The Life of Jesus Christ R B Thieme III Berachah Church September 24, 2014 Notes Verse 15 You should always go into a circumstance like this with great circumspection. You are not interested in the sin against you, you are more interested in results. Do not get into he says, she says - this goes nowhere. Matt 18:15a “If your brother sins against you, go and show his fault to him in private” You simply talk - it is like naming sins - not in an emotional light. The injured believer, the one sinned against, must go privately (monos) alone to the offending party. A very private conversation. The goal is to first declare the injury, not accusing or confronting, but for the purpose for calmly expressing any damage done to the soul of the injured party. You can handle problems as you mature with problem solving devices. This is beyond that. We are talking about a problem that must be dealt with. You are not to play the blame game or become emotional. You must fight against getting emotional. The injury must be removed as a stumbling block to the believer who has been sinned against. After the meeting, the maximum result would be that both parties be at peace with each other Mark 9:50 One on One meeting is how you handle problematic situation. If this conflict is not handled, then the rift can become a problem in the larger body of the church. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. Won - kerdaino To gain By this one on one meeting, the injured party, if successful has gained something that he did not have before. The object of the meeting, peace with his brother. The problem has been solved, the estrangement is over. Forgiveness is facilitated - then both just move on, not necessarily to a close association but at least to a relationship without hostility and mental attitude sins. 1. This is not peace at any price, reconciliation at any cost. 2. Unity of two people or reconciliation can never trump doctrine. 3. A believer can never make peace at the cost of compromising doctrinal principals. That does happen. 4. This private meeting should not be held to iron out doctrinal differences. That is not the purpose. You are not in a war about doctrine. This is not how to handle doctrinal disagreement. 5. There is no reconciliation between false and true doctrine. Between anyone that perpetrates false doctrine and you. Unfortunately in Christianity, we have a country that loves compromise - we thrive on compromise. You do not compromise with false doctrine to have unity and peace. 6. There does not have to be antagonism between those who are not on the same doctrinal page as you are. But changing doctrine and divine viewpoint for the purpose of getting along of unity is wrong. And this is happening so often in churches today. One of the things about mega churches is you have all sorts of people coming through the door - they come for different purposes. Some come for doctrine, in mega churches doctrine has to be watered down in order to bring bodies in. Pure doctrinal churches often have smaller congregations for that very reason. Theologians have compromised doctrinal principals for sake of unity throughout history. Denominations have become apostate for this reason. Denominations that were strong teachers of doctrine, have now become apostate. Doing good is what they think Christianity is all about. Evangelical churches have watered down Gospel to be inclusive of other viewpoints. Great example of this: churches have in this controversy over gay marriage, alienated some people Do not compromise scripture in order to be united Scripture divides families. Churches that live and die on doctrine cannot afford to compromise on human viewpoints. If the situation does not improve and the matter remains unresolved, you have the problem still, but impersonal love must be exercised. Sometimes this means that you exercise it from afar. It may be a matter of separation instead of unity. No vindictiveness, no rancor. The problem can be a stumbling block but does not have to mean it affects your mental attitude. Injury in soul of believer must not overwhelm spiritual growth. No matter the problems you face you cannot afford to destroy your spiritual life. If the meeting is a failure and the brother does not listen, then the next step in the process must take place. It may widen to others who are not a part of it if it continues. Matt 18:16 But if he (brother who has sinned) does not listen to you, [the offender refuses to abate the problem] you now have someone who reacted to the meeting, refused to recognize that they are a problem at all - often an arrogance or just a nasty personality - then Take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or more witnesses, every fact may be confirmed. The leadership of the church is involved in the next three steps of this process. If this is the situation, you don’t gather your three best friends and gang up on the other party. You don’t take biased witnesses who have made up their minds on the subject. You have filled their mind with the evil going on - that also goes with personal affairs - when you cannot resolve the problem between the two of you, it does not help to bring in other parties who agree with you. Do not take biased witnesses to solve this problem. Trying to attempt a reconciliation by a force of numbers. First principal: fair and impartial They must be good witnesses, those who will evaluate impartially and fairly. This is what we might call a “grass roots” investigation - it is a meeting with the two parties to gather facts. The facts deal with personal injury. That does not trump impersonal love in the soul. We have two parallel things going on: this ongoing personal injury is causing a problem for you. Impersonal love should run coterminous with the injury. It does not solve the problem, but it solves the problem in your soul so you can maintain a relaxed mental attitude. 