The Prayer of Agreement

So as I said, we've been looking at recent weeks at the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Forgiveness we've seen in weeks gone by is not only releasing the desire to retaliate,
but it's actually choosing to bless those who have hurt or offended us.
I love the way Scripture puts it, Peter in 1 Peter 3 verse 9, "Do not repay evil with evil
or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you are called so that you may inherit a blessing."
To be reconciled is to be restored in relationship, and as we've mentioned in passing,
forgiveness and reconciliation, while closely related, are not necessarily synonymous,
because I can forgive my enemy and yet choose not to be friends with him.
Trust one's broken, you've often heard me say, is difficult to restore.
Likewise, I can choose to be friends with someone and yet hold grudges in my heart,
and the challenge of Scripture for each one of us, of course,
is that God wants us to do what we can to both forgive and to reconcile.
Romans 12, 18 puts it this way, "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live ed peace with everyone."
What I want to do with you this morning in the time that we have is dig a little deeper, though,
and try to figure out from Scripture why this emphasis on forgiveness and reconciliation
is so important from God's point of view, and I'm going to try to pause it with you this morning.
That at stake is nothing less than the authority and the power of the church to carry on in the world,
the mission that God has entrusted to us.
And I say that because of what Jesus says in the words of our text this morning.
I tell you, if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for,
it will be done for you by my father in heaven, for where two or three come together in my name,
there I am with them. If two of you on earth agree about anything, it will be done for you
by my father who is in heaven. This is sometimes called the prayer of agreement.
And the prayer of agreement means that if we are in agreement with God and in agreement with each
other, heaven will respond to our request and God will accomplish that which we are asking of him.
It is an incredible promise. It is right up there with the promise of Jesus that by faith we
can speak to the mountain and we can make it move. God says if two of you agree on anything that you
want done, it will be done by your father who is in heaven. And the key ingredient, of course,
is Jesus, is because he is present where his people gather together. Listen again to verse 20,
where two or three come together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. The genius of the
church is not that we're so smart, so well resourced or so gifted that we can make a difference
in the world. The genius of the church is the presence of the resurrected and the exalted Jesus.
When Jesus who is conquered death and hell is present in your life and in my life and we're
gathered together and his presence is here, then the death here, the lame walk, the poor have good
news proclaimed to them and the kingdom of God comes on earth. If two of you agree says Jesus,
whatever you ask, it will be done for you by my father who is in heaven. So let's try to unpack
that verse a little bit because that's far removed from our typical experience, of course,
but we need to start by understanding the context of that verse. The context is the verse that we
touched on last week, verse 18 of Matthew chapter 18. I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on
earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you lose on earth will be lost in heaven. Whatever you
bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you lose on earth will be lost in heaven. Let's talk
about that just a little bit. Earth, of course, is the realm where we live. Heaven is the realm where
God lives and we know from Scripture the promise of this passage is that what we decide here on
earth, if in keeping with it will have gone, is backed up by God Himself and by God's power and
the best way to understand that is to go back for just a moment to the very beginning of the creation
story and you've got Adam and Eve being created to have dominion over the work of God's hands. You
know that whole story? In relationship with God, God shared His power with them. They were managers
on behalf of God. Along comes the devil separates them from God and the result is what we see over here.
We have been groaning under the travail of sin since the beginning of time. The very creation
that Adam and Eve were to have dominion over now had dominion over them. And from that day to
this, there isn't a one of us born into this world that doesn't one way or another experience the
power of the curse. But there is Jesus. He comes into the picture to restore us back to our
relationship with God and back to our authority. And today Jesus, at the right hand of God the
Father, rules over all creation at the right hand of the Father and the promises Scripture
is that one day we're going to sit with Him on thrones. We will be fully restored to our
full authority in God's eternal kingdom. In the meantime, we're raised with Christ spiritually.
In the meantime, we are seated with Him at the right hand of God the Father. And as we are
joined to Him, submit to His authority in the places and in the areas of our gifting, He assigns us
our authority once again. And the result of that is that as two or three agree before God,
as to what it is that God wants to do, God honors that authority. We know that as the
keys of the kingdom. In Jesus promises the keys of the kingdom to Peter when he says,
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in
heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." The original context there
is church discipline. As we open the door of the kingdom with the proclamation of the gospel,
or close the door of the kingdom by the exercise of church discipline, the decisions that are
made on earth are reflected in heaven. It's weighty, it's beyond what we tend to think,
but it's important that we try to get our heads around that. And the single key ingredient to
that process, Jesus points out in the words of our text, is the prayer of agreement. Again,
I tell you, if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done by my father
in heaven. Again, let's look a little more closely at that, because that word agree in English
is the Greek word "sum fa nato." Let's see how good you are at languages. What English word?
