Jesus Started It
Why Church? • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction: If you grew up with siblings, cousins, or spent time with kids from school, I can guarantee that at some point the phrase, “They started it!” was exclaimed. If you are a parent, you undoubtedly have hear that phrase as well. I always respond with, “I don’t care who started it!” Well, I think it’s high time that we start to care who started it. During this series we have been answering the question, Why Church? Today is the last message in this series and I believe it is also one of the most important answers to the question Why Church? The answer that we are looking at today is one that no believer can argue with. It is an answer that should drive us all to be the church that God intended. Why Church? Because, Jesus started it.
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Read: Matthew 16:13-18
What a jammed packed passage! In this passage we see really what the disciples are all about. This is where the rubber meets the road for the disciples. It begins with a question that Jesus asks in two ways. The first way Jesus asks this question is, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” The second way the question is asked, “But who do you say that I am?” Let’s break these down a bit. Jesus wants to get to the heart of the matter. He has huge plans that involve these guys. Not that he doesn’t already know what they are thinking, he wants them to say it so they can hear themselves say it! Why? Because the answer matters! Who do others say I am? Who do you say I am?
Jesus is getting ready to let them in on something that will forever radically change the face of the world. He is getting ready to introduce them to the concept of His church. He has a vision for it a plan for the church. So, what is His vision and plan?
Jesus’ vision and plan for the church is that...
Application:
He be the Cornerstone
He be the Cornerstone
Let’s look a little deeper at this confession Peter gives. When Jesus says, “on this rock I will build my church” He is now talking about the person of Peter. It was the confession of Peter. It was the truth that in this confession Peter proclaims Jesus as Messiah and the one and only God incarnate. It would be and is wrong for anyone to think that the church would be built on anyone other than Jesus.
Check out what Isaiah 28:16 says,
therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
Or Ephesians 2:19-22
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Jesus is the founder of our faith. Hebrews 12:2 says,
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
The Church is special to Him. This is HIs bride! He is the head, He is our foundation, He is our cornerstone. A cornerstone is a large stone that a builder would place at the corner of a buildings foundation in order to support the weight of the building.
Sadly, the modern church has become no more than a club or institution founded on man-made traditions and rituals. It has become a spiritual grocery store where people go and pick and choose what they want. A place where people go to see if their personal needs can get met and if not they leave to go feed somewhere else. If the church is HIs bride, then we have been an unfaithful bride! Yet, He still continues to forgive.
Jesus has a plan for the church. He has a purpose for you and I. We have to begin to see ourselves differently. We are vessels for the all mighty! Stop thinking about our faith as purely a religion to belong to and begin to live out the Grace of Jesus everyday! His church is meant to be more than a social club. It was meant to be something truly magnificent! A city on a hill! Jesus loves His church in a way we could never comprehend. Jesus’ vision and plan for the church is that...
His Church be Active
His Church be Active
Let’s read Matthew 16:18 again,
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.
If we are not careful we can miss the truth of this passage. The main two misinterpretations of this verse are Peter is the foundation of the church, and the church as on the defensive. These are two completely off understandings. Peter was not the first Pope and the church is not to exist hunkered down in the trenches waiting for Jesus to return!
Jesus’ desire for His church is that we be active in the culture. Not allowing the culture to change the church, but for the church to affect the culture with the Gospel! Nowhere in the Bible will you fine the early church hunkered down down remaining silent just living day to day minding their own business.
Matthew 28:19
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts 9:15
But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.
Notice in verse 18 of our passage that Jesus says, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Listen, THE GATES! We must be on the move! We are on the offensive! We are not waiting for attacks, we are on the move affecting the culture with the truth of the Gospel! By the power of the Holy Spirit we will accomplish this! No longer can only 10% due the work of the church. We all have to get involved. Are you willing to be part of something truly great? The church was the idea of the one we worship! We had better start taking that very seriously!
Conclusion: Why Church? Jesus Started It. We are His, created for Him. By HIs Spirit we will prevail, we cannot and will not loose! Do you want to be a church that hunkers down and waits it out? I don’t! Will you be all in as we take the gospel to our community? Are you willing to do things out of the ordinary and out of your comfort zones in order that people could see Jesus? It’s time to make church a priority.
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