WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.360 Okay, so we're going to go back to this passage today for a little while and try and apply 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:14.240 it for ourselves and in our own lives, remembering what has already been said from this chapter. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:19.320 Because I think certainly lockdown has made us think a little bit about what church is, 00:00:19.320 --> 00:00:20.320 hasn't it? 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:24.480 I mean, we maybe were, when a bit of a rut, taking things for granted, we were maybe just 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:28.760 coming along and church was churched on a Sunday morning and we got on with our life with the 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:32.039 rest of the week. 00:00:32.039 --> 00:00:36.640 And I think we all know that church is never just about Sunday morning, and it certainly 00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:38.600 shouldn't be just about Sunday morning. 00:00:38.600 --> 00:00:44.079 However precious that has been to us, and maybe in this case absence, I hope, certainly has 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:49.200 made our heart grow fonder for both each other and for communion together and for worship 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:51.960 together, it's hugely important. 00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:58.000 But maybe it has made us think a little bit about what actually church is, because we 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:02.480 all have preconceptions, everyone, and there are people that will be watching will have 00:01:02.480 --> 00:01:03.480 preconceptions. 00:01:03.480 --> 00:01:07.519 Some of us really value what we see church to be. 00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:11.840 Some love it, some are cynical about church, for some it's important, for some it's really 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:13.120 unimportant. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:18.359 And so there's a difference in our thinking, and there's a difference generally, and maybe 00:01:18.359 --> 00:01:26.079 sometimes we go up and down in the different value we have of church and the community 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:27.480 of the gospel. 00:01:27.480 --> 00:01:33.079 So what I think about what Jesus is doing, and what the Holy Spirit through Matthew is 00:01:33.079 --> 00:01:38.640 doing right through the book of Matthew, is he's helping us to recalibrate our thinking 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:43.680 in line with God's, not just Matthew, all the gospels and all the Bible is really there 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:50.120 to recalibrate our thinking towards God's mind and God's heart. 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:55.960 And that's what we do as Christians, we're looking to be transformed, to be the people, 00:01:55.959 --> 00:02:01.079 the individuals, the unique individuals that He wants us to be in line with His character 00:02:01.079 --> 00:02:04.719 and in line with how He wants us to live. 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:09.840 And particularly in Matthew's gospel, we find that God is laying foundations through Christ's 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:14.439 teaching, and you know Matthew, we've seen before it's split into sections, there's teaching 00:02:14.439 --> 00:02:22.240 sections and then there's parables and there's also His miracles and His ministry that way. 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:27.560 But through His teaching and through His life, His life and death, His ministry, the kingdom 00:02:27.560 --> 00:02:33.120 of God is being explained, it's being, He's laying foundations for what it looks like. 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:37.240 So much He says the kingdom of God is like, the kingdom of God is, the kingdom of God 00:02:37.240 --> 00:02:38.240 is. 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:42.960 Now that's just another word actually for the church. 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:48.480 Maybe we think a kingdom of God, we think of something a bit maybe vague and worldwide, 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:54.199 you know, the universal kingdom of God, but we can distill it because it's the same principles 00:02:54.199 --> 00:02:56.719 that apply to the local church. 00:02:56.719 --> 00:03:01.479 The local church is the kingdom of God in microcosm. 00:03:01.479 --> 00:03:04.159 It's a small version of the kingdom of God. 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:11.039 And it's, He wants us to live in community as the kingdom people in the local church 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:16.679 just as much as in a kind of general sense that is the case. 00:03:16.680 --> 00:03:18.480 And you could break that down further. 00:03:18.480 --> 00:03:22.159 You could break down that further into big church, little church like we do with the 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:24.680 pastoral groups, the city groups. 00:03:24.680 --> 00:03:27.319 You could break it down even further into families. 00:03:27.319 --> 00:03:33.520 And of course, therefore, into individuals, the kingdom of God is within us. 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:38.400 And we are to live out the life that Christ wants us in His power. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:44.600 So in this chapter particularly, I've entitled it God's Family Dynamics. 00:03:44.599 --> 00:03:46.879 And we use that phrase quite a lot, don't we? 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:49.719 What's the kind of family dynamics you have or you've grown up with? 00:03:49.719 --> 00:03:52.879 And it's maybe quite a good phrase to think about. 