We're reading from Matthew 16, verse 13 to 23.
Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi,
he asked the 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 said,
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 it.
I will give you the keys to 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.
And he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
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 on the third day be raised.
And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying,
Far be it from you, Lord.
This shall never happen to you.
But he turned and said to Peter,
Get behind me, Satan.
You are a hindrance to me.
For you are not setting your mind on the things of God,
but on the things of man.
Well, good morning.
My name is Dave.
I'm one of the pastors, if I haven't met you before.
Why don't we pray as we come to God's word?
Yeah, Father, as we just sung, let me echo that,
the prayer of that song, that we need you to speak to us.
Lord, if whatever storms are raging in our life,
we need to be preoccupied and set our eyes on the Lord Jesus,
because it is in him that we have hope and life and blessing.
So please reveal your son to each one of us through your word.
In his name I pray.
Amen.
Well, I've had a few important questions
that have shaped my life to this point.
I've had to sign a contract with the bank
about where I'm going to live,
and there was a lot of conditions there
that I had to agree to.
I've had to sign a contract with this place of work
about the things I'm going to do,
and I made public promises about the things I'm going to do.
I had to answer a bunch of questions.
And perhaps more fundamental again
is when Martin Shadwick married Emma and I,
he asked, do you take...
Oh, wait, what did he ask?
What's the question?
I forgot the wording of it.
Oh, how awful.
Yeah, anyway, I gave consent.
I promise I did.
Pete did a video.
I can play it.
I can prove it.
Now, these things have really shaped my life.
And there's probably other questions too
that are important in your life.
But we're coming to a passage that is confronting us
and telling us there is one ultimate question
that defines who you are and your future.
It defines whether you have hope,
whether you have blessing,
whether you have life.
There is one ultimate question.
And that question has nothing to do with you or me.
It's got nothing to do with what you do
and what you're agreeing to.
Jesus is asking each one of us
through the words of Matthew here,
who do you say that I am?
I think this question,
we wrestle with it because,
or I wrestle with it precisely because
it's got nothing to do with me
and what I can do.
The Word of God says that
based on the answer to this question,
our eternity weighs in the balance,
whether we are right with God,
whether we have blessing forever in his kingdom or not.
Romans 10, 9 and 10 says,
if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved.
That's it.
You will be saved.
Based on the answer to this question.
So this passage,
it marks a climax and a turning point
in Matthew's account of the life of Jesus so far.
His purpose hasn't been to give us
a whole bunch of isolated stories
like a children's book,
which we can pick and choose our favourite
and just get spiritual lessons from them,
like they're fables or something.
His purpose from the very first sentence
is to paint a picture of the Jesus that people met.
He's assembling the evidence.
He could have put way more in here,
but he's chosen this
and he's brought us to this point
and he's basically telling us, the reader,
you've seen enough.
It's time to decide.
You need to start deciding.
At the passage just prior,
the Pharisees had already come to their conclusion.
They demand an irrefutable sign
that he is sent from heaven,
which sounds very godly,
as if they're going to respond based on the evidence,
but what are they actually doing?
What they're doing is dismissing everything
they've heard and seen.
It is not godly at all.
So what about us?
After all we have heard and seen,
are we going to demand more
and bring our own questions,
demands for Jesus to answer?
He doesn't dance to their tune.
He won't answer according to their criteria.
He won't answer according to ours.
He's asking us to look at him
and what he has said and done.
In verse 13,
we are told that Jesus and the Twelve
are far north of Galilee.
They're far away from Jerusalem,
in the heart of Gentile territory.
It's almost a visual representation, I think,
that he's taken his disciples
away from the religious leaders,
away from this religious thinking,
for them to come up with their conclusion
about who he is.
And just before this,
we have a warning.
Beware of the teaching
of these religious leaders.
Beware of this kind of teaching.
Just a little bit of it
can spread through the whole.
If you think like this,
it will blind you to who I am
and God's salvation.
Human criteria,
religious criteria,
will keep us blind to God's salvation.
What I mean by religious criteria
is anything that presumes
that God blesses or curses
based on what you do or don't do.
So,
we have three groups of people
and three responses to Jesus.
The first group is the religious leaders.
We know their conclusion already.
They're determined to destroy Jesus.
They want nothing to do with him.
They want him out of their lives.
They've concluded
he can't be from God.
He's not religious enough.
How about that?
Jesus isn't religious enough.
His lineage is of no account.
He defiles himself
by being a friend of sinners
and tax collectors and Gentiles.
He doesn't keep the traditions
of the elders of the law.
He claims authority above the law,
breaking the Sabbath.
