WEBVTT 00:00:00.281 --> 00:00:03.569 Would you take your Bible and go to Matthew, chapter 16? 00:00:03.569 --> 00:00:13.510 This morning we will continue in our series Making Much of Jesus Joining God's Unstoppable Mission for the Church. 00:00:13.510 --> 00:00:31.160 And as we park in Matthew, chapter 16, this morning, verses 13 through 21, we want to hear from the words of Jesus himself how each and every one of us have been called to do exactly what this sermon series is entitled. 00:00:31.160 --> 00:00:40.290 We are being called to join God in his unstoppable mission to build his church. 00:00:40.290 --> 00:00:47.799 So let us hear God's word this morning from Matthew, chapter 16, beginning in verse 13. 00:00:47.799 --> 00:00:57.008 Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea, philippi, he asked his disciples who do people say that the Son of man is? 00:00:57.008 --> 00:01:04.569 And they said some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. 00:01:04.569 --> 00:01:08.528 He said to them but who do you say that I am? 00:01:08.528 --> 00:01:14.506 Simon Peter replied you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 00:01:14.506 --> 00:01:35.730 And Jesus answered him blessed are you, simon, barjona, 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. 00:01:35.730 --> 00:01:44.069 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. 00:01:44.069 --> 00:01:48.784 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. 00:01:48.784 --> 00:02:04.090 From that time, jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. 00:02:04.090 --> 00:02:06.084 That is God's word. 00:02:06.084 --> 00:02:12.407 May he add his blessing to his reading and preaching by the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. 00:02:12.407 --> 00:02:12.769 Amen. 00:02:14.681 --> 00:02:24.768 When our boys were young, they went through a stretch of their childhood where it seemed like they always had a pair of superhero pajamas. 00:02:24.768 --> 00:02:53.406 I can vividly remember both Pason and Silas in their Batman and Superman pajamas, and I remember one particular morning Silas wakes up in his Superman pajamas, and one of the features of this particular set of pajamas was that they had a detachable Velcro cape, and so every morning they would wake up and they would ask for their cape, and so Silas followed form. 00:02:53.406 --> 00:02:59.549 He comes up to me, I'm in my chair, I'm reading, I'm drinking my coffee, and he goes Daddy, where's my cape? 00:02:59.549 --> 00:03:03.711 And so I take his cape and I place it on his shoulders. 00:03:03.711 --> 00:03:10.127 And no sooner do I place the cape on his shoulders, a transformation takes place. 00:03:10.127 --> 00:03:16.149 He's no longer groggy, sleepy Silas, he's now Superman. 00:03:16.149 --> 00:03:29.108 And so he runs across the living room and he does something he had never done acting out in his pajamas, before he jumps up on the fireplace, hearth, pulls back his fist and punches the brick wall. 00:03:29.108 --> 00:03:31.262 You know what? 00:03:31.262 --> 00:03:32.247 He found out real quick. 00:03:32.247 --> 00:03:37.445 He wasn't the little man of steel, he was really just Silas. 00:03:37.445 --> 00:03:41.671 You say, why in the world would Silas punch the brick wall? 00:03:41.671 --> 00:03:43.294 I'll tell you why. 00:03:43.294 --> 00:03:45.447 He thought he was Superman. 00:03:46.441 --> 00:03:53.270 Isn't it true that we do what we do because we believe we are who we are? 00:03:53.270 --> 00:03:58.671 Our identity drives our activity. 00:03:58.671 --> 00:04:03.230 We do what we do because we believe we are who we are. 00:04:03.230 --> 00:04:11.473 We truly do believe and behave in accordance with our understanding of our identity. 00:04:11.473 --> 00:04:18.339 We do what we do because we believe we are who we are, and the opposite is also true, church. 00:04:18.339 --> 00:04:25.939 We often fail to do what we should do because we forget or we neglect who we truly are. 00:04:25.939 --> 00:04:30.119 People really do go through what's called an identity crisis. 00:04:30.119 --> 00:04:36.500 There is a medical condition that can be brought on through brain trauma, called amnesia. 00:04:36.500 --> 00:04:41.613 Sometimes people forget who they are. 00:04:43.127 --> 00:05:06.100 As this relates to the subject that I want to press into today from the Gospel of Matthew the Gospel of Matthew I want to admit that, even though this text is most concerned with accurately bringing our attention to the identity of Jesus, what we also see here is Jesus' concern that we understand our identity as well. 00:05:06.100 --> 00:05:16.324 Jesus wants us to know who he is, but Jesus also wants us to know who we are and what I want us to see. 00:05:16.324 --> 00:05:22.822 How this relates to Redeemer, especially Redeemer as a church planting church in the Bay Area. 00:05:22.822 --> 00:05:42.889 I want you to see how Jesus identifies you in relationship to His church's mission, because, as you see who you are in relationship to the mission, the idea is you will then begin to live out your part out, your identity in the mission. 00:05:42.889 --> 00:06:07.379 Your understanding of your identity in our church planting endeavors will drive your activity and your participation in our church planting endeavors, and I don't want any of us individually, or Redeemer Church of Fremont collectively, to suffer from what I would call a missional identity crisis. 00:06:07.379 --> 00:06:19.711 I don't want you to forget or to neglect your missional identity in Redeemer's church planting church vision. 00:06:19.711 --> 00:06:25.497 And so here's what I want to show you from the text this morning I want to show you. 00:06:25.497 --> 00:06:29.312 I want you to see how Jesus sees you. 00:06:29.312 --> 00:06:35.305 I want you to see how Jesus sees Redeemer Church, how Jesus sees Redeemer Church. 