Download 17 The Christ - Fruitland Community Church

“The Christ”
Portraits of Jesus
FCC – May 3, 2015
Text: Matthew 16: 13-20
Introduction: Turn in your Bibles to Mark 8 and Matthew 16. It’s been challenging walking
through the Gospels chronologically to get a portrait of who Jesus claimed to be through His
teachings and His miracles. Last week we looked at Jesus feeding of the 5000 and the feeding of
the 4000. Jesus repeated His miracle with a different crowd with some slight nuances that He
might teach His disciples that He was God and as the Bread of Life, He’s all they or we need.
Shortly after the feeding of the 4000 in Mark 8, Jesus heals a blind man, again demonstrated His
compassion and His authority. This brings us to a very pivotal moment in the life of Jesus and
His disciples. Let’s begin be reading the account in Mark 8.
Mark 8: 27-30 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on
the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the
Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who
do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he strictly charged them
to tell no one about him.
Today we look a little closer at Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ, but I thought we would
look at what people say they believe about Jesus. I did a quick search on the internet and found a
poll done by George Barna on April 1, 2015. He took a poll around several questions concerning
the nature of Jesus and the results were interesting.
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90 percent of folks in the US believe that Jesus was a real person in history
56% of folks in the US believe that Jesus was God, but the numbers go down with
younger generations. Only 48% of millennials believe that Jesus is God.
When asked if Jesus sinned while here on the earth 52% of Americans said yes and 56%
of millennials believe that Jesus sinned.
The president of the Barna group wrote this… “These findings, however, ‘demonstrate the strong
degree to which Jesus remains embedded in the minds of Americans. It is not surprising that
Easter brings a range of Jesus-centered entertainment and media programming: Jesus has a
built-in audience. This study also shows the extent of Christian commitment in the nation—more
than 150 million Americans say they have professed faith in Christ. This impressive number begs
the question of how well this commitment is expressed. As much of our previous research shows,
Americans’ dedication to Jesus is, in most cases, a mile wide and an inch deep.’”
So today, Jesus will ask the disciples who they think He is and will see that Peter declares He is
The Christ…Let’s turn to the same account day in Matthew 16 to find three things about Jesus.
First, the Christ…
1. Demands a response (v. 13-17) Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi,
he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some
say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said
to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son
of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh
and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
Jesus and His disciples came into the district of Caesarea Philippi which was well-known for
its idol worship of pagan deities…like Pan. After spending about 2 and ½ months with His
disciples, He chose this setting to settle the question of His identity. He begins by asking His
disciples: “Who do people say that I am?” They listed off some of the popular answers:
1) John the Baptist - Matthew 14: 1-2 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame
of Jesus, and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from
the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”
2) Elijah - Malachi 4: 5-6 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and
awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children
and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of
utter destruction.”
Jesus explains to His disciples that John the Baptist for the forerunner that came in the
spirit of Elijah. Matt. 17: 10-13 And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes
say that first Elijah must come?” He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore
all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but
did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their
hands.” Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
3) Jeremiah or one of the prophets
Jesus turns the question on the disciples: “Who do YOU say that I am?” Holman - Notice
that Jesus did not ask who the disciples thought he was, or who they believed he was, but
who they said he was. Jesus wanted to know what they were ready to confess verbally about
his identity. This was the point at which they needed to step across the line and commit to the
reality of him as Christ or stay behind with the rest of the blind speculators.
Of course Peter speaks for the group and says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God!” Holman - In Peter's answer, the pronoun "you" is emphatic: "You are the Christ" (the
Greek title equivalent to the Hebrew "Messiah," both meaning "Anointed One"). By the
utterance of the word Christ, Peter attributed to Jesus all the hopes and promises, all the
prophecies and all the messianic honor of the entire Hebrew Scriptures. No longer was Jesus
merely a miracle-working prophet from God. He was now the king himself, the Savior who
was promised. He was truly the one and only Son of the living God.
