(Apostolic Vision) First Be Reconciled — Dale Heisey

In this evening I want to greet you in Jesus name and it is a Wednesday night and this week is rapidly going by and I want to again express my appreciation for your support in this meeting and for your faithful attendance and for the mothers that get the children ready for the boys and girls that are present here, for the youth that are present here, we welcome you.

It's a blessing to have all of you here in this meeting. The brother said that there are choices to make and what we hear tonight is going to leave us responsible to make a choice. I want you to listen real closely this evening and I know that preaching, preaching consists of two things.

Preaching consists of what is said and it consists of the spirit with which it is said. And what we need to do tonight is bring this message with the right spirit. I'm sure there are going to be times in the message when you are thinking that I am overstating the case.

I'm afraid there might be times in the message when you're going to tend to just kind of turn it off because it sounds too strong. It sounds like it's being overstated. But I want to urge you to be careful about that, be careful to not do that.

Try to be honest with the Bible and try to understand the heart of our Lord Jesus on this subject. I feel that and I want you to know that I am able to bring this message tonight with peace in my heart.

And it would not be possible to do any good with this subject without peace in our hearts. And we need to have peace with all men. And if we cannot have peace with all men, we cannot make any headway here.

And we needed the message last night before the message tonight. If you didn't hear the message last night, you're not quite prepared for the message this evening. We need why it is really only the person that has experienced last night's message that's able to enter into this chapter.

That is the way that Christian life is. And so, if I have your attention by now, then I think we can begin. I want to read you a very common story. I'm not even going to tell you what the story is, but you will recognize the story.

I'm going to read you a story, but I want you to be thinking about only one thing as I'm reading this story. There are two boys in this story, and I want you to decide which of the two you are. There are two boys in this story, and I want you to do nothing more than just to think, which of these two boys am I?

Now, I realize if you're a girl, you're not a boy. And so you can't be a boy. And if you're a grandfather over here, you can't be a boy. But which one of these two persons do we represent, or which one of these two people represents us?

The Prodigal Son and the Spirit of Reconciliation

A certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that follow to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

And when he had spent all there was a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

And he would fain have filled his belly with a husk that the swine did eat, and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hard servants of my father's have bread enough in his spare, and I perish with hunger.

I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came to his father, but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

And his son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring him to the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and be merry.

For this my son was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found, and they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field, and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing.

And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.

And he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore came his father out, and entreated him. And he answering, said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, and ye that transgressed I at any time thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I may make merry with my friend.

But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlot, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.

It was meet that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again, and was lost, and is found. You recognize that as the story of the prodigal son. Which of the two sons represents you tonight?

Let's bow our heads in prayer. O gracious Father, it is our sincere desire that you help us find broken lives and lost sons, needy people and lonely persons, and help us, Father, to reconcile these people to God, and reconcile them to the Church, so that we can be reconciled to each other.

I pray, O God, that you would give us tonight in this congregation the spirit of reconciliation. I pray, O God, that your spirit of mercy and peace, your spirit of love would so fall upon us that we could find those who are estranged and far away, and those who are divided from us and at odds with us, and we could be restored as you want us to be restored.

I pray, O God, that this would be a time of healing in this Church, a healing in this community, a healing in our homes and in our hearts. I pray, O God, your blessing upon this assembly tonight. I pray that you would teach us from your holy word, and we want you to be glorified through the name of Jesus, we pray.

Amen. Now, there is a tremendous problem with division in our churches. I suppose if there is any problem that characterizes the Church in our time, it is division. And it is so common that we take it for granted.

It is so common that we have become used to it. It is so common that we have come to accept it. It is so common that it no longer startles us. It seems like it does not bother us that there is division in the churches.

Division in the Church is something that nearly destroyed my wife and I. It destroys a lot of people. It destroys our sons and daughters. Division in the Church means that there are broken relationships in the Church.

In broken relationships, division is a form of neurosis. We do not really know what is wrong, but we divide. And our division is a symptom of a deeper problem. Our division is a symptom of a spiritual deficiency.

Division is nothing more than the lack of love in the Church. And with a lack of love in the Church, with this lack of love, we forfeit our right to be a church. Because you cannot be a church without love.

And love is the very thing that prevents division. And love is the very thing that reconciles if there would be a division. Division is on love in practice. Division is toleration, is tolerance instead of fellowship.

