May 27, 2015
The Keys of the Kingdom
Years ago my dad was living
in another town when he passed away. He had very little in the way of
possessions, but as I sorted through his things my uncle and a cousin came to
me and said that my dad promised them his guns. I had no way of knowing if
their claim was true, but I gave them the guns, which left me with the bitter
taste of doubt. I thought of Peter’s confession of Christ and how important it
was that the disciples were gathered around when Jesus told Peter he would be
given keys to the kingdom of heaven. Had they not heard the Lord’s proclamation
with their own ears I can imagine them saying, “Yeah right … Jesus promise you what?” Jesus said, “And I tell you that
you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will
not overcome it. 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” (Matt 16:18-19 NIV).
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----Evidently you valued your relationship with your uncle and cousin more than you valued the guns. Whether or not they were lying was irrelevant. Giving them the guns was a token of peace. And if they were lying, your loss of the guns would be another scar acquired for doing right, another mark of the peacemaker’s character.
-----Counting gain as loss is fundamental to the disciple’s character. Knowing the Lord is not about better acquiring either the goods of this life or higher position in it. It is about gaining the goods and position of the promised life. And the new life we now have is only an imperfect beginning of that. Paul says we see now only in part, dimly as in a mirror, but then we will see clearly. And so he speaks from this truth about the stronger and the weaker brethren, the need to edify one another and welcome one another without judging one another, yet to gently correct one another. If they were lying, the situation for correction might present itself. And if it does, you would be sure that the correction would not be about getting the guns back, but about edifying an uncle and cousin.
-----What we truly are before God is seen in what we do with the imperfection of this new life. Whose imperfections will we notice more, our own or others? And what advantage of those imperfections will we take? If we will take advantage of them. Or will we treat our own and each others imperfections as healing wounds yet needing the medicating application of love and understanding?
-----“Thy kingdom come” is a real part of how Jesus taught us to pray. Notice that it is a request for God’s kingdom to come forth. If His kingdom were already here there would be no need for the request. If the kingdom were not here the New Testament would not make the numerous allusions to our being in the kingdom. The only logical conclusion is that His kingdom is something growing, like the tree grows from the mustard seed rather than just becoming from it. As such, Jesus taught us to pray for the growth and gain of His kingdom, the increase of character in His likeness within yourself and all who have come alive in the Lord. We can have desire apart from prayer. But there is no prayer apart from desire. So in teaching prayer for “Thy kingdom come”, Jesus reiterated “Seek first the kingdom of heaven.”
-----”For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Rom 14:17) You laid another brick of peace in the kingdom’s fortress wall. Righteousness will work its way out of that.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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