Word of Salvation – Vol.53 No.8 – February 2007

 

An Open and Shut Case

A Sermon by Rev Sjirk Bajema

on Heidelberg Catechism, LD 31

 

Scripture Readings: Matthew 16:13-20; 18:15-20

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today we consider the Keys of the Kingdom. Like all other keys they are used for a specific purpose.

What do you do with a key? You open something! Something which had been closed before is now open. Whether that be our house, or shed, or car, or many other valuable things. If you want to keep those things safe you need to lock up. And in our present time, with the crime rate the way it is, we need to lock up very securely! So keys are more important than ever before. In fact, how have you felt when you lost your keys? Doesn't that muck things up?

Boys and girls, do you remember a time when Mum or Dad misplaced, or even perhaps lost their keys? Weren't they so worried! And maybe they were really upset. You see, we needed those keys. Without them we're going to have a lot of hassles. So that small bit of metal we carry around in our pockets, or in our bags, is quite important. Although it doesn't feed us, or give a bed to sleep in, or clothing to wear, yet, we won't get to those things without it!

Our Lord Jesus transfers that same thought to the preaching of the Gospel. And that makes us think about... preaching, of course! But let's not immediately jump to official tasks of church leaders. When we hear those words, "preaching", and "discipline", we might think of the official things. They are the most public aspect of these keys, but not their only, or even their most common use!

We can easily forget how these keys are actually being used all the time. And certainly not just on Sunday! You see, congregation, the Keys of the Kingdom are what you personally hold in your hands. Something a lot more important than your metal keys. For these are spiritual keys. They open up the most important thing in this life and the next. But they can also close that thing up.

So let's see, then, those two actions: HOW PREACHING OPENS AND SHUTS THE KINGDOM; and second, HOW DISCIPLINE SHUTS AND OPENS THE KINGDOM.

Preaching opens and shuts the Kingdom

Answer 84 considers HOW PREACHING OPENS AND SHUTS THE KINGDOM.

"According to the command of Christ: The kingdom of heaven is opened by proclaiming and publicly declaring to each and every believer that, as often as he accepts the gospel promise in true faith, God, because of what Christ has done, truly forgives all his sins."

Quite some words! Words which can easily pass over our heads. But this is nothing more than simply an aspect of being a Christian. It's what we also call sharing the Good News. In the words of 1 Peter 3:15, "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."

Answer 84 speaks of declaring this to "each and every believer", but of course the message of the gospel must go much wider. The Gospel must indeed be proclaimed in church, but it has to be also declared to those yet to come into church.

Church members: God has given you so much responsibility for those who enter heaven and those who don't! You are so vitally involved as to who will be baptised and who won't be! And also about who sits at the table of the Lord, and who doesn't!

You see, as your daily life is faithful in holding forth the living Word of God, what a powerful influence it is! Through the witness of your daily life, the door to heaven, the church, baptism, the Lord's Supper, is opened to many more. Just think: By God's work through you, people could be saved! And think of how speaking that same Word to one another convicts our hearts. When we speak that word faithfully, then we know even more ourselves, and certainly show others, that we have no right to the Church and her sacraments, until we are truly converted.

Call it whatever you will. Christ must be proclaimed. The Word has to be declared. And you must speak as a servant of the Master. Like the apostles of old you dare to tell men and women, young adults, and boys and girls, they must be in the Church. Didn't Jesus Christ die for sinners? And aren't they sinners?

So we demonstrate and proclaim in every possible way the Lord's command in Luke 13:3, "Unless you repent, you too will all perish." For this is very, very serious! And that means we must present it carefully. For the apostle Peter goes on, after telling us to be always ready to speak of our faith in 1 Peter 3:15, to say in verse 16, "But do this with gentleness and respect." We wouldn't want to distract from God's saving work in Jesus Christ through our bad behaviour. Yet say it we must.

Fellow believer, don't hesitate if the opportunity is there. Be lovingly direct. Isn't that, after all, exactly what we expect our elders to model to us? As the letters of 1st Timothy and Titus tells us, they must be "able to teach." In order that the membership as a whole can do their work, and live properly with the Gospel keys in their hands, the Lord has set apart specific leaders to be particularly responsible. They are our elders. They are the supporting ligaments which enable each part to do its work, as Paul pictures it in Ephesians 4:16.

