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"Verily, I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven." God doth especially own and accept us, when we are praying for those that have offended him and us. Matthew 18:15-20 . ), Lev 19:17; Lk 17:3; Gal 6:1; Jas 5:19, 20, Nu 35:30; Dt 17:6; 19:15; Jn 8:17; 2Co 13:1; 1Ti 5:19; Heb 10:28, NIV, Lucado Encouraging Word Bible, Comfort Print: Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, Red Letter Edition: Bringing to Life the Ancient World of Scripture, NIV, The Story, Hardcover, Comfort Print: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People, NIV, The Story: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People, NIV, Verse Mapping Bible, Comfort Print: Find Connections in Scripture Using a Unique 5-Step Process, NIV, The Woman's Study Bible, Full-Color, Red Letter: Receiving God's Truth for Balance, Hope, and Transformation. Mike Nappa Contributing Writer 2022 3 Jun The CRSG series helped me fit the pieces of my own experience in order and answered so many questions as to why so few people make the move to freedom in Christ. In an affair of such importance, two are better than one, and in the multitude of counsellors there is safety. When he began to make a reckoning one debtor was brought to him who owed him 2,400,000 British pounds. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take a count of his servants. . Rather Matthew 18 presents the extenuating lengths we must go to in order to bring peace and restitution. (Matthew 1:22-23; 2:5-6,17,23; 4:14-16). God used this love-inflicted wound to move him to repentance ( Proverbs 27:6 ). I have a better place than you, and their motivations were not always the purest. We seem completely borne away from the ordinary level of our gospel to the higher region of the disciple whom Jesus loved. In other words there is no reckonable limit to forgiveness. Matt 18:17-18 is, or should be used, when defending the Church. [1] For a fuller treatment of this topic see: The Rescue of Matthew 18 available at Amazon.com in softcover and Kindle format. "This man blasphemeth." . Jesus point is that a believer who persists in his evil ways is to be put out of the church and to be offered the same fellowship as an unbelieving, unrepentant outsider. This made it to be plainly and only a difficulty for God to solve. Maybe it is more likely that it was Peter who asked the question, and that it was Peter's little boy whom Jesus took and set in the midst, because we know that Peter was married ( Matthew 8:14; 1 Corinthians 9:5). I wish your book on authority was in the hands of every believer! My paradigm of what the prophetic is has been turned upside down and reoriented. They can manipulate a group of individuals and thus control and shape a community's experiential reality: a reality that too often accrues to the material, social, or psychological benefit of the church leadership. I wish I would have seen all of that when I was younger. Away back in the eleventh century Duke Robert of Burgundy was one of the great warrior and knightly figures. In Luke 17:3-4 Jesus is teaching the disciples about forgiveness and says: Be on your guard! He was ignorant of himself, because ignorant of God, and imagined that it was only a question of man's doing good for God. x Maimon Hilehot Ishot, c. 12. sect. It is worth more than having a whole body.As we were talking to you last Sunday about the trapping of muskrats, how that if you catch them by their paws, they turn around and gnaw their leg off and leave the paw in the trap. Alas for the world because of stumbling-blocks! You're talking about motivation, and the disciples were not pure in their motivations. So Jesus said that in a child we see the characteristics which should mark the man of the Kingdom. Does "the church" in Matthew 18:17 refer to the whole assembly? Even if the disciplining process is not successful, additional opportunities should still be sought to bring the erring member back to Christ. Your website has helped me greatly over the past 2 years. It is truth that I have been coming into in my own understanding over the past few years. "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof" He had only to say in a word, and his servant should be healed. (Matthew 19:30.) How do we know we are dealing with Mosaic law moral/criminal/civil offenses and not minor psychological hurts? What Does Matthew 18:15-20 Actually Mean? - ApplyGodsWord.com There is nothing in this world more terrible than to destroy someone's innocence. Note, People are loth to see their faults, and have need to be told of them. Is it not most sweet to see, that He who proves His divine glory at once associates us with Himself? Go, and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. (ii) It stresses the terror of the punishment of those who teach another to sin. . Matthew 16: Catholic vs. Protestant It's just ripping me apart; it's tearing me up. "To be witnesses of his conduct, in case the matter should afterward be brought before the church." For He loved Peter felt for him, and his wife's mother was precious in His sight. To assist thee; they may speak some pertinent convincing word which thou didst not think of, and may manage the matter with more prudence than thou didst." But the single eye of Jesus at once detects the snare of Satan into which natural thought led, or at least