How many times is the word 'church' mentioned in the four gospels? Only three. That may surprise you, but there is a reason for it. The gospels cover the life of Jesus, but the Church did not come into existence till after Jesus had ascended back to heaven. The first time the word church is used in the gospels is in Matthew 16; we looked at that chapter a few weeks ago. In that chapter Peter makes his confession. ‘You are the Christ, the son of the living God.’ Jesus responds to Peter; ‘blessed are you Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church….’

That is such a crucial defining verse. It is a prophetic word of Jesus; ‘I will build my church.’ Jesus was looking forward to the time when he would no longer be physically present with his followers; that would be the age of the church. In that new phase that was soon to begin, those who were followers of Jesus would be his representatives; his presence on earth. That put quite a responsibility on the disciples; it also puts quite a responsibility on you and me today. As his followers, as the church we are here to represent Jesus. That is why chapter 18 of Matthew that we have read and are going to think about this morning is very important to us.

Matthew chapter 18 is the only other place in the gospels where the word church is mentioned; twice in this chapter Jesus uses the word church. He is not using it here in a prophetic sense as he did in chapter 16 speaking about what would happen in the future, but he is using it here to lay down the ground rules for his church. The time is coming when Jesus will not be there in person with his followers to sort out disputes or impart his authority.

His followers will have to do that. So Jesus gives instruction as to how his followers are to relate to one another, how they are to continue to be his authentic presence on earth. Jesus affirms, when his followers come together in his name, then he is present. We are Christ’s presence on earth.

The first thing that we will look at this morning is what Jesus teaches about how to deal with the problems of living in harmony with sinful people. You see we have this big problem in the church. It’s full of sinful people. I once heard a young minister stand up and tell us that the Lord has shown him that there was sin in the church. On reflection, I was a bit surprised that he hadn’t learned that already when he was at college.

Although we wish it were otherwise, although we are repentant sinners, although we are forgiven sinners, we are still sinners and there will be times when we are hurt by what other Christians say or do. It even happens among ministers, some people think it happens especially among ministers. The reality is that for all of us there will be times when people hurt us, and we feel aggrieved.

Jesus tells us how to deal with that. Don’t leave the church. Don’t even avoid the person who has hurt you. Go to that person privately and tell them what the problem is. Our natural reaction is not to do that, we tend to find it easier to talk to others, to broadcast our complaint. ‘No’ says Jesus, ‘do not do that.’ First go to the individual concerned. Tell them about it. It just might be a misunderstanding that can easily be put right. Actually we also need to go with an open mind, because sometimes the other person is not to blame, sometimes we think we can see a speck in someone else’s eye, but we don’t notice the plank in our own eye.

If that is the case, then it’s far better that we sort it out in private. It is so important that we do this Jesus’ way. It’s not easy, but if we love one another as he teaches us that we should; then we have got to love each other enough to be honest with each other. When you do that it helps you to build honest relationships. We need to love each other enough to be honest. There is a proverb that goes ‘faithful are the wounds of a friend.’

But there are occasions when it’s not possible to sort things out as individuals; there is a need for arbitration. Jesus says in that case, take one or two others along, get the opinion of a third party. Take someone who is impartial, who will give a fair, honest opinion. The idea is not to punish or condemn, but to restore, if someone has done wrong, then they need to repent, to say sorry. This isn’t an exercise in covering up sins; it’s a matter of dealing with matters discreetly put properly.

Sometimes the churches have been too lax in this matter. Sometimes there have been cover-ups, and sinful behaviour has been allowed to continue and victims have suffered abuse of various kinds. Jesus’ clear teaching is that he expects his followers to deal with issues properly. He was never sterner than with those who he called hypocrites, those who just put on a religious show, but underneath were corrupt.

So Jesus tells us that if a person refuses to listen to the two or three who challenge his or her sinful behaviour, then the issue as a last resort must be brought before the church. There is a consistency here with Old Testament practice. In the case of serious breaches of the law, where the death penalty was prescribed, Moses commanded the offender had to be brought before the congregation, before all the people, and the community had to pronounce judgement. There are instances we read of in the Old Testament where the community as a whole carried out the judgement of stoning to death.

