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I Will Build My Church

Sermon by  Thomas Thornhill Jr

Passage: Matthew 16:13-20

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TEACHINGS OF JESUS (59)

Today we resume our study of our theme for 2020-21, The Teachings of Jesus.  We are currently in the midst of addressing some of His various teaching.  Our last 3 lessons focused on the “limited commission”.  Today we want to discuss another important text – Jesus’ declaration concerning His church.

 

1. The Context
   1. This is likely later in His time of teaching and preparing His disciples. He is beginning to prepare them for the few months ahead as He announces His death (Matthew 16:21ff).  They have learned much.  Luke records this shortly after Jesus sent out the twelve and they return having met with success (Luke 9:1-11, 9:18-22).
   2. We note in Matthew 16:13 that Jesus was in the region of Caesarea Philippi. This was a city about 28 miles north of the Sea of Galilee.  It was just south of where Jeroboam set up his calf worship religion at Dan.   During the time of Jesus, this was a center of idolatry and Caesar worship (the city was named after Philip, brother of Herod).  Herod the Great had built a temple there to Caesar Augustus.  Greeks worshipped the god Pan there.  And there was a contingency of Jews in that region.
   3. The account (parts of it) are recorded in the 3 synoptic gospels (Mark 8:27-30, Luke 9:18-21) with Matthew being the greatest detail. We find that Jesus is actually outside of some of the towns of the region and on the road when He asked His disciples the all-important question.  NOTE: That this question, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” is being asked in an area given over to idolatry.
   4. Peter replies with various answers they had likely heard while teaching and preaching up to this point– John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets, Jeremiah, etc.
   5. But desiring to know what they though Jesus asked, “Who do YOU say that I, the Son of Man, am?”   And that leads us to our text today.
2. The Text
   1. The confession of Peter – “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Notice the acknowledgement of Peter (and likely the others as well) – Jesus is the Son of the LIVING God – unlike the dead gods of the city they were at.   There was a complete understanding by the apostles by this time that He was the promised Messiah (though there were many aspects of His work they still misunderstood).
   2. The declaration of Jesus – Jesus is pleased with their response.
      1. Blessed are you Simon Bar-Jonah – Simon Son of Jonah.
      2. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father in heaven.
         1. There is here an acknowledgement here that God had acted in a way to convince them of who Jesus actually was.
         2. Understand that this does not necessitate that God miraculously implanted the thought in their minds (e.g. “Irresistible grace”, gave them “special understanding through the Holy Spirit”, etc. NOTE: While the apostles would certainly be guided by the H.S. into all truth – John 14:26, 16:13, etc., that is not the premise of this occasion.)
         3. I see in this that through the works that Jesus had done, His interaction with them, the powers He had bestowed upon them, etc. had convinced them that Jesus was whom He claimed to be. I see this because Jesus is essentially asking them to determine who He is based upon the same standard that others had concluded in the previous verse (Who do men say that I am?  Who do YOU say that I am?).  Of course, they had greater interaction with Him which had caused them to reach their conclusion – perhaps earlier than others.
         4. The point is: They had evidence which gave them reason to believe in Him. So do we!
            1. Hebrews 2:4 notes that God bore witness by signs and wonders.
            2. Act 2:22 – Jesus was a man attested to them by miracles, wonders and signs.
            3. John 5:31-47 – the 4 fold witness that we have previously discussed (John the Baptist, the works – miracles; the Father’s own spectacular declarations, and the prophetic writings including Moses).
            4. Matthew 14:30 – after Jesus walks on water they declare, “Truly You are the Son of God” – a miracle leads to belief in His claims.
      3. You are Peter and upon this rock – a play on words, but in the Greek written in such a way that makes a distinction.
         1. Peter’s name is from the Greek, Petros, a word meaning a stone.
         2. The word for rock is petra which is a large rock such as a boulder, or even a mountain ledge. L&N defines the word first as bedrock (foundational).
         3. In the Greek language, the way this is written distinguishes them as 2 different things.
         4. Therefore, the “rock” that Jesus mentions here was NOT Peter, but the statement He declared, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
      4. I will build My church –
         1. This is the first recorded mention of the church in the gospels. The term will only be used in one other text in the gospels (Matthew 18:17).  But clearly this is momentous here.
         2. Worthy of note is that Jesus is speaking in the future tense, meaning this church was NOT yet built.
         3. We will talk a little more about this church in a few moments.
      5. And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. In this description, Jesus is declaring that this church will NOT be stopped, even by death.
         1. The KJV uses the word “hell” here. That is not the best translation as the Greek word here is hades.  The place of eternal torments is typically a different Greek word – Gehenna.
