Work that Must Be Done in the Kingdom of God (Mt. 18:15-35)
Let us bless and greet one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.” The title of today’s message is, “Work that Must Be Done in the Kingdom of God.” In the book of Matthew, he doesn’t use the word, “Kingdom of God”; he uses the word, “Kingdom of Heaven,” and the reason they use the word “heaven” instead of “God” is because the Jewish people were not able to write the name of “God,” yet. The stream that this world operates in is, after Genesis 3, humans are centered themselves, and they want to make themselves the greatest, so everyone is trying to become greater. So, there are very few people who can actually become great, but because everyone is striving for it, we have no choice but to fight, to have conflicts, and to compete. That is the principle with which Satan works in the kingdom of Satan.
The reason Peter, even as he was following Jesus, asked, “How can we become the greatest?” is because he had received salvation, but his thoughts were from Satan, still. Then, Jesus responds, “You cannot go into heaven unless you humble yourself like the children, and you cannot become great.” Somebody is referred to as a young child if they are not able to survive on their own abilities.
1. God’s kingdom (Mt. 18:1)
We can only go into the Kingdom of God through God’s power and God’s grace. There is not a single strong person who can let themselves in. Only the one who confesses that, “I cannot go into the Kingdom of God by my own strength or power,” is able to go into God’s Kingdom, and the one who humbles themselves will be the greatest. Humbling oneself does not mean “humility” as in the world, we have no choice but to lower ourselves because I have died on the cross and now Christ lives within me, that is the Kingdom of God beginning in me. That is the person who can save and serve others.
1) Your brother or sister sins (Mt. 18:15)
(1) Point out their fault (Mt. 18:15)
Then, when Peter asks, “What can I do when somebody sins against me?” Jesus Christ says, “Go and point out their fault between the two of you.” In other words, it says in the text, “If somebody sins against you, then you personally should go and point it out to them.” The “sin” in this verse is talking about the “sin” that is revealed visibly. The “sin” that is revealed visibly is only the result of sin, there is a “sin” that is not revealed visibly. The spiritual state that is separated from God results in the invisible sin. There may be many different types of visible sins, even inside of the church; there may be a married person who is having sexual acts with another man or a woman, or there may be someone who borrowed money but is refusing to pay it back. Then, go to that person and point it out to them; in other words, advise them so they may turn back around. This is the result of their spiritual state being bad, so point it out to them and advise them so they may be in a spiritual state that is with God again.
(2) If they listen, you have won them over (Mt. 18:15)
Then, if they listen to you, you have won them over.
2) If they will not listen
(1) Two or three witnesses (Mt. 18:16)
But if they will not listen, take two or three witnesses along and point it out again. These two or three others become witnesses as they testify of the same thing.
(2) Tell it to the church (Mt. 18:17)
If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church. Then, the church speaks with that person so they are able to be restored.
(3) Treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector (Mt. 18:17)
If they refuse to listen even to the church, then treat them as you would a pagan or tax collector. This doesn’t mean you should kick them out of the church, but just realize they are not able to listen to your words, so pray for them from behind with mercy.
3) Church
(1) Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven (Mt. 18:18)
(2) Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Mt. 18:18)
In Mt. 18:18, Jesus says, “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.” Jesus Christ has given that authority to the church, if we forgive others on this earth, God will forgive them from heaven, and if we judge others on earth, then God will judge them from heaven. In the Catholic Church, they think the Pope has this authority, so the Pope is able to excommunicate people from the Church, or even say, “You cannot go to heaven.”
But what’s more important here is, before you look at their actions, you have to understand that person’s state. If somebody acts in a certain way, there is, without a doubt, a reason, and it’s important for you to look for that reason carefully. That action might be coming from this person’s scars, those actions may be coming from the invisible spiritual problem. If that is the case, you must know the spiritual state of that person’s family line. When somebody goes to the hospital, the first thing the hospital asks them to do is to write down their family medical history, because if there is a disease within the family medical history, that individual is bound to get it as well. It’s the same thing inside of the church, if you really want to understand this person, you must understand the spiritual history behind their family line. If you understand that first, you’re able to understand why the person is acting the way that they are.
