Transcription
Jesus makes one thing in Matthew 18 the foundation of his kingdom community. And yet, most Christians don't take it seriously. In fact, a lot of churches avoid talking about it altogether. But here's the twist. Buried inside this passage is a hidden Old Testament story. And once you see it, it could unlock a whole new level of spiritual growth in your life. So, let's get right into it.
[Music] [Music] Welcome back to Every Word. My name is Nate Salah and today we are studying Matthew 18:15-35. Before we do that, please do me a favor, like, sub, and share this video around. Just helps us to get the word out to read the Bible together online. Amen.
All right, let's go. "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have 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. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And 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 am I among them."
Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him, as many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but 77 times. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants."
When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold with his wife and children and all that he had and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, "Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything." And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred dinari. And seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, "Pay what you owe." So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, "Have patience with me and I will pay you." He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.
Then his master summoned him and said to him, "You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you?" And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.
So this passage is a carryover from Jesus' teaching about humility and leadership. And that's back up in uh verses 3 to 14 of chapter 18. Now that Jesus has established that his disciples must take great care of God's sheep, he turns his attention to navigating disputes amongst brothers in kingdom community. And that's basically verses 15 to 20 here, right? Uh he talks about forgiveness and how radical it should actually look. And that's in verses 21 and 22. And why it's crucial that God's people extend forgiveness to each other. And that's in verses 23-35.
Couple of noteworthy observations to make in this passage. So the protocol that Jesus gives the disciples, this is back in verses 15 to 20 with regard to addressing sin within kingdom community. This is not new. It was established in the Old Testament uh for the same principal purpose: to restore brothers and sisters in community and to ultimately keep them on the path of obeying God and being a blessing to the nations. That's a key concept, restoration even in the face of discipline. And we'll explore those Old Testament passages and connections in just a moment.
So the phrase uh "whatever you bind on earth," right? You see this in verse 18, "whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." This is a Hebrew idiomatic expression that is often misunderstood. So we have to remember again, Jesus is a rabbi. Okay? Rabbis and Jewish leaders were constantly asked to interpret scriptural commands. This goes back to halakhic regulations. Uh it goes back to the Pharisees' pushback against Jesus' own halakha. So remember, halakha is a Hebrew word that at its root means "to walk." And what it refers to is walking out the Torah in your life. So the Jews were constantly concerned with the proper way of applying God's word to all aspects of their lives. But that requires interpreting God's word in particular circumstances. So, for example, in the Old Testament, God commands that no work be done on the Sabbath. Okay? But wait a second, the concept of "work" is not defined. So leaders would bind, right, or prohibit certain activities, and they would also loose or permit other activities in the spirit of interpreting God's Sabbath commands in people's everyday lives. That's what Jesus is saying to the disciples here in Matthew. Whatever God's people decide to prohibit in the name of dealing uh with sin within kingdom community, right? So the context is key here. God will agree with that prohibition. And whatever God's people decide to permit in the name of dealing, again, dealing with sin within kingdom community, God will also agree with that permission. So what's going on here is God is providing um authoritative liberty to walk out his commands within his kingdom community. Can you see that?
This is why Jesus says in verse uh 20, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." He's not saying that he's with people only when two or three are gathered to pray. I mean, that's true regardless, right? No, he's saying that he will agree with the church's decisions to navigate sin issues where God's word does not give clear instruction. Again, this is about halakhic interpretation. And Jesus is giving that liberty to his disciples. And he's also presupposing that uh prayer is all wrapped up in church discipline. Why? Well, because the ultimate goal is not discipline. It's reconciliation between God's people so that they can continue to obey God and bless the nations. That's the overarching thread, the story that God is fulfilling from Genesis going all the way to the end. Right?
This also explains uh Jesus' words in verse 17 here. So, "If he," this person who is sinning, caught in sin, "refuses to listen to them, 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." So what Jesus is saying here is excommunicate the sinner who refuses to listen. That is to hear and to obey the church's correction. And there's a purpose for that again. And it goes back to the overarching theme.
Right now in verse 21, uh Peter shifts focus from the church and the church's mission uh because forgiveness, that's that's what that is filtered under uh in Jesus' words above. He shifts that to personal forgiveness. Now, he's probably weighing what Jesus just said about excommunication in in light of, you know, what Jesus said about forgiveness going all the way back to Matthew 6, right? So, remember in Matthew 6:14-15, Jesus said, "If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses." Hm. Okay. So again, so I think Peter's tooling around with this, right? So the question is, if excommunication is an option for the church, when is it an option between individuals? Now, the traditional uh rabbinic answer was, if your brother repeats the same sin against you three times, on the fourth time he should not be forgiven. But Peter recognizes that there is a different spirit in Jesus' teaching and he wants clarification. You know, uh in verse 22, Jesus alludes to the story of Lamech in his response to Peter, and this actually takes us back to the book of Genesis.
