Christ's Commission

We're finishing our series on the church. We've been looking at a variety of passages. Our series began with Ephesians 4, where Paul calls Christians to walk in a worthy manner of the calling they've received. And if you're here with us, I encourage you to look at those passages. If not, you can see how walking worthy requires a body. Walking worthy means we're members of one body being built up together. And then the series focused on the things we do as a church. And all of these focus specifically on things done for us that were then to do with one another. For instance, we were loved. Therefore, we're called to love one another. We've been forgiven. Therefore, we're called to forgive one another. Where we've been served, Christ came and considered each of us more important than himself. And so we're to do the same to one another. We're going to end our series in the church with a passage we've already heard, the passages we've already heard. The high calling that Christ gives us when he declares to the apostles, when he teaches them what the church is and what the church does. Now, these are weighty passages. These are fairly difficult passages. Much of the last few hundred years of the Christian church has debated what these passages mean. And so this morning, I wanted us to walk through these specific passages. And really, what we're going to do is what's very ambitious. I mean, let's go ahead and admit what we're doing is ambitious. We're going to be looking at Matthew's theology of the church. To do that, I want us to go ahead and get ready for how Matthew ends, which we haven't read yet. I want us to look at Matthew 28. Matthew 28. If you're using a Pew Bible, that'll be found on page 835. This is a well-known passage. I'm not just preaching this because Mark and Megan are here. I believe these are very instructive words, not just for those going out to proclaim the gospel, but for everyone who is a Christian who's supposed to be making disciples among one another. Hear our passage, and I want you to listen to this, because there's a real problem here in that verse 19 makes it sound like there's two commands, go and make. There's one clear command and everything else qualifies it. The command is make disciples. The church is to be making disciples. So as you hear this, hear that command and how Jesus tells us to make disciples. Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. The best way to really read this is make disciples as you're going, baptizing, teaching. Make disciples is the key controlling command and we're supposed to be doing that as we go by baptizing, by teaching them to obey all that I've commanded. This is the commission for the church. So what does it mean to make a disciple? What does it mean for us to make a disciple? A disciple is someone who denies themselves and follows Christ. So if we're going to be making disciples, we're supposed to be helping people understand they're sinners who need a Savior so that they're denying themselves, they're denying their sin so that they're following Christ. Someone who's a disciple is redeemed by Christ so that they repent. A disciple is someone who listens so that they learn how to deny themselves and follow Christ. The church makes disciples by pointing one another to Christ, by helping us understand our sin, by helping us understand Christ is the solution to our sin. He's died for it, the penalty. It's also the power of Christ who's given us the spirit so that we can repent. Something important I want us to see because this is the Great Commission. The Great Commission is not just evangelism. The Great Commission is what we're supposed to all be doing every time we're together. Jefferson Port Baptist Church, we're supposed to be making disciples of one another. You don't ever arrive. We're always constantly supposed to be growing less sinful and more like Christ. I also want to point out something that this is not just for pastors. Every believer is supposed to be making disciples of other believers. Disciples make other disciples. Well, when are you supposed to make disciples? As you go. When are you not going? Everywhere you go, you're supposed to be making a disciple. It reminds us of Deuteronomy 6. At home, on the street, in the market, at work, in your gathering. There's no time in which this is not supposed to be our primary engagement. Because if we're doing everything as a disciple, everything we do will be pointing to making disciples. But we need to make sure we're present and intentional to do this in our gathering. The other command, baptizing them, or the other way we fulfill this command, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is how the church recognizes and confirms a new believer. This is how a new believer makes his first public profession. I give up that old sinful life and the judgment that it brought upon me, and I believe in Jesus. And so we baptize a new believer, showing he's dead to his old ways. He's dead to the judgment that was once his because he's identified with Christ, who died on the cross in his place. And we raise him up out of the water to show that just as Christ has risen from the grave, he or she has new life, only in Christ. That's why we baptize them. Baptism means a new identity. That new identity is formed by God because we baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. One of my senior professors said the next phrase is the great omission in the Great Commission, the line we don't like, so it's oftentimes not quoted, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Jesus says that if we're gonna be making disciples, we have to teach them what Christ taught. Now, that should seem pretty obvious. If they're going to be disciples of Christ, they have to follow Christ. I think the problem is, we oftentimes lack our own wisdom, and so we want people to look more like us, so we try to give them what we think, rather than saying, this is what Christ commanded, this is how