Daily Devotion – September 2, 2020 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Matthew 18:15-20
18:15 “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.
18:16 But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
18:17 If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
18:18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
18:19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.
18:20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
This is an extremely powerful text. Like all extremely powerful things, it can bring healing or destruction. Its power lies in the fact that it encourages humans to judge other humans. It is pretty easy to see that it might work as Jesus intended if applied in a case of gossip, for example: if a church member is spreading false rumors about another member, and the victim of the gossip confronts the gossiper, either alone or in the company of others who know the gossip is false, the gossip and the harm might be stopped, and perhaps reconciliation can happen.
But it is very easy for people to gang up on one another in a community of faith. You wouldn’t think it would happen in churches, but since trust is usually pretty high in churches, people feel they can believe one another. It makes it very tempting then, while in a misunderstanding, to go a little big with your side of the story, so that you can get others to believe you. Many ugly church conflicts begin in just such small ways. And then there are even uglier examples, with malice or envy involved, where one person drums up an actual falsehood about another and then makes accusations, misleading a company of others. If you want a literary example of this abuse of power, remember the novel Silas Marner, where the life of a truly pious man is forever changed by such false human judgment, and God has to practically move heaven and earth to get Silas to live and love once again.
We must remember that what we say and do in a local church has great power on earth and even in heaven. Our best use of such power is always to put it in service, not of our own desires, but of the needs of those who have the least power: use our power to serve them. What is the application to our shared church life in a congregation? Our shared resources should ever and always serve the other: our time and treasure and energy have been given to us to help the neighbor and, in so doing, glorify God, the source of those gifts.
Gracious God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for giving us blessing upon blessing and power upon power. Help us to work hard to use everything for the benefit of your children who have no power. Help us to listen for whom you are calling us to serve. Amen.
