SERMON // The House that Jesus Builds – His House Rules pt. 2 // Matthew 18:4–14

Matthew 18 is Jesus’ sermon for the congregation. 
These are his house rules. 

He is building his house and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And in this section, he is telling us how he expects his family to live in the world and live together. This is a manual for loving others, a guidebook for dealing with difficult people. 
And in this section, He touches on some of the most important realities of living in a broken world: how do have healthy relationships in an unhealthy world? 

This week we are going to look at the attitude of sensitivity and the action of seeking out those who are wayward. Sacrificial love is sensitive to those around us and it seeks others out. 

In this passage, Jesus uses strong language. 
He talks about self-mutilation and suicide. 
His works are shocking.

And yet, if we are honest about the relational brokenness we have experienced and the relational pain we have inflicted, we will see that if we took his strong language more seriously then thousands of tears would not have been cried and thousands of scars would not have been had. 

But, they have – life is filled with real tears from real scars. 

And now our best hope is that His real scars will heal our real tears. 

This is not only his guidebook for healthy relationships, but it is also his prescription for healing broken ones. 

I hope you will join us as we continue to look through his guidebook for healthy relationships.