And did you ever hear what tolerance is? Tolerance is controlled hatred. Tolerance is hatred on a real stack. And you can turn it up or turn it down to your preset degree that you want it to be. Now, that was a lot to say.

And we've only been talking for three minutes. I'd just like you to think a little bit. Is there any brother in your fellowship, and I don't care which congregation you represent here tonight, all congregations are welcome here.

I don't care if you attend a local Catholic church. I don't care if you're part of a synagogue. Everyone is welcome to this meeting tonight. But I want to ask you something. Is there anybody in your congregation from whom tonight you sit here and you're divided from him?

There's something between you. You might practice brotherhood symbols with him, with her. You might have some kind of way to exchange some words of greeting and some smiley mascara that you put on your face there and you kind of get along all right.

But in the depth of your heart, you know that you've turned him off. And you know that you're doing well without him, without her. Tolerance is controlled hatred. Broken relationships are a sign of a serious spiritual deficiency.

Human Relationships Reveal Our Relationship With God

Now, I'm going to give you the title of this message very soon. But I'm going to bring the first point of this message before I give you the title. And I want to make the first point very clear. That human relationships, from me to you, human relationships reveal the truth of our spiritual relationship.

That is, the relationship that I have with my brother is a revelation. It's a manifestation. It's an evidence of the relationship that I have with God. That is to say that I do not have some kind of pietistic, spiritual, deep, loving relationship with God if I don't have a good relationship with my brother and sister, or with my neighbor, or with my wife, or with my husband, or with my children.

If I have broken human relationships, that broken relationship is a manifestation of another broken relationship. And the broken horizontal relationships are nothing more than an indication of a broken, vertical, spiritual relationship with God.

And it cannot be otherwise. And we like to say, well, listen, Dale, listen, listen. Back off a little bit. It's only with those two or three. It's only over there. Look how well I get along over here.

Look how well I get along over here. I'm sorry, brother. I must correct you. I must correct you tonight. The reason you're getting along over here is because it hasn't happened over here yet. What happened over here?

And as soon as it does, you'll be in the same shape because it takes the same equipment. It takes the same equipment to maintain it over here. That's what it takes to heal it over here. It takes the same equipment.

Now, if you don't believe that, we won't have any choices tonight. We can just stay the way we were. But I want to show you from the Bible what I said. I said that human relationships reveal our spiritual relationships.

We want to show that from the Bible. I can look at that in three ways. We can look at it in the relationship of marriage, for example. You notice in Ephesians chapter 5, it tells us very, very clearly that the relationship that a man has with his wife is characteristic of, typical of, a demonstration of, an example of the relationship that we have with Christ.

Now, how can a man be one with Christ? How can a man be in touch with Christ? How can a man be in fellowship with Christ? How can a man love Christ? How can a man be united with Christ and divided from his wife?

Well, that would be an oxymoron if ever there was one. That would be absolutely an impossibility. There's no one estranged from his wife tonight that is in favor with God, that is one with Christ. There's no one like that on the face of the earth.

If you say that you're OK with Christ, and you're OK with God, and you have a good spirit to life, and the marriage is broken, there's something wrong. The one is typical of the other. The one is an expression of the other.

1 John chapter 4. Look at it in your Bible. This is true in brotherly relationships. Relationship with a brother. What's it say in chapter 4, 1 John verse 19? We love him because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hate his brother, he is a liar.

For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And he who says he submits to God whom he has never seen, how can he submit to God whom he has never seen if he can't submit to his brother whom he has never seen?

And how can we say we love God whom we have never seen when we don't love our brother whom we have seen? And this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God loveth his brother also. And the love we have with our brother, the relationship we have with our brother, is a direct revelation of the relationship we have with God.

And how can I say I have love here and I don't have love here? And the Bible says such a person as they want. What do we read back? He's a liar. I didn't write 1 John chapter 4. But the Bible says he's a liar.

You see, the relationship we have here is an indication of the relationship we have vertically with God. And we have grown accustomed to allowing walls to build up. We have grown accustomed to talking about him, talking about her, when they are not here.

We have in Latin America a bird that talks a lot. A bird that's all the time talking. It's the chachalaca. And so we refer to a gossiper in Costa Rica as a chachalaca. And this thing just keeps on going.

This thing just keeps on going. And we would never say it to the person, but we don't have any problem saying it about the person. And here we are. And we're one with the Lord. And we love the Lord. And we're spiritual.

And we're holy. And we're children of God. And we take communion. And we wash our feet. And we're chachalaca. And we gossip. And we're used to doing it. And we feel comfortable doing it. We don't feel guilty doing it.

