Dear Redeemer Family:
A week ago I preached message #100 in the Real Jesus series I'm doing on Sunday mornings. The verses were Mark 8:22-26 and Matthew 16: 13-20.
Jesus was traveling through Bethsaida with his disciples when a blind man was brought to him, his friends begging Jesus to touch and heal the man. Jesus' first touch brings only partial healing, because the man's eyes only see amorphous blobs ("people like trees walking"). So, a second touch is needed, and then the man can see clearly. Why did Jesus need two tries at healing this man?
Because, arguably, Jesus is giving an object lesson to his disciples, as we see in what immediately follows. He heals the blind man and in the process gives them a picture of what they are really like. Taking his disciples to the countryside around Caesarea Philippi, he asks them the question ?Who do people say that I am?? They reply, the people say you are a prophet. Now that?s true, but far from the truth about Jesus. The people see Jesus unclearly. He then asks them, "But who do you say I am?" Peter immediately responds, "You are the Christ!" That is, "You are the anointed king!" (="Messiah") Now Peter and the disciples see more clearly.
Then Jesus says some astounding things to Peter: "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." The greater revelation Peter has brings a greater responsibility and a greater spiritual impartation. The Jesus-follower who gets it, who understands, is given "the keys of the kingdom of heaven." What does this mean?
First, note that ?flesh and blood? can?t produce the kind of heart-revelation of the Real Jesus that Peter is given. This great insight was downloaded into Peter by God himself. Jesus tells him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
Second, without such clarity Jesus is not going to be able to continue with his disciples. The result of this new revelation is that Jesus gives Peter ?keys.? ?Keys? open locked doors and gates. A person who carries keys walks in the authority of the owner of the ?building?; in this case, Jesus the Anointed King.
Third, the keys allow for ?binding? and ?loosing.? What does that mean? Here?s what George Ladd says:
The keys of the kingdom are the spiritual insight which will enable Peter to lead others in through the door of revelation through which he has passed himself. The authority to bind and loose involves the admission or exclusion of people from the realm of the Kingdom of God. Christ will build his church upon Peter and upon those who share the divine revelation of Jesus? messiahship. To them also is committed by virtue of this same revelation the means of permitting people to enter the realm of the blessings of the kingdom or of excluding them from such participation (See Acts 10)
? [For example], Jesus said ?If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.? This cannot be understood as the exercise of an arbitrary authority; it is the inevitable issue of witnessing to the Kingdom of God. It is furthermore an authority exercised not [simply] by Peter but by all the disciples of the church.
?Binding? and ?loosing? is debated by many people. But I am especially looking at the need for a greater revelation of Jesus, and am praying for us, that God will grant us this greater clarity about Jesus. That will be the foundation, the ?rock,? upon which God builds us as His church in the days ahead.
Love, Pastor John Piippo