Wednesday, July 27, 2016

The Feel-Good Gospel? (RP1)


(Audio version; Music: "Touch The Sky" by: Hillsong and "Mended" by Matthew West)








Introduction

            I have the opportunity to talk to lots of people about Christ and I’ve discovered something very interesting: I am encouraged by people who are committed followers of Christ and I am challenged by those who are equally committed to their refusal to believe in Christ. But there’s another group that I just can’t figure out what to do with—I’ll call them “fence-sitters.” They’re not really into the whole committed following thing but they believe in Christ. I met with someone like that a while ago. For the sake of my story, I’ll call him Bob (not his real name). The conversation began when Bob wanted to know what I did for a living. I get this a lot and I really wish I had an easy answer. In short, I explained that I’m a carpenter and a pastor. I usually get one of two reactions when people find out I’m a pastor. Many people suddenly fear I may be contagious; a kind of modern day leper. Others, however, suddenly feel free to share their faith journey with me.

In the continued course of my conversation with Bob, he began to share where he was in his faith walk. He told me he’s been to lots of different churches and has finally settled on a very popular, local mega-church. I knew the church he had settled on from personal experience and some of the other ones he had visited as well so I asked him about his selection criteria that led him to settle on the church he finally picked for his church home. For the purpose of brevity, let me paraphrase what he told me: I don’t want to go anywhere where they preach “fire and brimstone” (Translation: Let me keep pretending God won’t judge sin). I don’t want to go somewhere where the pastor is “too preachy” (Translation: Don’t confront me about my sin). I don’t want to be “lectured to” (Translation: Don’t tell me what to do about my sin). I don’t want to hear about “sin and hell” (Translation: Let me keep hiding my sins). I want to go somewhere where I’m “not bored” (Translation: I want to be entertained in order to avoid the painful truth of my sin). I want to go to a church that makes me “feel good” (No translation necessary). So he settled on this particular church because what they do and say makes him “feel good” about himself and his life. He found what is now so popular in our culture—a place that preaches The Feel-Good Gospel.

I will confess that I have been accused of pretty much all the things Bob doesn’t like about church. So, even though I’ve read the Bible front to back countless times, I went looking for something I must have missed somewhere. I want people to feel good and people want to feel good so naturally, Jesus must have wanted people to feel good. I decided I would look at the very heart of the Gospel message—I mean, if the Gospel message is coming directly from Jesus, who is always so warm and fuzzy {read: sarcasm], doesn’t it make sense that it would be The Feel-Good Gospel?

Subject Text

Matthew 16:21-28

21From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” 24Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. 28I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Context

            There is a progression of thought in Chapter 16 that culminates in our Subject Text. At the beginning of the chapter, Jesus spars with the religious leaders who wanted Him to perform some kind of miracle as proof of who He claimed to be even though he had already performed countless miracles to that point. Instead, Jesus makes a veiled reference to his death and then His resurrection after three days when he tells them that the only sign he will give them is the sign of Jonah. Remember, Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days before the fish spit him out. I have no doubt the religious leaders were simply left scratching their heads at this reference. Their image of the Messiah was that of a conquering military and political leader who would liberate them from Roman oppression and restore Israel to national prominence. Opposition to this image of the Messiah held by the religious leaders and, most likely, the Jewish community in general is probably what motivated Jesus to warn his disciples about the teachings of the religious leaders in vv. 5-12. Therefore, in order to set the stage for the disciples to begin to grasp the full impact of Jesus’ revelation in our Subject Text, it would be important for the disciples to understand exactly who Jesus was, which is established in vv. 13-20—Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. He was the One they were waiting for; the One that would make all things right; the One who would set them free. The only problem is that no matter how much Jesus wanted to erase their false understanding of the Messiah, they clung to the type of Messiah they thought Jesus should be; they wanted Jesus to be the powerful, charismatic, conquering hero they had been waiting for. There is no way they wanted the Gospel message in our Subject Text. They wanted The Feel-Good Gospel. But, as always, Jesus wasn’t going to give them what they wanted, He was going to give them what they needed.

Text Analysis

21From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

            Jesus, never one to pull punches, especially with his disciples, drops a bombshell on them in v. 21. There is no way the disciples, who had just confessed that Jesus was the Son of God, saw this coming from Jesus. We take Jesus’ revelation for granted when we read it because we see Jesus’ earthly life and ministry, in large part, as a completed story; a significantly finished work of art. However, staying with the art metaphor, the disciples are still looking at a significantly blank canvas. It would not be until much later when more brush-strokes were added that they would be able to see a clearer image of who Jesus really was. Consequently, their minds must have been spinning as they tried to reconcile their image of the Messiah with the image Jesus was painting for them. While the disciples (and the Jews in general) were happy with the simple paint-by-numbers picture of the Messiah, Jesus was painting a grand masterpiece of the true reality of God’s salvation plan for humanity through Him. “The passion of Jesus was the working out not of the will of Jesus’ enemies but of the will and purpose of God to bring benefit to humanity…Matthew interprets the resurrection and ascension of Jesus as God’s appointment of Jesus to the position of highest authority in the cosmos.”[1]

22Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

            Reality can be a tricky thing. The revelation of what is true can have varying degrees of impact on people. Most of the time, we have a sense of what is real and unreal; what is true and what is false and often when what we believed was real or true is corrected because we were wrong, it is a fairly benign event. For example, get ready for this shocking revelation—Santa Claus is not real! For most of us, making the transition to this reality was relatively innocuous (I hope I didn’t just rock your world with that revelation about Santa Claus). There are, however, some revelations that are far more difficult or painful to accept. For example, the infidelity of a spouse or the diagnosis of a terminal illness or the sudden death of someone close to us can leave us in a state of unbelief even in the face of what is true and real. This is what we see in v. 22 and Peter’s response to Jesus’ revelation about His impending fate. Peter was prepared to confess that Jesus was the Christ but this same Peter refuses to accept the reality of what it means to be the Christ. “Did Peter after all call Jesus Christ in the true sense? The answer must be: Yes, ethically. He understood what kind of man was fit to be a Christ. But he did not yet understand what kind of treatment such a man might expect from the world. A noble, benignant, really righteous man Messiah might be, said Peter; but why a man of sorrow he had yet to learn.”[2]

23Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

            Peter has gone from receiving divine revelation about Jesus’ identity in Mt. 16: 17 to being inspired by Satan to impede Jesus’ mission in v. 23. Being unwilling to accept what is real and true leaves us grasping at extremes as we desperately try to make the untrue true or the unreal real. Peter had a vision of reality about Jesus in his mind and was not yet willing to accept the true reality of who Jesus was and what He was sent to do. But Jesus, in no uncertain terms, puts Peter in his place. Not only does Peter not understand the reality of Jesus’ life and ministry, he fails to understand the reality of what Jesus’ example means for him as a disciple. When Jesus tells Peter that he is a “stumbling block,” it “shows that it is precisely the suffering of discipleship that Peter does not understand, because he does not comprehend the way of the Lord himself. The meaning of discipleship is that Jesus goes on ahead and prescribes the way.”[3] There is an important principle that Jesus is teaching here—Our reality is only true insofar as it conforms to the reality revealed to us by God through Jesus Christ. All other versions of reality, no matter how good or sound they seem to be, are not true.

24Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

            The reality of who Jesus was and is doesn’t stop with His life and ministry. It has ramifications for his disciples and by extension all of us who claim to believe in him as Lord and Savior. When we get to v. 24, Jesus dispels any illusions we may have about what it means to be a follower of Christ. We want our lives to be a certain way—smooth, easy, and comfortable. We want our lives to feel good. When we envision our lives as followers of Christ, that vision usually doesn’t include a cross. But the reality is, according to Jesus, that anyone who wants to follow Him must embrace a life where the cross plays a significant role. “Following Jesus, therefore, meant identifying with Jesus and his followers, facing social and political oppression and ostracism, and not turning back. For some, taking up the cross might indeed mean death. To ‘follow’ Christ is also a moment-by-moment decision, requiring compassion and service. Following Jesus doesn’t mean walking behind him, but taking the same road of sacrifice and service he took.”[4]

25For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

            Until now, even though Jesus tells his disciples that He would be killed, this is the first mention of the cross. The disciples knew that the cross was Rome’s gruesome instrument for execution, but they didn’t yet understand the literal and metaphorical meaning of Jesus’ reference to the cross. Jesus, therefore, goes on to explain in vv. 25-26 the implications of failing to accept the harsh reality of being a follower of Christ and clinging to some false Gospel that paves the way to a feel-good life. Jesus tells us that pursuing this kind of life, although it seems right, will actually cost us our lives because we are pursuing a life that isn’t based in the reality revealed to us by Jesus. Jesus’ claim in v. 25 is both literal and figurative. A time would come when almost all of them would have to decide if they would deny the Truth and save their lives or stand up for what they believed and be put to death. This is the literal image Jesus was talking about. Some of you know exactly what this means because you have experienced someone who has literally been crucified by Muslims for their faith in Christ.

