SERMON "The Right One” Audio Link http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23575548/110821Matthew16.mp3
(Psalm 19.14) May the words of my lips and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, oh Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.
Have you ever tried picking someone out of a large crowd? I remember at a ceremony I was involved in once someone wanted to know where to find me. I said I would be the one on the floor of the auditorium wearing black and with a square hat. Of course, this was a large university graduation and there were about five thousand other people on the floor of the auditorium wearing the same outfit. This is similar to one of our military members saying he’ll be the guy in the platoon wearing a uniform.
How are we going to recognize Jesus? As we read in the Gospel today this is an important issue. We can go around our community today and ask people how to identify God. Are they going to do well? Whenever I’ve tried this in the past I always get answers that don’t distinguish between the God of the Bible and some other god, maybe the god of people’s imaginations. In fact, most people seem to describe a god made in their own image rather than the God who made us in His image. How is the true God revealed?
First in this passage he is identified by Jesus as the “Son of Man.” This title is used in Scripture to identify Jesus as the one who is the second Adam, the one true human who came to live a sinless life, the life that Adam should have lived, and to take away the curse which has fallen upon us all by Adam’s disobedience. This Son of Man is the one who reverses the curse. He is the one who restores mankind to a right relationship with God.
How does Peter then identify Jesus, the Son of Man? Peter claims that he is the Christ, the Son of God. This confession brings the blessing of Jesus. But what did Peter really say here? How is it different from the confession that the rest of the world might make?
While the others confessed that Jesus was a prophet, possibly even a special prophet like one of the great prophets who had died and had maybe come back to life, Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one of God. This is the person upon whom God had promised to place the Holy Spirit. It is the person who is specially able to redeem the world, to break down the barrier which sin erected between God and man. The Christ is the one who would come and restore all things which had been destroyed by sin. This is not just a prophet. This is not even a super prophet. Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ. As Peter confesses that Jesus is the Son of the living God, he claims that Jesus has the power to accomplish all he desires. Jesus operates in all the power and authority of God the Father. Being the Son of God he is himself God almighty. This is the exact same confession that brought down the wrath of the Jews upon Jesus and his disciples time and time again, for they confessed that there is a multiplicity of persons in the Godhead. This flies in the face of Jewish belief. They are unwilling to confess a trinity. They don’t know what to do with those seemingly plural names of God like “Elohim” or with the statements in the Old Testament which seem to equate the Holy Spirit with God. Peter is confessing that God is present in the persons of the Father and the Son. I think we can assume he is admitting the Holy Spirit as well, but he doesn’t proclaim it here in this passage. But the confession Peter makes is clear. He is saying that Jesus is God the Son.
How well does our culture deal with the idea of the trinity? Not very well. For that matter, there are a lot of people who seem to assume that Jews, Christians, and Muslims have the same concept of God. All are classified as “monotheist” religions. The problem is that only the Christians confess that there is one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All other religions have a very different concept of God. There may be similarities in the concept of the power and eternity of God, but Jews and Muslims are denying the trinity. The similarities end there. We can have no deep religious concord because we worship different deities.
How is the triune God revealed to us? Not by man, but by God the Father. Can we understand the trinity? I think not. Over the past thirty years or so I’ve often tried to wrap my mind around the idea that there is one God in three persons. The Athanasian Creed, which we confessed on Trinity Sunday, explains the Trinity as well as anything can, but we simply can’t conceive of one entity with three persons. This is something which is revealed to us in Scripture, which the Father has given us, but which we won’t really understand. Rather, we need to accept it and rejoice that God has revealed himself to us as he has.
What is the result of recognizing Jesus as the right one, God the Son? In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says something that is kind of difficult to deal with. I’ve seen a number of explanations of the Greek of this passage and none of them is very satisfactory. Here’s what happens. Jesus calls Simon “Peter.” The word “Peter” is the Greek word for “rock.” Because Jesus is calling a male by a nickname he naturally uses a masculine form. Then Jesus goes on to say “on this rock” he will build his church. The word Jesus uses for “rock” here is slightly different. It’s feminine, which happens to be the normal form of the “rock” word. So we have a masculine “Peter/Rock” and a feminine “rock” on which the church will be built. There are several options we could use. Jesus could be saying that Peter is the rock on which he will build the church. This view is weak in several ways. If Jesus wanted to say that he would naturally use the same masculine form of the “rock” word both times. Yet it also seems unusual that Jesus would pledge to build his eternal and supernatural church upon one person, and that a person other than himself.
Another view is that Jesus is claiming he will build his church on himself. That doesn’t make much sense for the same reason the first idea doesn’t. Jesus would naturally use a masculine word for the rock representing himself. And he wouldn’t be purposely confusing by mentioning Peter and then switching the subject to himself without warning. It does, of course, make sense that Jesus would build his church upon himself. That’s appropriate. But the word used for “rock” is still confusing.
The best view I can come up with is that the “rock” Jesus will build his church on is the confession that he is the Christ. This is what he compliments Peter for. This is what he says God the Father revealed. This is consistent with building an eternal church, as a confession is something which is not dependent on any human individual. So I think we are safest here to say that the Church is built on the confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
What is the result of Jesus’ building his church? He says the gates of Hades will not overcome it. This is language of warfare. Yet I want you to notice that the gates are what a city has. Defending the gates means you are being attacked. So many times we seem to think the Church is under attack, and it is. But Jesus here pictures the Church as being on the offensive. We have beseiged Hell itself and with his cross, Jesus is assaulting the gates, hammering on them, and bursting them open. The gates of Hell will not overcome the assault of Jesus’ perfect life, death, and resurrection.
The Church will go forth, then, in healing, spreading the grace of God throughout this world, releasing people from their sin and shame, releasing them from their guilt, proclaiming the gospel that their sins have been atoned for, their life is wrapped up in Jesus, and they can look forward to the sure and certain hope of eternal life in our risen Lord Jesus Christ. This is the message that we have. This is the true gospel which breaks down the bondage of sin. This is what has been revealed to us by the Father. It’s all wrapped up in the person of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God. This is Jesus, the real deal, the right one.
Let us pray. Our Lord, as you have revealed to your servant Peter that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, so work in our hearts that we may have full assurance of that faith. Grant us to trust that you have overcome death, hell and the grave, and that you are the one who has loosed us from the bondage of sin, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.
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