A Time To Heal? We Need Each Other For Today’s Test!

Shared on April 13, 2025

Introduction

While we all have to pass our own individual tests, we can help each other out and it won’t be cheating.  In fact, the hope is that we will help each other to pass the testing of today.  Yet, a flaw has been revealed as there are many who are refusing to help others in the testing of today.  We need help from each other if we are going to pass today’s test.

We Need Each Other

So, why do we need each other?

Proverbs 27:17 tells us, “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”  Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 tells us, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.  For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.  But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.”

Why do we need each other?  James 5:16 tells us, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.  The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

You see, Aaron needed Moses’ correction at Mount Sinai after he made the calf and fashioned it with gold.  Not only did Aaron need Moses’ correction but the people did as well!  You see, the reason why they needed Moses’ help was for the next time they would be tested to sin in such a manner.  The next time, they would know better and be able to do better.

In the same manner that they needed Moses, we need each other!  We need each other so that we can sharpen one another.  We need each other so that we can lift each other up!  You see, you need all of those around, and they also need you, so that all of us can grow, improve, and be better!

We’ve Failed Each Other

Sadly, a trend is being continued that began long before any of us ever existed.  What is that trend?  We are continuing a trend where we are choosing to fail each other.  How is it that we are failing each other today?

Rather than sharpening each other, we are continuing to fail each other by choosing to tear each other down.  Rather than lifting each other up, we are failing each other by choosing to step down on each other.  Rather than praying for each other to be blessed and to prosper, we fail each other by choosing to hate and to curse one another!

Mankind is stuck in a place where our only growth and advancements is in technology.  I want you to think about that for a moment.  We have not progressed in any part of fellowship with each other since the days of Jesus!  Jesus had to tell mankind to love each other with brotherly love, and yet we are still stuck in the mud when it comes to such progress.

The Breaking Point of Mankind’s Fellowship

Now, what I say next, I don’t want you to think that I am fearmongering, nor do I want you to be afraid.  Mankind’s fellowship is nearing a breaking point.  The testing of today is either going to finally bring us together, or we will collapse and fall apart.

We must analyze what it is that is driving us to this breaking point so that we can do something about it.  In Matthew 18:1, we can see the force at work today that is pushing us to this point.

In Matthew 18:1, the disciples came to Jesus and they said to Him, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”  Wouldn’t that be God?  Who is greater than God?  You know, there was one who thought himself to be greater than God, and Jesus said his fall was great (Luke 10:18).  The one who thought that way was the devil.  

The desire for such greatness is truly troubling.  Why is it so troubling?  The disciples’ thought was of a worldly notion rather than a spiritual notion.  You see, such thoughts of greatness should have been far from their minds!

Secondly, the desire for such greatness is of a “me-first-and-only” mindset.  The me-first-and-only mindset is a mindset that goes against the idea of fellowship.  Fellowship is about companionship – working together.  The self-centered and selfish mindset for greatness is what is hurting and destroying livelihoods today.

At a breaking point, one must make a decision for what they are going to do.  You see, one can choose to stay the course, which will inevitably lead to the break.  Or, one can choose to make a course correction – make changes to avoid the collapse.

Correcting the Course of Today’s Fellowship

A course correction is needed in our fellowship today so that we can pass the testing of today.  How do we correct the course of fellowship?

Rebuke and heeding rebuke

In Matthew 18, we will see where Jesus spoke about building and sustaining a healthy fellowship within the faith.  In Matthew 18:15, Jesus said, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.”  Let’s be clear that Jesus was speaking about rebuking one who has wronged another.

You see, it is a healthy fellowship when one can rebuke another.  When one tells another of their wrongdoing, it holds them accountable for their actions.  Accountability is what differentiates one who is of a good heart from one who is of a wicked heart.

When one knows they are in the wrong, they can make a choice that will define them.  In Matthew 18:15, Jesus said, “If [the wrongdoer] hears you, you have gained your brother.”  What Jesus means is that if the one who wronged you acknowledges their wrongdoing and moves to make a correction, then your fellowship can heal and be re-strengthened.

Those who are of a good heart, when they have knowingly done wrong, it doesn’t sit well with them.  There are several times when I know I wronged someone, and it weighed on my soul.  It weighed so much on my soul that I needed to move first to make things right with the one I wronged.  We who are of a good spirit have all experienced this feeling.  

So, when one rebukes all of us who are of a good spirit, we won’t feel good.  The reason why we won’t feel good is because the last thing we desire to do is to hurt or harm another.  So, we will take their rebuke, acknowledge it, and then move to make things better.

