, even of those which we do not know, as we do in the Lord's Prayer; but before the pastor we should confess those sins only which we know and feel in our hearts ... Here consider your station according to the Ten Commandments, whether you are a father, mother, son, daughter, master, mistress, servant; whether you have been disobedient, unfaithful, slothful; whether you have grieved any person by word or deed; whether you have stolen, neglected, or wasted aught, or done other injury.
