5. “If Two of You Agree.” (Matthew 18:19)

This is the last of the five distinct parts to Jesus' teaching on how to bring change to individuals, groups, situations and events.

"Again, truly I am saying to you that, if ever two of you on Earth should be agreeing about anything, whatever it is they should be requesting shall be coming to them from My Father in Heaven."

That's a remarkable promise, with no rider, no restriction, no caveat, no qualifier. There is just that one condition, to find another person on Earth to agree with you. Or maybe there is one person looking for someone like you to agree with them? Note that it doesn't say 'two or more' - that comes up in the next verse, and in another context entirely.

This is different again to "Say to this mountain," which just needs one person to speak the thing into being that Jesus or Holy Spirit has whispered to them.

i) The power of agreement

However, in this verse on agreement there is no qualifier about hearing from God first. Perhaps we are meant to always understand that, always apply that condition to anything we agree on. Otherwise, as I'll show shortly, blind agreement, where we don't really know what we are agreeing to, can be quite dangerous.

It is surely appropriate to recall Matthew 10:27 here. It sits in a section where Jesus is sending out His disciples in pairs to do ministry like He did, so it is in context, even though the content suggests that it is a promise and instruction to individuals for the period after He has ascended to be with His Father again. That's now, of course.

"What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim upon the housetops."

In other words, there will be things which we hear from God as individuals, but which are meant to be proclaimed to others. Some of that proclaiming will be to the person who is paired with us, while some will be to anyone who is available to hear.

ii) The power and strength in unity

Something quite interesting shows up in Genesis 11, sometime after the flood. The people on the Earth still have one language. They get together to build a city and a tower that reaches into the sky, to make a name for themselves.

God's comment in verse 6 is quite interesting.

"And the Lord said, Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and now, nothing they have imagined they can do will be impossible to them." (AMP)

Did you see that? "And now nothing they have imagined they can do will be impossible to them."

That's how the great universities and hospitals and churches and mission outreaches were established: people with a vision, working together as one.

Something quite interesting shows up in Acts 4, soon after Pentecost and the healing of a lame man through Peter and John.

After being imprisoned and then hauled before the religious authorities who were unable to stop them from speaking about Jesus, Peter and John returned to where the other followers of Jesus were gathered and told them what had happened. They then prayed.

It doesn't say that they prayed loudly, or shouted, or that each prayed their own prayer before God. It says:

"And they lifter their voices together with one united mind to God and said...and now, Lord, observe their threats and grant to your bond servants to declare your message fearlessly...

"And when they had prayed the place in which they were assembled was shaken." (AMP) Acts 4:24, 29, 31a.

One united mind, a request not for their own benefit but to increase their penetration of the Word, and a desire to see God glorified for God's sake. They could imagine seeing this happen. Powerful stuff.

There is an inverse parallel between what happened at Babel and at Pentecost. 

In Genesis there is a flood, with a great outpouring, and many lost.

In Acts there is a great outpouring (of Holy Spirit) and many saved.

In Genesis 11 no one was talking about what God had done.

In Acts 4 Peter and John refused to stop talking about what God had done.

In Genesis 11 unity and power were absent as mankind sought to exceed or replace God.

In Acts 4 unity and power were present as mankind exalted God.

iii) The danger of blind agreement

A young guy had unresolved problems in his marriage and ongoing conflict. For several years he had tried hardening his heart towards his wife to make it easier to separate, but the presence of children and God in his life meant that those feelings didn't last very long. No one at the church he attended was aware of his dilemma or his marriage problems.

One Sunday after the service he went to the front for prayer. An associate pastor came up to him and prayed without asking any questions. The prayer went something like this:

"Lord, You know what is in his heart. I agree with him that this should be done," and then moved to the next person. Within nine months he had rejected an unprecedented apology from his wife, and by the end of the year divorce proceedings were underway. He subsequently said some years later that it was the worst decision that he ever made.

There is no suggestion that God would help produce a negative output like that. In fact, towards the end God produced a positive action from the man's wife to bring reconciliation, but his heart had been hardened. It is stated in Genesis 11:6 that even without God's involvement, when people (more than one person) are of one mind and purpose, nothing is impossible for them. Agreement can be destructively powerful as well.

iv) "Where two or three are gathered"?

It's not uncommon for Christians to ask others to pray for them about receiving something for which they want help from God. It might be a job, a car a house, a wife, healing, perhaps. There is an idea in popular folklore that the more people we get to pray, the more likely it is that God will move it along.

Jesus didn't say that.

A few years ago a man texted me and asked me to pray for his family to get a particular house that he had seen in a different town. When this sort of thing happens I now have two questions if I don't know the person.

1. Do you have a wife (or husband)?

2. Do they agree with you in this?

That's all that it takes to get the project moving. It doesn't take a whole church or a big-name pastor (that's not me!) to push it along. It's such a shame that more Christians don't believe and follow Jesus' teaching.

So in this case I just texted back, "What does your wife think about this move?" If she didn't agree, then it wasn't my place to come in between them.

He didn't respond, and later he blocked me. When I Googled recently it looked as if he was still in the same city as before. 

There are excellent, and I think remarkable examples, of two people agreeing and saying things in God which came to pass relatively quickly, in the next section, Real Life Examples. The 5 teachings presented here work well when they are used together.

Continue to Real Life Examples below

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1. Authority 

2. Say To This Mountain 

3. The Gates of Hell

4. The Keys of The Kingdom

5. If Two of You Agree (this page)

Real Life Examples