I Will Build My Church

He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30.

Then for three years, he was a wandering preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held a political office. He never owned a house.

He never traveled more than 200 miles from the place where he was born. He was only 33 when a tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

20 centuries have come and gone. Today, he remains the central figure of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this planet so much as that one solitary life. But who is he? Who is Jesus? To the churchgoer, he's a brilliant teacher of the golden rule. To the liberal theologian, he's the embodiment of the best that is in all of us. To the non-Christian, he's a great example of love. To oppressed people, he's the first century freedom fighter. To the theatergoer, he is Jesus Christ's superstar.

To the student, he's a killjoy who stops us having fun. To the salesperson, he's the ultimate motivator. To the new ager, he is the path to enlightenment. But again, I ask, who is he? Who is Jesus? That question, who is Jesus, is the most important question you could ever ask and answer. And to answer that question, who is he? Who is Jesus? We turn to the authentic Jesus, yes to the Jesus of the Bible. In our Scripture today, as we continue our study of Matthew's Gospel, the Lord Jesus is in the north of Israel, a place called Caesarea Philippi.

It's a town which had pagan influences. Today, you can still see the cave where the Greek god Pan was said to be born. Lord willing, as I have the privilege of leading a group to Israel in October, we will go to Caesarea Philippi and we'll see that cave. And it is there, right in the north of Israel, Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus asks his disciples two questions. The first question is, who do people say that the Son of Man is?

And they give various answers. John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Jesus is a prophet, but he's much more than a prophet. But then, Jesus asks the disciples this question, this question I'm asking you, whoever you are. Who do you say that I am? And this question, the central question down through the history of this world, comes to you and me afresh today, who do you say that I am? Who is Jesus?

A very personal question. Let's read our Bibles, Matthew chapter 16, and we're reading from verse 13, in this very, very important passage of Scripture, and a very controversial passage of Scripture, as we will see. Matthew chapter 16, verse 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? 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 Barjona, 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 you.

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. Jesus, who is he? Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Yes, Jesus is the Messiah, Hebrew term. He is the Christ, Christos in Greek. And Peter, the leader of the twelve, always mentioned first in the list of the disciples. Peter, who is their spokesman, answers Jesus' question, but who do you say that I am? Peter replies, verse 16, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. This is divine revelation, Jesus is telling Peter.

He said, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. This is divine revelation given from heaven to earth that Peter can say, as he looks at Jesus, this man he's followed now for some time, he says you are the Christ, you're the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Now this term Messiah, Christos in Greek, means the anointed one. We saw Jesus at his baptism earlier in the gospel, as the Holy Spirit descends on him in the form of a dove. He's anointed by the Holy Spirit at his baptism.

Peter, in Acts chapter 10, verse 38, says to Cornelius, the pagan centurion, that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. That is, with the arrival of Jesus, the great messianic age has now dawned. The Jewish nation are looking for the Messiah. Israel is looking for a Messiah, a king promised in 2 Samuel 7, a king whose throne shall be established forever. And all of Israel is looking for the Messiah to come. The Messiah, who they think will overthrow the Roman power, will get rid of the Gentile oppression, will liberate the Jewish nation and establish the great messianic kingdom on earth. Messiah's throne, his temple, will be in Jerusalem at the very center of the world. And the realization of Israel's hope of a Messiah, as prophesied in the Old Testament, finds its fulfillment in Jesus. So to the question, who is Jesus? One very good answer would be, he's the long-awaited Redeemer, he's the Savior, he's the King, he's the anointed one. Jesus is the Christ, is the Messiah.

Do you believe that? Do you believe that this man, this historical man, the man who actually lived for 33 to 36 years, that this man, who I believe is the central figure of human history, that he in fact is the Christ, the King, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? If that is true, as I'm saying it is, we owe our total obedience and allegiance to this one. Now in the first century, as we've seen, someone to use the Messiah for their own selfish ends, political power, material benefit, this one can feed you with loaves and fishes, this would be a nice one to follow. Similarly in the 21st century, many want a Christ, many want a Jesus who does what we want Him to do. Who's there to make life more comfortable for us, a Jesus who will help us to fulfill our dreams. Almost blasphemous, isn't it? That we finite human beings, specks in the universe, would want the whole world to revolve around us.

