Membership Matters (pt. 2): The Keys of the Kingdom

Introduction

When I was a teenager, I would work on my dad’s farm. Sometimes, it was watching fences, milking cows, etc. My favorite work was tractor work - forobvious reasons. The tractor was air conditioned.

One day, I was raking hay, and my father was bailing hay behind me.

We were in a very open field with a small one beneath it. The final field was connected to it with a small elevated path. It was basically two gravel paths for tires with some old plywood thrown over it.

My dad told me, “I want you to finish this field, but I don’t want you to cross that path and go down into that other field.”

I raked the field I was in, stopped the tractor, and waited on my dad. However, he was driving really slow.

Eventually, I looked at that path, and I said, “You know what? I have driven this tractor for a few years, and I am ready to go home. I am going to finish up that last field and call my mom to come get me.”

As soon as the tractor hit that plywood, I knew I had made a mistake. The tractor went DOWN. The plywood broke, the gravel gave way, and the tractor pummelled into the ditch.

I jumped out of the tractor, and started to walk back to my father. My dad saw me, looked at the tractor, and began yelling at me through the tractor. I don’t know what he said, and honestly, I didn’t ask him to clarify.

I realized two things: I had underestimated the sheer size and power of what I was driving, and I had neglected to obey my father who knew the way it needed to run.

So often in the local church, we ere in one of these two ways: We underestimate what God has given us in the local church, OR we neglect to obey our heavenly Father concerning what He wants for the church

Today, our passage reminds us that Jesus has graciously given us the local church. He has given us both authority and responsibility. You don’t get authority without responsibility.

Matthew 16:13-20 “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.”

Explanation

Spiritual Authority: Exposition of Matthew 16:13-20.

Tell the story.

Jesus is with his disciples, and asks them who people say that He is.

Peter replies that many are saying that Jesus is a prophet or John the Baptist.

Jesus asks Peter a more pointed question, “Who do YOU say that I am?”

Peter replies, “You are the Christ (Annointed), the Son of the Living God.”

This confession is our confession. We have no other. That Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.

Jesus, based upon Peter’s confession, says:

Correct! God has revealed this to you! The Holy Spirit has given this truth to you.

Peter, on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

I will give you (plural) the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

We get a picture of the church from this passage.

Matthew 16:18-19 “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.””

The nature of Peter and the rock.

Peter means rock. Jesus changed his name.

God wasn’t building the church upon Peter or upon a lineage of Peter as some believe, but rather, God was building the church upon Peter’s confession - that Jesus is the Christ.

When Jesus says, “you,” He is referring to the whole church.

The “you” in verse 18 refers to Peter, but the same usage in ch. 18 (a few pages away) is a plural term referring to the entire church.

God gives the church as a whole spiritual responsibility and authority. To declare the message of the gospel, to proclaim the coming of the kingdom, and to walk together in repentance and faith.

What are the keys of the kingdom?

Spiritual authority doesn’t mean that you get to do what you want to do. You may be holding the steering wheel, but someone else owns the tractor, right?

It does mean that God has given you the gospel and a place to declare it in His Kingdom.

You are an ambassador of Christ.

The keys of the kingdom is the wielding of the Gospel that people might be saved and edified.

Jesus says, “I have a job for you, and I am giving you (the church) the ability to do it.

“The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Nothing can stand against the church that proclaims the message of Jesus.

If God is for us, then who can be against us.

One of the greatest problems with the American church is that by and large, we have underestimated what God wants to do among us.

Have we underestimated God’s power?

Have we taught our hearts to expect less from the Lord?

Or do we believe that God still moves in a supernatural way in his people and through His people for a lost and dying world?

Spiritual Responsibility: As the body of Christ, we have been given spiritual authority in His Kingdom, therefore, we have been given spiritual responsibility as well.

We are to live lives of service to the people around us and each other. We have partnered and made a covenant with one another to do something extraordinary together.

Ephesians 4:11-12 “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,”

We are all called to minister for the sake of the gospel.

What this church does would be remarkably limited if it relied only upon what I can do.

God has called All of us to serve in His Kingdom.

We serve each other that we might grow in Christlikeness.

Are you consistently serving in the local church? To grow in Jesus is to serve.

Find one hour a month or, even better, one hour a week, and serve your church.

Spend an hour in the nursery. Volunteer as a greeter. Visit our widows or shut ins.

We use our gifts for one another. There is a difference between spiritual gifts and natural inclinations. Spiritual gifts are given by God to the redeemed. Natural inclinations are traits given to all people that have been redeemed by Jesus. They all belong to the Lord.

We give of our money, time, resources, etc. The local church is about selflessness as Jesus selflessly gave Himself.

We invest in the spiritual growth of the people around us.

We apply God’s grace to each other in teaching.

I need to hear God’s grace every week.

You need to hear God’s grace every week.

We are to help each other rid our lives of sin. Matthew 18 shows how the church should love one another and hold each other accountable.

We are a covenant community which means that we should help each other to look more like Jesus.

Most often, that is encouragement, and sometimes, that is a hard conversation in complete love for the reconciliation of that person to God and others.

Reconciliation is the goal.

Growth in holiness is the goal.

When we covenant together as a faith family, we are committing to walk in the way that Jesus walked.

Membership is to say, “I want to look more like Jesus. Will you help me? I will help you.”

We come together so that God would build His Kingdom through his church.

We aren’t building a kingdom here. We are building God’s Kingdom.

The Kingdom is bigger than simply what we are doing here.

In a church I previously served, the community was fairly transient. Because most of the property around us was rental, people only lived there a few years.

Someone asked the question, “Is this really the community we should be investing in? Aren’t

We aren’t building a church. We are building the community.

We send others to the nations for the sake of the gospel.

May we be more concerned with how many we send than how many we seat.

The church gathered, prayed for, and send Peter, Paul, and other to the nations.

May we partner together to do the same.

Invitation

Jesus has given us himself. Confess Peter’s confession. Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God. The One who saves us from our sins.

Join a local church.

Love, serve, and lead in your local church.