Keys to the Kingdom (Week 4)
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Alright, let’s get back into our sermon series that we began last week, Keys to the Kingdom. The past few weeks, we have discussed what is the Kingdom of God/Heaven. Why did Jesus talk it about it more than any other NT author? We specifically looked at Matthew 16 at the revelation of who Jesus is as the foundation for His Kingdom and the cost of establishing His Kingdom.
We built upon the foundation of the revelation of who Jesus, His call to each one of us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow HIm. Last week, we look at the hallmark of the movement: humility. We saw in the Scripture that in order to receive grace we must posture ourselves through humility to receive it (grace).
Yes, we are saved by grace through faith, but in some would even say that humility (utter and complete dependance upon God) must precede these.
TRANSITION:
Today, we will continue to look at the characteristics and qualities of the Kingdom. I want us to discover some of the biggest KEYS we could discover for our own lives. Keys that have the power to unlock life and health and healing for our souls in a way that few others spiritual ideas could and do.
There are few things we could talk about that are more Christ-like than what we will talk about today. I know many pastors that have topics that they want to discuss each year: relationships, the Holy Spirit, giving, etc.
The topic that we will dive into this morning should also be on that list. I am not sure that it always is, but the tentacles of bitterness inhibit a Kingdom life more than most anything else. So, that is why this morning we will talk about FORGIVENESS.
There are few things we could talk about and address in our lives that would be more Christ-like than FORGIVENESS. Think about that with me for a minute. We look at Scripture for the reason, the purpose, that Christ came.
He came to seek and to save the lost.
He came to make atonement and provide redemption for all mankind. He came to remove our sins and restore right relationship with God.
Yes, to all of these things, and He did all of this by making a way for forgiveness to occur.
Webster: stop feeling angry or resentful toward (someone) for an offense, flaw, or mistake.
cancel (a debt).
Bible Dictionary:
The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary Forgiveness
Forgiveness is the wiping out of an offense from memory; it can be effected only by the one affronted. Once eradicated, the offense no longer conditions the relationship between the offender and the one affronted, and harmony is restored between the two. The Bible stresses both human forgiveness and divine forgiveness: The latter is the divine act by which the removal of sin and its consequences is effected.
But in the context of the Kingdom writing, we see that Jesus established it upon the revelation of who He was, ensure His disciples counted the cost of truly following Him, and poured the foundation of humility.
It is through humility that we first come to God expressing that we need Him. We can’t do anything on our own. Through humility we say, Lord forgive me. I have sinned, need pardon, and can’t atone for myself in a way that is lasting and meaningful. I need reconciliation in my relationship with God, forgiveness that sticks.
So, humility is the tracks that runs towards forgiveness, brining the reconciliation that we all desire and want between us and God.
Go back and capture the context for the past couple of chapters, marching from ch. 16 on to where we are today in Matthew 18.
Causes someone who believes in me to stumble...
WOE to those, who would cause one of these little ones, someone committed to walk humbly with their God, to stumble. Woe, to the world that is bound to operate in a mindset that is counter-kingdom, praising efforts, efficiency, the sacrifice that we esteem as noble for the self-made man or woman. What will someone give in exchange for their soul? We can easily look around in our world and see that the things we praise like hard work, late hours, efficiency with time, even cut throat in business…is what we would say get some ahead in this world. But in the the Kingdom, the first shall be last, and the last shall be first.
It would be better for a large millstone to be hung around the neck of those who rely on self-sufficiency, and exchange the likeness of God for a distorted image of nobility. This is what Paul warned about in Romans 1.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
IDOLS: exchanging anything we can make ourselves (with our own hands) for the image of God.
Parable of the Wandering Sheep
Do not despise the place of humble beginnings. Humility recognizes that God is not concerned with the religious who think they have it all figured out, have it all together. Humility recognizes that our God is a God of the disenfranchised, He fights for those who can’t fight for themselves. Truth and justice are the foundations of His throne. Jesus did not come for the found but for the lost. Jesus didn’t come to establish where the pendulum had already been swung, but He came to recognize those who were not recognized, swinging the pendulum in their favor to say there is not favoritism in the Kingdom. Equality is that we all need grace and mercy and forgiveness. Humility being the acceptance of this fact.
12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?
13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.
14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.
Let’s look at our text for today.
15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.
16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
We will start with this passage but also look at the following parable that Jesus gives in dialogue with His disciples as they try to understand the Kingdom’s perspective on forgiveness and restoration. Without getting into some of the nuances and details of how each word could be broken down and understood, I do want us to take a look at this passage.
vs. 15
15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.
This verse should read “sins against you”. Many manuscripts include this, and the context (in my opinion) points towards that understanding from this passage.
The situation occuring is substantial rather than trivial or merely personal in nature. Could you image if we had folks within every church following this as a measure for every area of grievance they have with someone in the church? From snide remarks, to interpreting someone’s resting face, 2020 would leave us with a lot of misunderstandings and matters that aren’t being addressed in the scope of scenarios that Jesus is addressing in this passage.
COMMUNICATION: we should still clear the air between one another.
NEGATIVE INTERPRETATION: we should clarify what was really being communicated (whether verbal or non-verbal) to remove room for the flesh or the enemy to create wedges between us.
RESTORATION: resolving issues quickly, giving benefit of the doubt, and opening opportunities for healing are what STRONGER relationships are made of. This is the good, hard work of healthy relationships.
