SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/15/2022 8:32 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-6 “I Will Build My Church”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
16:19
Message of the verse: “19 "I will
give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven.’”
In this verse we see the sixth feature or characteristic
of the church and this the authority of the church as seen in verse 19. I have to say that this verse has kind of
been a mystery to me and so perhaps today the Lord will remove this mystery
from me as I study this verse.
In
this verse we see that the Lord was still addressing Peter as a representative
of the Twelve, and telling him that whatever you shall bind, in other words
forbid, on earth shall be bound in heaven and that whatever you shall loose, that
is permit, one earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Jesus is telling Peter and the rest of His disciples, and by extension
all other believers, that they had the astounding authority to declare what is
divinely forbidden or permitted on earth!
I
once again think that in order to best understand this that I will quote from
John MacArthur’s commentary. Once we are
done with this SD we will only have one more to look at in this section, and
like the others it will be a bit shorter than most of my SD’s, but because of
the great importunateness of this subject I think it best to take small bites
so we can allow the Lord to help us digest what is written in this very
important section of Matthew’s gospel.
“Shortly
after His resurrection Jesus told the disciples, ‘If you forgive the sins of
any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they
have been retained’ (John 20:23). In
giving instructions for church discipline to all His people, Jesus said that,
if a sinning believer refuses to turn from his sin after being counseled
privately and even after being rebuked by the entire congregation, the church
not only is permitted but obligated to treat the unrepentant member ‘as a
Gentile and a tax-gather’ (Matt. 18:15-17).
He then said to the church as a whole what He earlier had said to Peter
and to the other apostles: ‘Truly I say
to you, whatever shall be loosed in heaven’ (v. 18). In other words, a duly constituted body of
believers has the right to tell and unrepentant brother that he is out of line
with God’s Word and has no right to fellowship with God’s people.
“Christians
have such authority because they have the truth of God’s authoritative Word by
which to judge. The source of the church’s
authority is not in itself, anymore than the source of the apostles’ authority
was in themselves or even in their office, exalted as it was. Christians can authoritatively declare what
is acceptable to God or forbidden by Him because they have His Word. Christians do not determine what is right or wrong, forgiven or unforgiven. Rather, on the basis of God’s own Word, they
recognize and proclaim what God has already determined to be right or wrong,
forgiven or unforgiven. When they judge
on the basis of God’s Word, they can be certain their judgment corresponds with
the judgment of heaven.
“If a person declares himself to be an atheist, or
to be anything other than a believer in and lover of the Lord Jesus Christ,
Christians can say to that person with absolute certainty, ‘You are under God’s
judgment and condemned to hell,’ because that is what Scripture teaches. If, on the other hand, a person testifies
that he has trusted Christ as his saving Lord, Christians can say to him with
equal certainty, ‘If what you say is true, then your sins are forgiven, you are
a child of God, and your eternal destiny is heaven.’ The authority of the church lies in the fact
that it has heaven’s word on everything ‘pertaining to life and godliness,
through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence’
(2 Pet. 1:3). When believers are in
agreement with God’s Word, God is in agreement with them. Believers can declare a person’s spiritual
state with divinely granted authority by comparing that person to the Word of
God.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It is because my authority comes from the
Word of God as seen in this section, that means I must understand and know God’s
Word so that I don’t do the wrong thing.
My Steps of Faith for Today: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a
workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
9/15/2022 9:03 AM
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