Leadership - Sent

Leadership Lane with Legacy

We gave over 31k of Legacy money and general operational funds to help support: church planting, development of leaders, and disciple making impact.

Through the Open Bible movement - in 2022:

2,800 people gave their hearts to Christ in the USA

18,709 around the world said yes to Jesus!

10,012 people globally walked out their decisions for Jesus in water baptism

4,138 people globally were baptized in the Holy Spirit

Video

Thesis: "Once we’ve encountered Jesus, we are sent to share this message of hope to the world."

Introduction

This morning we’re in Matthew 16. Jesus has withdrawn from the religious leaders who are opposed to him, and he’s going to do a retreat with his disciples.

Jesus has taught, Jesus has healed, Jesus has performed miracles and signs, and now He feels the time is right to begin to ask his disciples some key questions.

Sermon

Matthew 16:13 NASB Now when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

Jesus came to the district of Caesarea Philippi...

Caesarea Philippi was remote. It was located roughly 25 miles north of Jesus’ ministry HQ in Capernaum . It overlooked the Jordan Valley and was near the base of Mount Hermon, which stood approximately 9,200 feet to the northeast and provided an abundant supply of water to the region.

Explain CP spiritually

Pan god Pan was the Greek god of forests and deserted places, as well as flocks and shepherds. The culture was corrupt, pagan worship, and morally bankrupted people saturated this area. (more about this later on).

Jesus asks broadly - who do people say that the Son of Man is?

Jesus is essentially saying, “before we dive in, let’s just talk about the general perception of me.”

Remember the Son of Man was Jesus’ favorite title for himself. It had to do with Daniel 7 and Daniel’s vision of one like a human reigning alongside God and defeating evil.

And the disciples report -

Some say John the Baptist - perhaps Herod spread this rumor as it says in Matthew 14 he thought Jesus was John resurrected, since it was Herod who killed John.

Some say Elijah - Elijah was a prophet who never died and it was prophesied before the Christ came Elijah would return. So, Jesus, some people think you’re Elijah!

Some say Jeremiah - Jeremiah was a prophet who pronounced judgment on Israel so maybe Jesus is another Jeremiah.

Some say just another prophet - Jesus is just another prophet in a long line of them…nothing special.

I think we can relate to this context.

Just like the disciples, we are in a place where other spiritual powers are worshiped.

We don’t go to temples and worship, but we will spend an obscene amount of money on season tickets for the Seahawks and paint our faces and scream for sports team. We worship money, entertainment, politics, sexual expression, ourselves…like the disciples in Caesarea Philippi, this is our context.

And, people say various things about who Jesus is...

Some say Jesus was just a great historical figure, some say he was a great moral teacher (who doesn’t think the world would be a better place if we all loved our neighbors?), some say Jesus was a revolutionary.

So now Jesus has laid the groundwork and he goes for it...

Matthew 16:15 He *said to them, “But who do you yourselves say that I am?

​In my NASB there is an asterisk by “said” which means that in Greek this verb is in the present tense.

Matthew does this to heighten the intensity of the narrative. We are supposed to lean in. Jesus didn’t say, he SAYS…But...

Okay that’s all fine and good, BUT

I know people say those things about me BUT

I know we are in a place full of other local deities BUT

Who do you say that I am?

Matthew 16:16 NASB Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

We shouldn’t be surprised that Simon Peter answers first.

He is the first disciple called by Jesus in Matthew. He walks on water with Jesus, crying out, “If it’s really you, tell me to walk on water!” When the disciples don’t understand the parables it’s Simon Peter who asks, “Jesus, please explain...” And by the time Matthew writes his gospel, Peter is known as a key leader in the early church.

I wonder what Peter’s voice sounded like.

Did he yell? Did he whisper in astonishment? I think sometimes we might incorrectly assume he’s just monotonously reading from a script.

Peter comes to this on his own. He’s not the kid in Sunday school.

Matthew hasn’t been written yet. Peter has been with Jesus for years, observing his actions, noticing his character, learning from his teaching, and he’s looked at the evidence and he says in full conviction - You are the Christ, the son of the living God.

What does it mean that Jesus is the Christ?

Christ is not Jesus’ last name, it’s a title.

Christ and Messiah are the same thing. Different languages. Christ is the English transliteration of the Greek word Christos. Which is a translation of the Hebrew word messiac or as we say “Messiah.”

Messiah means Anointed One. It’s someone, often a priest or king, chosen by God to represent and lead the people. The Jewish people were hoping for the Messiah to come as their Scriptures promised to bring God’s kingdom and kick out the pagan nations - namely, Rome.​

But what does it mean that he is the Christ?

Messiah also comes from the word that means to smear with oil.

When your team wins the championship, you douse the MVP with Gatorade. You’re the one! We smear you with sugar water.

