OPEN: On a spring break trip to Italy, a tour group was standing just inside St. Peter’s Basilica, the 2nd largest church building in the world. The tour guide was trying to explain the enormity of the building and part of his presentation went like this: “This church is so large no man on earth could hit a baseball from one end to the other. Not Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth or even Mark McGwire."
The group stared in silence at the beautiful marble sculptures, intricate paintings and glorious mosaics all around all around the enormous building. Then in an astonished voice one girl interrupted the silence. She said: "You mean, they actually let them hit baseballs in here?"
APPLY: What was it that so astonished and perplexed that young girl? She misunderstood what the tour guide was trying to say. She knew what a church building stood for, but, here was this guide talking about hitting baseballs in the church, and something inside of here told her – you don’t hit baseballs in a church building.
I. Well, what do you do in a church building?
What is the purpose of the “the church?”
Why does the church exist?
ILLUS: One particularly good description of the church’s purpose was written several years ago:
The church is:
* A lifeboat for the rescue of sin-stained and perishing souls.
* A family, where Christians help one another and show love to each other.
* An organized community, designed to help each other continually grow and develop.
* A company of believers who have found the one way of life and obey the one Lord of life.
* A union of those who dedicate themselves to helping those who suffer.
* A center of social worship, where Christians encourage each other
* The representative “body” of Christ on the earth, reflecting His spirit and controlled by His will.
Those are all good descriptions of what the church is meant to be but I think the author of that list missed one of the most significant reasons the church exists. Look again with me to Matthew 16:18 “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
Jesus told Peter that He would “build His Church.” Then He declared that there was something that would not overcome it – what was that? What was it that wouldn’t overcome Christ’s Church? (The gates of Hell)
(At this point I put up a picture of "the Gates of Hell" described in the illustration below).
ILLUS: Jesus had taken His disciples to a region of “Caesarea Philippi” which was one of the most thriving areas in Palestine. It was a major seaport and the center of Gentile civilization in the area of Judea. It was littered with pagan idols and was not the place a good Jewish man would have felt comfortable – because of all the evil and paganism that was there.
In that area, there was a large cave opening in a large rock face. The Gentiles considered this cave to be the opening to the abode of the dead.. the gate to hell.
It was to this location that many scholars believe Jesus took His disciples. And He took them there on purpose
· He took them to the very gates of hell
· He took them to the very gates of pagan faith
· He took them to the very gates of Satan’s power
It was an object lesson, like many that Jesus used in His teaching. An object lesson that declared: "No matter how scary this place may be… no matter how powerful paganism may appear… no matter how daunting Satan’s domain may seem. These gates WILL NOT stop My church."
When most people first read that promise (the gates of hell will not prevail against my church) they get the impression that the gates of hell are attacking the church. But that’s not what gates do! Gates don’t attack anybody. Gates are DEFENSIVE tools – not OFFENSIVE weapons. Their purpose is to keep people IN or OUT of a fortress or a stronghold, or a defensive position.
The only time a gate ever hurts anybody is if somebody gets their finger caught in them when they’re slammed shut.
So… if the gates of hell aren’t attacking us, what does it mean for Jesus to say “…the gates of Hades will not overcome (the church)?”
It means: one of the reasons Jesus created the church was to attack the gates of Hell. He intended the church to take the fight to the enemy. We (the church) are the tool that He intends to use to take the Satan down… to tear his strongholds apart.
You see… The church is a training ground for war – but not a war like the ones we’re fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5:
“…though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Our war is a war for the hearts and minds of mankind. It’s a battle for lost souls who have never known God… Our goal is to take down the gates of hell and rescue those who all their lives have been held in Satan’s control.
III. To whom did Jesus give this task of taking down the gates of Hell?
(…PAUSE…)
He gave it to the church. He gave it to US! – TO ALL OF US
Jesus didn’t intend to give that responsibility to individual preachers, or Youth ministers, or big name speakers, or to big men in the brotherhood (our expression for people who are respected in our brotherhood). He didn’t give this task to only CERTAIN people in the church…
He gave the task of taking the gates of Hell to the WHOLE church.
ILLUS: Many churches have a distinction between what they call – the clergy and the laity.
The Clergy are people like Brad & I. We’re the hired guns. Specially trained in God’s word and dedicated to a life long service of God in the church. In those congregations, the clergy baptizes, the clergy teaches, and the clergy fights the big fights for the Kingdom.
The Laity is everybody else… The laity are all the other people in the pews. They make the machinery of the congregation run smoothly. And they are there to learn from and to financially support the clergy.
That’s a false dichotomy. In the thinking of God – we are all “priests” (Revelation 1:6). We are all empowered to do the work of God. And we all have a job to do for God …the most important of which is taking the gates of Hell.
But just how do we do that???
Romans 10:13-15 tells us that "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
In other words… we have been "called" to preach to those around us. Not just the preacher in the pulpit, but each and every one of you. You have contact with people who may never listen to me, or darken the door of a church building. But they work with, live around you, are friends with you.