00:06:36.860 --> 00:06:40.706 And what Jesus sees in Redeemer Church is not unique to Redeemer Church. 00:06:40.706 --> 00:06:57.709 What Jesus sees in Redeemer Church is true of all of His churches globally and how they fit into His great plan for every people, tribe, tongue and nation to one day be gathered around the throne of Christ. 00:06:57.709 --> 00:07:02.730 The clearing worthy is the lamb who is slain. 00:07:02.730 --> 00:07:07.209 So how does Jesus see us, redeemer Church? 00:07:07.209 --> 00:07:13.086 He sees us as the means through which he's building his church. 00:07:13.086 --> 00:07:15.665 That's part of our identity. 00:07:15.665 --> 00:07:27.869 Through the eyes of Jesus and this is the big idea I want us to focus in on this morning we are Christ's means to accomplish his unstoppable plan to build his church. 00:07:29.201 --> 00:07:41.346 In Matthew 16, verses 13 through 21, we come face to face with Jesus telling us who we are and how the identity ought to shape our activity as disciples on mission together. 00:07:41.346 --> 00:07:47.430 It doesn't matter if you've been following Jesus for five minutes, five weeks or 50 years. 00:07:47.430 --> 00:07:53.194 You play a part in God's great plan to build his church. 00:07:53.194 --> 00:08:04.550 Unfortunately, this text that we're in this morning is often a hangout for theological debate over a rock and a set of keys, and that'll make sense in a few moments. 00:08:04.550 --> 00:08:20.709 But what's also here is a robust expression of Christ's unstoppable plan to take ordinary men and women like you and me and use us to do extraordinary things on his mission with the gospel. 00:08:20.709 --> 00:08:36.269 In fact, I hope that you will see in this text from the text embedded in the details, in the truths of this text that we are truly Christ's means to accomplish his unstoppable plan to build his church. 00:08:36.269 --> 00:08:48.326 So, as that is the setup, I wanna show you how this truth comes out of the text, but I feel like I need to give a bit of an overview of the text itself, and let me just do this briefly so you understand the setting of what I just read. 00:08:48.440 --> 00:08:54.346 Jesus and the 12 disciples are in Gentile territory, a city called Caesarea Philippi. 00:08:54.346 --> 00:09:04.067 Interestingly, this was a city that was named after Caesar Augustus, and there was even this ornate marble temple that was built there in honor of King Herod. 00:09:04.067 --> 00:09:07.745 It was a temple that stood to say here's what Herod built. 00:09:07.745 --> 00:09:09.885 He built this city. 00:09:09.885 --> 00:09:20.265 Interestingly enough, jesus is gonna give a lesson about what he is building and how that building cannot be stopped in a city that bragged about the building of a man. 00:09:20.265 --> 00:09:22.626 You've probably never seen this temple. 00:09:22.626 --> 00:09:24.745 You've probably never heard of this temple. 00:09:24.745 --> 00:09:36.347 You probably only passively are acquainted with Caesar Augustus, but you are very well aware of what Jesus is building because you are a part of it right now, 2000 years later. 00:09:36.980 --> 00:09:46.091 So here they are in Caesarea, philippi, and we're at this moment where they're experiencing a rare break in the ministry activity of Christ's incarnation. 00:09:46.091 --> 00:09:50.465 Jesus is in teaching, he's in proclaiming, he's in healing. 00:09:50.465 --> 00:09:52.628 They're just resting for a moment. 00:09:52.628 --> 00:10:09.427 No one's coming after him for help, and so Jesus takes this moment of unprecedented rest to instruct his disciples on something significant about the ministry that must continue after his death and resurrection. 00:10:09.427 --> 00:10:12.828 This is also a moment in Matthew's gospel. 00:10:12.919 --> 00:10:42.899 If you're familiar with the reading of the entire gospel, this section functions as a bit of a literary break in Matthew's gospel because, starting in verse 21 of chapter 16, the pace picks up drastically in this gospel, as Jesus is on this very intentional march towards Jerusalem, where he will willingly give himself over to betrayal, denial, crucifixion and resurrection, and so this is marked by the phrase of verse 21,. 00:10:42.899 --> 00:10:57.369 From that time, so after this break from that time, jesus begins to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, he must die on the cross and he will rise from the dead on the third day. 00:10:57.369 --> 00:11:01.091 So this is a transition text in Matthew's gospel. 00:11:01.091 --> 00:11:11.327 Now, concerning this transition, theologian Th Robinson notes here we reach the crisis, the turning point in the ministry of Jesus. 00:11:11.327 --> 00:11:14.046 He knew what lay before him. 00:11:14.046 --> 00:11:19.426 He knew because he planned the future with his own death in Jerusalem. 00:11:19.426 --> 00:11:28.412 He had therefore to secure some representatives who he could leave behind to carry on his work. 00:11:28.412 --> 00:11:32.047 So Jesus is going to Jerusalem. 00:11:32.047 --> 00:11:35.486 He's going to die on the cross for our sins. 00:11:35.486 --> 00:11:38.767 Three days later he will rise from the dead. 00:11:38.767 --> 00:11:47.990 Then he will ascend into heaven, where he is at this very moment, awaiting the day when he returns to judge the living and the dead and make all things new. 00:11:49.302 --> 00:12:08.549 But here's what Jesus is concerned about in this text In between the time of his ascension and his return, there's still work to be done on earth, and in this text, he's preparing his disciples to be the means through which that work is done. 00:12:08.549 --> 00:12:32.369 So what I believe this means is that here, at this turning point, in verses 16 through 21, we have Jesus getting his disciples ready to continue the work that he began during his incarnation to continue the work of building his church and advancing his gospel and seeing broken things healed and restored and renewed in the name of the triune God. 00:12:32.369 --> 00:12:42.549 And he's not only preparing the 12 disciples but others who will be led by them and go with them as the whole church. 