If we look back on all that Matthew
tells us of what Jesus said on the day that He uttered the entire
discourse in
Matthew Chapter 18, there are many difficult things that we must balance.
Forgiveness is hard work, but so is respect for God's holiness, as
well as the fear and trembling commitment we must make as Christians
to mortify (to put to death) the nature of our flesh every day. To
have less of myself and my desires so that the nature and image of
Christ in me can increase, I must set aside my own desires and make a
commitment to do what the standard of the Bible clearly delineates as
true and good.
If I chose only those things which seemed to suit me
and followed what I thought was best in my own eyes, I would never
change. I would never be conformed into the Image of Christ through
God's work in me through the Spirit and the work of the Living Word
in me, that which is written in the standard. Instead, I must daily
choose the radical act of following that gentle dove of Spirit who so
gently whispers into my conscience and guides my transformed, tender
heart instead of the way that seems best. That which seems best is
“the religion of me,” and the path of least resistance is
sinfulness. I would remain as I was on the first day that I
had faith, and I would never change. My desires would outweigh my
loving desire to not spill that wine of humanness on the pristine
tablecloth that is spread before me as I commune with the Lord in my
heart – that awe and respect of fear of Him, the One who laid down
His life for me and rescued me out of the hopeless mire where He
sought and found me.
The Holiness of God
I've been in many situations wherein
I've either tried or had to explain to others why sin is so terrible,
actions of ours that bring forth and result in some kind of death,
sin's ultimate endpoint in body and spirit. Paul who noted that we
are not condemned by the law, still condemned sin and taught for the
believer to resist it. He wrote of liberty, but he warned us not to
use that liberty to dabble in sin. Though he noted that where sin
abounds, grace does so much more, but that this was certainly no
cause for us as Christians to sin so that God's grace towards us
could increase. Paul says God forbids it for us! Few were harder on
sin in the believer, though I also think of
John's
words that say that if we say we have fellowship with God but
walk in darkness, we are liars and are alienated from the truth. He
goes
on to write that our motivation to walk in the light by following
the Words of Life should flow from a motive of love and gratitude for
what the Author of Life has done for each one of us because of His
great love for us. He also talks about the brotherhood that we share
with one another in the light.
I understand that some scholars date
this part of John's writing after he penned the Revelation at
Patamos, and he surely would have understood the holiness of God and
what it really means to be the child of the Light
after
he saw Jesus appear to him. He fell on his face as a dead man
because of the acute awareness of who He was in the presence of Jesus
in all His glory. Isaiah did much the same thing
when
he saw the Lord, high, lifted up, upon His throne. The seraphim
angels could not even look at God and covered themselves with their
wings, and they cried
“Holy, Holy,
Holy,” to one another. Isaiah's response is one of
woe in acute awareness that God is so pure, righteous, powerful and
beyond us and that he as a mere sinful man is not. I love how R.C.
Sproul describes this
in
his book on God's holiness – that the closer we draw to God,
the more painfully aware of our human state of sinfulness and limited
nature we become.
God is holy. We are not, not even
if we do all good works and keep all of the law,
even the one we
write ourselves by diligently following our own conscience, and even
if all our motives are right. Yet Jesus gives us the legal
status of His own, pure righteousness so that we can stand before the
Father, running to Him to call Him
Abba
(Daddy in Hebrew), and that we might go
boldly
before His throne for help.
God's Holiness Puts Matthew 18 into
Perspective
I believe that if we try to put
Matthew
18 into perspective and we do not have a full understanding of
God's holiness and respect for Who He Is, the purest of all that is
good and light and true, we miss the message that God wants to write
on our hearts.
The passage starts out with a
discussion of who will be greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and
Jesus says that we must be humbled and childlike to even enter.
Jesus then stresses how difficult offenses are and how damaging they
can be, especially for “little ones,” the
mikros,
those who are small in stature or age or influence. A terrible,
hopeless death would be a better fate for those who causes an offense
to those who are humble and low in stature in the kingdom. The
passage goes on to say that a person would be better off to be maimed
than to be given to sin and in danger of hell fire. There is no
compromise.
Jesus doesn't then say that those who
sin and stray away from the flock are of low priority to Him, for He
then sets the standard with the parable of the good shepherd who will
risk going after that sheep. So while sin is a terrible thing as is
told to us in the strong language about cutting off a part of the
body instead of indulging in sin, there is a standard of love and
care for those who fall into error.
Binding and Loosing
The whole chapter asks the Christian to
do something which may seem virtually impossible, but Jesus speaks of
the great power that two believers who stand in agreement on a matter
have when it comes to setting a standard regarding sin.
“Assuredly, I
say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to
you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they
ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where
two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the
midst of them.”
Some say that this verse of Matthew
refers to “naming it and claiming it,” and the faith teachers
tear it out of context to do so, as one of those verses that turn God
into the “cosmic bellhop” who just gives people what they want
because they ask in the right way and have the right kind of faith.
