Where Does My Truth Come From?

Matthew 18:20 (ESV)

"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."

How frequently do you hear scripture misinterpreted and taken out of context?  Probably more often than we truly know.  How frequently do we misinterpret scripture and take it out of context?  Probably more often than we would like to admit.

Take, for instance, the verse above.  I have heard this verse spoken many times, even by my own deacons, in defense of gathering more than one or two people together for prayer.  In fact, I believe that before this past year I have used it multiple times for the same reason.  But if you take the verse in context it is not speaking about prayer at all.  Prayer is not found any where in the entire chapter of Matthew 18.  This verse is speaking about church discipline and how to handle it as a group of believers.  God is reminding us that in dealing with church discipline Jesus is very much present to "validate the judicial activity of the church" (Reformed Study Bible notes).

So, why is this verse so misused and misinterpreted?  I believe because of one thing: laziness.  I can say this because I find myself having this problem many times.  I misused this passage because I took everyone else's word for it that it meant what they said it meant.  And I never took the time to actually look up the passage, study the surrounding text, and make a decision based off of the Word of God and not the word of man.  There is a reason for sola scriptura and not sola man. 

May Christ and his word be my ever present source of truth.