00:12:42.549 --> 00:12:47.828 At the end of this gospel will be commissioned to go into all the world and preach the gospel. 00:12:47.828 --> 00:13:04.792 So we need to see that the way Jesus is getting his disciples prepared to participate in the Great Commission is to extend the teaching that we're receiving right here in chapter 16, before the Great Commission is ever extended. 00:13:04.792 --> 00:13:32.972 So, with that as the background to the text, I believe this sets up the truth we wanna dive into this morning, and that is this we are the means through which Jesus builds his church, and so there are many ways that we can approach this as we look at the text this morning, but I wanna do it by asking a question what kind of people does Jesus use to build his church? 00:13:32.972 --> 00:13:41.442 We are the means through which Jesus builds his church, but who are the we? 00:13:41.442 --> 00:13:49.167 What kind of people does Jesus use as the means to build his church? 00:13:49.167 --> 00:14:01.269 I believe they're identified in four ways in Matthew's gospel, and let me give you all four of them up front and then we'll work through them one by one. 00:14:01.269 --> 00:14:04.807 What kind of people does Jesus use to build his church? 00:14:04.807 --> 00:14:06.826 First, people who are gripped by the gospel. 00:14:06.826 --> 00:14:10.447 Second, people who believe God uses people like us. 00:14:10.447 --> 00:14:13.986 Third, people who believe God works through our work. 00:14:13.986 --> 00:14:18.222 And then, finally, people who believe God's mission can't be stopped. 00:14:18.222 --> 00:14:23.672 First, people who are gripped by the gospel. 00:14:24.139 --> 00:14:32.586 In verse 13, jesus takes this providential break in the action to ask the 12 a vital question who do people say that I am? 00:14:32.586 --> 00:14:37.711 And the answers are all over the all-star prophet map. 00:14:37.711 --> 00:14:45.071 Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, others Jeremiah are one of the prophets, in other words, someone really important. 00:14:45.071 --> 00:14:48.043 Who are people saying Jesus is? 00:14:48.043 --> 00:14:53.583 They're saying he's someone really important, a prophet, someone who speaks on behalf of God. 00:14:53.583 --> 00:15:00.203 Prophets were vitally important people who spoke with authority on behalf of God. 00:15:00.203 --> 00:15:04.203 So that's who people are saying that Jesus is. 00:15:04.934 --> 00:15:09.962 Now Jesus asked the more important question in verse 15, but who do you say that I am? 00:15:09.962 --> 00:15:18.686 Let me just do a little aside here before we go into the answer that the disciples provide. 00:15:18.686 --> 00:15:22.960 That is the most important question for everyone in this room. 00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:27.825 Who do you say that Jesus is? 00:15:27.825 --> 00:15:31.221 How do you identify Jesus? 00:15:31.221 --> 00:15:41.927 How you identify Jesus, what you believe about Jesus is the most important thing about you. 00:15:41.927 --> 00:15:46.519 It is the difference between life and death, heaven and hell. 00:15:46.519 --> 00:15:52.340 It's important to know what your parents say about Jesus if you are a child. 00:15:52.340 --> 00:15:58.144 It's important to know what your church pastors say about Jesus if you are a part of this local church. 00:15:58.144 --> 00:16:03.777 It's important to know what your closest friends believe about Jesus, and it's important to know how they would answer that question. 00:16:03.777 --> 00:16:14.866 But for you personally, no more significant question needs to be answered for you than this who do you say Jesus is? 00:16:14.866 --> 00:16:20.926 Let's see if your answer connects with the apostles answer. 00:16:20.926 --> 00:16:23.279 But who do you say that I am? 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:31.621 It's like Jesus is saying all right, you've told me how others identify me, but here's what's most important how do you identify me? 00:16:32.735 --> 00:16:47.717 Jesus says to the disciples the word you is in the plural, so the question is being directed to all of them and, as usual, peter volunteers to answer on everyone else's behalf, and so in verse 16, peter elects to answer on behalf of them all. 00:16:47.717 --> 00:16:48.640 He's that guy. 00:16:48.640 --> 00:16:50.496 Peter's that guy. 00:16:50.496 --> 00:16:52.519 You know people like Peter. 00:16:52.519 --> 00:16:54.019 I know people like Peter. 00:16:54.019 --> 00:16:55.840 I look in the mirror at him every day. 00:16:55.840 --> 00:17:04.099 Here's what Peter says you are the Christ, the son of the living God. 00:17:04.099 --> 00:17:09.318 Now, if this were a game show, you would have had a bell in the background going ding, ding, ding, ding, ding ding. 00:17:09.318 --> 00:17:12.782 Correct, because Peter does give the correct answer. 00:17:12.782 --> 00:17:15.403 In other words, the crowds are partially right. 00:17:16.894 --> 00:17:18.200 Jesus is important. 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:23.645 Jesus is a vital part in the history of God's people. 00:17:23.645 --> 00:17:27.664 But Peter says we believe you are the most important. 00:17:27.664 --> 00:17:31.701 You're not just a prophet, you are supremely important. 00:17:31.701 --> 00:17:36.694 You are the Messiah, god's divine son. 00:17:36.694 --> 00:17:46.588 This single sentence you are the Christ, the son of the living God is often referred to in theological circles as the great confession. 00:17:46.588 --> 00:17:55.221 It is the great confession of Matthew 16 that ultimately leads to the great commission of Matthew 28, because this is what we have to declare. 