If somebody has a scar, even if the people around them are saying normal things, that person will be hurt and will begin to hurt others. There are some people who don’t even wait for the other person to speak, but just look at their facial expression and judge, “This person will say this thing about me.” It’s typically because that person has seen other people make that same facial expression, so they say, “This person will treat me the same way other people have treated me.” There are many people with mental illnesses like that. But if you’re not able to understand all of these things, then even if you tell them with the Word of God, it becomes legalism; it cannot save them.
(3) Two people agree in prayer – It will be done (Mt. 18:19)
(4) Two or three gather in my name – Jesus is with them (Mt. 18:20)
Then later, He says, “Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” There are many people who twist and misuse these words, saying, “Hey, if we get two or three people asking for the same thing, then God has to listen to us.” That’s not what it means; it means that, no matter who the person is, if there are two or three people praying in the name of Jesus Christ, God can change that person, because the Lord is giving us this Word today regarding how to save the Kingdom of God, the Church.
The Church is the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of God is where Jesus Christ is the head and the members of the church are the body that is united and where Christ is ruling over. That is the Church and the Kingdom of God, and the people who know and act like this will do the same things out in the world. But if somebody does not know that, they think they are their own god and they sit in the seat of God, judging what is right and what is wrong, and God is not with them there. If there are any of you who look down on or don’t think of the church this way, I hope you will change your thinking today.
However, if the people understand what the Church is very well, then God will be with you in your business field as well, because God is with us ultimately to save others. The businessperson who is truly able to understand the people, the nonbelievers in the field, to wait for them and to bring them back to the Lord. That is the person with whom God is. Yes, God is with each of us, but God is also with that person’s work.
There are so many churches today, but why do they continue to collapse? Because the ideologies of the world, “Who can be greater,” has come into the church, the church has become a mess. Through today’s Word, ask yourself, “How can we raise up those who are in the wrong?” That is the work you must do in the Kingdom of God.
2. Forgiveness
1) Brother or sister who sins
(1) How many times shall I forgive? (Mt. 18:21)
(2) Up to seven times? (Mt. 18:21)
(3) Not seven times but seventy-seven times (Mt. 18:22)
After Peter heard Jesus say these words, he asked, “Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me, up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “Not seven times, but seventy times seven times.” Both in the Jewish law, as well as in the current US law, there is the three strikes law where, after you sin three times, you’re out. Peter knows this and asks then, “Should we forgive this person up to seven times?” Jesus responds, “No, forgive this person infinitely,” because seven is actually the perfect number. You must do this well in order for your family to come to life, and you must do this well for your business or your profession to come to life. You must do this well for your job to come to life because this is God’s will. If you are going in the opposite direction, there is no reason for God to be with you.
You have received salvation and now you are in the church, and the church is the body of Christ. If you hold onto the law, you will judge other people. You become like God and you decide what is right and who is wrong, and that is what Satan has placed inside of you. There are people who say, “Why are there people like this in the church? Why is the church like this?” God has called that person to the church in order to change them. We are under the misconception, there is nobody who is perfect or clean.
If somebody received salvation, that is only the beginning; now they must be raised up, and within that, forgiveness is incredibly important. You can only forgive somebody else if you yourselves have been forgiven. We were lost in chaos and sin, and Jesus Christ, by His grace, completely forgave us and saved us on the cross. If we don’t know this, then we always say within the church, “I’m stronger than you,” or, “I’m better than you,” but that is given to us by Satan. “You can be like god, you are the greater one. If you try, you can be successful. You’re the best.” If there are any of you who think like this, I hope you will remember every single day that you have been saved by the goodness of Jesus Christ. If you really know this, then you’ll never have to ask, “Who is greater,” or, “Who is stronger?” because every single one of us has been saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. If we’re not centered on this Jesus Christ, then we think we are better than others, so we end up judging and criticizing others, that is not the Kingdom of God; that is the kingdom of Satan. You must be well-trained in this within the church.
