Where 2 or 3 are Gathered

Intro:

Where two or three are gathered in my name their I am in their midst.

Growing up in the church this quote from Jesus was quoted on a regular basis and is still quoted in many religious circles.

On the surface is is a very comforting verse that seems to convey that the Lord is always with his people.

Example # 1- I have heard people quote this very while having a small prayer service or Bible study with friends to let them know that God is with them as they study and pray.

Example # 2- I have heard people use this verse to explain why they don’t always have to worship with the local church, when they go on vacation. They say we don’t visit an area congregation, instead we just have a devotional in our hotel room because the Lord said ‘Where two or three are gathered…'”

Example # 3- Growing up in a small congregation I heard this verse used regularly to encourage the members to not get discouraged because of the low attendance because all we need to remember is that where two or three are gather, the Lord is with us. They would say it doesn't matter how big of a congregation you are, the Lord is with you and is blessing you because of your dedication to him.

Although it is comforting to know that our God is omnipresent and is always near to those who seek after him, and as James says in James 4, God is near to those who reject worldliness by drawing near to Him. Although God is near and present in the lives of his followers let’s take a closer look at this quote found in Matthew 18:20 and see exactly what Jesus is communicating when he says where two or three are gathered.

In order to determine if this quote is taken out of context let’s first understand the surrounding context of Matthew 18:20...

Starting in Matthew 18 Jesus begins a dialog with his disciples that goes through the end of the chapter.

The topic for their discussions all centers around relationships in the Kingdom of God.

Jesus says dealing with our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ we must be like little children and make sure that we never do something that would cause another to sin.

He then continues and talks about the importance of relationships in that if a brother or sister strays from the truth we must have the type of relationship with them that we can go and get them back.

We see that Jesus rejoices more over the one person who is brought back into the fold than he does over the 99 who are still faithful.

Jesus is making the point that we as members of the Kingdom must love each other enough that we will do what ever it takes to bring someone who is lost in sin back into the family of God. Its with that understanding that we come to the section of scripture for consideration this morning.

Matthew 18:15-17.

After reading this passage of scripture your mind like mine may have immediately thought about church discipline. This passage and rightfully so is the main passage that we look to to understand how unfaithful Christians should be disciplined within the church.

Understanding that Christ makes it clear that separating ourselves from a brother or sister who will not repent is necessary, as we walk through this passage this morning I want you to notice that this passage has more to do with gaining your brother or sister back or helping them to repent than it does about disciplining them.

We must always remember that Jesus desires that all people repent according to 2 Peter 3:9 but keeping within context Jesus has just said that he rejoices more over the 1 who returns than he does the 99 who never left. After saying this he then gives us the necessary steps to bring that one person back into fellowship.

Clarification about “against you”

Before we break these steps down let me first make mention of two words that are found in verse 18. In your Bible you see the words against you. Which mean if a fellow Christian sins against you personally than you are to go to them.

Let me just make mention that these two words all though they are found in most Greek Bibles they are in brackets because they are not found in the earliest manuscripts suggesting that they may not have been spoken by Jesus.

If this is the case it doesn't change how we go about gaining our brother back but it does change who we are to gain back. If the the original text reads this way by saying, If your brother sins, go to him. Than this means that if we know about a sin in a brothers life whether it is against us or not we as their brother or sister have an obligation to go to them for the purpose of gaining them back.

I say this to say that this practice that Jesus is about explain is how we should handle any situation when a brother or sister sins whether against us or anyone else because as we will see the purpose is all about gaining them back. We as Christians must have the same desire the Jesus has when it comes to a precious soul who has wondered from the truth.

With that understanding let’s break down this text.

Step One:

Verse 15 Matthew 18:15.

Matthew 18:15 ESV

“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.

Most often when someone sins against us it is human nature for us to have the attitude that we don’t want to talk to this person. We think if they want forgiveness than they can come talk to me first. But notice what Jesus says. Jesus says that the offended must go to the offender not the other way around.

Man this is backwards from how the world handles this situation isn't it. The world says let me tell you what so and so did to me. Or they will let the whole world know by putting it on Facebook.

But notice with me Jesus says not only are you to go to them but you are to do this privately. In other words don’t tell anyone what has happened. First go to them.