00:17:55.221 --> 00:18:13.446 What we have been given to declare is the good news about who Jesus is and what he came to accomplish, and who he is and what he came to do is all compacted in that one single sentence you are the Christ, the son of the living God. 00:18:13.446 --> 00:18:22.204 And in this great confession, peter is saying, on behalf of the 12 disciples we believe, first, that you are the Christ. 00:18:25.095 --> 00:18:33.584 It's Christos in the New Testament, which is the Messiah, the Messiah of the Old Covenant. 00:18:33.584 --> 00:18:38.025 The Messiah is the promised one, the anointed one. 00:18:38.025 --> 00:18:40.361 You see, it's important to know. 00:18:40.361 --> 00:18:41.644 I don't mean this as an insult. 00:18:41.644 --> 00:18:50.542 If you are a newer Christian or you're newer to the Bible, you understand that Christ is not Jesus' last name, like I am Ian McConnell. 00:18:50.542 --> 00:18:52.803 It's not the way it works with Jesus Christ. 00:18:52.954 --> 00:19:02.743 Christ is a title, a sacred title, the most important title, the most anticipated title in all of the Old Testament. 00:19:02.743 --> 00:19:11.464 This Messiah, this promised one, this anointed one, would serve a threefold ministry on behalf of God's people. 00:19:11.464 --> 00:19:16.625 He would be the perfect prophet, priest and king. 00:19:16.625 --> 00:19:20.779 Now, there were many prophets and they spoke on behalf of God. 00:19:20.779 --> 00:19:30.480 There were many priests and they cared for God's people on behalf of God, and there were many kings who ruled and legislated and governed on behalf of God. 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:49.846 But there was this anticipation, there was this promise that one day there would be a perfect prophet who would speak the very words of God, that there would be a perfect priest who would care on behalf of God as God, and there would be a perfect king who would rule God's people in righteousness and peace forever. 00:19:49.846 --> 00:19:56.507 And so Peter is saying we believe you're that guy. 00:19:56.507 --> 00:20:01.683 We believe that you are the Messiah. 00:20:01.683 --> 00:20:12.325 We believe that you are the perfect prophet, priest and king who's come to rescue, rule and restore God's people, now and forever. 00:20:12.325 --> 00:20:21.223 We believe that you are the Christ, but they also said that we believe that you are the son of the living God. 00:20:21.223 --> 00:20:26.260 Now, there's much packed into this title the son of the living God. 00:20:26.575 --> 00:20:30.461 But here's what's most important to note for our purposes this morning. 00:20:30.461 --> 00:20:33.344 They recognized that Jesus was not just a good man. 00:20:33.344 --> 00:20:43.305 They fully recognized and experienced that Jesus was not just a good teacher or another one of the prophets, priests or kings. 00:20:43.305 --> 00:20:54.228 They recognized that Jesus, he was the divine son of God, not just an ordinary man, but the God man. 00:20:54.228 --> 00:21:21.575 And so you put all of this together and, my brothers and sisters, you have a clear confession of the gospel, the good news that Jesus, the God man, was sent by the Father, anointed by the Holy Spirit, to rescue, rule and restore sinners, as the perfect prophet, priest and king who would accomplish all of this through the significant acts of his life, death and resurrection. 00:21:21.575 --> 00:21:29.749 That's the great confession who Jesus is and what he came to accomplish for his people. 00:21:29.749 --> 00:21:34.414 So Leon Morris notes in his commentary on the book of Matthew. 00:21:35.019 --> 00:21:50.083 It may not be easy to understand precisely what Peter thought the anointed one would be and do, even with his insight that he was God's son, but he was certainly giving voice to an exalted view of Jesus. 00:21:50.083 --> 00:21:56.709 He could not have ascribed a higher place to him. 00:21:56.709 --> 00:21:58.597 What's the point? 00:21:58.597 --> 00:22:16.026 The bottom line is that these disciples were gripped by the good news of who Jesus was, what he was sent to do, and that there was no one, absolutely no one, more important than him. 00:22:16.026 --> 00:22:21.022 Jesus was the highest, jesus was the greatest. 00:22:21.022 --> 00:22:30.923 There is no one who ever walked the face of God's earth more important, more glorious, more magnificent than Jesus. 00:22:30.923 --> 00:22:34.480 They were gripped by Christ. 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:43.910 Are you, are you gripped by Jesus like that? 00:22:43.910 --> 00:22:58.144 Are you gripped by the good news that Jesus is who he is and was sent to do what he was sent to do, and that there is absolutely no one, absolutely no one like Jesus? 00:22:58.144 --> 00:23:05.723 Jesus lived the life we could not live. 00:23:05.723 --> 00:23:08.382 He died the death we deserve to die. 00:23:08.382 --> 00:23:29.644 He was raised from the dead so that all who turn from their sins and trust in him are forgiven All their sin, are covered from all their shame and are delivered from all their guilt and are made God's blessed sons and daughters forever and are promised not only to have the presence of God with them on this earth, but are promised to live in the presence of God forever. 00:23:29.644 --> 00:23:31.478 Is that not the best news ever? 00:23:31.478 --> 00:23:40.482 Nothing we do to earn it, nothing we do to deserve it, but Jesus was freely giving. 00:23:40.482 --> 00:23:54.631 Because God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. 00:23:57.259 --> 00:24:16.287 We're about to see and you probably already know, because you've read the rest of your Bible how God uses these individuals that Jesus is addressing in this text, and how Jesus uses these individuals who influenced the entire church to literally turn the world upside down in Jesus' name. 00:24:16.287 --> 00:24:20.289 What motivated them to participate in this mission? 