What Jesus teaches though, is very different in two respects. When a church does have exercise discipline in the way Jesus teaches, it is not a matter of condemning. What is required from the guilty party is that they repent of their sin. They have to listen to the church and acknowledge that what the church says is right and fair and endeavour to behave in compliance with that.

In that case the matter is over and dealt with. The other way in which Jesus’ teaching differs from the Old Testament Law, is that even when the offender refuses to repent, the only penalty that Jesus requires that his church inflict is to exclude that person from the church. The church has done some terrible things in Jesus name, over the years inflicting torture or burning at the stake of individuals for heresy or other crimes. What a terrible misrepresentation of Jesus’ teaching. One reason such things have happened in the past is because people have made the mistake of thinking that you can have a Christian country that is enforced by law. You cannot do that. You cannot force a nation to be Christian by the rule of law. God gave people freedom, Jesus want us to follow him freely. But he does require us to take his yoke upon us, to live by his teaching.

Those who refuse to accept Jesus teaching cannot be part of his church. To allow them to remain so would be to lead others to stumble, and nothing could be more terrible than that. Jesus reminds us that God himself will judge those who do that.

As we come to our general election this week, it is worth remembering that the idea of the whole community making a judgement, which is what we do in a general election has it’s roots in that same Old Testament principle of the people coming together in judgement. And it is not only the Old Testament principle; it is also a principle that Jesus teaches should govern his church.

So as we cast our votes this week, we need to remember it’s our duty to do so. We also need to pray that God will give us the wisdom to judge honestly and fairly. We should also pray for and support our politicians. We live in a world where many like to pass the responsibility and blame on to others for the unpleasant decisions that all governments have to take. As individuals and as a society we all have to share in the responsibility for what we do as a nation.

Finally, we will look at the other rule that Jesus lays down for his church. And he leaves us in no shadow of a doubt that this rule is unerringly binding upon us all. The rule is simply this: you must forgive.

Now Peter as usual voices what most of the disciples were probably thinking. Jesus had just told his followers that in his church, when someone sins, then unlike the Old Testament law that required sacrifices to be made for sin or penalties to be paid, if the offender simply repents, then they can be forgiven. I suspect that some of us get a bit uneasy with this idea. What about justice, what about the offender paying the cost of the harm they have inflicted?

So Peter asks Jesus, ‘but Lord, how many times have I got to forgive some one? Do you expect me to forgive them seven times?’ I suspect seven times seemed a bit much to Peter. ‘No, it’s seventy times seven,’ says Jesus. We are to forgive again and again and again. Then Jesus Goes on to tell the story of the man who had got into trouble. He been in a trusted position, but had betrayed that trust.

To bring it up to date, you could compare it to the firm’s chief accountant, who takes the company pension fund down to the casino and loses it all on the roulette wheel. He is called before his boss who tells him that he will be bankrupted; his house and possessions will go towards repaying the debt. He will also face the courts on criminal charges. The man begs for mercy.

To the surprise of everyone, the company owner feels sorry for that man. He decides to bear the massive cost of the fraud himself, and he forgives the accountant who walks away free of debt. It’s an incredible story. I’m sure Jesus disciples found it incredible.
But the point of it, which we can understand better than the disciples could have done at the time is that Jesus has done for us what that generous man did for his foolish servant. When Jesus died on the cross for us he paid the penalty for all of our sin. Our sin amounts to a greater debt than any of us could pay, however an innocent life we have led.

At the heart of the gospel is grace. Christ in his death on the cross has given us something that we could never earn; he has given us something we could never deserve. He has restored us to a right relationship with God, he has made us God’s children. But there is just one thing that we need to bear in mind.

If God has done so much for us in Christ, then he expect us to show the same grace and mercy and forgiveness to other. Jesus warns us that God takes this issue very seriously. You must forgive.

At an election meeting this week over in Leigh, one of the candidates was honest enough to tell us that politicians are all sinners. We ought to find it in our hearts to forgive them and pray for them, and even choose one of them to vote for. May God also help us to find it within ourselves to live in love and forgiveness towards one another in his church.

Amen.

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