Matthew 12

Chapter 12. The Kingdom and the ChurchFor where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. (Matthew 18:20)Up to this point in the Gospel of Matthew the Lord Jesus had not referred to the Church. He had frequently spoken of the kingdom of heaven, but the Church is mentioned for the first time in Matthew 16:18 : “On this rock I will build my church.” And here again in the 18th chapter He refers more particularly to the authority and discipline of the Church. This naturally suggests the question: What is the difference between the kingdom and the Church? The kingdom is the larger term denoting the whole revelation of God’s plan during the Christian age up to the coming of the Lord and including His advent and reign. The Church is a narrower term, denoting the body of believers called out from the world and united to Him as their Head and whom He is preparing for the high destiny of His bride. The Idea of the Church The Greek word for church, ekklesia, literally means called out. The primary idea of the word is separation. As you will note in the New Testament, this word seems to have two distinct applications. First, it denotes a particular congregation of believers in one place, as for example, the church in Jerusalem, the church in Samaria, the church in Antioch. Secondly, it also denotes the whole body of believers, and is so used when it is said “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25), and other similar passages. It is never used to denote a Christian denomination, as the Baptist, the Methodist, the Presbyterian church. That is a purely human application of the term. While the Lord’s forbearance graciously tolerates our sectarian division, they have no warrant whatever in the Holy Scriptures. It is not worth our while to quarrel with them, as the Lord’s coming will soon end these sad divisions in the blessed reunion of the children of God in the “church of the firstborn” (Hebrews 12:23); but all the same, it is well for us to understand the true meaning and limitations of the words used to describe the Church of Christ. These two passages in the 16th and 18th chapters of Matthew contain much important teaching respecting the Church of Christ: The Founding of the Church

1. This takes us back to the 18th verse of the 16th chapter of Matthew: “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” It is needless to say that this passage has given occasion for centuries of theological controversy. Long before the days of the Papacy, however, the Christian Fathers, like Jerome and Augustine, had suggested the interpretation which we venture to give, and which leaves no ground whatever for the primacy of Peter as the head of the Church on earth. Even the least learned reader of the English Bible can easily see that any power and authority given to Peter in this verse was equally given to the other disciples in the 18th chapter, where He says of all of them: “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). But turning to the passage itself, we find a very delicate and striking distinction in the two words. Petros signifies a stone, Peter a rock; that is the bedrock from which the stone is cut. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ says: “You are Petros, the stone, and on this Petra, the bedrock from which this little stone has been cut, I will build my Church.” No mason would think of building a lofty and stable edifice on a shifting stone; it is the solid rock that he seeks for a foundation. Peter is the stone, but Christ Himself is the rock; and as some of the Fathers very wisely suggested, in saying this, the Lord Jesus must have pointed to Himself in distinction from Peter. This distinction gives a very fine meaning to the passage. Peter himself, in his own epistle, carries out the same idea with great beauty, “As you come to him, the living Stone… you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:4-5). Here we have the separate stones, individual saints and the great foundation Stone, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Very distinctly does the Apostle Paul also refer to this when he says: “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). Christ, therefore, is the true Foundation of the Church, and only as we are united to Him do we belong to the true Church. It is not our theology, our profession, our baptism, or our confirmation that makes us members of His Church, but our vital union with Him, our Living Head. But not only is He the Founder; He is also the Builder of the Church. “On this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). Only the Holy Spirit can truly attach souls to this Living Head. All other work is called by the apostle “wood, hay or straw” (1 Corinthians 3:12), and will perish amid the awful tests of the last day. In the account of the Church at Pentecost, it is finely said, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47); and in the same connection, it is added a little later in the same book of Acts: “Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number” (Acts 5:14). The Constitution of the Church
2. This is finely expressed in the text which we have quoted above. “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20). It is this which constitutes the Christian Church, a company of true believers gathered together, not in, but unto, the name of the Lord. It is not unto the name of some human leader or sect, but the name of the Lord; He is the true Head and front of His own Church. Even a little company of true believers thus gathered unto His name really constitute the New Testament Church, although there may be neither bishop nor presbytery nor high authority, nor long tradition, nor illustrious human names. Where there are even two or three so gathered unto His name, there is always One more. The expression, “there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20), denotes much more than the spiritual presence of the Lord Jesus in the hearts of individual believers. That is always true, but this is something quite different. It is the Lord Jesus “with them,” as well as in the heart; it is the presence of the Head of the Church, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Glorious One, who is “head over everything for the church, which is his body” (Ephesians 1:22-23). And He is in the midst not only by His Holy Spirit, but in His providence, in His power and with all the authority of His kingly rights as the Son of God and mediatorial Lord and King. He is in the midst, as He was at the Red Sea, at the Jordan, and on the day of Pentecost. He is in the midst to clothe with His authority, to anoint with His Spirit, to defend by His power and to sanction with His name that which is done in His name and for His glory. What a dignity this confers upon the humblest Christian assembly, and what a simplicity it gives to our equipment in the great work of evangelizing the world for Christ. We do not need to wait for ecclesiastical dignitaries or depend upon human forms and ceremonies, but in the heart of heathendom, a little flock may meet in the Master’s name and know that its acts and ordinances are as sacred and effective as though they were done in the most venerable cathedral or the most imposing ecclesiastical council. The Discipline of the Church