00:24:20.289 --> 00:24:23.269 What drove them to give their lives for this cause? 00:24:23.269 --> 00:24:31.724 What moved them to give their time and their talents and to make great sacrifices for the sake of the church? 00:24:31.724 --> 00:24:32.787 What moved them? 00:24:32.787 --> 00:24:33.588 What gripped them? 00:24:33.588 --> 00:24:34.270 What motivated them? 00:24:34.270 --> 00:24:38.388 It can be described in one word Jesus. 00:24:38.388 --> 00:24:44.131 They were gripped by Jesus. 00:24:46.204 --> 00:25:11.902 Oh, if God is going to use us as the means through which he builds His church, he's going to use men and women, ordinary men and women, like you and like me, who begin with this fundamental place, this fundamental belief, this fundamental confession Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and there's absolutely no one, no one like Jesus. 00:25:11.902 --> 00:25:16.708 What kind of people does Jesus use to build His church? 00:25:16.708 --> 00:25:20.808 First, people who are gripped by the gospel. 00:25:20.808 --> 00:25:23.263 Second, people who believe. 00:25:23.263 --> 00:25:25.909 God uses people like us. 00:25:25.909 --> 00:25:31.086 Notice Jesus' response to Peter's confession in verse 18. 00:25:31.086 --> 00:25:39.269 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. 00:25:39.269 --> 00:25:48.664 Notice that Jesus' response to Peter's confession of Christ's identity with a declaration of Peter's identity. 00:25:48.664 --> 00:25:51.384 You've told me who I am. 00:25:51.384 --> 00:25:59.992 Let me tell you who you are you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. 00:25:59.992 --> 00:26:13.547 So the age old question that I alluded to earlier, that's been debated for just about forever and thousands of pages have been written in theological volumes to discuss this what is the rock? 00:26:13.547 --> 00:26:18.970 What is the rock upon which Christ will build His church? 00:26:18.970 --> 00:26:20.684 Is the rock Jesus? 00:26:20.684 --> 00:26:27.266 Is Jesus speaking in contrast here, peter, your name is Petros. 00:26:27.266 --> 00:26:27.988 That means pebble. 00:26:27.988 --> 00:26:31.387 You are a little pebble and I am Jesus. 00:26:31.387 --> 00:26:39.393 I'm the God man, so I'm the boulder, and upon this rock I will build my church. 00:26:39.393 --> 00:26:41.844 Is the rock Peter? 00:26:41.844 --> 00:26:43.528 Exclusively. 00:26:43.528 --> 00:26:49.049 You are Peter, and upon you, peter, I will build my church. 00:26:49.170 --> 00:27:02.711 And for those of us who come from Roman Catholic backgrounds, we understand that this text has been used to say that Peter was the first pope of the Catholic church and that the church is built upon that office. 00:27:02.711 --> 00:27:08.470 Or is it Peter as a representative of the apostles? 00:27:08.470 --> 00:27:15.444 Remember, he's speaking on behalf of the twelve and in other places the apostles are referred to as the foundation. 00:27:15.444 --> 00:27:23.682 So is Peter a representative of the apostles and upon the teaching of the apostles the church will be built? 00:27:23.682 --> 00:27:27.385 Is the rock Peter's confession? 00:27:27.385 --> 00:27:32.279 If Jesus is speaking of that proclamation, you are the Christ. 00:27:32.279 --> 00:27:39.090 He's saying yes, you've confessed it right and upon that confession I will build my church. 00:27:39.090 --> 00:27:42.262 So what is the answer? 00:27:42.262 --> 00:27:45.063 Is it Jesus? 00:27:45.063 --> 00:27:46.186 Is it Peter? 00:27:46.186 --> 00:27:50.951 Is it the apostles as representative leaders of the church? 00:27:50.951 --> 00:27:52.184 Is it the confession? 00:27:52.184 --> 00:27:54.104 I believe the answer is yes. 00:27:54.104 --> 00:28:04.426 I believe the rock upon which Christ will build his church is a confluence of these realities that are all baked into this statement. 00:28:04.426 --> 00:28:09.588 I believe the rock upon which Christ will build the church is the gospel. 00:28:09.588 --> 00:28:14.326 Peter is confessing as a representative leader of the church. 00:28:14.326 --> 00:28:19.689 The message and the messengers are yoked. 00:28:19.689 --> 00:28:28.686 Jesus is going to build his church through leaders like Peter, who lead the church on mission to proclaim the good news of Jesus. 00:28:28.686 --> 00:28:43.411 And as churches are led on mission by their appointed gifted leaders, then God uses the church to be the means through which the gospel advances and the church is built. 00:28:43.411 --> 00:28:49.189 And so isn't this what happens on the other side of the gospels? 00:28:50.099 --> 00:28:52.488 Fast forward to the day of Pentecost in Acts, chapter 2. 00:28:52.488 --> 00:28:55.326 120 people in a room praying. 00:28:55.326 --> 00:28:58.027 God fills them all with the Holy Spirit. 00:28:58.027 --> 00:29:09.991 All of the disciples, including the men and the women, all go out into the streets of Jerusalem and they begin to confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. 00:29:09.991 --> 00:29:23.622 And then Peter stands up after they are sharing the gospel individually and he preaches the gospel and, as a result, 3000 people are awakened to faith in Christ and the church in Jerusalem is planted. 00:29:23.622 --> 00:29:42.807 So here's the principle I think we see being revealed through the planting the beginning of the church in Jerusalem Jesus calls gifted leaders to lead the church on gospel mission and when God blesses their efforts, he builds his church. 00:29:42.807 --> 00:29:52.087 This is how God began to build his church on the day of Pentecost and that is how I believe God continues to build his church today. 00:29:53.460 --> 00:30:06.182 God sets apart gifted leaders who are called to lead the church family on mission with the gospel, and when God blesses those efforts by the power of the Holy Spirit, he's building his church. 