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:57.959 You know, in other words, what should the church be like as it reflects the heart of 00:03:57.959 --> 00:03:58.959 God? 00:03:58.959 --> 00:04:01.000 What should this community of believers be like? 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:06.560 What should you be like as an individual Christian that reflects the heart of God? 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:08.479 How should you live in the church? 00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:14.319 How should you live with other Christians that reflects your understanding of grace, 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:15.879 of what God has done for you? 00:04:15.879 --> 00:04:23.279 Because when we understand what God has done for us, it transforms how we treat other people. 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:25.079 And Jesus is putting flesh on it here. 00:04:25.079 --> 00:04:26.079 It's very practical. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:27.079 He's not airy-fairy. 00:04:27.079 --> 00:04:29.159 He's being practical for us. 00:04:29.159 --> 00:04:31.920 How are you and I to think about one another? 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:38.079 Are brothers and sisters in Christ as Christians, how to live together in the light of who we 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:39.079 are before God? 00:04:39.079 --> 00:04:40.680 Okay, that's what we're going to look at. 00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:43.879 There's two things we're going to look at from this chapter. 00:04:43.879 --> 00:04:49.439 And the first is that we belong to God as Christians. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:52.159 And the second thing is that we belong to each other. 00:04:52.159 --> 00:04:54.000 Very simple, nothing new. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:56.560 But we're going to go through what Jesus says here. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:59.519 We belong to the Father, okay? 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:04.040 As you as a Christian who has given your life to Jesus Christ, you belong to God the Father. 00:05:04.040 --> 00:05:05.040 You're part of His family. 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:08.519 You've been adopted into the spiritual family of God. 00:05:08.519 --> 00:05:12.600 And He talks in this little, in this passage about His little ones. 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:19.800 John looked at that last week where children are used to picture the kind of attitude we 00:05:19.800 --> 00:05:24.320 should have in humility as believers. 00:05:24.320 --> 00:05:29.960 And in verse 1, which we didn't read today, we read last week, it all stems from the 00:05:29.960 --> 00:05:32.160 disciples asking, who's the greatest? 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:33.160 Who's the biggest? 00:05:33.160 --> 00:05:36.560 Who's the most important Christian in the kingdom of God? 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:40.520 And Jesus then takes a little child and says, you've got to be like little children. 00:05:40.519 --> 00:05:45.039 He speaks about humility and as Mary and William were saying that, that willingness to learn 00:05:45.039 --> 00:05:48.079 and grow in God's family. 00:05:48.079 --> 00:05:51.039 And Jesus turns greatness on its head. 00:05:51.039 --> 00:05:55.799 Nobody takes children and makes them the great most important people in the universe. 00:05:55.799 --> 00:06:01.599 The family of God, in other words, consists of people with a childlike attitude, not big 00:06:01.599 --> 00:06:02.599 shots. 00:06:02.599 --> 00:06:04.120 That's really what He's saying. 00:06:04.120 --> 00:06:10.759 He goes on to explain what He says in verse 4, for whoever humbles himself like a little 00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:13.280 child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 00:06:13.280 --> 00:06:17.199 So He's speaking about a humble attitude, humility. 00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:26.280 And willing to have a childlike attitude towards our living God and willing to be led and grow 00:06:26.280 --> 00:06:32.840 and learn from Him and trust in Him is a huge challenge to our ego. 00:06:32.839 --> 00:06:39.079 It's always a huge challenge to our ego to act like with a childlike trust before the 00:06:39.079 --> 00:06:41.239 living God. 00:06:41.239 --> 00:06:42.239 But we are His little ones. 00:06:42.239 --> 00:06:47.399 That's a good thing to remember as Christians, whoever we are, we are His little ones. 00:06:47.399 --> 00:06:48.959 We belong to the Father. 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:56.719 And we see here that I think we have from Him, He's appointed angelic support for us 00:06:56.719 --> 00:06:58.319 as His children. 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:05.599 In verse 18 there's that great verse that He tells us... 00:07:05.599 --> 00:07:07.079 Is it verse 18? 00:07:07.079 --> 00:07:10.439 I've lost it again. 00:07:10.439 --> 00:07:12.639 Someone tell me what verse it is about the angels. 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:16.519 Why have I lost that? 00:07:16.519 --> 00:07:21.439 Is there somewhere... 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:22.439 I've lost it. 00:07:22.439 --> 00:07:24.560 It's verse 11, sorry. 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:26.120 I'm losing a paragraph here. 00:07:26.120 --> 00:07:27.839 Yeah, verse 11. 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:33.159 I see to you that you do not despise these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven 00:07:33.159 --> 00:07:37.319 their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. 