1. The two or three are simply fact gatherers. 2. They are investigating the facts for the purpose of making a judgment, rendering an opinion. 3. They cannot take part in the process in this second step or render an opinion or judgment if they are not aware of the situation. 4. That is their initial activity in this conflict, in the second step. Find out all of the circumstances. This is what happens in a court of law. 5. Therefore, the two or three are enlisted to confirm facts, not to take sides or to enforce a solution at this point. Where do I find these two or three witnesses who can do this 6. Reconciliation must be volitional on the part of the two parties involved, if not, then this step occurs. In stating this, the Lord drew from the Old Testament Deut 19:15 Concerning witnesses Our Lord would have made a good Lawyer, He wrote the code. He would have been fair and no technicalities involved. Basis for some of our own law Deut 19:15 A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or sin he has committed. On the evidence of two or three witnesses, a matter shall be confirmed. Two or three witnesses establish the facts of the matter. The facts are laid out. These disciples get this part. This all came about because of their own problems with each other, desire to be greatest and walk over other ones. That is why the Lord is going into all of this. The disciples will plainly understand this reference to the Mosaic Law - it was part of the process. The Lord applies this process to problem of sin against another brother. This becomes a precedent for handling cases between two warring persons. 1. The two or three witnesses that verse 16 demands must thoroughly investigate the facts concerning the offense. 2. This is placing the matter of a problem in a court of two or three inside the church. Not outside. Going to sue someone is not the route to go. 3. These witnesses or judges must not be emotionally involved, they must not be prejudiced in any way, they must have best interest of both parties in mind. A larger factor involved here. 4. The facts that are presented by one person, one witness, especially the offended party, the one who is accusing is not necessarily the whole picture. There is always two sides to any situation. There may be extenuated circumstances - there is a reason for these two or three impartial witnesses. 5. Both parties should be interviewed as well as anyone else having direct knowledge. This works in so many areas of life. Not just in the church or the judicial process. Works perfectly in a military situation. Investigated inside the unit. Decision is rendered. It reflects on the larger unit if not handled at lower levels. The lower eschelon in which these kinds of problems are handled, the better for everyone. 6. All facts are weighed in context of overall issue. These two witnesses don’t begin process by taking side of accuser then attacking the one accused of the sin. 7. This is a much more formal proceeding for handling a dispute and issue can become a more widely known problem Witnesses may talk to some people outside situation to gather facts. This step should be kept as private as possible. The investigators must keep their mouths closed so the issue does not become an object of gossip or taking sides. This procedure has certainly occurred on a number of occasions in Berachah Church. Has been handled in framework of Biblical directive of verse 16 Any problem, injury, sin between two people, if resolved on own between these two people, will not be brought to level of two or three evaluators. People work out problems based on doctrine in soul. When people have doctrine and one person has injured another, it may be a simple let’s stop it. Should the injury not be resolved between the two, then the impartial hearing is called. IN our case, the formal witnesses would be from members of the Board of Deacons. The most impartial in a church. 1. Anyone with such a conflict with another believer in Berachah Church, which cannot be resolved using first step of verse 15 should approach Board of Deacons in order to enlist help with problems. That means this has now gone into the judicial process. Members of Board of Deacons stand from time to time so you can recognize them. 2. This is where witnesses come from in Berachah Church 3. These witnesses will maintain privacy of the parties involved. 4. These two or three deacons will impartially gather the facts, so as to render a decision. 5. Once they have gathered the facts, then the offending party is called in. 6. The facts are laid out by the official witnesses to the offending party. Now it carries more weight than just the person themselves. 7. If correction and reconciliation is affected, it is over. If not, what then takes place is what Matt 18:17a demands. “If he refuses to listen to them, the two or three witnesses, tell it to the church”
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 04:21:20 +0000
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