Christ's Church - Part 1

 

Matthew 16:13-20 “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. 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. 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 last Sunday, Pastor Kyle preached on the passage above and stated that ministry is a stewardship. It is something that we are handed the responsibility for a little period of time in the scope of eternity. After our time and our watch, we hand the reins over to someone else who carry on the kingdom service and faithful duties for the church in the next chapter of life in God’s over-arching plan. What matters is that we are obedient with the stewardship of our tenure that the Lord hands to us. Every single Christian has a stewardship call in ministry and advancing the work of the Gospel. We all play a part in building Jesus’ kingdom on earth. We all need to be actively involved in the work of Kingdom Ministry through the local church and parallel church (parachurch) outreach that the Lord has asked us to do. When everyone is faithful to use their unique gifts and do their little part as a member of the body of Believers, God is then faithful to do His big part of building His church; for our Lord proclaimed “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  

 

A little back history: The city of Caesarea Philippi was adjacent to a spring, grotto, and related shrines dedicated to the Greek god Pan, which is the origin of its Greek name, Paneas. An open-air sanctuary was built for Pan next to the source of water that exited the cave. The spring emerged from the large cave (known as the “Gates of Hell”) which became the center of pagan worship. An earthquake has since caused the spring to stop flowing out of the mouth of the cave now.

 

Beginning in the 3rd century BC, sacrifices were cast into the cave as offerings to the god Pan. Pan, the half-man half-goat god of fright (thus “panic”), is often depicted playing the flute. The city’s modern name, Banias, is the Arabic form of Panias. Later on the city's name became Caesarea Paneas. On the death of Zenodorus in 20 BC, the Panion, which included Paneas, was annexed to the Kingdom of Herod the Great. He erected here a temple of white marble in honor of his patron. In the year 3 BC, Philip II (also known as Philip the Tetrarch) founded a city at Paneas. It became the administrative capital of Philip's large tetrarchy of Batanaea which encompassed the Golan and the Hauran. Flavius Josephus refers to the city as Caesarea Paneas in Antiquities of the Jews; the New Testament as Caesarea Philippi (to distinguish it from Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean coast). In 14 AD, Philip II named it Caesarea in honor of Roman Emperor Augustus, and "made improvements" to the city. 

 

This is the location where the Lord Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”, which led to Simon Peter’s replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus’ reply, “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” , while literally standing at the center of pagan worship called "The gates of Hell". Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.”

Let's continue Pastor Kyles message on Christ's Church in the next post.

In Christ, Brian