00:07:37.319 --> 00:07:39.279 Now this is a really difficult verse. 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:42.319 I don't pretend to have all the answers to it. 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:45.199 I don't know the exact meaning of it in reality. 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:51.239 So much isn't revealed about the work and the life of angels in the universe. 00:07:51.240 --> 00:08:00.120 But clearly what God is saying is that there's an unseen world of angelic worship and service. 00:08:00.120 --> 00:08:07.639 And however it unfolds, we as God's children are central to that. 00:08:07.639 --> 00:08:09.240 We're part of that. 00:08:09.240 --> 00:08:14.400 Whatever that looks like, whether we have individual angels that have our kind of guardians, 00:08:14.400 --> 00:08:17.400 whether it's just a more general thing, I don't know. 00:08:17.399 --> 00:08:23.679 But it reminds us that these angels, whatever relationship they have to God's people are 00:08:23.679 --> 00:08:24.679 before God's face. 00:08:24.679 --> 00:08:33.840 In other words, we are at the center of God's mind. 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:37.279 We are part of the audience that God sees. 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:42.919 And that's a hugely significant thing for us. 00:08:42.919 --> 00:08:47.479 You know, when you feel that nobody cares about you and nobody is interested in you, 00:08:47.479 --> 00:08:52.479 it's not amazing if somehow somebody really important gets in touch with you and says, 00:08:52.479 --> 00:08:54.240 well, I was thinking about you today. 00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:55.839 I'd really like to get in touch with you. 00:08:55.839 --> 00:08:58.959 You go, oh, I suddenly feel quite significant. 00:08:58.959 --> 00:09:02.759 And that's really what we're being reminded of there, that God is always thinking about 00:09:02.759 --> 00:09:06.120 His children. 00:09:06.120 --> 00:09:10.639 The angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:15.159 And we're reminded as God's children all, as little ones that we've got angelic support, 00:09:15.159 --> 00:09:16.720 but that He looks out for us. 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:22.080 So you've got this little parable from verse 12 to 14, which talks about the 99 and the 00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:24.120 one that's gone missing. 00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:26.319 But that's very, you know that parable, do you? 00:09:26.319 --> 00:09:27.319 You know it well. 00:09:27.319 --> 00:09:28.840 But it's also in Luke's gospel. 00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:35.200 And in Luke's gospel, it's used as evangelistically so that God looks for the lost sheep that 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:39.519 is not a believer and brings it back into the kingdom. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:45.679 And this is a different application that Jesus uses for the same story or same parable. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:46.840 It's figurative. 00:09:46.840 --> 00:09:55.319 And he's saying that within the family, within the community, within the kingdom of God, 00:09:55.319 --> 00:10:01.919 God is interested and cares for the ones who tend to wander away. 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:07.519 And it's a recognition that God doesn't let anyone go from His kingdom. 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:13.120 Father in heaven, His will is that none of these little ones should perish. 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:20.319 And He brings them back as they recognize once again their need of Him. 00:10:20.319 --> 00:10:25.759 And that's a great security for us to remember and know that we belong to God and that He 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:31.600 is interested and cares for us and reaches out for us even when we're wandering, even 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:32.759 when we're drifting. 00:10:32.759 --> 00:10:34.639 And isn't that our tendency? 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:40.080 Our tendency is to drift from the 99, to drift from the body of believers, to go our own 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:44.639 way, to think that they've hurt or upset us or done the wrong thing and we'll just, we'll 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:47.039 pass them, we'll give up on them. 00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:53.000 But Jesus, He brings, He looks out for us and brings us back and helps us to recognize 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:55.039 that we're a family together. 00:10:55.039 --> 00:10:58.919 And we belong to God. 00:10:58.919 --> 00:11:03.080 And He gives us these little pictures of what it means to belong to be part of the kingdom 00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:09.080 and what His attitude, His loving attitude towards the little ones, the ones that maybe 00:11:09.080 --> 00:11:13.680 know that generally in the world are insignificant and unimportant. 00:11:13.680 --> 00:11:18.120 How would I apply that? 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:20.280 Don't be a spiritual snob. 00:11:20.280 --> 00:11:21.280 That's how I would apply that. 00:11:21.280 --> 00:11:25.660 In verse 10, He says, See to it that none of you despise one of these little ones. 00:11:25.660 --> 00:11:29.480 So within the Christian community, there's no place for snobbery. 00:11:29.480 --> 00:11:34.560 There's no place for looking down on any one of the little children that we all are in 00:11:34.560 --> 00:11:35.639 Christ. 00:11:35.639 --> 00:11:40.879 You know, we're really living just now in a harsh and judgmental world, and status is 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:43.000 very important in the world in which we live. 