Prayer for Restoration
One of the most beautiful thoughts that I continue to have regarding our inheritance in Jesus Christ is that we will never again experience broken relationships. That one fact of eternal reality makes me desire His return more and more as miscommunication, unhealed hurts, and pride continue to plague human relationships.
Our Lord is a God of reconciliation. Through the negative consequences of the Fall, we are all born into a broken relationship with God and others. Through the Gospel, we are restored in our relationship with our Creator. Through an ongoing posture of humility, we remain dependent on God and see spiritual growth as we stay fixed on Christ.
When we pursue our own will, we become incapable of doing the good works that God has prepared for us. The reason is that, like the man and his wife in the Garden, we no longer involve Him in our decision-making. God gives us more grace as we acknowledge the error of our own ways, turn back to Him. We have confidence in Jesus Christ when we confess our sins to Him. When do we need to confess our sins to Him? The instant we realize we are not focused on our relationship with God and pursuing our own purposes.
Take a moment to consider the words of the apostle John below:
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:8-10, NIV)
When we see a brother or sister struggling in their Christian walk, we are obligated by the love of Christ to invite them back into fellowship with the Lord and His people. As many will point out to us as we address any defect or blemish in them, we must first be confident that we are in right standing with the Lord. That means complete reliance on the perfect work of Christ on our behalf. Then, we will be effective for the kingdom of God. There is great value in coming alongside a struggling brother or sister in the faith to help get back on the path and moving forward:
“My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19-20, NIV)
It is worth considering that James began this act of restoration with prayer before speaking with a brother or sister. Before going to the other, let us consider the Lord’s instruction for ourselves:
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:3-5, NIV)
We can damage our relationship with others if we fail to consider our standing before the Holy One before approaching another brother or sister about their conduct or thinking. Pride is our greatest enemy. Paul gave the church additional warnings to this process:
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load.” (Galatians 6:1-5, NIV)
Humility is our greatest friend in our walk with Christ. Let us demonstrate humility in our service of others as we carry the burdens of one another. Pray at all times. Restore one another gently. This begins with prayer for ourselves to be right with God in Christ, then for one another in the body. Prayer is the most blatant teaching in how to encourage others in the faith. If you doubt that, read Paul’s letters and note how much he prayed for his recipients. That is the necessary ingredient, and it must permeate the process from beginning to end.
Process for Restoration
As we approach another for whom we share a concern, the biblical process given to us by King Jesus is just that: a process. This is not something to be done in haste. Reconciliation is the goal:
“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
“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.
“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:15-20, NIV)
Notice that the process above is for unrepentant sin. This is often found in older Greek manuscripts as saying that if your brother (or sister) sins against you, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. This is to reconcile your relationship without violating the dignity of the other person. Before bringing anyone into the conversation, it seems reasonable to spend time in prayer before taking additional steps. Human experience informs us that it often takes time for people to face their sin, admit their fault, and seek reconciliation. That is what we are all called to: reconciliation with God and His people.
“So, from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:16-21, NIV)
Because we are called to reconciliation, we must represent God accurately as we approach others with the Gospel. When it is a brother or sister in Christ we are concerned about, and we intend to address a concerning, unrepentant sin, we must be careful to walk in humility. Remember Paul’s words:
“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.” (Galatians 6:1, emphasis added)
The teaching by Jesus in Matthew 18 continues on in a parable after Peter asks the Lord how many times we are to forgive our brother who sins against us:
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
“At this, the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matthew 18:21-35, NIV)
In case you missed it, Jesus was talking to us! Forgive, or you will not be forgiven. The most apparent teaching on this comes from the model we’ve been given by the Lord in how we should pray:
“This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.’” (Matthew 6:9-15, NIV)
Following the prayer, Jesus focuses on one portion of the entire prayer. Notice that Jesus doesn’t unpack any explanation of how or why we are tempted. Jesus uses the harshest language available and says that we will not be forgiven if we do not forgive. There is no more significant warning for God’s people! This isn’t a prerequisite for salvation, suggesting that we must do something to be saved beyond turning to God by believing in Christ’s finished work on the cross. It is simply inseparable from belief in the one whom God has sent: Jesus (see John 6:29). To maintain unforgiveness over someone else displays a faulty understanding of God. He forgives sinners, and we are to model His example.
We will be known by our fruit (Matt. 7:15-20) and by our love for one another:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35, NIV)
Nowhere in human experience can we see the fruit of God’s perfect work than to see forgiveness by God’s people when they are mistreated. There is no sweeter example of Christ than to petition on behalf of the other, pleading for their forgiveness while they are still in their sin:
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34a, NIV)
This is the model to follow, as the New Testament teaches from the outset of the church:
While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “…Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:59-60, NIV)
In Christ, we have eternal union with God. We have forgiveness. Live now like you believe it!