However, all of the disciples would have to decide if they would cling to the life they wanted or give up that illusion and lay hold of the life; the true reality, of being a faithful follower of Christ regardless of the cost. This is the metaphorical image Jesus is talking about. When Jesus gets to his question in v. 26, the disciples, and by extension all of us, run headlong into the true reality of life. If we are unwilling to accept the Truth about what it means to live as faithful followers of Christ that includes our own cross, then life has no real purpose; no real meaning. It is only when we embrace a life of obedience, selfless service, and sacrifice that we will find the true life God intended us to live. “The person who tries to hang on to his own will and reject what God desires for him ultimately loses eternally all that he is attempting to protect in this life. Paradoxically he might go to the most extreme lengths to preserve physical existence or to try to discover the essence of his existence, but in the end, apart from being in the center of God’s will, there is nothing for him but death for his soul. On the other hand, the person who lets loose of her own self-centered desires and accepts God’s will for her discovers true life—salvation and righteousness and the fulfillment that she gains as she receives the reality of life in the kingdom of heaven.”[5]

27For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.

            One of my favorite movies of all time is Field of Dreams. In the movie, the main character plows a portion of his cornfield under in order to build a baseball field because he heard a mysterious voice say “If you build it, he will come.” He took this to mean that he should build a baseball field in the middle of his cornfield. Once completed, long-dead, iconic, baseball players began to appear from the surrounding cornfield to play baseball on the newly constructed field. At the end of each day, the players would walk into the cornfield and magically disappear until the next day when they would return. The farmer endured ridicule from the surrounding community and financial hardship because a significant portion of his farm no longer produced a crop. Only the people with the courage to believe in the miracle of the baseball field could see the players magically materialize each day from the surrounding cornfield. On one particular day, the baseball players invited a visiting writer, who was able to see them, into the cornfield. The farmer was a bit incensed because he was not invited. He endured the scorn of his family, friends, and neighbors and overcame a litany of obstacles and struggles including crushing financial hardship because he constructed the ball field and yet never asked how it would benefit him. Now, however, he wanted to know: “What’s in it for me?”

 When Jesus explains to His disciples what it means to be His followers and the struggles that await them, it’s not really unreasonable for them to wonder how it would benefit them. I don’t know for sure if that’s what the disciples were thinking but it appears that Jesus might be trying to calm their concerns in v. 27 when He assures them that all those who are faithful followers when He returns at the end of time will receive a reward according to their faithfulness. “Jesus goes on to remind us that glory indeed awaits ahead but only after suffering. Christ will compensate and exalt all believers (and judge unbelievers) when he returns in his glory, which exactly represents the radiance of God the Father (Heb 1:3). High Christology again appears here since Jesus functions precisely as the God of Old Testament prophecy (see Zech 14:5). ‘What he has done’ is more literally his practice (a singular noun) and refers to an individual life viewed in its entirety. Did one commit oneself to Jesus, or did one serve only oneself (recall [Mt.] 10:32-33)?”[6]

28I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

            It is difficult to understand Jesus’ meaning in v. 28 and it has been variously interpreted over the centuries. Was Jesus referring to the days immediately following His resurrection? Was He referring to the day when He would return in His glory as referred to in v. 27? Or was Jesus referring to something else altogether? Since all those who heard Him speaking have died without seeing Jesus return in His glory according to the second coming of Christ at the end of this age, Jesus must have been referring to something else. More likely, Jesus was referring to either to His transfiguration, which you can read about in chapter 17, or he was referring to Pentecost and the beginning of the Church. In either case, some of the disciples were witnesses to one or both of those events. “With no other hint in the passage, the immediate context suggests that the event Jesus intends as signaling his coming as the Son of Man in his kingdom is the Transfiguration, which immediately follows. It may seem strange to speak of ‘some who are standing here will not taste death’ to refer to three disciples who will witness the transfiguration in a mere six days. But we must remember that Jesus is continuing to call for an urgent response to his kingdom mission that is now headed to the cross.”[7]

Application

            Because the image of the cross has become so common, we tend to forget what it represents. Let me try and paint a picture for you in case you are unaware or have forgotten. Crucifixion was actually invented by the Persians in the 4th century BC. However, it was perfected by the Romans in the 1st century AD. Crucifixion is where we get the word “excruciating.” Death can come within hours or after days depending on the health of the victim and the patience of the executioners. Jesus’ feet were nailed to the cross with His knees bent at a 45-degree angle. Jesus’ hands were nailed to the cross at the wrist directly through the main nerve leading to the hand. Within minutes of being raised on the cross, Jesus’ shoulders, elbows and wrists became dislocated. As a result of this position, Jesus’ rib cage was in a position where He was unable to exhale. Therefore, since all the joints in his arms were dislocated, He had to push up on the nail in His feet in order to exhale. As you can imagine, someone who was nearly beaten to death prior to being crucified, as Jesus was, didn’t last long on the cross. Crucifixion was an anatomical and medical catastrophe!

