Pastor Martin's Message for July, 2008
Jesus
says to all of us as his disciples
“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. 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. 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 man be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 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.” Matthew
18:15-18
In
this Gospel text in Matthew Jesus shares with us how we can better communicate
with each other, especially when someone sins against us or we sin against them
and we need to regain that person back into a loving full giving relationship
once again When someone sins against us or we sin against them, our Lord asks
of us to go to that person when we are alone privately so that we can discuss
and listen to what has happened and hopefully forgive each other, bringing both
people back into a loving relationship again. By going to the other person, we
can only strengthen the relationship, as we learn that we can talk and listen
and work all things out. If that doesn’t work, our Lord asks for us to bring
two or three witnesses who are un-bias and who can help listen and work on
resolving what has happened so that the relationship can be brought to
wholeness once again. If that doesn’t
work, Jesus wants for us to come to the church, where we can work through what
has been done so that the sin can be forgiven and the relationship can be brought between the
two people. If this still doesn’t happen, Jesus calls upon us to treat the
person “as a Gentile and a tax collector” knowing how our Lord treated Gentiles
and tax collectors by loving and forgiving them and having them eat at his
table.
For
the 2008 Year, the Bethany Church Council has put into place a series of 5
goals they want to encourage and challenge the
congregation to work towards throughout this year. The first goal is focusing
upon our prayer life and how we can better communicate with our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. Another goal is
focusing upon better communication throughout the body of Christ of Bethany. As
we begin “Resurging Bethany’s Spirit,” a part of what we will be looking at is
our communication and how we can better communicate with each other. Last summer’s
Pastor
Martin