What did I hear? Symphony. What is symphony? Symphony is defined as literally to agree in sound
or harmonious. And you've all heard the concept of a symphony orchestra. What's a symphony
orchestra? You've got all these different instruments. They are in tune and together they make
melody. They make symphony. Who knows what is the opposite of symphony?
There are different words, but the word that I like is cacophony. And cacophony is the mingling
of a whole bunch of sounds that are discordant. They are, it jars. If you've
ever stood at an intersection and listened to cars honking and people yelling, or if you've ever
listened to an orchestra trying to tune up, that is cacophony. Jesus says it is symphony that he is
after. And he says that when is God's people? We are in symphony. That is we are in agreement with God
and at a very fundamental level in agreement with each other. Then whatever it is that we ask of God,
God will do. Likewise, if we are not in symphony, God will not do what we are asking him. Let me read
you one Peter chapter three, the verses 10, 11 and 12. It's actually a quotation from the Old
Testament book of the Psalms. It is Psalm 34. "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his
tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good. He must
seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are
attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." God is looking
for the prayer of agreement. Now understand the prayer of agreement. It doesn't mean that
you and I get together and we side we're going to win the lottery. Or you and I decide that
we deserve a Cadillac or you know there are those kinds of perversions in what is known as the name
it and claim it movement. Name it and claim it in and of itself is not wrong as long as the naming
and claiming is based on the promises of Scripture. God promises a lot of things in Scripture. Those
things you and I can claim in agreement, but that doesn't mean that every fleshly desire we have,
even if we agree upon it, God is going to do it because it always has to be in agreement with
who God is and God is committed to the coming of his kingdom. So here's how this process works.
Let's suppose that God has in mind that he wants to save a particular person. Let's say that
person is lost in seeing they are far removed from God but God in his eternal purposes has his
hand on that person and he communicates to you and he communicates to me what his plan is and
what his intention is. I'm praying in my little corner, you're praying in your little corner,
we come together and we discover we have the same burden on our hearts. Now we are in agreement
we are harmonizing we are in symphony and we are lifting our symphonic prayer before God in
the confidence in the confidence that God will do what we're asking him to do not because we're
manipulating him not because our faith is so great and so strong but because we're meeting the
conditions of his word does that make sense? The deeper our agreement reaches the more we are in
tune with God and in tune with each other dealing with the barriers that divide and separate
covering it all with the blood of Jesus walking out that process of reconciliation and forgiveness
that we've been talking about the more confident we can be that as we approach God and ask him for
the purposes of his kingdom the more the blessing of God is going to flow and the more God will honor
what it is that we are requiring of him. Psalm 133 most of us I'm sure know it well how good
and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity it's like precious oil poured on the head
running down on the beard running down on Aaron's beard down upon the collar of his robes it is as if
the dew of Herman were falling on Mount Zion for there the Lord bestows his blessing even life
forever more if you have ever looked at a map of the Middle East and you will see that Mount Herman
is on the northern part of what is north east of Israel I think it's now in Syria but it's the
highest mountain in that area I think it is an elevation of 9,000 feet or something like that
and it is covered with snow a good portion of the year and what happens is the snow on Mount
Herman as it evaporates gets caught up by the wind currents and then it travels southward towards
the dry hills of Judea or Jerusalem is and it descends as dew that's the image that you find here
the anointing oil on Aaron's head flows down his robes it is like the dew of Herman
there the Lord commands his blessing life forever more the anointing on Jesus when we are in
agreement with him and in agreement with each other it flows down the robe and it breeds life
everywhere you can see that in your own family you can see that in any organization that you've
ever been part of when God's people symphonize there the Lord's blessing descends and God
accomplishes things that otherwise we could never accomplish why is forgiveness why is reconciliation
such a critical issue in the body of Christ it isn't just about you or me it is about the well-being
of the church because there is power when the church is together I learned very early in my own
ministry that there would be answers to congregational prayers prayed in unity before God that I
could not get to or see what I was praying on my own did you know that because we're two or three
are gathered together there I am in the midst of them says Jesus and I've two or three agree whatever
they ask God well granted to us pretty significant I think do you think pretty heavy
because now it's no longer just about me or you it's about life in the body
because when the body is in symphony heaven moves to respond to the burdens of our heart that's
what enables the church to accomplish its mission in the world so big question of course
is how do we get that way it in the time that remains want to give you three very practical steps
that I think each one of us has to walk through in order to be part of the solution as opposed to
be part of the problem number one we must all draw our life from Jesus we must draw our life
from Jesus cautions to the verses six and seven as you receive Christ Jesus as Lord
continue to live in him rooted and built up in him strengthened in the faith as you were taught
and overflowing with thankfulness as you received Christ Jesus as Lord continue to live in him