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:48.320 And there's a lot of trash talk going on, probably especially online. 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:54.159 And that should be absolutely not the case in the Christian community at which we're 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:55.159 apart. 00:11:55.159 --> 00:12:02.039 So in church, the idea of status, the idea of being big shots, pride, considering anybody 00:12:02.039 --> 00:12:08.279 in church as a nobody, not worth my effort to speak to or get to know or care for, ignoring 00:12:08.279 --> 00:12:13.120 the children or pushing them as to the side as if they're insignificant, saying some people 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:14.919 are just ordinary and not worth it. 00:12:14.919 --> 00:12:17.600 It's anathema to God. 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:23.120 That's anathema to His way of understanding what it is to be part of this counter-cultural 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:28.360 godly kingdom to be part of, to be one of His little ones. 00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:30.879 And we'll go on to explain a little bit more why that's the case. 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:32.039 I think it's a key truth. 00:12:32.039 --> 00:12:33.560 It's a key truth for me. 00:12:33.560 --> 00:12:36.279 It's a key truth for our elders, for our pastoral teams. 00:12:36.279 --> 00:12:42.759 It's a key truth for all of us as we think about our attitude to the local church, the 00:12:42.759 --> 00:12:46.320 kingdom of God in that little microcosm. 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:48.600 So we belong to God. 00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:52.480 But we also belong to one another, you know? 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:53.920 And that involves two things. 00:12:53.920 --> 00:12:55.759 Well, it involves a lot more than that. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:58.720 But from this passage, it involves at least two things. 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:04.120 And again, this is very important because it's counter-cultural and it goes against 00:13:04.120 --> 00:13:10.480 our individuality that we sometimes think, or maybe our selfish or sinful individuality 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:12.560 that sometimes rears its head. 00:13:12.560 --> 00:13:17.600 The first thing that belonging to each other means as a gospel community is that we should 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:21.480 reflect an honest grace with each other. 00:13:21.480 --> 00:13:27.440 Today, so verses 15 to 20, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:28.440 between you and him alone. 00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:30.360 If he listens to you, you've gained a brother. 00:13:30.360 --> 00:13:33.360 Then if he doesn't listen, go and take one or two others so that there's witnesses to 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:34.440 what's happening. 00:13:34.440 --> 00:13:37.200 And then if he doesn't listen to any of them, take it to the church. 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:42.639 And that's speaking more formally about the overseers, the shepherds, those with spiritual 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:44.440 responsibility, the elders. 00:13:44.440 --> 00:13:48.600 And if he doesn't listen to even the church, then you treat him as an unbeliever. 00:13:48.600 --> 00:13:52.040 And I'll just unpack that a little bit, what that means. 00:13:52.040 --> 00:13:58.800 And this is a really, this is a big passage historically, and it's a huge passage that's 00:13:58.800 --> 00:14:04.360 been used with respect to formal church and formal church discipline, as it were. 00:14:04.360 --> 00:14:09.000 Probably pretty unhelpfully institutionalized, I think, in a lot of ways. 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:12.560 But what has been taught here by Jesus, there's a few things. 00:14:12.560 --> 00:14:15.960 First is the church ought to be a loving family. 00:14:15.960 --> 00:14:17.120 That's what it ought to be. 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:21.799 Then your brother or sister sins against you, go and tell them his fault. 00:14:21.799 --> 00:14:27.039 And this is the family dynamic that he's been explaining right through the passage. 00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:32.720 And it's the repeated theme of chapter 18, that we are all God's little ones together, 00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:41.399 and we're all brothers and sisters, and there's a deeply implied love and trust and humility. 00:14:41.399 --> 00:14:46.279 This isn't speaking about someone, a big boot's coming up and saying, yeah, you're making 00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:47.720 a big mess of your Christian life. 00:14:47.720 --> 00:14:49.399 Not like that at all. 00:14:49.399 --> 00:14:53.839 It's not talking about Mr. Nosy Parker in the church, or Mrs. Quick Defined Fault in 00:14:53.839 --> 00:14:54.839 the church. 00:14:54.839 --> 00:14:58.000 It's not that kind of issue that's been dealt with here at all. 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:06.240 This is a humble, loving community where relationship and trust is so deep and real 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:12.559 that you sense the hurt and the damage that might be caused if someone walks down a road 00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:17.719 that's really going to be unhelpful for them spiritually, where they're deliberately sinning 00:15:17.719 --> 00:15:22.839 against God and against themselves and against the community. 