All right, so let's start thinking about some connections here. As Jesus rounds out this fourth discourse on kingdom community, he utilizes a couple of key connections from the Old Testament to undergird his teaching. What Jesus is truly concerned about is how his disciples lead the people of God, i.e., God's sheep. Right? That's that's again, that goes back to the beginning of chapter 18. And he's also concerned about how they can reconcile with each other and stay on mission. And that's where we are here.
Now remember, Jesus' concerns uh are not voiced in a vacuum. So again, let's try to do like, let's zoom all the way out and think about this from a 30,000 ft view. All right. Jesus' words are spoken within a specific context where the leaders of the people of God had become corrupted and they had failed in their mission. As a matter of fact, this corruption can be traced all the way back to Eden in Genesis chapter 3. This history of failures has scattered God's people over time, both physically and spiritually. And so Jesus' kingdom community must gather them all back together as ambassadors on God's behalf. Now, this requires this endeavor requires humility, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Why? Because pride, revenge, and bearing grudges, which are the opposite of those other qualities, right? That runs deep in people. Even if people are to enter the kingdom that Jesus is building on earth, they still must watch out for these behavioral issues and guard against it. Hence Jesus' fourth discourse here.
And like a good rabbi, Jesus connects his discourse to a couple of key areas in the Old Testament. So, for example, when Jesus says in verse 15, "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault right between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother." Okay. Well, hm. This sounds like Leviticus chapter 19. So, so again, when Jesus says these things, the disciples are meant to immediately think of Old Testament Leviticus 19:17. Look at this: "You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him." By the way, Leviticus 19:17 comes just before the second part of the greatest commandment: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Look at that. We can see how confronting our our our brother, our neighbor, privately is loving them as we love our own self. Why? Well, because that's the way that we would want to be approached, right? Not publicly in order to shame us, but privately in order to restore us, right? And that's the best way that leads to reconciliation. All right?
Uh now Jesus also says, "If your brother doesn't listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses." Hm. Where does that come from? Right. When he said this, the disciples should have remembered Deuteronomy chapter 19, verse 15: "A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established."
It should become abundantly clear to us when we see all the old connection, connections to the Old Testament here, that Jesus was not introducing new concepts for his people. He was correctly interpreting God's word. This is partly why Jesus said, "Don't think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." That's Matthew 5, right? The term "abolish." So, again, we've talked about this in previous episodes, but it's just good to remember. The term "abolish" is a Hebrew idiomatic expression that refers to misinterpretation. The term "fulfill" is another Hebrew expression that refers to proper interpretation. And so I've said this before, but Jesus has come in order to properly interpret for God's people how to live, but also to fully fill up what God expects of them because they could not do it on their own. One of the problems was uh that God's people had abolished or misinterpreted Tanakh in so many ways. And that's why Jesus gives five new discourses in Matthew. Don't miss this. The number five connects to the five books of Moses. Jesus, as the new Moses, is fulfilling the prophecy of Deuteronomy 18:15-18. And he's doing so by giving these five discourses to his disciples. Uh notice, you know, the Israelites were told that the new Moses would speak God's words uh that had been put in his mouth. Take a look at this just for reference again: "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him." This is the Lord speaking. Now, we often look at that and think that God will give the prophet only new words to speak. And of course, Jesus speaks new words, but he also upholds the ancient words of God that still apply to his people. That's what that is referring to. "I will put my words." What words? The words of Tanakh, right? Why? Because "the word of the Lord stands forever." That's Isaiah 40. That's why much of what Jesus says is connected to the Old Testament. Okay, this is what I've been trying to say over and over again. Either Jesus is making an allusion to the Old Testament or he's giving a direct quotation out of the Old Testament. All right, can you see that?