exposed, Peter to fall. Let us apply it to scandalous sins, which are an offence to the little ones, of bad example to those that are weak and pliable, and of great grief to those that are weak and timorous. This person may receive undue shame, embarrassment, and humiliation and may fall away from the faith as result. I use this verse all the time. This was, and is always to be, the first business in disciplining an offending brother. But this becomes tricky when it comes to church conflict. And if it so happens that he finds it, verily I say unto you, he rejoices more for the one sheep, than for the ninety-nine which never went astray. Thus He sets forth both the past, the present, and the awful future of Israel, before the day of His own coming from heaven, when there will be not only the return of idolatry, solemn to say, but the full power of Satan associated with it, as we see in Daniel 11:36-39; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17; Revelation 13:11-15. In other words, it is certain that in the gospel of Luke, in whose preface we have expressly the words "set in order," the Holy Ghost does in no way tie Himself to what, after all, is the most elementary form of arrangement; for it needs little observation to see, that the simple sequence of facts as they occurred is that which demands a faithful enumeration, and nothing more. Where note, 1. This is the way differences are to be resolved and settled within the church. In other words, the leper is here introduced after the sermon on the mount, though, in fact, the circumstance took place long before it. The Old Testament tells the story that Jesus completes. What is the case supposed? What Is the Biblical Way to Confess Your Sins to One Another? The overall emphasis seems to be, "don't make the correction any severer or more public than it has to be." The situation is this: a "brother" (or member of your congregation) commits a sin that only you are aware of. There Jesus says, "If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. Does this scribe offer to follow Jesus? That may well be the meaning. Whereas, on the contrary, there are other kinds of order that call for more profound thought and enlarged views, if we may speak now after the manner of men; and, indeed, I deny not that these the Holy Ghost employed in His own wisdom, though it is hardly needful to say He could, if He pleased, demonstrate His superiority to any means or qualifications whatsoever. It would have saved me years of heartache. He is not here sought as by the leper, the centurion, the friends of the palsied man; He Himself calls Matthew, a publican just the one to write the gospel of the despised Jesus of Nazareth. To him who compares this with Luke 6:1-49, there need not remain a question as to the identity of the scene. Life had been imparted to, the sleeping maid of Zion the blind men call on Him as the Son of David, and not in vain. The master of the servant was moved with compassion, and let him go, and forgave him the debt. Ask students to silently rate each offense on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the easiest to forgive and 10 being the hardest. They have treated the Bible either with levity, or as too awful a book to be apprehended really; not with the reverence of faith, which waits on Him, and fails not in due time to understand His word. Matthew 16:18), this word means "a called out assembly of people." And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell. But our Lord with dignity demands of Peter, "What thinkest thou, Simon?" We need to understand that in the spiritual realm and with the Lord, the time element is treated differently or maybe is non-sequitur. Here I close tonight. Let God's work be done effectually, but with as little noise as may be; his kingdom comes with power, but not with observation. The first servant owed his master 10,000 talents; a talent was the equivalent of 240 British pounds; therefore 10,000 talents is 2,400,000 British pounds. Lastly, we have the Lord rebuking the ambition not only of the sons of Zebedee, but in truth also of the ten; for why was there such warmth of indignation against the two brethren? The first question a leader should ask is, have you brought your concerns directly to the person?. If this fails, two or three others should be called in, firstly to make sure that the offender is in fact guilty and secondly to appeal for reconciliation. We are not meant to pray only for our own needs, thinking of nothing and no one but ourselves; we are meant to pray as members of a fellowship, in agreement, remembering that life and the world are not arranged for us as individuals but for the fellowship as a whole. Get the BEST VALUE in digital Bible study as you prepare for Easter. That is what the Jew could not understand about the Christian idea Of God. They want to argue that the Bible is the only and final authority. All turns on that which was suitable to such a God, the giver of His own Son. Matthew 19:1-30 brings in another lesson of great weight. The Jew would gladly agree that, if the sinner came crawling wretchedly home, God would forgive. It is always to be given with the desire for reconciliation and never with the desire for vengeance. Instead of giving her at once a reply, He leads her on step by step; for so He can stoop. Where two or three are assembled together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.". if