Saving Faith

Saving Faith

Preaching Version

Matthew 16:13-20

Opening and Prayer

Eternal God,

you are the same yesterday, today and tomorrow,

and yet you come to us afresh each new day.

You breathe new life into what has grown tired and discouraged.

You offer healing for what is broken and worn.

You restore hope for what seems impossible.

You are the source of life and love for us and all your creatures,

We confess that we have strayed from your purposes.

You set a path for us to follow, but we conform to the ways of this world.

You offer us your transforming love, but we cling to familiar patterns and habits.

You give each of us gifts to use for the work of your kingdom,

but we wait for others to do what needs doing.

Forgive us for taking the easy way out and failing to serve you with eager hearts.

And so we worship you as Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit,

one God, now and always. Amen.

Scripture

Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah

16:13–16pp—Mk 8:27–29; Lk 9:18–20

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, e and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Sermon

Today we are looking at perhaps one of the most famous pieces of scripture, a foundational piece of scripture. In a continuation of an examination of the book of Matthew and following last week where we spoke about faith.

What makes this piece of scripture so foundational is it is it is the first time in the new testament that the Church is mentioned and it is for this reason that many people have committed this verse to memory.

To understand it better we need to know a little more about the setting of this verse.

At this point in the Bible Jesus has been with the disciples roughly 2 and a half years. They have walked with him, shared meals with him, been taught by him and experienced many of the miracles he has performed firsthand.

Jesus has been preaching and teaching throughout the land and is now known by most who see him. And now he is going to take his disciples away from it all and question them on their knowledge of Him.

📷 Map

He does this by taking them away from the crowds, the spiritual leaders of the synagogues and temples and those who were against him. He takes them north to a place called Caesarea Philippi.

Caesarea Philippi is a special place and knowing why it is special adds to an understanding of what it is Jesus is speaking about in today’s Scripture.

�� Caesarea Philippi River

Caesarea Philippi was the headwaters of the Jordon River. A Jewish Historian named Josephus wrote about a large cave that was located here that was filled with water and this was where the Jordan river originated. This is the river that brings life to all of the land of Israel. The river was vital to the people of Israel because without the river there would have been nothing but desert. The river starts here and moves down to the sea of Galilee and then to the dead see where it comes to a stop and evaporates. So, as you can imagine this was an important place to the Jews of the time.

I said this place was special and I meant it. Caesarea Philippi was not just special to the Jews. In fact, it was special to almost every nation that was in the region or who had ever been in the region.

�� Caesarea Philippi idols

The site has temples to many of the pagan gods of the time. There are temples to Baal, to the god Pan, to Caesar Augustus and to a multitude of many other worldly idols. People from all around the lands would gather here to worship their false Idols. Making this a notable place of worship for the entire region and their various deities and false gods.

Jesus brought his disciples from the sea of Galilee to this place that was of importance to the Jews, the Greek’s, and the Romans. A place where the water that brough life to the people of Israel originated. He brough them here to give them a simple test. A test where there are only 2 questions. Not like the modern bible exams of hundreds of questions, Jesus had only two, and the first question is not a graded question, the answer did not matter. The second question is pass/fail and the most important question in every human beings’ life.

Matthew 16:13-14

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

The question they cannot get wrong, “Who do people say I am?”. This question may be answered in any way. Jesus can have many different meanings to others and Jesus is asking this question with the knowledge of what others are saying about him.

This is not a question meant to test the disciples, but instead a question to bring the importance of recognizing the difference between who people claim Jesus to be and the answer they will have to give to the follow up question.

Jesus asks this question referring to himself as the Son of Man, focusing on the connection he has with mankind though his earthly birth and presence.

The answer he is given is interesting. He is known to be many different things, some believe him to be John the Baptist, others think he may be the prophet Elijah, still others believe he may be Jerimiah or one of the other prophets. While we might think this is rather silly, if you understand this in context it begins to make sense.

The reason that some believed he may have been John the Baptist was because Herod Antipas, the man who had ordered to have John the Baptist beheaded, was worried when he heard about Jesus, and about all of the miracles that Jesus was performing, that he was in fact John The Baptist risen from the dead to haunt him for his wrongful murder of John the Baptist.

Why would anyone think that he could be Elijah though? Elijah was a prophet who at this time would have been dead for roughly 900 years. This belief comes from the old testament.

Malachi 4:5-6

5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

The Jews believed that before the messiah that Elijah needed to return. Even today many Jews keep a seat at the table empty during Passover for Elijah if he should choose to return. They hope that he will join them at the Passover table, because that tells them that the time of the messiahs’ return is not far away. Seeing everything that Jesus was doing they began to speculate that he was Elijah returning.

So, what about the prophet Jerimiah? Jerimiah was known as the weeping prophet. He wrote the book of lamentations and there was a rumor that circulated around him that before the people of Israel went into exile he had taken the ark and the alter and hidden them in a cave upon Mount Nebo. It was believed that before the return of the messiah he would return the ark and the alter to its proper place within the temple. People wondered if Jesus was in fact Jerimiah returned as a fulfillment of this rumor.

Now, after they have shared all of the rumors about who Jesus is to the people, Jesus asks the real question. The one question that we all need to answer in our lives.

Matthew 16:15-17

15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.

This is the pass or fail questions in the life of every human being who ever has, does or will exist.

Simon Peter answers properly, He says that Jesus in the Messiah, The Christ. When we speak of Jesus Christ we are not speaking of his name, Jesus’s family were not the Christs. In fact, at that time every person carried the name of their father We see that here when Jesus refers to Simon and Simon son of Jonah. Jesus is Yeshua ben Yosef, Jesus son of Joseph. His title was Jesus Christ.

