Have You Lost Your Keys Lately?

When I was growing up keys were very important. Keys to your car, your house etc. Today we have “Key-fobs” that send an electronic signal to many of our devices. Our garage doors have them so you don’t have to get out of your car. My front door has a keypad that I punch in a code to enter and I can even open it for someone at the front door when I’m out-of-town from my iPhone.  With Sue’s car she doesn’t even have to pull the key-fob out of her pocket because it unlocks the car by “sensing her presence”. The side mirror even moves out and welcomes her arrival. Keys, whether electronic or mechanical, are incredibly important.

One of my first cars had locks that would get jammed and refuse to open so I tore apart the doors to get at the locks and discovered little “wedges” that created the combination to align with my key. I took out the wedges and put the locks back in the car door and it worked perfectly. No one knew you could put a screw driver in the lock and do the same thing. The problem is it made the car totally vulnerable if someone wanted to steal it. My son discovered the same trick and did it to his car. To be fair, I don’t think anyone would have wanted his car because it only cost a few hundred dollars and had a “Fish Trophy” bolted to the front hood!

Locks were important in Jesus’ day as well. He once asked some of his disciples who they thought he was. He asked this question because it was “Key” to them having the ability to prioritize their lives and gain God’s favor, something they all wanted. However, He didn’t ask this question to them in the beginning of his ministry. He asked it towards the end of his ministry on earth when the disciples understood that there were special “Keys” to unlocking spiritual and natural doors in this life and the life to come.

Matthew 16:15-18                  Then he asked them, “Who do you say I am?”     

Just like his early disciples how we respond to this question reveals a lot about who Jesus is to us personally. To a degree, it doesn’t matter if Jesus is the creator and sustainer of life as we know it unless we believe that for ourselves. Like my car, people could appreciate it and even touch it, but they could not drive it unless they had knowledge of how to unlock its potential. Many walked along with Jesus for a long time but were never able to enter into intimacy and knowledge in order to unlock the questions of their soul. Some got so frustrated that they turned on Jesus by calling him Lord one day and calling to crucify him the next.

Look at what Jesus said to Peter when he was able to pull out of him the answer to the most important question of his life.

Matthew 16:16-18.                                                                                                                  

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.

Jesus said Peter was blessed because he understood this important fact. There are some particular things we discover that reveal “Keys of Knowledge” that unlock many doors in our future and Peter got one of those keys. He didn’t discover it on his own but because he positioned himself with the God of the universe. Jesus told Peter that he was giving him a special key and that key would give him the power to conquer the very powers of hell and death.

Matthew 16:19                                                                                                                                

I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you lock on earth will be locked in heaven, and whatever you open on earth will be opened in heaven.” 

I have a number of boxes where I have keys that I don’t know what locks they go to. They have power to unlock doors, but I have lost the knowledge of which ones and thus are therefore next to worthless. There were experts in the law of God who were just like my key box. The keys were real and the keys had potential power, but because the owners of those keys had lost important facts they lost their potential.

Luke 11:52                                                                                                                                    

How terrible it will be for you experts in religious law! For you hide the key to knowledge from the people. You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering.”

Here is my point. You can possess special spiritual keys that have great potential but, if through neglect or foolishness about how to use them, they are potentially worthless to you. Many have experienced the power of God through submitting to the Lordship of Christ and yet today they don’t walk in the same surrendered manner as they did when they were in bondage and needed a savior. They merely walk in “Memory” and not in reality. They have forgotten the key to the kingdom of God and it is not just a long ago memory. They speak about that memory as if it is real today yet it is not. They sing as if it was real and active in their lives and yet it is not. They may even “Feel” some measure of emotional connection to that memory, like watching a movie, but they are not in the movie anymore.

Some early Christians were in this place with their relationship with Jesus.  They still called Jesus Lord but they weren’t living in that love. Their purpose for living had changed on the inside of their souls but on the outside they looked as committed as ever. Jesus, however, sees past the surface and, because he loves us so much, he exposes our true purpose.

Revelation 1:18                                                                                                                                 

I am the living one who died. Look, I am alive forever and ever!  And I hold the keys of death and the grave.  

Revelation 2:4-5                                                                                                                            

But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.  ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. 

Don’t let your walk with God be a thing of the past.  Don’t just say all the right words and quote scripture and sing spiritual songs without living intimately for and with Jesus. Your future, as well as you current life, depends on it.

Questions

1) Have you “Drifted” from the rich intimacy with Jesus you once had? 1 John 1:9 tells you what God expects you to do to change that.

2) Have you let Satan lie to you that your past walk with God wasn’t real and was only emotions? James 4:7-8 

May the Holy Spirit fill our hearts with the Father’s presence and once again release the “Keys of the Kingdom”.

Pastor Dale