RSS Feed
Matthew

Christ The Church Builder

Matthew 16:13-20

Harry Stoliker
September 6, 2009 EBC

Listen Listen

This is one of the more famous passages in the gospel of Matthew. It is a very dynamic passage, by which I mean we see the Father and the Son working in incredibly important ways, bringing things to life. It is also dynamic because of the stark contrast made between the testimony of the confused people and the testimony of the apostle Peter. We see confused theology come face to face with revealed theology. Then we see the key passion of Jesus Christ our Lord, which makes us ask if that is the key passion of our hearts as well.

My title is: "Christ The Church Builder." Jesus builds his church in the teeth of two great opponents: theological confusion and the aggressive attempts of Hades to stop Him. Let me explain these two opponents and how Jesus defeats them.

  1. Theological confusion

    1. V.13 "Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
    2. Why does Jesus even care who people think He is? He is surely secure in His own self-identity. Jesus knew He was the Son of God who came from God to be the Lamb of God for the people of God. Was he asking this question for himself? I doubt it. He was asking it for the good of his disciples. He wanted them to be aware of the popular opinions, popular speculations, popular confusion.

      V.14 "And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

    3. What was the nature of public opinion of Him? They thought of him as a prophet, perhaps on the level of John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets. They didn't necessarily think of him as a kook or a mad man. They perhaps thought he had some kind of message from God and perhaps represented the end of the ages in some sense. Maybe he was even a resurrected John the Baptist! That has some great honor to it even! Maybe he was a forerunner like Elijah of the real Messiah prophesied in Mal. 4. Jeremiah was a preacher of judgment, Jesus preached much about the coming judgment, maybe Jesus was a last times Jeremiah.
    4. The phrase "one of the prophets" points to a widespread view that the greatest figures in the OT would return in a preparatory role just before the end of the age.
    5. What's the point Jesus is driving at? Jesus is perfectly setting the stage for His next question and Peter's answer to it. The point is going to show us that even men's "best" opinions of Jesus fall light years short of the truth; they fall infinitely short of who He really is. Men's best opinion about Jesus is that he was just a good prophet. Islam doesn't claim Jesus was an 'evil' man by any means. They claim he was a prophet of God, that He performed miracles, that he was born of the virgin Mary, that he had a message from God and that He's coming again. The problem is: That's not good enough! The most subtle and dangerous errors are not always the most grotesque!
    6. Confused theology demotes Jesus to something less than He is. It refuses to give Him the supremacy that He owns. It's more dangerous than outright atheism because it pretends to honor Jesus as a special prophet, but just not a full divine and Sovereign King and Prophet.
    7. Jesus combats these confused and man-centered notions of Messiah by asking His disciples what their Messianic theology was? V.15 "He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" I have to believe that Jesus knew what Peter was going to say. Look at V.16 "Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Peter is answering for himself and the other apostles as well. He is the spokesman. Peter makes the bold, clear and powerful statement about who Jesus was. He isn't just some OT prophet come back. He is the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Son of the One True God. Jesus is more than a human figure from the past, He is the unique manifestation of God in the flesh, he is not one among many prophets but the very agent of the living God, who participates in God's very being (Hagner). This confession of Peter leaves no wiggle room; it is definitive, decisive, and unequivocal. Take it or leave it, but don't water down Peter's confession of who Jesus was!
    8. This is a decisive moment in their lives. They crossed a line here. No turning back now. Now they had to live out the implications of their confession. You can't claim this much truth about God and then not live it.
    9. Now comes the extraordinary verse. V.17 "And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." Jesus tells Peter it wasn't human reason or human wisdom or human brain power that came to the realization that Jesus was Messiah, Son of the Living God! It was something God the Father revealed, it is revealed theology. That means, it couldn't be obtained in any human way at all, it had to be a gift from Father. That is why we don't come to salvation simply by means of intellectual persuasion or human logic. Have you ever argued with someone until you're blue in the face, trying to persuade them of the truth about Jesus? Look back at Matthew 11:25 "At that time Jesus declared, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children."
    10. A person is "blessed" if God has revealed the spiritual truth about Jesus to him. No greater blessing to know for sure that Jesus is God, the Messiah, the Son of David, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. This is WHEN a person becomes a true believer, when the Spirit opens his heart to believe the reality of who Jesus Christ is! This is when Jesus conquers your theological confusion. 2 Cor. 4:6 "For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,"[a]made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

