Notes to the Lord: Why Confront?

Scripture Reflection Matthew 18
17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. 18"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Lord Jesus--In the middle of this teaching on discipline and leadership in the kingdom there is this teaching on the importance of the value of community in the fellowship. You are putting an exclamation point put on the nature of leadership with your church. This is the reason why there is the need for loving consistent confrontation of known sin.

There is power in the community of believers when they come together in agreement. There is power when people come together in agreement and you are the focus.

There are only two times when you use the word "church" before the cross. It is here and after Peter's confession of faith at Caesarea Philippi. Here you are extending the same power to the church at its smallest unit as it has at any size.

Binding and loosing along with agreement toward a goal are powerful in the hands of believers. Holding on and letting go...binding and loosing are essential functions of the church. What are we willing to allow in the fellowship? More importantly who are we willing to allow into the circle that is looked to for leadership and direction? What gets promoted and focused on? If this element is overlooked and unattended God can not bless.

Lord Jesus--I can mess this up so easily. At times I want to hang on when I really should just let go. Then there are times when I want to run not walk away from where you really want me to be. Your leadership in the binding...hanging on...and the loosing...the letting go is essential. As it is ends up being expressed in the life of the church it becomes even more essential.

19"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

Lord Jesus--Agreement toward a goal in prayer is powerful and decisive in the life of the church. It is the beginning of where power is released. The promise of your attendance where two are gatheredd in your name is tied to the same power that sent you to Earth and that was demonstrated when you were raised from the dead.

Why confront? It seems so simple here in this quiet place...that if resurrection power is to be at work among your people then it takes people who are not defocused by sin that so easily entangles us. In the world out there it can get so confusing at times.

Lord Jesus--Let your power be released in my life, help me to allow your Holy Spirit to shape the binding and the loosing in my life, bring people into my life that create that kind of accountability that keeps me focused on the essentials...who you are and who you have called me to be.

Notes to the Lord:How do found sheep treat each other?

Scripture Reflection:
Matthew 18

Lord Jesus--I never really thought about context of these teachings. They all string together from the original question of: who is greatest in the kingdom. The backdrop being Jerusalem is in the distance and you are working your way toward the cross.

So really this is instruction given to self important people all of whom need to grow and fit into the structure of your coming kingdom^. Fitting all the pieces together Lord Jesus, it must have been difficult to be so close to meeting your most difficult hour and to see that those who would be responsible for the mission be so...shallow, and self absorbed. So you called them to entering the kingdom child like and reminded them of the reality of where they came from...just lost sheep.

The reality is Lord I can be self absorbed and shallow...and yet you continue to work with me. You continue to spend mercy and grace on me. Even in the looming shadow of the cross you continued to teach these men, so you continue to shape and form me within the context that you find me. Thank you Lord for your grace.

15"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.'

In the middle of life people mess up and here you give clear direction on how to handle it. You remind me, that I all to often will be the one needing correction. So how do we treat each other? Directly is what you called for. You call me to honesty in relationships, no denial or looking the other way, but frontal view, face to face, without distraction. If that does not work, then it is time for witnesses.

¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

There is a time to walk away from a relationship. I tend to err on the side of attempting to make things work long after it is clear that repentance is not going to occur. Lord Jesus there are times when you are exactly right. There comes a time when listening more just confirms the sin.

How do lost sheep treat one another? Directly, honestly with witnesses if necessary. Realizing that sin can not be ignored or it will eat away at the health of the whole. Where is mercy and hope? Hope that repentance will come...hope that walking the other way will bring change.

Lord Jesus in this day that is coming soon...lead and guide me. If there are those situations where confrontation is needed, help me to face the truth with grace, mercy and honesty. Lord Jesus work.

Notes to the Lord:Wandering Around

Scripture Reflections:
Matthew 18
¹⁰"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven

Lord Jesus--There is truth in the thought that every one on this journey of faith is really a child. There is no time to look down on these little ones because I am one of them....and there is connection with the Father for those who understand the nature of their dependence.

Lord Jesus--Remind me of my child status in the kingdom. I like the thought of my angel's having eye contact with the Father. So much can be communicated with a simple look. The Father loves lost sheep...in fact he has been on a search and restore mission for the last two millennium.

¹²"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?

Lord Jesus-- I can relate to just wandering off. Sometimes it is just the result of grazing, nothing really intentional about it at all. Just one blade of grass at a time and the grass is just a bit more tastier on the other side of this little fence. And after all the Master really doesn't want me to be limited. I am so glad that you came after me...and continue to come after me when I just wander from the task...you know me so well.

¹³And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. ¹⁴In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

Lord Jesus--Thank you for leaving the Father's side and the halls of heaven to reach out to lost sheep who were only thinking of the next blade of grass and lost track of the way back.

So how does this fit with the original question of who is the greatest in the Kingdom?

It is those who have identified first that they are humbly just children in the Kings court nothing more that are greatest...and at the same time are willing to own the mission of connecting with as many other wandering children as possible, to bring them back to the Father.

Lord Jesus--Remind me of the mission today..

