Welcome to our Together on Mission podcast, where we seek to be with and like Jesus, as we begin a conversation with Jesus in the morning, scripture, prayer, and meditation, and then continue that conversation with him throughout your day. Your host is Travis Twyman, the pastor at the Inland Vineyard Church in Corona, California. Let me begin this morning by stating the obvious. There are people that are difficult for us to deal with, and there are some people that are so difficult for us to deal with that we just simply stopped dealing with those people, and there is a bit of a gap in our relationship with them.
And this might be news to some of us. I'm sure others of us have already realized this, but we are someone's difficult person. We are the person that someone, somewhere, has a difficult time dealing with to the point where they have stopped dealing with us. That's just true.
There are difficult people for us, and we are someone's difficult person. There are people that we have hurt, and people that have hurt us. There are people that we have stuff against, and of course there are people that have stuff against us. And some of those people, if we're honest, we would want to reconcile with, and some we would not.
And honestly, some of those people would want to reconcile with us, and some of them would not. And we know this to be true. This is, unfortunately, a part of life and a part of relationship in this broken and fallen world. And all of us have plenty of brokenness sloshing around in our minds and in our hearts.
And so there's gaps and distance and hurt. And there's a phrase that Jesus uses, and the phrase that he uses is the title of the podcast this morning, and the phrase is simply this, Settle matters quickly. And this, again, is a phrase that Jesus used on at least one occasion, possibly a number of different occasions, and there's a reason why he uses this phrase, settle matters quickly. And there's a reason why it's absolutely crucial to living a life that is truly life, because, after all, that's what Jesus arrived to make available for anyone that said, I will be your students.
And so let's take a look at the passage where Jesus uses this phrase. Matthew chapter 5, verse 25. Jesus says, Settle matters quickly with your adversary, who is taking you to court. Do it while you're still together, all the way.
Or your adversary may indeed hand you over to the judge. The judge may hand you over to the officer. The officer may throw you into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid your last penny.
Now, Jesus often taught in parables, and so we have to take a little bit of time and kind of go at what it is that Jesus was talking about, because sometimes it's not incredibly clear. But let's start with the phrase, settle matters quickly with your adversary. Jesus is saying, whatever else you do, be quick about seeking reconciliation with anybody that you have something against, or anybody that has something against you. See, an adversary is someone who you are at odds with.
And it could be because, you know, you did something to them, they did something to you. It could be that both of you did something to each other, but an adversary is someone who you are at odds with. And typically, and of course this is part of the point, when we have an adversary, we usually have a whole bunch of anxiety. Often we have anger in our hearts when we have an adversary.
And often we can be consumed in our thinking by what maybe they're thinking. Or we can be consumed in our minds with what's the best opportunity or the best way to overpower them or not end up at the same party that they're at. And it would be very good to think a bit this morning about what your symptoms might be when you have an adversary. And all those things that I just mentioned are death and lead to death, which is what Jesus is going to get to in just a moment.
So Jesus says, be quick about doing everything. And here's the commission of this teaching of Jesus. Be quick about doing everything that you can do to bring peace, to settle matters quickly, to bring harmony into that relationship. And it would be a very good thing to think this morning about who that person is that is functioning in your life as an adversary so that we can make this text incredibly personal.
Because remember, Jesus' teaching is supremely practical. It's relevant. It's brilliant. It deals with real life, which is, in real life, of course, is what we must deal with and what we must deal with right now.
And Jesus uses the phrase, make sure you do it while you are still together on the way. In other words, if we let these situations linger, we can lose the best opportunity for reconciliation. And, of course, if we let these situations linger, they will typically not correct themselves themselves. Jesus says there is this opportunity, which is right now, to be able to settle matters while there is still time.
The longer we wait, the longer the enemy has the ability to distance and create a greater gap in that relationship. And, of course, there are situations where an adversary has been so abusive to us that it would be unhealthy to continue to relate. And at this point, we must settle matters quickly in our hearts so that we do not become people that whole anger, rage, hatred, thoughts of retaliation, you know, whatever, because that is death. And that will lead to death, which is why Jesus says do so quickly, settle matters quickly.
And then Jesus says at the end of this analogy or this, you know, parable, if you don't, it will lead to loneliness and depletion. Because when Jesus talks about prison and wasting our last penny, these are metaphors, right, in this parable that have to do with loneliness and isolation and depletion and lack of life at the heart level. If we choose to keep adversaries as a result of in no way attempting to go to them and settle matters quickly. And Jesus says that this is a life of death.
When we refuse to try to settle matters with our adversaries, it will lead to prison and it will lead to depletion. Jesus says rather go and repent and go low and own yourself and do so kindly and swiftly and choose to be that kind of person with whom the life of the kingdom of God flows. And, you know, this is good news. It may be difficult news, but it is good news.
We have no control over the results of whether we can broker reconciliation and harmony and peace. Because, as I said, it does take two to tango. But we do, however, have control as to whether we obey our teacher, Jesus, as his disciples, as his students, as we trust and put our confidence in him that his way is the way of life and the way to life. And if we do not think that his way is the way of life and the way to life, we must ask this question.
Whose way is the way of life and to life? If it's not Jesus, we are going to have a teacher. We're going to find a teacher. We are going to put someone's words into practice.
And so let's spend a bit of time this morning just kind of meditating on this passage, thinking about it, settling matters quickly. Who are we to settle matters quickly with? This will not be easy. It will require a change of heart.
It will require a bit of humility. We may not get the results that we want, but we will be traveling the path, the narrow road that is life, that leads to life. And as we meditate on this passage this morning, let's pray that God will give us the kindness, the wisdom, the strength that we need to do this to settle matters quickly because we can do all things through Jesus Christ that gives us strength. We'll talk soon.
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