He makes himself equal with God,
claiming to be able to forgive sins.
Like,
this guy,
we've got to get rid of him.
He's not religious enough
and he's arrogant.
Their conclusion,
he's a fraud.
Then we've got the crowds.
What about the crowds?
Well,
the crowds have a much higher view of Jesus,
don't they?
Which
probably isn't surprising
since
they've
seen so many miracles
and wonders,
all the healing
of their family members
and their community.
They've got a higher view of Jesus.
And their responses
are really thoughtful.
They're respectful.
They're believing
he does have divine authority.
John the Baptist,
like the prophets of old,
he spoke with the authority of God,
urging repentance from sin,
willing to oppose kings
for their ungodliness.
Maybe they saw a bit of that
in Jesus.
Maybe they saw something like Elijah
who demonstrated
a faithfulness to God
when the whole nation
wasn't faithful.
Or the working wonders
and miracles that Elijah did,
raising the dead
and cleansing lepers.
But now it's just on a,
it's just been amplified
the amount of miracles
Jesus does.
Or maybe they saw
something of the suffering
of the prophet Jeremiah
and Jesus.
The confrontation
with the religious leaders.
Maybe they saw something
of his suffering.
These are all
the very thoughtful
answers,
respectful answers.
But Matthew
has showed us
a picture
of Jesus
that yes,
he occupies
the category of prophet,
a messenger from God,
but there's just
something about him
that breaks
that box.
There's words and deeds
that he is creating
a whole new category
for himself.
So the Pharisees,
they are so far away
from the truth
and the crowds
are so much closer
to the truth.
But the problem is
whether you are drowning
100 kilometres
out to sea
or drowning
100 metres
from the shore,
you are still
in grave danger.
The context
suggests
a reason
for these
dangerous conclusions
which is
Jesus'
warning of
beware
of the religious
teaching.
Anything
that presumes
that God
blesses
or doesn't bless
based on
what you do.
I think
that explains
the crowd's
conclusion
of the prophet.
See,
a prophet
tells you
who God is
and what he
wants from you.
We need
more than
a prophet.
We need
more than
someone saying
this is true
and this is
what you should
do.
He's not
just
a good
teacher
and example
to follow.
If that's
the case,
that's just
religious thinking.
Beware
of that.
I'm going
to give
a modern
example of
it because
to hopefully
help us
grasp this
for us
today.
I'm not
sure if
you've
heard of
this guy
or if
you listen
to him
or not.
I know
a few
people have
read some
of his
books.
Jordan
Peterson,
he does
a lot of
podcasts
and speaks
a lot.
I've heard
him say
incredible
statements.
He reads
the
Gospels
and he
finds it
hard to
believe
that it
was just
humans who
wrote this
because Jesus
is too
clever is
basically his
point.
That's a
profound
statement.
He often
refers to
Christ as
the ultimate
example of
virtue, of
goodness, of
beauty, who
we should be
imitating.
him.
They're
incredible
statements.
But that's
the problem.
He stops
there.
Yes, Jesus
might be
someone to
imitate but
he never
says that
he is
king to
whom we
must give
our lives.
He never
says he
is saviour
because I'm
a sinner in
great need.
That's the
danger of
it.
It can
sound so
respectful,
so close
to the
truth and
yet so
far away.
Because of
our sin,
because of
the curse
of living
in a broken
world that
we're wrestling
with every
day, because
death is
the wages
of sin and
hangs over
all of us
like a dark
cloud, we
need a
saviour.
We don't
just need a
prophet, we
need a
saviour.
We need a
king.
So to
see Christ
for who
he is, we
need to be
emptied of
this religious
thinking.
And we
need to come
to the
gospel portrait
of Jesus
that Matthew
has showed
us and let
him define
himself.
So that
brings us to
the third
group, the
disciples.
So verse
15, the
question here,
but who do
you say that
I am?
It's important
we know that
the you there
is plural.
We don't
really have a
way of saying
that in
English.
Who do you
say that I
am?
Who do y'all
say that I
am?
It's plural.
So we can
take Peter's
response here
as representing
the 12.
You are
the Christ,
the king,
the son of
the living
God.
Now all
the gospels
agree with
slight variations
on this
conclusion.
So Mark
says you
are the
Christ.
Luke, the
Christ of
God.
John's
gospel, the
Christ, the
son of
God.
This
confession,
this
expression of
belief is
what qualifies
you to be a
Christian, to
belong to
Jesus and
be saved.
Full stop.
We want to
add to that
because I
think we're so
prone to that
religious thinking.
Full stop.