Notes to the Lord:The Eternal in the Everyday

Scripture Reflection

Matthew 18 6But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

Lord Jesus--So who are the little ones that you are talking about here? If I have to enter the kingdom as a child then...everyone who follows your call is a little one...a cared for one. Each little one is a person who is of infinite worth and value. A person who steps are watched over and guided as they learn the steps of the faith walk.

7"Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!

Lord Jesus--This is a fatally flawed world that we live in, a fallen world. A place where evil for the time being has entrance. This is not the way that it was intend. There is a reason for sorrow.

8If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

The importance of my life impacting those around me positively, pushing them toward you, is so important that pieces of me thrown away are less important.

Lord Jesus--In this day help me to show your grace in my life in positive, affirming ways to those you have entrusted to my care. The eternal is lived out in the everyday.

Notes to the Lord:Entering Like a Child

Matthew 18 1At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

Lord Jesus--The context of this question is just so twisted and sad as I think about it. On the way to Jerusalem and death awaiting with the unseen battles that must have been playing out in the background of your mind and heart, and those closest to you are questioning status.

What a classic picture of asking the exactly wrong question at exactly the wrong time that lets out all too much of the real condition of the heart. I am certain I have done this same thing...and broken your heart in the process. Forgive me Lord for bad timing and worse a heart that at times is just too small and too case hardened.

2He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Lord Jesus--Entrance into your kingdom is not based on status, on who we are, or what we have done...but on humbly accepting mercy and grace that is unmerited and unearned. Remind me again Lord of what you have done and who I am...a person in need of mercy each day.

5"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.

Lord Jesus--It makes me wonder about all the welcomes I have given and the reasons for them. It is really so simple a welcome in your name to little ones is really a welcome of you. Remind me of that next Sunday as I am greeting the children. I am really greeting you...and welcoming you into your own house. What a picture...Jesus welcomed in a baby's toothless grin. I love it.

How I welcome those who have little status in this world is one of the major indicators of spiritual health and the gospel being lived out with grace in my life. Lord Jesus help me to live out your call in this coming day.

Notes to the Lord:Everything Does Not Turn Out the Way We Would Like

Scripture Reflections:Matthew 17

22When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. 23They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life." And the disciples were filled with grief.

Lord Jesus--I never really thought about it before but these two incident really go together...your coming death and the temple tax are a part of the same puzzle...a part of the same rejection.

You were rejected by those you came to save. Was that the way it had to be? Not if I really believe in free will. The religious elite of your day had a much a choice as I do...and they rejected you.

But for the disciples large theological questions would have to wait. They were cycling through their grief and grieving takes energy and time. Step one in the greiving process is denial...that is the reason for the frequent reminders of what going to Jerusalem meant.

24After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?"25"Yes, he does," he replied.When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. "What do you think, Simon?" he asked. "From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own sons or from others?" 26"From others," Peter answered.

Lord Jesus--This was another teaching moment for Peter...showing him in another context that those who were in charge of temple worship did not accept your leadership. They did not accept your identity, they did not see you as a son but as someone who was "other."

"Then the sons are exempt," Jesus said to him. 27"But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."

Remind me again Lord that you are the one who has all the dollars and cents worked out. You own the cattle on a thousand hills and all of the nickels, numbers and noses are available to you.

You are the one who knows where all the fish are and what is in their mouths. Teach me to trust that you are in control of what appear to be problems that crop up in my way. You are in control and know what needs to happen. Each incident can be a teaching moment even on the way to Jerusalem...there were lessons that needed to be learned and filed away. Continue your shaping process in my life Lord Jesus.

Notes to the Lord:Where does my faith end?

Scripture Reflection: Matthew 17

¹⁴When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. ¹⁵"Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. ¹⁶I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him."

Lord Jesus--I can understand the way the disciples must have felt...they had watched you and they had been delegated this responsibility. Yet they could not complete the task. I know that I have learned from failures...but they are never comfortable.

¹⁷"O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me." ¹⁸Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.

All it took was a word from you and the boy was relieved of this demon that had chased him and made his life twisted and crisis driven. A future was given, a family restored by your simple word. The same voice that had spoken creation into existence spoke mercy and hope into a life that had seen to much fire and water, too much oppression.

Lord Jesus--Speak the words of power where my life has been twisted and crisis driven. There are places where I can go only by those words of power being spoken...words of release and hope come from your grace and unmerited mercy.

19Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" 20He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.'

It is all about faith and growing faith in my life. "I believe Lord, Help my unbelief"...comes to mind. That was a father's prayer in a similar situation. I haven't seen many moving mountains so, I think we are all in about the same situation...growing faith a bit at a time. Lord Jesus have your way in my heart and life and find ways to grow my faith in the days ahead.

Upfront and personal
So what about the times when my faith is just not up to the challenge? It is to the point where my faith ends that you bring me again and again...it is the only way to see miracles happen. I have to come face to face with the impossible and allow you to work. I can see the places where the impossible needs to happen Lord.

So my prayer right now is Jesus work...push my faith down the road a bit further today.