Sermon -- 13th Sunday after Pentecost (August 27, 2023)

MATTHEW 16:13-20

THE CHURCH IS FOUNDED ON THE ROCK, WHICH IS CHRIST.

In the name + of Jesus.

      Peter made two confessions about Jesus of Nazareth.  First, he called him the Christ.  We will get back to that confession in a moment.  Peter also confessed, “You are … the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).  We probably don’t consider those two specific confessions.  We put them together because both are true.  Jesus is the Christ, and he is the Son of the living God.  But to confess that Jesus is the Son of the living God is a bit different and deserves its own attention.

     For one thing, there was a specific start time to Jesus becoming the Christ.  When he was baptized in the Jordan River, he was publicly declared to be the Lord’s Anointed, that is, the Christ.  That is when he began his public ministry as the Savior.  But there was never a start time for God the Son.  God the Son, the Son of the living God, is eternal. 

     Many people do not believe that Jesus is God the Son.  Nevertheless, everyone benefits from it whether they confess it or not.  This is what the Bible teaches regarding the Son: “By him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…—all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17). 

     When God the Father created heaven and earth, he used words to bring things into being.  God the Son is the Word through whom all things were made.  Even more than that, he is the Word which sustains all things.  Psalm 147 reminds us, “He sends out his command to the earth…  He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes.  He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold?  He sends out his word, and melts them…” (Psalm 147:15-18).  At creation, God blessed the animals, “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:22).  That blessing continues and results in the animals reproducing each year.  The crops produce according to God’s command.  The earth maintains its orbit according to God’s command.  The oceans know their limits, the meteors keep their distance, and the seasons keep their times all at the command of the Son of the living God.  For we have this promise from God: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22).  It is a promise you can bank on because it comes from our Lord whose word is always sure.  The word of the Lord is the rock on which creation rests.  So, if anyone is born, breathes, eats, or moves, it is because of the Son of the living God, whether he acknowledges Jesus or not. 

     God the Son is eternal, but in time he became a human being, Jesus.  This Jesus became the Christ.  When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River at age thirty, the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove.  This was the anointing of Jesus, marking him as the Messiah.  It was the beginning of Jesus’ public work in his office as the Christ, the Lord’s Anointed.

     Jesus was anointed to fulfill three offices.  He was anointed as prophet.  A prophet speaks for God, and Jesus is God who came to speak what God the Father had given him to say.  Jesus was also anointed as king.  Kings rule, and Jesus rules over all things.  But Jesus also serves as a king in another way.  When Samuel anointed David to be king over Israel, he took a flask of oil and poured it upon David’s head.  The Holy Spirit came upon David with special gifts and authority.  Immediately after David became the Lord’s Anointed, he went out and battled Goliath.  The Lord’s anointed single-handedly did battle with the enemy of God’s people and slew him.  Likewise, Jesus, the Lord’s anointed, went out to do battle against our unconquerable foes—sin, death, and the devil.  Jesus took our sins upon himself.  He gave himself into death and was slain on our behalf.  But then Jesus rose from the dead.  He has taken away our sins so that we will not be condemned for them.  He has conquered death so that it does not rule over us.  And he has crushed the devil’s head so that his kingdom and reign over us is destroyed.

     Jesus was also anointed to serve as our great high priest.  The job of the high priest is to make sacrifices on behalf of the people.  Jesus not only served as our high priest who made the sacrifice for our sins, he is that sacrifice.  Jesus shed his holy, precious blood to cleanse us from all impurity.  This is what it means that Jesus is the Christ.

     When Peter made this confession, Jesus commended him.  “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah!  For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you” (Matthew 16:17).  Flesh and blood had been talking about Jesus.  Jesus had asked what the people were saying about him.  Their assessments were intended as compliments.  “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets” (Matthew 16:14).  They were wrong.  Jesus is not merely a spiritual man, a religious guru, or a good teacher.  We do not receive his benefits by complimenting him, but by confessing him: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  This must be revealed to us, just as Jesus told Simon Peter: “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17).  