you follow him. I wanna share something with you that may shock or surprise some of you. Today, in the 21st century, I fear that to be a disciple is summed up like this, doing your daily devotionals by yourself. That's a great emphasis and let me be clear, you should be reading the Bible by yourself every day because this is a great privilege because if we look through history, most Christians have not had that pleasure. We get to live in the age after the printing press. We get to live in the age where you don't have to be wealthy and rich and royal to possess a copy of the scriptures. We have to appreciate, brothers and sisters, is that most Christians throughout the world, and even in places now, did not possess a copy of scripture. So in order to know what Christ commanded, how did they learn? They depended upon the church. The church was the place where Christians had to come to hear those commands and to be conformed to those commands. I say that because I fear we oftentimes think of ourselves as independent interpreters. We're really what Christ has called us to be as interdependent interpreters. I know they sound very similar, but they're very different. We're not independent interpreters. We're supposed to be interdependent. We're supposed to be relying upon one another because if the Holy Spirit gave us these words from Christ and the Holy Spirit dwells in each believer, we're supposed to be able to help one another know and understand and follow every command of scripture. I believe God has designed it that his people hear his word from other people. Individuals is a great danger to being a faithful Christian. This really is summed up in the great difference between the priesthood of every believer and the priesthood of all believers. There's a significant difference there. The priesthood of every believer says, I am my own judge, and I'm going to determine what I think scripture says. The priesthood of all believers says, we are supposed to be responsible for one another as we come to God's word together. The priesthood of all believers is what we should be believing and practicing. Now, I wanted to give us the Great Commission because these are sacred words where Christ has told us what we're supposed to do, making disciples. And as we turn to his teaching in the church, we have to realize that these are things Christ commanded. These are things we must do. These are our marching orders. This is our job description. This is where Christ has said, this is the church what the church does, who the church is. Before we end, I wanna just make note of one thing. Jesus says, all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me. Christ has all authority. That's the first line. Look at the last line. And behold, I am with you always. That's all we can sing, those bold words. of a mighty fortress. We can sing the bold words of how firm a foundation. All authority is with us if Christ is with us. That is what gives us the confidence to believe what he said and to do it. So Christ has all authority. He's with us. Let me say a summary statement of what I hope to accomplish today. The church has been given the responsibility to represent Christ on earth. It's our responsibility. The church has been given the authority to represent Christ on earth. Now I wanna make sure we hear both of those words, responsibility and authority. These two words have to go hand in hand. If you have a responsibility, you have to have the authority to actually do it. The church has that responsibility and we can be encouraged that Christ has given us the authority to do it. Now, here's where I think we oftentimes get in trouble with ourselves. We oftentimes like to have authority, but we don't want responsibility. We like for other people to have responsibility, but we don't like for them to have authority. We have to recognize these two things always come together. So here's the two main points that I hope to see today. Christ has called us the church, to have responsibility over our confession of Christ's teaching. There's a responsibility of our confession of Christ's teaching. And there's another responsibility, and that is our conformity to Christ's teaching. We have two primary responsibilities based upon Matthew 16 and 18. Matthew 16 is an authority over the confession of Christ's teaching. The second, Matthew 18, conformity to Christ teaching. Now I realize this has already been kind of awkward. These are thick passages, and we just celebrated the 4th of July. We just celebrated our autonomy and our throwing off of authority with parades and fireworks and cookouts. This rubs against us in every possible way to talk about authority. But Christ, if he is our head, He has authority. When he speaks, it is with authority. We are not meant to be independent. We are meant to be under his authority, living together under his word. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that we have this word, and while it is heavy, it is rich. I pray that you would help us, Lord, to see the glory of your design, that we're not meant to be alone, and this is good for us, because alone we are left in the self-deception of our own sin. I thank you that we can be brothers and sisters who point one another to you. I praise you and thank you that your Holy Spirit guides and directs us and convicts us and changes us using one another. Help us to see the glory of your design, that a church is built when each member works properly so that all the members grow up together into godliness in the likeness of our head, Christ Jesus. Help us, Lord, to learn today how we might be more faithful to this high calling. