PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 18:15-35
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20)
This verse is a part of the section on dealing with sin in the church. As I suggested yesterday, the church is a grace community where redeeming love is at work. Taken together, this is a reminder that the church finds its unity and purpose in experiencing and expressing the gracious love of God as revealed in Jesus.
“Two or three” refers back to taking one or two others with you to the offending person. You with one or two others equals “two or three”. The Father in heaven will support them when they come (gather) together in agreement (Matthew 18:19) towards rescue, restoration and reconciliation. Jesus will be with them when they do the work He has called them to do (see Matthew 28:18-20). This verse is not about gathering for a worship service, but joining together in the mission of Jesus.
“In my Name” is the Name given to Jesus by God, the very Name of God in Exodus 34:6-7, the fullness of love: compassion, patience, grace, love, faithfulness and forgiveness. Jesus embodies this Name on behalf of God in the world; the Church embodies this Name on behalf of God and Jesus in the world. A church is not Church because of the name on the sign; a church is Church when the people embody the gracious love of God in the world, bearing the Name of Jesus into the world.
How do we know what a real Church is? It is not a building. It is not a denomination. It is not any group that claims to have that Name. It is where two or three or more come and work together to live out the redeeming love of God, embodying God’s gracious love towards the ‘little ones’, including seekers and strugglers and sinners. Even if just two or three come together to do this, they are the Church in action. Personally I think more effort should be put into living out this calling of the Church, and less effort building up and protecting the institutional church.
God’s compassion and passion for the least, the lost and the last, lived out by Jesus and assigned by Jesus to His follower, is what I see as the mark of the true Church. Jesus is with groups of believers who fulfill this mission of mercy and grace, in His Name. How can Jesus be with us if we are not joining with Him in His mission to seekers, strugglers and sinners?
“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” (Matthew 9:36-37)
There were plenty of shepherds (religious leaders) when Jesus said this, but they were not caring for the harassed and helpless, lost and struggling sheep. Today Jesus sees plenty of churches and church leaders, but are they graciously loving, seeking and serving the sheep? Or is He still saying in frustration that “the (gracious, loving, redeeming) workers are few?
Lord Jesus, forgive us for being so focused on building and protecting the church that we forget WHY it is that we gather, and WHAT it means to bear Your Name. Show me where you are serving in the world, and help me to join WITH You, gathering and serving in Your Name!