So why am I telling you this, because Jesus says we are to pick up our cross and follow him. Let me know when this Gospel message starts to feel good. Hopefully the image of the cross and what it represented is clear in your mind because I’m not done. If that didn’t make you feel good then maybe this will—Jesus endured all that because of you and me. How does that make you feel? You see, Jesus paid the price for our sin on our behalf so we wouldn’t have to pay it. That’s the reality of the cross; that’s the message of the Gospel. Speaking for God, Larry Crabb writes,

            “Understand this: when spiritual leaders nudge the cross of My Son into the outskirts of their thinking, when they stubbornly fail to realize that only through the cross are they both forgiven for their arrogant self-obsession and empowered to love sacrificially, then painful wounds will be seen as a greater problem than selfish relating. When that happens, relating in a way that protects you from further wounding and enhances a sense of personal well-being seems not only necessary but moral…False teachers dismiss the promise of My Son’s return as if it were fiction, a promise with no implications for how they should live now. This…leads to a greater concern for making life work well than for personal holiness. The hope for a better life now determines how they choose to live. It justifies self-centered choices. The hope for a better life later—the only hope that has the power to sustain My followers in claiming the unique opportunity that suffering in this life brings to reveal My radically other-centered nature to a watching world—is largely ignored, treated with contempt.”[8]

            Let me try and make this simple for you, the true Gospel of Jesus Christ is not for people who are looking for the easy way; the wide road; the smooth path. True followers of Jesus Christ are less interested in feeling good and more interested in, service, sacrifice, and being holy. True followers of Jesus Christ are prepared to lay down what they think is most important and take up what God thinks is most important. True followers of Jesus Christ are prepared to offer their lives for the benefit of others. There is only one true Gospel and it is a bumpy, narrow path with countless obstacles and hazards. It’s hard, it’s painful, and it will mean letting go of everything you value above Christ. What the true Gospel gives us in this life is hope and strength to remain faithful to our calling as followers of Jesus Christ. Are you prepared to take up your cross and follow Christ? Are you prepared to relinquish the life you want for the life that Jesus wants for you? Or are you looking for a different Gospel; a Gospel filled with butterflies, unicorns and rainbows; a Gospel where everyone’s beliefs about God are equally valid; a Gospel were everyone is happy, no one gets hurt, no one gets sick and no one dies; a Gospel where God is never judgmental and accepts all our behavior as acceptable because we’ve wrapped ourselves in a Jesus-loves-me banner? Are you looking for a Gospel where we all live happily ever after before we get to heaven? Are you looking for The Feel-Good Gospel? If so, don’t bother looking for it in the Bible, it’s not there—I checked.




[1] David A. deSilva, An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods & Ministry Formation, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004), p. 283.
[2] W. Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor’s Greek Testament, Vol. 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983), p. 226.
[3] Colin Brown, gen. ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), p. 493.
[4] Bruce Barton, Philip Comfort, Grant Osborne, Linda K. Taylor, and Dave Veerman, Life Application New Testament Commentary, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), p. 77.
[5] Michael J. Wilkins, Matthew—The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004), p. 572.
[6] Craig L. Blomberg, Matthew—The New American Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1992), p. 261.
[7] Wilkins, Matthew, pp. 574-575.
[8] Dr. Larry Crabb, 66 Love Letters—A Conversation With God That Invites You Into His Story, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2009), pp. 337-338.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

The Gates Of Hell (RP1)



(Audio version; Music: "Tell Your Heart To Beat Again" by: Danny Gokey and "Overwhelmed" by: Big Daddy Weave)










Introduction

            “Probius was whipped until the blood flowed, then laden with chains and thrown into prison. A few days later, he was brought out and commanded to sacrifice to the heathen gods. He knew that he would be tortured and killed if he refused. Still he courageously said:

            “‘I come better prepared than before, for what I have suffered has only strengthened me in my resolution. Employ your whole power upon me, and you shall find that neither you, nor the Emperor, nor the gods you serve, nor even the devil, who is your father, shall compel me to worship idols.’

            “Probius was sent back to further tortures and eventual death by the sword. – Probius, Roman Empire, circa 250 AD”[1]

            There have always been times throughout history and places around the world where Christianity has been hated. In our own time, the evils of Islam have swept across many areas of the Middle-East where they have all but whipped out Christian civilizations where Christianity has existed for 2,000 years. All the while, ironically, people everywhere, especially here in America see Christianity as cruel and oppressive. Think about the stupidity of this for a moment, Muslims brutally murder anyone and everyone who doesn’t believe the same way they do with particular disdain for Christians yet Christians are the ones perceived to be cruel and oppressive.

            Here in America, where we once enjoyed the freedoms that accompany being a Christian nation, Christianity has steadily lost its influence and popularity year-by-year and decade-by-decade. New laws are regularly adopted that would have been anathema to a Christian nation just twenty years ago. It is easy to find surveys showing that eighty percent of Americans claim to be Christian. However, I have long believed those surveys to be suspect in light of what goes on around us everyday where approximately fifty percent of the population believes abortion, homosexual, sex outside of marriage, greed, and drunkenness are perfectly acceptable. It doesn’t take a brilliant mathematician to recognize that those statistics cannot both be accurate. I have always believed the second statistic not the first. The number of people and organizations who want to see the death of Christianity in America is growing exponentially.

