Sermon Notes Mt. 18:15-20, Rom. 13:8-14 9/4

It startling to realize that the word, church, almost never appears in the gospels. when it does, as in Matthew here, it’s about conflict. Some spend their lives looking for a perfect church and die disappointed. Some avoid church because no church is perfect. this simple method of church decision making assumes some basic truths about human behavior. Now I’m not sure if it means that someone is admonishing a sinner, but it sure sounds to me as if someone is hurting a fellow member of the church, and that rift needs some attention, tender loving care, and some healing. One communication is fraught with misunderstanding. Two conflict brings out bad features in communication. We make assumptions about an opponent and they are rarely charitable. It reminds me when someone asks me if they can be frank, a compliment never follows, or constructive criticism never has a word of praise or a compliment connected to it. The process described here is an attempt to make people aware of a wrong. If the issue persists, the communication gets deepened with some others present. may we could consider them as mediators or therapists in our time. Finally it goes to the whole church. In our system, I could see its meaning that session would take it up. One of the neglected functions of sessions is this sort of hearing panel.

Before it would get to that level, it is to be a a personal level. It is spoken and seeks to be healed. Notice it is not to nag, not to admonish even, not to correct but to seek reconciliation. It is not a secret; it is not a thing to be guessed at; it is not where the one hurt pouts. this is a community, and mutual aid and forgiveness is part of the glue of community.

I’ve been a pastor in small churches in Indiana. When we would have a small gathering for a Bible study, as is often the case in our 9AM study here on Sundays, someone would often say where two or three are gathered in my name. But look at the context of that quotation. Its context is dealing with conflict within the church to come to an agreement.

We give up on people too easily. On one hand, the remark about the tax collector seems to sound as if they are outside the scope of the community. Yet, consistently those are the people that Jesus consistently tries to bring into the fold. Yet Paul notes excommunicating people in I Corinthians, but I assume that the repentant would be welcomed back into the fold. Perhaps, people will isolate themselves as often as a board would actively remove them when a dispute occurs. After all. this passage follows on the heels of a shepherd seeking a lost sheep. After all, gathered together means being brought together again; it has a sense of coming to an agreement, what attorneys call a meeting of the minds in a contract setting.

In seminary , we had a superb pastoral care teacher, Christie Neuger. To help our anxiety, she always said that we never entered a hospital room or pastoral office alone; the presence of Christ always made room for us and our encounter made room for Christ. For our text, I love to have the sense the Christ is present with us as we seek to further the good of the community.
In sum, Paul would have us see attempts at community building and development in the congregation as a practical aspect of the working out of love. Love is feeling, of course, but it is sustained by action and often made possible by structure. Learning to deal with conflict is learning to love.