A Sermon On:
PREPARED BY
KEN GEHRELS
PASTOR
CALVIN CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
NEPEAN, ONTARIO
They are a standard part of corporate and organizational management
practice - the retreat. Those who are the movers and shapers of your
organization are taken away from the regular pace and place of business.
They come away to contemplate, to relate, to discuss, to plan.
Many of you have been on retreats - perhaps at work, perhaps here at
church, perhaps in some other organization.
Sometimes what is prepared at these retreats actually develops as
expected. Sometimes things go far better than initially thought possible. And
sometimes things are a total flop. The stuff simply ends up in the "round file"
along with all the hopes and dreams, at least until the next retreat.
Retreats are nothing new. They have been going on in one form or
another for at least 2000 years. How do I know? Because the Bible tells us
about Jesus going on a planning retreat.
The setting is Caesarea Philippi, a small community built on the coast of
the Mediterranean Sea. It was populated mostly by non-Jews. Hence it was
place to which Jesus could retreat from constant controversy with religious
leaders, or demands from curious crowds. It was a time when Jesus wanted to
make some things clear with his followers in order to prepare them for the road
ahead. And to do that he had to ensure as quiet a setting as possible.
Join me in reading about this retreat in Matthew 16.13-20.
A. WHAT THE WORLD WAS SAYING
So - what are the resources; what's the present situation?
Who do people say the Son of Man is?
The disciples respond.
What did the polling results show? Some thought Jesus was:
-John the Baptist: One who preached strong morals, who announced the way
of salvation.
However, he himself was unable to enable this salvation for
anyone.
-Elijah: One who performed many miracles, was a man of strong prayer, and
waged war against false religion.
But the victories won by Elijah were won with physical force,
whereas the victory of Jesus would be won by his submission and
the shedding of his own blood.
-Jeremiah: He stood against corruption and moral injustices of the day. He
suffered greatly for his beliefs. He announced that a day was coming
when God would be building a new heart-to-heart relationship with his
people, a new covenant. In this relationship people would have their sins
forgiven, and would have a new and intimate knowledge of God.
But he was completely unable to bring that relationship into being.
In each of the three cases we are confronted with men of great moral
character, men who pointed the way to salvation and a right relationship with
God.
But that is all they were -
Men who pointed TO the way of a right relationship with God.
They were not THE way of salvation themselves.
How different from Jesus' claim for himself when he said, "I AM the way,
the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father, except through me!"
To see Jesus as merely another one in a long line of great spiritual
gurus, and to bypass him in order to continue on with the search for a way to
salvation is to miss everything!
B. WHAT THE DISCIPLES WERE SAYING
But what about you? Who do you say I am? Now the question comes
much closer to home! For it is all fine and well to speak about "those people
out there." But until the issue is settled within our own hearts first, there is no
progress that can be made for the sake of the Kingdom of God.
The disciples can look askance at the obvious hypocrisy of the
Pharisees, and they wonder about the masses who seem to follow whatever
leader of the moment happens to arrive.
But what about them?
You and I can look at the moral decay in Canadian society. We can
shake our head in amazement at people who bypass the Christian faith.
But what about us?
Unless we have matters straight in our own hearts about the identity of
this Jesus, nothing else matters. Evaluation and building MUST begin at home.
Hear me right. I am not saying that it ENDS there.
But it must BEGIN there.
But what about you? Who do you say I am?
Peter answers correctly. "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
III THE PLAN OF JESUS
And the moment those words come out of his mouth Jesus gives his
reply which includes his plan of action for the future. It is almost as if he was
waiting, waiting, waiting for Peter to respond.
As if......
dare I say it.......
he needed Peter to respond!
The reply of faith from within a person allows the building work of the Kingdom
of God to advance.
Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah,........ And I tell you that you are Peter,
and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome
it.
Let's begin with the last part of that..... "I will build my church and the gates of
hell will not overcome it...."
Build my church - does not refer to the development of a formal structure, or a
building. Rather, the greek word used in this context (ekklesia as translation of
qahal=congregation) refers to the development of a community of followers.
It's actually an Old Testament idea that Jesus is working with, one that the
prophets spoke of regarding the people of Israel:
Jer 33:7 I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them
as they were before.
Am 9:11 "In that day I will restore David's fallen tent. I will repair its broken
places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be,
As with the rest of Matthew, Jesus is proclaiming that the gathering, the
building of his community of people is in direct continuity with God's gathering
of people in the Old Testament times. The gathering of the Church is the direct
successor of the gathering of people in OT Israel. It is the one and same
gathering of God's faithful followers.
In a world where Satan arrogantly thinks that he has won control and has all
humanity under his grip, I am going to build my community of the Kingdom of
Heaven. And no one, not even Satan is going to stop me. -- That's what Jesus
says.
"The gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
That simply means: "The Church cannot be killed."
Gates of hades is a common Old Testament expression referring to the world of
death:
Job 17:16 Will it go down to the gates of hades? Will we descend together into
the dust?"
Isa 38:10 I said, "In the prime of my life must I go through the gates of Hades
and be robbed of the rest of my years?"
In this secular world, invaded by the forces of evil, Christ is establishing
his invasion force, his beachhead, his foothold. This community that he is
establishing is the forerunner of the final eternal community of the Lord. Within
this community the rule of Christ is active. From this community the rule of
Christ spreads until the day when he returns to make it complete.
This passage is the beginning of a great "turning-out" of the kingdom of God.