Here's another example. Uh in Matthew 18:21, Peter asks Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother, and he offers seven times as a sufficient number. Now, Peter is obviously reaching out for something good, right? Uh he likely knows the rabbinic expectation of forgiveness, which again was only three times. So he's trying to go a little bit further, right? He's like, he's reaching out for more. But I think what he's doing is wrongheaded. He's trying to find this demarcation line that is commensurate with the teaching of Jesus on excommunication. So remember in verse 17, Jesus had just gotten finished saying that if someone refuses to listen to even the church, they should be excommunicated from it. So Peter's thinking, "Okay, let's apply this to my personal dealings outside of the church as well." Now, this reveals an error in Peter's judgment, one that I think that we can actually uh use to explore as a lesson in a moment. But the way that Jesus addresses this particular error is to encourage Peter and the disciples to be much more radical in forgiveness. Look at this: Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but 77 times."
Now again, you hear the numbers and people should be thinking, "Wait, is there 77 in the Old Testament? 77-fold?" Right? This, there is. This is a clear allusion to the story of Lamech in Genesis 4. Now, uh Lamech is a descendant of Cain and lives his life marked, pardon the pun, by Cain's sin. Okay? Walking around marked by it. The way we know that is because of this particular sort of like two-line poem uh that is often referred to as the "song of the sword." Take a look at this verse 23: "Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, 'Hear my voice, you wives of Lamech; listen to what I say. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If," here it is, "if Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech is 77-fold.'" Now, essentially, this poem is a is a boast. Lamech is boasting about how uh revenge is a way of life for him, you know. Yeah, man. If if Cain's revenge is sevenfold, which by the way, Cain is his ancestor, well, then my revenge is 77-fold, right? So, in other words, he's bragging. He's bragging that he's even worse than his ancestor, Cain. If Cain's down here, well, then I'm, he's going to ratchet it up, right? He's next-level revenge. If someone wounds him, he kills that man on the spot. This is horrific to brag about. And so, what Jesus does is he takes that same phrase, "77-fold," but he fills it up with new meaning. So, in other words, he's saying to Peter, "Just as revenge was a way of life for Lamech, so must radical forgiveness be a way of life for all of you in the church." This is such a brilliant communication piece that should pierce all of our hearts if we truly meditate on this.
I suspect that the disciples were tracking Jesus' commands in Matthew 18:15-20 until Peter asked the question in verse 21. Right? Again, remember Peter asked, "Hey, how many times can my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven." Now, the moment that Peter asked the question and he mentions the phrase "seven times," I think Jesus saw the lesson for him. I think Peter and possibly the disciples, because often times Peter becomes this type of representative or spokesperson for what the disciples are thinking in the moment. Right? So it's possible the disciples are thinking the same thing. I think they heard Jesus teaching on reconciliation, but they latched on to the discipline part of it. So, in other words, Peter heard Jesus' scenarios about, you know, you confront a brother, uh, uh, they don't listen, right? And he interpreted it through the lens of purging this troublemaker from among the rest of the group. But that's not the actual heart of Jesus in giving this teaching of discipline. Jesus is not merely thinking about discipline. He's thinking about reconciliation. It looks like Peter is just thinking about discipline.
So Jesus provides uh several steps for folks within the kingdom community to reconcile. That, that's the point, right? To reconcile. This is verses 15 to 17. If the person refuses to listen to everyone, including the entire community of God, they can no longer be a part of the community. By the way, disciplining unrepentant sinners within God's community, that is an absolute must. Okay? People's sin, if left unchecked, will undo the community from the inside out. If you do not believe this, you can just take a look at Paul's epistles. Uh, you can take a look at some of John's epistles, right, in the New Testament. There are no shortage of examples of of these men dealing with various issues springing up within God's community. I bet you can probably even think of modern-day examples of this uh in your own church, right?
Now, the final step that Jesus provides, right? So again, it's excommunication. Verse 17, that's only meant to be a deterrent. It is not meant to be the last opportunity for the offender to reconcile by any stretch. And I wonder if Peter doesn't realize that Jesus is leaving the door open here. Why? Because he doesn't see reconciliation. Peter sees discipline. So, "If we're excommunicating people from God's community, how many times before we can do the same thing on an individual level?" This is what Peter is asking. And it reveals Peter's mistake. The discipline in God's community that Jesus commands should not be given with the intention of removing troublemakers. It's meant to reconcile brothers and sisters and align them to God's word and mission. Okay? In other words, if they are going out the door of the church with an arrogant attitude, that door must remain open uh so that they can return someday with the proper repentant heart. Are you with me? The goal is to ultimately keep Jesus' followers on the path of obeying God and being a blessing to the nations. Again, that's the overarching goal. If we're going to march forward together in unity, right, John 17, if we're going to be one in this overarching goal, reconciliation needs to be one of the fundamental components of our community. Do you see what this means? Right? I'll say it again. The door is open for someone who is excommunicated to come back later with a repentant heart and to ultimately return and reconcile with God's kingdom community. But wait a second, that cannot happen if there is an expiration date on forgiveness. Do you understand?
