When I went to Israel, I visited a place about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee called Caesarea Philippi. The area lays in the shadow of Mt. Hermon, whose ice caps (when they melt) supply clean fresh springs for the waters of the Jordan River. This abundant water supply made the area fertile and attractive as a Roman resort, and also for a place of religious worship. While I was there at Caesarea Philippi, I got a chance to see THE GATES OF HELL. Seriously. The “Gates of Hell” was what the Romans called it. Josephus described it as a deep cavern filled with water, the bottom of which no one had ever reached. And thus (because it seemed bottomless) the Romans believed it was a gate to the underworld. (https://www.thattheworldmayknow.com/scenes-from-caesarea-philippithe-grotto-of-pan)
At the time of Jesus, this cave was called the “Grotto of Pan” - dedicated to Pan, the pagan god of (among other things) fertility. And, as a result, because Pan was the god of fertility, the worship here at the Grotto included sacrifices to Pan, along with a fair amount of drinking and… sex. This was not a place where good Godly Jews would go to hang out - but Jesus took His disciples there!
Jesus took them on a 70-mile trek from Nazareth to Caesarea Philippi - that was about a 3 day hike - and the only thing they visited while there was “the gates of Hell.” It was there, after Peter made the good confession where he declared: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” that Jesus told Peter “upon this rock (Peter’s confession of Who Jesus was) I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it.” Matthew 16:16-18
Jesus was essentially telling His disciples: “I’ve come to conquer Hell. I’ve come to rip the gates right off of Satan’s Kingdom. And I want you to know this because it’s my church that’s gonna get it done.” Jesus was gonna build his church (that’s us, along with other believers) and the gates of Hell would not be able to withstand us. This is why we exist. This is why we need to grow deeper in our faith - to defeat Satan and attack his kingdom.
So, (you might ask) how are we going to conquer hell? Well, that’s what Paul was telling Timothy about. “Timothy, you’ve got a job to do but the only way you do that job is to “be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus…” II Tim. 2:1
In other words: “You don’t have to do this by yourself, Timothy.” And as a church we don’t have to do this by ourselves. Jesus is our source of strength. Or as Philippians 4:19 tells us “My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory b Christ Jesus.” We don’t conquer hell by our own strength; our own wisdom; our own cleverness. We’re are only going to do it by the grace of Jesus.
ILLUS: Someone has noted that the early church started with about 120 people. By the end of the 1st century, it’s believed there were fewer than 10,000 Christians. By the year 200, that climbed to about 200,000 believers. By 250 A.D. more than a million people were Christians. By the year 300, Christians numbered over 6 million. And by 4th century - approximately 35 million Christians in the Ancient World. If you do the math: you find that Christianity grew at about 40% per decade for hundreds of years. The question is, not only - how did they survive, but how did they thrive? In the beginning, Christianity was considered a depraved religion. It was illegal. The persecution of Christians was unending, and at least 2 of the persecutions were empire-wide and intent on destroying church. The earliest Christians didn't have church buildings. They didn’t have access to the mass media. They had very little money, and absolutely NO political influence. They didn't even have a Twitter account. (James Merritt)
So, how did they thrive? Well, they thrived because they depended on grace of Jesus. And… they took their faith seriously. Paul wrote to Timothy: “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” II Timothy 2:2
ILLUS: A lot of congregations have the mistaken impression that they can hire the work done. Someone needs to visit… well that’s what we pay the preacher for. Someone needs to teach the kids, that’s what we pay the youth minister for. And on, and on, and on.
But that’s not how this congregation thinks, because people here do stuff. There’s the folks that run the Sound Booth; the Music ministry; the Food pantry; Free lunches once a month; the Youth ministry; the Clothing ministry … Etc. etc. etc.
But here’s the key: Paul reminds Timothy – don’t try to do this alone. “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” 2 Timothy 2:2
Now Timothy was probably a fairly competent preacher, able to inspire his audiences and set the tone for the church, etc. But Paul is telling him – Don’t try to do this by yourself. Get others to step up. Entrust others to teach others as well.
Everything we do should be designed to entrust others to do ministry. That’s why we have Elders… it’s part of the system God set up so that a church isn’t RUN simply by the preacher. When Elders do their job, they do ministry (just like ours do): Our Elders call on the shut-ins; they teach classes; they make decisions about the direction the church should take.
And during Communion time a lot of churches ONLY let Elders do the meditations. The problem with that approach is that’s really not the job of Elders. They’ve got lots of other things to do. And if only the Elders do communion meditations, that dominance at the table frankly creates a bottle neck of opportunity. No one else in church learns to share their faith because the Elders have to do that task as well. Long before I even got here, the Elders determined that they should let others to give the meditations. Of course, there are Elders who will speak at communion time. But we also have Deacons who do that. In fact, just regular guys that are members of the congregation (and who have no official job in the church) can get up and tell about what Jesus means to us. This allows men who are willing to get up and talk during those moments, to get their feet wet and learn how to share their faith.
