Foundations of the Church

Foundations of the Church

“I Will Build My Church”

Matthew 16:13–18 (ESV)

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?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 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. 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.

Introduction

The church, through its history, has been beleaguered; it has been persecuted; it has been martyred and rejected and maligned.

It has been ignored.

It has been liberalized and apostatized, and the poor,

ignoble people of God have looked like losers. Irrelevant and out of step.

But the truth is, we’re not.

And here, in this brief passage, the Lord affirms the triumph. [1]

Jesus takes the Twelve to a remote northern village called Caesarea Philippi.

By traveling just outside the boundaries of Galilee, Jesus finds the solitude he long sought.

He needs it, for he

Jesus will soon turn toward Jerusalem, where he will be slain.

Before that happens, the disciples must know who Jesus is and why he will die.[2

]Jesus polled His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” He was calling upon them to tell Him what they were hearing from their loved ones, friends, and others, to give Him the gist of public opinion about Him.

In Matthew 16:15, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”

Peter answers in verse 16, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Throughout the Gospels, Peter had good days and bad days.

In some ways, he was the strongest of the disciples;

in other ways, he was the weakest. He denied Jesus at the time of His trial (though, to his credit, he was filled with shame and embarrassment when he realized what he had done).

I have to say, however, that at least prior to the Day of Pentecost, this was Peter’s finest hour.

His words in response to Jesus’ question have been immortalized in church history:

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”[3]

To this Jesus says in verse 17–18,

“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.”

What I want to drive home here is

the triumphant authority of this promise.

1. Christ is Committed to Build His Invincible Church

The success of the Church or World missions is not ultimately dependent on human initiative or human wisdom or human perseverance.

It is ultimately dependent on the power and wisdom and faithfulness of the risen and living Christ to keep this promise:

“I will build my church.”

Not, “You will build my church.” Or, “Missionaries will build my church.” Or, “Pastors will build my church.” But, “I will build my church.”[4]

Pastors and elders are crucial.

The congregation is the heartbeat of the church.

But we are not ultimate. Christ is ultimate.

“I will build my church.”

One pastor plants. Another elder and teacher waters.

But Christ gives the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6). Christ builds the church.

Church planting and church establishing is supernatural work, or it is not the church that gets built, but only a human organization.[5]

2. The Invisible Church is Built on The Rock

“On you, my authoritative apostle and inspired proclaimer of the gospel, I will build my church. I will build my church on the apostolic word.”

Matthew (The Rock and the Keys)

This is the text to which the Roman Catholic Church appeals to support its view that the church must be ruled by the successor to Peter, the pope in Rome.

It does refer to Peter. When He says, “You are Peter and upon this rock,”

He changes tense for obvious reasons that are demanded by the use of the Greek language and the modifying terms.

But He is talking about Peter, and what He is saying is,

“Peter, I’m going to build My church on you in this sense, the fact that you are articulating the truth.

I’m not going to build it on your office;

I’m not going to build it on your rank;

I’m not going to build it on your worthiness,

I’m not going to build it on your talent.

I’m going to build the church on you because you are affirming the foundational truth of the church, namely that I am the Christ the Son of the living God.

What’s the point?

Christ builds His church and redeemed assembly throughout redemptive history on one premise: the articulation of the truth of divine revelation.

I believe He’s saying what He says to Peter but He knows that Peter is only representative of the rest because

In Ephesians 2:20 he says, “The church is built on the foundation of the Apostles and the prophets.” All then who articulate divine revelation are foundational to the building of the church.

The church is not built on clever techniques, manipulation, or a strategic marketing plan. It will be built on those who affirm divine revelation, which is foundational to the church.

Peter was one of those key persons … the Apostles and prophets … who confessed foundational revelation. And as I said, all the Apostles, I think, are included in the Lord’s statement.

Peter is not alone the foundation but as the confessor of the great foundational truth of the person of Christ and all that God had revealed in Him, he becomes foundational to the building of that era.

Even today when the Lord is building His church, He’s building it on those who articulate revelation and proclaim the Apostles’ doctrine.

What did the early church do when it met together? They gave themselves to the Apostles’ doctrine. The Lord is still building His church on those who confess that.

The Lord will still build His church on those who unabashedly and unashamedly proclaim Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and who proclaim the Apostle’s doctrine.

Those who reiterate the same foundational truth are the ones on whom Christ is building His church. There are churches being built then that aren’t being built on this foundation, they aren’t Christ’s church, they’re somebody else’s church.

This does not establish the primacy of Peter. If you think for a moment that this establishes the primacy of Peter, then ask yourself why in a few verses He looks Peter in the eye and says, “Get thee behind Me, Satan?”

The point is, if you speak the Word of God, I’ll build My church on you.

If you speak the word of Satan, you’re in My way … you’re a stumbling block, not a foundation stone. Foundation is true and revelation.