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. I wanna back out and I want us to see something about Matthew's gospel. You can turn over to Matthew 4. First, let's look at Matthew chapter three. We just heard about the baptism Jesus commanded. If we look at the end of the baptism of Jesus, I want you to notice something. Verse 16, and when Jesus was baptized, verse chapter three, verse 16. When Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened up to him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. A voice from heaven has declared, this is the one. This is the son you've been waiting for. This is the one who's breaking into this evil earth as the representative of heaven. We're supposed to listen to him. If you look over to chapter four, I want you to see what Jesus' primary message is. Chapter four, verse 17. From that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This is the message of Christ. Here's the kingdom of heaven. You don't have to live in this evil earth as evil people anymore. I've come to save sinners. Kingdom, the kingdom of heaven is breaking in. I want you to look at one more passage before we get to Matthew 16 and 18. This one is also very familiar. Look at the prayer that Jesus teaches us to pray. Matthew 6, beginning in verse 9. Pray then like this. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus is inviting us to participate in some very unique things here. First, we get to call God Father. We get to speak to him as Father. That is new because the Son has come. Secondly, we get to pray for the work of God to be accomplished. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. See, Christ has come to bring about a regime change. This world is run by evil. God did not create it that way. We, in our rebellion, brought it to that. And Christ has come to reverse it. He wants to bring about a regime change so that the heavenly kingdom is now represented in this earth and he wants to change the way things are done. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is what Matthew is teaching us. How? How does the heavenly will be done on earth? Christ, He's the one who's come to bring about that regime change. He's the one who's come down to invite us to participate in that regime change. If you're not a Christian this morning, this is the most important thing you're going to hear. If you are a Christian this morning, this is also the most important thing you're going to hear. That regime change was done when Christ died on the cross. Because our regime is one of wrath. In our unrighteousness, in our constant sin, God is going to judge us. He's just. He has to judge sin. The only way we are not judged for our sin is if we see that Jesus Christ came to change the world. And he starts with us. He dies on the cross so that the wrath that we deserve is put upon Him, so that God no longer looks at us as enemies, but as friends and as children, beloved. The wrath of God we deserve is put on Christ so that we believe in Him, we'll be forgiven. We have a new identity. He rose again from the grave to give us a new identity and a new life, a new way of living, which is supposed to be heavenly, no longer earthly. That's the way the regime change takes place. He changes our hearts. We begin to encourage one another. We encourage to build one another up so that we become more heavenly, so the world sees it, so that the world stops following the way of the evil one. starts following Christ. Now let's turn to our text, Matthew 16. Here we see specific instructions for this regime change. We've already heard these words, so let's just get to verse 19. Jesus says, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Very important phrase, very easily misunderstood, so let's just start with keys. Do you remember the first time you got your first car keys? What did you think? I cried out like Braveheart, freedom! Right? I don't have to rely upon anybody. I'm going to go wherever I want. I'm going to do whatever I want. I felt like I had freedom. And freedom is never removed from authority. I now had in my hand the authority to go wherever I wanted to go. I just simply put the key in the car and I could do what I wanted to do. Think about the first time you got a key to your home or an apartment, your palace. Now I'm going to do what I want to do where I live. The key represents authority. If somebody has a key to this church building, they have the authority to come in anytime they want. So there's a key to your house. They can come in whenever they want. The key represents authority. Now it's the keys of heaven. The keys of heaven are given to the church. And then he gives us a clue. It involves binding and loosing. This isn't quite opening a door and closing a door, or locking a door and unlocking a door, but the binding and loosing. There's an authority where the church has the freedom to execute the will of God on earth. Now, before we really start figuring out what that means, we need to back up and look at the bigger context. Jesus introduces this entire section by asking the question, who do you say that I am? Peter says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. This confession precipitates and leads to Jesus' teaching on the keys. I want you to notice something Jesus says before he tells Peter, these are the keys. After Jesus says, you are the Christ and I'm the living God, look at verse 17. Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father, who's where? Heaven. Heaven is breaking through. Heaven is declaring the word of salvation, which is Christ, the son of the living God. This is showing how the regime change is gonna take place. Christ is being revealed so that when people see him, they hear the will of heaven on earth. This is significant. Who is he speaking to here other than Peter? How do we make this where it goes from the Father in Heavens told you this, verse 18, I tell you, Peter, on this rock I will build my church. I'm not gonna go and explain everything that has been debated on this particular verse, but I believe we have to conclude this. The foundation or rock that the church is built upon is the confessing Confessors. It's not an abstract confession that we just kind of float out here. It's not Peter himself being a very powerful person. It is a confessing confessor. It's the truth that God has