(Text and Audio)
Title: Judicial Authority
Last week, you may recall, we looked at the concept of Apostolic Authority and talked about Jesus told the apostles that the “keys to the kingdom” would be turned over to them once Jesus had ascended.
Essentially, Jesus was granting the Apostles the authority to “bind” and “loose” things here on earth, in the name of Jesus, and the authority that Jesus had given them would be recognized by the Church as a whole.
We also talked about how this teaching still affects us today. Though the apostles themselves are no longer with us, their rulings, their instructions, and their decisions live on with us today in the form of their writings, which have become our holy scriptures.
Today, Jesus will extend this idea a bit further and we will see the promise that Jesus gives in the Great Commission (“And Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age”) be predicted and fulfilled.
Let’s begin.
(Read/Pray)
- These last two verses must be understood in light of verses 15-18.
The entire section that we’ve been in for the last 5 weeks is one congruent thought. It is all about how to deal with sin within in the church. This teaching breaks down into three “acts” if you will.
The first section is in verses 15-17 and we took three weeks to work through that section, calling it “Confrontation Protocol” or “The rules we are to follow when rebuking a brother or sister.”
The section section, or “act 2” is found in the material we covered last week in verse 18 where Jesus explains that the Apostles (and then their writings) will have binding authority upon the Church as a whole.
The final section, verses 19-20, is the subject of study for today.
My point is to not forget that all of this is about the larger topic of discipline within the church.
- Not “taken out of context” but also rarely “put into context.”
Here at Heritage we strive to be good stewards of the Scriptures. We strive to be good students of the Scriptures. We are not afraid of difficult passages, or controversial doctrines. We have the freedom to disagree with each other and to bring that disagreement before scripture so that the matter may be resolved.
This is a beautiful thing, and it is something, frankly, I wouldn’t trade for a congregation, or budget, or salary that is 10 times what we have here.
One of the the things that we often stress in the manner that we study scripture is the importance of considering the context of a verse or passage against the backdrop of the chapter and book in which that passage occurs.
This passage that we are looking at today, verses 19-20…it isn’t so much that this verse is taken OUT of context, as much as most people don’t realize the context that it DOES appear within.
Example: You have all heard people gather at a prayer meeting (usually when the numbers are lower than expected) say, “Lord, we know your scriptures tell us that where 2 or 3 are gathered you are with us…”
How many of you have had this experience?
Now, is it wrong to claim that? No.
But in what way is that not fully realizing the context in which this verse is stated?
(Take answers)
This statement “Where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name, I am in the midst of them” This is really about Jesus being present to validate the judicial authority of the church.
In other words, it’s more specific of a promise than we usually give it credit for.
The neat thing about this promise, when we put it into context and establish what it really means, is that it’s actually both a prediction and fulfillment of the promise at the end of the Great Commission. It’s a prediction in the sense the Jesus speaks these words in Matthew 18 before he speaks the promise of the Great Commission in Matthew 28, and ti’s a fulfillment because Jesus is stating the same idea in both places: Namely, that even though he is not physically with us, His Spirit is still able to guide us in the process of making decisions.
Conclusion:
- This entire passage, from verse 15-20, tell us how and why we must discipline the Church in the manner prescribed by Jesus.
- The Apostles have been given authority, and that authority lives on for us today in our submission to the Scriptures.
- Jesus promises that his presence and Spirit are present to validate the judicial activity of the Church.