Word of Salvation – Vol.47 No.24 – June 2002
The Keys of the Kingdom
Sermon by Rev MP Geluk
on Lord’s Day 31 (Q&A 83-85 Heidelberg Catechism)
Scripture Readings: Ezekiel 33:1-9; Matthew 16:13-19; 18:15-18
Suggested Hymns: BoW 29:1,2,5; 103A; 484; 434
Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In a previous sermon, we saw that the church is responsible for the oversight of the Lord’s Supper. That’s probably where it is most obvious that the elders of the church have authority to admit or refuse participation. But oversight by the elders also extends to the other sacrament, baptism, to professions of faith, and to the church’s worship services. In fact, all the things the church does comes under the oversight of the elders. It includes weddings, what Bible translation to use, which songs we sing in worship, what kind of teaching materials are used by the various clubs and activities in the church. Church members do not have a free hand to do whatever they like in the church. This also includes the minister. He, too, is not free to do in the church whatever he thinks ought to be done.
To some church members this is all a bit over the top. Must the elders concern themselves with everything that goes on in the church? Does not that kind of supervision suffocate the life of the church?
What we are now dealing with is discipline in the church. And discipline is not something a church can make up its own mind about. The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church and He has commanded the church to exercise discipline. All our official Forms in the Book of Forms (the Green Book), and the Church Order, is an attempt by the church to practise the Lord’s command to have discipline in the church. Church members may challenge the way the church carries out its discipline. We may legitimately ask if the way we do it is the way that the Lord Jesus and the New Testament apostles did it. But we cannot demand or expect that there be no supervision and discipline.
Where in the Bible does our Lord say that the church must have discipline? Well, our Lord referred to it when He spoke about the keys of the kingdom. When we are clear in our minds what the Lord meant by that, then we will also know what the church has to do with regard to discipline.
We are dealing, then, with THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM and…
1. To whom did Christ entrust the keys?
As we all know, the function of a key is to open and shut, or more specifically, to unlock and to lock. The keys the Lord Jesus talks about are the keys of the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. You must not think of the kingdom of heaven as something future only. It is here already. It came with Jesus when He came to earth. He preached the good news of the kingdom to sinners and we enter the kingdom when we follow Jesus and confess Him as our King. When that is true of us, then we also enjoy the power, peace and grace of Jesus’ reign over us.
However, the kingdom of heaven on earth has not yet reached its full glory because the prince of darkness is still around. The devil and his followers are trying to stop Jesus’ kingdom from winning the spiritual battle. This battle will go on until Jesus comes again and then He will throw the devil into the pit and heaven will come on earth. That’s the time when the kingdom of heaven will reach its full potential.
Jesus spoke of “keys”. So there is more than one. From the teaching of Scripture the Catechism has concluded that there are two keys – the preaching of the gospel and the exercise of discipline. We began this sermon by drawing our attention to the church’s oversight or its discipline. But there is also the preaching of the gospel. Actually there is no difference between the two keys. When the church truly preaches and lives the gospel, then it will automatically include discipline.
To live the gospel is to do what Jesus said and part of His teaching is to love and admonish one another so that in God’s church we do God’s will. When the church, therefore, practices supervision within the church then she is trying to obey the Lord of the church with regard to the activities of the church. The one key, church discipline, is merely an extension of the other key, preaching the gospel. This means, therefore, that whenever some activity in the church contradicts the gospel of Christ then the church is duty bound to exercise its supervision over that activity and bring it in harmony with the gospel.
The words “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Mat.16:19a) were said by Jesus to Peter. Jesus also said to Peter, “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (vs.19b). So in effect Peter, having been given the keys of the kingdom, could make statements on earth that hold true in heaven. Now how are we to understand that? Did the Lord Jesus pass on this authority and power to just one apostle only?
When we look at the rest of the New Testament it becomes clear that the apostle Peter does not alone have this authority and power. In fact, after Jesus had said this to Peter there were times when Peter made bad mistakes as a disciple and later as an apostle. As a disciple he denied Christ and as an apostle working with the Christian church in Galatia he made a serious error in his teaching for which the apostle Paul disciplined him. From this it is obvious that Jesus giving the keys of the kingdom to Peter did not make Peter infallible.
Over against that Peter did say things on earth that held true in heaven. One such instance is the healing of the cripple near the temple. Peter said to him, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (Acts 3:6). Heaven agreed with what Peter said because the man was healed. We also have in the New Testament Peter’s sermons and his two letters to the church and what Peter said in these are not just his words or his opinion but the Word of God.
But there is more in the New Testament than just Peter’s statements. It also contains the statements of other apostles, like James, John, and Paul. Their letters are also part of God’s Word. What they said on earth also holds true in heaven.