revealed to earth from heaven that confessors confess. We have to say it's at least that. The foundation of the church is the confession of who Jesus is. He's Christ. This means anointed one. We've been waiting for the anointed one who's going to crush Satan. He's going to crush death. He's going to crush sin. He's the victor over our enemies. He's the son of the living God. He's divine. He can and has won the battle. I want you to notice something in this passage. When he speaks of church, my church, we were built upon it, I think he's primarily focusing on the universal church. Not necessarily the specific local churches. I believe he's thinking of the universal church. And I have to say that because Christ isn't saying my people will, a church will never fail. What he's saying is I will never fail to have a people. He will always have a church, but local churches do fail in their execution to follow and to be a church. We have to be thankful that he says his church will not fail because we have to be thankful that he will always have a people. Look at something else here specifically. I tell you, you're a painter on this rock, I will build my church, these are my people, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. What are gates used for? To keep out. It's a defensive structure. The gates of hell cannot withstand the foundation of the church, the confession of the Jesus Christ. The gates which are holding in those who have rebelled against God, the gates which are a power, they're getting broken down. A regime change is taking place. The power of the gospel is able to unbind sinners. The church is the instrument which God has chosen to show himself victorious. Church, we're the instrument. Heaven revealed himself to Peter, and as we then confess Christ's word, as we then see others come to Christ, as we then grow as a church, we're supposed to see we're on a mission to bring about a regime change so that Christ is confessed as Lord. So how does the keys and the binding and the loosing fit in this context? How do these relate to the confession that Jesus Christ? I believe it's this. The church has the authority to proclaim the true confession of Christ. It's not that provocative. The church has the authority, and with authority I mean responsibility as well, to proclaim the true confession of Christ. Secondly, let me make it very clear, the church has the authority to proclaim the true confession of Christ. That was a great commission, we just read that. I believe it's also this, the church has the authority to determine who makes a proper confession of Christ. The church has the authority to determine who makes a proper confession of Christ. Let me be clear what I'm not saying. The church does not have the authority to convert. The church has the authority to confess. And as God converts, the church has the responsibility to determine To make judgment, is that a heavenly confession or an earthly confession? If you do a simple reading throughout the epistles, you can see there must have been a lot of earthly confessions. Simon the Magician, that was an earthly confession, and the church had to make that decision. So the church, we have responsibility. Is that a heavenly confession? or an earthly confession. Let me tell you, Jefferson Park, how we actually exercise these keys as it relates to the confession of Christ. One, we exercise the keys when we sing to one another the confession that Christ, that Jesus is a Christ. So we were just exercising these keys as we were reminding one another that Christ, he died, he was buried, he rose again. Church, we also affirm that we exercise the keys when we hear new members give their confession of faith, and we say, Amen. That is the most explicit way in which we exercise this authority. When we hear people say, I'm a new believer, here's what God has done in me, here's who I believe Jesus is, and we say, Amen, that's you exercising the body that keeps the kingdom. When someone says, I've moved here, I want to be part of this church, here's my confession. That's us exercising these keys. We do this. We're supposed to be the voice of heaven that is confirming the confession. I want you to notice that this is what the other apostles did. Paul in Galatians 2, he said that he went and submitted his confession before the elders to make sure it was genuine and right. Someone who wants to make sure they're confessing Christ because it's the most important confession we can make, they want to be submissive to others and say, please make sure I'm confessing Christ. We see this with Priscilla and Aquila. Apollos, he was able to listen to hear, this is the true confession of Christ. In Acts 15, the elders and the apostles got together to make sure that they were confessing Christ. We do this because we're all so capable of error. We need to be submissive. Now what is this binding and loosing language? This is synagogue language. This is language that Jesus is borrowing from the known synagogue. When a synagogue binds you, it means you're in. The synagogue would recognize you either are in good standing because you're interpreting Torah and living Torah, or it would loose you because you're not interpreting and living out Torah. To be bound in this context is a good thing. That needs to be said because usually when I think of being bound, I think of handcuffs. When I usually think of bound, I think of a prison. Not this culture, not this society. If you want to think about what bound means, think about it like a parachute. The more bound you are, the safer you are. Being bound is a life source of security. Being bound means that we're not alone in a world to die. Being bound is like a boat sailing across. It's got merchandise. It has no military power. But when it puts that American flag up, it is bound to the security that the government provides. Nobody's going to touch it, lest they face the consequences. To be bound is tied in. to the life source, Christ. Simple summary of the church. One, the