00:15:22.839 --> 00:15:28.439 It's a recognition that there can be hurtful and damaging behavior spiritually and relationally 00:15:28.439 --> 00:15:29.439 that can't be ignored. 00:15:29.439 --> 00:15:30.839 Why can't it be ignored? 00:15:30.839 --> 00:15:32.839 Because you love them. 00:15:32.839 --> 00:15:34.479 Any parent knows that. 00:15:34.479 --> 00:15:39.959 Any parent knows that they have to sometimes just swallow, gutsily, and speak to their 00:15:39.959 --> 00:15:41.839 children about the way they behave. 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:45.399 And best friends do it as well. 00:15:45.399 --> 00:15:51.440 And that should be the way the honesty and trust should be in the church. 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:57.759 A loving family that is willing to recognize that level of depth. 00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:01.519 But as part of that, it should be a place of healing. 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:07.480 Because the whole idea behind speaking into someone's life is that they recognize that 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:14.440 and repent and turn from it, the example given here is someone who's not healthy and who 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:17.000 just digs in and says, gee, get lost. 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:20.240 I'm not going to listen to anything you say. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:25.080 But when there's mutual trust and honesty and repentance, matters don't go any further. 00:16:25.080 --> 00:16:26.519 And there's healing and there's hope. 00:16:26.519 --> 00:16:29.080 And something good has happened. 00:16:29.080 --> 00:16:35.680 It's only a immature Christian and an immature church that just surfs the shallows. 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:38.120 And it is always just, yeah, OK, everyone's fine. 00:16:38.120 --> 00:16:39.399 I'm good, cool. 00:16:39.399 --> 00:16:41.919 No problems, nothing wrong. 00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:47.719 A church that's marked by peak and by gossip and by taking offence and giving offence and 00:16:47.719 --> 00:16:56.559 by defensiveness and by an unwillingness to deal with and speak into deep challenging 00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:59.279 issues in life. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:04.399 But in all the motive of love has got to be absolutely crucial. 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:08.360 And the willingness to listen, absolutely crucial. 00:17:08.360 --> 00:17:18.200 Because in this little passage, the guy, the person who is not willing to respond to any 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:22.320 approaches of love, three times we're told, they're not listening. 00:17:22.320 --> 00:17:23.820 They're not listening. 00:17:23.820 --> 00:17:28.280 And isn't that so true of what we can be like as Christians? 00:17:28.280 --> 00:17:29.519 With God and with one another? 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:30.519 I'm not listening. 00:17:30.519 --> 00:17:38.879 We have stubborn refusal to admit our failing, to admit maybe out of pride and just be defensive 00:17:38.879 --> 00:17:42.759 in no way. 00:17:42.759 --> 00:17:46.639 And that then becomes damaging for the whole community. 00:17:46.639 --> 00:17:50.119 It involves other people in the last resort. 00:17:50.119 --> 00:17:54.480 As a last resort, it involves the church elders who have spiritual oversight. 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:58.960 And the whole point of what Jesus is saying is that backsliding or deliberate rebellion 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:03.079 against God is never just your own decision. 00:18:03.079 --> 00:18:09.120 It's never just about how you want to live or how you choose to work out things. 00:18:09.120 --> 00:18:13.400 When we fall away from God, it affects our relationship with God, with our best Christian 00:18:13.400 --> 00:18:20.400 friends and with the whole church, because we're a family together. 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:22.640 And there's always consequences for that. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:25.799 It's never simply our own decision. 00:18:25.799 --> 00:18:26.799 We know that, don't we? 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:28.160 And we know that as a church. 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:32.240 Generally, we know that as individuals in our families, you know, if we choose to do 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:37.360 things that are hurtful and painful, then it's not just our decision that hurts people 00:18:37.360 --> 00:18:39.920 that we love, but our tendency. 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:41.320 And Jesus knows it. 00:18:41.320 --> 00:18:43.080 It comes across in this passage all the time. 00:18:43.080 --> 00:18:49.840 Our tendency is to run away because hearing can often be too painful. 00:18:49.840 --> 00:18:55.759 And He finishes this section by saying there's a rubicon that gets crossed in the church, 00:18:55.759 --> 00:19:01.119 and this verse has caused a lot of difficulty for people that treat them as you would if 00:19:01.119 --> 00:19:05.680 they don't repent and don't turn, if they refuse to listen, treat them as you would 00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:07.079 a gentile and a tax collector. 00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:09.839 What does that mean? 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:13.879 I think simply, well, you know how Jesus treated gentiles and tax collectors? 00:19:13.879 --> 00:19:16.240 He loved them. 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:18.240 But He didn't call them believers. 