The Word, the Rock, and the Gates of Hell

“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Matthew 16:18 ESV

I’d love to see Christ’s church prevail against the gates of hell. Wouldn’t you?

In days when we see evil advancing—where atrocities set before us in the news turn our stomachs and vulgarities have become commonplace—this promise from Jesus to His eager, bungling disciple offers hope.

But do we actually expect to see it? Do we view this promise as a present hope? Or have we relegated Jesus’ words to a future assurance we won’t see realized until His return?

Beloved, what if you and I could see that prevailing church advancing in our day? What if we really did have the power to set the kingdom of evil on its heels and smash its gates?

Jesus spoke those words to Peter on a pivotal day in history, the day he first proclaimed Jesus to be, “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (verse 16).

Well done, Peter. That day, at least, he got it right. Stumbling, precocious Peter boldly proclaimed what he knew in his heart to be true. Jesus was the Promised One heralded in the Old Testament. The Christ had come. The Kingdom had come. And things would change forever.

Indeed, they did, just not exactly in the way they had expected. The army of the Kingdom of God advanced, but not against the reigning Roman government as the people had hoped. Instead, Jesus loosed His army to victoriously trample an unseen spiritual foe, the force behind the present evils they suffered.

Dear one, Jesus offers that same invitation to us today. But like the majority of Jews in Jesus’ day, many of us have set our gaze so firmly on the final earthly kingdom Christ will establish when He returns that we’ve overlooked the current one. We mutter prayers, “Come quickly, Lord,” hiding in our homes and churches, hoping the storms will pass us by.

Beloved, we’re missing the opportunity to participate in the glory of that kingdom now.

What if we chose to believe what Jesus said in Mark 1:15,

“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Celebrate with me that the Kingdom of God has come near! It lives within the church (Luke 17:21). And that kingdom, loosed in the body of believers, will do in our day the very thing that Jesus promised Peter, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

Wouldn’t you like to witness a little victory? Wouldn’t you like to get your feet wet in the front lines at the turning of the tide?

Jesus’ words in our opening Scripture have led many to believe that God chose Peter to be the rock on whom He would build His church. Although Peter did become a leader and pillar of the early church, I’m not sure that’s what Jesus had in mind with His statement. After all, the church could only be built upon one Rock—Christ Himself. Jesus certainly knew better than to rest the future of the church in the hands of one man.

So what was Jesus saying to Peter that day? Let’s get a little context.

Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:16-19

One of the most significant parts of this passage often remains overlooked. Let’s read verse 17 again.

For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

Jesus’ teaching on the rock comes in direct correlation with that statement, a continuation of the thought. “And I tell you…”

Consider with me for a moment. What if Jesus’ teaching has less to do with who Peter was and more to do with the example he set in that moment? What if the rock Jesus referred to wasn’t Peter himself but rather his ability to discern what the Father was speaking and his desire to believe and live out of what he heard?

Not convinced? Let’s tune our ears to something else Jesus said.

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”  Matthew 7:24-25

Hmm… “… and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Sounds like a similar promise to me. A house built on the rock withstands the storm that rages against it. And what’s the rock? Hearing and living out what Jesus speaks.

Dear one, Peter had heard what the Father was speaking into his heart about His Son, and he believed. He lived out that belief by altering his life to come into agreement with what God had revealed to Him. He stood before Jesus and boldly declared Him the Christ at a time when the majority of his fellow Jews did not.

And Jesus said, “Yes Peter. Keep hearing my truth and adjust your life to it, and you become a stone, strengthened and built upon my Rock. This is how I will build my church. Keep that up, Peter, and the gates of hell will not be able to advance.”

Could it really be that simple? Could we really become empowered to overthrow hell’s gates merely by seeking what God says and adjusting our lives to what we discover?

Well, isn’t it worth a try? Consider the alternative.

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Matthew 7:26-28

How far the church has fallen since the day our Lord first spoke those words to Peter. Jesus invites us to return, beloved. His Truth still speaks, and He’s looking for men and women like Peter who will allow their lives to resonate with its sound.

Let’s tune to the voice of our Shepherd, align our lives with what He speaks, and remind the world of 1 Corinthians 4:20,

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

 

 

A Wolf Among the Sheep

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. John 13:1 ESV

My heart stirred when I read that verse the other day over my morning coffee. There’s nothing quite like Jesus’ love. He poured it out on His disciples while He lived among them, and “…He loved them to the end.”

