What We Need to Know

Series Introduction

Today we will begin a series that, Lord willing, will be 3 sermons in total. This series is motivated, in part, by my increased sense that the church, that is, God’s people, are facing an increasingly hostile world against Christ and His followers. This may be somewhat surprising to hear after the Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade and ruling that a football coach can in fact pray publically. We rejoice when the laws of the land align with the cause of Christ. We also recognize however, that the world, that is, all who do not recognize the Lordship of Christ, are as determined as ever to derail any effort to honor God. These efforts seem to be intensifying, and regardless, we know that people without the redemptive intervention of Christ, reject Christ and rebel against Him.

And in the midst of these tumultuous times, the church needs to be clear on something. We may be clear on the time we prefer our worship service to begin. We may be clear on what temperature we prefer our sanctuary to be. We may be clear on what we want the music for our congregational singing to sound like, what we want our children’s and youth ministries to look like, and how we want the sermons that we hear to come across like. And while all of those concerns are valid concerns, there is something that is far more important for us about which to be clear.

FCF: And the fact of the matter is, if we’re not careful, in the midst of the chaos in the world and the stress and difficulties we experience in our own lives, we can loose sight of one fundamental truth about the church.

To get clear on this truth, we will spend today and the next 2 Sundays in Matthew 16. Anyone who has been here for more than a couple of years will know that we spent a considerable amount of time working our way through the gospel of Matthew, but in light of what Jesus teaches His disciples and us in chapter 16 regarding the church, we will waste no time by revisiting chapter 16.

Context

When we come to chapter 16, Jesus had just spent some time in Jewish territory. There He had a run-in with Pharisees and Sadducees. They attempted to test Him by asking Him to show them a sign. Of course, Jesus saw right through them and made it clear that He was going to unfold His plan in His way and in His time. He was not going to submit to any demands they made. After this confrontation was concluded, and after helping His disciples understand the conflict, they left and went north to Caesarea Philipi. When they arrived, Jesus asked His disciples a very important question, and all that followed brought this very important truth about the church to the surface. And again, this truth about the church is crucial for us to know.

So let’s get started on getting clear on this truth.

Matthew 16:13–20 ESV

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 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. 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. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

The title of this series is

This Church Belongs to Jesus.

What are the implications of this proposition?

Jesus is the supreme authority. His Word is where we go to know what He commands His church.

Jesus has prescribed who the church is and how it is to function.

When trouble and challenges come, Jesus is our assurance and hope.

All our service in the church has as its aim to honor Christ.

Our primary concern must be to faithful to Christ in all that we do, and trust that He will bless us in that concern.

But we can easily loose sight of this fundamental truth. So in light of this fact, that this church belongs to Jesus and in light of wha we see in our text today, I want us to consider the following:

We need to know it and so does everyone else.

We need to know that this church belongs to Jesus and everyone else needs to know that this church to Jesus as well.

So to think through this further, I want us to answer 2 questions:

1. How do we know if we know it? 2. How do we demonstrate that we know it?

How do we know if we know it?

What we mean by know

So we know it if

We know who Jesus is (13-14)

Jesus identifies Himself as the Son of Man (13)

But He’s asking who others are saying He is

John the Baptist (risen from the dead as Herod Antipas suspected (14:2)

Elijah: some thought of him as a forerunner of the Messiah (3:1-3)

Jeremiah or one of the prophets

What do all these suspicions tell us. That many did not know who Jesus was. He was the Son of Man. He was, in other words, the Messiah.

He was so much more than John the Baptist. John himself understood this. He must increase and I must decrease (John 3:30)

He was more than His forerunner Elijah.

Jeremiah suffered, but Jesus was the prophesied Suffering Servant who would suffer and die and thereby atone for the sins of His people.

Bottom line: Jesus is unequalled. He is unique and there is no one greater.

So when it comes to knowing that this church belongs to Jesus, that begins with a right understanding of Jesus. He is Messiah, KoK & LoL, He is the one true living Savior, He is God.

So how do we know if we know that this church belongs to Jesus? We know who Jesus is.

