Bible Red Thread 13: The Family of God (Matthew 18)

sermon Gospel of Matthew 18 : Patrice Berger, 2022_12_31, AB Lausanne church

title : Bible Red Thread 13: The Family of God (Matthew 18)

Bible Red Thread 13: The Family of God (Matthew 18)

God does not make his children lonely free spirits, but he integrates them into his family with the ambition that his children can live like Jesus.

Jesus is the hero and God’s plan continues. Thus, all those who have become children of God by trusting in Jesus are brought together by God into a new family, the Church. Confidence in Jesus translates into obedience to Him the perfect servant-leader, and the organization of the family of God is articulated around two axes which reflect the work of reconciliation of Jesus. Thus, in the family of God, Jesus always remains the hero in everything!

Truth and grace…Jesus reveals these two pillars to us in a story as he alone knows how to tell them, in chapter 18 of the Gospel of Matthew. The first pillar of the family of God is the truth. The Bible affirms that there is nothing more horrible for God than the refusal of his authority by one of his creatures, especially if this person is part of the family of God. Just as God warned Adam and Eve that the day they put their trust elsewhere they would die, each member of God’s family must exhort one another to continue to put their trust in God. The second pillar of the family of God is grace. The Bible also affirms that God offers his grace to any creature who asks for it, whatever the situation, because of the work of Jesus, especially if this person is part of the family of God.

Just as God stayed in a relationship with his rebellious creatures waiting for them to return to him, each member of God’s family must always make room for reconciliation regardless of the delay. There is nothing more beautiful than the offer of reconciliation offered by God to those who agree to trust God again thanks to the death of his son! The inestimable value of a life in the image of God must always leave a possibility of reconciliation. There is nothing more beautiful than the offer of reconciliation offered by God to those who agree to trust God again thanks to the death of his son! The inestimable value of a life in the image of God must always leave a possibility of reconciliation. There is nothing more beautiful than the offer of reconciliation offered by God to those who agree to trust God again thanks to the death of his son! The inestimable value of a life in the image of God must always leave a possibility of reconciliation.

United in forgiveness: Truth and grace are characteristics of the process of forgiveness. Thus, the truth reveals the fault and confounds the culprit, but grace brings a solution and the possibility of restoration. Without truth, there is no need for grace, but truth alone offers no prospect of reconciliation. Grace must come first! Because the possibility of being reconciled with God always leads to one asking for a second, a third… or a four hundred and ninetieth chance…

Essential visible consequences: According to Matthew, the attitude of the family of God must permanently value the act of reconciliation permitted by Jesus. By uncovering denials of God’s authority through truth, the family of God values the need for reconciliation without locking a creature into ignorance with eternal consequences. And by keeping the outstretched hand of grace, the family of God values the possibility of reconciliation, which opens us up for eternity. Reconciliation is so essential in family life that Jesus underscores it to be in the midst of his family. For each time the family of God forgives, it makes good the news of the death and resurrection of Jesus and concretizes the offer of reconciliation of God towards his creatures.

Encourage each other to maintain forgiveness: To permanently live a life of forgiveness that combines grace and truth, the family of God must encourage each other, so as not to risk falling into too sharp a truth or an insipid grace. God left his family four complementary ways to do this:

first, read and understand the Bible to always better know how and whom to forgive following the example of God,

second, spending time with the family of God to better experience forgiveness and its effects,

thirdly, to ask God through prayer to help him to forgive better and to live in forgiveness.

and fourth, better remember the forgiveness that God offers in Jesus through the symbol of the Last Supper!

A human edifice to the glory of God!

If the family of God brings together in a heterogeneous way very different humans, with very different histories, the common basis of reconciliation in Jesus and the bond of permanent forgiveness make this diversity a strength. Take the image of the building that Paul uses to speak to the family of God in Ephesus: each basic element of a building taken in isolation may seem futile or redundant, but once put together by effective cement and according to a precise plan, all these elements reveal an architectural work whose utility predefined by the plan becomes visible. In the same way, God wants each member of his family not to remain isolated, but to take their rightful place, in accordance with God’s plan, connected to others by the bond of forgiveness in Jesus for his glory.