We see the same thing in the church. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. The relationship we have on earth with our fellow man is an indication of the relationship we have in heaven. Notice what it says here in 1 Corinthians 3.

For ye are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? You're not spiritual. We're not spiritual and walk as God. We're not spiritual and walk as spiritual men.

We are carnal. We just do what a man can do. Why a man can do that. A man can live with divisions with his wife and divisions with his sons and daughters and divisions with him and his preacher and divisions with him and his brother in the church and divisions with him and his neighbor.

A man on the street can do that. You'll need any spiritual power to do that. You'll need any new birth to do that. You'll need any peace and joy in the heart to do that. A man on the road can do that.

A man that never met Christ and never knew the Lord can do that. Can live with divisions between one another. Why? A spiritual man can't live that way. A spiritual man can't handle that. A spiritual man, that breaks his heart to have divisions with somebody else.

It breaks his heart. A spiritual man must do something about it. A spiritual man has to go knock on the door. A spiritual man must go and seek and search out. A spiritual man can't stand that. A spiritual woman.

But a carnal person is just fine. Over there, if you're over here. Let them hold their own row. I got along without you before I met you. I got along without you now. That's what Francis Sinatra is saying.

My relation to God can be no purer, no stronger, nor more meaningful than my fellowship with my brother. Koinonia is the union of hearts. Hearts that are mutually participating in Christ Jesus. And so if you are a participant of Christ Jesus and you are in Christ Jesus and you are one with Christ Jesus and I am one with Christ Jesus there is a bond.

There is a power. There is a magnetism. There is a love union that draws us together. And as close as we are to Christ that's close we are together. And the further I am from Christ that's how far I am from you.

And we come close to Christ and we come close to each other and that's koinonia, that's fellowship. So that was the first point I wanted to make. I wanted to help us to see that the relationship we have with one another whether it's in the church, or in the community, in the home, in the marriage that's the relationship we have with God.

First Be Reconciled Before Worship

Now I want to show you what the Bible says about this subject. And here we'll find our title in Matthew chapter 5. I suppose if the Lord has done anything in the last 14 years of my life it has been to show me how much it hurts Him when God's people are divided.

If there's anything that I believe God wants us to do wherever we go is to build bridges between God's people. I'm not talking about ecumenism. I'm not talking about some kind of doctrinal smorgasbord where we all find some common denominator and all decide to get along with each other.

I'm talking about no feelings between us. Nothing to divide us. No hurts that are unhealed. I'm talking about true love reigning. I'm talking about an open door with no hindrance. I'm talking about an open face and an open heart with all men.

I'm talking about seeing every person as God sees every person. I'm talking about going down the street and seeing the dirtiest, loneliest, loneliest person as a candidate for the kingdom of God. I'm talking about no division in your heart towards anybody.

That's what God is talking about. But I said Matthew 5, I'd like to read verses 21 through 24. For ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.

But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother Rekha shall be in danger of the counsel. But whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire.

Therefore if thou bring thy gifts to the altar and there remembers that thy brother hath aught against thee, there is division. You know it's there. You're not responsible for it if you don't know it's there.

You're not responsible for it if you haven't sensed it or felt it. You're not responsible for it if you've had no evidence of it. You're not responsible for it if it's not in your heart and you do not know it's existing.

You're responsible for what you know is there. If thou bring thy gifts to the altar and there remembers that thy brother hath aught against thee, there's something there. And you say that was his story, that was his problem, that's what he thinks about it, that's the way he took it.

But it's there, there's a division there. And you bring your gift to the altar, you know that it's there. Lead thy gift before the altar and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother, then come and offer thy gift.

The title of this message is First Be Reconciled. Before I explain these verses, these powerful verses, just hold your hand in Matthew 5, turn to 1 Corinthians 12. I want to read a few verses there and then compare these verses, one with another.

1 Corinthians 12, and the verse we want to read here is verse 21. And the eye cannot stand to the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary, and those members of the body which we think to be less honorable upon these we bestow more abundant honor.

And our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our uncomely parts have no need, but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lack, that there be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another.

And in our church tonight there's either schism or same care one for another. There's either schism and division and we're content to have it so, or the whole body is working together, having the same care one for another.

Is there any brother in your church for which you would be willing to do more than you would for another one? Are there brothers in this church that in your congregation that you feel you could do without?

