2026-09-06 Mt 18 15-20 I’ve Made a Huge Mistake
Matthew 18:15–20
15 “If your brother or sister sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If you are listened to, you have regained that one. 16 But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If that person refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
If you were a surgeon in the middle of an operation and you asked for a scalpel but your nurse handed you a wrench, you could say that nurse has made a huge mistake.
But if you’re a surgeon on your day off, working in your garage, rebuilding an old car with your daughter, and you reach out your hand and say, “Scalpel,” when she knows you mean “Wrench,” now your kid who’s long maintained you’re getting senile is even more convinced. You may have made a huge mistake.
I’m not a doctor but I play one on… Hey wait a minute. I forget. I AM a doctor. I have the diploma. But not that kind of a doctor. I'm a doctor of ministry. If you want a prayer before an operation, I’m your doc. But if you're on the operating table, ready to go under, and I pull down my mask and say, “Don’t worry, this will all be over very soon,” huge mistakes have been made, arrests will be made, and the evening news will definitely be made every night for a week.
You know the old saying, “A poor workman blames his tools.” Especially if he’s using the wrong one, as my wife will attest. But the tool, if it could talk, could just as well blame the poor workman. “Put me down, Bob the Builder.” Right tool, wrong situation. Right doctor, wrong operating theater.
In the operations of the church, we use scripture all the time. It’s our favorite tool. Is the verse we’ve picked up the right tool? Maybe. It’s like Rev. Lovejoy on The Simpsons says of scriptures, “Oh, they’re all good.”
I say all this because today's scripture is used quite often as a very practical, very consoling tool. It operates on our hearts. It heals us.
"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them" – Matthew 18:20.
Yes, only two showed up for the Bible Study and one of them’s the preacher, but it’s OK. Because, remember, “Where two or three (or one or two) are gathered….”
It makes us feel full when chairs are empty.
But when you look at Matthew 18:20 in context, the words do not mean what you think it means. Inconceivable? Not at all.
Now, we know – misusing scripture can be a huge mistake. But as men will tell you, reading the instructions is boring. Is it always wrong to take the Bible differently than the prescription says? Can the wrong scripture serve the right ends? Can the wrench be just as good as a scalpel? Can God and God's processes (i.e., the Church) fix our messes, heal our oopsies, change our well-intentioned, mistakes, huge or tiny, for the good?
In Matthew 18, someone clearly has made mistakes. Big ones. He or she keeps making them and refuses to change, even after a private meeting, and a presbytery committee, and the whole church confronts them. Jesus surgically applies his own scriptures to show the church – to show us – how to sew up this botched operation – in the presence of two or three gathered together, when he is there with them.
We make mistakes all the time. How can we use scripture to help other people out of their messes? To help US out of OUR messes?
—
My personal favorite scripture, suitable for all occasions, is obviously Proverbs 16:31.
Gray hair is a crown of glory;
it is gained in a righteous life.
I don’t know what caused this one to be written, but I can guess. When I’m facing microaggressions of age discrimination or the mockery of small children, I keep that God-ordained weapon of self-defense on my hip. I don’t care what the original context was. The context is me. I may be old, but I’m glorious. Am I misapplying scripture? Am I making a mistake? I’ll take my chances.
We don’t know the exact context of Matthew 18, but anyone who’s been in church more than a few days can guess.
Some little stinker was stirring up trouble of an undefined nature. The transcripts are redacted. But we can tell someone has been sowing seeds of discord in the fields of faith. Huge mistake.
Now, if Jesus had been Presbyterian, he would have called in the Clerk of Session and had them bring their copy of Robert’s Rules of Order, 13th Edition. But, Jesus being Jewish and living 1800 years before Mr. Robert, he fell back on the laws of Moses who also wrote an instruction manual for resolving conflict. We all remember Deuteronomy 17:6, how it declares that resolution requires the presence of two or three witnesses gathered together.
It says, "On the evidence of two or three witnesses…”
See? Two or three gathered together. Just like Jesus said. Do go on, Moses.
"On the evidence of two or three witnesses
the death sentence shall be executed….”
“a person must not be put to death
on the evidence of only one witness."
