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{ Responsibility } “If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.” Matthew 5:23-24 In this Scripture the Greek word for “reconciled” is diallasso which means “to change thoroughly”. It involves restoring a relationship that was broken. Two other Greek words that are translated as “reconciled” are: katallasso which means “to return to favor” and apokatallasso which means “to bring back a former state of harmony.” Matt 5:23 is preceded by a defense of the precepts of the Old Testament. Matt. 5: 17-20. “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Vs 20 Then in Vs 22 the Lord Jesus declares that as we hold onto anger against our brother and we defame him with “name calling” then we shall be even guilty enough to risk a sentence to go into the “fiery hell.” ……….then, with these two areas as background Jesus begins Vs 23 above with a “ IF THEREFORE”……….The purpose of the preceding discussion is to establish how very, very important our unreconciled, broken fellowship with our brother in Christ is to our own welfare and our own relationship with Christ Himself.
When our
hearts are changed, we can have completely new responses to those around us. This Scripture demonstrates three factors that create the need for reconciliation: 1. Pride Belittling remarks reveal pride in either party. Jesus, in vs 22 delivers instruction that to resort to name calling is a “very serious offense.” He discusses it just after reminding the Disciples in vs 21 that “thou shalt not commit murder.” Since pride is putting ourselves above others, even in the place of God, we naturally react in anger to anyone who does not respect or honor the “exalted” position in which we have placed ourselves. 2. Anger
The one who angrily calls another names is judging himself. “Do not be eager in your heart to be angry, for anger resides in the bosom of fools.” Ecclesiastes 7:9 Scripture makes it clear that killing does not come just by means of a knife or gun, but also by the words we speak. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue; and those that love it shall eat its fruit.” Proverbs 18:21 3. Cutting off fellowship The ultimate act of pride is to decide that we do not need the people whom God has placed in our lives. How does cutting off a person relate to murder ? One who intends to end the life of another through premeditated murder goes through the same decision-making process as the one who cuts off another in his spirit. No wonder the Scripture says that “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” I John 3:15
Every reminder of a past offense is like another block in a wall of separation.
“A brother offended is
harder to be won than a strong city.”
Proverbs 18:19
How does God get our attention to make reconciliation ? Our tendency is to compensate for personal guilt by doing greater service for God. However, God is saying to us that He would rather have us in fellowship with those we have offended than to give sacrifice to Him. “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.” I Samuel 15:22 In fact, we can never gain in sacrifice what is lost in disobedience. Any attempts to worship God after having cut off another person in our spirits is “hypocrisy”, God asks, “If a man say, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he that loves not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loves God love his brother also.” I John: 4:20-21. How does a wrong focus hinder reconciliation ? When we have been offended by another person, it is natural for us to focus on that offense and how “wrong” the person was in doing it. What we fail to see is that one’s reaction, pride, or lack of love is also wrong in God’s sight and is being looked at by the other person as the greater offense. The very idea that we are not concentrating on our own offense is further evidence of pride and self-justification. WE will be able to achieve true reconciliation only as we finally take full responsibility for our own faults and realize the we have sinned against God and the person whom we offended. Seven Principles of Reconciliation 1. Reconciliation is usually motivated by God’s reproofs for unresolved offenses.
A clear
conscience is so vital that God states that without it the faith of a Believer
will become shipwrecked.
“And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck.” I Timothy 1:19
2. Reconciliation begins with thorough personal examination.
3. Reconciliation requires us to cry out to the Lord.
“And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who did say to me , Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will prosper you, I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to me; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me, the mothers with the children. For You did say, I will surely prosper you, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.” Gen 32:9-12. · As Jacob cried out to the Lord his words were both fervent and effectual. (James 5:16) Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
Christ came
not to be served but to serve. He calls us to also take on the role of a
servant, especially to those we have offended.
“For I say, through
the grace given to me I say to every man that is among you not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound
judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”
Romans 12:3
4. Reconciliation involves giving a gift to the one we have offended as eagerly as we give to God.
5. Reconciliation requires turning all pride into a spirit of serving.
Reconciliation means giving up the right to be “right.”
“Only by
pride cometh contention.” Prov. 13:10
6. Reconciliation requires sincere repentance.
7. Reconciliation requires a complete release from the one offended.
How does this command reveal Christ ? 1. He initiated reconciliation.
2. He humbled Himself.
O “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant.” Phil. 2:5-8
3. He destroyed the walls of separation with His love and truth.
4. He made restitution.
“Forasmuch as we know that we were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from our vain conversation received by tradition from our fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot” I Pet. 1:18-19
5. He anguished over our reconciliation.
“His sweat was as it were great drops of blood.” Luke 22:
6. He demonstrated unconditional love and complete forgiveness of our sin.
“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-33
7. He strengthens fellowship through the Body of Christ.
“…until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:13
Some are
willing to reconcile but continue to rehearse the offense. When God reconciles,
He puts our sins as far as the East is from the West---which is infinite
separation.
“As far as
the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
Psalm 103:12
Three Ways to “Be Reconciled”
Completely
By Roger Magnuson
1. Do
it
“Personally”
a) The
Way of Ignoring
b) The
Way of Involving Others
c) The
Way of Indirection
2.
Do it
“Promptly”
a) Make
it a Priority
b)
The
more you wait the more you pay
3.
Do it
“Perfectly”
a)
Do it in Earnest
b)
Do it in Entirety
c)
Do it Excuse-free
Email: info@jimrushingonline.com |
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