St Theodore's

Wattle Park

     
 
  Sermon of the Week   
    22/8/99  
    The Great Confession Matt 16:13-20 
     
  Today I want to look at what is really the turning point of Matthew's Gospel. Before this moment Jesus has spoken only about the Kingdom of heaven, never about who he is or what he's come to do. But here in today's passage he takes the disciples aside and speaks to them about who he is. From this time on, we're told in the next section, he begins to explain to them how he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things. So it's a very significant moment in the gospel. But the fact that there's been fifteen chapters already without a mention of the cross is also significant. Why do you think Jesus waits so long before saying anything about his primary reason for coming to earth? Some commentators have suggested it's because Jesus didn't know himself until this point why he'd come. Well, I don't think I agree with them. I think the reason is that he was giving his disciples time to make up their minds about him. Time to take in all that he was doing and saying and slowly come to their own conclusions. And only then did he ask them to make a commitment. If that's the case then it tells us something about the way we do evangelism doesn't it? Hit and run evangelism may not work. Most people need time to take in the gospel. They need to be exposed to Christ and the Christian community for some time before they're ready to make a commitment to Christ; before they really understand who Christ is or what he's done for them. If it took the disciples all this time when they were actually with Jesus, we can expect our friends to take just as long. So we need to invest time in our friends if we're going to be able to share the gospel with them, if we ever hope that they'll come to know Jesus the way we do.
  Well, let's look at the passage. The first thing we're told is where this incident takes place. We're told that they've come to the region of Caesarea Philippi. Now that's on the northernmost border of Israel. As far from Jerusalem as you could get and still be in Israel. But more than that, it was a centre of pagan worship. Caesarea Philippi had temples to the Syrian god, Baal, to the Greek god, Pan, and to the Roman Emperor Cult. So can you see why Jesus might choose this spot to speak to his disciples about who he was and the reason he'd come into the world? Here he stands literally on the border between Israel and the world. Is he perhaps highlighting the fact that his coming will bridge that border? Or is he perhaps wanting to set himself against the background of the world's religions so he can be compared with them? As we go on, we'll see at least one area where there's a great contrast between the worship of Christ and the worship of those other gods. But you'll have to wait for that.
  Jesus asks his disciples "Who are people saying the Son of Man is?" He first gets them to tell him the sorts of things the general populace are saying about him. And predictably they're almost all spectacular or sensational answers. "Some say you're John the Baptist!" Recently beheaded but now presumably his spirit has been relocated into Jesus. "Others say you're Elijah." The great Prophet who was taken up into heaven and who, it was promised, would return to usher in the new Kingdom. "Others say Jeremiah!": the great prophet of Jerusalem who suffered in a way not unlike Jesus, as a result of opposition from the Jewish leaders - perhaps he'd been reincarnated in Jesus. There's a certain modern ring about all this isn't there? Shirley Maclaine eat your heart out! And, if none of these are right then he's at least a modern day prophet of that calibre. But all in all people can't really make much sense of who Jesus is.
  So Jesus says, "Well, then, who do you think I am?" The time has come for them to think for themselves. Up until now they've been the bumbling straight men to Jesus' public performance. But now he gives them the opportunity to decide for themselves who it is they're following. To verbalise the conclusions they're coming to. And so, as their spokesman, Peter speaks up. "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God." What an amazing statement! Up until this point Jesus has always referred to himself as the Son of Man. That in itself was an amazing claim, As a reference to Daniel 7 it was a claim to be the one who would come in the future to judge and rule the world. But now Peter says you are the Christ. That is, the one promised in ages past to be the anointed King, who would restore the nation of Israel and overcome all her enemies. And he adds, the Son of the Living God. Again that's an amazing confession. Lets think for a moment about this title Son of the Living God. The Living God is a very significant Old Testament title for God. It carries with it the idea that God is present and active with his people the way other gods can never be. Let me just give you two examples. Remember when Goliath was threatening the armies of Israel and David came along to take up his challenge. Do you remember what David said? (1 Sam 17:26 NRSV) "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?" David was amazed that no-one could see how pathetic Goliath's challenge was when compared with the might of the living God. That is, the God who was present with his people to save them and look after them. The second example comes from Jeremiah, where he's talking about the pagan gods that some of the Israelites were worshipping. Here's some of what he says: (Jer 10:2-10 NRSV) "Thus says the LORD: Do not learn the way of the nations, or be dismayed at the signs of the heavens; for the nations are dismayed at them. 3For the customs of the peoples are false: a tree from the forest is cut down, and worked with an axe by the hands of an artisan; 4people deck it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. 5Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do good. ... 9Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the artisan and of the hands of the goldsmith; their clothing is blue and purple; they are all the product of skilled workers. 10But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation." You see the living God stands in stark contrast to other gods which are only ever the result of human imagining. And as powerful as imagination can be, it's still only imaginary. / So can you see that when Peter calls Jesus the Son of the living God he's saying that he's the most significant person alive. And that he's in stark contrast to those gods that are worshipped in the nearby temples of Baal and Pan and Caesar. We'll come back to this in a moment when we think about how this might relate to our situation, but first let's look at Jesus response.