If this is
your confession,
you are
saved.
there's no
more to
it.
Jesus'
declaration to
Peter belongs
to you as
well.
Blessed are
you.
You are
blessed.
You may not
feel blessed
with things
going on in
your life.
You are
blessed if
you can make
this confession
salvation.
Because all
God's promises
of heaven, of
relationship with
him are
yours because
you have the
son.
But it's the
father who
reveals the
son to us.
We can't work
this out in our
own intelligence,
our own
wisdom.
The father
reveals the
son.
The one who
created the
son to shine
brightly also
needs to give
eyes so that we
can see that
light.
Same too
spiritually.
The father has
revealed the
son for all the
world to see.
We have the
Bible.
We have
teachers across
the world in
all different
churches teaching
this gospel.
people.
It's been
revealed.
But the
father must also
give you eyes
spiritually speaking
to see.
We are all in
darkness in our
natural state, in
our religious
assumptions.
actions.
So if you can
see Jesus'
light, don't
credit your own
knowledge.
Don't credit
your own wisdom
for working it
out.
Don't even
credit your own
humility for
accepting that you
need a saviour.
There's only one
reason you can
see and that's
because the
father has
shared his
view of his
son to you,
he's opened
your eyes.
It's purely
grace.
Not even this
confession is
your doing.
He created
it.
If you are
struggling to
see Jesus,
then the
answer is
ask God
to open
your eyes.
He's only
too ready to
answer that
kind of
prayer.
So
understanding
what it
means for
Jesus to
be the
Christ,
we must
also
understand
what content
to put in
that and
what he
came to
do, his
mission.
And we're
told that in
the next
verse, his
mission is
to build the
church.
The church,
not just the
institution,
talking the
people, his
people.
He came to
build his
people.
And notice
Christ himself
is the
builder.
I will
build my
church.
We might
think it's
the
Christian's
job.
Yes, we've
got a role
to play in
that.
But no,
it's Christ
who builds
the church.
Now,
surprisingly,
he says,
now for you
who like
puns, and
I'm thinking
of you,
Joel Kelsey,
Peter,
Greek
Petros,
can both
mean a
rock and
is a
male name.
So,
there's the
pun.
You,
Peter,
on this
rock I
will build
my church
and the
gates of
hell shall
not prevail
against it.
Now,
these verses
are hotly
debated and
so I'm
going to
use the
excuse of
time to
just do
a pretty
cursory
summary of
the options
and I'll
share what
I think
that I
encourage you
to talk
more over
morning tea.
So,
assuming that
Jesus isn't
just cracking
a joke,
a pun,
he wants
to make a
point here.
What is
the rock?
What is
the bedrock
of the
foundation
of the
church?
Well,
the Catholic
view,
this verse
is critical
to the
Catholic
view of
having a
Pope,
having a
representative
of Christ
on earth,
a successor
to Peter,
linking that
with verse
19.
I'm going
to give
you the
keys of
the
kingdom
of heaven.
But,
there's
nothing
mentioned
here about
a successor
to Peter.
While
Acts and
the epistles
show that
Peter is
something,
along with
James and
John,
something of
a first
among equals
of the
early church,
he's never
painted as
having exclusive
authority.
There's no
circumstance
where his
final judgment
is the
authority on
the matter.
An example
there is
Acts 15,
where they
had the
council in
Jerusalem.
Peter doesn't
give the
final verdict.
I think you
would expect
that if
Peter was the
head of the
church in
a pope
sense.
Nor is
Peter infallible,
like we see
that in the
very next
paragraph.
And Paul
had to
rebuke
Peter publicly
because he
was acting
in a way
that undermined
the gospel.
So he's not
infallible
either.
So there's
a whole bunch
of reasons
why that
Catholic view
of a
successor,
head of
the church,
a pope
view,
doesn't stand
the weight
of
scripture.
So what
are the
other
options?
Broadly
taken,
maybe Peter
here is
representing
all believers.
So he's
just the
first stone
laid as
Jesus
builds his
church,
person by
person.
Or some
other
significance
of the
fact that
Peter is
addressed
personally,
so maybe
just the
leader of
the early
church.
Or is
he
representing
the
twelve
apostles?
Or another
option is
that it's
not Peter
who's the
rock,
but it's
the confession
Peter makes.
You are
the Christ.
That is
the rock
of the
church.
Okay,
there's the
options.
I'm not
going to go
into it
too much
more.
You guys
can debate
it over
morning tea.
I'm just
going to
show you
where I'm
up to.
If Peter
is the
representative
of the
twelve
when he
makes that
confession,
you are
the
Christ.
