Being the Church #21

One of the earliest mentions of the Church is not in Acts, but in Matthew 18:
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

We often identify this passage as instructions on church discipline, but it is so much more - it is a call to church unity.  Rarely do we connect verses 15 through 17 with verses 18 through 20, which is about praying as one.  People carry grudges against others instead of getting things right. This does not just affect that relationship, but the whole church, and the power of prayer in their own personal lives and that of the congregation as a whole.  How much have we missed out on - as individual believers as the Body of Christ - because we have been unwilling to stop, get things right, forgive and reunite, then move on together in prayer?