a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine and go into the mountains, and seek the one which has gone astray? The possibilities may never be realized; they may be stifled and stunted; that which might be used for good may be deflected to the purposes of evil; or they may be unleashed in such a way that a new tide of power floods the earth. There was the consciousness of good unattained, a void for which he appeals to Jesus that it might be filled up. You may unsubscribe from Bible Gateways emails at any time. I say not how fax he had realized this profound truth; I say not that he could have defined his thoughts; but he knew and declared His command of all as truly God. This is the more to be noticed, inasmuch as the gospel of Matthew has been in general adopted as the standard of time, save by those who have rather inclined to Luke as supplying the desideratum. On this the Lord takes another step, when one said to Him, "Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee." When members are not in harmony with one another, either because of doctrinal differences or personal disputes, there is less motivation for the sinner to return. It is not possible that Jesus said this in its present form. This was the very blessing that aroused, above all, the hatred of the scribes. He who will not forgive his fellow-men cannot hope that God will forgive him. But in practicality, we live and fellowship in the Local Church. God is like that; God cannot be happy until the last wanderer is gathered in. But when the Lord was here, no matter what the unbelief of others, it was only an opportunity for the grace of Jesus to shine out. I have to thank you for your blog and books. Matthew 18:17 - Bible Verse Meaning and Commentary 9. Chapter 8, which opens the portion that comes before us tonight, is a striking illustration as well as proof of the method which God has been pleased to employ in giving us the apostle Matthew's account of our Lord Jesus. That is why the Catholic Church has been around for 2,000 years, and the Protestant sects continue to splinter by the thousands each year. I think that it is important that we have, and somehow can conceptionalize this. Inattention to this has perplexed many. It might be well enough for a Pharisee; it might be worthy of a legal formalist, but it would never do for God; and the Lord Jesus was come here not to accommodate Himself to their thoughts, but, above all, to do God's will of holy love in an evil, wretched world. Hence, the Lord Jesus is here disclosing throughout, that the doom of Israel was pronounced and impending. He is perfectly content to be utterly dependent on those who love him and care for him. 38:10), but normally a gate is the entry to a city, temple, or prison (Luke 7:12; Acts 3:10; 12:10). The two blind men called upon Him as the Son of David; a sample this of what will be in the end, when the heart of Israel turns to the Lord, and the veil is done away. The millstone in this case is a mulos ( G3458) , onikos ( G3684) . Observe that it is at this point the chapter begins with vindicating the sanctity of marriage. The "church" of Matthew 16:18 is the Messianic Church, Jews who had recognized Jesus as Messiah, Christ, the Son of Godthe profession that Peter made in verse 16. It is meant to help the process of reconciliation. If we have a difference with someone, there is only one way to settle it--and that is face to face. What instrument so suitable? Does the Bible Mention What to Give Up for Lent? From verse one in Matthew 18 Jesus deals with matters which are related: How we think of others, with self-exalting pride or humility (vss. Jesus says that, if two upon earth agree upon any matter for which they are praying, they will receive it from God. Then follows another incident, which equally proves that the Spirit of God is not here reciting the facts in their natural succession; for it is assuredly not at this moment historically that the Lord goes into the house of Peter, sees there his wife's mother laid sick of a fever, touches her hand, and raises her up, so that she ministers unto them at once. However, not only does the Bible never say that, the Bible tells us the Church is the final authority. In the sight of God the children are so important that their guardian angels always have the right of direct access to the inner presence of God. What church must be told--is the great question. But nothing turned aside the purpose of God, or the activity of His grace. 18:1-4 On that day the disciples came to Jesus. Again and again he rushed into speech in such a way that his impetuosity drew from Jesus teaching which is immortal. Especially is this situation true in the case of a new convert. that take and give unto them for me and thee." I'm curious about the phrase "tell it to the church." That is God's commandment! Next, we behold Him meeting the centurion after another manner altogether. Thank you and God bless you. The Christian realizes that God cares for him individually, and that he must reflect that individual care in his care for others. Some rabbis taught that to eat with a Gentile was a capital offense crime worse than murder! Thus, whatever the peculiarity of the new blessings, the old thing could be taken up, though upon new grounds, and, of course, on the confession that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. We