Gathered in His Name 2 1983

18, 19, and 20 of Matthew 18. Jesus is speaking. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. How often we comfort ourselves when the attendance at some Christian meeting is disappointing by saying, oh well, wherever two or three are gathered, we only have a handful, but never mind, Jesus is here with our sad faces and our disappointed hearts.

But if Jesus is really present in this gathering of two or three or 50 or 100, we're not going to be saying, oh well, Jesus is here. The other guys didn't make it, but he's here. We're either going to be on our faces of repentance or singing at the top of our lungs his praises or weeping for joy.

Because when Jesus comes into the midst of those who gather in his name, he makes his presence known. Somehow, always, he makes his presence known. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Again I say, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. When we come together and bind the power of Satan and it's bound in heaven and suddenly the activity of the enemy, the lies and the deceit and the division that was moving on inside the body between brothers and sisters is stopped and the progress of the evil one is hemmed in and controlled and limited, this is a sign that Jesus is in our midst.

And it was an encouragement to hear Marlene using the word binding, binding in a positive way or a negative way. The Lord would accomplish his will. When we come together and as Marlene prays for Robert, we agree with her and it's done by our Father who is in heaven.

This is a sign that Jesus is in our midst. When we come together and loose the healing grace of the Lord and it's loosed in heaven and suddenly the life of the Holy Spirit rushes into that sick body of Tom Siegel or moves into that troubled mind or brings healing to that sick relationship this is a sign that Jesus is in our midst. When Jesus is in fact in the midst of the assembled believers, nobody has to try to talk us into believing that he's here.

His presence will be absolutely evident to anybody who has eyes to see or ears to hear. We will feel and know and see, somehow we will see the presence of the Lord in our midst. We will see the gates of death yield and the chains of death break before our eyes.

Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. His promise to be in our midst is given on one condition, that we are gathered in his name. So what does it mean to be gathered in Jesus' name? I mean we're gathered here in this place right now and surely we are followers of Jesus or at least seekers of Jesus.

The only thing really that we have in common with each other is Jesus. But are we gathered in his name? To be gathered in Jesus' name means more than to be together in one room. I mean we can have our bodies in proximity to each other, you know, and we can even be squeezed together and still be isolated each in his own little compartment.

You know, we can be physically gathered and yet with our hearts we can be far from each other. And so to be gathered in Jesus' name means that we're not only together in this room, but that our hearts open up. And begin to join themselves to each other under that name.

And for our hearts to actually open up and join themselves to each other, and that means to everybody, not just the ones I like, in the name of Jesus. We have to first, our hearts first have to come down out from underneath our own name so that they can get into his name. I have to leave my name, you gotta leave your name, and we have to come under his name.

Reading from Philippians chapter 2 verse 1. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

So Paul is asking the Philippians really to lay aside their own names and their own vanity, all their claims to fame as individuals, and to come together now under the name of the Lord. In order that, so coming together into such unity, they may then have the presence of the Lord so that they can bind and loose and pray with power. Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being of full accord and of one mind.

Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count yourself others better than yourselves. So how can we do it? I mean, how can we leave our own names and lay our own glory and names aside and truly come together under that name? How can we die to ourselves to that extent, when our whole life has been a struggle to achieve some identity, you know, to carve out a little territory for ourselves, you know, to be able to claim our rights? Don't forget, hey, wait a minute, that belongs to me. Don't you know who I am? But if we're going to, in fact, come together in the name of Jesus, all that has to go.

And if we think that's too much to ask, then we have to remember who this is that we're gathering before. I mean, what did he do? In this passage of Philippians, we are shown exactly how our Lord did just that. He laid aside his name and his glory and all his prerogatives.

Reading the exact, the very next verse, verse 5 and down through a few more verses of Philippians 2. Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. But emptied himself of his glory, of his name, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man, and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient, even unto death, even death on the cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and given him a name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

So we see Jesus submitting to his Father totally, laying aside his robes of glory, taking off his name, emptying himself, yielding even to the death on the cross, going down, down, down. And when he finally gets down so low, you can't get any lower. Then the Father reaches down and grabs hold of him and raises him from the dead and lifts him up and exalts him highly and gives him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow.

Angel knees, human knees, devil knees. And every tongue confess that he is Lord. To come together in the name of Jesus basically means that we bow the knee that is we worship and confess with our mouths that he is Lord.

You know, and what is it that keeps us from bending our knees before that name and truly laying ourselves aside and worshiping him? What is it that inhibits us from opening our mouths and proclaiming that he is in fact Lord? What holds back our worship of Jesus? Why do we find it so hard? One thing is getting in the way. And that one thing is that we are still much too taken up with our own name. We find it hard to come together with our hearts, you know, and really unify around that name of Jesus and open ourselves to him and join ourselves to him because we are still, all of us, too full of ourselves.

When Saul of Tarsus knelt in the dust outside of Damascus and cried, what do you want me to do, Lord? He was laying aside his name at last. And when three days later, this man, Paul, after Ananias lays his hand on him and gives him his sight back in the name of the Lord, and Paul gets up and is baptized, Paul is dying to himself. Paul is now able to join himself to the Lord and to all who belong to the Lord and to taste the unity of the spirit.

