church

INI
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
August 21, 2011
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

HOW TO BUILD A CHURCH
Matthew 16:13-19

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. The text that our
message is based on this morning comes from the sixteenth chapter of the
Gospel of Matthew, beginning with the thirteenth verse, as follows:

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples,
saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14 So they said, “Some
say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered
and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus answered
and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not
revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you
that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of
Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the
kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Here ends our text.

In the Name of Jesus Christ, the Chief Cornerstone of the Church, Dear Fellow
Redeemed,

You may never have had the experience of searching for information on how to
build a church. I have, though. I can vividly recall eight years ago when we were
gathering ideas about what we wanted our future church to look like. So, I
thought, I’d just look up any church plans that were available. How hard could
it be? Well, it turned out to be very hard! There is information everywhere if
you’re building a house, a garage, a garden shed or even a doghouse. There are
blueprints galore, many free for the asking. But try to find blueprints for a
church! That’s something else again. There seemed to be a positive dearth of
information on that subject. Finally, of course, we did what we should have
done in the first place – we contacted a competent architectural firm, and in the
course of time they provided us with a set of plans. Plans which detailed exactly
how to build the tasteful and elegant little chapel that we are blessed to be
worshipping in today.

But there's a difference between what we call a "church," and what God calls
"His Church." God's holy Christian Church on earth, the communion of all
believers - how could you build a church like that? You can look in volume C of
the "how-to" encyclopedia, but you won't find it there. Even the best
architectural firm would give you a blank look. Fortunately, we have another
“how-to" manual that answers this question - the Holy Scriptures. In fact, in
our text for this morning, Jesus Himself gives us a detailed blueprint of how
God's invisible church of all believers is constructed and maintained. Let's have
a closer look at this Word from God, and see there:

HOW TO BUILD A CHURCH
first... I. Found it on a Rock
next... II. Build it strong
and finally... III. Put someone in charge of it

Almost everyone, at some time or another, has heard of a building whose
foundation wasn't laid securely, and which consequently developed problems
years (or even months) after it was built. I once knew a farmer who built an
expensive grain bin on sandy soil. In a couple of years the sand eroded away,
the concrete foundation cracked and shifted, and the whole project was finally a
total loss. The most expensive building in the world isn't worth a nickel if the
foundation upon which it rests isn’t solid.

In the same way, you could say that all of Christianity rests upon one simple
question: "What do you think about Christ?" In our text for this morning, Jesus
is asking this question. He's testing foundations. He wants to know about all
the people who have been flocking to see Him perform miracles; healing the
sick, casting out demons, and feeding thousands of people with a tiny amount
of food. What do these people believe about Him? How firm is the foundation
of their faith? He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son
of Man, am?” 14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and
others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” They were saying great things of Him;
they thought he might be one of the great prophets, resurrected. They thought
Him a great...man. But after all, just a man - not a god, not the Christ, and
certainly not the same as Jehovah, the God of Abraham. There was admiration,
but not comprehension. In all their excitement, the people were still blind to
Jesus’ true identity. Their foundation was rotten; it was built upon sand, and
their faith was ready to collapse the moment Jesus quit performing miracles and
providing them with bread.

How good is the foundation of your faith? Is Jesus just a “bread king” to you,
as he was to those crowds of people? What else would you call it, if you never
read His Word? What kind of foundation do you have if the only time you pray
to Jesus is when you need something or you’ve got some kind of emergency
happening in your life? Is Christ merely a solver of problems and provider of
things in your life? If that were the case, we could shorten the Lord's prayer to,
“Give us this day our daily bread. Amen.” But there’s so much more to the
Christian faith – so much more to life – than that! Christ is the true God who
says in Revelation 21, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the
End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. 7
"He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall
be My son. -- Revelation 21:6-7.

Which brings us to the next part of our text. Jesus turns to His own disciples,
and tests the foundation of their faith. The disciples, who had witnessed Jesus'
glory first-hand, who had followed him for nearly three years, and had heard the
Word of God from the Savior's own mouth. 'But what about you?' he asked.
Who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the
Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed
are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but
My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on
this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against
it....'" Aha! A solid foundation! The correct answer to the question, “What do
you think about Christ?" Peter was speaking for all the disciples when he
confessed Jesus to be the very Son of God, the Christ, that Savior from sin that
God promised over and over again in the Old Testament. God had spoken
many times about the foundation upon which He would build His Church. He
had said, through Isaiah, "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious
cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed."
(Is 28:16). The disciples knew that this precious cornerstone, this Savior from
sin and guilt, was Jesus.