3. The Lord Jesus has provided for the government and purity of His Church, and He has given authority to His servants to remove from this fellowship everything in opposition with its holy character. He has invested this discipline with the most sacred and binding authority, and He tells us in this passage that what we bind on earth He will bind in Heaven, and what we loose on earth He will loose in heaven. When the willful and disobedient disciple refuses to yield to loving admonition and persists in some sinful and unchristian course, the Master has given to His people the right and power to remove that member and hand him over to the divine chastening until he shall truly repent. He tells us here that such an act on the part of the Church of God will be followed by the Lord’s effectual dealing with all such cases. It will not be merely a matter of outward excommunication or public censure, but God’s hand will deal with the offender through temporal judgment with a view to bringing the guilty one to repentance, or, as the apostle expressed it in another place, “so that the sinful nature may be destoyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 5:5). But He tells us that discipline must be the last resort and not the first. Therefore He says: “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you” (Matthew 18:15). There is to be personal dealing first—tender, loving admonition and appeal; but if this fails, then He says: “take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Matthew 18:16). Then, if this united appeal should fail, “tell it to the church,” and “if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector” (Matthew 18:17). Here we learn that our Christian attitude with the erring brother is always to deal with him personally and alone. We have no right to speak even to another of our brother’s faults and offenses, until we have first dealt with him ourselves in loving faithfulness. It is only when this course has failed that we are permitted to resort to more rigid discipline. The Lord Jesus has made this the law of the Christian Church. Oh, how better it would be if His people would really live up to it! What a certain preventive it would be to the slander, the evil speaking, the strife and often the falling away of brethren who might have been saved by true obedience to the loving and wise commandment of the Master. Shall we take His message to us, here and henceforth thus deal with our erring brethren and prove to the world that the resources of the Church of Jesus Christ are adequate for her preservation, purity and power? The Spirit of Love and Forgiveness
4. The Lord Jesus proceeds from this point to unfold to His disciples the law of love in the form of a striking parable, “the Unmerciful Servant” (Matthew 18:23-35). The design of this parable is to show the estimation in which the Lord holds the spirit of charity and forgiveness and His indignation against all uncharitableness, censoriousness and harsh judging among brethren. The two unpardonable sins of the New Testament are unbelief in Christ and unlovingness toward our brethren, and we cannot claim forgiveness of the Lord unless we are equally forgiving one to the other. Even the infidel, Gibbon, was forced to admit that one chief secret of the extraordinary success of the early Church, notwithstanding the severest persecutions, was the mutual love of the brethren, a spectacle wholly new to the world and an armor that will ever prove invincible against human criticism and Satanic hate. A church without love would be as great a contradiction as a home without affection or a Heaven without God. The Fellowship of the Church
5. The fellowship of prayer is next referred to as the real source of power in the Christian Church. “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven” (Matthew 18:19). This is the real purpose of the union of Christian hearts in the Church of God. It is to bring them together in the fellowship of divine prayer. There is an added power in the element of union; there is something in the prayer of two harmonious hearts that does not seem to be promised even to the prayer of one. But they must be in unison. The word “agree” in the Greek is symphonie, it is a word which denotes a musical chord, and is the most perfect expression of harmony. It is more than unison; it is the unison of different notes; it is an accord of hearts that are individually distinct yet spiritually one. Only the Holy Spirit can produce such harmony. He is the true author of prayer, and He does this by laying it upon different hearts that they shall be truly one. In the fine picture given us in the book of Zechariah of the Church of Christ in the image of the seven lamps in the temple, we have this figure of the two golden pipes conveying oil from the living olive trees to the bowl of the lamp. That was the one feature of the symbol that impressed the prophet as he gazed upon the vision. “What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes,” he asked, “that pour out golden oil?” And the answer was: “These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth” (Zechariah 4:12, Zechariah 4:14). Literally these are the “two sons of oil.” This surely represents the unity of prayer on the part of God’s children. It would seem as if the Lord had required such unity as essential to effective prayer. Perhaps we shall some day find that no blessing ever reaches us from the throne which does not come through someone’s prayer, and thus gives occasion for the name of Jesus Christ to be honored and glorified before all heaven. In the story of the early Church we have some remarkable instances of the power of united prayer. We are told how, after an outbreak of bitter persecution, they went unto their own company and unitedly called upon God, and it is added: “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly…. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all” (Acts 4:31, Acts 4:33). This was a direct answer to a service of united prayer. We read again in the 12th chapter of Acts a similar instance. The Apostle Peter was held in prison, caged like an animal, to be brought out on the great festival of Easter and publicly butchered before the crowd to make a more distinguished holiday, and the simple but eloquent verse is added: “but the church was earnestly praying to God for him” (Acts 12:5). We know what followed—not only the miraculous deliverance of Peter, but soon after the fearful death of Herod, his persecutor; and the chapter ends with the remarkable but brief record, “But the word of God continued to increase and spread” (Acts 12:24). This has ever been and will ever be the secret of the Church’s power. Dr. Torrey declares that the secret of the remarkable religious revival now in Great Britain is due to the fact that a few years ago some Christian friends in Chicago began to pray in unison and faith that God would bring about a religious revival throughout the world. They continued their prayer from month to month and are continuing it still. It was not long until God’s working began to appear. A deputation from Australia waited on Dr. Torrey in Chicago and invited him to visit that commonwealth and conduct a series of evangelistic services. The result of those meetings was a remarkable religious awakening that spread over the whole of Australia and has been followed by similar meetings in other places. The records of answered prayer are full of similar instances, perhaps on a smaller scale, but not less encouraging to faith and prayer. This is the mightiest equipment of the Church of God, the highest ministry of the people of God. Shall we prove its power as never before? “You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth” (Isaiah 62:6-7).