Sadly, they didn’t all love Him in return. The very next verse ushers in the unthinkable.

During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. John 13:2-5

I wonder how Judas felt as Jesus knelt before him to wash his feet. Did his heart race as Jesus tenderly dipped them in the basin? I wonder if Jesus gazed into his face, eyes blazing with the love He felt for him.

His betrayal must have burned within his soul, and yet Judas still left the table to sell his Savior for thirty pieces of silver.

It seems impossible to us, but the truth is, any one of us could easily be him.

Dear one, I doubt that Judas set out to betray Jesus in the beginning. He probably began his journey much like the other disciples—full of hope and wonder, drawn by possibility.

So what went wrong? How could a trusted friend of Jesus stray so terribly far off course?

One thing separates the sheep from the wolf, beloved. Love. Judas may have served with Jesus, but he never offered Him his heart. He wasn’t willing to deny himself to follow Him. He wanted to use his relationship with Jesus to further himself.

How do I know that? The previous chapter invites us to view another scene where the disciples reclined around a table and a different foot washing of sorts took place. Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus,

. . . took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.  John 12:3

Our friend Judas had an interesting response.

But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. John 12:4-6

Do you see it, dear one? Judas served, but he didn’t love. He couldn’t understand “wasting” expensive perfume to anoint Jesus. He didn’t love Him like Mary did. And he didn’t want to waste spending the ministry funds on the poor Jesus loved. He wanted it for himself.

Hear me, beloved. Jesus gave Judas the same power He gave the other eleven (Luke 9:1-2). He could preach the Word. He could heal the sick. If power marked the true disciple, Judas surely was one.

Yet John 17:12 reveals that Judas was doomed to destruction (NIV).

Power and authority are not the marks of salvation, dear one. God can empower anyone at any time to do His will simply because He’s God. The mark of salvation is found in a different place. It’s found within the heart. Jesus said,

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love . . . ” John 13:35

1 John 2:5-6 adds this:

But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

Jesus lived out love, and “ . . . he loved them to the end” (John 13:1).

While Judas went through all the motions of being a disciple, he wasn’t one. He looked like one. He acted like one. Jesus even empowered him like one. But he didn’t have the heart of one.

No one else could tell. The disciples had no idea who Jesus was talking about when He told them one would betray Him (John 13:22). They saw no external signs because he looked and acted just like the rest of them.

But Jesus saw. He knew the self-centered longings of Judas’ heart. He knew he never truly offered Jesus the right to rule in him. He remained his own lord, choosing to exalt his own kingdom instead of God’s. And Jesus honored Judas’ choice.

He loved him to the end, but He did not save him.

Are You God’s Friend?

I am a friend of God.

You’ve probably heard songs making that bold claim. You may have even sung them in worship on Sunday morning. It’s a wonderful concept, and I love the reminder that God is approachable and seeking relationship. But I wonder if God’s definition of friendship matches ours.

Are you really living as God’s friend?

Only a handful of people received the distinction of being called God’s friend in Scripture. Abraham earned the recognition first, followed by Moses. You’ll notice that God used both in mighty ways to bring about His plan for this earth.

Through Abraham God created a nation, a people group He called out from the world to become His own. Through Moses, God delivered that people from slavery in Egypt and led them to the banks of their promised inheritance. God revealed His miraculous power through each of them, their faith in what God told them becoming a catalyst to release His glory.

And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. James 2:23 NIV

Along with their amazing exploits of faith, both of them share the distinction of having direct communication with God. Exodus 33:11 tells us, “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.” God consistently spoke to both of them, and they each responded to what they heard with faithful obedience.

I have to ask, dear one. How does the description fit so far? Are you allowing God to use you in mighty ways to further His Kingdom? Do you speak with Him face to face and allow Him to whisper direction into your life? When you hear from Him, do you trust Him through your obedience so that His perfect will comes to pass?

Another group also earned the title of friend in Jesus’ day. Eleven men who left everything to follow Him received His invitation to friendship in an upper room right before He gave His life for them. The twelfth had already left to sell his “friend” for 30 pieces of silver. Here’s what Jesus said to them.

