Key to Heaven
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· 26 viewsPreaching (sharing the gospel of Christ) opens and closes the kingdom of heaven – we preach, to persuade people to have faith in Christ.
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Captain “Sully” Sullenberger, pilot of the US Airways flight 1549, which crash landed in New York’s Hudson river, received the key to the city of Danville, where the captain lives. He also received a gold plated key to the city of New York for his heroic flying.
According to Wikipedia, keys to cities are “presented to esteemed visitors, residents, or others the city wishes to honour. Evoking medieval walled cities whose gates were guarded during the day and locked at night, the key symbolizes the freedom of the recipient to enter and leave the city at will as a trusted friend of city residents.”[1]
The scriptures also mention this idea of being free to enter and leave a city. Jesus identified himself as the gate, those who enter by him will be saved, and they will come in and go out and will find pasture.
The Keys
But more than that, Jesus has conferred on us the keys of the kingdom. In Matthew 16:19He says, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
The use of the keys has a broad and general application as well as a more specific application.
When we talk about the keys of the kingdom, when we talk about opening and closing the kingdom of heaven to people, in the broadest sense, we are talking about preaching.
Preaching, most simply put, is the act of telling the good news of Jesus Christ. Preaching is not limited to what I am doing right now. Preaching has a broader application that has to do with telling others about Jesus Christ.
One of two things happens when the gospel is presented to people. Either they accept the truth, or they reject it. Either heaven is opened to them, or it is closed to them. Certainly we see this in the scriptures, when the Jews rejected Paul and Barnabas’ message, Paul said to them, “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46).
When the Jews refused to place their faith in Jesus Christ, Paul and Barnabas did not keep talking to them. They did not waste more effort. They made their presentation, they spoke the truth, but the Jews did not listen.
If you’re wondering where our passage comes in, here it is.
Jesus came from heaven. Jesus came to reveal the truth of God. Jesus came to speak of heavenly, eternal things. What Jesus said is true. He is superior to all; he is above all. He spoke the truth about His Father, heaven and hell.
Few received his words. Few accepted his teaching. This is why.
Jesus came to give witness to God the Father. Jesus came as the most full, most complete, most amazing, testimony to God the creator. Literally, His wisdom was out of this world.
Locked Out
But the people who heard him didn’t understand him. They were from the earth and they have wisdom from the earth. They thought they were so smart. They argued that their wisdom was superior because they were basing what they know on what they could see. This is ridiculous. There is still a ton of things that happen in the world which cannot be proven through simple observation, but which has to be accepted as true.
But it seems like those who have rejected faith of any kind have the desire to spread their empty gospel. These people, identifying themselves as atheists, have a message to tell. They are trying to win converts to their non-faith.
Do you remember the bus advertisements? It started in Great Britain, and came to Toronto as well. Busses rolled around these cities with the following words on them, “There’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy life.”
This campaign is telling for a couple of reasons. First, it is an outright rejection of Christ, just like the one encountered by Paul and Barnabas. My heart breaks for them, but the scriptures are clear, people are without excuse. The glory of God is on display all over creation. They have become blind to the truth. But like Paul, we simply need to shake the dust off our sandals, or knock the snow off our boots, if you prefer, and concentrate on those who are receptive to the gospel.
The second thing that is interesting in that bus ad is this; it implies that you can enjoy life apart from Christ. This is a complete contradiction to what Christ says, “I have come so that you may have life and live it to the full” (John 10:10).
In this, they are very much like Satan. They point to all the things that God forbids. Satan did this to Adam and Eve in the garden, “Did God really say you must not eat of any tree?”
Well, no, God said that they must not eat any tree. He said they could eat from all but one. How many trees were in the garden? 20, 30, 50, 1000? We don’t know, but the fact of the matter is this, there were far more permissible options available to them than there were prohibitions.
No Worries?
Getting back to the bus ad. The ad implies that those who are believers in this “probably existing God” are worried, and not enjoying life.
Well, I suppose that is true for all the religious people who are not Christians, or those who really don’t know what the gospel is.