Recently the Elders decided that Scott (our Family Minister) should be entrusted to start preaching more during the year. Not that I’m going to stop preaching any time soon… but the Elders & I trust Scott, and we believe he’ll set a good tone for our church family. So he’ll be taking more of a role in the pulpit (preaching ½ of the sermons each year). I’m 71 years old, and the day may come when I can’t do this anymore. When that happens, we don’t want to get caught flat-footed - so we’re planning ahead so the church can continue to reach its goals.
Now, the question for you today is this: Do you have a ministry here? Paul writes something intriguing in II Timothy 2:4-5 - “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.”
ILLUS: A few years back I stumbled onto an unusual fact regarding WWII. Roughly 16 million Americans served in uniform during that war. That’s a lot of men. But those 16 million soldiers didn’t win the war all by themselves. Each front-line soldier needed 18 support people to meet his needs. Each day, that one soldier needed those 18 support people to supply him with 96 bullets, 6 pounds of food and up to 20 pints of water. Every day!!! That amounted to basically 1 ton of material, food and water each month. For every yard that soldier advanced, he needed a team of 18 support troops, of clerks and cooks, mechanics and medics to service his needs. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faVjvreNHGQ – begin at 44:02)
And that’s not counting the factory workers back in the States. Those folks worked 3 shifts, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The labor force was expanded by 18.7 million people, thanks in part to the addition of some six million women who abandoned their homemaking roles and flocked to war plants to produce ships, tanks, planes, ammunition, and weapons. (https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/world-war-ii.htm#:~:text=sixteen%20million%20americans%20served%20in,cataclysm%20that%20involved%2056%20nations.)
My point is this - if you’re a soldier for Christ, what are YOU doing? How are YOU contributing to the cause of tearing down the gates of Hell? Are you a soldier on the front lines? Are you part of the support troops? Are you devoting a significant portion of your life to making the Church able to contend against Satan?
OR, ARE YOU AWOL?
Now, think about this: If you were to enlist today Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines etc. (granted, most of us are over the age limit… but go with me on this) - what would those branches of service expect you to do? Yes, there would be times when you’d sit in chairs and receive verbal instructions of what was expected. Kind of like here at church. But most of the time, they’d expect you (as a soldier in the military) to do something!
You see, that’s why the early church grew so rapidly. Most of the church members… did things. They took their faith seriously. Notice what Paul says: “(A soldier’s) aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” (II Timothy 2:4) So, who enlisted you into the church? Well, that would be Jesus! It’s because of His blood that you belong here! So our aim should be to please JESUS!!!
And we must remember this is not a game we’re part of. This is war. This is a battle for the lost souls of men and women. And what you and I do can make all the difference. Someone once said: “I would never want to reach out someday with a soft, uncallused hand -- a hand never dirtied by serving - and shake the nail-pierced hand of Jesus.” We need to take this seriously!
Lastly when we please Jesus, He notices. In II Timothy 2:5-6 Paul writes this: “An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.”
Jesus notices someone who competes against Satan - and when He notices us doing that, He gives us a crown. That’s what Paul was talking about later in 2 Timothy 4:8 when he wrote: “Now there is in store for me the CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
And when Jesus notices the hard-working farmer who produces a crop for Kingdom, that person gets a “first share” in the rewards. Or, as Jesus put it: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33
The main point here is this - you and I have part to play in defeating Satan. We’ve been called to tear down the gates of hell, and to destroy the kingdom of Satan and to rescue the lives of the lost. And that's why we need to grow deeper in our faith ... because this is not a game. This is life and death/ heaven or hell. We must be committed to taking this as far as we can and as hard as we can.
ILLUS: I want to close with the words from a song I heard years ago written by Ray Boltz:
I dreamed I went to heaven and you were there with me; We walked upon the streets of gold beside the crystal sea; We heard the angels singing - then someone called your name; You turned and saw this young man, and he was smiling as he came. He said, “Friend you may not know me now” and then he said “but wait… You used to teach my Sunday School when I was only eight. And every week you would say a prayer before the class would start; And one day when you said that prayer I began to seek Jesus with all my heart” (see footnote) Thank you - for giving to the Lord - I am a life that was changed. Thank you for giving to the Lord - I am so glad you gave.
Then another man stood before you and said “Remember the time a missionary came to your church, and his pictures made you cry. You didn't have much money, but you gave it anyway. Jesus took the gift you gave and that's why I'm here today.” Thank you - for giving to the Lord - I am a life that was changed. Thank you for giving to the Lord - I am so glad you gave.
One by one they came, far as the eyes could see each life - somehow touched by your generosity. Little things that you had done, sacrifices made, unnoticed on the earth - in heaven now proclaimed. And I know that up in heaven - you're not supposed to cry, but I am almost sure, there were tears in your eyes. As Jesus took your hand and you stood before the Lord He said, “My child look around you - for great is your reward.” (Ray Boltz, “Thank You”)
INVITATION
Footnote: I apologize for changing the last words of this part of the song. The original words of this verse in Boltz’s song were: “I asked Jesus in my heart.” Now, while this is a popular thing to teach in many churches, it’s not in Scripture. Nowhere in the Bible do we ever find that phrase, and nowhere do we find the “sinner’s prayer” and as a result, we avoid those phrases.
