God's Will of Restoration

Deny yourself, carry your cross, follow him.

This will protect you from causing conflict and it'll help you recognize how to have grace for those who do cause tension, sin, or problems. We must be a people of grace who are eager to show others God's great grace, to help others walk according to that grace.

It means we talk about sin and repentance. In order to echo the words of Jesus, his ministry opened with the words,

repent, for the king of God is at hand.

Church, we are Christ's body. And we have a significant role to play in this ministry of reconciliation. This morning we're gonna see a passage that shows us how God calls us to himself to be with him and near him, especially when we go astray. And then we're going to see how we participate in that pursuit, how we exercise our earthly voice that has heavenly authority as Jesus' disciples.

This morning, we've already baptized a new disciple of Jesus Christ. Welcome to the family, Gabe. We've publicly affirmed his confession, received from that church. We've already exercised the keys this morning. Our call as disciples is to be the people who help each other along the way Gabe has just entered.

Rejoice like the Father

If you look at our text, We'll be looking at 10 to 20. First, rejoice like the Father. If you're new with us, we're walking through the Gospel of Matthew, and I had to partially punt last week because of time and other things, so I'm coming back to this text, and I do believe it helps lead into what we're going to look at regarding the instructions for our church to be ordered in 15 to 20. So first, rejoice like the Father.

See that you do not despise one of these little ones.

Again, we looked at this text last week, and Jesus has been asked, who is the greatest in the kingdom? And he brought in a child, a little one, and made an object lesson, actually a number of different object lessons with this child, the little one. So as he's answering the question, who's the greatest, he first makes it clear, no, You actually can enter the kingdom, much less be the greatest. The way you enter the kingdom is like a child, humble and dependent. And the way to become great in the kingdom is like a child, humble and dependent. Jesus is teaching us to think of ourselves as God would see us. To give us a way into the kingdom, that doesn't mean we need to become great ourselves and rely on our own strength.

No, it's coming humble. and dependent. Children who believe, that is an important distinction he makes previously. Those who believe all different backgrounds, all different kinds of sin, all come one way by believing in Jesus Christ. They come as believers in the name of Christ. Last week we saw the command receive them. Well, this week we're gonna hear the other side of that same coin, really the same command said differently, receive them in verse five, but now we see,

see that you do not despise one of them.

Despising could be because they're less, they're the little ones. Again, children there, they don't contribute to society. They're not seen as valuable citizens of society yet. That is not the way the kingdom of heaven sees people. The context goes further.

And 10 to 14, because here, one of those little ones, what happens when they go astray? She's going to make it very clear. Don't be quickly dismissive of a little one who goes astray. Do not be quick to dismiss someone who was once with you and goes astray.

The sheep who follows a different path. A sheep who leaves the flock. A sheep who gets distance and pretends they have distance between them and God. Church, do not be more exclusive or inclusive than Jesus. Now, last week I mentioned one of the reasons we needed to come back to this text is there are a number of conundrums in this text. Let's deal with those fairly quickly, Lord willing.

The first conundrum is verse 11. I'm thankful a lot of people look down, and as you look down, you're disappointed not to see verse 11. Why isn't verse 11 there? Verse 11, would read,

for the Son of Man came to save that which is lost.

That sounds very gospely, doesn't it? That sounds very like, much like Jesus.

Well, that's because that verse is from Luke 19.10, so that verse, if it were in your text, it would read just like Jesus has said before, or another gospel, Luke 19.10. Let's back up as we wrestle with why is verse 11 not in your text.

First, our God speaks. And he has spoken once for all, and he's given us these words. This is the apostolic teaching that the church is built upon. The apostles who learned from Jesus provided the New Testament. These are God's words. This is God's word. Inerrant, true, trustworthy. Now, it's very important. The numbers in your Bible are not inerrant. The chapters, the verses, the Holy Spirit did not carry along prophets or apostles to provide those.

Those were provided for you by Stephen Langston, the Archbishop of Canterbury sometime in the 13th century. They're helpful references because we can say, turn to this chapter and verse. We're thankful for these, but they're oftentimes the wrong place. Many people heard me rant about the headings in your Bible.

They're not supposed to be there either. The chapter breaks sometimes are very confusing. But be clear, the verses aren't original. Okay, well, what happened to that actual verse, that we'll call verse 11? All right, let's think about another category.