The Christ demands a response, and secondly He…
2. Builds His church (v. 18). 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. Jesus was truly pleased and said in
v. 17 that the Father had revealed this to Peter. Jesus pledges to build His church on “this
rock.” Jesus does a word play here and it is key to understanding the passage. Jesus says,
“You are Peter (petros or little rock) and on this rock (petra or big rock) I will build my
church.” There have been 3 primarily interpretations of this text:
a) Peter is the rock that Jesus will build His church – The Catholics have taken this and said
that Peter was the first Pope, but there is no indication in the early church that Peter had
any papal authority over the disciples…in fact, He was among equals as He served with
the Apostles. Some see Jesus speaking to Peter as a representative of the disciples and
that He was going to build His church on Peter and the disciples. This is a valid view as
long as we remember that Jesus is the chief cornerstone.
Ephesians 2: 19-22 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow
citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole
structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also
are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
b) Peter’s confession is the rock – In other words, Peter, upon this confession of faith, I will
build my church. It is true that all who confess Christ as Lord and Savior are added to the
church and so this also may be a valid view.
c) Jesus is the rock – This was the view my New Testament professor in seminary and of at
least one commentary I read this week. It would go like this, “I tell you the truth, you are
Peter (rocky) and on this Rock (Petra) that you confess I will build my church.” There is
no doubt this is a valid view as well.
1 Peter 2: 4-6 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God
chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual
house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through
Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a
cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Regardless of your view, Jesus did build His church on the foundation of the apostles with
Jesus being the Chief Cornerstone. Notice the pronouns in Jesus promise: I will build MY
church! It’s His church and He goes on to promise that the gates of Hell would not prevail
against the church! Tom Constable - Jesus meant that the powers of death, Satan and his
hosts doing their most powerful work of opposing life, would not prevail over the church. The
church cannot die. This statement anticipated Jesus’ resurrection and the resurrection and
translation of church saints. Even Jesus’ death would not prevent Him from building the
church. Jesus’ church would be a living church just a Yahweh was the living God
The Christ demands a response, builds and protects His church, and lastly He…
3. Gives us His authority (v. 19-20) 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.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the
Christ.
This has been a misunderstood passage over the years. What does it mean to have the keys
of the Kingdom of Heaven? What does it mean to have the authority to bind and loose on
earth?
Holman - Jesus declared that to Peter (and the disciples) he would give the keys of the
kingdom of heaven. It is likely that Jesus was referring to the keys commonly held by the
scribes as a symbol of their teaching function. They were the "teachers" of Scripture. In this
sense, Jesus was appointing the disciples as the initial teachers in his church. As elsewhere
in Matthew, "heaven" is a euphemism for "God," so "kingdom of heaven" means "kingdom of
God." Those who were the teachers of Scripture were the gatekeepers for all humanity. They
were at the threshold of God's expanding kingdom as revealed in his Word. The verbs bound
and loosed (in the Greek future perfect tense) indicate the process was not yet complete.
Jesus seems to have been instructing these teachers to be certain that before they taught
some doctrine, it was something that had already been determined in heaven. What are these
keys by which the disciples, or subsequent teachers, open the way for people's understanding
of the kingdom? From the immediate context as well as the broader context of the New
Testament, we are safe in saying that these keys represent the supernaturally revealed truth
of God, which Peter and the other disciples had just begun to receive. If we conduct
ourselves according to God's guidelines here on earth, we can take it on faith that our
actions and decisions on earth are in accord with what has already been decided in heaven.
We do not need specific direction or confirmation in each situation; we have God's word on
it that his instruction, given to us in the Bible and properly carried out with a right heart, will
achieve his will on earth.
MacArthur describes binding as forbidding here on earth and loosing as permitting here on
earth. “He told Peter and the Twelve, and by extension all other believers, that they had the
astounding authority to declare what is divinely forbidden or permitted on earth.” Where do
we get that authority as stewards of the Gospel? We get it from our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ and His Word. When culture, friends, family, or neighbors question right and wrong,
we have the authority of God’s Word to speak truth, to say what has been determined in
Heaven.
And we truly are stewards of the Gospel holding the keys to the Kingdom. 2 Corinthians 5:
17-20 says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away;
behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to
himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of
reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through
us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
The Christ demands a response, builds and protects His church, and gives us His authority.
Conclusion: "yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we
exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist." 1
Corinthians 8: 6