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:21.240 He didn't treat them as part of the family of God. 00:19:21.240 --> 00:19:23.799 He wanted them to repent and come to faith. 00:19:23.799 --> 00:19:27.680 That's so often our attitude when we see something like this, we think, treat them 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:29.919 like gentiles or unbelievers, cast them out. 00:19:29.919 --> 00:19:32.519 No, that's not what Jesus is saying. 00:19:32.519 --> 00:19:38.919 Jesus is saying, yes, you regard them as unbelievers because they're not following Jesus and they're 00:19:38.919 --> 00:19:40.159 rebelling against Him. 00:19:40.159 --> 00:19:45.399 And you can't call them believers, but you love them and you're still praying for their 00:19:45.399 --> 00:19:46.399 repentance. 00:19:46.399 --> 00:19:53.119 Because Jesus, earlier on in the Ascension of the Mountains, says, buy your fruit. 00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:54.799 You shall be known. 00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:57.919 And so we can be known by how we live. 00:19:57.919 --> 00:20:01.479 So I think that's really important, honest grace. 00:20:01.479 --> 00:20:03.839 But so is open-ended forgiveness. 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:08.879 And in this parable, the next parable, lots of little parables, Peter says, whoa, wait 00:20:08.879 --> 00:20:09.879 a minute. 00:20:09.879 --> 00:20:12.119 So how often do I forgive someone? 00:20:12.119 --> 00:20:13.119 Seven times. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:14.119 And Peter thought he was doing really well there. 00:20:14.119 --> 00:20:15.119 Seven times. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:17.000 Yeah, I'm really generous and gracious. 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:18.719 Jesus says, no, either. 00:20:18.719 --> 00:20:21.559 Seven times seven or seventy times seven. 00:20:21.559 --> 00:20:24.440 And Jesus is basically just saying, you just keep on doing it. 00:20:24.440 --> 00:20:31.440 He doesn't say after forty-nine or four hundred and one, you stop forgiving. 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:34.359 It's just an illustration. 00:20:34.359 --> 00:20:39.639 And he's saying in our minds, where there's always, when people come to us and ask for 00:20:39.639 --> 00:20:45.079 forgiveness, whether genuine repentance, when someone falls, doesn't there come a point 00:20:45.079 --> 00:20:47.279 when we just say, well, enough's enough, eh? 00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:49.839 You've had plenty of opportunities. 00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:52.279 You've gone off the track enough. 00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:55.480 Jesus says, no. 00:20:55.480 --> 00:20:57.799 He's my little one. 00:20:57.799 --> 00:21:00.240 He's your brother or sister. 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:08.599 And if we truly understand ourselves, then we will forgive others until the day they die 00:21:08.599 --> 00:21:10.439 or we die. 00:21:10.439 --> 00:21:11.559 Why? 00:21:11.559 --> 00:21:16.959 Because God never stops forgiving us when we repent. 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:21.079 And there's a sense in which we should be repenting every day of our lives. 00:21:21.079 --> 00:21:25.079 I know that the price has been paid, but He asks us to have that spirit of repentance 00:21:25.079 --> 00:21:29.240 in our lives and not to give up on others. 00:21:29.240 --> 00:21:35.880 So it's really a reminder not to give up on the church and other people, and of course 00:21:35.880 --> 00:21:40.120 implied that we never give up on our relationship with God. 00:21:40.120 --> 00:21:45.360 But don't you find, and I know I find that our forgiveness for other people is so often 00:21:45.360 --> 00:21:46.360 reserved. 00:21:46.359 --> 00:21:47.359 It's miserly. 00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:50.959 It has a sell-by date. 00:21:50.959 --> 00:21:55.199 We'll give them, so we'll give them a last chance to loon, last time. 00:21:55.199 --> 00:21:57.439 But if they fall again, that's it. 00:21:57.439 --> 00:21:58.439 Ping! 00:21:58.439 --> 00:21:59.439 Time up. 00:21:59.439 --> 00:22:02.839 And I write you out of my life. 00:22:02.839 --> 00:22:06.279 I've got to only spend my time with people that are really nice and good and will say 00:22:06.279 --> 00:22:10.079 nice things and will not be difficult. 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:12.359 Sorry, loser, you're off. 00:22:12.359 --> 00:22:14.559 You're off the scene. 00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:19.200 That is not God's family dynamic. 00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:25.039 God's family dynamic stems from an understanding that He's never done that for us when we've 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:29.759 come back to Him genuinely for a fresh start. 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:38.440 And He drives that home with what I'm finishing with is this punchy and challenging parable 00:22:38.440 --> 00:22:40.200 that any of us can understand. 00:22:40.200 --> 00:22:42.720 I updated it with the kids earlier on. 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:43.720 But it's very clear. 00:22:43.720 --> 00:22:49.600 I hope, and I'm sure they could understand what was behind the story that I told and 00:22:49.600 --> 00:22:53.519 what Jesus is trying to say. 00:22:53.519 --> 00:23:00.120 It's famously called the parable of the unmerciful servant or the unforgiving servant. 00:23:00.120 --> 00:23:05.400 And what is Jesus summing up this whole passage, this whole chapter with this parable? 00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:12.559 He sums it up with this parable of the guy who owes an indefinable amount and he can't 00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:16.159 pay it and the king forgives him and then he goes out and there's a guy owes him a 00:23:16.159 --> 00:23:19.279 couple of quid and he punches him and they say, you know, give it to me or I'll put you 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:21.839 in jail until you've paid back every last penny. 