Matthew 18:15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
If a person wants to know the truth, context is always important. A verse taken out of context can develop a completely new and strange doctrine.
The ecumenical/New Evangelical movement loves verses 19-20 of this passage. Jesus spoke those words in the context of order in the church. Biblical order does not come in a vacuum. The ecumenical/N.E. movement does not care about Biblical order. It wants unity but it tries to find that through compromise.
When working with fractions in mathematics, a rule that applies is find the common denominator. Then when the sum is arrived at, it needs to be broken down to the lowest common denominator.
In true faith/religion it is not a matter of a humanistic common denominator. God is the Authority. He sets the rules. He is the Creator and He has never left His place as THE AUTHORITY. Adam learned that the hard way. Cain also learned it the hard way. We can follow that through the entire Bible.
In verses 19-20 of our text, Jesus spoke of agreement. That agreement is when God’s standard of Truth is adhered to and any disagreement is dealt with, having that standard as the authority.
We see a unity being promoted today that is built upon an ignorance of Bible doctrine, and the simplistic talk of believing in Jesus. The Jesus of the ecumenical/N.E. movement is not the Jesus of the Bible. He is a cool dude who can be manipulated to fit in with whatever the common theme is. He would make a good politician but a bad leader.
As we noted yesterday, the Jesus of the majority of Christendom today would reside in a heaven that is just as corrupt as the earth is now.
When God told Moses He was going to direct him to lead the nation of Israel out of Egypt and into a land flowing with milk and honey, the point was to encourage the children of Israel with something much better than they had ever known. Eternal life is a precious gift from God. The individual that has eternal life can weather the storms of this life successfully. He or she knows there is a true “silver lining” at the end of it all. There is a true place of rest. That is what I am looking for and I know it is real because God says so.
In order to get to that ultimate goal, the Bible tells us there must be a change of heart and a change of life for those who would enter heaven. That change can only happen through the new birth. God has to step in the path of the sinner and He has to change the heart and the life of the sinner and turn him into a saint. The Bible tells us the only way this can be done is when the sinner turns to God in repentance and trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
Jesus called His disciples and He stated to them: “follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus said He would change these men into something they were not at the present. Those that were fishermen, had their sights on full nets of fish that could be sold so that they could live. Those fish were not well treated. The nets were filled and then hauled into the ship and the fish would be flopping around and they would be hurt and they would eventually die and be cut up and fried up and chewed up by people and so on.
Jesus did not treat people like that. He loved them. He confronted sin and exposed false teachers. He warned the people not to follow the false teachers. The false teachers became very angry with Jesus and they hated Him enough to want Him dead. Jesus did not fit the common corruption of verses 19-20 of our text.
In John 21 Jesus addressed Peter’s denial of Him, and after dealing with that, He told Peter to follow Him. He did not give Peter the option of making up a more fleshly palatable message. In Acts 4 we see that Peter was not interested in the false teachers’ ideas. He was convinced that the Jesus of the Bible, the One he spent some 3 1/2 years with, was the One that needed to be preached and believed. In Galatians 2 Peter lost sight of that Jesus, and he was unnecessarily causing divisions among the saints and the apostle Paul had to rebuke him and stop him from corrupting the unity that is found in Christ.
The way that leads to life is a narrow way. It is defined by God/Jesus Christ. Man is not asked to adjust that message for his particular generation. Man is commanded to repent and be saved and to submit to the message that is consistent throughout the Bible. Those who are truly saved, have the love of God in their hearts and they do not want to see their loved ones or anyone else going to hell. They care enough about souls, that they will accept being slandered and mocked on this earth. They want to see others know God’s peace.
Today is the Lord’s Day. It is another day to stop the busyness of life and go to a true, Bible-believing church where you can be challenged and encouraged to walk with God in accordance with His inspired and preserved Word. Don’t miss out.
Pastor Bartel