eFollowingJesusMar1 - The Keys of the kingdom (Matthew 16:19-20)

   Why do we need the Church?  Jesus' movement was designed to transform the world.  It's hard to do that on your own!  But together we can do amazing things:  missions, building, worship, service, programming, advocacy.

   In Church, you have to deal with people you wouldn't otherwise deal with.  But that was the jolt the first Christians delivered to society:  rich, poor, Jew, Greek, holy, despised, all suddenly were joined in a single fellowship, a deep family.  There's bound to be friction!  But friction can start a fire; friction polishes, so we might mirror the love of God in a world of isolated people who don't even know what they're desperate for.

   Jesus uses the image of "keys."  He isn't imagining a political institution on earth wielding power.  Keys open doors and let people in; keys secure what is good and protect what's precious.  The Church has an immense responsibility:  what we do has eternal implications.  We are not a nice place where nice people do nice things with other nice people.  Salvation and the future of the world are at stake!

   Lord, the keys to Your kingdom are in our hands.  We will use them faithfully for Your kingdom.

James

james@mpumc.org

See Raphael's image of Jesus giving the keys to Peter.

Here is the full text of Matthew 16:19-20 -  19: 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."  20: Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

The full eFollowingJesus series (thus far!) may be found on our web site.