Tomorrow morning I get to speak at Horizon Community Church about the importance of relationships. I am going to focus on Jesus' teaching in MT 18:15-21. I only have about 30 minutes and it is hard to diagnose and treat this topic in such a short amount of time.
MT 18:15 If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.
It is very difficult to go to a person that has wounded us and be reconciled. Going may not be the problem but doing it in a loving way certainly can be. I am usually hurt, emotional and wanting revenge.
But Jesus, that most brilliant of all ministers to the soul, gives wise and healing counsel. Go alone and win your brother back.
The tendency for a lot of us is to go to someone else and tell them all about it. It seems so powerful if we can just go and destroy the person's reputation that attacked me. But Jesus says, "No revenge. Go and win your brother back.
Relationships are important to Jesus. He created us to relate with one another in love. In fact, He said, "Everything in the entire Bible comes down to loving God and your neighbor."
The older we get the more people we know and have in our families. This gives us more people to love and enjoy. It also gives us more time to be reconciled. Isn't that great?
3 comments:
Hi Gary,
I've heard your sermon on the Matthew 18 scripture...it is simplicity in its most powerful form! How many struggles, how much "wrangling" of issues would cease if we simply went to the one with whom we have the problem ONLY?!?! Jesus' way is ALWAYS the best way...and Jesus DID NOT believe in triangling! (Even tho being part of a 3 "family" trinity is a built in opportunity to do so!)lol
Blessings! I'll say a prayer for you in the morning,
Paula Clare
Gary,
One of the primary complaints of the boomer generation regarding the church is that it is not relevant.
I do not know what happens at Horizon Community Church on a weekly basis but those of us who were in attendance yesterday were given some very relevant
principles to help us recognize triangles in our various relationships.
A recent president and his minions took triangulation
techniques to an art form.
As a teacher, parent, pastor and, as my wife suggested, as a husband, I have been both the victim and the initiator of triangulation tactics.
Thank you for calling this destructive behavior to our attention.
Afterwards I received positive comments from a wide range of people. Grandparents, Parents and children noted how triangles were a factor in their communication and miscommunication and how that teaching helped them understand what was going on. And, I did not even have to use the Greek or hebrew a single time to make it clear.
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