00:30:06.182 --> 00:30:12.148 So here's my question do you believe this is still the way God works today? 00:30:12.148 --> 00:30:15.826 If so, it means something significant. 00:30:15.826 --> 00:30:54.521 It means this that God has set apart, gifted, called and qualified elders Pastor Bob, pastor Ricky, pastor Royce in this context, to equip you to take the gospel and spread it and disseminate it and proclaim it when we're gathered and when we're scattered, and as God uses our leaders to equip us on this mission and as we go out and function in this mission. 00:30:54.521 --> 00:31:25.332 When God blesses it, his church is being built and that is what we want to see happen all throughout the Bay Area Local church communities like this being led on mission with a clear articulation of the good news of Jesus, believing that where we live and where we work and where we get educated and where we play and where we experience life in the Bay is all by God's design. 00:31:25.460 --> 00:31:43.125 We have been sent there, and so we come here and we worship the Christ, the Son of the Living God and the power of the Spirit, to the glory of God, the Father, and we receive the teaching of God's Word and we become more mature in our understanding of our creed and more mature in our understanding of the gospel. 00:31:43.125 --> 00:31:53.338 And then we go and we represent Jesus and as we go in Jesus' name, with Jesus' gospel, empowered by the Spirit, jesus is sent. 00:31:53.338 --> 00:32:01.699 He will use us to be the means through which he builds his church. 00:32:01.699 --> 00:32:19.414 My brothers and sisters, I believe we should go home from this Lord's Day gathering more humbled and more amazed that we are Christ's plan for building his church throughout the bay. 00:32:20.724 --> 00:32:25.291 What kind of people does God use to lead in the mission of the gospel? 00:32:25.291 --> 00:32:35.253 People who believe that God simply uses ordinary people like us to do extraordinary things in Jesus' name. 00:32:35.253 --> 00:32:38.353 Third, it's related but it's nuanced. 00:32:38.353 --> 00:32:44.515 What kind of people does God use to accomplish his mission to build his church? 00:32:44.515 --> 00:32:47.294 People who believe God works through our work. 00:32:47.294 --> 00:32:53.113 Not just people believe that God wants to use us, but God wants to use us in a particular way. 00:32:53.113 --> 00:32:59.800 God's design is to work through our work. 00:32:59.800 --> 00:33:09.869 It's important to believe that God uses people like us, but it's also important to know how God uses us, and I think we're shown this here in the text in verses 17 through 18. 00:33:09.869 --> 00:33:16.095 The principle I think we see at work here is that God supernaturally works through our natural work. 00:33:17.484 --> 00:33:24.548 Look at how Jesus explains the reason why Peter truly understands the identity of Christ in verse 17. 00:33:24.548 --> 00:33:35.334 He says blessed are you, son of Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father, who is in heaven. 00:33:35.334 --> 00:33:37.228 This is amazing. 00:33:37.228 --> 00:33:51.432 This is an amazing truth, not only about how an individual comes to faith in the true identity and significance of Jesus, but it's also an amazing statement about how God works through our work in the mission of making much of Jesus. 00:33:51.432 --> 00:33:52.694 Think about it. 00:33:52.694 --> 00:33:55.192 Who was proclaiming the gospel to Peter? 00:33:55.192 --> 00:34:00.747 Jesus, jesus himself, jesus. 00:34:00.987 --> 00:34:14.333 We read earlier in Matthew's gospel and I'll be teaching from this text in a couple of weeks that Jesus went to every town and every village, teaching in the synagogue, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 00:34:14.333 --> 00:34:18.172 So the ministry rhythm of Jesus was teaching, proclaiming and healing. 00:34:18.172 --> 00:34:21.512 And so Jesus is the one who's proclaiming the gospel. 00:34:21.512 --> 00:34:23.690 Jesus is the one who's healing. 00:34:23.690 --> 00:34:28.291 Jesus is the one who's showing manifestations of the kingdom to come through his ministry. 00:34:28.291 --> 00:34:34.793 And so Peter heard the gospel proclaimed from the very mouth of Jesus. 00:34:35.164 --> 00:34:41.789 Now, who revealed the significance of those words and deeds causing Peter to believe. 00:34:41.789 --> 00:34:49.550 Then the Father Jesus says flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven. 00:34:49.550 --> 00:34:57.753 In other words, you didn't believe this simply because you heard it proclaimed from a flesh and blood messenger. 00:34:57.753 --> 00:35:09.135 The reason why you believe this is because, even though you heard it from a flesh and blood messenger, the Father opened your heart to believe it. 00:35:09.135 --> 00:35:14.436 The Father worked in your heart to embrace it. 00:35:14.436 --> 00:35:19.969 In other words, peter didn't come to faith in Christ simply by figuring it out. 00:35:19.969 --> 00:35:20.793 Oh, he heard the message. 00:35:20.793 --> 00:35:21.608 Oh, that makes sense. 00:35:21.608 --> 00:35:24.172 Jesus is the Christ that's down to the living God. 00:35:24.172 --> 00:35:32.072 Now the Father opened his heart through the words and deeds of Jesus. 00:35:32.072 --> 00:35:38.648 Now this, my friends, is stepping into the deep end of the Trinitarian pool. 00:35:38.648 --> 00:35:48.233 The Father worked through the work of Jesus to make his proclamation of the gospel efficacious. 00:35:48.233 --> 00:35:51.568 It's not. 00:35:51.568 --> 00:36:02.851 It's astounding and it's also encouraging because obviously Jesus is the best gospel preacher to ever walk the face of this earth. 00:36:02.851 --> 00:36:12.414 He is the one who is most clearly and most profoundly and most accurately, as ever, articulated the truths of the kingdom of God. 00:36:13.385 --> 00:36:19.992 But we're not Jesus and sometimes we find it difficult to communicate the gospel. 