That's just one brother that we do not need. Now, I want to go through this passage in chapter 5 of Matthew, and he says here that in the old time it was a matter of killing. You should not kill, it says.

But Jesus says, I say something different to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother. And you notice that in your Bible if you have a KJV it says without a cause. And we like those three words in there.

At least that's at least a degree of comfort. That's at least a hiding place. That is at least a certain amount of a reason. That at least of course gives me a catch-all column. At least that's a miscellaneous column.

I can at least put it in there if I'm an accountant. I can get something in that column there. But, but, if you were speaking Spanish tonight, that phrase is not in there. It's not in the original text either.

I don't know why it is in here. I'm not going to do fine fault with this version that I'm reading. But there's no place in the Bible that gives you right to be angry with your brother. Whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment.

And whosoever shall say to his brother, Rekha, shall be in danger of the council. And whosoever shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Are you angry with your brother? No, I'm not angry.

No, I'm not angry with him. I don't think he's angry with Bob. Do you love your brother? Between love and hate. What is in between? What is in between love and hate? When you leave love, how far is it to the entrance of hate?

After we have left love? How far is it? Rekha. Rekha means empty. Empty head. Vain. Mentally off. The fellow's not with us. You know, when someone is Rekha, when someone is Rekha, I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time being reconciled with Rekha.

Why? What's it worth? I mean, what's next? I mean, if you can do better, you're better off without Rekha. Without that fellow around. Why try to reconcile yourself with Rekha? And you know, when I'm willing to live without reconciliation with my brother, when I'm willing to live with broken relationships, when I'm willing to live, I'm saying with voice as loud as I can speak, I'm saying, I have no need of thee.

I'm saying, you are a worthless fellow. You're empty. You're vain. I'm saying, you are Rekha. And God said, Jesus said, engage in the counsel. And how about if we say, thou fool? The Greek language, the word there is moros, where we get our word moron.

And whereas Rekha means mentally worthless, mentally empty, moros means morally worthless. Morally empty. Not only is intellect is off, his character is off. This fellow is of worthless character. This person is of uselessness.

Not worth keeping. I have no need of thee. You are a threat to me. I would be better off without you. And these words are just exactly what Jesus hears when we allow division between us and another. That's exactly what Jesus is hearing us say.

When we have this anger towards a brother, we have this attitude, I don't need my brother in the church. And it's what causes division. And if we would eliminate all of this attitude of the church, the divisions would come together.

Brothers and sisters would seek each other in the aisle. There would be a meeting of the hearts. There would be a crumbling before one another. There would be an embracing before one another. There would be a melting down before the Lord.

There would be a seeking of each other's faith if we did not think this about each other. And the reason why we don't do verses 23 and 24 in this chapter is because verse 22 is standing in our way. The Bible says here, leave there thy gift.

Leave your gift. Go thy way. Seek this brother. First be reconciled. First be reconciled. Then come and offer thy gift. Go thy way. A man came to our community several months ago. A man in our community, not a part of our congregation.

He's in the community. He's known to be a thief. He's known to be a bum. He's known to not pay his bills. He's known to not be able to hold a job. He's known to float from place to place. He tried to build a house.

He built this house out of bamboo poles. He had carpet covered with black plastic. He had carpet covered with a slab of wood that comes off of a log. They got it in a sawmill someplace. That was part of it.

Part of it was boards. Part of it was pieces of old tin. And all this stuff he used to build a house. The floor was dirt floor. He used bamboo poles for the rafters. Put tin on there. Tried to nail the nails down through there.

You know a nail does not hold in bamboo. If you know anything about bamboo, nails pull right out. Wouldn't it pull the nail right out of a bamboo pole? And so his house was wet. And it's a mess in there.

And so he got someone to saw some boards for him with a chainsaw to make a little bit better house. And he didn't have money to pay the sawyer with a chainsaw. And he came to me and asked me to borrow the money necessary to pay this man.

And I didn't have the money to loan him. I told him it will take me some days to get it. But I told him that I think we should work on another plan. I think there's a better way for him to get the boards he needs to build a house without me giving him the money.

And so I was trying to help him without putting him into debt. I wanted to help him get his boards paid for without him needing to be in debt when he was done. And I had a plan to do that. Some weeks later, I found out that he was offended at me.

Some weeks later, I found out that he was seriously against me. Well, I said, I'm sorry, what is wrong? Well, this and this happened. I said, thank you. And so I went to see him. I knew that there was trouble.