REFLECTION
Communicating with God is not difficult, just talk to him in your head or out loud. Communicating with God is essential to ask for his help and to better perceive the truth and the attitude of grace, which is twin to him.

Bible Texts: Available in Darby: Matthew 18, Acts 2, Ephesians 2

Matthew 18 / Darby

1. In that hour the disciples came to Jesus saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of the heavens?
2. And Jesus having called a little child to [him], set it in their midst,
3. and said, Verily I say to you, Unless ye are converted and become as little children, ye will not at all enter into the kingdom of the heavens.
4. Whoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, *he* is the greatest in the kingdom of the heavens;
5. and whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name, receives me.
6. But whosoever shall offend one of these little ones who believe in me, it were profitable for him that a great millstone had been hanged upon his neck and he be sunk in the depths of the sea.
7. Woe to the world because of offences! For it must needs be that offences come; yet woe to that man by whom the offence comes!
8. And if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut it off and cast [it] from thee; it is good for thee to enter into life lame or maimed, [rather] than having two hands or two feet to be cast into eternal fire.
9. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast [it] from thee; it is good for thee to enter into life one-eyed, [rather] than having two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire.
10. See that ye do not despise one of these little ones; for I say unto you that their angels in [the] heavens continually behold the face of my Father who is in [the] heavens.
11. For the Son of man has come to save that which was lost.
12. What think ye? If a certain man should have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, does he not, leaving the ninety and nine on the mountains, go and seek the one that has gone astray?
13. And if it should come to pass that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoices more because of it than because of the ninety and nine not gone astray.
14. So it is not the will of your Father who is in [the] heavens that one of these little ones should perish.
15. But if thy brother sin against thee, go, reprove him between thee and him alone. If he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
16. But if he do not hear [thee], take with thee one or two besides, that every matter may stand upon the word of two witnesses or of three.
17. But if he will not listen to them, tell it to the assembly; and if also he will not listen to the assembly, let him be to thee as one of the nations and a tax-gatherer.
18. Verily I say to you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on the earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on the earth shall be loosed in heaven.
19. Again I say to you, that if two of you shall agree on the earth concerning any matter, whatsoever it may be that they shall ask, it shall come to them from my Father who is in [the] heavens.
20. For where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them.
21. Then Peter came to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? until seven times?
22. Jesus says to him, I say not to thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven.
23. For this cause the kingdom of the heavens has become like a king who would reckon with his bondmen.
24. And having begun to reckon, one debtor of ten thousand talents was brought to him.
25. But he not having anything to pay, [his] lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and his children, and everything that he had, and that payment should be made.
26. The bondman therefore falling down did him homage, saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay thee all.
27. And the lord of that bondman, being moved with compassion, loosed him and forgave him the loan.
28. But that bondman having gone out, found one of his fellow-bondmen who owed him a hundred denarii. And having seized him, he throttled him, saying, Pay [me] if thou owest anything.
29. His fellow-bondman therefore, having fallen down [at his feet], besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee.
30. But he would not, but went away and cast him into prison, until he should pay what was owing.
31. But his fellow-bondmen, having seen what had taken place, were greatly grieved, and went and recounted to their lord all that had taken place.
32. Then his lord, having called him to [him], says to him, Wicked bondman! I forgave thee all that debt because thou besoughtest me;
33. shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-bondman, as *I* also had compassion on thee?
34. And his lord being angry delivered him to the tormentors till he paid all that was owing to him.
35. Thus also my heavenly Father shall do to you if ye forgive not from your hearts every one his brother.

Bible Red Thread 13: The Family of God (Matthew 18)

Bible Red Thread 13: The Family of God (Matthew 18)

Matthew 18 / Darby

Related Links / Notes