00:36:19.992 --> 00:36:24.429 Sometimes we find it hard to talk about the true identity and the mission of Jesus. 00:36:24.429 --> 00:36:32.170 Sometimes we feel like when people ask us a question about our faith, we just kind of we just fumble our way through sharing the good news of Jesus. 00:36:32.170 --> 00:36:37.045 But I got good news for you the people that are you seeking to share the gospel with. 00:36:37.045 --> 00:36:40.856 Their faith is not dependent upon your articulation. 00:36:40.856 --> 00:36:47.853 Their faith is not ultimately dependent upon how well or how good or how silver tongues you are at communicating. 00:36:47.853 --> 00:36:59.972 We share the gospel and then we trust that God will work in hearts and reveal to them the significance of the life, the death, the resurrection of Jesus. 00:36:59.972 --> 00:37:06.032 In other words, god works through our work to bring people into the kingdom of God. 00:37:06.032 --> 00:37:09.630 So this should be liberating. 00:37:10.684 --> 00:37:13.574 Yes, we are called to work in Jesus' name. 00:37:13.574 --> 00:37:18.193 Yes, we are called to share the good news of Jesus through our words and through our deeds. 00:37:18.193 --> 00:37:26.876 But at the end of the day, the success of the mission is not dependent upon the expertise of the missionaries. 00:37:26.876 --> 00:37:34.733 The success of the mission is dependent upon the God who works through our work to accomplish His will on earth as it is in heaven. 00:37:34.733 --> 00:37:36.130 Does not make you want to say amen. 00:37:36.130 --> 00:37:39.271 You don't got to be an amener to get excited about that. 00:37:40.385 --> 00:37:41.570 God works through our work. 00:37:41.570 --> 00:37:44.103 It's like David said in Psalm 127. 00:37:44.103 --> 00:37:46.148 He says this he goes. 00:37:46.148 --> 00:37:50.409 Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain. 00:37:50.409 --> 00:37:50.972 Who build it? 00:37:50.972 --> 00:37:51.987 So who builds it? 00:37:51.987 --> 00:37:52.972 Us or the Lord? 00:37:52.972 --> 00:37:54.170 The answer yes. 00:37:56.684 --> 00:38:05.797 The apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3, talking about the mission of the gospel, says some plant, some water, but God gives the growth. 00:38:05.797 --> 00:38:07.771 Does our sowing matter? 00:38:07.771 --> 00:38:10.132 Yes, does our watering matter? 00:38:10.132 --> 00:38:14.753 Yes, but at the end of the day, who makes the gospel grow? 00:38:14.753 --> 00:38:16.989 Not you, not me. 00:38:16.989 --> 00:38:18.193 God does. 00:38:19.744 --> 00:38:27.112 It's liberating church that we're called to participate in a mission that, left to ourselves, will be ineffected. 00:38:27.112 --> 00:38:31.489 But we don't need to worry about our work being ineffective. 00:38:31.489 --> 00:38:31.849 Why? 00:38:31.849 --> 00:38:39.391 Because the one who works through our work will accomplish everything that he is destined to accomplish for the glory of God. 00:38:39.391 --> 00:38:41.548 That's good news. 00:38:41.548 --> 00:38:48.972 So let me just tell you this we will give our best stab at this. 00:38:48.972 --> 00:38:52.813 We're gonna give it the old college try. 00:38:52.813 --> 00:38:59.351 We're gonna seek to faithfully reach the tri-cities and St Jose and beyond. 00:38:59.351 --> 00:39:02.851 In Jesus' name, we wanna proclaim the good news of Jesus. 00:39:02.851 --> 00:39:03.987 We wanna love. 00:39:03.987 --> 00:39:08.949 In Jesus' name, we wanna open our homes and open our churches and show hospitality. 00:39:08.949 --> 00:39:12.130 In the name who's welcomed us by his grace and for his glory. 00:39:12.130 --> 00:39:17.992 We wanna see the brokenness that's out there in our city and do something about it in Jesus' name. 00:39:17.992 --> 00:39:18.635 And you know what? 00:39:18.635 --> 00:39:24.949 We will drill to scratch the surface on what needs to be done here and there and all over the bay. 00:39:24.949 --> 00:39:46.695 But here's the good news Our best efforts, even though they seem small, even though they may seem insignificant, even though they may seem impotent and that they don't have the power to make that big of a difference, I got good news for you If God works through our work, the man, everything that God plans to happen will happen. 00:39:46.695 --> 00:39:49.327 That's some good news. 00:39:50.585 --> 00:39:56.032 So who does God use as the means through which he accomplishes his unstoppable plan? 00:39:56.032 --> 00:40:07.231 He uses people who are gripped by the gospel, people who believe that God wants to use people like us, people who have faith and are convinced that God works through our work. 00:40:07.231 --> 00:40:14.690 Finally, and in conclusion, god uses people who believe that God's mission can't be stopped. 00:40:14.690 --> 00:40:17.306 Verse 18,. 00:40:17.306 --> 00:40:30.096 Jesus said I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 00:40:30.096 --> 00:40:35.952 You know, there's an enemy who doesn't want us to gather and worship today. 00:40:35.952 --> 00:40:41.876 There's an enemy who doesn't want this church to succeed. 00:40:41.876 --> 00:40:46.369 There's an enemy who doesn't want the church in San Jose to be planted. 00:40:46.369 --> 00:40:52.731 There's an enemy who is opposed to our unity and love and faith community. 00:40:52.731 --> 00:41:09.112 He is described as a wily serpent, a deceiver, a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, one who, from the very beginning, has been opposed to God's plan, god's purpose and God's people. 00:41:09.112 --> 00:41:38.972 And here, in this single sentence, jesus says that enemy may roar, that enemy may try to bite, that enemy may try to resist, but at the end of the day, that enemy shall not prevail, because Jesus said with all the strength of heaven, with all the strength and omnipotence of God himself, I will get it done. 00:41:38.972 --> 00:41:41.356 That is awesome. 