The King James Version, when translated, they use what's called the majority text. These are a number, a lot of transcribed texts handed down, and there's different families of these texts. They're older, but they're numerous. There's thousands of them. These manuscripts kept by monasteries were meticulously copied because these are sacred texts. And there's families of these texts, and we can see there are sometimes different errors in these different families, and that's what's so great about the families is we can identify where those errors are gonna be. I don't know if you've ever tried it, but I dare you. How about that? Try to transcribe Jonah, and see how many mistakes you make. You'll make 10 pushups per mistake. Transcribing is challenging.

So the fact that we can recognize where a scribe made an error, and then the next scribe made that same error, and so forth, we can kind of go back and see where that error was, and we can identify it, because we can recognize what is the true authentic word.

There's also the minority texts, those texts that were found later. And there's fewer of them, but they're earlier, they're closer to the New Testament authors. And so as we look at these different families of texts, the later texts that have many copies, the fewer text manuscripts that have, they're earlier, so they're closer to the original manuscripts, we can come and say there's a real trustworthy, reliable word. So verse 11 isn't there because it's not in the earliest manuscripts. So the editors of this Bible decided that it wasn't original.

It was put in there at some point by one of these majority text families. I give you that history that the verse not being there, the fact that we have so many copies that goes so far back close to the originals makes this the most reliable ancient book anyone possesses. This is a reliable word. Read it as God's word. The second conundrum is their angels. That's verse 10. See this by these little ones. All right. What does it mean that it's their angels that are in the possession? Are these guardian angels? Maybe. Could be local angels.

There is something really fascinating here that We know from their text, angels are watching. There's a way in which you're entertaining angels when you show hospitality to strangers. There's a way in which angels are rejoicing of a repentant sinner. We're called up to rejoice with the angels. Here, the angels in heaven, there's a watching to see what God's going to do. And the angels, they see the face of their father regarding these little ones. that the angels are able to see how much God loves his children.

Now the one thing we don't wanna assume if we think about guardian angels, they're none other mediator. That's where that guardian angel theology goes real sideways, real fast. But there is something of heaven watching earth about the glory of God and his grace. All right, with two of the three conundrums out of the way, Lord willing, happy to talk about those things later.

These little ones matter to God

The point of the text is that these little ones matter to God. He is watching. He is seeking. His eyes are upon them. The angels see his face as he cares about each little one. And then Jesus asks a question to make sure we understand what this means.

What do you think?

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the 99 on the mountains and go in search of the one that went away? And if he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it. And more than over the 99 that never went astray.

So he gives this picture, and again, this is like Luke 15. You lost something, you go and find it and you rejoice. It's lost and found and rejoice, lost and found and rejoice. Here, one of the sheep has gone astray. The father is like a shepherd. He leaves the 99 to go pursue this one because each one is precious. And when he finds it, he rejoices it, even more than the 99 who never went astray.

He then brings it back to the father.

So it is not the will of my father, who is in heaven, that one of these little ones would perish.

that one of these sheep would go astray and never be brought back. It is not my father's will that any of the little ones should perish.

If you mark your Bible, something I wanna make sure I've said a few times before, but when you see a phrase like the will of God, you wanna mark that. God is so good to tell us who he is, what he's like, What his will is, because what his will is is good. His will is promised to you. It's what you can expect. His will is sure.

Our Father in heaven, his will is that not one of these little ones, even the little one like the sheep who goes astray, would perish. If we go back to the last week's section, we remember his will is that not one of them will be thrown into hell. to suffer for going astray. This is a powerful text told tightly to God by God's sheep and his children. His will is that you will not perish, that you will be kept.

As we just sang,

he will hold me fast.

We're singing the very will of God as he has revealed it here. It's encouraging, Christian.

He who began a good work in you, he'll complete it.

God does not leave a job half done. Now, as we look at God's will and the little ones that would not perish, there are two possible interpretations. Our third and most significant conundrum. Here's your two possible sayings, the two possible ways to interpret this.

God is saying that it is his will that every single human be saved. That is an interpretation of the text. The second is God is saying that it is his will that every single believer be saved, kept. So is it God's will that every human be saved, or is it God's will that every single believer be kept and not perish? If we go with the first, that God's will that every human not perish or be saved, There's a little way here in that not all, there's other places where God says my will is that all people, and that could be all peoples, but this one is a little more pointed because it's every one of them. It's individual, there's an emphasis that every single one of them be saved or kept.