  2. The second great opponent of Jesus and His Mission is the Aggressive Attacks of Hades to Stop Him.

    1. V.18 "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." I want to start off with Jesus phrase "I will build my church." What does this tell us? Several very important things: (1) It's going to happen! He will build his church; He intends to make it happen. That means there will always, always, be a true biblical church for as long as human history exists. People who worry about the disappearance of the true biblical church are wasting their energy. "Yeah but, what if the government makes church buildings illegal?" That won't stop Jesus from building His church. Governments can't stop Jesus. "Yeah but, what if Islam takes over the world and persecutes the church?" That won't stop Jesus from giving true believers courage to face persecution and continue to meet for worship. "Yeah but, what if the economy continues to get worse and we can't afford to keep the doors open?" That won't stop Jesus from building his church because his church isn't a building and doesn't need a building to grow. "Yeah but, what if the liberal, anti-Christian, gay agenda groups succeed in getting legislation passed that makes it a hate crime to carry or read the Bible or have worship services?" That will not stop the Holy Spirit from building holiness and courage into the hearts of true believers who will meet and form the living Church of Jesus Christ. There will always be a true Christian church all over the world. No matter the political or economic climate of the world, your grandchildren and great grandchildren will be able to find a group of true believers for worship. Maybe not in a building, but for true worship of Jesus wherever that might have to take place: in a cave, a basement, or out in the field.
    2. (2) Jesus loves the local church. Jesus builds what He loves. The local church is His Bride. Jesus wants a beautiful, perfected bride for the final Wedding Feast in the last Day and He is at work in the world making her beautiful in faith and holiness. Ephesians 5:25-27 "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish."
    3. (3) You should join Him in this building project. 1 Cor. 3:9 "For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. 10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames."We are God's fellow builders, which means that we are united with Him in wanting to see the Church built into a beautiful building. Our hearts should be captivated with making the local church as healthy and vibrant as possible. The application of these texts is clear... every one of us who loves Jesus should be consciously committed to contributing to the growth of this local church.
    4. If Jesus is building, you should be building. How are you building into the lives of the people of EBC? There are plenty of people who tear down local churches today through criticism and lousy attitudes. Others tear down the church by ignoring it, visiting once in a while, staying on the fringe, in the stands, and never getting dirty on the playing field. There are plenty of people who leave and never come back to church – forsake the assembling together. I think that if they are really Christians, some day they are going to have to answer to the Lover of the Church and they are going to be painfully embarrassed at how they torn down Jesus' Bride rather than built her up. Are you one of those people?
    5. So what should you be doing? First, get your heart right about the local church. Start loving what Jesus loves – as imperfect as she might be right now. If you don't like what she looks like, then be a force for healthy change, rather than a destructive force of criticism. Second, make a public commitment to the local church by joining it. Step up and go public with your love for the local church. Others are watching you and will be positively influenced by your public commitment to this local church and all it stands for. Third, spend some of your time and talent making a concrete contribution. God has in fact given you tons of talent and gifting, figure out how to plug in what He's given you to making the Bride beautiful. Hey, it might mean just setting up some chairs when you come to the Sunday evening service. It might mean joining the building committee or becoming a deacon, helping out with EG's or ESL. It might mean having some international students come over your house for a cookout with their leaders, or helping some young boys see what it means to have a role-model dad or big brother. It might mean using your music talent or your financial talents to help counsel young couples getting married.
    6. Here's the point: You cannot just come on Sunday morning and be here for an hour and think you are building the church as a co-worker with Jesus Christ. That doesn't cut it. We just can't have that here at EBC! If you are going to stay with us for any length of time, then we expect you to get down on the playing field and get your uniform dirty in the mud. Find out how you can help make this local church more beautiful with love, service, humility, care for people, focused on the Cross and spiritually growing...
    7. Then you are putting this text into practice. Then you have joined Jesus Christ at the work of building His Church. Then He'll say: "Well done!"

Let's pray,

H.

Subscribe to update Notification
We are a non-denominational, independent local church in Schooley's Mountain, NJ (Long Valley/Hackettstown area).
Schooley's Mountain Rd. (Rt. 24) and Pleasant Grove Rd.
P.O. Box 3
Schooley's Mountain, NJ 07870