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Clothed in Christ, Called to Reconcile. Text: Matthew 18:15-20 + Romans 13:8-14. 

Please kindly permit me to share this short story with you, and I'm doing this with all sense of humility. My grandfather was the first king of our hometown in Western Nigeria. As a young prince who grew up knowing him so well and listened to his Christian values, he shared with me what it means to live and be clothed in Christian ideals. He would say, "We owe everyone love so that the light God has placed in our hearts can remain. He told me this story. There was an elder in a city who went to a community function in the company of a young boy in the same community. According to the tradition, when the time came to break the cola as a sign of blessing to everyone present, the elder vehemently scolded the young boy to "never" in his life touch the cola in the same bowl while elders eat and say the prayers. This boy went back to his community aggrieved, promising himself he would work very hard to ensure that he becomes an elder in the community. The same boy later became the governor of his state at some point, and it was the elder's turn to be crowned king. When the boy, now an accomplished politician and governor, saw the elder's name for royal succession, he promised "never" to assent his signature to the elder's enthronement as king of his community; he remembered as a very young boy how he was humiliated and was scolded for joining the elders to break the cola and to say the prayers. The elder learned a lesson of a lifetime: “never” underestimate anyone in life and ensure you treat everyone with such dignity and respect either young or old, big or small, rich or poor. The boy later forgave the elder and allowed him to become king of his community, using the same cola to honour and bless him to have a successful reign. But after some careful thoughts and honest considerations, this boy has done well by using his Godly/Christian ideals to deal with the matter in this situation to "regain" an elder who was full of himself: "If your brother and sister sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If you are listened to, you have regained that one." 

The two passages in our readings this week are the rulebook for Christian principles. From Jesus' teachings, Matthew tells us how to deal with conflict. Romans tells us why we must live by these Christian principles. In other words, Matthew 18 gospel is impossible without application of Paul's letter to the Romans 13. You cannot do Matthew 18 — go to your brother, sister, neighbour, or sibling, speak truth, seek restoration/reconciliation — unless you have Romans 13 with love that refuses to keep a record of wrongs. And Romans 13 love is not sentimental. It is a love that loves enough to confront sin rather than gossip about it.

So, this call is for us wherever we find ourselves. From east, west, north or south across races and cultures, this call is the same. In an age that people love to expose other people’s wrongdoings, we are called to be a community that restores and reconciles. In an age that says love is just a feeling, remember love is a debt we owe every day (to ourselves and to one another regardless of how bad we have been wronged), and we pay it by putting on Christ. We don't need a more clever church. We need a more reconciled and more loving one. That relationship is worth the awkward conversation. Verse 15 of Matthew 18 ends with "you have won (listened) them over, you have regained that one."  The goal is not to win the argument, but to win your brother or sister with the love of God. In a global church where it is easier to block and judge and discriminate against those who have wronged us, Jesus calls us to pay attention to what it means to be His follower, to do the right thing and do the hard work of restoration. We are a global church divided by race or tribe, politics, languages, and nations. What holds us together is not shared culture. It is a shared debt of love. Romans 13:9 says all the commands are summed up in "Love your neighbor as yourself." If we get that right, we fulfill the rest. 

Thanks be to God. Amen

With every blessing,

The Reverend Wilson Akinwale