church has authority to go and proclaim Christ. We have to go and proclaim Christ so that those who he is calling to be citizens of heaven will be saved. That's our responsibility. Secondly, the church is a gathering of the citizens of heaven. The church gathers. Here we are exercising these keys, this authority to gather to proclaim Christ to one another. Third, the church has authority to discern who has a true and false confession. This is a difficult one. I want to say something very clear. Let's be honest. The church oftentimes fails to proclaim Christ. The church is often failing to gather as a body. The church can fail at discerning true spiritual health of a professor. We can't see the heart, but we're told we're supposed to make judgment based upon the fruit. We have to be careful here in saying what we actually have authority to do. We cannot see the heart, but we can see that if somebody goes out from us, according to 1 John, they weren't of us. Many people can come in making a false profession of faith but their fruit will eventually be exposed. To be excommunicated because sinful fruit has been exposed when the church cannot affirm you, that's terrifying. Paul says it's a warning. All three of these calls to go out and proclaim the gospel, gather as citizens, discern the calling, these are things that we must do, and they're Christian discipleship. Let me give you a difficult implication of this. To be a Christian is not merely an independent declaration. One, it's God's decision. God's the one who says, you are my child. It's a personal response. It is that. And it's also confirmed by the church. To be a Christian means we need to be confirmed by the church. Now, the church doesn't give the identity. Very important. It confirms it. Let me use an analogy. If this church decides I should not hold the office or carry the responsibilities of being a pastor, it would be inappropriate for me to walk around town introducing myself as Pastor Keith. If this church quits calling me pastor, it would be inappropriate for me to call myself pastor. You don't take on that title individually. It's something that the community does. It'd be inappropriate for somebody to say I'm a member of a family when that family does not recognize you as a member. It'd be inappropriate for you to say I'm employed at this particular company when that company does not recognize you as an employee. Whenever we claim a status that is not ours in terms of a membership, the other people have to claim it. So when I say that I'm a member of the UVA basketball team, because I'm a fan, I'm lying. See, you have to be on the team. The rest of the team has to recognize that you're on the team. Otherwise, you're not telling the truth. See, identities are confirmed by communities. Something that's quite sad that I recently heard of and have seen some videos of, there are folks who go to the army surplus store, they buy a military uniform, they go online and they buy medals and badges from Craigslist, and they walk around posing as war veterans. That's pretty despicable. If you watch these videos, real war veterans go and they interrogate them. Oh, really, you were in that battalion? Well, did you know so-and-so, or did you ever do this? And they would ask them questions that were completely misleading, and they would show that the person posing as a war veteran had never been to war. They were just wearing the uniform. And as soon as they find out, they take those badges off. They take those medals off because they did not earn them. Christians, we carry the name that is above every name. When someone says, I am a Christian, they have just put upon themselves the name that is above every name, and we should care about who calls themselves a Christian. Because it's about the reputation of Jesus Christ. That name should matter. To make disciples means that we're trying to lead each other and teach one another to be more faithful disciples of Christ. To make sure that our confession is clear and robust so that our worship is more clear and robust. To make disciples. That's something we're doing today. We've sung to one another, we've read to one another. We're going to the Lord's Supper together. This is confessing Christ has died, he's risen, he's coming back. We proclaim his death until he comes. We must be focused on making disciples with our confession. Now let's look to our second passage. Matthew 18. The church has been given the authority to represent Christ on earth here to help us all. We are supposed to conform one another to Christ's confession. Let me read this one because it's been a while since we heard it. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him it's fault between you and him alone. Notice, alone. This is a one-to-one conversation. That's the first step. If he listens to you, you've gained your brother. I want you to notice, I wanna go ahead and perk your ears for the word listen. If he listens to you, you've gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. So this is the second step. The first step is, hopefully it succeeds. You go to your brother, you confront a brother being another confessor. You confront them, they listen, you're reconciled. If that doesn't happen, there's another step. You take two or three witnesses. Verse 17, if he refuses to listen to them, Tell it to the church. Notice the pattern is they refuse to listen. Then the last step, you tell it to the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven, for where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them. Now we see Matthew 16 is connected because of the binding and loosing language. We see Matthew 28 is connected because of the presence of Christ with them. I want you to see again, the brother listens. When someone doesn't listen, they're not a brother. They're to be a tax collector. Disciples listen. We're supposed to be saying loving things to one another, which are corrections. Right, so a big part of this passage means somebody