When spouses fight, they fight until their death about who’s right and who’s wrong, but in reality, both individuals are wrong because they’re both seized by Satan and the family will never be raised up. By the Lord’s grace, we have all been saved, and if we really realize that, we are people who need saving and to help one another. Instead of arguing, “Who is right?” or “Who is wrong?” you may look down on this, but this is the one whom God is with in their business field. In the world, the elites are trained to think, “If I just do well, I will have success.” If that ideology comes into the church, then people think, “I just have to take care of myself,” but that’s not going to work. There must be somebody who helps and raises the other person up, and somebody must forgive the other person whenever they sin. You must do this well; that is the Church.
The Church is a place where, no matter what anybody does, you raise them up so they can be attached to Christ. When you go out into the world, how do you see nonbelievers? That nonbeliever is separated from God, they are a child of the devil, and they have no choice but to live their life for themselves, for their own benefit and success, they will do anything. That person needs somebody else who understands them, is able to wait for them and pray for them to come to Christ. In order to know that, you must be able to see the other person through the perspective of Jesus Christ, the cross that has saved me and will now save this other person, and God will be with them in their business field.
Right now, people are suffering because of people, but it’s not really the person who is making you suffer; it’s the thing inside of you that makes you want to be like God. Instead of recognizing the goodness of Christ within you, you instead hold onto the thoughts of Satan, “I’m better, I’m cleaner, I’m better than this other person.” Because you have this thought, you can’t stand to look at somebody else who is making a mistake or who is worse than you, then you have to say something to them and cut them out. If somebody like that runs a business, would anybody go to them? If that person goes into a company, would they have good relationships with their coworkers? People say other people make them suffer, but it’s actually what’s inside of you.
God is telling you that whatever forgiveness you’ve shown others inside of the church, do that out in the world to nonbelievers as well. If you don’t have this at your center at all times, that “I have been saved through Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ will save others through me,” you’ll always be your own god, and you are bound to always think incorrect thoughts. I lived for a long time as a nonbeliever, and when I read today’s scripture, it doesn’t seem like a very great blessing, but from my perspective, all the greatest blessings are here, because if you’re not able to do this, then nothing will work out for you, no matter where you go, in your family, your business, your fields. So, I hope you will throw away your religious thinking, “Now that I have salvation, God will bless me.” No, God blesses those who save and forgive other people.
2) God’s kingdom (Mt. 18:23)
(1) Like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants (Mt. 18:23)
(2) A man who owed him ten thousand talents (Mt. 18:24)
Then Jesus Christ uses the parable to explain the Kingdom of God, somebody who owed a debt of 10,000 talents, which is the salary made after 20 years of working. You need to save 20 years’ worth of wages without paying any kind of rent, or bills, anything like that. In other words, 10,000 talents or 10,000 bags of gold is enough that you cannot save it up your whole life.
(3) Took pity and canceled the debt (Mt. 18:27)
There is no way for a person to pay back this debt, even if he were to sell himself or his own family, so the owner or master forgives the debt. That’s talking about salvation. It doesn’t matter how strong somebody is out in the world, they must receive the grace and the goodness of Christ to become children of God, so this is what Jesus is saying as He explains the Kingdom of God. This is what God has given to us.
3) The one who debt was canceled
(1) One of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarius (Mt. 18:28)
This person receives forgiveness for his debt and goes out and meets a fellow servant who owed him 100 denarii.
(2) Thrown into prison until he could pay the debt (Mt. 18:30)
One denarius is a wage for one day’s worth of labor, so 100 denarii is about three months’ worth of wages; that is something you can pay back if you save up, so the first person meets the second person who owes him money, grabs him and chokes him, saying, “Pay back what you owe me,” and even though the other person says, “I will pay it back,” the first person refuses to forgive him and throws him into prison.