In America, Christianity has long been a foundational platform of the Republican party. That doesn’t mean that there are no Christian Democrats, it just means that Christianity does not specifically inform their political platform in a formal sense the same way that the Republican party allows it to inform their political platform. As always, that foundational platform has drawn the ire of not a few anti-Christian organizations. This week the promoters of a Christian movie, God’s Not Dead 2, wanted to erect a billboard outside the facility in Cleveland, Ohio where the Republican National Convention is to be held this year advertising the film. Included on the billboard were the words that capture the theme of the movie, “I’d rather stand with God and be judged by the world than stand with the world and be judged by God.” The company who is responsible to rent out the sign rejected the movie-maker’s desire to rent the sign stating that the advertisement of the movie was “way too incendiary.” While I can’t say for sure, I’m fairly certain that if Planned Parenthood wanted to purchase space advertising their abortion services (by the way the word “abortion” is a euphemism for murdering babies that isn’t “too incendiary.”), they probably wouldn’t face the same scrutiny.

            Persecution of Christians has been part of the community of believers from the very beginning when Stephen was martyred within the first year (maybe within the first few months) after Christ ascended to heaven. And Paul, before his conversion, made it his personal mission to stamp out Christianity. Of course we know that his efforts proved to be futile. Nevertheless, the best efforts of countless religious leaders, rulers and various religious zealots over the two millennia since the Church began have failed to stop the advancement of God’s Kingdom purpose revealed in Jesus Christ.

            We can now say without much reservation that the Church is in decline in the West because of spiritual apathy. And Christianity in general is in danger of extinction in predominantly Muslim and Communist regions due to persecution. Further exacerbating the sense of Christianity’s demise is the palpable decline in cultural morality and the growing demand by atheists that their belief in nothing be equally recognized as valid (I’m not sure why being recognized as believing in nothing is so important that it should be celebrated). However, what these alarmists fail to recognize is that just because the Church in the West has created a vacuum because of spiritual apathy, sloth or ignorance that atheism and other cults are attempting to fill, and the population of Christians in some regions has been decimated because of persecution or migration to avoid persecution, the Church universal continues to grow in places where it has historically been unwelcome like China, South America, and Africa. The Church is not like a club that can be outlawed or disbanded or eradicated by intimidation or death. The Church is a living organism having countless branches with the ability to weave its way into unwelcome and unseen places. No matter how many branches are cut off or die for whatever reason, the vine from which the branches grow can never be eradicated because that vine is Jesus Christ. The Vine is eternal and therefore it is impossible to entirely eliminate the growth of the branches that remain connected to it. Even the power of Satan, who motivates those who oppose Christianity, even if they are unaware of his influence, cannot stop the advancement of God’s Kingdom in Jesus Christ. This is why Jesus told us that not even The Gates Of Hell have the power to thwart His plan of salvation. Let’s take a closer look at why Jesus said this and how we can be encouraged by this understanding.

Subject Text

Matthew 16:13-20

            13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.15“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.17Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.20Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

Context

            Our Subject Text has been variously interpreted and a point of contention within the Church. However, a look at the context might alleviate some of the confusion created by Jesus’ teaching. The chapter begins, not surprisingly, with an altercation between Jesus and the religious leaders who want Jesus to perform a miracle for them to prove He is who He claims to be. Ironically, their demand comes on the heels of Jesus feeding five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish (Mt 14:13-21), walking on water (Mt 14:22-33), healing all those who touched him (Mt 14:34-36), exorcizing a demon-possessed girl (Mt 15:21-28), healing the lame, blind, crippled and mute (Mt 15:29-31), and feeding four thousand people with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish (Mt 15:32-39). You might claim that none of the religious leaders were eye-witnesses to any of Jesus’ miracles but they would have to have been willfully ignorant not to have known they occurred—particularly in the case of miraculous healings. It might be possible to refute feeding someone but it is not possible to refute the healing of someone who was lame or cripple when they are standing before you completely whole. Jesus recognizes willful unbelief in the religious leaders at the beginning of chapter sixteen and as He did previously when the religious leaders wanted a miraculous sign (Mt 12:38-45), Jesus tells them that the only sign they will receive is the sign illustrated by Jonah’s experience of emerging from the belly of the fish after three days. Jesus was, of course, referring to His being in the tomb after his crucifixion and death only to emerge alive after three days.