We profess Jesus for who He is (15-16)

this is also addressing the question regarding how we demonstrate that we know this church belongs to Jesus, but professing here can also refer to our personal profession of faith.

Jesus is asking the disciples who they believe or profess Him to be. Now He’s zeroing in on what they believe as opposed to what others are saying.

Peter responds as a spokesperson for the group in v. 16.

2 titles:

Christ (Messiah)

Son of the living God

So Peter, on behalf of the other disciples is professing Jesus to be the One promised in the OT who would come to save His people. Emanuel - God with us.

So this goes beyond knowing who Jesus is to professing who He is. Professing is the way we state what we believe.

You may profess Jesus to have been an important historical figure, a wise teacher, a prophet of sorts, but deny that He was the Messiah who came to save His people from their sins by dying in their place on the cross. You may believe He was a real man, but He died like all men do, and did not rise from the dead nor ascend into heaven. This might be your profession of Jesus.

But Peter’s profession was right, and we know this by how Jesus responds to His profession in v. 17, and that brings us to another part of our answer.

We know if we truly know that this church belongs to Jesus if

We have been shown who Jesus is (17)

Jesus call Peter, and by extension the rest of the disciples and those of us who possess this same profession, blessed.

This is to be favored by divine grace. Professing Jesus as the Bible proclaims Him is to show our favored status by God. In fact, that any of us profess Jesus this way is evidence of the gift the God given His children.

No one comes to know Jesus this way as a result of our own wisdom. Notice how Jesus describes this profession (v. 17)

This comes by means of divine revelation.

Revealed here carries the idea of being provided knowledge that had been previously concealed or hidden. There is a certain sense of privilege here. Being in the know.

So

knowing who Jesus is

professing who Jesus is

being shown who Jesus is

Possessing this kind of relationship with Jesus is necessary to truly know that this church belongs to Jesus. Anyone can agree that the church belongs to Jesus, but unless we know Jesus, that we belong to Jesus will have little impact on how we think about this church. When difficulty comes (and it has and will), we will be much more vulnerable to despair because we ultimately relying on ourselves to do church and not the One to whom the church belongs.

Knowing Jesus is necessary to knowing that this church belongs to Him.

This church belongs to Jesus. We considered how we can know this, but now

How do we demonstrate we know it? (18-20)

By being an active participant in Christ’s church-building work (18)

It should be noted here that verses 18 & 19 are not easily translated or interpreted. There is much debate among respected scholars here, so I will attempt to express what I believe Matthew means while mentioning briefly other possible interpretations.

Jesus responds to Peter’s profession in v. 16 in v. 18.

and I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church...

The question that gives rise to some debate is the identity of the rock mentioned here. Here are the 3 predominant possibilities:

Jesus: Peter himself refers to Jesus as the rock in His first epistle (1 Pet. 2:5-8). But that doesn’t mean that Jesus couldn’t be using the same metaphor for someone other than Himself here.

Peter’s confession: the rock is not a person, it is suggested, but Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God. This position, is in part, a reaction to Roman Catholic doctrine which teaches that Peter is being identified as the first Pope and that he is infallible and will be succeeded by other infallible people as Popes. This position eliminates all people and suggests that the rock is a confession of the truth and any one person.

Peter: This is the position I hold and here’s why. The Greek word for Peter is petros. The Greek word for rock is the same Greek word but it appears in the feminine form which is petra. Some say rock can’t be a reference to Peter because it appears in the feminine form, but it wouldn’t be out of the question for Jesus to use this as a play on words to make His point. You are petros and upon this petra I will build my church. The noun petra could not be used to refer to a masculine name but it could be used to refer to a rock. It’s a play on words to drive the point home. Further more, Jesus is referring to Himself as a builder so it would be strange to also refer to Himself as the building material, although Jesus does refer to Himself as the cornerstone. I suggest that here, Jesus is using a metaphor to refer to someone other than Himself.

So, I believe what Jesus is saying here is that He will build His church upon the foundation that consists of Peter, the other apostles and all Christians that follow.