(3) Master found out and threw him into prison (Mt. 18:34)
The other servants heard what happened, and they told the master who forgave the debt of 10,000 talents. When the master hears this, he gets so enraged that he throws this first servant into prison even after he forgave the debt of the 10,000 talents. What does this mean? Jesus Christ has forgiven our debt that we can never solve on our own; why is it that, when we see someone make a small mistake, we can’t endure it, and we choke them out? We act as if we don’t have our own debt of 10,000 talents. We look at somebody else making a small mistake, and we fight and conflict with them in order to get them to pay their debt.
3. Forgive from your heart (Mt. 18:35)
Then Jesus says, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother and sister from your heart.” This doesn’t mean He will take away your salvation; what does this mean?
1) Forgive someone – Reaffirm your love (2 Cor. 2:8)
2 Cor. 2:8 says, “To forgive one another is to reaffirm your love for Him.” If you don’t forgive somebody else, you will become enemies with them, you will resent them, and you will have conflicts with them.
(1) For myself (2 Cor. 2:10)
(2) In the sight of Christ (2 Cor. 2:10)
In 2 Cor. 2:10, it says, “And what I have forgiven, if there is anything to forgive.” Paul is saying this, “what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ.”
(3) In order that Satan might not outwit us (2 Cor. 2:11)
2 Cor. 2:11 is very important, he says, “In order that Satan might not outwit us,” what does this mean? We forgive others who sin against us. But what happens if we don’t forgive them? God will not forgive you, either. What does it mean that God does not forgive us? It means that, when I sin against somebody else, that person will not forgive me. Because of that, the works of Satan take place where people fight, divide, conflict, and collapse.
For young adults, getting married is important, but what’s more important is becoming a person who is able to establish the Kingdom of God, and having a good and happy family. The love that the Bible talks about is a love that is able to forgive the other person. The worldly love says, “Because this person is good to me, I will be good to them,” but if that is how the family begins, that is how the family will be destroyed because that is the Kingdom of Satan that is moved by Satan.
Today’s Word applies to your family, your business, your job, and everything. The person who is able to do this will raise people up no matter where they go. Success is not the issue, but it matters who is the person who succeeds, because they will spread their influence. When you come to church, I hope you will be trained in how to raise and forgive others. In order to do that, you must always remember that you were the one who has been forgiven and saved by Jesus Christ.
2) Church
(1) Christ – Head (Eph. 4:15)
Then, what is the Kingdom of God, what is the Church? Eph. 4:15 says that Christ is the head of the Church.
(2) From Christ the whole body (Eph. 4:16)
Then Eph. 4:16 says the Church is the body, for Him, the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament, growing and building itself up in love. So, the Church is the body of Jesus Christ, and all of the parts must help one another. Helping and supporting one another means we must raise up and support the weaker parts. We must receive the help of understanding the other person, waiting for them, and praying for them. If you ever say, “I’m doing fine, that other person is the problem,” that will actually return to you. So, who will be the greater one? There is no such thing as a great one inside of the body. We are all one, and we are all united to the head, and we each do our own work.
(3) As each part does its work (Eph. 4:16)
There are some people who play important roles, like the mouth or the heart, but there are some people whose role is the nail. God says, “Each part does it work.” “Each part” meaning, there is a part God has given to you. It’s not about who is greater or who is weaker, everybody has their own part. “In order to make the body grow.” We allow the members of the church to grow, so we raise each other up within love.
(4) Grows and builds itself up in love (Eph. 4:16)
When you look at a baby or a child, what do you think? When you hear his voice, are you angered by it or are you happy because they’re within the grace and the Word of God? If you’re angry, it means you’re wondering, “Why is there a child here, making this disruption?” But if you think, “This child is worshiping God and that is so precious,” then that is being one, because even the little children are children of God, and the mature people are children of God as well. That little child will grow up and pray for you. That is the ideology of the Kingdom of God that we must have.