The Old Testament begins with a world-wide scope, it's creation in fact, and
continually narrows down from that until it is focussed specifically on the people
of Israel, and at the end at only the returning remnant of the people of Israel,
and finally a tiny village out of that returned remnant, Bethlehem.
But from there things begin to spread again. Jesus begins to build his
community. But not as a defensive community. Rather it is an offensive
community, an attacking community, a community going into the strongholds
that had been fortified by the Devil and reclaiming them for the One True
God.... "Go into all the world...."
IV HOW HE WILL ACCOMPLISH THAT PLAN
Here is one of those cases where the ability to be able to read the original
greek makes the passage a little richer than the english ever could bring out.
For in Greek, and in Aramaic, the language which Jesus spoke, the words
"Peter" and "rock" are virtually identical. In fact they are the masculine and
feminine forms of the same noun. It would be something like:
"You are ROCKY, and on this rock I will build my church..."
"Peter the Rock" - what a pun! His life shows him to be anything but a spiritual
rock of Gibraltar. Instead he was an inconsistent sort, given to dramatic shifts
in emotion, desire and action.
Little Peter - inconsistent, weak Peter - who but a little while later would
deny his Lord three times is called a ROCK! God has big plans for this little
man.
What about you??
Feeling inadequate?
Not sure you have anything to contribute?
Less than the next person?
Then just remember this:
Peter confesses Jesus as the Son of God. On the basis of that
confession Jesus announces that He will use him. However, the knowledge
which allowed Peter to make the confession was not his own. God gave it to
him as a free gift.
And even though he had that divine revelation, it was not as though he
fully understood it. In fact, just a few verses later Peter "bobbles the ball" when
he tries to prevent Jesus from going towards the cross, and ends up - he the
Rock - being rebuked, "Get behind me, Satan!"
His confession then, was only partially good.
But it was there!
And that's all that mattered! God would do the rest!
The confession which he did make brought him on stream. It was the
starting point. How it all exactly worked he didn't know. What it all implied he
wasn't sure. But this much was certain - Jesus was the source of a personal
connection with the Giver of Life. And Peter was going to grab it!
That same link is opened to us. And the same statement made to Peter
will be made to those of us who grab hold of the One whom Peter grabbed hold
of. Jesus will say of us:
You are a rock, and I am going to build my Church on confessions of
faith like that which you just made; people like you are going to be the basis on
which my work is done in this world! And try though he might, the destroyer of
life, the angel of death, the Devil, Satan will never be able to nix the forward
progress which I will make through you. Never will he be able to snuff out your
light.
If you are willing to join Peter and make that confession of faith, then God
is willing to take you and mould you into one of the building blocks of his
Kingdom! That's the bible's promise!
How can anyone resist that kind of an offer?
V EVALUATING PROGRESS
As with any retreat, it becomes important to go back from time to time
and evaluate progress.
How have these plans of Jesus unfolded?
Let it be known that the greatest battle has been won. The certainty of the
outcome has been decided. At the fulcrum of history, the turning point, the
leader of this retreat with Galilean fishermen engaged in battle with the devil....
on the cross. It was the battle of Easter weekend. And he won. He went into
the gates of Hades. They closed behind him. But he burst through them!
"Death no longer is the stronger" says the hymn.
And the message has begun to spread. From a motley crew of 12 it has
become the greatest religion on earth. Even the most vicious persecutions, as
recently as that in communist countries, has been unable to snuff out it's light.
When it seemed as though Satan succeeded in doing so in one place, it
popped up even brighter somewhere else!
Oh, the struggle is not over yet. And it may well be that forms and
institutions will come and go - for when Jesus spoke of building his church, he
was not referring to any one particular expression of it, but to his world-wide
spiritual community.
We can be certain that through the gates of death, the doors of hell will
continue to pour the pales horses of Revelation wielding their carnage and
death. But their goal of destroying the community of eternal life in Jesus Christ
will never be met.
If God is for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8.31)
Because the Sovereign Lord helps me I will not be disgraced! (Is
50.7)
The work of building God's Kingdom continues. And it happens through
weak building blocks like Peter, and you and me. It happens in sometimes big
events, and it happens in even the little acts.
Remember believer, that whatever you do in the name of Jesus is no
small thing. "Every stand for the faith, each Christlike deed, each act of
obedient witnessing however small, is a participation for the Kingdom of God in
the great cosmic struggle" [Bright Kingdom of God p.239].
Does it mean we won't face hard times? Does it mean that we can sit
back and arrogantly relax? Does it mean that the Church will never be hard
pressed here in North America? Far from it.
The blood of the martyrs over the centuries cries out with their witness.
And who are we, in this tiny segment of history, to think we are any different,
any less susceptible?
In fact, I believe we in North America who have been so plush and laid
back in our faith are seeing the first signs of this beginning to happen.
But in the midst of difficulty, don't lose heart. Don't give up. Just look
back to Matthew 5, the sermon on the mount, and remember the statements of
Jesus made there, who it is that inherits his Kingdom:
poor in spirit, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the
merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted for
righteousness sake....
And don't think you don't count. Just look back at Peter.
And don't think it's all in vain. Just look back at the cross. Just remember
the promise of Jesus:
Surely, I am with you always, to the end of time. (Mt 28.20)
And look ahead. Look for the clouds of glory. They're just around the
corner! And with them comes final victory,
for Jesus' sake, AMEN.