This leads to a lesson for the original audience. You ready? The discipline that Jesus commands for his church must be saturated in radical forgiveness. Why? Because the goal of discipline is reconciliation. Whether that be today, tomorrow, or some point in the future. I think Peter thought, well, if reconciliation is not possible in the moment, it will never be possible, right? Therefore, discipline is a way of removing problematic people that we shouldn't waste our time constantly forgiving. If they went out the door, good riddance, right? Again, that's not Jesus's heart. As a matter of fact, there may be a hint of Lamech in Peter's attitude. You know what I mean? No. What God calls us to is radical forgiveness and radical mercy as a way of life. Go back and look at the Beatitudes, friends. It should not surprise you. Go back and look at Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Just because reconciliation is not possible with some folks in the moment, it does not mean that forgiveness should not be extended to them. Why? Because forgiveness leaves the door open to reconciliation. And that is the ultimate goal of discipline.
There is so much treasure in this passage and its lesson, and it actually carries over to us in our churches today, does it not? The question you should be asking is, what does this mean as a lesson for you today? Look, I don't... Okay, give me another minute. So, normally I end right here. Just, I don't typically do this because, you know, now it's your turn to finish the study. But let me say this: forgiveness and mercy are in incredibly short supply these days amongst a lot of churches. I suspect that this is because we have allowed the world and secular culture to infiltrate our way of life. I don't know if you've been paying attention to the news lately. It's all over the place. Okay, this is a rabbit trail. I'm going to keep it very brief. Okay. Some of the signifying features of today's secular culture are hot takes, rage-baiting, and canceling people. When you blend that in with church culture, you see some weird, sad manifestations. I believe that cancel culture is what can naturally follow from the spirit behind Peter's question to Jesus in Matthew 18:21.
I remember getting an email uh from a former church member at the church I was pastoring uh years ago in Las Vegas. And these people were inviting me to sit with them. They wanted to discuss some ideas with me, apparently. And I didn't know this, but they had clashed with some of the other pastors on staff and felt like they had to leave out of principle. I don't know what all the circumstances were. I just remember sitting with them and really hearing their heart. I listened to them talk, and we had a conversation for a few hours, and I could tell that they were hurting. I could also tell that they desired to come back, but there were these unresolved issues between them and at least one of my colleagues on staff. So, I went back directly to this particular colleague and I told him what happened and I asked him if he'd be willing to talk with them again. And I'll never forget this. He said, "Nate, I've talked to them enough." He then went on to tell me his side of the story. He gave a litany of reasons why he doesn't need to engage them any further. That is exactly the type of thing that Jesus was warning his disciples about. The worst part is many Christians believe they're being righteous in their unwillingness to reconcile. And this is a huge mistake. I believe this is what we're talking about now: radical forgiveness and mercy. Reconciliation is the ultimate goal of discipline. This is one of the most important ways that we as brothers and sisters in Christ can distinguish ourselves from the world today. I really believe that we have to saturate ourselves in our interactions with radical forgiveness and radical mercy, particularly when dealing with somebody else's sin, because the goal is reconciliation. Whether that be today, tomorrow, or some point in the future, we have to keep that door open. Amen.
All right, keep going. Uh, complete the rest of the this week's study. You know, ask the questions, what is the lesson for you in your own circles of influence? Keep following the 5-day Bible reading plan. Uh, and let me know what you're seeing in the text. You can grab all those uh with the links below. Uh, and I'd love to get your thoughts. So, hopefully you're sharing those in the comments. I do take a look at the comments. I'm really grateful to see all of you engaging with God's word.
As always, if you're interested, I'm using Logos for my Bible app, and that's what I use to read the word with you here. It will absolutely level up your studies of God's word. Just go to logos.com/wise disciple right now. You can grab Logos and get two months free, as well as my suggested reading list. Um, which I think is going to bless you. Also, if you're interested in learning the original biblical Greek or Hebrew languages, go check out the Biblingo app. I've partnered with Logos and Biblingo only because they are so helpful to you in your studies. Click on the BibLingo link below, but make sure to use my discount code, wise disciple 10, at checkout.
All right, next time Jesus is going to teach about marriage and divorce, and it's going to reveal an opportunity to expose the Pharisees' failure in this one key area. And we'll get into all of that next time. As always, keep your eyes on the scripture, stay close to the Lord, happy reading, and bye for now.
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