believe if we simply don't say anything to someone, we are being gracious with them. "Their angels," said Jesus, "always behold the face of my Father who is in Heaven." A similar principle applies to the little children, who are next introduced; and the same thing is true substantially of natural or moral character here below. Not only did he not go to the source, but he wrote a letter which would have been read in public, based on what he heard in a second-hand report: a clear-cut violation of Matthew 18 according to typical applications! Just like if you have a problem with a sibling and you "discuss with the family" it might not mean that you brought the issue to all your aunts, uncles, cousins, grand parents etc. If I have a problem with a brother in Dallas, it is not practical to travel or call up some members in ( universal Church) Philippines, Australia and Mongolia etc.,to talk about the issue. Here we find our Lord, after sending out the chosen witnesses of the truth (so momentous to Israel, above all) of His own Messiahship, realizing His utter rejection, yet rejoicing withal in God the Father's counsels of glory and grace, while the real secret in the chapter, as in fact, was His being not Messiah only, nor Son of man, but the Son of the Father, whose person none knows but Himself. Why Did Jesus Say, "On This Rock I Will Build My Church"? (Matthew 16) He also gives Peter the keys of the kingdom, as we see afterwards. Those that were priests in the house of God would not they at least receive their own Messiah? Well, you may be right. We pray to be saved from some trial, some sorrow, some disappointment, some hurting and difficult situation. And always God's answer is the offer not of escape, but of victory. Here there may be a difference. for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! My question is this. But he would not: he had him cast into the debtors' prison, until he should pay the debt. No doubt the ship was covered with the waves; but how could that imperil the Lord of all? Matthew 18 and the Universal Church - g3min.org At its close we see the leper approaching the Lord, after He had been preaching throughout Galilee and casting out devils. I heard the podcast of how you and Bryon handled the Matthew 18 principle. In the early part of this chapter he is collecting Jesus' teaching about children; and we must remember that the Jews used the word child in a double sense. Men little weigh what their words will sound and prove in the day of judgment. Let none suppose that, in giving my own convictions, I have the presumptuous thought of putting these forward as if they were the sole motives in God's mind. Our model for this is Matthew 18:15-18. Nothing that we have to forgive can even faintly or remotely compare with what we have been forgiven. All such will find a glory in the grey, if in the child they sometimes glimpse none other than Jesus himself. Toward the end of Matthew 18 we know Peter understood the implications of what I am proposing: Lord, how often do I have to forgive? (Matthew. Matthew 13:19-22), we find first of all the utter worthlessness of the flesh's readiness to follow Jesus. Were you watching my life when you wrote the New Testament Prophet? The Book of Baruch says that "there will be no opportunity of returning, nor a limit to the times." Hence, here it is a question not merely of cleansing, but of forgiveness, and forgiveness, too, as that which precedes power, manifested before men. But the mission is given here in strict accordance with what the gospel demands. Now, it was an established principle, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word should be established. Who are you to hold a little crutch or a grievance against your brother, not forgive him, because of some slight, or some mean thing that he has said about you, or some dirty thing that he has done to you. The 100 denarii debt could be carried in one pocket. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. When they get into trouble, we are apt to say, "It's their own fault; they brought it on themselves; don't waste any sympathy on fools." 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. Fourthly, "If he neglect to hear the church, if he slight the admonition, and will neither be ashamed of his faults, nor amend them, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and publican; let him be cast out of the communion of the church, secluded from special ordinances, degraded from the dignity of a church member, let him be put under disgrace, and let the members of the society be warned to withdraw from him, that he may be ashamed of his sin, and they may not be infected by it, or made chargeable with it." John Chrysostom makes this clear in his 4th century commentary: But if he shall neglect to hear them also, tell it to the church, that is, to the rulers of it; but if he neglect to hear the church, It was His meat to do the will of God. Now He brings out not the kingdom merely, but His Church; and this not merely in view of hopeless unbelief in the mass, but of the confession of His own intrinsic glory as the Son of God by the chosen witness. It may be so. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. Only the person who has the humility of the child is a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. It was after our Lord had called the twelve, and ordained them not after He had sent them forth, but after He had appointed them apostles that the Lord comes down to a plateau upon the mountain, instead of remaining upon the more elevated parts where He had been before. Every believer has the presence of Christ with him; but the promise here refers to the meetings where two or three are gathered in his name, not only for discipline, but for religious worship, or any act of Christian communion. So often we accept a man who is penitent with a moral lecture and a clear indication that he must regard himself as contemptible, and the practical statement that we have no further use for him and do not propose to trust him ever again. "With greater solemnity," and, 2. The primacy of Peter is perhaps one of the strongest points of contention between Catholics and non-Catholics today. In the kingdom so much the less sparing is the retribution of those who despise or abuse grace. When He reaches the house, minstrels were there, and people, making a noise: the expression, if of woe, certainly of impotent despair. It may be taken purely personally. "With greater authority." And Jesus will probably say, "Look, here is a guy that's really getting a lesson. Fourthly, The unanimous petitions of the church of God, for the ratification of their just censures, shall be heard in heaven, and obtain an answer; "It shall be done, it shall be bound and loosed in heaven; God will set his fiat to the appeals and applications you make to him." 7-9); and, the care of heaven toward both the saved and lost . ., pp. Then the master summoned him, and said to him, 'You wicked servant! Your life depends on it, you got to cut it out." The sin that Matthew addresses can be any sin. Disagreeing with someone is not scandalous behavior. God is one and His Church is one. God is not content to wait until men come home; he goes out to search for them no matter what it costs him. A man often hates those whom he has injured most of all; and it may well be that nothing we can say can win him back. Lord your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in Peter answers, "Of strangers." 15If your brother or sister[a] sins,[b] go and point out their fault,(A) just between the two of you. Required fields are marked *. The dispensational aim here leads to a more manifest disregard of the bare circumstance of time than in any other specimen of these gospels. As we have often seen, it is Matthew's consistent custom to gather together the teaching of Jesus under certain great heads; he arranges it systematically. "The offender is a brother, one that is in Christian communion, that is baptized, that hears the word, and prays with thee, with whom thou joinest in the worship of God, statedly or occasionally." (vii) There is the spirit of forgiveness ( Matthew 18:23-35); and the Christian's forgiveness of his fellow-men is founded on the fact that he himself is a forgiven man. He was warning them that they were going in completely the wrong direction, away from the Kingdom of Heaven and not towards it. Now though at this time there was no particular church formed, yet there were some who had a power to bind and loose. Although reconciliation is the ultimate goal of Matthew 18, if there is no repentance for sin, believers "must gather evidence in the proper order in case they later need proof of what transpired."665 The final disposition would be removal from the fellowship of the church (vv. I believe that was Podcast 18. 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.' I feel like the past few years I am having to deprogram myself and relearn a lot. - Deuteronomy 17:2-7. He is not the slave of numbers. To illustrate the point, Jesus told a story. But the Lord could not send her away without a blessing, and without a blessing reaching to His own glory. Nevertheless, the Lord did not withhold the infinite boon, though He knew too well their thoughts; He spoke the word of forgiveness, though He read their evil heart that counted it blasphemy. In Matthew 18:17, Jesus' instructions on the brother who sins reach a climax: If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. (i) It teaches that lesson which runs through all the New Testament--a man must forgive in order to be forgiven. Perhaps no verse is so taken out of context and misapplied as Matthew 7:1, "Do not judge so that you will not be judged." Your postings enrich life. What is the meaning of Matthew 18:18? - Quora The key to it is this, that Matthew was led by the Holy Ghost to keep in view adequate testimony to the Jewish people; it was the tender goodness of God that would meet them in a manner that was suitable under the law. When did this take place, if we enquire into it merely as a matter of historical fact? . There are no restraining walls. "Church discipline is a messenger of mercy to prepare people to stand before a holy God." As his condition worsened, he was haunted by the fact that his sin had pushed his church family to discipline him. What does Matthew 18:17 mean? | BibleRef.com Perhaps human realities dictate that close communion with another person is neither possible, nor relationally wisefor whatever legal, spiritual, or interpersonal reasons. Someone that when something really is troubling you, you have someone who can pray with you, and bear that burden with you. But it is expressly the pattern after which He was to deal, and will deal, with Israel.