By Austin B. Tucker
The purpose of the church is to focus on Christ. He is the Founder and the Foundation and the Builder of the church. In the church we have three things to d We worship him, one with God the Father and the Spirit. Two, we bear witness to him. And three, we work his works. That is the meaning of the mysterious words about binding and loosing.
III. The Church is Divinely Provided with the Almighty Power of Christ.
This is power over death and eternal destiny. “I will give you the keys…” That power to give is Christ’s. The keys are the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. We are talking eternal destiny here! Jesus, the eternal Christ, took on a human body to be born in Bethlehem. He took the capacity that every human has to die a physical death. And he did die. To go to the cross was part of his great plan. He died, but he did not stay dead! He came alive again victor over death – rattling the keys of everyman’s grave on his almighty key ring!
Thom Rainer, in
Breakout Churches, described Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, Illinois as an evangelical church in a Chicago suburb which is one of the most liberal communities in the U.S. The town boasts of what may be the largest gay and lesbian population outside San Francisco. The church struggled for years with internal and external problems. But in 2000 the church changed from an island refuge for conservatives to a mission-minded congregation with an intentional community focus. Now the church’s greatest struggle is how to house all the people coming to Christ. The church today little realizes the power we have been given. In the great commission, Jesus said, “All authority (power) in heaven and on earth has been given to me…therefore go and make disciples…and surely I will be with you always to the very end of the age (
Matt. 28:18-19).