'Kay... the next venture into asking God to reveal what HIS view of Church is vs. what has become the world view - or even more so - the "Christian" view...
Scriptural reference concerning the Church, best I can tell, begins in Matthew 16:18. Here it is in context:
"13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" 14They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" 16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And 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. 19I 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." 20Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ."
Now this might take awhile. I've heard SO many interpretations of this passage and I'm asking HS to show me HIS view. All I can do is put out what I believe at this point and time and let Him change my mind as needed. So, here it goes... Obviously Jesus was asking if the disciples knew who He really was and Peter had the "right" response in indicating He was "Christ, Son of the Living God". I think most people agree on that point. And I believe that is the "rock" Jesus was referring to when He said "...on this rock I will build my church..." He was making the point that Peter's verbalization of the truth of who He was is the foundation - the starting point - the commonality - on which the Church (those who believe in that foundation, called out by God to action) would be built. What that tells me is everything we do, say, believe, act upon must ALWAYS come back to the truth of what God the Father did for us at the cross through Jesus. Without Him there would be no Church.
AND there's the added bonus that "the Gates of Hades will not overcome it." WOW! To me that says when we build upon the truth of what God did through Christ, it's all good! And that can be such an encouragement when we see all the flaws that we, the Church exemplify. Another point I read recently is how interesting it is that the mention of "enemy territory" in the phrase "Gates of Hades" indicates a passive stance rather than an aggressive or offensive one. In other words, gates are stationary objects - think about that!
Now the next area is even tougher for me and I honestly don't have a completed "set in stone" (pun intended) opinion on this yet - but I'm asking... The keys to the kingdom of heaven... hmmmm... and binding and loosing on earth and in heaven... hmmmm... The first thing I think of is the previous mention to "gate" and then the mention of keys. Don't ask me what that means - I dunno! But... since there is reference to the gates of hades AND to the kingdom AND to the Church AND to the foundation of Jesus, maybe the binding and losing has something to do with what (whom) recognizes the rock of Jesus and what (whom) does not?? Again, nothing set in stone, just thinking in typed font here...
And then the clencher - "Btw, don't tell anyone the truth I've just asked you to verbalize - the one about Me being the Christ and all..." Ummmm, wha???? I've heard lots of explainations for why Jesus said stuff like that, but I STILL don't get it... So if you're out there and have a good answer, I'd LOVE to hear!
But to summarize about how this all relates to the Church, I believe the one and only thing we can stand on is the foundation that is the truth of what God did through Jesus and as we stand upon that truth, we have the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven and as such we have access to that "gate". And all those who follow do as well (the loosed and the bound?). AND the enemy will not prevail! Those are celebratin' words!
Scriptural reference concerning the Church, best I can tell, begins in Matthew 16:18. Here it is in context:
"13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" 14They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" 16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And 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. 19I 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." 20Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ."
Now this might take awhile. I've heard SO many interpretations of this passage and I'm asking HS to show me HIS view. All I can do is put out what I believe at this point and time and let Him change my mind as needed. So, here it goes... Obviously Jesus was asking if the disciples knew who He really was and Peter had the "right" response in indicating He was "Christ, Son of the Living God". I think most people agree on that point. And I believe that is the "rock" Jesus was referring to when He said "...on this rock I will build my church..." He was making the point that Peter's verbalization of the truth of who He was is the foundation - the starting point - the commonality - on which the Church (those who believe in that foundation, called out by God to action) would be built. What that tells me is everything we do, say, believe, act upon must ALWAYS come back to the truth of what God the Father did for us at the cross through Jesus. Without Him there would be no Church.
AND there's the added bonus that "the Gates of Hades will not overcome it." WOW! To me that says when we build upon the truth of what God did through Christ, it's all good! And that can be such an encouragement when we see all the flaws that we, the Church exemplify. Another point I read recently is how interesting it is that the mention of "enemy territory" in the phrase "Gates of Hades" indicates a passive stance rather than an aggressive or offensive one. In other words, gates are stationary objects - think about that!
Now the next area is even tougher for me and I honestly don't have a completed "set in stone" (pun intended) opinion on this yet - but I'm asking... The keys to the kingdom of heaven... hmmmm... and binding and loosing on earth and in heaven... hmmmm... The first thing I think of is the previous mention to "gate" and then the mention of keys. Don't ask me what that means - I dunno! But... since there is reference to the gates of hades AND to the kingdom AND to the Church AND to the foundation of Jesus, maybe the binding and losing has something to do with what (whom) recognizes the rock of Jesus and what (whom) does not?? Again, nothing set in stone, just thinking in typed font here...
And then the clencher - "Btw, don't tell anyone the truth I've just asked you to verbalize - the one about Me being the Christ and all..." Ummmm, wha???? I've heard lots of explainations for why Jesus said stuff like that, but I STILL don't get it... So if you're out there and have a good answer, I'd LOVE to hear!
But to summarize about how this all relates to the Church, I believe the one and only thing we can stand on is the foundation that is the truth of what God did through Jesus and as we stand upon that truth, we have the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven and as such we have access to that "gate". And all those who follow do as well (the loosed and the bound?). AND the enemy will not prevail! Those are celebratin' words!
posted by walkietalkiegg | 10:57 AM
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