     This has been revealed to you, too.  Yes, Jesus was a teacher, but he is the wisdom of God.  Yes, Jesus was a prophet, but his words are the words of eternal life.  Yes, Jesus was nailed to a cross, but that is the atoning sacrifice which has taken your sins away.  Many people know facts about Jesus, but you know the promises which rest on those facts.  In fact, the entire Christian Church rests on those promises.  The Church is founded on the rock, which is Christ.

     After Simon, son of Jonah, had made his confession, Jesus told him, “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” (Matthew 16:18).  This was a play on words.  Jesus called Simon “Petros (PetroV),” which means “stone.”  He received this name because of his confession.  And then Jesus said that his church would be established on this “petra (petra),” that is, rock.  The Lord does not establish his kingdom upon a sinful man.  The Bible teaches us, “No one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).  If the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church, then it must be founded upon the one who has conquered over death, hell, and the devil.  Jesus is the Christ who lives and reigns over all things.  The Church, therefore, is founded on the rock, which is Christ.

     This means that the Church will always endure on earth.  There will always be people who confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  Individual congregations may not endure.  Christians may be persecuted and driven out of a particular place.  Those who gather together in the name of Jesus may have to meet in secret.  Church bodies may be swayed by the ideas of our unbelieving world to embrace those ideas and to abandon the Scriptures.  They are usually praised for it.  But only a church which remains faithful to the word of Christ will remain founded on the rock.  Only there is salvation found.  Only there will God’s people dwell secure.  The word of God does not change with the times.  The word endures forever.  Since Jesus lives and reigns forever, his Church will always be found on earth.  Our prayer is that we will be found in it.

     Our goal, then, is to remain faithful.  Peter was commended because he confessed what God the Father had made known to him.  Likewise, we devote ourselves to the Scriptures where the Lord makes himself known to us.  In the Scriptures, God reveals his salvation for sinners.  He reveals what it means for us to live godly lives.  Through the Scriptures, God strengthens us to stand unmoved against a world that mocks him.  He comforts us when we are sinned against.  He forgives us when we sin and moves us to correct our wrongs and to reconcile with those we have wronged. 

     The Church is founded on the rock, which is Christ.  He has entrusted us with his word, and he gives us the authority to speak his truth.  Jesus told Peter—and later would include all the apostles (cf. John 20:21-23): “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” (Matthew 16:18-19).  Our mission and our joy is to open the kingdom of heaven to other people.  It is opened for others the same way it is opened for us—through Jesus’ sufferings, death, and resurrection.  This is where forgiveness is won.  It is delivered as the word is preached and the sacraments are administered.  What joy it is to deliver someone out of doubt, discouragement, deception, and death by proclaiming the truth of God’s word!  God’s word provides relief to the terrified conscience: Jesus has taken away your sins.  He has died the cursed death of the sinner on behalf of all sinners.  He unshackles us from the bonds of guilt and fear and death, and he is the key which opens the gates of heaven.  He is “The Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7).  And you never have to question this.  Jesus Christ is faithful to you.  He is truthful to you.  He will never deceive you or fail you.  His word is rock-solid.  This is what the Church is founded on. 

     Having received such good things from him, we deliver these good things to the world.  If some refuse to turn from their sins, we will tell them that their sins remain bound to them.  For, the Lord “will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:7).  If anyone rejects Jesus, they also reject his forgiveness, and their guilt remains.  We do not confess this because we find any joy in it.  We confess it because this is what the Lord says.  We are only repeating what God himself has declared. 

     But we can do this without fear; for we are founded on the rock, which is Christ.  This guarantees our security for heavenly peace and glory.  If the world despises us, they cannot remove God’s love from us.  If they seek our ruin, they cannot strip us of eternal life.  If they kill our bodies, we still have a resurrection from the dead.  These promises remain firm because Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. 

     The Church is founded on the rock, which is Jesus Christ.  He lives and reigns forever.  His word stands forever.  His mercy endures forever.  By God’s grace, we know him and confess him.  Therefore, by God’s grace, we will live and reign forever with him. 

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.