Standing in accountability, making corrections, creates and maintains a healthy and strong fellowship.  Again, iron sharpens iron – correction builds, improves, and grows.  There is a greater reward together than apart.

Dealing with the stubborn and the sinful

Sadly, not everyone will listen to and heed correction.  Jesus said, “If he hears you, you will have gained your brother.  But if he will not hear (Matt. 18:15-16).”  The implication is we won’t always be able to resolve things peacefully because one will refuse to be rebuked.

So, why would one refuse to heed the rebuke of another?  There are many who believe they don’t feel they need to heed the rebuke of another.  Why not?  Well, there are many who believe themselves to be perfect, they never do wrong!

To believe that you’re incapable of ever doing wrong is self-righteousness in a nutshell!  Self-righteousness:  convinced of one’s own self-freedom from sin, or wrongdoing.  Self-righteousness, we should all understand, stands in opposition of fellowship.  The self-righteous man can and will never be able to be in fellowship with anyone!

Who among us is perfect and without sin?  In Matthew 4:17, Jesus began His ministry by preaching that everyone needs to repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.  Everyone, Jesus said, needs to turn away from the direction of sin.  “Everyone” means absolutely every single person walking the earth.

The religious leaders once came to Jesus, after they caught a woman in the act of adultery, having the desire to stone her.  Jesus told them that if they were without sin, they should cast their stones.  Every last one of those leaders put their stones to the ground and walked away (John 8:1-11).

Don’t you ever get the idea in your head that you are perfect and without sin!  Don’t you think for a second that you’ve never wronged another!  Nobody is perfect!  Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

When one stands in such self-righteous stubbornnes, Jesus tells us that in order to heal that fellowship you should bring two or three witnesses (Matt. 18:16).  If that doesn’t work, and one still stands in self-righteous stubbornness, Jesus instructed one to go to the church for more witnesses (Matt. 18:17).  Again, Jesus was focusing on fellowship within the community of the faithful.

However, I want to point to what Jesus said to do if one remains stubborn even after a larger crowd of witnesses have gotten involved.  Jesus said, “If he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.”

The Jews had little dealings with heathens and tax collectors.  You may recall that the religious leaders despised the fact that Jesus would sit down with sinners and tax collectors.  However, tax collectors like Matthew, who Jesus sat with, were open to Jesus’ teachings and received them.

Today, we’re making nice with those who move wickedly and disregard the rebuke of their wicked works today.  Too many people are coddling up to these wicked workers when that shouldn’t be the case!  Ephesians 5:11, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them!”

We are to rebuke those who are moving wickedly today – hold them accountable!  If they refuse to heed the rebuke, they are making it clear how they feel about being in fellowship with us!  

Time to Let Go and Heal

There is a point where we must stop going back and forth with those who exhibit no desire to dwell in fellowship with us today.  You see, going back and forth with those whose heart is committed against fellowship is simply unhealthy.

Continuing to go back and forth with one who is so stubborn and self-righteous to disregard rebuke can create a hostile environment.  In such an environment, just like we’re seeing today, hostilities do nothing but beget hatred.  Such hatred, just as we’re seeing today, puts us on the brink of destruction!

It is time for us to stop dwelling in hatred, as that is what the wicked feeds off of!  As a gardener, in order for a plant to grow, there are times when we have to prune the plant of its unhealthy, decaying, and dying parts.  What today’s test has revealed is that our fellowship has a lot of unhealthy, decaying, and corruptive parts we need to cut off and remove.

We, all of us who are of a good spirit, a loving spirit, a spirit that desires to work together, have done our part.  What I mean by that is that we have pointed out the wrongdoing and the wicked actions of this day.  Yes, we have held those who are moving foolishly and wickedly accountable for their actions.  Yet, they push ahead in their stubbornness and their foolishness.

Here is a moment where Jesus would tell us that we must let them go.  You see, some have headed the rebuke, and they are who we should now focus on.  All of us who are of a spirit that seeks to desire to grow together and be in fellowship together need to start focusing on our coming together!

We must stop trying to force ourselves to be in fellowship with those who have no desire to be in fellowship with us.  Frankly, that is a waste of your energy and your effort.  The stubborn and the self-righteous have made their intentions, their decision, known through their actions.

We must choose to focus on each other today.  When we begin to focus on each other, we can further heal and strengthen our fellowship.  When we who are of such a loving spirit come together, we will overcome the wicked.  Not only will we overcome the wicked, but we will pass the testing of today.  We will pass this test and we will flourish!