What, then, are we to make of Jesus giving the keys of the kingdom to Peter? Well, it appears that shortly after Jesus spoke to Peter, He made a similar statement to all the apostles. In Matthew 18 Jesus is clearly teaching all the disciples when he said, “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (vs.18). Now that’s exactly the same as what Jesus said to Peter. Furthermore, Jesus repeated this to all the disciples shortly after His resurrection. “Receive the Holy Spirit”, He said, “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” (Jn 20:22-23).
It is quite wrong, therefore, for the Roman Catholic Church to believe that Jesus gave the authority and power that go with the keys of the kingdom to just Peter. They were given to all the apostles. It is also wrong for the Roman Catholic Church to teach that when Peter died he passed on this authority and power to a successor and this successor to his successor, and so on. It’s on this false claim that popes are supposed to be the successors of Peter. There is not one shred of evidence in the New Testament about apostolic succession. It’s a false teaching.
But it’s not only the Roman Catholic Church that is wrong here. The same error is there when some people today say that the Lord Jesus gave them a prophecy or a vision and then proceed to hold that before other people with almost the same authority and power as Jesus has. One must challenge these people by asking if the statements they make on earth, and claiming them as coming from God, are additions to what is in the Bible. And if so, do they believe that these statements hold true in heaven? If they affirm all that then they should be told that they are arrogant, false teachers because it’s by their own authority that they claim their statements here hold good for heaven as well. If they do not dare to be so bold, then they should be told to stop claiming revelations from God when God Himself has warned that His final revelation has all been given to Christ.
Even the office bearers in the church make similar errors when they assume that Christ has given them in their person His authority and power because they are a deacon, elder or minister, and for that reason think they should be respected and obeyed.
The fact of the matter is that Christ never gave away, nor passed on to someone else, His power and authority. When He gave the keys of the kingdom to the disciples it did not mean that Jesus no longer had them. After what He had said to Peter and the other disciples, Jesus very much continued, both before and after His Ascension, to be the Lord of the church. He never relinquished any of the authority and power that His heavenly Father had given Him. And the Father in giving Jesus authority and power did not cease having authority and power Himself. What the Father did to Christ and what Christ did to the apostles is to entrust them with authority and power. It is in His Father’s Name and on His behalf that Jesus preached the gospel and disciplined those He taught. And it is in Jesus’ Name and on His behalf that the apostles did the same things as their Lord.
When they did not do it, as was the case with the apostle Peter when he gave false teaching in Galatia, then their statements on earth no longer held true in heaven. It is the same with elders and ministers today. When the minister preaches the true Word of God, it is only then that we can say that God speaks through Him. So when office bearers bring a gospel different to Jesus’ gospel, then immediately they have lost the authority and power of Jesus. The Lord’s authority and power are not attached to office bearers as persons but to Jesus’ gospel that they are to proclaim. The Lord Jesus has entrusted the keys of the kingdom to those bringing His gospel and exercising His kind of discipline. The Lord never gave away these keys.
Whilst Jesus was on earth, He chose twelve apostles, thirteen if you include the apostle Paul. He taught them the secrets of the kingdom. They were constantly at His side observing what He did. After Jesus’ ascension they were empowered by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, to continue Jesus’ teaching and discipline in His church. Or to put that in another way, the ascended Jesus continued to use the keys of the kingdom from heaven through His apostles on earth.
The reason why there is no apostolic succession is very simple. The Lord never replaced the apostles. The unique quality of an apostle was being an eye and ear witness of what Jesus said and did. After Jesus’ ascension, no one could be an apostle any more because of the very fact that Jesus was no longer around to be seen and heard. The apostle Paul was the only exception.
So who now has the keys of the kingdom when Jesus and the apostles are no longer with us on earth? Well, Jesus still has the keys but He now works through the Scriptures. Jesus’ gospel and His manner of discipline, which the apostles continued to teach and practice, are recorded in the Scriptures. And God has given the Scriptures to the church. When the church preaches and lives Jesus’ gospel, then the kingdom of heaven continues to open and shut. All the church members are involved in this but the Lord has also given the church elders, ministers and deacons to attend to this especially. By instituting the three-fold office God has put order in the church. One or more church members cannot decide that the unrepentant be formally disciplined but the body of elders can.
2. How should the church use the keys?
An example of how this opening and shutting is done can be seen in the proclamation of grace that is given in public worship, usually in the morning services. Sadly, some churches don’t do this regularly any more but in the Reformation tradition it has always been regarded as an essential part of worship. After the prayer for forgiveness a small portion from Scripture is read that clearly speaks of the grace of God in Christ. The minister can introduce such a passage by saying something like this: “Let us now hear the proclamation of grace or the assurance of pardon.” The minister may even say before the proclamation of grace: “To all those who refuse to repent and continue on in sin, I declare that the anger of God will remain on them. But to those who humble themselves and repent of their sin, I declare to them the love and forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ.” Such a statement is true to Jesus’ gospel and it holds true in heaven. It is opening and shutting the kingdom with the gospel key.