Jesus says to His disciples, that if someone has sinned against you, go to them and talk to them about this sin, JUST BETWEEN THE TWO OF YOU.
You don’t have to do it in front of a crowd to make a scene and embarrassing anyone. Your goal is restoration and healing not to wield power, display superiority, and elevate yourself above someone else by stepping on them and making them lower.
How do you measure a win in this game? Listening and understanding. “If they listen to you, you have won them over.” This is only done when loving humility propels the approach.
ἀκούω is the Greek word for listen, to give careful attention to, to heed, pay attention to by listening, to hear and understand a message.
vs. 16
16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
Peace, harmony, and restoration remain the end game for this entire process. Jesus says, “But if they will not listen, take one or two others along...”
15 One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
In a secular case of civil law, the crime had to be corroborated by the testimony of 2 or 3 witnesses. If they still refuse to understand and follow the ways of Christ as spelled out in Scripture, tell it to the rest of the congregation, the company of believers, the church.
The notion is that the church then in turn would go and hope for a heart of understanding. Many I think hear the process but miss the heart. The hopes remain that a listening ear, a heart of understanding would be on the recipients side as through humility grace and mercy are extended.
Vs. 18-20
The imagery is taken back to the dialogue with the disciples from just a few weeks prior. You have keys to the ways of the kingdom. These keys open doors to mercy and grace through acts of reconciliation as well as close doors to community and fellowship to those who have chosen to be closed off to follow the ways of Christ but instead to live/walk in a lifestyle of sin.
The power of unity and agreement and alignment among believers is powerful. The power of the kingdom has been given to men/women to carry out the purposes of heaven upon earth. They bring this about through humility, and it is evident by how we treat both those who are lost (the sheep) as well as the believer in sin. Those far from God as in having never known Him as well as those far from Him though they have known Him. This is where we have pivotal opportunity to display the image of Christ and establish His Kingdom.
Forgiveness
There is Peter again, on the scene, approaching Jesus to follow up with this teaching on church protocol of how to deal with a believer in sin. He assumes from the context and manner with which Jesus spoke that it was about forgiveness, specifically dealing with forgiveness towards those that have offended you.
Listen to Peter here:
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
It was a common thought in Peter’s day among those in the Jewish faith that a brother might be forgiven a repeated sin three times; on the fourth, there is no forgiveness. Peter, thinking himself big-hearted, volunteers “seven times” in answer to his own question.
How many of you have ever dealt with un-forgiveness? Have you ever struggled to forgive someone who had wronged you?
We all know this…but amuse me, and remind me who really is being punished or held back by our un-forgiveness, our anger, our bitterness and resentment?
US. or ME (if I choose to not forgive). or YOU (if you choose not to forgive).
Unforgiveness is really on punishing the one not willing to extend the forgiveness. More often than not, the other person/party doesn’t even know they have deeply hurt or offended you. Or they don’t care. But it isn’t affecting them near as much as it is affecting you. It isn’t causing them to lose sleep or live angry or stressed. They have moved on, but Unforgiveness keeps us in our past and causes us to live out of bitterness and resentment instead of God’s grace.
Unforgiveness chains us to the past, poisons our present, and keeps us from what the Lord has for the future.
It is staying trapped in a cell of bitterness for the wrong someone else has committed.
I love what Martin Luther King Jr. says about forgiveness:
“Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.” —Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Listen to the rest of the parable understanding the key of forgiveness that accompanies a Kingdom mindset:
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him.
25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’
27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.
31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’
34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Let’s put their debts into perspective:
10,000 talents (1 talent = 20 days wage) totaling 200,000 days wage or nearly 548 years of work to repay.
100 silver coins/denarii (a denarius was the usual daily wage of a day worker)
From this parable, Jesus tells us that failure to recognize, understand and appreciate the forgiveness God has given to us is what leads us into unforgiveness with others.
Sometimes the unforgiveness we have for ourselves keeps us from being able to receive it from God and thus give it to anyone else.
We can only give what we have first received from the Lord, from God.
19 We love because he first loved us.
Remember how I shared Romans 11:36 as the plumbline for all of our understand, our theology of the origination and purpose of what God gives and entrusts us with in this life. Everything comes from Him, goes through Him, and back to Him—for the glory of His name.
We love because He first loved us.
We care because He cares for us.
We forgive because He has forgiven us.
The one who understands they have been forgiven much, loves much.
47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
PIANO
STORY: Fasting when a teen with my family. I realized that in order for me to move forward with God, I had to ask for release and I had to give release to those in my past.
Jesus tells this parable displaying the ways of the Kingdom, telling us the critical nature of receiving and giving forgiveness from our King. Pride often keeps us from giving forgiveness, thus humility is the starting point with the conversation in ch. 18 (which we discussed last week).
There is a reality we must have of our own depravity and need for God. This understanding is hallmarked with humility and can receive forgiveness with gratitude. Gratitude is evident by the compassion we in turn can show those around us, even the ones who have hurt us the deepest.
I am not saying this is always easy, a transaction occuring in a moment, but instead is a worth while process to journey because the one most affected is the one offended.
This is the most basic form of reconciliation that Christ has called us to: to be forgiven and reconciled with God and to forgive and reconcile with one another.
Today, the Lord asks us to receive His love, His grace, His forgiveness more deeply. Reflect what He has given to us so graciously.
PRAY