         2. We know that Jesus will be put to death (in fact, following this passage, Matthew next records Jesus showing His disciples that He was going to be killed by the Jewish leaders – Matthew 16:21)
         3. But we also know that death did NOT stop Him from building His church. The resurrection would become the foundation of the message declaring His church (it was purchased with His blood – Acts 20:28).  Colossians 1:18 says, And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
         4. Thought: Just as death did not stop Jesus from building His church, it should not stop us from being part of His church either and building it up! Death cannot defeat the church – it is a spiritual entity! Hebrews 12:23 speaks of the church of the firstborn registered in heaven (the saved).   Even if we face persecutions, we
      6. Keys to the Kingdom – they would have authority.
         1. A key opens something.  Jesus is here declaring that the apostles would “open” the kingdom of heaven (the church) to the world.
         2. As recorded in Acts 2:14ff – Peter and the other apostles preached the resurrection of Jesus and the beginning of His reign on the throne of David. They “opened” the kingdom of God on that day.
         3. Scripture tells us that the apostles were the foundation of the church – Ephesians 2:19-20 notes this. Revelation 21:14 in describing the “New Jerusalem” notes that it was built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.
      7. Losing and binding –
         1. Some use this expression to say that the apostles had free reign to do whatever they wanted. This is used, even today, for some religious leaders (e.g. Catholic priests) to declare they have the power to forgive or absolve sins at will and to amend “church laws” as needed, as well as apostolic succession.
         2. But Jesus is NOT giving the apostles that power. The way the text is worded in the Greek shows that their power would be based upon that which had already been established.
         3. In other words, the apostles would teach and decree that which God intended for them to teach. They would be “guided into all truth” (John 16:13, Galatians 1:12, etc.).
         4. The NASB gives what I believe to be the more accurate reading of this text, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
         5. A study of the teaching of the apostles shows their submission to the will of God in all that they taught.
      8. Final admonition – don’t tell anyone that He was the Christ. Such statements are always an enigma.  Why would Jesus want them to be silent?  The simple reason is because it was not time.  We know that in anticipation, had this been directly revealed the people would have again tried to make Him the king they were looking for (cf. John 6:15, 12:12-16), NOT the one He intended to be.
3. Some observations about this text
   1. There are many great lessons to glean from this text, some of which have mentioned as we have progressed through the passage. It is an important teaching at an important time in the ministry of Jesus.  It is also a passage misinterpreted by many.  Here we briefly mention some lessons to consider from this text.
   2. Who do you say Jesus is?
      1. Many today see Him as just a good man or philosopher. Many reject Him all together.
      2. Obviously in this audience, the belief is that Jesus is the promised Messiah, our Savior. If believe the Bible, we will make the confession Peter made.
   3. But this is still a worthwhile question as we look at the way we view Jesus.
      1. Is He your foundation? Is He your rock in everything you do?
      2. Or is He your justification to do whatever you want? (i.e. His blood will cover your continued rebellion, “once saved, always saved”, etc.)
      3. Is He someone you only turn to when you are in trouble, but during the good times or when He is inconvenient, it’s ok to forget about Him?
      4. Is He someone worth sharing with others or will you keep Him to yourself?
   4. Peter was not the first papal figure of the church –
      1. We have seen in this passage that it is NOT declaring Peter the first universal ruler of the church. While addressing Peter’s reply, Jesus was speaking to all of the apostles.
      2. We have addressed in other lessons why we do not need apostles today – we have the completed word – they have completed their job.
      3. Furthermore, the qualifications for apostles renders it impossible today (Acts 1:21-22).
   5. Concerning this church Jesus built:
      1. It was not an afterthought as being taught by some in premillennialism – It was a part of God’s eternal purpose – Ephesians 3:10-11
      2. It is the same as the kingdom. Notice in our text that both are tied together in this text.  And, as we have recently noticed, they are different descriptions of the same body – the saved.   Both were foretold leading up to Acts 2 and both are in existence after Acts 2 (Acts 8:12-13, Colossians 1:13, Hebrews 12:28, etc.)
      3. There is only ONE church – notice in our text, Jesus speaks of the church in a singular sense (Ephesians 4:4). The condemns the concept of denominationalism.
      4. It is the body of Christ – Ephesians 1:22-23. Christ is the head and we are the body working together.  It belongs to Him – He has the authority to determine everything about it (Acts 28:18) – including every local church (1 Corinthians 12:12-27) – that why its terms of admission, its work, worship, organization and teachings are all dependent upon the patter established in His word.  We dare not add to it or take away from it.

These are a few lessons we can learn from this great teaching of Jesus.  At the time Jesus taught, the apostles did not understand everything.   We have the privilege of hindsight with His completed word.  We know how His plan unfolded.  For us there is no excuse.  Jesus has built His church.  Are you a part of it?  Think about it!