Holding the Keys pt. 1

About my choice of blog title. "holding the keys" comes from Matthew 16 as is referenced under the blog title. Jesus tells Peter that the church is going to build from His profession of CHrist as God. THen he says , "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heavn , and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in hevae/ The prhase "holding the keys" also comes again in Revelation. Jesus says that He holds the keys of hades and death. There is an authority that is portrayed in the Revelation phrase. Jesus has authority over death, specifically because He is Life ( Jn 14: 6). He has authority to judge.
Now the other passage, from which my title comes, is a bit tricky to connect what that means for the church. THere is an authority that Christ gives to Peter that I as a Christian often times miss the gravity of. In this passage, Jesus is talking about a different set of "keys". THey are not keys that give the authority of judgement and open up death. They are keys that open up life. My dad is a pastor and now and again growing up I would get to use his keys to open the church or to get smoething from his office. It was always a bit of a power trip. Yeah, my dad is boss, and I, by association am also boss, look I have his keys. Any place you want to go I can take you, chapel, upstairs apartment, office, band room, food pantry. ( THose in the SA know what I am talking about) He didn't have a ton of keys on his ring like Bill the maintenance man, he just had the right keys, the master keys.
Its funny to think that Jesus used this metaphor in a similar way to my dad's keys. He says to Peter, " I am going to build my church, the gates of hell will not over come it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven..." I feel like he is including the rest of us in what is now the church ( Big C) when he says I will give you the keys. At that point, Peter had no conept of the CHurch, and Jesus is beginning to explain it to him and us.
It is awesome how when Jesus talks about the church, Sunday morning never comes up, how to do music never comes up, open gym never comes up, small groups curriculum never comes up, how to best give sermons that connect with everybody never comes up. He does however say , " I will build my church", I have the authority, it lives and dies with me. I am going to give you authority as well. I am giving you the keys, you have access to me and to what is important to my church.
So often I, like so many others feel pulled to make things ( activities) happen at the church. Sunday morning has become our entire Christian experience. Sabboth, tithe, worship, teaching/ learning, communion, almost fellowship, prayer. Too many CHristians, myself included get deceived inoto feeling like we have fulfilled our CHristianity on Sunday. It isn't the lion's club. I as a Christian am joined with Christ, along with the rest of my brothers and sisters inCHrist. We as the body, the church ( Big C), have been gievn authority, we have been given the keys to the kingdom, most challenging is the repsonability I have to open the Kingdom of heaven for my neighbors. I hold the keys, you, if you're a Christian hold the keys. OUr faith does not revolve around Sunday, but rather around the charge Jesus gave to make disciples of all the nations. My dad never gave me the keys with a detailed out line of all the aspects of what to do with them. He understood that I would know because of who I am what was right and wrong in key usage, and if I didn't he would continue to teach me. He was bigger than any wrong door I could have opened.
Jesus has given us the reponsabibly to spread the gospel to people, oftentimes I feel like I keep the keys in my pocket and get stuck staring at the door.
I want to be the kind of CHrist follower that opens the door, that sees the church as door openers, movers and shakers instead of decieved into thinking it is fine now that I am in.