He's
speaking
on behalf
of the
twelve.
Then maybe
he's also
representing
the twelve
when Jesus
speaks to
him here.
So it's
the apostles
who are
the rock,
the foundation
of the
church.
Now I
like that
in my
current
thinking
because
that
aligns
with other
pictures
of God.
Like
Ephesians 2,
the apostles
are the
foundation of
the temple
or Revelation
22.
They are the
foundation of
the city
of God
that we're
hoping for.
To me
I think
this fits
because
your confession,
if you're a
believer,
your confession
of Jesus,
what is it
based on?
It's not
based on
other
Christians
primarily
telling you
the gospel.
It's based
on
what the
apostles
have told
us,
their
eyewitness
testimony
in their
confession.
So that's
why I'm
saying I
think the
rock represents
the twelve.
Our
confession
is based
on this
first confession
of the twelve.
So I'll
leave that
with you.
Then we
have a
wonderful
promise.
The gates
of hell
shall not
prevail against
the church.
Now gates
here can
mean
fortifications,
so the
full forces,
the full
army of
hell or
Hades,
the place
of the dead.
So I think
RSV translation
can help us.
the powers
of death
shall not
prevail against
it.
And I
think this
is incredible
because let's
face it,
death prevails
against
everything.
Doesn't
it?
Isn't
that why
life is so
painful?
Death
prevails
against
everyone
and
everything.
But
death is
not just
the natural
life cycle,
it's the
wages of
sin.
This is
crucial to
know how
Jesus builds
his church.
He must
take the
curse on
sin that
we deserve.
Death
won't prevail
against his
church because
death didn't
prevail against
him.
He took
that curse,
paid it in
fall and
raised from
the dead.
There's
nothing,
there's no
wages to
pay anymore.
It didn't
prevail against
him, so
all who
are united
him, it
won't prevail.
Nothing is
able to
separate us
from the
love of
God in
Christ Jesus
our Lord.
God, what a
wonderful hope
we have.
And if you
don't yet know
this kind of
hope, then I
would urge you
to keep
wrestling with
this ultimate
question because
that's where
you'll find
hope.
Who do you
say that I
am?
Well, so
far we've
been focusing
on what
Christ does.
He will
build the
church, he
will make
sure death
doesn't
prevail.
Then we
get a
surprising
role given
to the
apostles and
to the
church.
I will
give you
the keys
of the
kingdom of
heaven.
Now, I
don't know
about you,
but my
reaction to
that is,
hang on,
don't do
that, not
a good
idea.
Jesus, are
you sure
you want
to put
that kind
of authority
in people's
hands?
Because the
keys is a
picture
representing
like you
can unlock
the door and
let people
in to the
kingdom of
heaven or
you can
shut it.
And there's
a guarantee
given,
whatever you
bind on
earth shall
be bound
in heaven,
whatever you
loose on
earth shall
be loosed
in heaven.
I think
what helps
us to
understand
these
keys is
to look
at a
negative
example
of the
keys in
Luke 11
52 and
then Matthew
23, 13.
So let me
read.
say, Jesus
saying to the
teachers of
the law,
woe to
you lawyers,
for you
have taken
away the
key of
knowledge.
You did
not enter
yourselves and
you hindered
those who
were entering.
And then the
Matthew equivalent
of that verse,
woe to you
scribes and
Pharisees, you
hypocrites, for
you shut the
kingdom of
heaven in
people's faces,
for you neither
enter yourselves
nor allow those
who would enter
to go in.
Now how did
they have the
keys?
They had the
keys because
they were
teachers.
And what they
were teaching
wasn't true
knowledge.
It was
religious,
focused on
self, not
focused on
trust in what
God can do.
And so they
were shutting
the door of
heaven for
people.
That's the
negative example.
So I think
that helps us
understand what
Jesus is saying
here.
Based on this
confession,
apostles and
church, you
can open the
door to heaven
for people by
professing this
gospel that
Jesus is the
Christ, the
Son of God.
In as much as
we can get that
across, we are
opening a door
for people to
come in.
What an
incredible
privilege.
Again, it's
Christ who
builds his
church, but
he's going to
do it through
this confession
that every
Christian has.
I'm not
talking evangelism
here.
I'm saying if
you're a
Christian, you
confess Christ.
That's what it
is to be a
Christian.
And as much
as your life
and your words
can show that,
we have the
privilege of
having the
keys of the
kingdom.
We have the
gospel to
share.
So how
exciting this
moment must
have been for
the apostles.
Here they
have this
special relationship
with the king
of the world,
promising that
they are
blessed, they
are part of
his people,
that they
have the
father as
well.
