He's like: if someone hurts you, deal with it between the two of you; and if you can't come to agreement, bring two or three other people; because sometimes when people's feelings get involved, your objectivity goes away, and sometimes it helps to bring people in who aren't emotionally connected to the situation. Sometimes those people can bring great wisdom to it. It's good to do that, right? He keeps going: and if they still refuse to listen tell it to the church. If they refuse to listen to the church treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. Now which leads me to this question. How did Jesus treat pagans and tax collectors? He was their friend. That was the Pharisees biggest problem with Him, was that He loved tax collectors and sinners.
So essentially He says: if someone hurts you try to keep it between the two of you. If they won't listen to you one-on-one, then go get two or three at most, and sort of keep it within a small group of people. But if that doesn't work, then take it to the church. By the way, in those days big churches like this didn't exist, mostly because of resources and transportation issues. Churches in those days were roughly 20 people, and they were meeting under one roof, and I'm glad we've progressed to this. I mean, this is a good thing; but back then, taking it to the church does not mean announcing it to the front of the stage. Taking it to the church meant: take it to the people you're journeying the closest with, and this has to come out of relationship. If you don't know their children's names, then you have no right to speak into their life okay? So He says: take it to your small group, and if they won't listen to them then treat them like tax collectors and sinners. If someone hurts you, keep it one-on-one if possible. If not, take it to two or three; and if that doesn't work, take it to your small group of close knit friends, who are journeying with God together. If that doesn't work, then love them to pieces. Treat them like tax collectors and sinners.
See if you read "treat them like tax collectors and sinners", and your instant thought is: cast them out, then to hell with you! I hope you like fire! If that is what you think when you read this, that tells me a lot of about your God concept. It tells you that deep in your heart, you think God wants to destroy people. Jesus was a friend to tax collectors and sinners; so Jesus is saying: hey, if this doesn't work - then love them.
He keeps going: Truly I tell you - whatever you bind on earth, will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth, will be loosed in heaven. In other words, before time God's kingdom rules; after time God's kingdom rules. The beginning of time centred around a tree; the end of time centres around a tree. In the beginning of time, everything is submitted to God; at the end of time, everything is submitted to God. In the middle, God gives men their own kingdom, and the problem is that He gave you a kingdom, and me a kingdom, and hopefully our kingdoms don't butt up against one another.
So for the time being, He's essentially saying: you're in charge of what your environment is like. If you don't handle this properly, you're going to find your environment getting very chaotic - and it's not My fault, and it's not Satan's fault - it's your fault. Again, truly I tell you, that if two of you on earth agree about anything, and ask for it - it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. If two or three gather in My name, there I am in the midst of them. Now a couple of really big basic understandings. Alright first, to understand this you have to understand the Hebrew concept of Ahad. Now I'm not going to go through this too much, because I've taught it here before, but Ahad is essentially the teaching that God is unity in diversity. It's a special word that means unity in diversity. It's from Deuteronomy 6:4 - Hear, O Israel, The Lord your God, the Lord is one! Ahad - that God is lots, but He's also one. A later writer was trying to figure out where Christ was, and where Christ isn't; and finally he threw his hands up in the air, and he says: for I have concluded that Christ is all, and is in all things.
And so sometimes we make God very narrow, whereas the writers of the Bible make Jesus very, very big; and so Ahad is essentially unity in diversity - that everything out of God is one, but it's also diverse. Creation is out of God, therefore it's diverse, yet it's one, and every small part affects the whole. If ocean temperatures heat up nine degrees - what would happen? There'd be a global meteorological disaster! The ocean temperatures have to co-operate with the rest of the earth; and if all of a sudden the earth decided to give up four per cent of its oxygen - what would happen? You would get light-headed and start to faint, then eventually you would lose your ability to maintain life on this planet. Every small bit of this planet has to participate with the rest of creation. That is Ahad. You are made in the image of God, therefore you are Ahad. Let me prove it to you. Anybody here ever had kidney stones, alright? You had kidney - somebody had kidney stones right? Did you go to work that day? No. Why? It's only one part of your body that's this big, are you a wimp? What's wrong with you? No, it's just this little bit. Everything else is fine, but your kidney goes sour - and you stay out of work. Everybody understands that. Why? Because if one small part of the body goes, it affects everything else. Ahad, this is unity within diversity.