  He says "You are blessed Simon son of Jonah for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but by my Father in heaven." Notice that he refers to Simon as Son of Jonah. Now why do you think he refers to him like that? His father's name isn't mentioned anywhere else in the New Testament. So why does Jesus mention it here? Is it perhaps to highlight what Peter has just said about Jesus? Just as Peter is of the same stuff, the same substance as his father Jonah, so Jesus is of the same stuff, or substance as his heavenly Father. In fact notice how Jesus emphasises this by using that phrase "my Father in heaven."
  But what about Jesus statement that Peter is blessed. What does he mean by that? Is he blessed because he's done something good? Well, no. What he's done, Jesus says, isn't his own work, but it's been given to him by God the Father. Salvation is all God's work, from start to finish. Remember what John said in the introduction to his gospel? (John 1:12-13 NRSV) "But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God." Jesus says something similar in Matthew ch 11: (Mat 11:27 NRSV) "All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." Any knowledge we have of Jesus or of God the Father is what's been revealed to us. That's why knowing the Scriptures is so important.
  Well then, why is Peter blessed? Well, isn't it because he's been privileged to have this knowledge of who Jesus is revealed to him? And if that's so, then doesn't it mean that we're equally blessed? We too have been allowed to see who Jesus is and to acknowledge him as the Christ, the Son of the living God. And we too, like Peter are privileged to be able to confess him to others. // What does Jesus mean when he says "On this rock I will build my church? Does he mean on the rock who is Peter, or does he mean on the rock of Peter's confession? Well, perhaps it's both. Paul says both. (Eph 2:19-20 NRSV) "You are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, 20built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone." And (1 Cor 3:11 NRSV) "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ."
  So the church is built both upon the apostles and prophets who formed the first layer of it's structure and upon Jesus Christ and Peter's confession of him as the Christ the Son of God which underlies the lot. So what is it that builds churches? This is a critical question for us at the moment isn't it? What is it that will build St Theodore's? Disciples and communities that faithfully and tirelessly point people to Jesus Christ will be those that Jesus uses to build up his Church. And notice that it's Jesus own church. We should keep asking ourselves whose church do we belong to? Is it your church or is it Christ's church? Well, hopefully it's both. But primarily it's Christ's church. Those who encounter its people should also encounter Christ. But it has to be the true Christ doesn't it? The Christ revealed in Scripture, not the Christ of human imagination. Not one of the gods that people love to create in their minds. Not the Christ that the world wants to hear about. Not gentle Jesus meek and mild who loves everyone in some sort of sentimental soppy way and who overlooks our failures. And not the divine aspirin pill who solves all our problems for us. No the real Christ who calls us to utter obedience; to self-denial; to the way of the cross. Who knows us as we are, who died to bring us forgiveness and who now calls us to newness of life.
  And if we're truly Christ's church then he gives us this promise - that the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Now that was particularly relevant to the early church as it faced persecution, but dare we believe that it's equally relevant to a church that's small and under-resourced? I remember someone suggesting to people who didn't believe that Christianity worked that they try living for 6 weeks as though it were true and see what happens. Well, let's dare to believe that if we faithfully proclaim Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God that he'll uphold us; that he'll bring new people into our midst.
  Along with this promise, Jesus says he gives them the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heave and whatever we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. This is a statement about the gospel. When we proclaim the gospel heaven is involved. God plays a part. God stands behind and with disciples who faithfully proclaim the gospel. And that proclamation of the gospel brings its own results. People either accept it and are accepted in heaven or they reject it and so are rejected. It's like when the disciples were sent out in pairs to preach the kingdom. Jesus said if they receive you then go in and stay with them, but if they reject you then shake the dust off your sandals as you leave, because those who receive you receive me. This wasn't a judgement they pronounced on people, it was an acknowledgment of the judgement they'd brought on themselves by rejecting the gospel, by rejecting Christ. In fact this has been the case from the beginning. Remember what God said to Abram when he first called him? (Gen 12:3 NRSV) "I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." In John's gospel it's those who come to the light of Jesus who are able to walk in the light. Those who reject Jesus are left to walk in darkness. So the keys to the kingdom are really the natural results of the gospel being proclaimed.
  So what we find here in this pivotal section of Matthew's gospel is a confession of Jesus that is still pivotal even for us, 2000 years later. Peter's confession of Christ is the continuing model for us as his heirs. If we're to continue to build up the church on this foundation stone then this has to remain our personal confession. That Jesus is the Christ: that is, Lord of all we do. That he's the Son of the Living God; that is, the only one who is able to act with power in the world. And we're to be a community, a church, that demonstrates to the world through what we do and in what we say, that Jesus is still active in our lives and in the world at large. And let's remember that Jesus promised that it was He who would build up his church. And so let's continue to pray that he would do it through his people here in Wattle Park.
             
 
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