Do you know the first time in the Bible something is smeared with oil? It’s not a person, it’s a rock. There’s a story in Genesis 28 of Jacob having a dream out under the stars and he pictures a ladder that goes from heaven to earth…and he goes, “Whoa! Surely God is in this place.” And he Messiah’s the rock where he laid his head with oil.

So, to smear with oil is to say this is a person or place where heaven and earth come together.

So when we hear Peter say - You are the Christ! He’s saying - You are the one who is bringing the universe back together. What was shattered by sin, Jesus is the one who is going to bring Shalom.

You are the son of the living God....

Psalm 2 describes the Christ as God’s son. The LIVING God is a common OT phrase...

Psalm 42:2 NASB952 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?

perhaps said as opposed to the dead and counterfeit gods that were worshiped in CP.

You are the heaven and earth one - you are the one who is over and above all other gods.

Jesus asks: Who do you say that I am?

How would you answer?

Peter gives his answer. And Jesus blesses...

Matthew 16:17–19 NASB9517 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 “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.”

Based on Peter’s response, Jesus gives an enormous blessing.

Blessed by the Father “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

Jesus says that Peter did not arrive at this conclusion on his own. Only God can reveal who Jesus is, and Peter received this blessing not from some distant deity but one that Jesus calls Father.

New identity - 18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church

Peter has a lot of names in this passage.

Catholics call him St. Peter, he is called Simon Peter, now he’s called Simon Barjona - which means son of Jonah, then he is called Peter.

Jesus changes Simon Peter’s name. He says based on your confession that I am the Christ, I will give you a new identity.

Peter is the Greek word Petros (stone) and Jesus says upon this Petras - (rock) I will build my church.

Dwayne the Rock Johnson is called the Rock because of his inhuman muscles. Peter is called rock because of his faith.

This is a debated passage because the Catholic church uses this to say Jesus is establishing the church and subsequently the system of leadership of the Pope and bishops.

But that’s not what this text says. Jesus is simply saying that Peter is going to be the leader of the early church and we see that played out in Scripture.

New community - and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

This is the first time church appears in the NT.

It is an assembly or gathering. Jesus says I am going to gather people around myself as the Messiah, and this community will never die.

The gates of Hades has two meanings - one, it’s a poetic term for death. This new community will beat death. And second, the gates of Hades was a place in Caesarea Philippi.

Caesarea Philippi was home to a cave known to the pagan occupants as the gate to the underworld. These pagan worshippers believed that their city was literally at hell’s gates, where fertility gods lived during the winter. A stream flowed from the cave’s mouth, believed to be used by fertility gods traveling in and out of the cave. To attract the gods’ return, every springtime, they would engage in horrific, immoral acts such as prostitution and sexual interaction between humans and goats.[1]

So Jesus blesses Peter and says you are going to lead this new death defying, enemy defeating community.

New mission - 19 “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

Jesus says I will give you the keys of the kingdom.

If I gave you the keys to my house - that would mean I trust you a lot.

Keys were an image of authority.

The original picture of humanity in Genesis 1 is humans as royal co-rulers with God, taking creation onward. And now in Jesus, Peter is given this divine authority again.

All this blessing from simple faith.

Not even perfect faith. Look a few verses down and we’ll see there’s a lot Peter doesn’t understand.

But even still, Jesus says this is the kind of person I’m going to work with.

Jesus has asked, he has blessed, and now he warns...​

Matthew 16:20 NASB9520 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.

Why would Jesus warn - another translation says Strictly Admonish - not to tell people who he is? Isn’t that the whole point that we ARE supposed to tell people?

If Matthew wants us to know Jesus is the Christ, and tells us Peter’s confession so that we believe he is the Christ…why does Jesus not want us to tell others?

Jesus knows the power of the title “Christ” in his day. Many Jews believed the Christ would come as a military leader. He would raise up an army and use violence to bring the kingdom.

John 6:15 NASB9515 So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.

Similarly, Jesus withdraws in our passage to help his disciples understand who he is and what it means that he is the Christ.

Jesus asks, Jesus blesses, Jesus warns.

So Jesus asks the disciples, and the author and Apostle Matthew wants to ask us here in the room: Who do you say that Jesus is?

I wonder if you could write down your answer, what would you say?

Jesus’ question is a question of who gets our allegiance.

Who are we following? Who is teaching you about life?

Jesus went to Caesarea Philippi, a place full of other gods, and we too live in a context full of other things that get our worship. We live in the suburbs. Money gets our allegiance, we will do anything to achieve the almighty work/life balance, family gets our devotion, entertainment gets our time and money…and each of these things come with a promise that if we give them our attention, they will provide for us, give us comfort, give us joy, give us life...

And in the presence of all those, Jesus - the one who comes to give true, full, abundant, eternal life asks us - yes, but who do you say that I am?

We have been handed the keys to the mission of God. What are we going to do in Spokane, WA? What are we going to do in the Pacific Northwest (most unchurched region in the entire USA)? How are we going to steward the mission that has been handed to us?

Prayer