The ministry of the gospel can be considered faithful when this key is used regularly. The minister is to do it in his preaching, elders are to do it in their home visits, deacons in their visits, and those who teach the youth. But not only they, all the members of the church ought to do it to each other. It also must be done in the work of evangelism and witnessing.
Preaching of or witnessing to the gospel of Christ is a wonderful task. You may actually say to sinners that as often as they repent and believe in Jesus that the blessings of the kingdom of heaven are on them. It’s what Jesus would have said with the approval of His heavenly Father.
God judges people by their response to the gospel. And we, the church, must also make that clear. We must also say to sinners that for as long as they harden their hearts and keep on coming up with all kinds of excuses for not serving God that they will perish. Jesus also made those statements with the authority of His Father. If we don’t say this then we will be held accountable for sinners who perish. The Scripture passage from Ezekiel 33 that was read earlier about the watchman on the wall made that painfully clear.
It is not always easy to warn sinners with the gospel. But the Lord Jesus shows us that He could be extremely gentle with the most hardened sinners. In fact, the nature of the sin made no difference to the opening of the kingdom as long as they repented. The adulterer or the murderer was given the same gracious invitation to enter as was Nicodemus, a good Pharisee. No sin, no matter how terrible, has ever kept Jesus from preaching forgiveness. It’s the unwillingness to repent and believe, and hypocrisy, that made Jesus speak of judgment.
And we must also learn from Jesus, and be guided by His Spirit, when to keep on preaching forgiveness and grace and when to stop, when to speak of judgment and when not to. But no one must be left in doubt when the door into the kingdom is either open or shut. People must clearly know whether they are in or out. It is not our task to say to people that they are in the kingdom or out of it. We must simply say that for as often as you repent and believe God forgives and for as long as you don’t repent and believe God’s anger and punishment is on you.
The discipline key has basically the same function. Probably the most important thing we need to remember is that the church does not discipline those who sin. To be a member of the church you have to admit that you’re a sinner and the church’s task is to help its members to stop sinning. You do not begin to scold your child when he has been seriously hurt through some disobedient action. You immediately treat his injuries and comfort him. A helpful lesson on why things went wrong can come later, when the time is right.
Discipline is used for those who refuse to repent, who keep on defying the call to faith, who make a habit of not making good their vows to God, and who stop coming to church to worship God and hear the gospel. But even then when the discipline key is used to close the door to the kingdom, not the door of the church for that stays open, then it must go with reminders and appeals to return to God and to call on God for His help and mercy. For then the door of the kingdom will be gladly opened again. The discipline key is not to get rid of stubborn sinners but to save them from the final judgment.
Furthermore, discipline is not something only the elders of the church do. We all must do it to each other. The best discipline takes place at home when parents lovingly warn their children when they are on the wrong path. It also takes place when one Christian speaks to another who has sinned. Others need not be involved if they were not involved in the first place. But if there is a persistent refusal to listen, only then inform the elders.
In Matthew 18 Jesus told us to do it like this because He wants those who love the gospel to not allow others to live and die quietly in sin. If you Christianly love your brother and sister in the church, then you will ask for strength and courage to lovingly warn them about God’s judgment.
Of course, the most effective way to avoid becoming an object of discipline, either by fellow believers or by the elders, is to constantly exercise self-discipline. That’s where all discipline starts, with self.
In conclusion, if someone were to say that the church does not use the discipline key as much as it did in the past, then we would have to agree. Not that frequent use of formal discipline makes for a better church. But in the days when most people in a village or town were Christian and there was only one Roman Catholic and one Protestant church, then public discipline and possible excommunication were feared much more than today. Back then, church members were more careful not to commit a public sin. Sinners avoided the possibility of being cut off from the church and to have the kingdom of heaven pronounced closed to them. It harmed your social standing in the Christian community. So there was a greater willingness to not commit public sins and to repent from them if one did do them.
But today there is no Christian society anymore and the new tolerance shown in society has taken away the stigma of being under the discipline of the church. Besides, there are many denominations one can go to when the church you are member of warns of discipline if you don’t repent. Many churches are only too keen to gain more members from other churches and very few bother to inquire about their standing in their former church. Hardly any stubborn sinner remains in the church long enough for discipline to run its course and bring about repentance. Or some members simply resign from the church that is disciplining them. Thus discipline has lost its desired effect.
There may be no solution to this kind of situation. But that does not mean that we should concern ourselves less with the discipline key. The elders have still the responsibility to begin formal discipline with church members who stubbornly keep on disobeying the Lord of the church. And also we as church members can do much, even before the elders have to consider formal discipline. It is self-discipline first. And then also the willingness to go to our fellow brother or sister who has left the Christian way, with the love of Christ in our heart and concern for their spiritual well-being. It may turn out the way Jesus said, “If he (or she) listens to you, you have won your brother (or sister) over.” (Mat.18:15).
Amen.