May 17, '10 11:18 AM

 

By Regner Capener

 

 

 

Good Morning, Good Morning, Good Morning!

This is the third in this series of discussions on the Keys of the Kingdom. Obviously we’ve touched a nerve with some folks who’ve been stuck with the man-made tradition of Peter being the One in whom Jesus invested the Keys of the Kingdom, and that is a man-made doctrine which entered the body of Christ many hundreds of years after Peter had long since gone to be with the Lord. There is absolutely no record of this teaching during the early centuries and the writings of the early apostolic fathers.

I’m not trying to start up a religious argument on this issue. Rather I’m trying to demonstrate that this authority and power has been given to each of us so that the Glory of the Lord can be revealed.

PROCEDURES REQUIRED BEFORE BINDING OR LOOSENING

Let’s come back to the picture of “binding and loosening.”

If all efforts to bring peace and reconciliation fail, whether individually, with two or more other brothers or sisters in the Lord, or — finally — with the counsel and admonition of the whole body of believers, THEN you exercise the power of binding and loosening.

Every effort has been made to see that this individual’s sins have been erased, forgiven, remitted. Yet they have clung fast and hung onto their sin with force and strength, refusing to hear or respond to the truth — even in the mouths of many witnesses.

Now Jesus says, “If he refuses to hear the body — the Ekklesia — let him be as one who is a heathen (one totally outside the body of Christ) and a publican.”

This term, “publican” generally refers to a tax collector, but in this instance Jesus is using the term metaphorically to describe someone who only does or responds to circumstances according to the way it profits him and his pocketbook personally.

Now the events have unfolded to such an extent that Jesus says, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be, having been bound in Heaven — and whatever you loose on earth shall be, having been loosed in Heaven.”

Again, we put it like this: “Whatever you lock up and restrain on earth [from having access to Heaven’s resources] shall be because I have already predetermined that to be so in Heaven. By the same token, whatever you break up, loose [in terms of Heaven’s resources], dissolve [barriers] or put off on earth shall be, having already been broken up, loosed, dissolved or put off in Heaven.”

Are you seeing the picture?

The Keys of the Kingdom are just that: keys which function within and from the realm of the Spirit. They are placed within our use so that we can enforce the authority of the Kingdom on earth. These keys — authority and power — lock and unlock Heaven’s resources at Father’s direction, and they have been made available to us through and by the Lord Jesus Christ.

We come back to the picture of God’s character, makeup, personality — the essence of Who He is: in other words, His Onoma!

AGAPE: THE AUTHORITY AND POWER FOR USING THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM

At River Worship Center we've gone through a study of the Seven Spirits of God and how they operate, but let me sum it up like this: the sum and substance of Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit is Agape. Sometimes I struggle to use the word “love” in conjunction with this because our earthly concepts of love are so distorted and misapplied.

Agape is purposed. It is deliberate. It has a goal and objective to have a family of God-created, God-image and likeness beings who are interwoven in a relationship of intimacy, authority, power, grace, hope, and faith.

When we use the word “love” in our societal realm and understanding, we can’t mentally associate judgment, discipline and absolute penalty with our concept of love. Agape is the force behind Creation. It is the force behind judgment. It is the authority and power behind the complete rejection of all who refuse and reject the extended hand of love, mercy, forgiveness, remittance and cancellation of death, cancellation of the curse of the Law, and the ultimate price that Jesus paid to secure His family.

I’ll say that again: Agape is the authority and power that enforces the rejection of all who refuse to acknowledge and receive the Lord Jesus Christ, His Lordship and authority in their lives.

Please don’t take offense at the way I’m phrasing this. It is deliberate. We have a very sloppy, man-made, humanistic concept of “love” and we try to make agape fit within our framework of love. It simply won’t work.

The love of God — agape — transcends all human understanding. It doesn’t work like human love. Neither does it get mushy and filled with human compassion when it comes to things like judgment, Hell, the Lake of Fire or eternal torment.

Human compassion — were it allowed to become the measure by which we understand agape — would contaminate the process, and the Family of God would be filled with folks who simply aren’t willing to meet God’s conditions on His terms.

I’ve gotten somewhat sidetracked from what I started out to emphasize, so let me return to Paul’s statement to the Galatians:

Galatians 5:6: For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by agape.

Understand? Let’s wrap today’s discussion with a sequential picture.

God is agape.

Faith works by agape.

Without faith, we cannot please God.

Without faith, the Keys of the Kingdom cannot be used to lock or unlock Heaven’s resources.

Without the use of the Keys of the Kingdom, Earth cannot be restored to its Heavenly state!

Ephesians 3:14-19: For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love -- agape, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love -- agape -- of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

HOW THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD WORK

The sum and substance of Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit is Agape. Sometimes I struggle to use the word “love” in conjunction with this because our earthly concepts of love are so distorted and misapplied.

Agape is purposed. It is disciplined. It is deliberate. It has a goal and objective to have a family of God-created, God-image and likeness beings who are interwoven in a relationship of intimacy, authority, power, grace, hope, and faith.

When we use the word “love” in our societal realm and understanding, we can’t mentally associate judgment, discipline and absolute penalty with our concept of love.

During the “Charismatic Renewal” there was a real effort to teach and explain agape, but the application of it became seriously flawed. What came out of the application was what we’ve come to call “sloppy agape.” “Sloppy agape” was a mushy, “God loves you just like you are” misguided effort to convince people to come to Jesus. By adding “just like you are,” it created an environment in which the “Jesus Movement” flourished.