You need to have this in order to shine this light out in the world. That does not exist in the world; if somebody is weak, they are trampled on, and if somebody is of disservice to you, you cut them out. Even if they endure something, their limit is about three times, and then they explode. That’s not forgiving the other person; that’s just enduring it. They’ll endure maybe three times, but that’s not really forgiving the other person. They say, “Three strikes, and then I’ll kill you.” Forgiving the other person means you do not remember. But if you’re still remembering, then it means you’re not really forgiving them; you’re enduring until one day, you can just completely kill them.
What is the relationship between your coworkers and your boss? Yes, if somebody continues to make mistakes, that will be a loss, but that person has a state, so they are bound to continuously make mistakes. If you have a mental illness, then you’ll always make mistakes, then what must you do? The state that God desires for that boss to have is the state of the Kingdom of God: “How can I raise up and help this person?” You need to have the mentality of saving and raising up the other person in order for God to work.
In order for that to happen, you must recognize that you yourself have been forgiven by Jesus Christ, first, and then through you, you must forgive them and play the role of uniting them with Jesus Christ. When I was a nonbeliever, the things that were most difficult for me were “myself” and other people. Now that I look back, I realize the reason I was suffering as a nonbeliever was because I had my own standards. The more clean and the more great I lived my life, I had my own standards, and I would cut out and criticize others who couldn’t. I would call them out with my words and criticize them with my actions, and all of these actions were to exalt the fact that I was better than them. But that is the bartizan of Satan that Satan has raised in us.
If you have received salvation, you can’t do that with your own abilities, but you have received that by the Lord’s grace and forgiveness, then it doesn’t mean you’re better than anybody else; we are all the same. When you look at nonbelievers, you should realize that you may have received salvation first, but they should receive salvation, too, later. You must think of people as precious. What does it mean to be like a young child? It means you lower yourself like a child, there is nothing of yourself to boast about. Christ is the head, we are centered on the cross of Jesus Christ, and we raise, save, and help other people, so we remain connected to Christ.
Any single person inside of the church, unless they are spreading heretical beliefs or ideologies in the church, two or three people can pray for them, and the Lord will raise them up. So, we must become people who do intercessory prayer. If somebody still lacks strength, then instead of praying to raise other people up, they will judge them more quickly. If somebody says, “I just have to live my walk of faith well; why do I have to care about what other people are doing?” That is not the Kingdom of God, we must all remain attached, helping each other.
The person who is able to do this well is able to establish the Kingdom of God, even if they become the CEO of their own company. The person who is able to do this, even if they go into the bottom ranks of the company, they can change and save it. That was Joseph. Look at Joseph’s confession later on. Joseph confessed to his older brothers, “You tried to kill me, but God used that and sent me ahead to save us.” “Nobody can judge anybody else, because God gave me grace first, and this is my role,” so he forgives his older brothers. If we are not able to forgive other people, that becomes our anger and wrath, and in Eph. 4:26-27, that becomes Satan’s foothold for us.
3) Church – Temple construction
If one day, the members of the church are not able to forgive the pastor, or the pastor is not able to forgive the members of the church, then that is no longer a church. There is nobody who can stand against a perfect standard, except for God Himself. We are all lacking, that is why He is telling us to raise ourselves up, and that is why two or three people gather to pray for others, and without a doubt, God promises to answer. Then it means, there is not a single person who will not be raised up.
(1) 237 nations, 5,000 unreached tribes (Mt. 28:19)
You must be able to do this well in order for you to be somebody who establishes God’s Kingdom in this world, and God is with you. God will continue to send the people of the 237 nations to the church, but if we’re not able to raise them up and save them, and we judge them instead, then the church will collapse. We must become members of the church, the Christians, who know ourselves and the grace we have received, are able to forgive and save other people, and raise them up.