and built up in him you will have noticed I'm sure as I have the Lord Jesus
gathers to himself in his body an odd assortment of people have you ever noticed that I mean if
they're all like you and me we'd get along just great but you know it's rich and poor it's black
and white it's famous and infamous it is successful and it's failures and it's it's people from
every walk of life and he throws us all together and then he expects us to get along with each other
well if ever you've tried to get along really get along with somebody who is very unlike you
then you know what a challenge that can be because ever since the Tower of Babel
when God confused languages everybody has marched off in a different direction
and everybody is comfortable with their own little group and they're not at all comfortable
with people who are not like them and the big question throughout history the big question
in scripture is how do you break down the dividing walls how do you get the rich to hang out with
the poor how do you get the black and the white to get along how do you get the famous and the
infamous to rub shoulders with each other how do you get people of different temperaments nationalities
and backgrounds to really value each other and to be symphony because everybody wants to play
his own little instrument according to his own tune well the answer of course is Jesus
because in his death and in his resurrection God has made provision for us to put off the old
and to put on the new I love the way Paul puts it in the book of Galatians all of you who were
baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ there is neither junior Greek slave and
were free male nor female but you were all one in Christ Jesus it is hard for us in this day and
age to begin to appreciate the gap that existed in each of those categories between Jew and Greek
between slave and free male or female they lived in separate worlds they all look down on each
other and they all thought they had a corner on the truth and Paul says in Christ all of those
distinctions fall away because what Christ does is he redeems our backgrounds and he redeems
our cultures he purifies our instruments if you will and then he puts them all together and he says
now you play music that honors God and guess what he's big enough to teach us how to do it
so that actually we make symphony that's an amazing thing Paul writing to the Ephesians
and we did a whole series and not a couple of months or so back he says in him that is in Christ
you two Jew and Gentile are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His
Spirit I wonder if we get in our hearts the radicality of the gospel of Jesus and the work that he
wants to do in your life and in my life to make us that kind of people amen amen and amen because
that takes the power of Jesus and so as we abide in Christ as we listen to him and let his word
speak into our lives dwell in our midst then by his Spirit he comes along and he blends people
from different walks of life together in a way that is incomprehensible and a lot of you will
know the love that God gives you for some people that in the natural you'd never ever hang around
with isn't that true in fact I will tell you the measure of your spirituality is not the friends
you have who are like you but the people in whose lives you invest yourself who are very different
from what you are but you're there because Christ has called you and empowered you and equipped you
that's the radicality of the gospel of Jesus still want to be Christian because that's where he's
going and neither we get on board with that or he leaves us behind so yes it begins by remaining
in union with Christ and if you think that's difficult the next one is even more difficult I think
and that is to submit to biblical authority listen to Hebrews 13 to 17 obey your leaders
and submit to their authority they keep watch over you as men who was given account obey them so
that their work will be a joy not a burden for that would be of no advantage to you obey your
leaders and submit to their authority think this through with me for just a moment how does a symphony
orchestra make symphony you've got all these different instruments and all these different
musicians how do you blend them together so that they make melody wasn't that very complicated
first of all they all play off the same musical score they may play different arrangements for
different instruments but they're all playing the same score not only that but they all follow
the same conductor imagine if they all played a different tune and nobody listened to the conductor
those of you inquire sometimes you forget to pay attention to your conductor
and you make not the choir here of course you make cacophony it becomes a discordant sound
and so God in scripture tells us that the function of leadership the score we play off
can be said to be scripture because that prescribes for us what life in Christ looks like
leadership that God raises up in the body of Christ their purpose is not to boss our lives
around their purposes and to take us places where we don't want to go their purposes like a parent
to help us grow up in Christ so that we learn what our instrument is so that we can pray we can
play it the best that we can play it in harmony with everybody else so that the purposes of God
are accomplished in our generation Paul puts it this way he says you are the body of Christ each one
of you is a part of it at indichurch God is appointed first of all apostles second prophets third
teachers then workers of miracles also those who have gifts of healing those able to help others
those with gifts of administering administration and those speaking in different kinds of tongues
are all apostles are all prophets are all teachers do all work miracles do all have gifts of healing
do all speak in tongues do all interpret but eagerly desire the greater gifts and then he goes on
to talk about the greatest gift of all which is the gift of harmony or the gift of love so we
must be in union with Christ we must submit to authority that God raises up so that we can grow
in our relationship with him and in our relationship with each other and then we need to make every
effort to keep the unity of this spirit through the bond of peace and you recognize that as a
quotation from Ephesians chapter 4 the third verse we've quoted it a number of times in recent weeks
