Sermon Central
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Getting Rid Of Dead Weighjt
Contributed by M. Randolph Thompson on Feb 9, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: Sermon directed at helping people to resolve problems with people, rather than owning their problems which cause extra and unnecessary stress.
I. Text: Matthew 18:15-20
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
II. Getting Rid of Dead Weight
III. Sermon Body
We not only carry the weight of guilt in our lives, and the weight of unforgiveness, but we also carry the weight of unresolved problems.
25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."
NIV
The WORD of God gives us instructions for how we are to live.
It is when we choose to go about living our lives according to us, that we tend to add more stress, depression, disappointments and difficulties to our plates.
In the area of problem solving, we add our own take on what our perceptions and strategies for getting to the bottom of the problem.
The truth is that many choose to avoid resolving problems in many different ways:
1] the Complainer:
2] the Chameleon:
3] the Denier:
4] the Delegater:
Regardless of these methods, the only way to resolve a problem is to engage the person or person(s) you have the issue with.
The truth of the matter is, until this method is used 1] problems never will go away, 2] you can and will become a destructive agent in your relationships, home, work or church, and 3] you can become weighted down with unnecessary issues..
Some of you ought to be interested in getting rid of dead weight.
I want you to understand some people never intend to resolve problems..
Their intentions are to sow discord....
The WORD of God in scripture, lays out instructions for those who have been the brunt of an injury.
And He also gives those who realize they have injured a responsibility:
23 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
NIV
God gives us procedures, an outline to show the injured party how to respond.
Injuries are problems when they are not healed. And they are not healed when the problem is not resolved.
And the more problems you have the more weight you take on.
The more weight you take on the more unhealthy your living becomes.
The more unhealthy you live the more dangerous you come to living with no peace or worst, losing your life. I hope we know that even though God gives us life, we can cut short our life span before time.
Therefore, I have come this morning to tell you, you need to get rid of that dead weight.
Yet, we must understand there are two kinds of injuries:
1] An injury that is intentionally given by the giver and
2] An injury unintentionally caused.
And although both have the same power to cause problems, the an unintentional injury is most easily rectified by using Gods prescriptive plan.
For a person who unintentionally injures has no way of knowing he or she has done something to cause you pain, injury or hurt unless you have come directly to them communicate to them you have a problem with them.
Too many times we readily run to others who may or may not direct you appropriately to get the issue resolved.
They may choose to spread it around.
They may choose to feed into your perceived problem, although real to you.
They may choose to enter into situation unnecessarily.
Here the WORD of the Lord says:
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.
If thy brother trespass against thee, by grieving thy soul (1 Cor 8:12), by affronting thee, or putting contempt or abuse upon thee; if he blemish thy good name by false reports or tale-bearing; if he encroach on thy rights, or be any way injurious to thee.
Remember these directions are intended for the preserving of the peace of the individual, your home, at work and the church; or of public scandals.
Especially for the Kingdom, they are intended for the preserving of the purity and beauty of the church.
