Loving God, in spite of ourselves, you take us and make us your own in baptism and form us into the body of your Son, Jesus Christ. Make the power of your Spirit so evident among us that all who come near might catch a glimpse of your kingdom; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

There's something you should know about the church: Even in the beginning, it wasn't perfect. Even when the people were still around who had walked and talked with Jesus during his earthly life, there were things that would happen, and those who were brothers and sisters in Christ would sin against each other, and would hurt one another, and would even sin against God and the church. We know this because it's right there in the gospel of Matthew, and in other places in the New Testament - how to deal with it when somebody has sinned against you.

Yet, I would make an educated guess that very few people within the church today actually live by these words. Some simply don't like confrontation and will try to avoid the issue or the person. Some simply conclude that such things shouldn't happen in the church, and they leave. Some will talk about how they have been hurt to everybody else except the person who has hurt them. Some will let the anger build up inside them until it spills out at an inappropriate time, often aimed at a different person altogether. These are natural human responses, and these are things that I struggle with, too.

Yet, the one thing that never happens with any of these responses is the restoration to community and fellowship. In fact, this is the only goal in confronting somebody with their sin - the restoration of the community. There simply cannot be forgiveness and reconciliation without talking face to face to the people who have hurt us. There also cannot be a Christian community when sin remains unaddressed.

At the same time, there is another side to all of this that is worth some reflection. Part of the Jewish Law instructs people to "reprove your neighbor" - presumably if they have been doing something wrong (Lev. 19:17). This is linked very closely with the verse that follows: "you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Yet, by the time the second century comes along, rebuking people in rabbinical Judaism was very rare, for fear of telling somebody to take a speck out while your sight is blinded by a log (cf. Mt. 7:1-5) [The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 7, p. 472]. In fact, that's also one of the reasons for having two or three witnesses. That way, if the person who is doing the confronting is way off base, it becomes the job of the witnesses to confront that person!

Now, of course, all of this becomes totally unnecessary if the members of the community are serious about examining their own lives and confessing their sin and seeking God's forgiveness and the forgiveness of others. If I have done something to hurt you and I am aware of it, my job as a member of the community is to confess it to you and seek your forgiveness. In that way, reconciliation can take place.

One of the questions that comes to mind in relation to all of this is what the relationship is between sin and hurt feelings. If we look up a definition of sin, we find several ideas there - all very closely related. Sin means missing the mark, particularly in relation to God's will and God's Law. It can mean doing something that is wrong, or failing to do something that is right! In terms of our relationships with other people, sin can be summarized as anything that does not involve loving our neighbours as ourselves (cf. Rom. 13:9-10). If I have hurt somebody's feelings, regardless of whether I think I did anything wrong or not, I need to acknowledge that hurt and seek forgiveness and reconciliation.

You see, the problem with the church is that human beings are allowed to be members of it. Martin Luther got it right when he wrote about how we are saints and sinners all at the same time. We are saints because God has taken us and made us holy through our baptism into Christ. God has poured out the Holy Spirit on us and has made us members of the church, which is the body of Christ. We have been redeemed and sanctified through the blood of Jesus Christ. Yet, at the same time we are still human. We don't always listen to the Holy Spirit, and sometimes our sinful human nature comes to the fore and we do things that we regret later on that end up hurting other people. It's like the poster that says, "I'm not perfect - just forgiven!"

So - given all of this - and the human beings that God makes into the body of Christ - why would I ever want to be part of the church? The truth is that I need other people in order to be able to live out my faith in Jesus Christ. I need other people who will challenge me if I am off base and will confront me if I am falling into sin and will pray for me when I am in need and will encourage me to be faithful. I need other people who will teach me the faith and will teach me how to worship and will help me to know Jesus better and to grow in my faith. I need other people who will teach me how to forgive and how to love my neighbour as myself and how to be humble at the foot of the cross.

The truth is that we are sinners who are in need of God's salvation and the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. And, no matter how hard we try, we can't do it on our own. This is a truth that is well understood by organizations like AA and other 12-step programs. In order to overcome sin and destructive patterns in our lives we need the help and the support of others. It is a truth that was also well understood in the early church, when Christianity was illegal and could result in losing one's family, one's livelihood, and even one's life. Every single member of the church had a sponsor to support them in the faith, to keep them on the right path, and to keep on learning right along with them.

In fact, this is still the idea behind having sponsors for baptism. It is a life-long commitment to walk with that person in the faith and to keep on learning the faith right along with them. After all, Christianity may not be illegal here, but there are plenty of distractions to lead people away from the faith. Many of us find precious little support for our faith in our day to day contacts with other people. As such, we need the love and support of our brothers and sisters in the faith. We need a community that will teach us how to follow Jesus Christ.

Yes, we are simultaneously saints and sinners, but with a call to grow up into Christ (Eph. 4:15) - to become what God has made us - to be conformed into the image of God's Son (Rom. 8:29). As followers of Jesus Christ, we can never be content with staying the same, or with committing the same sins over and over again. Our goal is always to become more and more Christ-like by the power of the Holy Spirit, for this is what it means to be a disciple of Christ - a learner of God. May we continue to learn and to grow together, intent on reflecting the love of Christ and the power of God's salvation in our life together. Amen.

Proper 18(A) Matthew 18:15-20
September 4, 2005 Romans 13:8-14
St. Luke's Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison Moore
? 2005 Lynne Hutchison Moore All Rights Reserved