make every effort to keep the unity of this spirit through the bond of peace very interesting verse
because you will notice unity is not something you have to create did you notice that
it's something you have to keep why because in Christ you already have it and if we abide
in Christ that unity will flow and it will grow our job is to maintain it in the bond of peace that
is to say to avoid those things that would rupture the unity that God has created through the Holy
Spirit how do we do that well a couple of very practical steps as we wind this up this morning
how do we make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace
well we must resolve conflicts biblically we've talked about that in recent weeks I don't need to
expand on it somebody sins against you what do you do tell your 20 neighbors no you go see him
to do it because that's what Jesus says you must do and if somebody comes to you and they want
to dump on you tell them they must go see that person and resolve it there and if they can do that
on their own you will go with them and you will help them but in the meantime you will not participate
in the gossip that breaks the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace secondly refuse to take up
somebody else's conflict proverbs 26 17 like one who seizes a dog by the ears is a passer by
who meddles in a quarrel not his own graphic description can you picture taking a passing dog by
the ears what do you think is going to happen you're going to get bit and barked at and snarled at
and one of the things that I often see happening in the body of Christ is that somebody will be upset
with somebody about something rather than going to see that person and trying to resolve it
biblically they belly ached everybody in his uncle and now the person that he belly ached to
or she belly ached to takes up cause for somebody else isn't that true how many times have
and you find yourself in a situation where you're mad at somebody not because they did something to
you but because you heard they did something to somebody else happens a lot two problems with that
number one chances are you only heard half the story you know there's his side there's her side
in there's the truth somewhere is usually in between secondly unless you are called and qualified
by blonde to mediate in that kind of a situation you're not qualified to do that and you're going
to get bogged down because you're in over your head because people can be nasty circumstances
can be difficult and they can get incredibly complicated before you know that things spin out
of control don't take a passing dog by the ears or you will get your hand bitten off not very
complicated we just have to do it number three we need to walk in humility the word humility
comes from the word humus which is earth it literally means face down on the ground
and humility isn't just going around say and poor little old me I know nothing and I have nothing
now humility means that I recognize not only what my strengths are but also what my limitations are
and Peter again puts it this way one Peter three eight finally all of you live in a harmony with
one another be sympathetic love as brothers be compassionate and humble and Paul and Romans 12
three by the grace given to me I say to every one of you do not think of yourself more highly
than you ought but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the measure of
faith that God has given you how many times for all of us do we find ourselves in situations where
we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to our own opinions our own thoughts our own
reflections our own insights they get elevated into the epitome of truth when fact of the matter is
chances are we don't know the full picture chances are our conclusions are wrong chances are we
just arrogant in our ignorance and a little humility would be greatly becoming humility means
that I esteem others higher than myself we are called to practice humility because that's what
Jesus did who though he was in the form of God laid aside his claim to divinity and humbled
himself even to death on across while just quickly winding up love generously and by loving
generously I mean love the way Jesus loves listen to Romans 15 7 welcome one another
therefore as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God so let me ask you this question who does
Jesus welcome well Jesus welcomes everybody that comes to him in faith in repentance regardless
of how broken wounded or miserable they are in certain parts of aspects of their lives because
he knows that his love is big enough to win people over how many times in our love are we not
judgmental and jumping to conclusions and thinking that people need to smarten up before we can
hang around with them welcome one another we need to be as inclusive as Christ and we need to be
as exclusive as Christ that is to say we need to measure our relationship with people
on the basis of who Jesus is and what Jesus accomplishes the big topic in and of itself we won't
expand on it any further this morning but I want to end with this we need to keep an eye on the big
picture go back with me to the orchestra you're one of the players in the orchestra you've
been assigned a particular instrument and you train to play your instrument and your purpose
is to make symphony but you don't like the guy that's sitting next to you
and you don't like the way that he plays his instrument and so instead of focusing on your
task you spend your time and your effort and your energy getting distracted by all the dynamics
that are happening in that context and what you lose out on is the big picture which is what
it's to play symphony it's to follow the musical score it is to obey the conductor
because if you do your part and everybody else does their part then guess what happens
you make melody you make symphony and God has a purpose for the church that purposes to worship him
that purposes to serve him that purpose is to serve as his vehicle to reach the nations of the world
and there can be a thousand in one things that we can get sidetracked by but we should never lose sight
of the big picture that is that God has called us to love him above all and to love our neighbor
as we love ourselves really not that complicated if we will focus on that which matters