You can reach out to them in various ways. By inviting them to come to church with you, or to come to special events. You can share books with them, pamphlets about your faith. When they’re going thru difficult time you can tell them about the difference Jesus has made in your life. Every time you share your faith with those around you, you push open the gates of Satan’s domain one more inch and you break down his kingdom brick by brick.
III. So, Jesus gave the task of conquering Satan’s domain to the WHOLE church, not just to individual Christians.
But why? Why would Jesus want the entire church involved in this task? Why? Because we need each other. This is too BIG a responsibility for any one of us to do alone. Satan’s too powerful for ANY ONE of us to handle all by ourselves. All by ourselves we can’t do a whole lot of damage to Satan. All by ourselves, we’ll tend to get tired and worn out and discouraged.
ILLUS: Did you ever notice that when Jesus sent out His disciples to preach, they went out by twos?
Luke 10:1-2 tell us "…the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, ’The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’"
When they returned, Luke 10:17 tells us “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.’”
When the followers of Christ went out 2 by 2 they took Satan on. They challenged his kingdom. It was in this “fellowship” that they gained the strength to destroy the powers of darkness.
Jesus never intended you and I to take Satan on by ourselves
ILLUS: An older woman had always wanted to travel abroad, but for various reasons had never the chance before. So when she won a overseas trip, she went to the Passport Office and asked she would go about obtaining her passport.
"You must take the loyalty oath first," responded the clerk. "Raise your right hand, please."
The woman raised her right hand.
"Do you swear to defend the Constitution of the United States against all its enemies, domestic or foreign?"
The old lady’s face paled (and she took on an odd look) as she asked in a small trembling voice,
"Do I have to do that all by myself?"
Nooo… you don’t have to do it all by yourselves… that’s one reasons Jesus created the church. The church exists to give us the training and the encouragement to fulfill our objective
The writer of Hebrews tells us this when he writes “…let us consider how we may SPUR ONE ANOTHER ON toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER— and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)
We are here (in this church building – & in our Bible studies) to “spur each other on”…
and encourage each other as we do the task for which Jesus saved us.
ILLUS: In the movie The Lord Of The Rings (on which this series of sermons is loosely based), a group is specially chosen to take the battle to gates of the Dark Lord. They are chosen because they represent the different races of their world and because they all able to bring unique gifts to their quest.
APPLY: In the church, each one of us has been specifically chosen by God because each of us brings special gifts and insights to the goal of taking Satan down.
EACH ONE of us is needed
EACH ONE of us has a purpose in this church
ILLUS: Last Sunday Night I observed how this works first hand. I sat in on a Missions Ministry Team meeting. There were about 8 or 9 of us in that room and you could tell these people wanted to DO SOMETHING. They didn’t just want to gather together and vote on things they wanted to make a difference. They understood that missions was one of THE battlefront areas where they could take part in taking the battle into Satan’s domain.
And they made decisions that night that no one person could have made alone. Decisions that no one person could have carried out on their own.
BUT together, they encouraged each other, and together, they “spurred one another on” to good works and plans.
CLOSE: That is the way it works in the church. Together, we can make a powerful difference for God.
Alone, we can do “some’ things, but not nearly as significant an impact on Satan as we’d like.
You and I NEED each other - to stand against evil. You and I need each other to turn back the power of Satan in the lives of those held captive by his deceptiveness.
John Maxwell tells the story: In April of 1940, German tanks rumbled across the borders of yet another peaceful European country - Denmark. Already possessing control of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, the powerful Nazi invaders encountered little resistance from the small northern nation.
Soon other countries fell to the Germans as well: Norway, Holland, Belgium and France - their people bullied, bloodied and beaten down. As part of their systematic method of intimidation and oppression, the Germans announced that every Dane of Jewish descent would be required to wear a yellow Star of David. They had done the same thing in Germany. Any Jew who failed to comply would be put to death. The Star of David, a proud symbol of their Jewish faith and culture, would be used to mark them as undesirable members of society - to rob them of their possessions, their dignity, and even their lives.
The Danish government and its people were in no position to do battle against the powerful German army. But their leader, King Christian the 10th, made a bold move to prevent the Nazis from persecuting the Jewish people among them, one that risked his own life. After the proclamation was made by the occupying army, the Danish monarch called for all of his country’s citizens to wear the Star of David, for every Danish household to stand as partners with their Jewish neighbors.
Tremendous fear must have gripped the hearts of those 1st Gentile citizens to venture from their homes the morning after the King’s announcement. Would they be the only ones who had heeded the call? Would they be singled out? Would they be scooped up along with the Jews and executed?
What they saw was nothing short of a miracle. There were Stars of David everywhere. The Jews among them wept when they saw the people’s love and support. And because the people stood together, the Nazis’ full plan of persecution against the Jews was never carried out in that country.
SERMONS IN THIS SERIES:
The Dark Lord - The Lord of The Ring = Ephesians 6:10-6:18
The Fellowship of the Ring = Matthew 16:13-16:19
Who Is The Lord Of The Ring = Matthew 4:1-4:11
Return Of The King = Revelation 19:4-19:16