And now Paul is able to begin to bind and loose and pray with power because he sees Jesus as Lord of the church in the midst of his people. And now he bends the knee and he sees Jesus as Lord of the church. He confesses with his mouth right away.

Of all the great missionary journeys that Paul ever took, the greatest journey this man ever took was that journey out of his own name, out of himself, down into the death with the Lord. I am crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

And the life I now live in this flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me, says Paul. When we are willing to follow him, walk with him on that journey and go down into that same crucifixion and reckon ourselves crucified with Jesus and to really be dead to our names so that we're dead to our own name and alive to the name of Jesus, then we will experience what an awesome thing it is to be gathered in the name of Jesus as I had his presence among us. And we will bind and loose and pray with power far more consistently than ever before.

So it comes down really to three questions. And if we can say yes to these three questions, we can absolutely be certain that the Lord will be among us with power and he'll manifest himself with power. Question number one, are we willing to come together with our hearts as a crucified people, as a people who have gone down into the grave with Jesus, as a people who have died to our own name? Romans 6, 3, Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too should walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Unity begins at the cross. At the cross, we not only watch Jesus die, we die with him to our name, to our ego, to our self-pity, to our touchy feelings, to our resentments, to our vanity.

Every Sunday, we come together and we eat his body and we drink his blood. This is a unity meal, brings us together. Even as we eat from one loaf, who is Jesus? And drink from one cup, who is Jesus? But this unity meal, notice, is a death meal.

We're partaking of his death every week. His broken body brings healing to our sick minds by taking our sick minds down into the grave. His shed blood brings healing to our sin-sick and self-centered hearts by taking them down into the grave so that we can come up with him with newness of life.

Don't be afraid to die with Jesus or to reckon yourself dead with Jesus. This is the only way into unity with each other and it's the only way into freedom from ourselves. Crucified with Christ, it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

Are we willing to come together with our hearts as a crucified people? Are we willing that the thing we're still holding on to, even now, that's somehow causing us to have a barrier with this one or that one, that that dies? Question two, are we willing to come together at the Lord's table today as a people who have absolutely given Jesus the throne of our hearts? To be gathered in his name is to be in submission to that name, to acknowledge that he is absolutely Lord. Think of the idols and the wolves in sheep's clothing that we have allowed to sit on that throne within us, that throne which was made and meant only for one Lord. Now, when Jesus sits on that throne, then his life begins to manifest itself in our actions.

We live his life. You know, now, like Jesus, we can lay aside our robes and get down and really start washing feet. Now we can begin to serve and give and show mercy to each other with our hearts and our minds and our attitudes.

Because it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us. And that life of Jesus in us is the same as it always was and always will be, holy love, holy love. Are we willing to come together as a people who have absolutely given the throne, that throne within us, to Jesus? And finally, are we willing to submit to that name here in the assembly and to proclaim that name without shame out there in the world? That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, meaning worship, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

So in here, we bend the knee, we worship, and out there we open our mouths and we proclaim that name. Out there in the world, it hasn't happened yet, but it will. One day, every knee will bow.

Absolutely. But that should be happening already in here all the time. Every knee bowed.

Worship, pure, unselfconscious, unrestrained, uncritical worship of the lamb so that we praise him, we thank him, we offer ourselves to him in utter obedience. We adore him. Hasn't happened out there in the world yet, but it will one day.

One day, every tongue will confess that he's Lord, whether it wants to or not. But already with us, whenever we go out into the world, that should be happening. Every tongue of ours should be confessing that Jesus is Lord.

Bold testimony to who this is. That this Jesus is, in fact, Lord of this universe. That the lamb has been lifted by the Father to the place of highest lordship.

How in the world are they going to know that until somebody tells them with integrity? They're not trying to make money doing it. And with authority, not just saying it. And with divine confirmation, with such power that it's confirmed with signs following.

How will they know this, that Jesus is Lord, until they hear that? Are we willing to come out of ourselves and worship the lamb here in this scholarship and to come out of ourselves and proclaim his name out there in the world without shame? Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. And he will be indeed in our midst. And he will manifest himself strong and alive in our midst.

If we are truly gathered in his name, are we willing to come together with our hearts today as a crucified people? Are we willing to come together at the table of the Lord today as a people who have absolutely given him the throne? And are we willing to submit to that name in worship and proclaim that name with boldness out there in the world? If we are, we will bind and it will be bound. We will loose and it will be loosed. We will ask and it will be done because Jesus will be in our midst.

Today, let's just take some time in silence. And at the end of this, I'll break it by announcing the hymn. Then we'll sing the next hymn.

And then during that hymn, if there are those who feel the need to commit themselves to the Lord or use this altar rail in any way, come on down and somebody will pray with you. After the hymn, we'll go into prayer and praise and worship and thanksgiving. Let's just wait on the Lord in silence.

And as we do this, Lord, help us to in some way that's meaningful to us, come out from underneath our own glory and our own name and all that means. And yield to the name of Jesus. Help us to see ourselves doing this, Lord.