But let's make sure they do that congregation! Don't you be afraid to question them if it seems they do wrong! Although it is the Lord who ordains, yet it is we altogether whom He uses to convert those He has chosen.

How is it that all the elders teach? Most of them don't usually have a public role. But you see them, don't you? Visiting their people, encouraging and strengthening and challenging them. Working as shepherds in the church. And very often in this work, teaching situations arise.

When there are those difficult pastoral visits to make, who has to know their Bible? Who is it that rules the church, and who, in times of vacancy or otherwise, read the sermons, and teach Catechism? Yes, it's the elders!

While many people place much emphasis for having a stable and growing congregation on a "good" minister, or an alive congregation, the elders are the most important. A solid Session, well-versed in Scripture, will know the deceptions of the age, and those attractions which lure away, and it will speak out! They will point to the true way for the Lord's blessing!

The minister himself is an elder. He is only one among them. Certainly he's an elder who has an added role with preaching the Word and administering the sacraments. But under the eldership as a whole, and you as a congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, he must preach the Word of God. And he's not to administer baptism or the Lord's Supper to those whom the members of Session haven't already recognised as genuine members of the covenant community.

All of which brings us to the second aspect of the Keys of the Kingdom. For, boys and girls, you don't only open with a key, do you? You also lock! So, not only is it PREACHING THAT OPENS AND SHUTS THE KINGDOM, it is also true that:

DISCIPLINE SHUTS AND OPENS THE KINGDOM!

The preaching can make us sinners conscious of the open door. We receive that invitation and gladly come in. But we might also reject it. With part of your life, or maybe even totally, you might say, "Nah, it's not for me!" Mind you, a person with that kind of attitude to God's Word might still want to come in, or already be in, and already be enjoying the benefits! But don't talk about "sin", and that need to confess our wrong!

Then congregation, we have to preach again. Yet this time, in the words of the second part of Answer 84, we are to be "proclaiming and publicly declaring to unbelievers and hypocrites that, as long as they do not repent, the anger of God and eternal condemnation rest on them."

Those who show they don't believe are to be told what they are doing. We first take the way of Matthew 18, and we hope that in this way we will win them over. The Lord has been pleased for centuries to richly bless this way of mutual discipline. You see, His people take the time to care.

And when we take this route, perhaps we find that our concern with our brother or sister was a bit mistaken. When we spoke with them, we saw it wasn't quite the way we thought.

That's fine. Actually, it's good preventative medicine because what could have happened subsequently, without that talking to each other, could have made a lot out of nothing.

Maybe, though, we were right to pursue discipline. We know our brother or sister. We're not strangers to them. So when he or she starts to stumble and fall, we're right there. Rather than something becoming quite a rip, or a terrible break, we try to patch it up while it is still small. We point them back to the Lord, through His Word. Things hadn't gone so far as to become deeply entrenched, and seemingly impossible to deal with. The Lord's Spirit was right there!

Isn't it marvellous when we can know His grace through a brother or sister in our time of need? He uses them!

And, yet, we have to say that the Lord still guides if the situation is far worse than anything we've talked about so far! For despite our prayers and personal meetings, it can be true that the other person just doesn't see the light! There's no gospel shining forth.

What's happening to the church in such a case is like a blood poison which infects a person through their hand. It has to be cut out! But they don't see the need for the doctor, or medicine, or any other way of fighting this deadly disease.

Naturally, no person in their right mind just smiles and goes on his way with that blood poison in his hand. It's going to spread! And if it keeps going it will kill him, too! Yet, it's far worse when a member of the church goes on their way living in sin. For congregation, they have to be confronted, speaking the truth in love!

You have already spoken to them personally and it has had no effect. Now the pattern of Matthew 18 must be followed. Take along a trusted and mature fellow member, as Matthew 18:16 goes on to say. Be gentle and yet very firm! Nothing less than their soul for all eternity is at stake! Treat it with the urgency it deserves!

Not tomorrow - today! In the pressing words of Hebrews 3 verses 12 and 13, "See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you become hardened by sin's deceitfulness."