Every individual has so many incorrect ideologies, especially the more elite somebody is, they might have very good things, but they also have these very stubborn things Satan has placed inside of them. And there are other people who say, “I cannot do anything,” and even if people like that come into the church, without a doubt, they have their role. The person who is able to raise this up in that person can have success in the world. If you’re not able to raise people up in the church, you will struggle in your business as well because you cut people up and tear them up. It’s obvious what’s going to happen in their families as well, so today’s word is incredibly important.
(2) Healing (Mk. 16:15-18)
You must be able to wait for this person to receive healing inside of the church, praying for them and waiting for them. Then, the work the church must do is to give that person a mission so that they may stand as the summit in the church and in the world.
(3) Future generation – Summit (Jn. 21:15-18, Ac. 1:8)
Our future generations must see this so they are changed into people who save the church, the field, and their families.
Conclusion
1. Christ within me – Faith (Gal. 2:20, Col. 3:3)
In order to do this, the most important and first thing that must take place is, you must live in the faith that you are dead and Christ lives within you. The faith where there is no longer a “me,” but Christ lives within me as my Lord. For the ones who have this faith, no problem will be a problem for them, because “It is not me, but Christ lives within me.” No matter what crisis they face, it is not a crisis because Christ lives within them. No matter how terribly somebody else treats me, we must be able to understand them. “There is a cause or a reason; they have no choice but to be like that, and I must save that person.” That must come to you as your mission.
But if you want to kill that person, you’re going into Satan’s bartizan. If you strike somebody or cut them out or call them out, you can do that in one second, in a moment. We have that as our nature. If we are not able to remember the grace and the cross of Jesus Christ every moment, we will always kill others.
If we receive a lot of training, we begin to say, “I’m better than you because I’ve received training,” but you should not learn like that because that is making people line up behind you in the world. That is the bartizan of Satan, so I hope you will pray for that person, to change that person. The more training we receive, the more we should recognize that, “I have no good in me.” The more training we receive, the more we should change to realize, “I cannot do anything without Christ.” If there are any of you who want to receive more training in the Bible so you can flaunt and impress upon other people, then you must change quickly, because the Word of God may still be the Word of God, but the state with which you relay it is Satan’s bartizan.
2. Triune God – With
You must pray for the power of the Triune God to be within you, filling you.
3. Power of the Holy Spirit – Within me, field (Ac. 1:8)
The reason why the power of the Triune God must come upon me is because I cannot do it with my own strength; we must pray for that, that is the one who is lowering themselves like a child. If I could do this myself, then I wouldn’t need to pray for the Triune God’s power to come upon me, because then, I could do it myself.
4. Save myself, church, field
But when you pray, it means you confess, “It is not me; I cannot do this, the power of the Triune God must be within me.” If you are praying to fulfill your greed and your own strength, that is an incorrect prayer; that is the work of demons. But if you pray for the power of Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit to be within you and within your field, then you, your field, and the church will come to life. If there is something we must absolutely do inside of the church, it is to raise others up and forgive them. In order for you to do that, you must first receive that from God.
Message Prayer
May you have this blessing throughout the week. Let us pray individually and together with the Word we have received.
Offering prayer
God, we thank You. We return Your material blessings as offering. We pray that everywhere this offering is used, it will be used for the 237 summit movement. We believe that You will work with the answer of the economy of light on all the hands that have given the offering for Temple Construction. We believe that You will change all of the businesses that are irrelevant to the Word of God so they will be relevant, with the economy of light. We believe You will bless our families and businesses so that it is aligned with God’s Word for the 237 nations. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
Announcements
1. Online zoom early morning prayer (Mon.-Fri. 5:30, Sat. 6AM) – Raise the bartizan of prayer.
2. 8/11(Fri.) Youth 2 Days, 1 Night: Church sanctuary
3. 8/17-19 LA College Retreat
4. 9/2 (Sat.) Boston Immanuel Church – Lecturer
6. 9/5-6 North America Business conference, college retreat
7. Offering can be given to the church venmo: @antiochmissionchurch
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the heads of the people of God who desire to do the work that must be done in the Kingdom of God, to forgive and love one another to save those in the world, be with them from now until forevermore always, amen.