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Matthew 18
Topic Started: Sep 29 2014, 07:37 PM (131 Views)
CoramDeo
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Frequently, we have a chatter who comes online, seeking prayer, and quoting Matthew 18:19: "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." So, the thinking here is that, if you get more than one person to agree with you in prayer, then it's a guarantee that what you are asking will be granted. Not so! This verse is completely ripped out of the context from which it came. Let's take a look at the entire passage:


"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, and 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.” (Matthew 18:15-20)

As we can see, this reference is in the context of loving confrontation and church discipline. Making disciples involves a whole range of activities for nurture, instruction, and training. To produce mature disciples, Christian learning, devotion, worship, righteousness, and service, are all to be taught in a context of care and accountability. Church discipline is the official procedures of the church permitting it to define its membership and maintain its standards of belief and practice, derived from the Bible.

Jesus instituted church discipline by authorizing the apostles to prohibit or permit certain kinds of behavior; this is the power of “binding” and “loosing” sins (Matt. 18:18; John 20:23). The “keys of the kingdom,” first given to Peter and defined as power to bind and loose (Matt. 16:19), have usually been understood as authority to oversee doctrine and impose discipline. This authority was given by Christ to the church in general and to its ordained leadership in particular.

Ultimately, there is only one sin for which a church member is excommunicated—impenitence. When repentance is apparent, the church is to declare the sin remitted and receive the offender into fellowship once again. Thus, the ultimate goal of confrontation is reproof, repentance and restoration to fellowship.

The verses at the end must be seen in the greater context of this type of loving discipline. Verse 19 is a further application of v. 18, and v. 20 states that Jesus is present to validate the judicial activity of the church. It has nothing whatsoever to do with getting God to answer our prayers according to false assumptions.
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