Every religion other than Christianity is a breeding ground for worry. Every other religion bases entrance into heaven, nirvana, the next life, or whatever terminology they use to describe what happens after death, every other religion bases it on works, not faith. If you do so and so, you will get in. If you live a good life, you’ll make it. If you don’t mess up too royally, the gods will smile on you and they’ll let you into their inner sanctum.
Now, that all sounds nice, but wouldn’t people who live under that type of lifestyle, that religion constantly be worried? Am I doing well enough? Did I do enough? Did my good deeds balance out my bad deeds?
It’s like those Calvin and Hobbes cartoons from a few years back. In the cartoon, you see Calvin always wringing his hands, worried about whether or not he was naughty or nice. Hobbes, of course, was always very surprised that Calvin didn’t wind up with enough coal to open up a power plant.
But Christians shouldn’t worry at all—we do because we just don’t get grace. We bring nothing to the table except our sin, the very thing for which Jesus came to save us! Christians recognise that salvation is a totally free gift. We cannot barter for it, it is not for sale, it is totally free.
So Christians should be full of peace. There’s peace in knowing that Christ has made us forever made right with God through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf. Christ freely gives our righteousness to us.
The only people who truly can stop worrying are those who in fact are believers in Christ. And, as Jesus tells us, not only do we stop worrying, we can start living our lives to the fullest.
Furthermore, Christians are filled with certainty. The Catechism says, “True faith is a knowledge and a conviction that everything God reveals in His Word is true; it is a deep-rooted assurance, created in my by the Holy Spirit through the gospel, that out of sheer grace earned for us by Christ, not only others, but I too, have had my sins forgiven, have been made forever right with God, and have been granted salvation.”
That’s a far cry from “There’s probably no god.” What a stupid, vague, non-provable, tenuous, position. It is laughable. The atheists want to get people on their side; they want to open up dialogue. What’s to dialogue? There’s probably no god. There is a God. If you don’t believe it, I’m not going to waste my breath debating it with you. A fool says in his heart, there is no God. I will not answer a fool according to his folly, or I will become like him myself.
Proclaim!
So, in the broadest sense, we need to communicate the gospel, plainly and simply, not only to those who haven’t heard it, but especially to believers! And the gospel, according to Q&A 84, is proclaimed to all believers, each and every one, that, as often as they accept the gospel promise in true faith, God, because of what Christ has done, truly forgives all their sins.
The gospel speaks to all of life. The gospel speaks to believers. Only to those who are being saved is it good news. For those who are perishing, it is foolishness. Believers have an ongoing need to accept the gospel promise in true faith. This has in the sense of it, a working out our salvation in fear and trembling.
So, if a person rejects the gospel, they are rejecting Christ. They are choosing to be among the unbelievers. We must not waste our energy on them. But we must pray, pray continually for them. I’m deeply concerned about members of my family, who by their public profession—in the way they live their lives—are not believers.
The tough part comes in when people are not clear. The tough part comes in when people say one thing but do another. Because people are good at faking it.
Now, in its narrowest sense, the preaching of the gospel is what the elders do in interviewing people who wish to become members of the church.
There is a great burden of responsibility here. For having received from Christ the keys of the kingdom, it is important that we understand that whatever is bound on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever is loosed on earth will be loosed in heaven.
The reason why the elders meet with individuals is to determine if they have a true saving faith in Jesus Christ.
There is faith that does not lead to salvation. The atheists, like it or not, are exercising faith when they say, “there’s probably no god.”
There’s faith in hindu, hari Krishna, muhammed, Allah, Baal, and all kinds of other gods. But all the faith in those things are not going to do a lick of good because Jesus is the only one who is the way. People like to say that there are many ways to God. But if you use the word road instead of way, does this hold true? No matter how long you drive on it, the 401 will not get you to Barrie! Jesus came from heaven to reveal heavenly things. The one who receives him will live, but those who reject Christ, who disbelieve that He has anything to say about the stuff that they can’t see with their own eyes, that which cannot be scientifically proven, the wrath of God remains on them.
That’s what’s at stake. But Christ has given us the Holy Spirit who can awaken anyone to see, hear, receive and believe the truth! But unless we preach, how will they hear? Go—look for opportunities to share your faith this week! Amen.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_the_City#Key_to_the_city