is talking about sin and someone's listening about sin. Someone has to talk about sin, someone has to listen about sin. These are both really awkward and difficult for us. I don't want that to go unsaid. To talk about someone's sin is difficult. To hear about our sin is difficult, but this is what Christ commanded. This is how we make disciples. We, as brothers, are supposed to say loving things, and this includes rebuke, correction, and challenge. We're supposed to be listening so that we are willing to hear rebuke, correction, and challenge. Let me tell you, there's nothing more encouraging than for somebody to hear of or to receive, somebody who's willing to say, boldly and courageously say, I think I want to pray for you and I want to talk to you. I see this in you. There's nothing more encouraging than someone who lovingly comes for your well-being to say, I see this sin. Can we talk about it? Can we pray about it? Can I help you? There's few things more encouraging. The only thing more encouraging is when you hear somebody who's been confronted with sin and they repent. They say, thank you. Thank you for warning me. I did not see that blind sin. There's nothing more painful than to see a hard heart that will not recognize it. I wanna walk through just a few passages, because key to this passage, Matthew 18, is listen. I wanna do a brief theology of listen. Deuteronomy 4.1, and now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live and go and take possession of the land that the Lord your God, your Father, is giving you. The God of your fathers is giving you. Jeremy 4.1 says, Israel, if you listen, you'll be blessed. Listen to Judges 2.17. Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. Listening leads to idolatry. Ezekiel 3.7, but the people of Israel are not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, God says. For all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate. Someone who does not listen is hardened and obstinate. Jeremiah 7.24, but they did not listen or pay attention. Instead, they follow the stubborn inclination of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. Not listening reveals a stubborn inclination. Zechariah 7, 11 through 14, but they refuse to pay attention and turn to a stubborn shoulder and stop their ears that they might not hear. They made their hearts diamond hard. lest they should hear the law and the words of the Lord of hosts that sent by his spirit to the former prophets. Therefore, a great anger came from the Lord of hosts. As I called you, they would not hear. So they called, and I would not hear, God says. And I scattered them with a whirlwind among the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant land was made desolate. Psalm 95. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Psalm 81-11, but my people did not listen to my voice. Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own counsel. Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways. Proverbs 12-15, the wave of fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. God, speaking of Jesus, this is my beloved son, listen to him. Matthew 11, 15, and many other places, Jesus says, if you have ears to hear, hear. John 10, Jesus knows his sheep, his sheep know his voice, and they listen to him. Second Timothy 4.3, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but have itching ears. They will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. They turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. James 1.19, be slow to speak and quick to listen. Those are challenging, difficult passages. Not listening reveals a hard heart. Not listening reveals a stubbornness. Not listening is equated to having a heart that has not been changed. Someone who does not listen only asserts themselves. Someone who does not listen has already determined an answer and they've hardened themselves to that answer. What God says is that his people listen. Jesus says, my sheep listen. That's a mark of a disciple. It's a mark of someone who has been changed by Christ because they're teachable, they're listening. They're aware that they're sinners who need to be saved, and so they're wanting to listen. How do I not see my sin so that I can put it off and be more like Christ? To not listen is to not be able to hear correction. So what's supposed to happen if someone refuses to listen over and over again, if he does not listen, if he does not listen, if he does not listen? Verse 17, and if he refuses to listen, even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Now, Jesus is speaking to Jews, and so here we see the context is important. A Gentile is a foreigner. If you're a citizen of heaven, you listen. If you do not listen, you're not a citizen of heaven. To not listen is to not be in the right citizenship. Tax collector is actually worse than being a Gentile. A tax collector was a Jew who denied his people, betrayed them, and worked for the Romans collecting taxes on his own people. He was seen as an outcast. He was treated harshly. He was someone who was considered to be a betrayer and who's somebody who does not listen is to consider it as a betrayer because they've betrayed. Now this feels horribly uncomfortable. But this is what we do if we are not going to obey Jesus' words. If we do not say these are the commands of Jesus that we're supposed to be observing as disciples according to Matthew 28, this is what we say. We're pretending that we know better than Jesus. That means we're not listening. That means we're like tax collectors. If we pretend that this is not truth for us today, what we're doing is protecting our sin and other people's sin. If we will not confront sinners, and the church is made up of sinners, we're condoning sin and sin will affect us. We're putting our body in danger. We're supposed to be listening so that we might repent. Notice the same language in verse 18 is borrowed over, the binding and the loosing. Brothers, this is a heavy and serious call. We're