That Jesus is all about helping me get through life. We're going to learn next week, Lord willing, that following this one, following this Jesus, who Peter says is the Christ, the Son of the living God, that this one includes suffering, it includes self-denial and perhaps even death. Yes, these men who stand and who make this magnificent confession as led by their spokesman Peter, some of them are going to be very killed for their faith as they follow the Messiah.

Such is their commitment. See at this point, as we saw last week, the disciples' concept of a Messiah didn't include suffering and death. That wasn't the kind of Messiah they wanted.

They wanted a political figure. Yes, it was wonderful that He could heal, wonderful that He could teach, but they wanted Him to overthrow the powers, the Gentiles and to set up there the very throne of David in a temple there in Jerusalem. But Jesus has explained, as we saw last week, that He must go to Jerusalem, that He must suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, I'm quoting from verse 21, and be killed and on the third day rise again.

That was hard for them, hard for us to think that this one who we are following is going to be a life of suffering, a life of self-denial, a life of possible death. That's what He means to follow Jesus. Who is He? He's the Christ. He's the Messiah. He's the anointed one. He is the King. Not only is He the Messiah, as Peter says, you are the Son of the living God.

What a statement. Not just a prophet coming from God, as Islam would say, no, He is the Son of the living God. He is God the Son, the Son of God, and God the Son. We sang about the Trinity in the new song, that this is in Jesus Christ is God incarnate.

The Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us. Who are you? You're the Christ.

Who are you? You're the Son of the living God. And we've already heard that supernatural confirmation from heaven when Jesus was baptized. His Father, as He looks at His Son, as His Son comes out of these waters being baptized by John the Baptist, He says, this is my well beloved Son. A couple of weeks as we think of the Transfiguration, Matthew chapter 17, again chapter 17 verse 5, we read a voice from the clouds saying, this is God speaking regarding His Son. This is my beloved Son with whom I am pleased.

Listen to Him. From heaven to earth comes a divine declaration that Jesus is no ordinary man. He's greater than John the Baptist. He's greater than Elijah. He's greater than Jeremiah.

Yes, He is a prophet, but He's more than a prophet. He's the very Christ, the Son of the living God. Now, notice what Jesus then says.

Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God, is building His church. Verse 18, the declaration comes from Peter. Jesus says to Peter, you're right.

You didn't get this from someone else. Wasn't that one of the rabbis told you this? No, this revelation came from my Father in heaven. Verse 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. What a statement.

What a statement. The church will be built, Jesus says, on this rock. Now, the meaning of this rock is greatly debated as many of you know. These verses that we read, Matthew 16, verses 13 through 20, is one of the basic texts for the establishment of the Roman Catholic papacy. Roman Catholicism teaches that Peter personally is the rock on which the whole church is built. And in verse 19, Rome would tell us that Jesus promises to give to Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven with authority to bind and loose. Peter then, in Roman Catholicism, is seen as being given supreme authority over the entire church. And this authority, down through the ages, has been passed on to the Roman bishops, the popes, who are Peter's divine successors. You may have heard of apostolic succession. So, Rome teaches us that the pope is the vicar of Christ. He is God's representative on earth. Listen to the Roman Catholic Catechism. Listen to their own teaching. The pope, the bishop of Rome, and Peter's successor.

Note that. This is the claim of Rome. The pope, the bishop of Rome, and Peter's successor is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful. For the Roman pontiff, by reason of his office as vicar of Christ, and as pastor, notice this, as pastor of the entire church, has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole church.

A power which he can always exercise unhindered. That's paragraph 882, not the words of John Monroe, the words of the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church. You can notice, you can check it yourself.

Notice what it says. That the pope is the pastor of the entire church. The Catholic Church, Catholic meaning universal. He's the pastor of the entire church and his full, supreme, and universal power over the whole church. What a claim. A power which you can always exercise unhindered.

There you have it. Paragraph 936, the Lord made Saint Peter, notice this, referring here to the very passage we've read, the visible foundation of the church. He entrusted the keys of the church to him, the bishop of the church of Rome, successor to Saint Peter, and his head of the college of bishops, the vicar of Christ, here we have it again, and pastor of the universal church on earth. What a claim. Can I say the verses we read say nothing, incidentally, of the successors of Peter being infallible or having full, supreme, and universal power over the whole church?

What a claim. Think of what the pope is claiming, that he has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole universal church. So if we at Calvary are part of the church, surely we are, that the pope, the bishop of Rome, has full, supreme, and universal power over this church. Is that what Jesus is saying to Peter? We saw last week that Peter is about to be rebuked by Jesus and called Satan. Verse 23, he turned and said to Peter, get behind me Satan, you are a hindrance to me.

