Pastor Kyle continues that the Greek god Pan was the god of shepherds, but Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd, Pan was the god of fertility, but we know that only Jesus is the author of true life, and Pan was known for spreading panic and fear, but only Christ brought true peace. Caesarea Philippi was a place known for glorifying sin. Jesus chose and took his disciples to this location of the most terrifying earthly realities to make it crystal-clear to they do not hold a candle to Him or His church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail.
Opposition has never stopped Christ’s church. Persecution and insecurity only seems to fuel energy and appeal of Jesus’ church. Any weapon formed against the Christian church has ultimately proved unsuccessful in eliminating the body of Believers and has driven the Christ-follower closer to the Savior of the world. This does not mean that God’s people don’t win every single battle. There are all kinds of losses to ungodly sinners on this side of Heaven that do not make sense to us until we get to the other side, but from the prospective of eternity and over the course of history, Jesus will continue to build His church.
There are three clear ways in which Jesus builds His church. The first one is that churches are built on Peter’s confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Two thousand years after this event, people are still trying to answer the question: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” Because of what He was doing and His growing popularity, everyone at that time was asking who he really was. There is always going to be general “talk” about who Jesus is? Everyone has heard of Him and has an opinion of who He is. It is a great evangelistic question today, because you get a clue of what a person believes upon how they answer the question. You could ask also, “with all the faiths out there in the world today, what do you think about all that? and What do you think about the Bible specifically?” Start with a simple question that leads into a deep questions of: “If you were to die tonight, would you know for certain that you would go the Heaven, and if God asked you why He should let you into His Heaven, what would you say?” The question was asked by Jesus while standing in front of the Gates of Hell.
Simon Peter gets it “right” in replying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” because it was revealed to him by God. Peter was the vessel that confess the Lord. Peter is the Greek name “petros“, meaning “rock”. It is a term also used metaphorically of a soul hard and unyielding, and so resembling a rock. It is what Peter did by confessing Him as the Christ, the promised Messiah, the Son of God that Jesus was praising. Jesus is building His church upon that confession. Immediately following, the Lord reprimanded Peter in Matthew 16:21-23 for getting it “wrong”: “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. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
It is important that we have apostolically gifted leaders in the church, like a Peter, who will step out, follow Jesus and encourage other people to do the same. But, the unique authority that Jesus builds His church upon is simply the confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Romans 10:9-10 “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” That is the confession that saves.
Let's continue Pastor Kyle's message on Christ's Church in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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