Let's keep the Body of Christ pure. It is what He has entrusted us to do. This difficult yet necessary work for the Lord is particularly committed to the elders. They are called to lead the way.

Sadly, it may have been through a lack of diligence on the part of the elders that people came into the church who have no right to be there. It could have been that the minister and the elders, as well as the members, weren't careful enough in doing their part in preaching and supervising that entry into church. The work of discipline also tells us to pay attention to what we ourselves are doing. As the saying goes, "When you point your finger at someone else, there are three fingers pointing back at you!"

Boys and girls, have you ever had times when you could see that it really hurt your Mum or Dad that they had to punish you? Perhaps they even said, "This is going to hurt me a lot more than it will hurt you!" And you wondered about that. I mean, you got the smack, not them! But what they are saying is that they also share in your punishment. The fact that you are actually going to be punished may well be a reflection on the way they have trained you.

This can also be the case for the church. Even the fact that discipline is needed at all can be an indictment on the church; it can put us to shame in various ways. But that must not then stop us from taking up discipline when it is needed! We have to be true!

And as the Body of our Lord - the Church - He has given a clear rule. It is just like Matthew 18 says. And there are other passages, too. Or we can turn to Answer 85 and see Scripture's teachings on this summarised for us.

Here the role of the elders is highlighted. A role that's perhaps not emphasised quite the way it used to be. But a vital role nonetheless! At an official level (involving the "officers" of the church) the challenge must go out. "You who continue in sin - stop! Cut it out! Don't dishonour the Name of the Lord!"

This was what Paul cried out to the Corinthian church in his first letter to them, chapter 5 verse 12, "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?" The church at Corinth had dishonoured the Name of the Lord. There had been no discipline in the case of an openly immoral situation. They had a bad reputation with outsiders. They weren't preaching the gospel!

The message of the gospel must be guarded from error. Like the watchmen on the towers of Jerusalem, the elders are to keep watch, and warn when danger comes. In fact, Hebrews 13:17 describes our elders as men who must give an account for their work of ruling.

So congregation, knowing that, let's also, as that same verse 17 of Hebrews 13 says, obey our leaders and submit to their authority. And let's obey them also so that their work will be a joy not a burden, for that's of not benefit to any of us.

It's not easy being an elder. Dealing with people is awkward at the best of times. But to especially exhort men and women, who, because of their situation of not being faithful to the Lord, is an unenviable task. Yet the Lord calls you to help! Naturally, that's through prayer. But also it's through our preventative work a long time before a situation becomes as bad as it could become.

If you know of an affair outside of marriage, warn early! Situations of physical and mental abuse have to be brought to the proper authorities. A brother distracted by false teaching has to be told! Not declaring all the tax you owe is stealing. Address gossip; give the truth an opportunity to be heard. Acknowledge the God-given place of the elders, as we support and pray for them; they are working the Keys of the Kingdom.

Why? It's for the sinner's eternal good! That has to be your aim right through-out. And don't ever think of it as anything less! Dear friend, this is about reconciliation. We have to be joined to the life of God in Christ. For as long as there is life there is hope! And how much don't we rejoice with the Lord and all His angels over even one lost sheep being brought back to the fold?

It's that joy we must keep before us. That's why Answer 85 ends the way it does. For it says, "Such a person, when he promises and demonstrates genuine reform, is received again as a member of Christ and of His Church." Like the prodigal son returning, there's restoration.

Paul spoke of this in that awful situation in Corinth. He firmly declared the Lord's Word, in 1 Corinthians 5:5, that as the church meets together they are to hand that totally unrepentant sinner over to Satan. But he said that's to be done so that his "sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord." It was so he could still be saved!

Congregation, let's be open to this! Despite whatever that brother or sister may have done that seemed so terrible, they are shut out so that they might be let in! And when they come back in true repentance, let's not doubt that God can do it.

Take Him at His Word. For, Church of the Lord, if we cannot have confidence in these divine Scriptures, then it's us who are locked out!

Listen to Him now. In the words of Christ Jesus in Revelation 3:20, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in and eat with him, and he with me."

Now, that's the door you want to go through! It opens the mansion of heaven itself! Hallelujah! And Maranatha!

Yes, Lord Jesus, come quickly!

Come and throw away that lock forever!

Amen.