I knew that he was feeling bad toward me. Whether he had any reason to feel bad or not has nothing to do with it. That's not what Jesus said. I knew that he was feeling a bad feeling towards me. I went to see him.

It was Saturday night, around 8 o 'clock. I sat down in his little house. His wife was there. They're three children. His name is Vidal. I said, Vidal, I want you to tell me all about that. What happened?

What did I do? I did something wrong. I'm sorry. What did I do? I want to get this right. How do you think I could preach this sermon tonight if I would not have done that? How do you think I could pray with a clear heart if I hadn't done that?

And how can we go on in our Christian experience in our church life if we have division with people in our own brotherhood who are part of our congregation and sit with us in the same shoes? If we don't do that, leave there thy gift and go thy way.

I didn't say it was your fault. Jesus didn't say it was your fault. It might not be your fault. He said go your way and be reconciled to your brother. Then come and offer your gift. You say my case is different.

You say it doesn't apply to me. Jesus doesn't give you the right to argue. You only have one choice to make. Get up out of your seat and go be reconciled to your brother first. Then come and offer your gift.

You have no other choice. You have no decision to make in the case. You don't need to analyze it, scrutinize it, decide about it. You just go and do it. Get up out of your chair. Get in that automobile.

Turn that ignition switch. Head down the road. What am I going to say when I get there? Go. Go there and say I heard there's a problem and I believe it's true. I've sensed the wall between us. I've sensed that you might have looked at me after the service.

I see that we're having trouble getting together. I must have done something wrong. I want to know what it is. We were getting straightened out. I come and ask you for your help. We want to reconcile this.

I must have done something wrong without knowing it. I'm a very offensive person. I'm very aggressive. I can be very abrasive at times. Sometimes I act in frightful ways. I can easily believe that I offended you.

Why is it so hard for us to believe that we made a mistake? Why is it so hard for us to believe that we may have made a mistake? It should not be hard for an honest man to know, a spiritual man to know that he made a mistake.

In many things we offend all, but we may offend not a word, the same as a perfect man. Where does that man in this audience stand up? Where does that man in this audience stand up? That perfect man who doesn't offend at all.

Where does that man? Why is it so hard for us to believe that we may have made a mistake? Be reconciled. To God, to God, division is heresy. You have that in your Bible in 1 Corinthians 11. I'll show it to you.

Division as Heresy and the Gospel Mandate

To God, division is heresy. Verses 18 and 19. But first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you, and I partly believe it. For there must also be heresies among you.

The word there is the same word, verse 18, verse 19. There also must be heresies among you that they which are proved may be manifest among you. Division is heresy. Division is an alien doctrine. Division is a doctrine that Christ does not know.

Division between brethren is something that is not part of the Christian church. It's heresy. The division between brethren, division between congregations, division between God's people is heresy. It's a false doctrine.

You wouldn't think of coming up here to an altar this morning to a statue and bow down to Mary, made out of yessal, made out of ceramic, and kissing her feet before you took your seat. You wouldn't think of breaking a stone of a cloth in your forehead and your chest before you sit down in a pew tonight.

You wouldn't think of praying to the Virgin in order to get through to the throne room of glory. You wouldn't think of wearing some St. Christopher medal around your neck to protect you as you drive through something on the highway.

You wouldn't think and believe the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. You wouldn't believe those doctrines. But heresy is false doctrine, for division is heresy and false doctrine. That's what I meant to say.

And how many excuses we offer for not obeying Christ, but each excuse is saying only one thing, I have no need of that Eureka. I have no need of that fool. And our anger turns to bitterness. And when our anger turns to bitterness, the Bible says, many shall be defiled.

And many are being defiled. And so there's a gospel mandate for reconciliation. The gospel demands that we reconcile. God can have it no other way than the building of a bridge, than a humbling of myself, than a looking for the restoration with my brother.

Love, Hatred, and the Two Brotherhood Relationships

3. According to the Bible that we have in our hands tonight, there are only two brotherhood relationships. There are only two brotherhood relationships. I want to show them to you in 1 John 3. I read here from verses 10 -16.

1 John 3, verses 10 -16,. And this, the children of God are manifest in the children of the devil. Whosoever doth not righteousness is none of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother, and wherefore slew he him, because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love their brother.

He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

And before we comment on these verses, I'd like to read in chapter 4, verses 10 -12. 4. Hearing his love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the perpetuation for our sins, beloved of God, so loved us, we ought also to love one another.