THE CHURCH’S FOUNDATION

Matthew 16: 13-20

Jesus announced the establishment of his church in a very dramatic moment. One evening, Jesus got away with his disciples to talk and to pray. Jesus turned to the disciples and asked who do people say that I am. It was a reasonable question. They told him what they said. Some said that he was a true prophet. Others said that he was John the Baptist raised from the dead, something that terrorized Herod. While others were saying that Jesus was Elijah or one of the prophets. Then Jesus said, who do you say that I am? It was then that Peter gave that awesome, God inspired answer, "You are the Messiah of God." This was an important moment in the life of the disciples for it was a moment of personal discovery. The knowledge of Christ is always a personal discovery, not the passing on of a report learned from others. They were discovering God's Messiah for themselves.

Jesus explained for the first time that the Messiah must die and be raised on the third day. Why? So that he might pay the price for our sin, might nail our sin to the cross so that we might have eternal life.

Right after Jesus' praise of Peter for his confession and his information regarding his imminent death, Jesus establishes his church. The point is almost missed by the disciples because Peter in his usual style, made a great confession of faith and then went on to stick his foot in his mouth and Jesus pronounces those strong words, "get behind me Satan."

Yet, there has been much debate about this passage. It has been the source of debate between Protestants and Catholics as to exactly what it means. Did Jesus found his church on Peter? Well, perhaps or more precisely on Peter's confession of Jesus as God and Messiah. Jesus embraces this proclamation of Messiahship. Jesus is the one who has been promised and he calls forth his messianic community, His church.

We need to be careful how we push the metaphors of church building. The Bible uses them in different ways:

Here Jesus builds his church; in 1 Corinthians 3:10, Paul is "an expert builder." In 1 Corinthians 3:11, Jesus is the church's foundation; in Ephesians 2:19-20, the apostles and prophets are the foundation ( also Rev 21:14), and Jesus is the "cornerstone." Here Peter has the keys; in Revelation 1:18; 3:7, Jesus has the keys. In John 9:5, Jesus is "the light of the world"; in Matthew 5:14, his disciples are. None of these pairs threatens Jesus' uniqueness. (D. A. Carson, Expositors Bible Commentary, Vol. 8, 368)

Nor does the text support an apostolic succession. Taken all together, it means that we build the Church on the foundation of the apostolic witness. We have that witness here is Scripture.

From this beginning we can see that the church is not a building or an institution, but a people. The word for church in the Greek is the word Ekklesia and it means a called out assembly of people. It was used by the Greeks to describe a calling out of the citizens who belonged to a city. They were called out to vote and make important decisions. But, in the O.T. the word described God's called out and chosen people. It was the congregation of God.

Jesus, who has just received Peter's confession, proceeds to announce that he is calling out God's people. It is somehow connected with the people of the O.T. and yet it is different. It is the calling of a people under a new covenant, a covenant based on the completed work of Christ on the cross. So, this is more than a mere collection of people, it is a new community. All too often we think of becoming a Christian as simply making a personal decision, just a thing between me and God. But not once do we find God calling out individuals into individualism, he calls out individuals to be a part of the church.

Today there are so many who call themselves Christians but they are not members of any church or they are members but they seem to believe that they have no responsibility to the church. Yet, according to scripture, this cannot be. The Book of Hebrews says HEB 10:24-25 “and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.” (NASB)

We have been called to live in a community of faith, love, and good deeds, a community that marks us and shapes us in such a way that we no longer belong to the world, but to Christ.

In this peculiar community called church, we learn that we are not to be conformed to the world but to be transformed. God's Church has certain rules, particular expectations and new values that shape us and mark us. The Church helps us achieve these expectations, we have been called to submit ourselves to one another and to be accountable to one another. In the midst of these kinds of accountable social forces, we grow in Christ likeness.

We are a society of twice born people who are submitting ourselves to Jesus in order that we might be transformed into his likeness. He did not give us a church to make us into some kind of imagined church society or even into better Americans (or whatever nationality you are) , but to transform us into his character and into his likeness. Jesus said that I will build My Church. We must never forget to whose church we belong.

Finally, notice that Hell itself will not prevail against God's church. God has promised that his church will triumph through all sorts of adversity. As I watch the powerful influences that seek to attract our youth and our adults, I sometimes wonder what will happen to us, what will happen to God's church? But, Jesus reminds us that as long as we are faithfully the Church, that peculiar community of those who have been redeemed, he will protect us and his church will prevail.

But we need to see that his promise of triumph is as much as a commission as a promise. When we understand that this is a charge to us to live out the faith in our world then we become the real church. We are commissioned to do more than just gather on Sunday and sing and pray and preach. We are called to live our lives in a godly way. We are called to be a witness. When we live our lives boldly without compromise, we are being what God has called us to be, a peculiar people who bear witness to the power of Jesus Christ.

It is a powerful thing to know who calls you by name. It is a liberating thing to know that you are called a son or a daughter of God and that he has freed you to live the Christian life. It is a powerful thing to know that you have been called out to be God's Church.