3. The Invincible Church Overpowers Death

“And the gates of Hades shall not overpower it …”

When we read in the Scripture Jesus’ words, “I will build My church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it,”

What He means to say is,

“I am coming to earth, and I am going to do the redemptive work and I am going to do what must be done to redeem all those who are elect from back in the beginning to to the end,

My death will make provision for all the elect, I will do that, nobody will be lost,

I will raise them all because this is My part in fulfilling a role in the Father’s plan to give Me a love gift, a redeemed humanity which in the end I will give back to Him as an expression of My own love.” [6]

What does it mean?

I’ve heard all kinds of things saying that we in Christ are strong, and when the enemy attacks us, we can stand and be triumphant. It’s not talking about an attack. No army ever attacked another army carrying a bunch of gates. Gates are not a weapon. “Oh, here comes the army carrying the gates.” No, they don’t do that. This is not an attack.

“Gates,” what does that mean? Well, what’s a gate for? Keep somebody in. That’s the idea. The church is going to be contained, wrapped up, imprisoned, held in so that it can’t escape. The word “prevail” has the idea of overpowering, being dominant, winning a victory, as translated in the NAS.

There aren’t any gates that can dominate the church. There isn’t any fence, any wall, any fortress that can close the church in and keep it captive.

How will he do it? He tells us in verse 21. After he makes it plain that he is the Christ and the Son of God and that all authority belongs to him in the universe and that he has the power over death,

it says, “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.”

Jesus will open the doors of Hades from the inside. He gets in by dying. He gets out by resurrection. And now the gates are his.

Revelation 1:18, “I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

The keys were kept on the inside. That is why he went in. And when he came out he brought the keys with him. Now he will build his church. Death will take none and keep none that he finally wills to have.[7]

Not even … He says … the gates of Hades.

Hades always means death, it’s the grave, Sheol. And what He is saying is, “There isn’t any gate that’s going to lock up the church, not even death.” That’s the idea. Not even the realm of death. The power of death itself cannot hold the church.

Why? Because

In Christ, we have conquered death.

That’s His point. This is the promise of resurrection.

This is all involved in the promise as articulated in John 6, “I will raise him up at the last day,” it doesn’t matter what Satan does, though he has the power of death as Hebrews 2 says, it doesn’t matter what he attempts to do in destroying the church and killing the church.

As Henry Martin said, the great missionary to India to his persecutors, “You cannot harm me, you can only kill me.” The mighty river rushes underground and some day will burst out again in resurrection life.

Jesus said, “Because I live you shall live also.” Jesus Christ came down and He died and He went into the grave and when He came out of the grave,

Revelation 1:18 says, He had in His hand the keys of hell and death. And He unlocked the gate and let everybody out into glory.

The promise of resurrection, nothing is going to prevent the church from being what it’s to be in the end.

Satan knows the plan.

The reason Satan wants to devastate and destroy the church and keep it captive is so that it can’t get released into heaven and spend all eternity praising God.

I think every time you sing a hymn he detests it. His whole kingdom detests it.

And the last thing he wants is a whole redeemed humanity occupied forever in glory, praising the Son and praising the Father, and he wants to stop it by taking the church prisoner in the grave.

He can’t do it.

Our spirits don’t even go there, they go immediately to be with the Lord and our bodies some day will be released in the great resurrection to be joined with our redeemed spirits and forever in the presence of God will do what we were originally called and elected to do.

The church will burst to life and accomplish its purpose.[8]

Our Call

We have a tremendous responsibility. The Lord will build His church, it will be what He wants it to be

It’s going to be complete.

No one is going to slip through the cracks.

He’ll raise everybody at the last day.

And He’s asked us to participate in it and to be partners with Him in opening the door and letting His own in.

We’re part of a winner, not a loser.

No matter what it looks like, don’t be fooled.

We may look poor, we’re rich.

We may look like we’re losing, we’re winning.[9]

We Win the Nations by Dying and Living with Jesus, by Faith

This is how we win the peoples with Jesus Christ. We do what he did. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20). We die with him and live with him, by faith.

Jesus died and rose again to save his church among all the peoples. “I will build my church.”

Now he calls us this morning: Will we join him in dying to the world and living to Christ that we may win the peoples in his name?

Whoever loses his life for Christ and the gospel will find it and will bring others through the gates from death to life.[10]

[1]MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014). John MacArthur Sermon Archive. Grace to You. [2]Doriani, D. M. (2008). Matthew & 2 (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.; Vol. 2, p. 83). P&R Publishing. [3]Sproul, R. C. (2013). Matthew (p. 493). Crossway. [4]Piper, J. (2014). Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014). Desiring God. [5]Piper, J. (2014). Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014). Desiring God. [6]MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014). John MacArthur Sermon Archive. Grace to You. [7]Piper, J. (2014). Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014). Desiring God. [8]MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014). John MacArthur Sermon Archive. Grace to You. [9]MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014). John MacArthur Sermon Archive. Grace to You. [10]Piper, J. (2014). Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014). Desiring God.