The Goal

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

THE GOAL

Matt 18:15-17

15 "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he 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 he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

NIV

It is certainly easy to see this as the one who is sinned against. It does seem to be easier to view the sins of others, especially those who we think have offended us in some way. Of course then we would be so self-centered always thinking others are sinning against us because we are so perfect. Yet to consider that we might be the one who has sinned against our brother could be the better way to apply this truth. When we are confronted with some form of wrong doing against someone it seems the more natural response is one of defense. We just do not want to consider that we are in the wrong. This sequence of events rarely ever happens in the church today, which if we are the wrongdoers is a good thing. However if someone else is the wrongdoer having sinned against us or another believer, this sequence of events is still not a good thing to happen in the church. The only reason it should go to that depth is because of a rebellious heart. It certainly should not be the desire of any believer to treat a onetime brother as a pagan. Yet by refusing to listen, refusing to correct ones behavior, refusing to repent, refusing to ask for forgiveness would indicate a non-believer anyway and then it would seem that person would be indeed a pagan. A true believer in Christ would certainly be open to being approached about sinning against a brother or sister. In fact a true believer would feel the pain, the anguish that they offended someone. Yet it seems our natural response is not of pain, but of defense. We just do not want to believe we were in the wrong, that we offended someone. We might even think they are judging us and that is a sin, so what are they talking about. Defense rarely ever scores points. When confronted we need to set aside the natural and live in the supernatural. This requires self-control and allowing the Spirit to take control. Let the natural go and listen to the words of those we offend. If we do that we might also, in the natural, say we are sorry. But that is still a self-centered motivated response. It is “I” centered. “I am sorry”. But if we say, “I am sorry, will you forgive me”, we have now moved out of self-centeredness and included the feelings of the offended brother. We are giving them the opportunity to forgive, which they also need to do in order to be right with God. This also applies to us if we are the one who is offended by a brother. If we go to them and tell them how they offended us and they ask us to forgive them, we need to forgive. Now that seems easy enough. But do we truly forgive? This idea that Jesus taught about forgiving seventy times seven surely applies here. It is not that a brother would offend us in the same manner seventy times seven times. But each time we are in the presence of that person who offended us, even though they repented and ask for our forgiveness, that offense might creep back into our mind. Each time that happens we need to forgive them again. Over and over we may need to remind ourselves to forgive, otherwise we would begin to hold some kind of ill feelings toward them and that would divide us more and more, as well as we would then be the one offending them, even if they are unaware of it. The truth here in these words of Jesus is all about forgiving one another, as being humans, unable to be perfect, we are going to have conflicts within the body of Christ. It is inevitable, but how we deal with them is the key to being either a sick, weak, crippled church or a vibrant Spirit filled healthy church. We want the latter of those two so we choose to not operate in the natural, but the supernatural. We choose to walk not in the flesh but in the Spirit. That is the goal.