Matthew 18:15-20, verse 20 is not mainly about the minimum number required for God to show up, Jesus is not saying the lone believer is abandoned until a second or third Christian walks in, scripture does not teach that. God is present with his people in the secret place, in the prison cell, in the hospital room, in the wilderness and in the place where no one else sees. In context, Matthew 18:20 is about sin among believers, private correction, witnesses, the church’s involvement, agreement in prayer and Kingdom authority under the name of Jesus, so the verse is not less beautiful in context, it is more serious.
The question is not, can Jesus be present in a small gathering, of course he can. The harder question is this, why would Jesus attach the promise of his presence to one of the most painful situations the church ever has to face? The private conversation, the witnesses, the church, the authority that reaches toward heaven, the prayer that asks God to search the whole matter and only then do you come back to the words, I am there in the midst of them. The Matthew 18:20 does not begin with church discipline, it begins with ambition.
The disciples come to Jesus with a question that sounds religious, but it is carrying competition underneath it, Matthew 18:1, who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. The disciples want rank, they want position, they want to know where they stand and Jesus does something no one in that room expected, he calls a little child to him and places that child in the middle of grown men arguing about greatness. Matthew 18:3, before Jesus talks about confronting sin, he talks about humility. Before Jesus talks about authority, he puts weakness in the center of the room.
That matters, because Matthew 18:15-20 is not handing ambitious people a weapon, it is forming humble people who can be trusted with a painful responsibility. Jesus warns about causing little ones who believe in him to stumble, he speaks with terrifying seriousness about sin, then he tells the story of a shepherd who has one sheep wander away, Matthew 18:12-14. A child in the middle, a warning about stumbling, a wandering sheep on the mountain, a father who does not want one of his little ones to perish, Jesus does not put discipline beside pride, he puts it beside protection.
The question is not, can Jesus be present in a small gathering, of course he can. The harder question is this, why would Jesus attach the promise of his presence to one of the most painful situations the church ever has to face? The private conversation, the witnesses, the church, the authority that reaches toward heaven, the prayer that asks God to search the whole matter and only then do you come back to the words, I am there in the midst of them. The Matthew 18:20 does not begin with church discipline, it begins with ambition.
The disciples come to Jesus with a question that sounds religious, but it is carrying competition underneath it, Matthew 18:1, who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. The disciples want rank, they want position, they want to know where they stand and Jesus does something no one in that room expected, he calls a little child to him and places that child in the middle of grown men arguing about greatness. Matthew 18:3, before Jesus talks about confronting sin, he talks about humility. Before Jesus talks about authority, he puts weakness in the center of the room.
That matters, because Matthew 18:15-20 is not handing ambitious people a weapon, it is forming humble people who can be trusted with a painful responsibility. Jesus warns about causing little ones who believe in him to stumble, he speaks with terrifying seriousness about sin, then he tells the story of a shepherd who has one sheep wander away, Matthew 18:12-14. A child in the middle, a warning about stumbling, a wandering sheep on the mountain, a father who does not want one of his little ones to perish, Jesus does not put discipline beside pride, he puts it beside protection.