The problem with this interpretation though is that if God wills it, he does it. The conservative interpretation would be that you either have a God who can't do what he wants to do, or the opposite of this is that somehow a universal salvation, that God actually wills all people to be saved and all people will be saved regardless of faith in Jesus Christ. So I don't think that is the right interpretation that this is referring to all humans, all peoples, because it would imply that God is not strong enough to do what he wants. or that some people's sin is too big of a problem for God to save them, or that he would save some people regardless of their faith in Jesus.

All three of those would run against a number of other texts in scripture. Well, the second, that God wills that every believer to be kept and persevere, that he would go and get every one of his own sheep Well, the text itself already gives us some clues that this is probably the best reading because in verse five, the little ones have come in his name and are believers. So the sheepfold analogy is that it's the sheep of God, his flock, his people, whom Christ died for, who have believed, who have come in the name of Christ, who then can go astray. This view is aligned with all of God's word.

He is able to save those whom he calls. He is able to do what he desires. And those who he has saved, he keeps. Now, as we wrestle with the will of God, I do want to introduce two categories that do create a help, I think. There's God's public will and his private will. Church, his public will is that all would hear so that all might believe. What we don't have access to is his secret will and that is whom he will call and who will be saved.

The church has gotten in real confusion when we either collapse these or ignore them or pretend to know what we cannot know. This is what God tells you. There's only one way to be saved. Faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross and rose again. There's only one way to be saved, and we must proclaim that one way to be saved. Who will be saved?

Praise God, His grace abounds, and we trust that as we proclaim that gospel, His grace will abound. The wonderful truth here, the Father who sees us, who desires us to be near him, who sent his son to purchase us with his own blood. He will pursue us and there's rejoicing when the one who goes astray comes near again.

Win your brother who goes astray

Now, I want you to notice our second point, how to win your brother who goes astray. Verse 15, there's not a new setting. There's almost a flawless stream from the father who pursues the one who goes astray and rejoices to how to go pursue your brother who sins against you. These things are not completely disconnected.

There's a way in which I believe Jesus is telling us, act like your father. He's told us this over and over again.

Be holy as your father is holy.

Pursue the one who goes astray like your father pursues, eager. to rejoice when that one who goes astray would repent.

There is a connection here. I believe in the way the Father pursues the one who goes astray and the way you would pursue reconciliation. But the reason this is more challenging is, well, as the sheep who goes astray has sinned against the Father, the one who sins against you, you pursue like the Father has pursued the sheep who goes astray. It follows along with do not despise little ones. We want to act like our father. Here, the father who pursues those who go astray, like a shepherd, he pursues them. Now you as a sheep are supposed to be his instrument of grace, as a sheep pursues a sheep who has sinned.

Verse 15,

if your brother sins against you.

Now, he is speaking inside the church. If your brother, a fellow citizen, fellow believer, a child of God who has been adopted in his mercy, if your brother sins against you, now we have clear instruction for how we're supposed to pursue reconciliation with a fellow believer. And the hope is that as we speak to a fellow believer, the words of grace and the words of clarity from God's word, that they would respond as a brother would respond. They would act according to their new nature. That's why we would have the courage to pursue this sometimes awkward discussion. This is important in the way we seek to live at peace within a church. Before we come to the text, let's be clear.

There are times in the church that we let love cover a multitude of sins. If you feel like you've gotta address everything that you feel is sin or think is sin, you're gonna be exhausted and exhausting.

Love covers a multitude of sins.

Praise God that when he saves us, we're barely aware of how sinful we are. Praise God that he's patient and shows us over time how sinful we are so that we can repent.

So we can't think I've got to start looking for every sin. I've got to make sure every correction takes place. But it is clear if a brother sins against you in a way that you can't get past, that you must address, he's going to give you some instruction on how to do so. We all sin. We shouldn't be surprised by it. The goal is to be gracious and eager to show grace. Okay, so if your brother sins against you, first, go tell it to him. Go tell him his fault. Tell him what he did. Be clear between you and him alone.

Now, the language here is repeated and emphatic. The clear expectation is that you're going to talk to the brother, the fellow believer alone. That's the first step. The clarity of what you want to tell him his fault is that he would repent and he tells you you and your brother. You're to speak to the one who sinned against you only. You're responsible to talk to them alone. The person who sinned against you is the one you go speak to.

I'm repeating that to make sure we understand it because our tendency is to wanna talk to everybody else. If you go and talk to other people about the sin you perceive, you're now sinning. If you go and talk to others about sin done against you by someone else, first, I think you now have entered into sin yourself. It's gossip or slander. Church, if a member of the body comes to talk to you about somebody else's sin, your first instinct has to be, your first order is, have you talked to them first? And if not, shut it down. You don't listen to it because then you're participating in it. Members of a healthy church put out sparks before they become flames.

