Matthew 16: Turning Point (4)
Pray Psalm 122.1, 2
I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go into the house of the LORD.”
Our feet have been standing
Within your gates, O Jerusalem!
Sing Psalm 122.1-4.
Nettleton: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
I was glad when they said to me, “To the LORD’s house let us go!”
Holy City, let our feet be firmly planted in your soil.
Jesus builds His Church forever, where His people sing His praise!
As Your Word decrees forever, we will thank You all our days.
Read Matthew 16.1-20; meditate on verses 18-20.
How does Jesus “build” His Church?
Prepare.
1. On what did Jesus say He would build His Church?
2. How strong would His Church be?
Meditate.
Jesus solidified Peter’s confession of faith by permanently changing his name to “Rock” (Πέτρος, Petros, v. 18). Then Jesus used Peter’s name in an expansive way to affirm that, on the bedrock (πέτρᾳ, petra) of that confession, He will do His most important Kingdom work. We’ve seen that word, petra before. In Matthew 7.25 Jesus used it to indicate the foundation of those who trusted in Him and not in their own works. Peter’s confession—not Peter himself—is the bedrock of Jesus’ great Kingdom work.
And what is that work? Given all that Jesus had taught thus far about the Kingdom, we can imagine that the disciples might have been a little confused when He said He would build His Church, rather than His Kingdom, on the bedrock of confessing Jesus as Son of Man, Son of God, and Christ. But the Church is the in-time agency through which the Kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven. The Kingdom is a spiritual realm; the Church is a physical entity, but also a spiritual one; thus it partakes of two worlds at once, and is able to channel the spiritual into the physical where the spiritual works to make all things new. The Church is both the sign that the Kingdom has come and the outpost from which the Kingdom advances in the world.
Jesus says the gates of hell cannot stand against the Church. We should not think of this as is often taught, as if the Church were battering down the gates of hell to occupy that dark terrain. The gates of a city were where the officials—in the case of the Jews, the elders—sat to watch over the city, protect its citizens, make judgments concerning right and wrong, and develop counsels and plans for the prosperity of the city. The Church has more wisdom, more power, more energy, and more light than all the counsels and schemes of the devil and his minions. Nothing they might contrive to stop the Church can succeed.
From this point forward, building the Church becomes the Lord’s agenda. By making disciples, He will build His Church so that, in and through it, the Kingdom might come on earth as it is in heaven.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Jesus knew from before time all about Peter; about his confession; and about his name.
(And God knows the same all about you; but I digress).
Andrew “first found his own brother Simon, and said to him,
‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated, the Christ).
And he brought him to Jesus.
Now when Jesus looked at him, He said,
‘You are Simon the son of Jonah.
You shall be called Cephas’ (which is translated, A Stone)” (Jn. 1.40-42).
“I have called you by your name; you are Mine” (Is. 43.1).
From the very beginning this scene was unfolding, and now progress for the Church had begun.
And along with the progress, a promise:
“Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matt. 16.19).
“How you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer…
you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.
Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying:
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms,
who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities,
who did not open the house of his prisoners?” (Is. 14.12, 15-17).
It is indeed the man, now bound and dispatched on earth, never to enter heaven.
“Therefore He says:
‘When He ascended on high
He led captivity captive,
and gave gifts to men’” (Eph. 4.8; Ps. 68.18).
“Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Your Name…” (Ps. 142.7).
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me…
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to those who are bound…” (Is. 61.1).
“I the LORD have called You…
to bring out prisoners from the prison,
those who sit in darkness from the prison house” (Is. 42.6, 7).
We, indeed, have been loosed from the prison of sin and death on earth and in heaven.
Prepared, as Peter and the other disciples were,
to serve the risen and living Savior—
with information revealed to us by The Father (Matt. 16.17);
for the purpose of working with Jesus to build His Church.
This is the LORD’s agenda.
“The stone which the builders rejected
has become the Chief Cornerstone.
This was the LORD’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes” (Ps. 118.22, 23).
Simply marvelous.
Reflect.
1. What is your role in “the Lord’s agenda”?
2. Why is building His Church so important to Jesus?
3. How can we encourage our fellow believers to make sure they’re on course with the Lord’s agenda?
The word translated “rock,” is not the same word as Peter, but is of a similar meaning. Nothing can be more wrong than to suppose that Christ meant the person of Peter was the rock. Without doubt Christ Himself is the Rock, the tried foundation of the church; and woe to him that attempts to lay any other! Peter’s confession is this rock as to doctrine. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Matthew 16.17-21
Pray Psalm 122.5-9.
Use today’s psalm to intercede for your pastors, church leaders, and fellow church members, that the rule of King Jesus would come increasingly in and through them, and the peace of Jesus would spread throughout your community.
Sing Psalm 122.5-9.
Nettleton: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
On the throne of David, Jesus sits to judge the nations all.
As our holy peace increases we are safe who on You call.
Grant us peace, LORD, by Your favor; for Your people’s sake we pray.
For the Church’s sake, O Savior, we will seek Your good today.
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
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Other columns of interest: This week: Our Read Moore podcast continues our readings from the book, The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart. Our Crosfigell teaching letter is pursuing a series on the spiritual poetry of the Celtic Revival. The ReVision column begins a study of the role of reason in the life of faith. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
