Refuse to Reconcile

Good morning and welcome in. Today I wanted to take a look at a passage of scripture from The book of Matthew.

There are many people who are sitting in modern day churches who cannot find a place of forgiveness with God. One of the reasons why is because of their own pride. They are too proud to apologize and reconcile with a brother whom they have wronged. Reconciliation is a basic tenet of the teachings of Christ Jesus and is so important to God, that you are not even supposed to present a gift in the offering plate until you first reconcile with a brother that you have wronged. To do so would only be an act of religious hypocrisy because it is not given out love for God and His will.

Matthew 5 ²³ Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; ²⁴ Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Speaking from personal experience, there are many people that Andrew and I have been very close to, even family members and relatives who have done great evil to us. They have treated us in a way that they would never want to be treated themselves, a complete violation of the teachings of the New Testament. In fact, we can’t even imagine doing to them as they have done to us. They know who they are, and are completely aware of the wickedness that they have done. Over the years, some of them have even tried to prevent us from preaching God’s Word. They have usurped my headship over my household, which is a great evil in the eyes of God. Others have joined up in their wicked deeds with them, which is another sin in the scriptures. They don’t seem to care though. Both Andrew and I are witnesses to their complete rejection of the teachings of Christ. Rather than being humble enough to resolve the matter quickly, they absolutely refused to repent. There is not much you can do with people like this. You have to obey Jesus and do the exact same thing that we have. You must have nothing to do with them at all.

Matthew 18 ¹⁵ Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. ¹⁶ But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. ¹⁷ And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. ¹⁸ Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

We must shun people like this because they are rejecting the teachings of Jesus. If people cannot apologize to a brother they have wronged in the church, the truth is that they don’t belong in the church. If you cannot confess your faults to whom you have seen, how can you confess them to someone you have not seen? You can’t, because any apologies to God in that frame of mind are completely insincere. To partake of Holy Communion in this state is to drink damnation until oneself because they are not examining themselves and repenting of their sins.

1 Corinthians 11 ²⁷ Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. ²⁹ For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

Reconciliation is commanded in the New Testament. Those who claim to follow Christ must apologize and confess your faults to those whom you have wronged; they need to forgive you for what you did; you need to completely forget about what happened, and then start back in the relationship that you had in the past. Some people have said that you can forgive but you can never forget. That’s because they are not of God. Those who say such things are false prophets and liars because the true and living God does not remember our iniquities.

“And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Hebrews 10:17

The Lord Jesus taught an example of reconciliation in the parable of the prodigal Son. The son was living in sin but finally accepted the error of his way and reconciled with his dad. Because he finally came to his senses and humbly admitted his faults, he was completely forgiven for everything and their relationship flourished once again. Wives need to do the same things. A woman who departs her husband is living in sin because each day she is going against the command of Christ. 

“And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:” 1 Corinthians 7:10

Like The prodigal Son, the only way to correct this is by quickly returning home and reconciling with the husband that she left. This is so she comes into compliance with the will of God, otherwise she abides in a state of impenitence, and will forfeit her own salvation. Wives are not above repentance, but they are commanded to be in submission to husbands, whether they are a believer or not. If they depart, they must repent or they will perish along with the rest.

Even before I was baptized into the Christian faith, I could never understand why people couldn’t apologize to each other. But later on I understood that it’s because they are entrapped in the snare of the devil. I don’t think anybody knows me better than Andrew. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, we know each other’s needs. As brothers in the faith, we are always there for each other no matter what we go through. But Andrew knows that I apologize quickly, even if I was never in the wrong. This is so reconciliation can immediately happen. Many times I would rather take the blame myself just so there is no rift in the relationship. After all, this is what Jesus did for me when He died on the cross for my sins. But we have known many other people over the years who simply do not possess these same qualities. Their hearts are cold and bitter, and without any fear of God for the consequences for their actions. Try as we may to convince people to repent and apologize, some of them won’t. Christ commands that we are supposed to have nothing to do with them, because in that frame of mind it is impossible to bring them to repentance. Not only do they refuse to reconcile with a brother, but they completely deny the teachings of Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 6 ⁴ For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,

⁵ And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, ⁶ If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

“Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.” John 20:23

People will only find forgiveness with God and others in the church when they seek forgiveness. If they make no attempt to be reconciled to a brother that they have wronged, then they really don’t deserve to be in heaven anyway. All they are doing is rebelling against the will of God, and are completely void of divine Charity. God is not mocked, and those who choose that path are going to be punished by Him both now and forever. 

Try as we may, we must eventually turn away from the proud, the impenitent, and all of those who….

……Refuse to Reconcile

Let’s think about these things for right now.  We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc  where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.♥️