Two or Three

Mat 18:15 (Jesus said) Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
18:16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
18:17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
18:18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
18:19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

I or should I say, we, were asked on Wednesday if we had ever used verse 20 in meetings, prayer meetings, bible study groups etc when only two or three have turned up.

I hold my hands up to this one, it is something I have done on more than one occasion.

We were told, regarding this passage, what we have done is taken it out of context, that it is not about our low attended gatherings but about when we have to deal with situations of sin (trespass) in the church.

Here we are given great instruction how to deal with these matters, and what is great about verse 20 is that it says that in these situations, if dealt with biblically, Jesus is in the midst of it.

How fantastic is that!

So lesson learnt there for me.

So what about those low attended meetings.

I have been part of a bible study group for a number of years and one thing you find is that there are days when people just do not turn up. Always the reasons have been honest and genuine (as you would hope from Christians) but the numbers would dwindle

At one time I would get paranoid about this.

Was it something I said last week?
Was it something I didn’t say last week?
Is it something we are studying this week?
Do I need to take a bath more often?

So, if I had a night when I got a few phone calls saying that people were unable to attend, I would cancel for that week.

Now I could say, this was because the remaining people had a long way to come and I didn’t want to put them to any trouble if there was to be only two or three of us. But to be honest some of the time it was easier for me. It meant that I could have a weeks rest from studying hard because I could use what I had done for the group study for the week after in the hope that more people would be available.

However, this was having an adverse effect on the group and me. The days when people didn’t come, grew. People found it easier to have genuine reasons not to come, and I found it easier to cancel. This also made me lazy in my studies, I didn’t put as much time into studying, left it while the last minute or didn’t study at all, because I started to expect people to cancel.

Thankfully, I was stopped in my tracks by God.

We talked in the group, how we should study the bible. And it turned out I was saying what we should do but not really doing it myself. A case of Physician heal thyself!

So I a decision had to me made, what would be the best way for me to continue or should I say add new impetus to my study. When did I enjoy studying most? When did I learn the most? Answer, when I was doing it for the group.

Now I no longer cancel group, no matter how many people are unable to come.

Has this made them less enjoyable,? No, because the people who do come, have done so because they want to.

Also there are less instances when people cancel.

What is the least number? Three. Me, SWMBO and one other.

So was verse 20 applicable at this time, and will I use it again in these situations? No because it is out of context.

But was Jesus still with us?

Yes, because He loves to see us study, have fellowship, build relationships and friendships and because He loves to be with us. God with us, in my house, with just a few of us, how fantastic is that!

God Bless

Jem