But in context, the passage is talking about permitting sin.
Whatever believers in agreement either bind or allow, there is
something that happens in the spiritual realm. If we wrestle not
against flesh and blood while contending for Christ, doesn't this
mean that we've been given a great deal of power to contend for our
brothers who have fallen into sin?
Some
do interpret this as a passage about church discipline and
believe that it is instruction to church leaders about how to deal
with their “problem people.” They interpret that because Jesus
was addressing his disciples, that the passage must be instruction
for church leaders. I don't know that this is exactly what is being
discussed in context. In a letter to Timothy from Paul, perhaps, or
the letters that Paul sent to various churches about how to deal with
serious grievances in the Church. The passage seems rather general
and not directed at those who formally govern a group. It seems to
me to be talking to rank and file believers about other believers.
There's no mention of hierarchy here. Again, it's about
principles and not procedures, I think.
Optimistic Statement About the Power
of Agreement
I understand this as a charge to
advocate for holiness and as a highly powerful and optimistic
statement about how a person's peers can not only encourage them to
behave in the best possible way, but that Jesus really responds to
our efforts and
our
good and pleasant unity.
Some of this actually addresses a
Jewish idea that a group of fewer than ten Jews cannot form a
congregation and have no effect or power. In part, Jesus is stating
that He'll show up and will hear a community of only two people, and
He will hear and answer their prayers. It is a statement against
legalism and procedure in this sense, but without knowledge of this
Jewish tradition of the day, it would be missed.
John Gill makes a powerful statement
about this in his commentary, noting that verse 19 and 20 are not
“Word of Faith” associated statements about God as the cosmic
bellhop who gives us wealth and whatever we order from Him. Jesus
actually explains how willing He is to hear and answer the prayers of
those who have faith in Him, especially concerning the problem of sin
in the life of a fellow Believer. God intervenes when we call out to
him on behalf of those who have backslidden. Again, I don't think
this passage is an instruction on authoritarian rule in an assembly
but about the love that we have for one another as
members
of one another in the Body.
Again, I say
unto you,.... As the words in the former verse seem to regard the
whole body of the disciples, whose decisions in cases brought before
them, declaring them just or unjust, are determinate and unalterable;
these seem to respect the one or two, that should join the offended
person in the reproof of the offender, and are spoken for their
encouragement; who might think proper either to premise, or follow
their engaging in such a work with prayer:
that if two of
you shall agree on earth, as touching anything that they shall ask;
both in the case before mentioned, and in any other thing: whether it
be for themselves or others; to assist them in the ministry of the
word, and give success to it, for the conversion of sinners; and in
the performance of any miracle, for the confirmation of the Gospel;
in the administration of ordinances, for the comfort of saints; and
in laying on of censures, for the reclaiming of backsliders;
or be it what it will that may be done, consistent with the glory of
God, the purposes of his mind, and the declarations of his will, and
the good of men, provided they agree in their requests; though they
are here on earth, and at such a distance from heaven, from whence
their help and assistance come: it shall be done for them of my
Father which is in heaven; with whom nothing is impossible; and who,
as he regards the effectual fervent prayer of any righteous man, so
more, of two agreed together in anyone thing; and still more, of a
church and community of saints in their united requests: a great
encouragement this to social prayer, though ever so few are engaged
in it.
The Painful Work of Binding Sin:
Don't Play One Principle Against the Other
And here is where I come to the part
that I find difficult and would rather follow my compassionate
leanings instead of attending to the hard part. A part of me, that
flesh that thinks it knows so much would rather write my own script
Though Jesus as the Good Shepherd goes after the lost and wayward,
and though we should be well disposed to forgive and forgive and
forgive, we cannot compromise when it comes to sin. God is holy, and
apart from Him, we are not righteous, and to those that He revealed
Himself, they fall on their faces as dead men or cry out in woe. God
had to cover Moses with His hand, otherwise God's power would have
destroyed his body because of that power and holiness. Apart from
His work in us, we cannot make ourselves holy. Remember that we're
told that we'd be better to be maimed than well disposed to sinning.
Be careful, and if you're stuck between what seems like a paradox
between compassion and being tough on sin, think of that holy
presence of God.
Paul was tough on sin in the Body of
Christ. There are serious consequences for behaving with a cavalier
attitude toward sin. Stick tight to the spirit to be sure that you
are not just making excuses so that you can be the consummate nice
guy to someone who deliberately sins, yet knows of the goodness of
God and knows of the truth. What you establish and loose with them
affects them spiritually, and a little leaven goes a long way. You
do not want to offend them by being permissive when it comes to sin.
Love them, but do not hurt those who are little ones or ones who have
strayed away by making it easy for them to remain in sin. If it
would be better for you to pluck out your eye or cut off your hand or
foot, would it be better to for others to be coddled and comforted in
their sin? Are you holding them back from the consequences of
their sin which might actually result in their own deliverance?