Jesus' instruction is repeated and very clear, speak to him about his fault first. Now it says speak to him about his fault. The goal isn't to make sure he knows how hurt you are. The goal is to help that believer see how his behavior is unbecoming of Christ and opposed to his word. The goal is that they would repent and you would restore your brother. You would gain your brother back. He would no longer be astray in sin, but he'd grow back.

When we add on how hurt we are, it adds a confusion. I believe sometimes it heaps on guilt or we try to make sure that that sin is emphasized because we want to talk about how hurt we are. We want to talk about how clear God's word is and how that behavior is against it and how we want to restore them. We also want to think about different categories.

To admonish is a nudge, get back on the path. A warning is, hey, it looks like you're sliding off this path. You might not be fully on the path of Christ and His righteousness. The Bible also has a category for sharp rebuke, and we've got to make sure we know when to warn, when to admonish. A sharp rebuke is so there may be sound of the faith. If everything is deserving of a sharp rebuke, you haven't really gotten the grace yet. To be clear, if offended, if sinned against, you either cover in love, you pray for them, or you take it to them and them alone.

Now, your hope is that they would listen

if he listens to you.

It's a repeated declaration. That's a weird bar. It's not real high, is it? If they listen. If they listen, they're willing to hear you out and to hear how God's word would apply to their life and hear how their lives are not aligned with it.

As you go, I wanna encourage you with this, and it isn't thus says the Lord, but I believe I found it to be extremely helpful. If you believe a brother has sinned against you, I would encourage you to first ask questions when you go talk to them. And that's often because we can be self-deceived. We wanna make sure that we are first asking questions because it might help you avoid an awkward interaction, or it might help you be more clear with what you want to address.

The goal is not to put them under judgment, it's to help them put off sin. The goal is to win them back and rejoice. The goal is reconciliation. Reconciliation has two parts. I'm sorry, I forgive you. The goal is to help them, invite them into I am sorry so that you are eager to say I forgive you and turn back into walking together in Christ. We want to go and make sure we're clear to win the brother back. But Jesus understands we can be hard-headed, hard-hearted, stiff-necked.

Take one or two others

The goal is to win them back, but verse 16, if he doesn't listen to you when you speak to him alone, the second step is to

take one or two others along with you, that every charge will be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

Okay, so how do you know if they don't listen?

One, they don't acknowledge any wrong, or they're prickly and rebuff the charge, or they make excuses, or they insist upon their own righteousness. Spurgeon encourages you every time someone says something horrible about you, no matter how right you think it is or wrong you think it is, you're probably worse. So there's a helpful way to remember we are all more sinful than we could possibly imagine. It's really hard to understand and recognize that somebody's genuinely repentant. I believe this is why the word listen is here. Are they listening? Are they willing to hear you? Are they eager to seek reconciliation? Are they eager to repent?

Okay, if they don't, you bring a witness. Now, this is one of those funny, I think, misunderstood texts. The witnesses are not there to watch you berate somebody else. That would deny the way the Bible has defined witness in every other text. A witness is somebody who can say, yes, this is true. I have seen this behavior. A witness is somebody who can come and speak to them in a different way, pray with you, help them, Lord willing, see that same behavior.

It's not someone who's merely watching you confront them again. Now, there are sins really done in private. And this is why we want to make sure we're not pretending that we have some kind of private lives as Christians, because that's usually us protecting sin. But there are sins that are done in homes or in private that you want to invite people into that situation so they would be able to be a witness if this is the problem that needs to be addressed.

Tell it to the church

This stage has another one speak to the problem. Maybe say it in a different way, with more prayer. But again, the same goal, win the brother back. And now we have verse 17, the third stage. If they still will not listen, they refuse to listen to you and the other witnesses, tell it to the church. If they're not hearing, if they're not listening, if their ears are dull, their mind is depraved, their heart has become hardened, they're insisting that they must be right, you tell it to the church. Now, if it gets to this point, that means that they've become more and more just focused in, no, this is right and you're wrong. And the reason you would do this is that you're terrified that they would be thrown to hell because they are not throwing their sin away.

