Text: Matthew 16:13-20
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” — Acts 1:8
In high school, I had a friend who owned a 1969 Pontiac GTO—a stout muscle car. This bright red beauty had a V-8 engine with close to 400 horsepower, a rear-deck spoiler for aerodynamic favorability, and wide-tread Polyglas tires made to grip the road for traction and handling. Manufacturers named it “The Judge” because the vehicle embodied authority on the highway. This powerful machine was made for the road. The only problem was my friend never took it out of the garage. The car was stuck in preservation mode—all that horsepower left idle in a confined shelter. It looked bold, beautiful, and commanding, but rarely saw the world for which it was designed and made.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus manufactured a vehicle to change the world. He gave it power and authority to make a difference in society. He called it the “church,” and in Matthew 16, he said the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Then he gave his disciples the keys to this new vehicle saying, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Did you get that? They were given the keys to God’s hot rod!
That early church didn’t have many garages in which to take shelter. They gathered together in homes for worship, prayer, and devotion, but their greatest moments of flexing the power that had been given them happened in the most public of places—street corners, market places, riversides, city squares, sports arenas, roadways, etc. Church buildings were not erected until the early 200s, and yet this movement became a phenomenon without a garage to preserve it.
As Ken Curtis said:
“It was unthinkable that a small, despised movement from a corner of Palestine could move out to become the dominant faith of the mighty Roman Empire, an empire steeped in fiercely defended traditional pagan religions. The spread of the Christian church in its earliest centuries is one of the most amazing phenomena in all of human history. The church was considered a religio prava, an illegal and depraved religion. Wave after wave of persecution was unleashed to squash it. At least two of the persecutions were empire-wide and intended to destroy the church.”
And yet this fledgling movement thrived in the face of adversity.
Humanly speaking, the odds were all stacked against it. So how did the early Christian church not just survive, but thrive? There is no shortage of debate about this among modern ecclesiologists, but one thing can surely be agreed upon: the early church wasn’t defined by a building. In other words, the muscle car wasn’t defined by a garage; it found its identity in its robust design, its authority in the matchless power under the hood, and its purpose in the road for which it was made to traverse.
The church was made for times like this—rebellious, immoral, pagan, godless landscapes. It was never intended to be in preservation mode. You were made for times like this. God has given you the keys of the kingdom, beloved. You were designed to make a difference in the times you are living.
You have power (Acts 1:8).
You have authority (Luke 10:19).
You are favored and equipped (Psalm 90:17, 2 Peter 1:3-4).
What is holding you back?
Where do you need to get your faith out of the garage and into proximity with others who are lost without the hope of Jesus? Pray about this as you seek to abide in Him this week.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, our times are in your hands. Thank you for making us and positioning us for such a time as this. You are building your church and the gates of hell will not prevail. You have equipped us with the power of the Holy Spirit to infiltrate this generation with gospel hope. Teach us how to abide in you to do that. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Questions for Reflection and/or Family Discussion:
- If you could ask any person any question, whom would you ask, and what would you want to know?
- What broad, impersonal question did Jesus ask His disciples, and what answer did Peter give (Matthew 16:13-16)? What difference does it make what we believe about Jesus?
- What did Jesus promise about the Church? (Matthew 16:18)
- What task did Jesus assign the apostles, and Who would help them get their job done (Acts 1:8)? Why would it be important that they didn’t go in their own power?
- Are there practical ways you can keep your faith from drifting into preservation mode? Where might God be calling you to rely on His power this week to bring hope or encouragement to others?
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