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:13-15

Did you catch it, dear one? Do you see God’s definition of who His friends are? In case you didn’t pick up on it, I’ll repeat it for you. Jesus’ friends are those who do what He asks of them.

Perhaps we have been throwing the word around a little too flippantly.

You see, according to Scripture, friends of God live with Kingdom purpose. They draw near to Him, pressing in close to hear what He has to say. And when He speaks, they follow, even if it means heading in a different direction than they had intended to go.

Beloved, Christ delights in sharing His Father’s business with His friends. He longs for eager Kingdom builders to come alongside Him and boldly exercise the faith they profess. Why? Friends of God living in faithful obedience release kingdom power that changes things.

Unfortunately, while we love to sing songs about friendship with God, most of us actually live as friends of the world. We embrace its principles and found our plans on its beliefs. We tune into all its channels to hear how the world defines who we are or who we should be. Then we eagerly align our lives to what it speaks.

Here’s the thing about that, dear one. We cannot live as friends of both God and the world.

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? James 4:4-5

You see, biblically, what unites us in friendship is purpose. Look at what Scripture reveals in Luke 23:12, right after Herod and his soldiers had mocked Jesus and sent Him back to Pilate during His trials:

That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.

It is our common ground that unites us. Our friendships are built on what we believe, on our goals and motivations, on the principles we live by.

Dear one, we’ve been trying to claim friendship with God while standing on the world’s principles. In doing so, we’ve inadvertently made ourselves God’s enemies. Then we wonder why He doesn’t seem to want to bless.

Hear Jesus’ heart for you, beloved.

. . . As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world . . . John 15:19

What if you and I determined to live according to the biblical definition of friend of Jesus? What if we took up His cause as our own? What if we pressed in close to hear what He desires to speak to us? What if we determined to realign our lives with what He speaks?

I’ll tell you what we’d see, beloved. We’d see the glory of God poured out on this earth. We’d see power that changes circumstances. We’d see life that heals and resurrects. Is that not worth the risk?

I am a friend of God.

 

 

An Invitation to Pray

In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly . . . and the Lord remembered her. 1 Samuel 1:10, 19

It’s 6:30am on Wednesday morning. Blog day.

I should have something ready to post, but I don’t. I started writing a teaching for you last week—a message on friendship with Jesus—but I never finished it. The hours I set aside to complete it were interrupted by a phone call. Instead, I spent my afternoon with a friend in the Emergency Room.

Perhaps you’ll get to read it next Wednesday.

To be honest with you, I could have finished it up last night, but that would have meant missing my son’s soccer game. And I didn’t want to miss it. Sometimes moms just need to be moms first, especially on the hard days.

You see, people I love are hurting. I’m not talking about my immediate family. I mean my church family. Dear friends of mine are struggling with some hard things. Big things. Things that desperately need God’s touch—like finances, rebellious sons, and cancer.

It’s hard watching people you love struggle. At times the feeling of helplessness seems overwhelming—and that’s just what the enemy wants us to feel. But then I’m reminded that in Christ we are never helpless. We have a powerful gift at our disposal, one that we often take for granted . . . or use as a last resort.

We have prayer.

I believe God wants to teach us a few things about prayer. I mean, if we’re going to be honest, it doesn’t really make sense to us. How can speaking a few words really do anything?

But you and I were created in the image of a God who speaks things into being. He says it, and it’s so. So it only makes sense, really, that what we speak would also be powerful.

Beloved, our prayers release what God has willed in the heavenly realms to be poured out on the topsoil of this earth. In His desire for relationship, He ordained that His people would partner with Him to see His Kingdom come where we live.

I don’t know about you, but it wearies me that it often looks like the enemy is winning. I’m tired of it. I believe the promise of 1 John 4:4,

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

I think it’s time we showed Him we agree.

So I’m doing something a little different today. I’d like to invite you to pray with me. Would you set aside some time for intercession, dear one? Would you offer yourself to Jesus today as a vessel for glory?

He only needs a few minutes of your time and a yielded heart. You don’t need to worry about what to say. You just need to submit yourself to His authority and invite Him to lead. Allow His Spirit to fill your thoughts with His desires for prayer, and then give voice to them.

Amazing things happen when God Himself becomes the source of our prayers.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. 1 John 5:14-15

We may just start moving mountains in the name of Jesus.