Uh, record scratch? Whatever happened in Deuteronomy must have been a far more huge mistake than, say, someone sending all-church emails about how long the preacher’s sermons are. (Although, I could make a case.)
It would appear that Our Lord and Savior, the Son of God himself, is lifting a scriptural tool from one context, that of a capital offense, and putting it to use in another, far less terminal. So if Jesus can do it, it must not be wrong. Right? But if somebody is doing something wrong, how do you handle it? Can you handle it according to scripture? Without making a huge mistake, yourself?
—
Matthew gives us a three-step process for handling errors in church. He has Jesus lifting the basis from Mosaic Law, without invoking capital punishment.
Step 1.
In verse 18:15 Jesus says,
"If your brother or sister sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If you are listened to, you have regained that one."
That's sensible. Discrete. Personal.
Jesus says nothing about sending a text with angry emojis. Or a passive-aggressive email. He says, go to the offending party, face-to-face, and explain your point. If you are listened to, you have regained that one."
But what if that's not enough?
Then, Step 2.
Verse 16 says, then,
"But if you are not listened to,
take one or two others along with you,
so that every word may be confirmed
by the evidence of two or three witnesses."
Do that before you kill them. Just like Moses said.
Anyone who's watched an episode of Real Housewives understands.
When you’re confronting the Queen Bee,
bring witnesses. And a camera crew.
But what if she or he still won’t listen?
Then, Step 3.
Verse 17:
"[THEN] If that person refuses to listen to them,
tell it to the church."
The Presbyterian Church (USA) Book of Order
has specific rules of discipline.
Decent and orderly, so all the dirty laundry
doesn't get aired before the whole congregation.
Committees are formed, justice is served, as best we can.
We still apply the progression
of Moses’s Law and Jesus’s guidelines.
We just fit them to our local, and denominational context.
Because huge mistakes require huge compassion, huge discretion, two or three gathering together.
Why all this? Because, as in verse 20, which can be applied and reapplied as necessary in a variety of situations:
"For where two or three are gathered in my name,
I am there among them."
—
Now, I know. We’ve all dealt with conflict. Or not dealt with it. Some people are really good at conflict. Some people thrive on it. They’re scary.
Some of us see conflict coming and hide under our desk. Some of us give ourselves ulcers, worrying that we’ve said something offensive, or hurt someone’s feelings. We go around repeating the mantra, “I’ve made a huge mistake. With someone.”
Some of us have tried to be assertive and it blew up in our faces. So we swear we’ll never make that mistake again. Like the tombstone that says, “I’ll never try that again.”
Jesus lines out the steps to mistake correction. But even Our Lord knows, sometimes it’s an epic fail.
Which is why he then moves to a postscript in verse 17. When nothing works, he says,
"if the offender refuses to listen even to the church,
let such a one be to you
as a gentile and a tax collector."
And in first century Israel, gentiles and tax collectors were just the worst. Outsiders, foreigners, thieves. Nasty people.
And you know how Jesus treated THOSE people –
Those deeply offensive SINNERS.
You remember what he did to THEM:
He had them to supper.
He invited them to become his disciples.
He healed their illnesses.
He prayed with them.
And invited them to walk with him, to learn from him, to follow him.
Jesus took the people of huge mistakes, and he loved those dirty, rotten scoundrels.
He loved them. Anyway.
—
"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
That’s great news if you have a gathering and only two or three show up. Church gatherings don’t have to be big and noisy. They can be quiet, and small, and prayerful. In this case, Jesus’s words are a promise. They console.
But if you’re trying to resolve conflict with someone who’s made a huge mistake, or if you’re the one who’s made a huge mistake and you’re trying to atone, Jesus’s words are encouragement. A call to courage. Courage to forgive and to be forgiven. In this case, his words embolden us, inspire us to do the hard thing.
Jesus assuring us that he’s with us works in either case. Who cares if our context differs than the ones the Bible implies.
Jesus’s context is our context. Our Savior meets us where we are, saves us where we are – whether two or three of us – two or three – or just one of us, and him.
If we’re gathering in his name, if our own heart is pulled together, lifted up in his name – how can that ever be a mistake?
[eos]