Simply on the
basis of
seeing and
confessing who
he is, that
they have
hope that
death will
not prevail,
and they've
given such a
privileged role
in proclaiming
this confession
of faith to
others also.
Now it's
precisely because
of their
conviction that
Jesus is the
Christ that
when he started
to lay out
his plan for
ascending the
throne, that's
what brings
about this
reaction, or
part of it
at least.
Okay, we're
going to go to
Jerusalem.
Fantastic.
That's where we
should go.
I'm going to
suffer.
Okay, not so
good, but I
suppose we
shouldn't have
expected it to
be easy.
At the hands of
elders and chief
priests and
scribes.
I was expecting
Roman army there,
but I don't know
why you'd submit
to those guys
and be killed.
Hang on.
They probably
barely heard the
next part about
being raised.
Peter, on the
one hand, the
first part of the
passage, he is
thinking God's
thoughts about the
Christ because the
Father had revealed
it to him, and
here he now
arrogantly presumes
that he knows
God's plan, God's
will, better than
the Christ.
that's not the
plan.
As if he's just
saying to the
Christ he's
confessed, hang
on, I'm not sure
you understand what
Lord means.
It doesn't mean
that.
I don't know
about you, but
don't we have the
same reaction?
Most days, I'm
spilling over into
next week's
passage, but
Jesus told his
disciples, if
anyone would come
after me, he must
deny himself and
take up his cross
and follow me.
I can relate to
Peter's reaction
here when
discipleship means
following the
path of suffering.
That's not the
plan.
Don't you
understand, Lord,
what it means to
be Lord?
But anyway, we'll
come to that next
week.
We need to first be
gripped by what
Jesus does on our
behalf before we
look at what it
means to follow
him.
Peter thinks he
can contribute
something, that he
has a better way,
that maybe he could
fight for the king.
But this rock's
contribution just
becomes a stumbling
block.
book.
It's only after the
resurrection that
Peter really
understands the
full picture of
who Christ is.
It's genuine
belief here, but
it's partial.
He doesn't fully
get it.
And Jesus sees the
same temptation he
received after his
baptism and the
same temptation he's
going to face in the
garden of Gethsemane.
He sees that same
temptation through the
words of Peter.
You can be king
without going to the
cross.
Now here's the
beautiful thing.
Look at the king we
have.
He doesn't for a
moment entertain
that temptation.
He is determined to
be trusting his
father and trusting
his father's plan to
take the path of
suffering, to take
the death for our
sake, for our
salvation.
Peter contributes
nothing to this plan.
If anything, he's an
obstacle to it.
You and I contribute
nothing to our
salvation.
We don't even need a
complete understanding
of Jesus.
Yes, you need to
understand he died for
sins and was raised,
but can we really have a
complete understanding of
that?
You don't even need a
consistent trust in
Jesus.
Even if you're a
Christian, if you
declare faith, even
that has been given
to you by the
Father opening your
eyes, we contribute
nothing to our
salvation.
It's his faith to
his father.
It's his faithfulness to
his father's plan that
saves us.
this king is so full of
grace.
All he wants is for us
to stop thinking in
terms of what we do.
Stop looking at that.
Look to him, who he is,
what he has done.
That all the death, the
curse of sin for our
unfaithfulness that you and
I do deserve, he takes it.
All of heaven's blessings
because of his faithfulness
that you and I don't
deserve, he gives it.
We contribute nothing.
Which makes this question
the only ultimate question
in life.
Because it's not about what
you can contribute, it's
about who he is and what
he has done.
Can I urge you, don't
rest until you can answer
it.
Rejoice if you can and
give glory to the
father's grace in giving
you eyes to see.
Keep coming back to it
when your perspective
turns in on yourself
again and again.
Keep coming back to it.
And realise the privilege
and calling we have that
we have the keys to open
up heaven for people.
Inasmuch as we profess
that Jesus is the
Christ, the son of the
living God in whom is
hope and blessing in
life.
Let me pray.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you for
sending your son and
Lord Jesus, thank you for
coming and choosing to
going to go to the
cross.
Not because you had to
but because you delighted
to trust your father and
obey your father.
Thank you, Holy Spirit, for
opening our eyes so that we
can confess Jesus as Lord
and be saved.
And Lord, I pray that you
would be continuing to
build your church.
Lord, if there's anyone here
today who doesn't know you,
use my weak words to do
powerful things in their
heart.
And Lord, for all of us,
please help us to keep
coming back again and
again to who you are and
what you have done and not
ourselves.
In Jesus' name, amen.