“THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM” ”

Preached by Rev. Ed Brouwer at The Gathering Place, Osoyoos

Pulpit Series    Volume 20    Issue 21           September 12th, 2010

I came to Christ in the early ‘70s.  It was during a revival that swept up thousands of young people.  This wonderful out pouring of God’s spirit lasted but a few short years.  Every denomination, main stream or otherwise tried to get in on the action.  There was much to do about spiritual warfare.  Many of God’s lambs were thrown into the lion’s den convinced they were “Warriors” for Jesus.  We could have easily made a movie called “Lambo”.  That which started in the spirit was now being driven by the flesh.

After thirty years, the Charismatic Renewal has failed to deal with the moral landslide of our society.  Instead, during the last thirty years, the New Age Movement has replaced Christianity as the spiritual consciousness of Western society.  The Charismatic Movement has failed to bring about Revival.

We have more crime, more divorce, more homosexuality, more abused children, more substance abuse, and we have more of everything bad or evil now than we did thirty years ago, and sadly it is now in the church!

There is very little that distinguishes the church from the world!

I remember when my dad first ate jell-o, he tried eating it with a fork.  It worked, but not very well.  The church is like one who eats soup with a fork.  We all have the spiritual utensils or weapons, but we are not using them properly. 

This dilemma brings us to: Matthew 16:19  “I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Keys are pretty important to our everyday lives.  So are key chains.  Most adults have a key chain.  Having a key chain is a sign of becoming an adult.

Doesn’t it frustrate you when you can’t find your keys?  Most of us have a hook at home where we hang our keys.  Most adults have at least two

crucial keys: a car key and a house key.

The word “key” is also used as a metaphor.  We all know that there are keys to being a good athlete or a good musician.  What are the keys to being a good athlete or musician?

You have a set of keys to doing your job well and so do I. There are also keys to:

· effective parenting

· effective and loving marriages

· effective and great friendships

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven”.

What are the keys of the kingdom? The answer to that question has caused debate after debate.

The word “keys” is a plural word.  There is more than one.  “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

To “loose on earth” in the Aramaic meant to declare a person to be released, loosed or absolved.

“To bind on earth” meant to declare that a person to be bound to the consequences of his or her sins.

John 20:23 (when Jesus appeared to the disciples after the resurrection) Jesus said to his disciples, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

According to Matthew 18:18 Jesus when speaking about dealing with forgiveness had said, “Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 

                                                 

Forgiveness is letting go of our own sins

and imperfections and flaws. 

It is also letting go of the sins

and imperfections of our spouse,

our kids, our friends, our neighbors,

our fellow church members.

Just as you use the key to your house and car several times a day, so also you need to use this key of forgiveness often, daily, endlessly, infinitely.

Forgiving is fairly clear, but what about withholding forgiveness?  John 20:23 says, “If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

I believe this is “tough love”.  We need to see that there are consequences to our sins.

We are not to protect someone who sins and does something stupid from sin’s consequences.  Too often in life, we are “enablers,” granting forgiveness, tolerance and acceptance way too soon.

We enable people to live irresponsibly and not face the consequences of their sinful behavior.

I believe that is what it means to “withhold forgiveness” or “retain sins”.

Suppose I crash into your car… “oops sorrrrry!” 

Sorry nothing!  I need to make it right.  I need to pay for the damages!

The Bible connects repentance and forgiveness.

Forgiveness without accompanying repentance is “cheap forgiveness.”

A thought: The keys to my house and my car are the two keys I use most in life.  The key for my house doesn’t work in the car and the key for my car doesn’t work to open the house.  Two  different keys, used differently for different occasions.

In the kingdom of God there are two keys. 

· the key of forgiveness

· the key of withholding forgiveness

These two keys are not the same but both are very important to use.

I Corinthians 5:3-5  “It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife. And you have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, in order that the one who had done this deed might be removed from your midst. For I, on my part  though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”    

What did Paul do?                                                                               He used his authority to bind a wayward believer. When the person wouldn’t repent of their sin, the church had the authority to bind him with the view of seeing him restored.

Look at the context: they were pronouncing judgment on a soul for his restoration.

The Gospel looses, forgives, sets people free from the law of sin and death.  The Gospel frees.  But this man was a brother - he was a member of the church … he needed to repent and be restored not get “saved again!” 

“If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven; and if you retain the sins of any, they’ve been retained.”  John 20:23

The idea that, by these words, Jesus introduced the Roman Catholic sacrament of “Penance” is absurd.

In fact there is no such thing as “Penance” in the Bible.  Telling your sins to the priests goes back to Noah’s grandson “Nimrod”.  Nimrod had his father killed so he could marry his mother.

In the early church there were no prayers to the dead, no prayers to Mary, nor to the Pope.

There was no “Penance”,

but there was repentance.

People would ask each other for forgiveness for a wrong done, but they never went to a "priest" for this. Those things all came later.  These are human inventions, created for the same reason as the Pharisees' teachings: money and power.

Only the Son of Man can call that which is dead unto life. “Lazarus come forth”.  But when Lazarus came out, Jesus said to the disciple, “You unbind him”.

Did they shout things like, “we loose you...be free”.  NO!  They took the bindings from off of him!

This is the “fellowship of the saints”.  We all come into the kingdom of God with baggage from the world. When people become Christians, they arrive spiritually oppressed, emotionally bound, with all kinds of problems.  Jesus calls them from death and then we the church “unbind” them.  That’s Discipleship.

Jesus’ part is instant….the church’s part is on going.  God, in His love for us, allows us to come face to face with our sin, to be confronted by it.  This of course is to bring about deep repentance and restoration.

Therefore His unwillingness to forgive the person is also an act motivated by love and a deep seated commitment to move toward His sinning child and not away from him.

When Jesus says the Father will not forgive, what He means is that God will allow the person to walk in their sin to the necessary extent; until they come face to face with it and see it for what it is.

God's intention, as the wayward brother goes his way in un-repentance, is to expose him, to bring about legitimate shame and repulsiveness toward the sin.

It is a rare blend of justice and mercy.  He did this for Jacob, for Israel and as Paul declares, for us also.

The result will often be Spirit-inspired, genuine repentance and love.

Holy God

make me holy,

Merciful God

give me a merciful heart.

Lover of souls

help me love them too

So I can be more like you!