Matthew
Greatest in the Church
Lost sheep
We have been given the authority and instructions for dealing with sin
Sin must be bound in order to lose freedom
It is our responsibility to help people get lose from the bonds of sin
The Church must deal with sin
“whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 18:18
Bind Sin, Loose Love
After the church in Faith, Hope and Love deals with the person who will not repent
The Good Shepherd goes out to seek them, speaking to them in ways we can not
This reaffirms our Faith, Hope and Love
It causes us to look forward to a day when the one who was a part of us
Will repent and return and we will be ready when that happens
The greatest are those who can deal with sin and save others
If the greatest is LOVE then the ones with Love become the greatest
Matthew 18:14
In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.
Greatest in the Church
In Matthew 18:12-19…
Jesus addressed the question who is the greatest in the Church.
Jesus does not give the answer.
He asks, “What do you think?”
Matthew 18:12
Jesus was asking them to think of 100 sheep and a Shepherd.
Something happens and one of the 100 sheep wanders away.
Why did the one sheep leave?
Did this sheep not feel comfortable with the other 99?
Or, did the one sheep decide on another life style.
And wanted to do its own thing?
Did the 99 care or even notice that one
of their own left and was missing?
In this story, who cares?
Does it matter to the Shepherd why the one sheep left?
Of the 100, who was of greater concern to the Shepherd?
Before we look at Jesus’ thoughts about the one,
the 99, and the shepherd, lets look at the Church in Corinth.
It was like a flock of sheep and
there were a lot of things going on...
That was causing division.
Paul dealing with this problem of child-like faith
and childish faith, addressed the Church at Corinth…
With their problems of exalting certain gifts more than others,
positions of leadership over other positions,
making the Communion of the Lord’s Table
a party for some and rejecting others.
Paul encouraged them to eagerly desire greater spiritual things
and learn how to do it with excellence.
And now I will show you the most excellent way.
1 Corinthians 12:31
The excellent way is LOVE.
Everything else will pass away but…
Now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13
The greatest in the Kingdom are those who become like
little children full of faith, hope and love.
When Jesus tells the disciples what He thinks
of the story about the one out of the 99…
You can see the shepherd’s love for the one who left.
So, Jesus teaches us how to handle conflict
and sin in the church or the flock.
Jesus starts off with…
If your brother sins against you,
“If” means “it may or may not be”.
Never the less, if you believe someone sins against you,
you have an obligation.
Go and show him his fault,
just between the two of you.
The objective is not to get the matter
off your chest, but to restore that person.
So how you approach your offender is
just as important as dealing with the sin.
If he listens to you,
you have won your brother over.
Jesus knows that sometimes two people
cannot work out their differences, so He says…
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.
This is the process where you are not trying
to gang up on the offender…
But making sure you have others who are full
of faith, hope, and love who can agree with you
and want to see the sinner restored.
If this fails, Jesus gives us a final approach
for winning the lost one…
If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church;
and if he refuses to listen even to the church,
At this point, the church is trying to win over this person.
At this point, if that person refuses to listen,
they have rejected three opportunities to repent
and be a vibrant part of the flock.
But if the person does not listen,
they become a person you no longer hang around with.
Treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
Matthew 18:15-17
Remember Paul’s words…
Now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13
In the Church at Corinth, there was a man living in sin
and the church did not deal with it.
Paul rebuked the church
and tells them they should deal with it.
1 Corinthians 5:9-11
Later this man repented and the church does not receive him,
so Paul has to tell the church not to be too hard on the man
2 Corinthians 2:6-11
Jesus concludes this story of the one out of the 99 with…
"I tell you the truth,
whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for,
it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.
For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
Matthew 18:18-20
We have been given the authority
and instructions for dealing with sin.
How to bind sin in order to lose the one held captive.
This power is given as two or more
come together in agreement.
This is not a light matter.
Our Father carries out from Heaven
what we cannot do when two or more
are together in agreement.
Sadly, sin blinds the eyes so people will not listen.
The Church must deal with sin.
After the Church in Faith, Hope and Love
deals with the person who will not repent…
The Good Shepherd goes out to seek them
speaking to them in ways we cannot.
This reaffirms our Faith, Hope and Love.
It causes us to look forward to a day
when the one who was a part of us
will repent and return and
we will be ready when that happens.
The greatest are those who can deal with sin and save others.
If the greatest is LOVE…
Then the ones with Love become the greatest.
Scripture Reading
Matthew 18:12-20 NIV
12 "What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.
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.
18 "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
19 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