Christ in Greek is Kristos which is translated from the Hebrew Meshiac or messiah. Jesus is the Messiah, messiah literally means to smear, because when people were called into positions of leadership and authority they were anointed or smeared with an anointing oil across their forehead. They were marked by the oil; Jesus is the one chosen by God and anointed our king.

Earlier Jesus referred to himself as the son of man emphasizing his relationship to humans, here Peter calls him the Son of the living God, emphasizing his relationship to God. Peter is declaring here that Jesus has the essence of his Father, the same that every child is the essence of their parents. Jesus is both fully man and fully God.

To this Jesus replies that he is correct. He tells Peter that he knows this because it is God who has awakened this understanding. Jesus is explaining to Peter that mere man cannot fathom this idea, that Jesus I both man and God, that he is the Messiah. Jesus wants peter to know that he understands this because God has made him understand.

Matthew 16:18

18 And I tell you that you are Peter, e and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Now the verse we all know. Peter is the Rock on which the church is built.

This is the catholic interpretation based upon their study of the Bible and that is why they believe that the pope is the rock of the church. The believe that you should be able to trace the history of the rulership of the church all the way from Peter to the current pope today.

It seems the early church must have understood this differently though. The early church in the book of Acts is led by James. Peter is even rebuked by Paul, so why is it that he was told that the church would be built upon him?

This is a verse in which knowledge of Greek is vital. What Jesus says is that you Simon are Petros, a pebble, one of those little stones that lay upon the road.

And that upon this Petra, this huge standing rock, I will build my church.

So, what he is saying to Simon is that you are this little stone, but upon this massive stone of this revelation I will build my church. The confession that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God is the rock upon which the Church, the called-out assembly is to be built upon.

The church will be built upon the people who believe this. The people who are willing to admit truthfully and faithfully that they believe that Jesus is the Christos, That Jesus is the Messiah, that he is the Son of the living God. These people will be the church because they have faith in the massive rock, the incredible truth that they believe.

The church is not built on the man peter, but on the Rock Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:11

11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Paul reminds us that Jesus is the Rock, he is the foundation upon which all the church is built. Jesus is the Foundation and everyone who confesses in the heart, mind, body, and soul that he is our lord and our savior will build upon that foundation.

It is for this reason that even the gates of Hades, the gates of Hell or those who are dead cannot overcome because the foundation is not of man, but instead of God who rules over all.

Peter does have a job though and we find out what it is in the final verses.

Matthew 16:19-20

19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

The keys of the kingdom are important. Keys allow someone to get into and out of something. They allow people to control who enters and who leaves, they become the steward, the person who is responsible for the care of the place.

In the book of Revelation Jesus has the keys of David

Revelation 3:7

“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:

These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

This is a reference to the book of Isaiah

Isaiah 22:20-22

20 “In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. 21 I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. 22 I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

Eliakim is responsible for the opening and closing of the doors to the House of David. He was the house Steward; he opened the doors to allow people to enter in the morning and closed the doors at night so that no one else could enter.

This is what Peter is called to do. He is called to be the steward of the church.

It is Peter who on the day of Pentecost delivers a sermon to the crowd. It was through his message that 3000 People converted to Christianity that day.

It was Peter who was called to go to Cornelius and his household, breaking what would have been law to the Jews of the time by bringing the message of Jesus to the gentiles.

Peter was the one that God used to open the door of the church, the called-out body to both the Jew and the Gentile.

So, Peter answer the question truthfully and correctly and was used by God. Yet the disciples are still told that they should not share this message with anyone. Why did he do this?

He did this because our discovery of who Jesus is must be our own. No one can make the declaration of who Jesus is for you. This is a question you must answer yourself. Throughout history people have called Jesus many things. Some have called him a great thinker, a great theologian, a good man with great moral teachings. Yet this is not the answer that Jesus is seeking when he asks you “Who do you say I am?” how will you answer the Question?

Let us pray.

For Grace By Augustine of Hippo

We ask not of you, O Father, silver and gold, honor and glory, nor the pleasures of the world. Grant us grace to seek your Kingdom and your righteousness, and give us what we need for body and life. Behold, O Lord, our desire. May it be pleasing in your sight. We present our petition to you through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is at your right hand, our mediator and Advocate, through whom you sought us that we might seek you; your Word, through whom you made us and all things; your only Son, through whom you call us to adoption, who intercedes with you for us, and in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; to him, with you and the Holy Spirit, be all honor, praise, and glory, now and forever. Amen.

Closing

Life-giving God, you equip your people with gifts to work for your kingdom, bringing justice and peace to every land and community.

Through your Spirit, O God, you give the gift of prophecy. Help us to use this gift to speak words of justice and truth into situations where people are exploited or treated unfairly. Guide our actions so that we might influence change for good in the world and bring hope to the hopeless.

You give the gift of serving, O God, in the example of your Son Jesus. Help us to use this gift to serve those who have been cast aside. May we learn to share what we have with those in need.

God of wisdom, you give the gift of teaching. Help us to use this gift to ensure that every child has access to education and opportunity. Be with every teacher and every student in the coming months as schools adapt to the challenges of COVID-19. Support creative teaching and diligent learning in every school and center for learning.

God of hope, you give the gift of encouragement. Help us to use this gift to hearten all who are struggling in these difficult days. Bless us with words and actions to bring comfort to all who morn, to those coping with mental or physical illness, and to any who feel isolated or left behind.

God of purpose and promise, you give the gift of leadership. Help us to use this skill to build up our communities and model respectful ways of living and loving. Show us how our churches can be places of support within our neighborhoods.

God of love, you give the gift of kindness. Help us be kind to all who cross our paths, even those who anger or upset us. Teach us to be forgiving and reconciling in all our relationships.

We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ who taught us to pray…

Go in peace brother and sisters, God bless.