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:24.639 You know, what's that saying? 00:23:24.639 --> 00:23:27.159 What's that saying to you and to me? 00:23:27.159 --> 00:23:31.720 What's he reminding us, the summary of all this thinking of what it means to be a Christian 00:23:31.720 --> 00:23:33.240 in the community of God's people? 00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:39.000 Well, he's reminding us first that we are bankrupt before God. 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:41.839 Never forget that as Christians. 00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:48.000 It's the basis of everything we are and have become and everything that we do and how we 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:55.879 act in life that we are bankrupt before God, but he has paid the price of the debt we owe 00:23:55.879 --> 00:23:58.759 himself in the person of Jesus. 00:23:58.759 --> 00:24:00.799 Jesus knew that when he was telling this parable. 00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:08.319 He knew he himself would be nailed to a tree for this rotten, rebellious, unbelieving people 00:24:08.319 --> 00:24:11.799 who walked away from him and denied him. 00:24:11.799 --> 00:24:19.200 And he understood the bankruptcy of humanity and the cost of setting us free and of being 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:21.799 forgiven. 00:24:21.799 --> 00:24:28.639 And it's good to always remember that because we have a tendency to think, actually, we're 00:24:28.639 --> 00:24:30.720 not so bad. 00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:34.039 I'm kind of one of God's special ones because I'm not so bad. 00:24:34.039 --> 00:24:35.839 It's easy for us to think like that. 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:41.720 It's great to remind ourselves that spiritually we are bankrupt. 00:24:41.720 --> 00:24:43.360 Christ pays the debt. 00:24:43.360 --> 00:24:47.720 A good phrase, I can't remember who, it'll never have been my phrase, it's someone else's 00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:50.559 phrase, probably Tim Keller's. 00:24:50.559 --> 00:24:56.000 We are unworthy but never worthless. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:25:01.920 In fact, I actually think it's Corey Brock's, but he probably got it from Tim Keller. 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:06.200 We are unworthy but never worthless. 00:25:06.200 --> 00:25:11.279 We're bankrupt, but we're not poor in Christ. 00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:16.399 We have incredible riches. 00:25:16.399 --> 00:25:20.639 And he's the great shepherd that looked for us and who brought us home and who forgive 00:25:20.639 --> 00:25:23.000 us, who's forgiven us. 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:25.079 So Christ has paid our debt. 00:25:25.079 --> 00:25:28.480 That's part of the great teaching of this parable. 00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:33.200 But also forgiveness then becomes our heartbeat. 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:40.960 It becomes a heartbeat of the Christian church and makes church the safe place that it should 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:43.759 be that it's so often isn't for people. 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:46.680 The community, that is, church community. 00:25:46.680 --> 00:25:52.519 If we truly understand ourselves and what Jesus has done for us, how incalculably guilty 00:25:52.519 --> 00:26:00.600 we are before Him without Christ, to know His cleansing, it helps us to put into perspective 00:26:00.600 --> 00:26:05.440 the failings and the mistakes that other people make against us. 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:11.759 We're tiny in comparison, especially when they plead for forgiveness and when we are 00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:19.360 encouraged by God to be patient and to recognize that we all stumble and fall. 00:26:19.360 --> 00:26:21.880 Don't we all need that? 00:26:21.880 --> 00:26:27.519 Don't we need other people to think of us like that when we stumble and fall so that 00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:31.360 we know when we want to come back we're not going to be judged or we're not going to find 00:26:31.359 --> 00:26:35.839 it, people are three strikes and you're out. 00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:38.919 Kind of attitude. 00:26:38.919 --> 00:26:40.759 Forgiveness becomes our heartbeat. 00:26:40.759 --> 00:26:47.759 And also I think what He's teaching in this last parable is to see others, not just ourselves, 00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:51.479 but to see others as God's little ones. 00:26:51.479 --> 00:26:54.759 Because we are all God's little ones. 00:26:54.759 --> 00:26:58.279 And so pray for humility. 00:26:58.279 --> 00:27:04.359 That's really the whole foundation of this section of Jesus' teaching about the kingdom 00:27:04.359 --> 00:27:06.480 of God. 00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:16.119 That there is no place in your heart for spiritual pride, or in my heart for spiritual pride. 00:27:16.119 --> 00:27:22.079 No place for loving with short memories about our own sin and long memories for other people's 00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:30.480 failings, that we live as His little ones with grace and patience and kindness and self-control 00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:38.720 and self-sacrifice for others and treating others as we ourselves want to be treated. 