Monday, April 27, 2009
"Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:19-20).
IDEA: We must submit ourselves to the Scriptures even when the Scriptures are not saying what we think they should say.
PURPOSE: To help listeners be willing to see old texts in a new way in order to live according to the Scriptures.
When we say that the exception proves the rule, what does that mean?
In Bible study do you find that when you can't explain everything in a passage, you tend to accept anything? You have a kind of general truth and the details don't seem to matter.
I. We've been looking at Matthew 18:19-20.
What do most people who read Matthew 18:20 believe it's about?
Because Matthew 18:20 directs us back to Matthew 18:19, what do most people think that sentence is about?
People think it's getting prayers answered by getting people to agree about the request.
II. If the verse is saying that we get our prayers answered when we can agree about our requests, that presents problems.
It seems to assure you that that if you can get one other person to agree you about a prayer request, then God is obligated to give it to you.
Suppose I asked you, "What kind of car would you like if you knew someone would give that to you?"
We might disagree about the make and the model we would like, but would that mean that this verse wouldn't apply?
IF the three of us could come to an agreement about the make, the model, the color of the car we want, and we ask God to give it to us, could we be assured that God would give us a new car?
III. Sometimes you have to go up against the Bible to interpret it.
You have to think through the implications of your interpretation.
God sometimes says something startling, but He doesn't say things that are stupid.
Matthew 18:20 has led us to Matthew 18:19. Now Matthew 18:19 leads us to the context because Jesus says, "Again I say to you."
When you read "Again I say to you," what question do you have?
This forces us back to the previous verses in Matthew 18:15-18: "Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
However we interpret Matthew 18:19 and 20, they must somehow fit Matthew 18:15-18.