Here is the true difference between the
publican inside the fold and the one outside of it. Great wisdom is
needed:
In the name of
our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit,
with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a
one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may
be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your boasting is not good. Do
you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?
Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you
are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been
sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old
leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
I wrote you in my letter not to associate with
immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this
world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for
then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to
you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral
person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or
a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do
with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the
church? But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN
FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.
Tread Carefully
We live in a world that is much like
the time in Paul's day. Immorality was rampant, particularly sexual
immorality. People claim their human rights and demand them, and
people no longer understand the concept of sin, let alone the fear
and the holiness of God.
In a post from a few years ago, I cited
Ken
Meyers' interview with
Tim
Clydesdale regarding the his book about the primary concerns and
drives of young people, those in the US who were then graduating from
high school.
The
whole post dealt with the problems that younger people have with
Christianity, an issue of concern to church leaders who wish to find
out why the majority of young people leave the Christian faith in
adulthood. It seems that the grand trends boil down to a few set
problems.
People today want a God who is more
like a faithful golden retriever, and they aren't really interested
in that God who is holy – the God whose holiness causes men to fall
on their faces and feel remorse over their sinful state and their
limited nature. They also follow what Ken Meyers called
“totalitarian niceness” which I thought was a
fitting term. We must affirm everyone's conflicting ideas about
everything, because
rejecting
their ideas becomes a personal insult on a deeply personal level.
And young people really don't want to think much about sin. Certain
sins should be rewritten, and
in
another related post, I likened it to something off Star Trek
Next Generation. Many try to redefine sin as non-sinful just like
character named Q redefined the gravitational constant of the
universe, something only God or someone with godlike power could do.
By remaking God and redefining the standards, we make God over into
that which suits us, and we worship the creature instead of the
Creator. We make sin something that we can tolerate and work around,
in the effort of being nice to everyone. Frankly, there are many
days when I wish this could be the case, as it would certainly be
easier. But to do that, I'd have to scrap large sections of the New
Testament, and that's not negotiable.
Sin is a wicked thing. When we choose
to have contact with people who are willfully choosing to sin, we run
into the problem of rebelling against what Paul discussed quite
openly. He wasn't talking about false teachers but about rank and
file members who would not repent, and he identified those men as
wicked (
poneros)
for continuing in their sin without conviction or contrition. Paul
warned against “keeping company” (
synanamignymi)
with them in an emotionally intimate kind of relationship (the kind
of unity that one has with a member of one's family which Paul
captures here).
The consequences for sin require that the person be
left without friendship as a part of the Body. If the Holy Spirit
does lead you to reach out to a brother who has fallen away, make
sure that you're not making an excuse to have fellowship with them,
and that you're not falling prey to
totalitarian niceness. Or just to plain, old niceness which causes you to become affirming and approving of sin. If you do meet with someone who has been sent out of the Body, make sure it is not to socialize for the sake of socializing but is motivated by your love for them, accompanied by a loving appeal to them to repent of the trappings of their sin. In some sense, this may be considered a repeating of going to a brother to confront them again about their sin. Jesus didn't chase people down when they rejected Him, but He did say that the good shepherd goes after that lost sheep. I just don't think that there are black and white rules for how one goes about reaching out to brothers in sin, especially if they have been wounded and need encouragement to do that which is right. We must follow the Spirit, and what might be right to do today may be the wrong thing to do tomorrow.
Many
spiritual
abusers cite Edwards and 1 Corinthians 5 to shirk their own
responsibilities and to silence their critics, and perhaps this
contributes to my own trouble with this passage. Some use it as a
cause for histrionics and self-righteous piety, in
"touch not, taste not" fashion, for things that really don't qualify for the measure. Some use it to avoid
facing their own mistakes with people in their congregations that they have handled poorly. None of that gives anyone liberty or cause
to ignore what Paul has clearly stated. When the Bible has been used
like a club to bludgeon a person, it makes matters even more
ambiguous. That makes the waters a bit murky, and touches on whether
a person classifies as backslidden and wounded, or whether they
classify as a wicked. Some
Christian traditions believe that there is really no difference
between these two types of people. Regardless, this is not an easy line to walk.
It takes wisdom to walk that
fine line between wrongfully accepting sin and loving people enough to do brave
the hard work of following this passage when it is warranted. People are messy! Who classifies as
a wounded little one because they've lost hope, and who is a wicked one who does not care about
the holiness of God?
God have mercy on us, and help us to
understand Your holiness with gentleness and love as You do. We
must be careful to bind the sin, but we must also remain committed to love and kindness. Matthew 18, in context, discusses the harmful and far reaching effects of sin within the Body, forgiveness, and the unity of love, a context that many tend to forget. And we are all too quick to forget that Jesus visits us in the midst of only two who agree to intercede for another. We are too quick to underestimate that power and gift.
There
is more to be said on the subject,
especially that
concerning a brother who fails to repent.
More to follow.
