Every time I hear this from the pulpit I shake my head, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.", which comes from Matthew 18:20. Often used to encourage those in the congregation that since more than two of us are here, God is with them.
If the above was accurate, then I could say that we should never fly in a plane, because Jesus stated in Matthew 28:20, "Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” ["lo" = "low" - get it? Ok, it's a stretch]
First of all, God is always with us. Psalm 139-7-12 is a good start: "7 I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! 8 If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. 9 If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, 10 even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. 11 I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— 12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you."
Secondly, Matthew 18 speaks of church discipline of a believer. Let's do what should always be done, which is to read the full context of previous verses 15 - 19, (added underline is mine) “15 If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. 17 “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. 18 “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. 19 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven."
So now we can introduce version 20, "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst." Allow me to rephrase, "If two fellow believers in the church agree that another brother is sinning, I (Jesus) will support you confronting this believer".
Since we know that the Bible is the best commentary of the Bible, the following verses (20-22) support that it's about confronting a believers sin: "21 Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven." In other words, "Jesus now that you cover that we should confront sinners and those who sin against us, how often should I have to forgive.
It's one thing for fellow believers to say in a group, "Well, you know, that when two more more are gathered in his name...", but to hear this from pastors makes me wonder......what??
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