Sermons for the Month
A Healing Prescription
DATE: September 5, 1999
SERVICE: Pentecost XV
TEXT: Matthew 18:15-20"To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN I don't believe I have ever preached a sermon on this gospel text so I thought it was high time I said something. One of the reasons is that I have been afraid of it. It talks about church discipline. I suppose I shied away from this text because I thought that talking about it might lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy, like making an ugly face at a baby will cause the baby to grow up ugly or if you cross your eyes too often they'll someday stick. Besides that, in my career, I have only been called upon to make use of this text's advice once and that was in my previous parish with a person who was doing a pretty good job of spreading some very malicious gossip throughout the church and community. But rather than continuing to err on the side of apathy I thought it might be time for the church to be aware of its content. And the fact that it is even in the Bible corrects a myth that many have about the church: that since we are all called by Jesus to spread the gospel of God's kingdom, there should be no conflicts ever! Today's gospel text could be dealt with on two entirely different levels. First, there is the obvious treatment of the content itself. These verses lie within the fourth of five speeches or sermons delivered by Jesus as recorded by Matthew. The theme of this section is community discipline for the church. In this speech, we see the framework for what would later become the beginnings of the church's judicial process. Matthew knew that life in the faith community would include disputes. Church is, after all, a community made up of humans. We also believe it has divine influence and guidance, but whenever humans must interpret divine influence, there is the likelihood of misinterpretations and disagreement. That is just a given. Since the first century, the Bible lays out a precise philosophy and procedure for dealing with the inevitable disputes. The process goes like this: First, the one offended is to take the initiative to bring up the issue with the offender, and to try to settle it privately, just between the two of them. You'll notice here some good basic principles of communication. The one who has been wronged is NOT told, "Go ahead and nurse your anger privately, the other party should just know why you're upset." No, even though the offendee is probably quite convinced that the offendee consciously started the problem, the offendee is still the one responsible to take the initiative. I believe that the Bible is allowing for the fact that the one who has the strong feelings is responsible to take initiative, is responsible for him or herself. No matter how convinced he or she may be to the contrary, the offender often has no clue that there has been an offense. How many relationship breakdowns occur because somebody is upset about something, but just silently pulls away, assuming the other committed the offense knowingly? I have been on both sides of these misunderstanding, and in all cases, when there was finally open communication, we both discovered that the original issue was a simple misunderstanding that could have been resolved uneventfully if we could have just talked early on. But you can't expect the one who doesn't realize there is a problem to take the initiative. When I have been the offender, sometimes maybe I should have realized; and other times, there was really no way I could have known. The Bible is clear here that it really doesn't matter. It is the responsibility of the one offended to be honest and up front about their own feelings and not wait for someone else to figure it out and take care of it. Resolution of conflicts in Christian community requires the one who is upset to be straight about it instead of some passive aggressive behavior like spreading rumors instead of confronting the person directly. Usually, if both people communicate with respect and are willing to take responsibility for their own part in the matter, it can be resolved at this level. If not, then this Scripture tells us to take it to the second level, gathering one or two others to listen. This may be a matter of going to a neutral third party who is known to be wise in such matters. Or it may be more formal at this level. If the offense is serious enough, for instance, it should be taken immediately to the appropriate church judicial committee or board. The course of action depends on the organizational structure of the Christian community involved, and the seriousness of the issue. The point is, if the direct approach doesn't resolve it, appropriate healthy steps should be taken, rather than allowing the problem to become a matter of public gossip or grumbling, only to fester and divide. Finally, if even this does not achieve resolution, then Scripture tells us to take the matter to the whole church. But the most important part of all this, far more important than the procedure itself, is the spiritual context in which it is to be pursued. If you read the earlier part of this chapter, it becomes immediately clear that the only appropriate context for church disciplinary procedure is, as the Harper-Collins Study Bible describes it, "childlike humility and unending forgiveness." That does not preclude accountability or unpleasant consequences, but it does require a basic attitude of compassion. In other words, as a Christian community we do not go into these matters out of an adversarial kind of litigiousness, as we might in a public court. No church procedure in the world has a hope of succeeding unless proper spiritual attitude underlies it all. If in a conflict both sides begin by hiring lawyers then your done before you start. I said at the beginning of this sermon that the text could be dealt with on two levels, and indeed, I cannot pass up the opportunity to use this text as a teachable moment in a totally different way. It has to do with the last two verses of today's lesson where Jesus says, "If two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them" (vs. 19-20). If you are like me, you have perhaps heard this verse quoted apart from the wider context we looked at today, as encouragement to ask God for anything we may want. It is sometimes presented as if two believers can join in prayer for something, and God, in a way, will be forced to comply. I have always been puzzled by this verse, because even when I used to ask for something with another believer in prayer, it didn't always happen. So is Scripture simply wrong?" No. The answer, as always, has to do with understanding Scripture in context. If we pluck this verse out of context, we can only misunderstand it. But when we take Scripture seriously enough, take the time to study it in context, then it becomes clear that this verse is indeed a part of the much larger discourse on church discipline. In other words, if you are dealing with church disputes from an attitude of childlike humility and unending forgiveness, and if you follow these biblically prescribed practices of open, healthy communication, then you are likely to get a good, God-directed result. It was never intended to be an isolated promise that we can approach God as our heavenly water boy to get whatever it is that we, (in league with a friend), in our limited wisdom, may think we want. Indeed, many people turn sour on Christianity when they come to realize isolation and out of context, do not necessarily come true. Every bit of Scripture was written within a particular time and situation, and it must be interpreted that way in order to understand it properly. It is the only way to take Scripture seriously. In conclusion, let me remind us that today's verses begin with the "given" that even in authentic Christian community, there will be conflicts. The Scripture lays out the underlying attitude with which all church conflict should be faced: humility, forgiveness, and open direct communication. And finally, these verses give us the opportunity to remember that all Scripture must be read and interpreted in context.
AMEN