You're seeking to protect them. You're also seeking to protect in the name of Christ. Verse 17, you tell it to the church. That is the members of a body. The church here is the last authoritative and final authority that you tell it to and they make a decision. If they will not listen, The final appeal is to tell it to the gathered people of God, not the elders only, not a court, but the church has final authority. This means these charges have a high order to take it this far. The church hears the charges, testifies that these charges are true.

Those who have seen it testify, not everybody has to see it for it to be true or to affirm it, And they'd be treated like a Gentile, a tax collector. A Gentile is somebody outside of the people of God. A tax collector is somebody who is a transgressor of the people of God. They'd be treated with suspicion. Now, if you just back up for a moment, the person who is being charged is a brother.

They're professing Christ as their Savior. They're making the right confession, but their conduct is unbecoming of Christ. They're proclaiming that they're saved by grace and faith, but their works in no way show that to be true. And their hard heart is a danger to them and the church in the name of Christ. If he refuses to listen to the church because the church now is going to testify, these charges are true. The church would hear it and say, you are in danger of hell. He is going to be treated with suspicion.

This is what we call excommunication. They're not shunned. They're actually still welcome to be present, but they're not treated like a brother. Paul says,

don't even eat with such a one.

Because when you treat them like everything is just normal and fine, you're actually giving them a false sense of confidence if they're really focused and committed to their sin. More specifically, it's excommunication because they're not taking communion anymore. They're not welcome to the Lord's table where we are giving each other an assurance that we are coming together rejoicing in the same gospel. And the reason we treat them this way is that there's a confusion of their confession and their conduct. Our world would say this sounds harsh.

The goal is to gain the brother. The goal is that the shame of their sin would be so clear that they would repent. The goal is that you would gain your brother and eagerly rejoice that they would come back to the fold as we all must do in repentance.

Now, we sometimes call this church discipline. This is what we would call corrective discipline. We also have positive or formative discipline. That's what's happening right now. All disciples are under discipline, formative or corrective. There's a way in which the more you are investing in and submitting to formative discipline, learning to sit under the teaching of Christ and being conformed to the image of Christ, the less danger you're gonna have of being corrected with discipline.

There's a sad truth. Sheep go astray. There's a hard reality. Sheep go astray. And the goal of the church is to come alongside of them, help them see where they've gone astray, welcome them. There is no Christian correction that does not have the invitation, come in grace back to God. Hold out the hope that they would once again walk as a sheep.

The reason you treat them as a tax collector and a Gentile is that who they say they are isn't how they're behaving. I also point out here, this is a wonderful protection for members of a church. You're not at the mercy of a judgment of one person. One person who's really upset with you doesn't have the authority to excommunicate you. or to treat you like a tax collector or a gentile. There's a way in which a process is put out that is clearly just, that clearly has standards, that clearly has a goal that you would be restored. One person doesn't get to determine how you will be treated.

This is what we call church polity or government. Let's be clear, nobody really cares about church government until everything goes sideways. But when it goes sideways, God's Word is good and tells us how to get back in His one narrow way. As we see somebody else go sideways, we want to know how to bring them back into that one narrow way.

We have to be a people who are committed to calling each other repentance. This is how we live together as his redeemed sinners. Who sin against one another. How we care for one another. What to expect from one another. We have to come to the acknowledgement that Jesus opened his entire ministry by saying repent. It is loving to tell someone to stop it. We have to have that category. To say no can be the most loving thing you can say to someone. The goal is to bring the sheep back to the fold.

The final authority of the church

The last section, verse 18, the final authority of the church. So we've seen the steps, and now he's going to establish this final authority.

Truly I say to you,

so Jesus is emphasizing what he is going to say next,

whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Now, if you've been with us through Matthew, you've heard that language before. It happened in Matthew 16. Interestingly, that's the only other place Jesus also references the church. twice with Jesus referencing the church, first with making the right confession in Matthew 16. Now it's the wrong conduct that goes to that confession.

The church has the final authority to bind and loose. There's a way in which the church is exercising heavenly authority. This is why we take seriously who we are and what we're doing as a body of Christ. We have heavenly authority. together as the body of Christ, the congregation. If you're a believer and you're not part of a church, you're not in line with God's authority. You must be under God's heavenly authority with an earthly body. That is the design of Jesus Christ and his salvation for you.

Verse 19 continues,

again I say to you, do 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.

Same words from the Great Commission we heard Matt recite earlier. I'm with you to proclaim the gospel. I'm with you to build up the church. I'm with you to make disciples. I'm with you to make these incredibly authoritative words that are hard. Let's go back and look at that language.

