{"id":165,"date":"2017-05-21T20:40:02","date_gmt":"2017-05-21T20:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/missions.nalcnetwork.com\/?p=165"},"modified":"2017-06-21T20:40:53","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T20:40:53","slug":"the-nature-of-christian-relationships-fair-or-unfair-has-nothing-to-do-with-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/missions.nalcnetwork.com\/the-nature-of-christian-relationships-fair-or-unfair-has-nothing-to-do-with-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nature of Christian Relationships \u2013 Fair or Unfair Has Nothing to Do With It"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u201cIf 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. \u00a0But 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.\u00a0If 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.\u00a0Truly, 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.\u00a0Again 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.\u00a0For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0~ Matthew 18:15-20<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.<\/p>\n It is a joy and privilege to be with you during this Easter Season. \u00a0Our text is Jesus\u2019 instruction regarding broken relationships. How many here are dealing with broken relationships? We live in a world filled with broken relationships: broken marriages, broken families, broken friendships. It happens in our homes, our neighborhoods, our places of employment, and even in our congregations.<\/p>\n What happens in many of those situations when someone offends us? We quickly end the relationship, neglect the person, ignore them, say negative things about them to others. Some suggest if the relationship requires any effort, \u201cif it is this difficult, it can\u2019t be healthy, \u201d extra effort is wasted. We treat things in this world as treasures and people as though they are disposable. We use people and relationships for our own gratification, and when they no longer please us we walk away. It is the norm for the world and, since so many people function this way, we feel justified in treating others the same way we feel we are treated.<\/p>\n Our problem with relationships begins at an early age. It arises out of a conflict of desire. The child wants something that another child has. So the child does what it can to take the object of its desire away from the other child. But the other child resists, anger follows and the result is some form of assault. It is the story of Cain and Abel. Cain is jealous of Abel, so he kills him. In his attempt to excuse himself he asks, \u201cAm I my brother\u2019s keeper?\u201d Feelings of resentment, contempt and jealously can run deep within our souls and result in actions that are assaults on others, actions such as theft, lying, murder, adultery and covetousness. It becomes our desire and will to injure another person and make them suffer loss or, even worse, to treat them as if they didn\u2019t matter at all. The last seven commandments all deal with ways to avoid the brokenness that plagues us. Let\u2019s not forget how deadly a weapon the tongue can be in assaulting or attacking others to their face or behind their backs. We can inflict wounds that last a lifetime.<\/p>\n We can only properly understand this text when we understand the value that God has placed on relationships. We were created to be in a relationship with God and with one another. Sin always corrupts and destroys those relationships. The witness of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is that God has never given up on restoring those relationships, through his covenants, his life-giving love and ultimately in giving his only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who gave his life on the cross to pay the price for our complete forgiveness. Through faith in Jesus and all that he accomplished for us, we are in a right relationship with both the Father and the Son. You matter infinitely to God! You are of infinite worth and value. This infinite God entered our world in Jesus Christ, and this same infinite Lord gave his life for you and me. He died the death we deserve to die so that we might live through faith in him. Jesus gave it all for this relationship with us.<\/p>\n From the very beginning God created us to live in community with others. He created Adam and Eve to live in community. He created marriage and family, a community as the fundamental building blocks of life. Jesus created community among his followers. The community Jesus modeled for His disciples is the same community the disciples modeled for the Church after Pentecost. This is the same community about which Jesus preaches and teaches, the same community that Paul and others insist that the churches of the New Testament have. The Bible tells us that, not only does our relationship with the Lord matter infinitely, but our relationships with others are to be just as important.<\/p>\n The preciousness of these relationships came at a very dear price for me. It was not until the death of our son Joshua that I realized relationships are all we have in this life: A relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ and relationships with the people He has given us to love and care for. That\u2019s all there is in this life that is eternal. Everything else is dust and rust. Only our relationships with Jesus and the people with whom we share this faith and love will last eternally. Everything else is going to vanish. This is the nature of heaven, living and rejoicing eternally in those relationships.<\/p>\n Jesus was transforming the hearts and the worldview of his disciples. Jesus gave his disciples a Kingdom of Heaven worldview. He taught them about what truly matters in that Kingdom and he called them to begin to live in the reality of that Kingdom now! We cannot grow in our relationship with Christ unless we are also willing to permit him to transform our relationships as well. Every disciple of Jesus must live in the context of transformed relationships that reflect the values of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom Jesus came to proclaim.<\/p>\n Listen to Paul\u2019s instruction to the Church in Corinth (2 Corinthians 5:16-21): \u201cFrom now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once\u00a0regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.\u00a017\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.\u00a018\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>All this is from God, who through Christ\u00a0reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;\u00a019\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.\u00a020\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.\u201d<\/p>\n If we are disciples of Jesus, then his mission of reconciliation must become our ministry. His reconciliation of our relationship with him must be manifest in our reconciliation with one anther, proclaiming our mutual reconciliation through Christ Jesus. Paul\u2019s words are clear: Don\u2019t treat people like the rest of the world. They are not just flesh and blood but spirit. They are spiritual beings. We are new creations in Christ and will treat people differently. We will treasure these relationships just as Jesus does, and we will work to restore them, investing our time and energy, our lives for the sake of this restoration.<\/p>\n These are the values that undergird this Gospel reading from Matthew 18. Let me point out several important things regarding Jesus\u2019 instruction.<\/p>\n The early Church used this formula for reconciliation. You see it in Paul\u2019s handling of the man living with his father\u2019s wife (1 Corinthians 5) and in Acts 15 in the Council meeting in Jerusalem, when a potential schism in the Church is prevented as Barnabas and Paul present a case for their ministry to the Church elders. In the other epistle there is plenty of evidence of the growing Church\u2019s struggle to maintain the unity of the faith. To keep reconciled brothers and sisters at peace with one another requires patience, tenacity, courage, forgiveness, and unending love.<\/p>\n Friends, discipleship requires this kind of loving and caring Christian community in which there is love demonstrated in mutual accountability and responsibility. While the grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ is an inexhaustible supply, it is love that is relational and demands the mutual nature of such a relationship, including the expectations of willing accountability and responsible behaviors. It is important to point out that Jesus\u2019 teaching about the primacy of forgiveness surrounds the context of this passage.<\/p>\n Reconciliation can only be achieved if we are willing to forgive. If we are not willing to forgive, then we are not serious about Jesus\u2019 teaching. Even in the Lord\u2019s Prayer there is the conditional petition: \u201cForgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.\u201d Our failure to forgive not only interrupts the reconciliation process Jesus creates but it places us in jeopardy in our relationship with Jesus. Our failure to forgive others is evidence that we have not fully accepted our sin and Christ\u2019s forgiveness in our own life. There are many people today suffering from diverse physical and emotional symptoms from which they cannot be cured, because their real disease is an unforgiving heart. Their bitterness has poisoned them. Their illness could very well be fatal. Only if they relent and forgive can they be cured. The good news is that through Christ this healing and reconciliation can be complete by his grace. Jesus has accomplished this for us in his death on the cross and his glorious resurrection. It is ours to accept and embrace as we follow his teaching, living in his reconciling love in every relationship in our lives. So may it be for you and for this congregation.<\/p>\n In the name of our Risen Lord Jesus \u2014 Amen<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cIf 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. \u00a0But 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.\u00a0If … <\/p>\n
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