“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you will have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two brothers along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witness.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them.” Matthew 18:15 - 20
Samuel Morse, inventor of the telegraph and the Morse Code, was a dedicated Christian and a renowned university professor. History testifies that he always prayed for the Lord to give him more light and understanding as he conducted his experiments in the laboratory. He said, “When flattering honors came to me in my inventions, I never felt I deserved them. I had made a valuable application of electricity, not because I was superior to other men, but solely because God, who meant it for mankind, must reveal it to someone and was pleased to reveal it to me.” (1)
Morse’s words remind us of the truth that one of our life messages is, “Life is a gift to be stewarded.” As Rick Warren says, “Life is a test, trust and temporary assignment.”(2) Do you know that everything you have, starting with your breath and moving to relationships, resources, intelligence, and a long list that could never be exhausted, are all gifts from God? He is asking you to personally represent His interests.
How do we do that? Through the care and management of all we are and all we possess. Morse realized that he had nothing to do with the invention of electricity. He was God’s choice servant to introduce it to mankind, and he would be the initial caregiver and manager of that introduction. Is there anything that God wants to introduce into your world of influence like He did with Samuel Morse?
Everyday God loans His creation plan of redemption to us for our enjoyment. Long before mankind was created God owned it, and He still does. When God wants to express His generosity, He releases a portion of His creation to us as a sacred trust. This was so from the beginning. God’s initial instruction to Adam and Eve was, “I own everything, but I want you to be the guardian and trustee.”
“God blessed them and said, ‘Have many children, so that your descendants will live over the earth and bring it under control. I am putting you in charge.’” (Genesis 1:28 TEV)
As a state-appointed guardian for my younger brother Phil, I am legally responsible for his health care, housing, finances, and even the decision if he should marry. On top of that is added the responsibility to decide if he can vote and what should happen if life support issues were ever raised. I truly am my brother’s keeper. You are the keeper of your Heavenly Father’s creation. This is exactly what God had in mind when he placed the initial dominion of the earth under Adam and Eve’s care.
“Those who are trusted with something valuable must show they are worthy of that trust.” (1 Corinthians 4:2 NCV)
Have you accepted your assignment from God to be His steward, or are you only interested in pulling off your own thing? Decide today: live for God or live for yourself.
Let me help you! Don’t you realize that there is nothing you have that hasn’t come from God? Everything you have comes from Him!
“What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if all you have is from God, why boast as though you have accomplished something on your own.” (1 Corinthians 4:7bNLT)
From the time my kids were little I would tell them at least once a week, “Your mom and I are very thankful that God loved us so much that He designed and selected you for our family.” Talk about something that will build a kid’s self esteem!
Some of you need to know that your kids are a blessing not a burden. After just coming from round 5 of a family feud on the way to church, you may have to take this by faith; your kids are your greatest heritage. In fact, I think if my life were to suddenly end, my greatest legacy would be these four children God has asked me to raise on His behalf. I have never recovered from that thought.
At the end of my life God is going to talk to me about these kids and many other things. You and I will be evaluated and rewarded according how we have managed God’s “stuff.”
It Will Go Beyond…
Believe me friend; it will go beyond that 18-2 basketball season you had in 2002 leading 5th and 6th grade boys to the city championship.
It will go beyond that minimum wage job you picked up in college your sophomore year so you could stay on campus that summer and take an extra class or two.
It will go beyond the care you rendered to that baby that was under your care for such a short while and died of SIDS.
It will go beyond… And when you arrive at that beyond, and start that journey where you live and last forever, because of your relationship with Jesus Christ God will make good on His promise of rewards. And they are three:
1. You will receive God’s recognition: “Well done good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:23)
2. You will receive a reward: “I will put you in charge of many things.” (Matthew 25:23b)
3. You will be the center of attention with a feast and celebration: “Come and share your master’s happiness.” (Matthew 25:23c)
The best way to pull this off is to be in total agreement that this is God’s plan for your life; and that agreement starts with prayer. You have been granted access to a realm of spiritual partnership with Him that provides rulership and dominion of His Kingdom. This rulership was granted to you when Jesus said in Matthew 16:19, “I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Have you made that discovery? Since you are a steward and manager of God’s stuff, He gives you the authority to adequately take care of His plans and possessions by offering you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. But what are these keys, you ask?
Matthew 16:19 is a great passage of God’s Word for the believer, especially if you are new in the faith. It gives you hope. God wants you to succeed. He has given you His very power to make that possible. Being on God’s team and having His resources makes you a winner in the end.