00:41:41.356 --> 00:41:50.804 Jesus said I will build my church and, come on hell, bring all that you got. 00:41:51.688 --> 00:41:52.632 You can't stop me. 00:41:52.632 --> 00:42:00.786 I don't know how that falls on you, but it falls on me in a very encouraging way because let me just be honest I like to win. 00:42:00.786 --> 00:42:09.771 In fact, I've been involved in competitive sports for most of my life, for as long as my knees have let me, and I like to win. 00:42:09.771 --> 00:42:11.262 I've been playing pick up. 00:42:11.262 --> 00:42:14.722 I'm 46 years old and I've been playing pick up basketball for a long time. 00:42:14.722 --> 00:42:19.070 And when I go out to the play, I go out there to win. 00:42:19.070 --> 00:42:24.326 And so if you're not a very skilled basketball player and you're playing with me, let me just warn you I will block your shot. 00:42:24.326 --> 00:42:27.226 You will not get sympathy from me on the basketball court. 00:42:27.226 --> 00:42:33.204 Sympathy from me in the counseling session, absolutely, but not sympathy on the basketball court. 00:42:33.204 --> 00:42:33.405 Why? 00:42:33.405 --> 00:42:35.804 Because I like to win, win, win no matter what. 00:42:35.804 --> 00:42:39.547 Okay, but here's reality. 00:42:39.547 --> 00:42:45.626 I've been playing sports competitively for a very long time and let me just tell you this I don't always win. 00:42:45.626 --> 00:42:48.367 In fact, I've lost a lot. 00:42:48.367 --> 00:42:52.829 I've been on some really sorry teams and I've contributed to the soreness. 00:42:52.829 --> 00:42:55.284 Okay, I can't always win. 00:42:55.579 --> 00:43:01.672 So when I hear Jesus say I will build my church, I hear Jesus say I'm going to win. 00:43:01.672 --> 00:43:03.643 And guess what? 00:43:03.643 --> 00:43:06.907 We're on his team. 00:43:06.907 --> 00:43:11.409 And so if Jesus wins, we win. 00:43:11.409 --> 00:43:15.009 If Jesus wins, redeemer Church wins. 00:43:15.009 --> 00:43:18.809 If Jesus wins, the Bayseed Collective wins. 00:43:18.809 --> 00:43:22.791 If Jesus wins, his church will triumph. 00:43:22.920 --> 00:43:30.389 Now here's something that's important His purposes shall prevail, not all of ours. 00:43:30.389 --> 00:43:46.329 Again, sometimes, in giving our best shot at doing what we think we need to do to make Jesus known, sometimes our initiatives, sometimes our plans, sometimes our creative ambitions don't succeed. 00:43:46.329 --> 00:43:49.465 Does that mean that Jesus has failed? 00:43:49.465 --> 00:43:55.746 No, it means that wasn't his plan, it wasn't his purpose for that to succeed. 00:43:55.746 --> 00:43:59.909 And so when we read these words, I will build my church. 00:44:00.119 --> 00:44:08.909 We should hear this Something that Christ intends to accomplish through his church will never fail. 00:44:08.909 --> 00:44:14.742 Jesus doesn't lose. 00:44:14.742 --> 00:44:17.382 He will build his church. 00:44:17.382 --> 00:44:22.389 He will get all of his people, from every tribe, tongue and nation. 00:44:22.389 --> 00:44:33.507 His churches will be established and one day they'll all be gathered in the presence of God, and nothing can stop it from happening. 00:44:33.507 --> 00:44:35.844 Jesus will build his church. 00:44:37.199 --> 00:44:47.913 And then again, here's the amazing reality we are the means to which he accomplishes his unstoppable plan to build his church. 00:44:47.913 --> 00:44:50.581 Have you forgotten who you are? 00:44:50.581 --> 00:44:57.144 Do you realize you have a part to play? 00:44:57.144 --> 00:45:24.172 That redeemer church, although we are the size that we are, we have a significant contribution to make the Christ's unstoppable plan being accomplished in the Bay Area, and we should be asking the question what kind of person, what kind of Christian, what spiritual shape do I need to be in to participate in this unstoppable mission? 00:45:24.172 --> 00:45:26.425 Will it be gripped by the gospel? 00:45:26.425 --> 00:45:44.032 Believe that God wants to use you, have faith that he will work through your work and be convinced that whatever he wants to do through us, whatever he has decided to accomplish through us cannot be stopped. 00:45:45.101 --> 00:45:56.293 Amen, by the grace of God, we are Christ's means in accomplishing his unstoppable plan to build his church. 00:45:56.293 --> 00:46:08.644 Let's pray, father in heaven, we do thank you and praise you that you have a plan to take the broken pieces of this world and put them back together. 00:46:08.644 --> 00:46:09.487 In the name of Jesus. 00:46:09.487 --> 00:46:13.543 There are people that you will save. 00:46:13.543 --> 00:46:17.090 There are people that you will transform. 00:46:17.090 --> 00:46:28.967 There are people that you will add to your church and will add to this church, and what you plan to do cannot be stopped. 00:46:30.420 --> 00:46:42.050 Help us this morning to be more humbly aware, more grateful than we've ever been, that we all play a part in this glorious, unstoppable mission. 00:46:42.050 --> 00:47:12.391 And we know that this mission and its accomplishment involves us, but it's not completely dependent upon us, because Jesus is mighty, because Jesus is strong, because Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God Father, he is the one who has said I will build my church. 00:47:12.391 --> 00:47:40.726 So, although we're humbled and we're excited to play a part, a significant part, in your unstoppable mission, we declare this morning with renewed faith and wonder, that the reason it will be accomplished, the reason it is indeed unstoppable, is because your son Jesus, the crucified, risen, ascended, highly exalted. 00:47:40.726 --> 00:47:57.952 One is all powerful, all mighty, all knowing all places, at all times, his entire being, and he will win. 00:47:57.952 --> 00:48:03.230 We pray in his name with Thanksgiving Amen.