            Right before we get to our Subject Text, Jesus warns the disciples about the false teachings of the religious leaders. Specifically, it was important for them to understand who He was and what He was about. The religious leaders had a preconceived notion that the Messiah would be a military figure sent to liberate them from their Roman oppressors and re-establish their national prominence. Their Messiah was a conqueror of men and nations that did not involve suffering, sacrifice or death on the part of the Messiah. However, surrendering Himself to be put to death was precisely Jesus’ mission and He makes that clear in the verses that follow our Subject Text. In order to establish the full meaning of what He was destined to accomplish, it was important that they understood exactly who He was, which is the purpose of our Subject Text.

Text Analysis

            13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

            Earlier in chapter 16 we learned that Jesus and the disciples were coming from the west side of the Sea of Galilee and had now, according to v. 13, travelled about twenty miles north to the region of Caesarea Philippi. On the way, Jesus asks his disciples a question that draws a line in the sand that creates a boundary line between Christianity and every other faith system. It’s not an insignificant question. How a person answers that question places them squarely on one side of that boundary line or the other. “The question shows that Jesus had been thinking of His past ministry and its results, and it may be taken for granted that He had formed His own estimate, and did not need to learn from the Twelve how He stood…How the influential classes, the Pharisees, and the priests and political men=Sadducees, were affected was apparent. Nothing but hostility was to be looked for there. With the common people on the other hand He had to the last been popular. They liked His preaching, and they took eager advantage of His healing ministry. But had they got a definite faith about Him, as well as a kindly feeling towards Him; an idea well-rooted, likely to be lasting, epoch-making, the starting-point of a new religious movement? He did not believe they had, and He expected to have that impression confirmed by the answer of the Twelve, as indeed it was.”[2]

14They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

            No doubt the disciples heard the gossip in the local communities. It’s not like they were strangers in the land. The places they visited with Jesus and the surrounding regions were home to them. This was the place where they grew up, lived, and worked. This was the place where their family, friends and peers lived. It would be incorrect to assume that once they became disciples that they no longer interacted outside their small circle. They had to eat, drink and sleep somewhere. They may not have gone home all the time but they didn’t spend all their time in seclusion either. Instead, they were usually in the company of many people who either followed them from town to town or who surrounded them when they came to town. In any event, it is safe to say that they were in a position to hear people talk and Jesus wanted to know what people were saying about him. But what made people think, in v. 14, that Jesus was really John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or some other prophet returned from the dead? Why was it easier to believe that than it was to believe that Jesus may have been the long awaited Messiah? “Some people, like Herod (14:1-2), thought Jesus was John the Baptizer reincarnated. Others saw Jesus’ miracles, especially the resurrection of the dead (9:18-26), and they thought of Elijah the miracle worker (1 Kgs 17-2 Kgs 2; esp. 17:17-24). Also, since John was ‘Elijah who was to come’ (11:12; 17:12; Mal 4:5), this could explain why these two names were next to each other, both in this conversation and in the people’s minds. Elijah was seen as a forerunner of the Messiah, as was John. Still others thought Jesus was Jeremiah, the prophet of doom who prophesied during the final decades before Judah was exiled to Babylon. The list included several of the other prophets, including Isaiah, whose prophecies Jesus fulfilled in Matthew and from whom Jesus quoted quite often.”[3]

15“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

            Unlike the Jews who relied on their Jewish heritage for their place in life and their eventual salvation, Jesus makes clear that our salvation is a personal matter. Jesus is not concerned with our past; with where we come from, but our future and where we’re going. Jesus isn’t asking you what your parents think of Him; He isn’t asking what your pastor or your youth leader thinks of Him; He’s not asking what your friends think of Him. Jesus is asking you, just like he asked the disciples in v. 15—“Who do you think I am?” In all our lives, we will not be faced with a more important question. How we answer that question will shape who we are and what we will become. “It is not enough simply to connect the Son of Man with the prophetic expectation generally. Through the instruction that Jesus has given his disciples about his identity and mission by using the title, they must now give account for whom they understand him to be.”[4]

16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

            Peter, who appears to be the default spokesman for the disciples in v. 16, steps up and confesses their collective belief that Jesus is the “Christ” or “Messiah,” which means he is God’s anointed or chosen one. Yet this part of the confession is incomplete without the rest of the confession that Jesus was “the Son of the living God.” Here is the first very clear indication that the disciples, at the very least, believed Jesus to be divine. This is no small matter considering the disciples where all Jewish and well aware of the gravity of their confession. Nevertheless, they were witnesses to all the teachings, miracles and Old Testament prophecies that found their fulfillment in Jesus. The evidence was before them and it demanded a verdict. Anything short of a confession that Messiah Jesus was the divine Son of God was incorrect. “It is not sufficient to call Jesus Messiah, if by that one means merely that he is the Son of David (cf. [Mt.]15:22). For Jesus is the Son of God not merely by virtue of his messianic office, but also, and primarily, by virtue of his being. Anticipated in [Mt.]14:33, Peter’s confession affirms Messiah’s deity.”[5]

How many people, who are not still so ignorant to insist that Jesus was an invented character, are prepared to concede that Jesus is just about anything that can be imagined except the divine Son of God. The great C. S. Lewis once wrote, “I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”[6]

17Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.

