Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
Matthew 5:23-24 (KJB) Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Reconciliation is to bring into harmony, unity and agreement what has been alienated. It is to restore a broken relationship to what it was in the past. Consider two very close friends at school who are always seen doing things together. They sit with each other at basketball games, share the popcorn bowl when they go to a movie, and even enjoy camping with each other and sleeping under the same tent! But eventually one of them wrongs the other person, but rather than immediately apologizing and admitting their fault, pride starts to build up inside of their heart. The wounded party gets upset, and then all of a sudden that close relationship begins to fall apart. That’s why I’ve always said that pride is a killer because it ruins our relationships with God and others. This is why throughout the Scriptures it teaches us that we must possess a humble heart because only then will we seek reconciliation with others and confess our mistakes. Jesus commanded reconciliation with others and one of the best examples is found in the parable of the prodigal Son, who humbly accepted his own faults, confessed them, and restored the original relationship that he once had with his dad.
Luke 15:11-24 (KJB) And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
Reconciliation is the restoring of a broken relationship to the original condition before the offense took place, and being reconciled with a wounded brother is more important to God than giving to the church. In fact, the Lord commands people to take care of the matter before even bringing an offering or a gift. Many false prophets will preach that you don’t have to do this, just so they can keep money coming into the offering plates. This is because they are covetous wolves, and care nothing about the doctrines of Christ. To attempt to give to a church without seeking reconciliation with others is religious hypocrisy. This is because people want to be seen as somebody who supports the things of God, but deep inside their heart they really do not want to obey the things of God. Financial support is secondary in comparison to reconciliation with others. I’ve said it for nearly 25 years that some people become so hard-hearted that rather than confessing faults to those whom they have wronged, they will join some other church instead. They feel that they only have to admit sins to Jesus, and nobody else, but that is a heretical belief and unless they repent they will be damned because of it.
James 5:16 (KJB) Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Many people want to find forgiveness with God, and will confess their faults to Him when they pray, but this is the same way that we need to treat one another. When people sin against somebody else and are aware that they are upset, but they choose not to do anything about it, how can the love of God be in them? To truly have love for others is to be humble enough to admit your fault unto them, but once again, pride will refuse to do this. We are supposed to love one another fervently with a pure heart, but then they refuse to love people whom they have maligned? Love is the end of the commandment, but then people refuse to love others enough to apologize? That’s incredible, and the worst thing of all is that they claim to be a Christian!
Consider marriage as an example. Although there are many unbelieving women who have left their husbands, when a wife is baptized into the Christian Life, she is supposed to abide faithfully and loyally by her husband’s side, no matter what foolish events have taken place during their marriage. If they expect God to show them mercy when they do something foolish, then they had better be merciful to their own husbands! When she departs the bond of marriage, she sins against him and the teachings of Christ. Even if she leaves him for committing adultery, when she goes out and commits fornication or any other sin after that point she will condemn herself. This is because all sin is the same in the eyes of God. She only proves that she is no better than the one that she left. Like The prodigal son, wives who have departed their husbands need to turn around and hightail it back home, because in that state she is outside a state of grace, and is ensnared in the bitter bond of iniquity, and anybody who has the fear of God would tell her to do the same thing.
1 Corinthians 7:10-11 (KJB) And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
God has given each of us the ministry of reconciliation, and He expects people who truly desire eternal life to repent and be reconciled with those whom they have wronged before bringing any type of gift to the church. That’s not a request, it’s a command, but the harder they resist the will of God, the more bitter their hearts will become. They can throw thousands of dollars into an offering plate, but that kind of gift does not accrue as treasure in heaven. People such as these are no different than somebody who gives lots of money to the church but never truly repents of their sins. In some ways, they think that they can buy off their own salvation, and cause God to look the other way from their wickedness, but the truth is that they are foolish and deceived. The Apostle Paul encouraged people to give to the work of God because he wanted fruit to abound to their account, but you must first repent and restore relationships with those whom you have wronged.
Just imagine your dad telling you that you are not going swimming until you finish your homework first. Your mother might even tell you that you don’t get dessert until you finish your vegetables first! You cannot make an investment in the things of God until you first repent towards a wounded brother. That process begins by rejecting one’s pride, being filled with a humble heart, and …..
……Seeking Reconciliation
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.❤️
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