Category: Better Together

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 18:15-35 (day four)

Our theme this summer has been Better Together.  Now we see the truth of our theme played out in Scripture.  Verse 20 says, “For where two or three have gathered together in my name, I am there in their midst.”  When we join together in prayer, there is power…God is with us.  God inhabits our prayers as an individual, but there is special authority when our prayers are joined with others.  It is for this reason that we have a prayer list at church.  We join in concert to lift up the needs of others to a loving God…knowing that He will hear and answer us.

Isn’t it amazing that we can pray here in Texas, others can pray in Indiana, or in England, or on the other side of the world in Thailand, and God hears us in unison.  Time zones are no barriers to an infinite, omnipresent God.  Our theme is more than just a slogan…we really are Better Together!

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 18:15-35 (day three)

“Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven.”

How much weight do the decisions and actions of the community of Jesus’s disciples carry? Jesus says that these decisions and actions invite heaven’s presence and power into circumstances, or they close off the channels of heaven’s presence and power into circumstances. Jesus once told the Pharisees that they shut the door of the kingdom in people’s faces – that “you yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” This is of a piece with what Jesus says here. The stumbling blocks, the barricades, the willful blindness to heaven’s activity in the lives of people – these indicate a hellish conspiracy and collusion to prevent lost people from finding life. A church can represent the kingdom of God on earth. A church can also bolt the door.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 18:15-35 (day two)  For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” vs. 20

What an incredible testimony for togetherness. When we gather together in the name of the Lord, the Lord is present. Not a passing acknowledgment of the gathering, present, in their midst. I would hasten to add the the passage doesn’t add the disclaimer “wherever two or more are gathered in a sanctuary…” Jesus simply says “wherever.” What an encouragement and challenge this should be to each of us. We are to be on mission at all times, claiming the name and presence of Jesus and expecting him to lead, guide, challenge, and correct. This constant companion, in the form of the Holy Spirit, is the promise and a hallmark of our faith. Are we actively invoking his presence outside the church? Are we behaving like the Lord is in our midst?

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 18:5-14 (day seven)

For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come. vs 7

When initially reading this passage, it really makes you stop and think. Why would Jesus want me to cut off my foot and gouge out my eye? After a period of trying to figure out if you could survive like a pirate with an eye patch and a peg leg, you then begin to think about the root of what Jesus was really saying. He was saying that:

1. Temptation will come.
   • • It is a part of human nature that we will be tempted. Even Jesus Himself endured temptation. There is nothing new about the temptations of today. The vessels may change, but the fight remains the same.  1 Corinthians 10:13 
2. Temptation is necessary.
   • • Just as Jesus was able to overcome temptation, so can we. Not only can we overcome it, but when we do, it will make us stronger. Romans 5:3-5
3. Temptation needs to be removed.
   • • In order to fight these battles effectively, we need to cast aside the sins and weights that are holding us back and fix our eyes on Jesus, and He will help (perfect) our fight. Hebrews 12:1-2

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 18:5-14 (day five)

“it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned….  It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame… It is better for you to enter life with one eye…”.

This passage contains some of the most shocking language and images that Jesus ever uses. Amputation. Drowning. Gouging. I like what Jon Bloom says about this passage, “Extreme danger calls for extreme measures of escape. Yes, the mutilation imagery is a metaphor, but it is not hyperbole.  We know it is a metaphor because the literal loss of a hand or an eye doesn’t get to the root issue of sin. But radical and painful amputation of stumbling blocks out of our lives may be the only way to escape falling headlong into sin’s insidiously deceptive snare.”

So, how do we acquire this same perspective that Jesus has. What would help us feel and think this same way about sin and temptation?  Start with an understanding and reverence for the holiness of God. (Fear of the Lord) seeing and sensing God for Who He really is. Bloom continues, “For the Christian, the fear of the Lord does not compete with our joy in the Lord.”

And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:3).

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death. (Proverbs 14:27)

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10)

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 18:5-14 (day four)

There are at least two lessons to be learned in our Re:Verse passage this week.  First: to cause an innocent one to stumble will bring dire consequences.  Death by drowning would be more desirable than the fiery consequences of hell.  Second:  when someone inevitably stumbles, we are to pursue them with all of our being to restore them.  This is known as accountability.  We leave the ninety and nine and search for the one who is lost!  The inter-connectivity of a church family leaves no room for isolationism or island living.  If a fellow believer is straying or has lost their way, we are accountable to seek to lead them back to fellowship with God.

How many times have we said, “It’s none of my business”?  Our culture has convinced us not to judge.  Judgment though may be obvious when biblical commands are broken and are evident to all, but we don’t want to say it out loud.  The standard is God’s…we need to encourage those around us to hold to that standard.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 18:5-14 (day three)

“Does he not leave the ninety-nine?”

God’s been seeking people the whole Bible long. From “Where is your brother Abel?” to “The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth” to “The Son of man came to seek and to save the lost,” God has called, searched for, pursued, wooed. This is what the universe’s Creator does. Scripture shows us a God cut to the heart for those who have gone missing. The word of God which declares that the Lord is among the gathering of even two or three is the same word of God that admonishes us against contentedness to remain just two or three. See people, notice them, hear them, welcome them, sit with them. The Savior will reveal himself in these moments of tender conversation to those who’ve lost their way. Some of them will come home.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 18:5-14 (day two) “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! vs 7

Have you ever watched a hurdle or steeple chase race? It’s one thing to train to run as fast as you can to get from point a to point b, but to actually put obstacles in the way is next level. Steeple chasers in particular seem to be gluttons for punishment because of the height of the obstacles and the water hazard that awaits them on the other side. It stands to reason, then, that sprinters who run 100 meters without hurdles run it faster than those with them.

Obstacles are inevitable. Whether they be self-imposed, as they often are, or appear by circumstance they are a fact of life. It is our hope, as believers, that we are able to navigate around them without a setback to our faith journey. Often they can even help teach us lessons as we move forward to help avoid them the next time. Jesus’ words however speak specifically to those who would cause others to stumble, especially children or young believers. He doesn’t mince words; we are not to do this. It makes every interaction with them so important. We must guard our words and actions to make every effort to encourage their faith, not hinder it. Likely, this will only help our own journey as well. I don’t want to run a steeple chase race of faith, let’s not make our children run one either.