The metaphor God uses to give you this hope (binding and loosing) tells you to use the keys to the kingdom. This idea is introduced with Peter in Matthew 16:19 and is carried on in Matthew 18:18, our text today. Make no mistake friend, it applies and includes the ministry of the “Prayer of Agreement.” Managing God’s stuff is best accomplished through using these keys as instruments of prayer, in this case prayers of agreement. To the Jewish world keys always represented power.
The passage that gives us the best picture of this is found in Isaiah 22:20-24 where Isaiah describes one of David’s stewards named Eliakim. “Who will have the key of the house of David on his shoulder, and he will alone open and shut the entry?” What was Eliakim’s duty? He was the house steward who carried the keys and opened the palace in the morning and closed it in the evening. It was only through this access that visitors gained entry to the royal palace. (3) This is a beautiful picture of the prayer of agreement.
My kids love keys. Car keys. House keys. A ring of old used keys that sit at the bottom of their toy box. The mystery for the child is what does this key fit? Even as I write this, our 4 year-old has grabbed my wife’s keys and is about to launch into a world of self-discovery as he moves through the house asking himself, “What new discovery can be made?” Unfortunately, some time later Mom will be on the same search for her keys.
When a child matches the right key with the right lock, resources are unlocked and new possibilities otherwise obstructed are opened. Before I give you three characteristics of the prayer of agreement, let me give a couple conditions to secure answered prayer. Does God put conditions on answering your prayers? You be the judge!
1. Get rid of sin… “It is well known that God isn’t at the beck and call of sinners, but listens carefully to anyone who lives in reverence and does His will.” (John 9:31 MSG)
2. Marital Disunity… “…so that nothing will hinder your prayers. Finally, all of you live in harmony with one another.” (1 Peter 3:7-8 NIV)
3. Stay grafted to Jesus… “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself.” (John 15:4NIV)
There are some of the conditions. This list is by no means exhaustive, keep that in mind when you are getting ready to pray. You might want to do some pre-prayer work to get your heart ready to meet God in prayer.
I love the Greek language. I spent several years wading through vocabulary and grammar to graduate with a master’s degree that included biblical languages. In fact, while I attended seminary they offered a non-biblical language masters of divinity for those were not interested in biblical languages. Friend, it was worth the hours of memory and learning Greek grammatical structure.
As I was searching for the Greek meaning of the word “agree,” I came across one of the most beautiful words in the English language. The English word for “agree” is the Greek word for “symphony.” Who doesn’t love a symphony? It may not be your music of choice, but it leaves even the uninterested impressed.
The enthusiastic conductor, the variety of perfectly tuned instruments, the passion, the harmony of strings, horns, and percussions; it leaves one dazed just thinking about it.
“I tell you if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will done for you by My Father in Heaven.” (Matthew 16:19)
The word for “agree” is “sumphoneo.” It means to be harmonious or to be in one accord. (4) How exciting to have assurance that God wants us to enjoy prayer and gain harmonious benefits from seeking His face. So let’s begin by agreeing.
Ø Agree on the major things in God’s kingdom. Let’s not sweat the small things.
Ø Agree on the destination. Let’s give each other permission to take a different route.
Ø Agree on the victory in Christ. Perhaps each person will fight the battle differently.
Ø Agree on glorifying God. As long as it squares with scripture, the more variety, the more beautiful the symphony.
Nothing kills the power of agreement faster in a local church than elevating minor issues to front row status: non-essentials in doctrine, church stylistic issues, cultural bias, gender distinctive, and age differences.
Characteristics of the Power of Agreement
1. Rebuild Relationships that are in conflict.
“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you will have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two brothers along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witness.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” Matthew 18:15-16
Nothing hinders the power of agreement faster than a life that is conflicted. Before you start praying in the power of agreement, do a little naval gazing. Start by getting the “log of conflict” out of your own eye. Sometimes the best way to learn what something is is to see what it is not. What does “getting the log out your eye” not mean?
First, getting the log out is not a one-time act of spiritual surgery. Friend, this work must be done daily. We can slip in any area of our lives.
Second, get rid of erroneous belief systems such as, “Since I have a log, I am a looser.” The passage doesn’t teach that. It does point out the failure to deal with your own junk.
Another fallacy is, “Since I have a log, I am disqualified to help others with their speck.” When a brother removes the log from his own eye in a meek and self-judging manner, he then is responsible to help others.
Why Deal With Conflict?
A. Conflict pushes you from sound judgment. Like an opposing magnetic force, conflict pushes you away from sound judgment. Instead you are magnetized toward self-doubt, stubbornness, self-pity and even self-indulgence and resignation.