There were good things about the “Jesus Movement.” There were bad things about it — missing was the necessity of discipline and the necessity of a disciplined walk if Jesus was going to receive His inheritance in them. Left out of the “God loves you just like you are” picture was the fact that a person can’t become a disciple of Christ and remain “just like you are.” Change is mandated – change brought on by responding to the Holy Spirit.

Agape is the force behind Creation. It is the force behind judgment. It is the authority and power behind the complete rejection of all who refuse and reject the extended hand of love, mercy, forgiveness, remittance and cancelation of death, cancelation of the curse of the Law, and the ultimate price that Jesus paid to secure His family.

I’ll say that again: Agape is the authority and power that enforces the rejection of all who refuse to acknowledge and receive the Lord Jesus Christ, His Lordship and authority in their lives. Please don’t take offense at the way I’m phrasing this. It is deliberate. We have a very sloppy, man-made, humanistic concept of “love” and we try to make agape fit within our framework of love. It simply won’t work.

The love of God — agape — transcends all human understanding. It doesn’t work like human love. Neither does it get mushy and filled with human compassion when it comes to things like judgment, Hell, the Lake of Fire or eternal torment. Human compassion — were it allowed to become the measure by which we understand agape — would contaminate the process, and the Family of God would be filled with folks who simply aren’t willing to meet God’s conditions on His terms.

Before we go too far down this road, let’s take a quick look at something that the apostle Peter wrote:

II Peter 3:9-10 (RAC Amplified): The Lord does not delay or slow down the giving of His promises in the same way that some consider appropriate, but patiently endures and is forbearing towards us, not desiring or deliberately purposing our destruction, rather wanting instead that all come to repentance; But — nevertheless — [be warned:] the day [and appearing] of the Lord shall arrive suddenly in the same way a thief appears, snatches and vanishes in the middle of the night, in which the heavens with rushing and crashing noise will vanish and perish, and the very elements of the earth will ignite, burning, melting, and dissolving away with the earth itself. In that same instant all the fruits of man’s labors will burn to the ground — reduced to ashes.

This may seem a totally unrelated Scripture, so let’s draw the picture. We’re still talking about agape.

Agape does not purpose destruction: rather it is patient and longsuffering (see I Corinthians 13:4), NOT rejoicing in others’ infirmities or their failures.

The Lord isn’t looking for or purposing the destruction of those who don’t come to Him acknowledging Him as Lord. Rather, He extends Himself toward those who reject Him. He waits and waits and waits for them to respond. Nevertheless, a day of destruction lies in wait for all who reject Jesus Christ; and He has warned, is warning, and will warn — until the Day of the Lord — that the end of those who reject Him is total annihilation.

Agape does not desire that; and so agape warns and warns and warns of coming destruction in the heart-felt desire of the Lord that all will come to repentance.

AGAPE: THE REQUIREMENT FOR FAITH TO WORK

I’ve gotten somewhat sidetracked from what I started out to emphasize, so let me return to Paul’s statement to the Galatians:

Galatians 5:6: For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by agape.

Understand?

God is agape.

Faith works by agape.

Without faith — that faith which is motivated and energized by agape — we cannot please God.

Without faith, the Keys of the Kingdom cannot be used to lock or unlock Heaven’s resources.

Without the use of the Keys of the Kingdom, Earth cannot be restored to its Heavenly state!

We have already noted how the Keys of the Kingdom are authority and power. Neither of these keys works without a revelation of the person and nature of Jesus Christ. Neither of these keys will unlock (nor lock up) Heaven’s resources without agape being the motivating and compelling force.

Agape is Father’s agenda.

Agape is Jesus’ agenda.

Agape is Holy Spirit’s agenda.

Everything in God’s economy flows from agape. By the same token, it requires faith to turn the Keys of the Kingdom to unlock Heaven’s resources or to lock them up. As we have already noted from Paul’s letter to the Galatians:

Galatians 5:6: For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by agape.

Before we get into some of the ways that these Keys of the Kingdom work, let’s first make sure were all on the same page where faith is concerned.

The KJV translates the word “faith” three times from the OT Hebrew (although it actually exists more often than that) ‘aman and its derivative, ‘emun. The principal difference in the two words is in the tense in which it occurs, but they are essentially the same in meaning.

The Hebrew ‘aman represents: firmness, substance, to build up and support, to render, and to be trustworthy and permanent.

Deuteronomy 32:20 and Habakkuk 2:4 are classic examples of the use of this word in the OT.

In the first instance, the Lord rebukes Israel for its lack of faith. You see a clear picture here of just how critically important Father sees the need for faith in His people.

Deuteronomy 32:20-22: And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

The next OT example comes in Habakkuk’s prophecy when he declares the Word of the Lord:

Habakkuk 2:4: Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

Both Old Testament uses of the word “faith” are parallel in meaning to the New Testament Greek pisteuo and pistis.

One of the most quoted verses in Scripture dealing with faith is in Jesus’ statement to the disciples when they see and experience the event where the fig tree dries up from the roots literally overnight. The disciples express amazement over Jesus’ authority over the natural environment, and ability to speak to the tree with such effectiveness that the tree dies as a result of His Word.

What they forget in this instance is the fact that it was the spoken Word that caused trees to exist in the first place. Since Jesus was the One who spoke those Creation words in the first place, it should not be surprising that He had the ability to also command them to die. But the disciples were just beginning to get a grip on the fact that Jesus WAS that same Word — that He was the Creator!

We’ve still got a long ways to go on this, so let’s stop here and we’ll pick it up in our next Coffee Break.

Be blessed!