supposed to watch over one another. In our covenant, we say this, we will humbly warn a brother who's in danger of falling into disorder, disobedience of error. We will speak truth and love. Be slow to take offense and be eager to seek swift and lasting reconciliation. That's us seeking to teach and to remind one another, we're supposed to be doing this. This is important because everybody sins. We all need confrontation. In Galatians 2, go look at it, Paul talks about how he had to confront Peter. Peter was denying the gospel with his actions, and Paul went and confronted him about it. And Peter listened and repented. Does this mark us as a church? Are we willing to talk about sin? Are we willing to hear about sin? Because what Jesus' commands here tell us is that that is a mark of a church, willing to listen, A desire to listen. I believe here's our problem. We're usually eager to teach others without being teachable. We usually feel more comfortable about talking about other people's offense rather than the person who offended us. This is true. We would rather talk about the one who offended us than talk to the one who offended us. We would rather listen to how somebody else was sinned against rather than how we've sinned. The solution is simple. Listen to what Christ says. It's ungodly to talk about how others have sinned against you if you're not going to talk to them about their sin. To listen is to be willing to hear the truth and love. I see a lot of folks here, and I'm thankful that we have friends. I'm thankful the church is very friendly. Something that makes somebody a Christian friend is that they're willing to be confronted and confess sin. I want us to focus and be intentional in saying this is what we have to focus on. We have to be willing to be Christian friends, not just people who hang out and enjoy one another, but people who are willing to say, I want to make Christ known and Christ crucified to you. That's made through confession of sin. I also have this fear. We're more bothered by our nation's sexual morality than the sexual morality that exists within our own body. The church has been too busy worrying about where the culture is going and not worried enough about what the church has affirmed and ignored. Are we being watchful about the pornography, the fornication, or the adultery that's actually taking place here? Well, why are we so worried about what the secular court does? Why are we so worried about what the secular culture is doing? We need to be worried about the church, how we are protecting the sanctity of marriage within the body. Again, we're worried about judging others, not ourselves. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5, 9. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexual and moral people. Not at all meaning the sexual moral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers are idolaters since then you would have to need to go out of the world. But now I'm writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual morality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler. Not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil from among you. This is a high and heavy call, to be watchful, to desire the purity of the body, because that is where Christ will be revealed. This is very practical and helpful for us, because everybody has been sinning. This is a protection for those who've been sinned against because Christ says, this is how we correct sinners. This is a protection for those who have sinned because this is how they're corrected. The beauty of this is no one gets to stand up and say, I've decided so-and-so is a tax collector. You don't get to do that. The process, the principle is for our wellbeing. Why does this matter? I want us to see that church membership matter, that us being able to be reconciled and loving one another and caring for one another here in the Lord's Supper, it matters. Now, some people will say, yeah, you talk about membership all the time. It feels like it's a club. It's not a club. We use that language because we're one body of Christ, members of one another. But if it were a club, it's the most exclusive club anyone has ever heard of, because in order to be part of that club, you have to be purchased by the blood of God. This is a precious calling that we must seek to protect and to practice. Church were to be on mission, making disciples. Historically, we've talked about the church militant and the church at rest. The church militant is going up against the gates of hell and seeking to bring about the regime change that Christ has commanded. Here's our problem. I think we're too often deceived into thinking we're the church of rest when we're supposed to be the church militant. You know who wants us to believe that we're the church at rest? The guy standing behind the gates of hell who knows that if you actually believe what Jesus said and we live like it, those gates are coming down and he'll be destroyed. That's who's lying to you, telling you over the gates, oh, we're at peace. Don't actually practice this because it'll be disturbing. It'll offend people. Yes. That's how the gates of hell are gonna come down. And they're terrified that we might actually believe the word of God and live it out. This is the challenge. Has Christ spoken? Are we going to observe and teach one another to observe all that he commanded? Only then will we be the church that truly enjoys the benefits, the blessings, and the privileges of seeing that regime change in us and outside take place. Will we trust our Savior and commander? Let's pray. Father, we praise you that you have not left us alone. You sent your son to break into this earth. Heaven has come down. We praise you. Help us, Lord, to trust your word. Help us, Lord, to hear these orders. Help us, Lord, to hear these commands and to teach one another, to obey them so that we might bring you glory as a body united together. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.