Whatever you bind on earth, it will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth, it will be loosed in heaven.

There's a significant way in which what the church is doing on earth has a direct relationship with what heaven is doing, and that's very important to think about what it is. First, the church is not a simple social gathering.

I was in DC Friday. went past Supreme Court, Capitol Building, White House, representing three great authoritative institutions that have an incredible earthly authority for us. The authority the church has is greater and more significant than all three of those combined. Those authorities are temporal and earthly. Heavenly authority forever. with the grace of God, with the authority of the Father. Church, as we gather, the authority that takes place as we sing and proclaim and pray in the name of God, the name of Jesus Christ, we make weighted decisions as we receive by baptism, as we receive one another in the Lord's Supper, as we receive the grace of God and bestow it upon one another and encourage each other in that. The church, we practice church discipline in the name of Christ to someone who is clearly behaving outside of the bounds of Christ, it is an authoritative word. Now, that language could sound like we have authority to determine what heaven is gonna do.

We should all think that that can't be right.

Whatever you bind on earth, it'll be bound in heaven.

There's a way in which there's a funny thing happening here that our English language has a hard time capturing, and that it really would be more like what you bind, it has been bound. What is loosed, it has been loosed.

Now, I wanna make sure we, what we can't say, the church cannot cause God to save somebody. We don't have that authority. The church cannot remove salvation from someone God has saved. We don't have that kind of authority. The church is not actually saying someone cannot be saved when they're excommunicated. They're simply saying, we can no longer give you the assurance of that salvation because of your refusal to listen and repent.

The church in its affirmation of your confession, you're being bound to God. You're coming to the kingdom to belong to God. When you come united with Christ, making the confession, and the church receives you to bind you to Christ, it's simply aligned with what God is doing. In baptism, what we just did was communicate you're saved. That's what baptism communicates. You're united with Christ in his death, and you're united with Christ in his life.

We're communicating salvation to someone who is truly saved, Lord willing. We aren't saving somebody, but we're communicating that new identity. In excommunication, we're not removing salvation. We're simply seeking to declare what seems to be obvious based upon their profession and their conduct. With this binding and loosing, it's communicating what we believe is aligned with God's will because of what God has said. To bind someone, I believe, is to unite him to Christ publicly. To loose someone is to take away the assurance of salvation.

These are both authoritative acts of the church. Now, sometimes we practice what is called congregationalism, and this is what it is. It's the church that has that final authority. Again, it's not elders. Congregationalism is sometimes confused with democratic town hall. Congregationalism doesn't mean every single one person's voice matters. Understand what he's saying here. Our united voice is what carries authority. The united voice of the church under Christ, the head, is what carries this kind of authority.

United as disciples of Christ

Disciples of Christ, are you united with the church? Are you seeking to be under the regular formative discipline and eager to even hear the corrective discipline so that you would draw nearer to God, rejoicing all the more in his grace? Church, we must be united as disciples of Christ to love one another, to recognize we have a heavenly duty, to know how weighty it is to make heavenly decisions. When we baptize, we're affirming somebody is united with Christ.

When we welcome a new believer, when we ordain a new elder, when we send out a missionary, these are authoritative heavenly matters that we as a church get to do. When we gather even now in the name and we sing of his name, this is an authoritative work of God that he's given us to do.

It's weighty, but by his grace, we can be faithful. We're supposed to rejoice with the father, like the father. We're supposed to be representatives and ambassadors of his reconciliation. The challenge, do we know the father in his grace? Do we know Christ and the power of his gospel so clearly that we long to help others walk more clearly with him? Do we know each other well enough to have these kinds of conversations?

Our culture is one where flight is encouraged. Be isolated, be distant. That's somehow an intuitive, protective response. Friend, that's dangerous. To draw near to God, to draw near to Christ means to draw near to his people so that we are conformed to Christ, not in danger of this going astray.

Will you pray with me? Father, thank you that you do not leave us alone astray. You sent Your Son to die for us and rise again. You sent Your Holy Spirit to renew us, to change us, to give us the grace we need to believe in You. Father, we pray that as we walk together as a body, we would seek to be united in Christ. We seek to be walking together, maintaining the unity of Your Spirit.

Lord, may we know how to welcome others. into this fold. May we know how to walk with each other as members of this one body. Lord, may we come to more clarity as to the great authority that you've given to this earthly body. May we see the weightiness. May we also see the grace that lets us do it according to your will for your glory. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.