00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:46.279 The church, the community is to be such an honest and accountable and loving and safe 00:27:46.279 --> 00:27:57.839 place of acceptance that spiritual bankrupts feel really at home. 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:01.680 But if we don't see that, we'll kick out. 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:12.119 We'll kick out when our spiritual safe space is invaded by someone else, when someone challenges 00:28:12.119 --> 00:28:20.519 us maybe about our life or about what we're doing, and maybe with great trembling and fear 00:28:20.519 --> 00:28:23.479 that they might even work up the courage. 00:28:23.479 --> 00:28:26.719 And I think that's the best attitude to have to your kind of working up the courage to 00:28:26.719 --> 00:28:31.359 speak to your closest, one of your friends, closest friends about maybe their spiritual 00:28:31.359 --> 00:28:34.599 life. 00:28:34.599 --> 00:28:41.519 But even if people come to us that way, we'll find we'll be resentful and we'll not want 00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:46.920 to have a changed heart and we'll resist and resist and we'll walk away and we'll wander 00:28:46.920 --> 00:28:52.879 and we'll drift so much so that we'll really live like unbelievers and maybe even the church 00:28:52.879 --> 00:28:59.799 will have to take us to that place where we're regarded, can't be regarded anymore as believing 00:28:59.799 --> 00:29:03.559 and trusting in the same things that Jesus wants us to. 00:29:03.559 --> 00:29:09.680 But even that is with the perspective of bringing us back home. 00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:11.440 So what's your understanding? 00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:13.400 What's my understanding of the local church? 00:29:13.400 --> 00:29:16.320 It's an institution. 00:29:16.320 --> 00:29:19.240 Is it just a friendship or a social circle? 00:29:19.240 --> 00:29:20.240 Is this it? 00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:23.320 The building that we've all come back to today? 00:29:23.320 --> 00:29:26.519 Is it just take it or leave it? 00:29:26.519 --> 00:29:32.519 Has the six months of watching online made you feel church is much more consumerist? 00:29:32.519 --> 00:29:34.680 Oh, Derek's going on a bit today. 00:29:34.680 --> 00:29:35.680 He's a bit boring. 00:29:35.680 --> 00:29:40.120 I think I'll put on the Chalmers church today that we'll stick on something else for five 00:29:40.119 --> 00:29:43.359 minutes or something like that and then we'll put on something else and it can... 00:29:43.359 --> 00:29:45.159 And I know I was doing it myself. 00:29:45.159 --> 00:29:46.159 It was... 00:29:46.159 --> 00:29:49.679 I did it after two minutes when I was listening to myself, but that's different. 00:29:49.679 --> 00:29:50.679 You should try it sometime. 00:29:50.679 --> 00:29:52.679 Let's see yourself for half an hour. 00:29:52.679 --> 00:29:53.959 It's murder. 00:29:53.959 --> 00:30:00.159 A service in that kind of consumerist way, it can become that, can't it? 00:30:00.159 --> 00:30:03.239 Because it's... 00:30:03.239 --> 00:30:08.719 It can be cost free at one level, isn't it? 00:30:08.720 --> 00:30:10.960 Being among people is costly. 00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:17.400 It's a pain sometimes and it's nice just to be in your own home and you can take it or 00:30:17.400 --> 00:30:18.839 leave it and gain from it. 00:30:18.839 --> 00:30:24.880 And yet Christ says, look, I go for the one and I leave the 99 and I go out into the dangerous 00:30:24.880 --> 00:30:27.839 place for the one, the one who's ruining their life. 00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:29.880 I go for them. 00:30:29.880 --> 00:30:31.920 You go for that person too. 00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:38.440 You go for the one that's struggling and far away and recognize that this church is to 00:30:38.440 --> 00:30:44.519 be full of His little ones whose angels are before God's face every day and may the Holy 00:30:44.519 --> 00:30:46.559 Spirit teach us all about that. 00:30:46.559 --> 00:30:53.240 And if you don't know Jesus, that's what it means to belong to Jesus is that we're accepted 00:30:53.240 --> 00:31:00.200 and forgiven and we belong and we become one of His little children and belong to His family 00:31:00.200 --> 00:31:05.799 with all our faults and failings that we're to understand that and care for each other. 00:31:05.799 --> 00:31:09.519 So let's pray before we hear another song. 00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:16.480 Father God, we pray that you would help us to understand a little bit more about what 00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:18.680 you teach about belonging to Jesus. 00:31:18.680 --> 00:31:27.960 We thank you for the freeing, beauty, power and revolution of the nature of belonging 00:31:27.960 --> 00:31:29.460 to Jesus. 00:31:29.460 --> 00:31:39.000 And forgive us when we've made church stuffy or snobby or institutionalized or a place 00:31:39.000 --> 00:31:49.960 of ranker or division or whatever it happens to be that is ugly and un-Christ-like. 00:31:49.960 --> 00:31:54.039 Forgive us for lowering our standards and remind us Lord, as we… I talked at the beginning 00:31:54.039 --> 00:31:59.839 about coming for prayer on a Friday for renewal, remind us that we need renewed, that we are 00:31:59.839 --> 00:32:04.319 people that constantly need renewed and that prayer is the best place for us to go for 00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:10.200 that renewal because it is reminding us from where a renewal comes. 00:32:10.200 --> 00:32:16.559 So maybe dig our roots deep down into the living water so that we may bear fruit even 00:32:16.559 --> 00:32:24.799 during this time of drought and may Jesus renew us and resource us and hear our cries 00:32:24.799 --> 00:32:50.759 for Jesus' sake.