            Jesus does not deny Peter’s confession in v. 17 but encourages Peter and the others that the revelation of who Jesus was wasn’t an understanding they developed through their own strength of reasoning. Instead, Jesus’ divine identity was revealed to them by God the Father. John records a time prior to this event when Jesus teaches the disciples that no one can come to Jesus; no one can know Jesus, unless the Father calls them to do so (Jn 6:44). When someone comes to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, it is only in response to God’s urging. “The severe limitations of human knowledge are bound up with man’s incapacity due to sin. Only God has infinite power of knowledge and revelation. Hence true knowledge of God is possible only by God’s own self-revelation…For the NT this means the final abandonment of all effort to base the divine revelation on human authority.”[7]

18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church,

            We reach one of the most confusing texts in Scripture in v. 18a when Jesus identifies Simon son of Jonah as “Peter.” The text leads us to believe that this is Peter’s new name even though it is revealed at the very beginning of Matthew’s gospel. Nevertheless, confusion arises when we understand that Peter’s name is translated as “rock,” God is referred to as “the Rock eternal (Isa 26:4), Jesus is referred to as “the rock that makes them fall” (Rom 9:33). It is also commonly understood that the salvation efficacy of a confession in Jesus Christ is rock solid. Consequently, “the rock” upon which Jesus would build his church could be interpreted to mean, 1) Jesus himself and his work on the cross; 2) Peter, the first leader of the church in Jerusalem; or 3) The confession of faith in who Jesus was and is.

A strong argument can be made that by “this rock” Jesus is referring to Peter and that Jesus will build the church on the leadership of Peter. The Roman Catholic church certainly believes that because they have built their entire ecclesiology around the belief that Peter was the first Pope of the church and that each successive Pope perpetuates Peter’s authority over the church. However, Paul did far more to build the church then Peter apparently did. Furthermore, Paul, at one point, had to correct Peter’s theology and behavior (Gal 2:11-21). That’s hardly a solid foundation on which to build something as important as Christ’s church. Finally, Peter is known as the apostle to the Jews while Paul is known as the apostle to the Gentiles. There are currently estimated to be nearly 2.2 billion Christians around the world and of those Christians only an estimated one million are Jewish. I’ll do the math for you—Jews represent .04% of the total Christian population. If Peter was the rock upon which Jesus would build his church and Peter was the apostle to the Jews then wouldn’t the Jews be the foundation of the church? I don’t know about you but something doesn’t make sense to me. Peter was the rock upon which Jesus would build his church yet thirteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament were penned by Paul and Peter wrote three.

It is more likely that Jesus is making a play on words with reference to Peter’s name meaning “rock.” “Although Peter’s foundational role was later taken to an extreme by the Roman Catholic church to invest Peter with an authority and a succession of leadership, we should not go to the opposite extreme and deny the natural reading of the wordplay…Even though Peter appears to be the antecedent to ‘this rock,’ the reference should not be understood too narrowly. ‘Peter’ denotes more than just the person. It is the characteristics that make Simon a ‘rocky ledge’ that comprise the wordplay…This rock is everything that Peter is at this very moment. It refers to him as the courageous confessor who steps forward, as the representative spokesman for the disciples, as the blessed recipient of revelation, as the first individual to make a public confession of Christ, and the one who leads the disciples forward into the realms of expression of faith. Upon this Peter Jesus will build his church. If Simon functions in that way, he is the rock; if he does not, he can become a stumbling block (Mt 16:23). At the same time, Jesus’ pronouncement is not a conferral of unique, individual supremacy. Peter is given special recognition for all he is and is to be, but he is never placed above or apart from the disciples…Peter is crucial for his role in the foundation of the church, but he is not the only part of the foundation (cf. Eph 2:19; Rev 21:14).”[8]

and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

            Jesus is so confident about the strength of the church in v. 18b that he makes the definitive proclamation that not even The Gates Of Hell would be able to overcome Christ’s church. The truth of Jesus’ statement would be tested through some of the fiercest fires of trials and tribulations imaginable. The writer of Hebrews says that Christians were put to death by the sword, stoned or sawed in half. And as gruesome as that seems, things didn’t get much better under the Neronian persecutions where Christians were tied to long poles and lit on fire to illuminate the palace gardens and roadways. In the millennia since then, tomes have been written recording the martyrdom of Christians around the world. Yet Christianity, contrary to what some people seem to think, continues to survive and thrive around the world even though it seems like Hell itself has been loosed upon the believing community. “The Gates of Hades is a Semitic expression for the threshold of the realm of death. The words used here suggest that death itself assaults Christ’s church, but death cannot crush us. The church will endure until Christ’s return, and no opposition, even widespread martyrdom of Christians or the oppression of the final antichrist can prevent the ultimate triumph of God’s purposes in history.”[9]