It is this conclusion on the identity of the rock in v. 18 that brings to the forefront that all Christians are called to play an active role in Christ’s work of building His church. We do not build the church. Christ does. But Christ uses His people, the people of His church, the rocks to build it.

When Christ saves us, we become part of the fabric of the church. To use another metaphor, we are the thread of a garment. We are part of what Jesus is creating.

Anyone who knows me knows I’m not very handy. I try from time to time, but my handyman skills will take me only so far. My Dad was a very capable handyman, and he would often be found building something in our home. I would try to help him, and I remember him telling me how to pick out the right 2x4s. He said you need to look from one end of the 2x4 to the other to see if it’s crooked. If it’s straight it can be used, but if it’s crooked, discard it. All of us are those crooked 2x4s, the unusable rocks, the thread that’s 50% off because no one wants it, the discontinued models all of that because of our sin. But Jesus uses such people to build His church. Church, if you are part of Jesus’ church, that means He chose you and made you part of what He is building, and now He calls you to be an active participant in His ongoing church-building work.

We talking about how we demonstrate that we know that this church belongs to Jesus.

By exercising faith that remains stable when the powers of hell come against the church. (18)

Hades: refers to Satan and his demons.

Satan nor his demons cannot overcome the church-building work of Jesus.

Attacks? Yes. Victory? No.

Death is also implied here. RSV: the power of death shall not prevail against it.

Because the church is the assembly of people that Jesus is building, it cannot die. People pass from this life, but continue to be part of Jesus’ gathered people.

When it comes to demonstrating that we know this church belongs to Jesus, possessing and exercising a faith that is not destabilized because of the familiar and ongoing calamities of this world.

2 Corinthians 4:8–10 ESV

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

Do you see how crucial it is to be clear in our minds and hearts that this church belongs to Jesus? Difficulty will always be part of the equation while we wait for Jesus to return. But we will not be overcome by difficulty as we show forth the life of Jesus even in our sufferings.

We also demonstrate that we know this church belongs to Jesus

By relentlessly pursuing our mandate (19)

What does the reference of keys make clear?

the KOH is something to enter.

there is an inside and an outside of the kingdom

Keys represent power to exclude or permit entrance into the kingdom.

Jesus is telling Peter, the other apostles and all Christians that follow that He is giving us the keys to His kingdom, which carry the power to exclude or permit entrance into His kingdom.

And how do we wield this power? Preaching the Gospel. Pursuing our mandate to make disciples. We don’t know who will enter the kingdom, but we, because of our mandate, possess the power (and responsibility) of entrance. The gospel must be believed for entrance. If it is rejected, admittance will not be granted.

But how do we pursue this mandate with undeterred focus and effort

The rest of v. 19: whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven...

Binding and loosing are also references to entrance and exclusion to the kingdom. It’s reference to the work of proclaiming the gospel. But how does this work relate to what’s going on in heaven?

We might be tempted to think that this means the binding and loosing on earth determines what happens in heaven. But thinking carefully here won’t permit us to conclude that. Grammar here is important

will be bound & will be loosed are periphrastic future perfects.

I think we understand the future tense well enough. Something that is yet or will happen. The perfect tense refers to a historical event that has ongoing effects. I heard the sermon and continued to ponder it throughout the week.

To translate the future-perfect here, we would read:

Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven.

Shall references the future. All acts of binding and loosing now will agree with what has already been determined in heaven. God has established His plan of redemption, He orchestrates His plan through the propagation of His gospel through His people and nothing will stop this plan.

Therefore, nothing will stop the church’s work of wielding the keys of the kingdom. Noting will stop our efforts of binding and loosing. In other words, nothing can stand against the proclamation of the gospel and win.

So we demonstrate that we know that this church belongs to Jesus by

being an active participant in Christ’s church-building work

exercising faith that remains stable when the powers of hell come against it

relentlessly pursuing our mandate

Faithfully serving Jesus in His church demonstrates that we believe this church belongs to Him.

This church belongs to Jesus: We need to know it and so does everyone else.