Today we focus on Jesus comments in answer to Peter’s great
confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus says,
“Blessed are you,
Simon Bar-Jonah! 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 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.”
There’s so much that could be said based on this short
commentary of Jesus. Here he teaches us
about the confession of his name, the building and function of his church. Today we will consider four lessons:
1.
The Confession of Jesus is never revealed by
flesh and blood
2.
The Confession of Jesus is the rock on which
Jesus builds his church
3.
The Church storms the gates of hell
4.
The Church and its ministers unlock heaven with
the forgiveness of Jesus Christ
The Confession of
Jesus is never revealed by flesh and blood
Peter’s great confession that Jesus is the Christ is not
something that he concluded on his own.
It didn’t come to him through reason or logic. It wasn’t something he arrived at after
weighing out all the evidence and considering it carefully. Surely Christians may and even should do all
that. But in the end what Jesus says of
Peter here is the ultimate truth, and ultimately true of all Christians.
We don’t come to faith on our own. We can’t establish ourselves, make Christians
out of ourselves, or confess Jesus as Christ of our own devices. We cannot by our own reason or strength
believe in Jesus or come to him. We are
like Peter. We need a revelation from
above.
Jesus says Peter’s confession was revealed by the
Father. We know that our faith is
planted by the Holy Spirit. But there’s
no conflict here, since our Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is one
God with one purpose. The revelation of
Christ – the very Gospel itself – is his desire for all men – to be saved and
come to a knowledge of the truth. To
know Christ crucified for sinners, and by faith in him, to be saved.
Thanks be to God for such a revelation, that we, too,
confess Christ. We take no credit for
our own.
The Confession of
Jesus is the rock on which Jesus builds his church
The second point is really related. For Just as Peter didn’t confess on his own,
but it was revealed to him… so also the Church doesn’t build herself, but she
is established and built by Christ alone.
Christ is the divine monergist – the sole doer of the work – to build
and raise his church.
A well-known Lutheran pastor in Germany who opposed Hitler –
Dietrich Bonhoeffer – comments on this truth.
He says,
It is not we who
build. Christ builds the church. No man builds the church but Christ alone.
Whoever is minded to build the church is surely well on the way to destroying
it; for he will build a temple to idols wishing or knowing it. We must
confess–he builds. We must proclaim-he builds.
We do not know his
plan. We cannot see whether he is building or pulling down. It may be that the
times which by human standards are times of collapse are for him for him the
great times of construction. It may be that the times which from a human
point of view are great times for the church are times when it is pulled down.
We must pray to him–that he may build.
It is a great comfort
which Christ gives to his church: you confess, preach, bear witness to me
and I alone will build where it pleases me. Do not meddle in what is my province. Do
what is given to you to do well and have done enough. But do it well. Pay no
heed to views and opinions. Don’t ask for judgments. Don’t always be
calculating what will happen. Don’t always be on the lookout for another
refuge!
Church, stay a church!!!
But church, confess, confess, confess!
And how does he
build this church, except by the preaching of the Gospel? The proclamation of his birth, life, death,
and resurrection for the salvation of the world. Just as Eve was taken from Adam’s rib, so is
the Bride of Christ, the Holy Church, born out of the side of the crucified
Christ – by the water and blood of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.
Thirdly, Jesus
teaches us, that the Church storms the gates of hell.
One of the most iconic scenes in military history is the
invasion of France that we call “D-Day”.
There, the allies stormed the beaches of Normandy in a heroic and
perilous effort to establish our presence on the continent, and begin to bring
a world war to an end. The great
sacrifices that were made by so many against such fierce opposition – will
hopefully never be forgotten.
But the church, according to Jesus, does even more. We storm the gates of hell. Notice, it’s not that hell is coming at us (though
that’s true in a way, too). But the
picture Jesus paints here is of a church on the offensive. A church knocking on the very gates of hell. He implies an army ready to do battle – the
church militant – assembling with all her forces and preparing to confront the
enemy where he lives. This is no passive
defense. We are on the attack! We are a conquering force. And with Jesus our captain in the well-fought
fight, we can’t lose. The gates of hell
cannot prevail against Christ and his church.
Here’s a great promise for us. Not only is the confession of Christ given
us. Not only are we, as his church,
built up by him on this confession. But
we also have the promise that not even the gates of hell can withstand the
Church. Here, too, faith is required to
see it. For the church often looks like
it’s failing. Crumbling spires in every
land. Buffeted by the storms of the
world – Rationalism, Pietism, Communism, Modernism, Post-modernism, and
whatever other isms the devil wears as a cloak.
The gates of hell will not, cannot prevail.
But just how does the church fight? Certainly this spiritual war is not fought
with the weapons of flesh and blood.
Then we would surely fail. We’re
a different kind of army. And we fight a
different sort of foe.
Really, this last statement of Jesus ties it all up:
The Church and its
ministers unlock heaven with the forgiveness of Jesus Christ
The super-weapon that the church brings in its battle with
evil is the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ. The Gospel itself, and the forgiveness that
flows from it.
Whatever you loose on earth – Jesus here speaks of the
forgiveness of sins. It’s a charge he
gives, not just to Peter as the first pope, but to the apostles as the public
ministers of the church. He will repeat
this charge again in John 20, on the evening of Easter. “If you forgive
anyone’s sins they are forgiven”. And
it’s just as real on earth as it is in heaven.
It’s just as sure when the pastor absolves you as if Jesus himself was
doing it. That’s why we say, “in the
stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ… I forgive you…” It’s not my own authority – it’s the forgiveness
of Christ.
So much is packed into this brief commentary that Jesus
gives on Peter’s great confession. The
confession of Jesus is by revelation alone.
The building of the Church is by Christ alone. The church that he builds cannot fail, even
against the forces of hell. And the
greatest power he gives to that church is the forgiveness of sins in his name.
So many promises. So
many gifts. What a blessing to be a part
of it all, like Peter, as we too confess what we are given, and live out the
faith in the church that Christ has both established and empowered. Go in the peace that knows your sins are
forgiven, not just on Earth, but even in Heaven. For Jesus’ sake, and with his promise, amen.
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