19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

            We’re not finished with interpretive difficulties within our Subject Text when we get to v. 19. What does it mean when Jesus says that he will give Peter the “keys” to the kingdom of heaven so that what is accomplished on earth will likewise be accomplished in heaven. Some believe the text implies that Peter will have the authority to forgive sins or withhold forgiveness of sins. Others believe that the “keys” being referred to by Jesus is the Gospel message which is the means for forgiveness and rejection of that message means the lack of forgiveness. Most likely, it refers to the latter of the two. “More immediate parallels suggest that one should pursue the imagery of keys that close and open, lock and unlock (based on Isa 22:22) and take the binding and loosing as referring to Christians’ making entrance to God’s kingdom available or unavailable to people through their witness, preaching, and ministry.”[10]

20Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

            Our Subject Text ends in v. 20 with a familiar instruction from Jesus to his disciples not to tell anyone that he is the Christ. Remember what I explained earlier in the Context section of the lesson. The religious leaders and by extension the people had a preconceived notion of what the Messiah would be like—a powerful, conquering, military hero that would crush Israel’s enemies and lead her back to prominence and power in the ancient world. But Christ, the true Messiah, was powerful not because He was able to conquer some earthly opposition but because He would conquer the ultimate enemy of all humanity—death. However, in order to do so, He had to first offer Himself as a sacrifice to pay for humanity’s sins as we will learn in the closing verses of chapter 16. “Here the reason for the secrecy is about to become particularly clear. Jesus is not the kind of Messiah that the masses have in mind. Far from overpowering the evil powers of the world there and then and establishing a national-political kingdom, Jesus is now to talk of another, dramatically different path upon which his messianic calling will take him.”[11]

Application

            I try not to use sports analogies very often because I know that not everyone plays sports. But it seems particularly applicable in this case. Let me ask you a question: How would you play a sport, any sport, if you knew in advance that you were going to win; Regardless of the score at any point during the event, in the end you would win? You could play the game for the joy of the game without concern over the outcome. In some ways, Christianity is like this personally and corporately. Upon accepting Christ, we received the seal that is the Holy Spirit that is the promise of salvation that can never be taken from us. Remember Paul’s words when he said, “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8:38-39).” In the same way, our Subject Text is the promise that nothing will succeed in conquering the Kingdom force that is the Church.

I’ll let you in on a secret—the Church does not consist of a building that can be burned to the ground, a religious system that can be outlawed, beautiful music that can be silenced, brilliant lights that can be turned off, or a holy book that can simply be discarded. The Church consists of all believers united under the banner that they have been saved by the Christ, the Son of the living God. And because nothing can separate us from the love of God through Christ, we can live a life of faithful obedience with joy, knowing that we cannot be defeated. I know it doesn’t always look like it or feel like it because I know some of you are experiencing severe oppression and persecution. Some of you are even facing death because of your faith, so I don’t say these words casually. We are on the winning team! Let’s live like winners! Live a life of obedience to Christ even if people think you’re a kook; share your faith with anyone and everyone, inviting them to be on the winning team; care for your fellow believers; care for family, friends, and strangers; forgive each other quickly and easily; and cherish your relationship with Christ and others because love is the one thing that binds the Church together in all places and at all times. That sounds like a winning team; an unstoppable force that can withstand the threat of oppression, persecution, hatred, spiritual laziness, and even death. In fact, this picture of the Church is a force that has been, is and will be able to stand firm and persevere against anything, even The Gates Of Hell until Christ returns.





[1] dc Talk and The Voice of the Martyrs, Jesus Freaks, Vol. 1, (Tulsa, OK: Albury Publishing, 1999), p. 60.
[2] W. Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor’s Greek Testament, Vol. 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983), p. 222.
[3] Stuart K. Weber, Matthew—Holman New Testament Commentary, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2000), p. 249.
[4] Michael J. Wilkins, Matthew—The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004), p. 558.
[5] Walter A. Elwell, ed., Baker Commentary on the Bible, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1989), p. 742.
[6] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), p. 56.
[7] Colin Brown, gen. ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), p. 222.
[8] Wilkins, Matthew—NIV Commentary, pp. 564-565.
[9] Craig S. Keener, Matthew—The IVP New Testament Commentary Series, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997), p. 272.
[10] Craig L. Blomberg, Matthew—The New American Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1992), p. 254.
[11] Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 14-28—Word Biblical Commentary, (Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1995), p. 474.