Strange, isn't it? If the Roman Catholic Church is right that Peter would get such a rebuke, this man Peter is going to deny Christ, in fact, later in the gospels, as we all know. He's also married, we've met his mother-in-law in chapter 8, and Peter writes as an old man in 1 Peter 5, verse 2, verse 1 rather, when he's writing to the elders, Peter describes himself as a fellow elder, a fellow elder. Now what's going on here? Jesus is building his church.

I will build my church. The Greek word for Peter is petros, small stone, and the word for rock is petra. I think we have the words on the screen there. Petros, Greek word for Peter. Petra, see how similar it is, feminine word. Petros, masculine, petra, feminine. Petra is the word for rock. Some of you have been to Petra in southern Jordan, in the west of Jordan.

I've been there a few times. Why is it called Petra? Because it's huge rock. So notice verse 18, Jesus to Peter, I tell you, you are Peter, petros. And on this rock, petra, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Now clearly, there is a play in words which are missing in our English translation, with petros and petra, play in words. But notice what Jesus does not say. Jesus does not say to Peter, you are Peter, petros, and on you I will build my church.

In Scripture, if you know your Bible, God, not man, is described as a rock. And the confession by Peter, petros, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, is the doctrinal foundation of the church, which Christ will build. Peter is a great man.

He's going to be used mightily by the Lord, this petros. He's the leader of the apostles. He's the representative of the apostles, and in that sense, is foundational to the church. So on the great day of Pentecost, as the disciples are filled with the Spirit, we're not surprised that the spokesman, the main preacher on the day of Pentecost is not Thomas or James, it's Peter. He is the preacher on the day of Pentecost. Furthermore, he's the apostle who first brings the gospel to the Gentiles in Acts 10 and verse 11. But a church, think of this, a church built on the person of Peter would be a very unstable church.

Could I say it would be a very rocky church? The doctrinal foundation of the church, please hear me, hear me, comes from the apostles and the prophets. But Jesus Christ, as we sang, is the cornerstone. Now turn to Ephesians chapter 2.

Paul is going to say this. The church is described in various ways in the New Testament, and here in Ephesians 2 verse 19, notice how it's described. So you, he's talking to Gentile Ephesians who have been converted, so you then are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. What's the household of God? The church. Do you realize as we gather together, this is the house of God. You have come into the house of God.

No, not a building, but as we meet as believers in Jesus Christ, this is the house of God, the household of God. Verse 20, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. That's the doctrinal statement. These men came and they preached the gospel, they preached the doctrine that they had received from the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is the very foundation of the church, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. Here is Jesus in Caesarea Philippi asking the disciples, who do people say that I am? They give the answers, and then he says, now, who do you say that I am? The response comes from Peter the spokesman. Divine revelation, not thought up by Peter, not thought up by Thomas, but revealed by God the Father himself to Peter representing the apostles and the disciples.

You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now what's Jesus going to do with these men? They're following him. He's teaching them.

Their faith is often shaky. They sometimes find it very difficult to understand the teaching of Jesus, but he's equipping them, he's molding them. And at the end of Matthew chapter 28, what does he do? After his crucifixion, after his resurrection, his priorities ascension, he sends them out and says to them, go and make disciples of all the nations.

They are going, and so these disciples are going into the unbelieving world and to plant and to found and to establish churches of the living God. But there is no question that while the apostles are absolutely essential to the foundation of the church as the Lord Jesus is commissioning them, that Jesus himself is the builder of the church and the personal foundation of the church. He says, I will build my church.

How is he going to do it? In part, by sending out the apostles to preach the gospel. So Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 11, talking about the church, for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. Is Peter instrumental for the foundation of the church?

Yes, so is John. So are all the apostles, but the personal foundation of the church is our Lord Jesus Christ and it is he who says, I will build my church. Now this reference, this reference to the church, verse 18, if you've got your Bible here, I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. This is the only occurrence of this word, church, ecclesia in Greek.

It's the only occurrence in the gospels other than in chapter 18, which we'll see in a few weeks. What is the church? What is the ecclesia? It is an assembly of people, a household of God. It's an assembly of people called out from the world to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. I had the privilege of speaking to the middle schoolers on Wednesday night, and they're doing a study of Acts.