Jesus says that nobody should know about this matter if possible because you need to first go to them privately. Now remember that the purpose for going to them is not to give them a piece of your mind or to win an argument but it is for the sole purpose of gaining your brother back. Which means your going there to offer them forgiveness.

Jesus says,if they listen to you and repent than you have gained them back.

This first step should be done in private so that if they repent you and the offender are the only ones that know about it. This keeps others from thinking or treating the offender differently.

Step 2 Matthew 18:16.

Matthew 18:16 ESV

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.

In verse 16 Jesus says if going to your brother or sister in private doesn't work to gain them back than go to step 2. Which is take one or two people with you to go talk with them.

But not just any two people. I believe it is very important that we wisely choose the people who we bring into this process. If we understand that the sole purpose is to gain our brother or sister we must not just bring anybody to go talk to them we must bring people who one, already have a relationship with this person, its should be someone who this person respects and looks up to. Then secondly it must be someone who is willing to keep this matter private.

Don’t pick someone who is going to say to others let me tell you what I just found out about so and so. No, you need someone who loves this person and who will be best qualified to help this person see the sin in their life. These are people who if they knew about the situation would do anything to help the offender see their sin with the purpose of restoring them.

These are people who would go to them not to tell them that they are wrong, because the offender has already been told that and they already know that because we must remember that the offender is a Christian.

Church this is why relationships with the church are so important. If we are not building relationships with one another we will never be affective in reaching those who have fallen away. If we didn’t care to have a relationship with them when they were living right why would they care to listen to us now.

Step Three

Matthew 18:17.

Matthew 18:17 ESV

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.

Up until this point everything that we have tried to do to gain our brother or sister, not to discipline them but to gain them back has been done in private. Then in verse 17 Jesus says if this doesn't work than tell it to the church.

At this point it would be wise, and necessary to go to the Elders if they have not already been involved in step two of this process. Inform them about the situation so that they can help in the process of gaining their brother back.

Once the whole congregation is informed about the matter we must remember that this is not the last step. We do not tell the congregation for the purpose of disfellowshiping them. We as with every step tell the congregation for the purpose of bring them back.

IN this step the Elders must stand before the congregation and give a heart felt announcement about the situation and plead for the congregation to reach out to the offender. Tell the congregation what has been done to try and reach them and ask for the congregation to help.

It may be that after hearing this that someone who does have a good relationship with the offender hears about it for the first time and just maybe they are the brother or sister who can help the offender see the error in his life.

Step Four

After much prayer, love and patience remembering that this most likely will not happen over night. Jesus says that the last resort is to not have anything to do with the offender just like the Jews wouldn’t have anything to do with the gentiles or tax collectors.

Excommunicating them or as we in the church like to say disfellowshiping them is not done so that we can wash our hands of them but once again it is done so that maybe, just maybe the offender will recognize what they are missing.

This is why relationships within the church are so important. If the offender doesn't have a relationship with us than they unfortunately will not see what they are missing. They won’t long to be with us. They won’t care that they are no longer in fellowship with us if there was no fellowship to begin with.

Although we are not to fellowship with them let’s never forget that we should always leave the door open and continue to try and win them back. Jesus has never given up on us therefore we must never give up on one another.

Conclusion:

After walking through the steps that Jesus gives to gain our brother back we now can now get to our out of context verse. Verse 20. Matthew 18:18-20.

Matthew 18:18–20 ESV

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. 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. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

When you put it in the context of restoring your brother back from sin I’m sure you don’t need my help to see that Jesus is not talking about being with two or three people who are worshiping, or praying by themselves.

In verse 18 Jesus is giving assurance that, when this process is followed, God is working in it and then in verses 19 and 20 He gives a final assurance: “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

In Verse 20 the two or three that were together were the same two or three witnesses in verse 16 that were together to help the offender recognize his sin so that he would repent. Jesus is promising to be in their midst because they did what Jesus asked them to do and because he supports the efforts to bring a sinner back. Verse 20 is not about Christians assembling together to worship God.

One final thought on this out of context verse and the lesson is yours.

In verse 20 Jesus is specifically talking about two or three people, not five or ten or even twenty, but only two or three. But yet many people quote this verse to prove that God is with their family or congregation of more than two or three people. Jesus said that he is with two or three not five or ten but two or three.

Keeping it in context Jesus promises to be with the two or three witnesses that lovingly go to a brother to try and gain them back.