B. Conflict isolates you. Conflict leaves you less open. You have a tendency to stay guarded. You throw up barriers and live in a shell of protection.
C. Conflict poisons the ones you love the most. We give those we love the hot end of the poker. And even if we don’t take it out on our family, we can be physically present but emotionally absent, just going through the motions.
D. It affects you emotionally and physically. It just so happens, I believe you are too valuable to loose. Unresolved conflict leads to stress, depression, unresolved anger, and all other makings of a heart attack.
2. Recognize the Benefits of the Power of Agreement.
“I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 18:18
Did you notice that word, whatever? It holds countless possibilities. No person is left out. One of the great benefits is that no part of your life is insignificant to God. The Bible says God is concerned about the hairs of your head, the formation of your body, and the name you will be given in eternity.
3. Reap the Rewards of Praying with Agreement.
If one can put a thousand to flight, two can put ten thousand to flight. (Deuteronomy 32:30)
I want to be on the winning team. I hate losing in life. The experience of hanging your head, honorable mention, putting on a fake smile while shaking hands and saying, “Good game,” when deep down you don’t feel like smiling.
When I use the power of agreement I am on the winning team every time. When I agree with God, victory is sure. I don’t even have to line up against my opponent and shake his hand in defeat. Victory is in the bag.
I am going to win this week. I am going to win on Tuesday. I am going to win in my attitude. I am going to win and give God the glory. I am going to win in every area of my life…even if I die I win.
God smiles when you use His resources for His purposes. God loves to watch His children working out His Kingdom assignments. The power of agreement works both ways. We get God’s intervention and God delights in what He is doing for us. If nothing else happens when you use the power of agreement, you will be sustained by the truth that God knows exactly what’s best for you!
For some of you that journey is about to start here today. The teachings of Jesus show us there are two elements that determine everything about your eternity. The first is your belief. This key unlocks the door to eternal life and let’s you know where you will spend eternity.
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:30)
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation of everyone who believes; first the Jew, then for the Gentile. (Romans 1:16)
The second key is your behavior. This key unlocks the door to rewards that determine how you spend eternity.
If what he has built survives; he will receive a reward. (1 Corinthians 3:14)
No magnet draws Christians from around the world with more frequency and satisfaction than the Church of The Holy Sepulcher. Located in the Christian quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, no trip to the Holy City is complete without a visit to the traditional sight of the place of our Savior’s crucifixion. A mixture of Crusader and Byzantine styles filled with religious trappings, it sits as one of the sad wonders of conflicted modern living.
The church is stewarded by a number of Christian sects, which maintain the shrine on a daily basis. Because of the notorious jurisdictional infighting, for years these groups have not been able to agree on who should keep the keys, when to open and close the shrine, and who should serve the pilgrims’ needs. Guess who controls the entry to one of the holiest of Christian shrines? A family that is not even Christian. A Muslim family comes daily and opens and closes the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Christian, let’s remove all obstructions of conflicted life and provide an open heaven for our prayers. He wants to give us the keys to the Kingdom if, like the writer of Hebrews says, we will learn to, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy.” (Heb. 12:14NIV)
End Notes
(1) Don Detrick, Don’t Give Up On The Brink Of A Miracle, Message #4, Jan 26, 2003, pg. 5
(2) Rick Warren. The Purpose Driven Life, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2002, pg. 49.
(3) William Barclay. The Gospel of Matthew(Vol. 2), Westminister Press, Philadelphia, 1975, pg. 145.
(4) James Strong. Strongs Exhaustive Concordance, Hendrickson Publishing, Peabody, MA, Greek NT, pg. 68.
Translations Used
Why use so many different translations? As a pastor I don’t want my people to slip into a Bible study rut by reading the same translation each year. At the beginning of each New Year, I challenge them to put down their old translation and pick up a new one for the year. Fresh insight and understanding of God’s ways can be released to the reader with a new translation or paraphrase. Also, while in Seminary we learned how crippled the English language is to truly convey the meaning of Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic words. When you compare translations, new meanings and insights can be captured. This sermon includes the following translations:
TEV: Today’s English Translation. New York: American Bible Society, 1992, also called the Good News Translation.
NCV: New Century Version. Dallas: Word Bibles, 1991.
NLT: New Living Translation. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Pusblishers, 1996.
MSG: The Message. Eugene Peterson, NavPress, 1993.
NIV: New International Version: Zondervan Bible Publisher, 1996