You know that too. Otherwise I don’t think you’d be sitting here in front of me
this morning. To you, Jesus is so much more than a man, so much more than a
good example, or a “fine moral teacher.’ He’s not just a bread king to you, not
just someone who can provide all the “things” that you want. For you, Jesus is
the King of your heart, and the Lord of your entire life! He’s the One, after all,
who gave His life for you. Though you were a lost and condemned sinner,
though you (as Luther said) “daily sin much and indeed deserve nothing but
punishment,” though the very last thing you had coming to you was pardon and
peace and forgiveness, nevertheless, that’s exactly what Christ gave you. For,
Paul says, scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man
someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward
us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. -- Romans 5:7-8. With
His death on the cross He earned remission for all your sins, full pardon for
every shameful deed that stained your conscience. Who is Jesus to you? Not
just a good man. Not a bread king. With Peter you may confidently answer, You
are my Savior! “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!”

Jesus said, "...on this rock I will build my church." As you probably know, the
Roman Catholics teach that this statement refers to Peter himself. They believe
that Peter (whose name means “rock”), was personally to be the foundation of
the Church. That’s why they consider Peter the first in their long line of popes.
However, a careful examination of the Greek text shows that this translation is
technically impossible. The genders don’t line up – it simply couldn’t have been
Peter himself whom Jesus was referring to. No, it's not Peter himself, but his
confession. It’s the confession that we share, the confession of Jesus as Son of
God and Savior of the word – that is the rock! That is the sturdy, rock-solid
foundation of our faith, and of the whole Christian Church.

How do you build a church? So many churches nowadays are founded on
money, or religious fads, on sophisticated marketing techniques or on the
magnetic personalities of charismatic preachers. Not God’s Church. To build
the Holy Christian Church, you start with the one and only solid foundation -
Jesus Christ. St. Paul wrote to the Colossians, "So then, just as you received
Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him,
strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with
thankfulness.”

In our text, Jesus goes on to describe the strength of the structure itself, which
is built on this one foundation. "...Upon this rock I will build my church, and
the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." Build it strong! Make it to last! As
long as you've got a good solid foundation, make sure that the building itself,
with all its various parts, is sturdy, and made to last a long, long time.

You know yourselves that, when a person sets out to build a house, the better
his building materials are, the stronger his house will be. If you build it of wood,
you want to use good solid lumber, with no knots or warps. Better than wood is
brick, and best of all is stone. But we're talking about God's invisible Church;
and what are the building blocks of that Church? Why, the Christians, of course!
All the people who ever have, or who ever will believe in Jesus as their Savior,
including you and me. As the Bible says, "Consequently, you are no longer
foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of
God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with
Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined
together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are
built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." (Eph
2:19-22); Also, you know that, in an earthly building, there are many different
parts. A roof is not a door, and a door is not a window. So, each Christian has
his own important place in the structure of God’s Church. “Just as each of us
has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same
function, so in Christ we, who are many, form one body, each member
belonging to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given
us.” Rm 12:5-6.

In this Church of God, founded on Christ and built with Christians, strong and
made to last? Of course it is! Why, Jesus says that the very gates of Hell will not
overcome it! Satan will keep trying. He’d love to destroy your faith and extract
you from structure of the Church, and make that wall weaker. But you find
safety in God’s Word, and safety and strength here in the community of your
fellow-believers. The Holy Christian Church is well-built, and secure. It has
stood since the Garden of Eden, down through the ages, and it will stand until
the Day of Judgment. Try as he might, the Devil can’t budge this building. St.
Paul said, “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor
demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor
depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love
of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rm 8:38-39. When you think about
this Church, don’t imagine yourself outside, looking at it. Remember - you’re
inside it, you’re a part of it! You’re safe within this mighty, eternal building. To
each of you Christians, God says, “…You will go on your way in safety, and
your foot will not stumble; when you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you
lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Have no fear of sudden disaster or the ruin
that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep
your foot from being snared. Prov 3:23-25.

Well, we’ve been following what the Bible tells us about “how to build a
Church.” We’ve seen that it has a solid foundation, and it’s built strong - made
to last. What's the final step? When you construct a building, you don't just
leave it there and go away; that building is there for a purpose, or you wouldn't
have built it. Someone has to be put in charge of that building. In our text, Jesus
tells us who is in charge of His Church, I will give you the keys of the kingdom
of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Who is He talking about here? Who possesses the "Ministry of the Keys?" Who
has the power to control the affairs of the Christian Church, to bind and to
loose, to forgive sins and to retain them? The Catholics say that this refers
strictly to Peter, and that the popes who would follow him are the supreme
authority in the Church. Others, maybe some of you, think that "the ministry of
the Keys" refers only to the clergymen - the pastors of each congregation. Well,
it's a relief for me to say that I'm not the only one here today who has been
given this huge authority and responsibility from Jesus. You are in charge of
God's Church! The Ministry of the Keys, the care and maintenance of the
Church of God are in the hands of each and every one of you Christians! Paul
says, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their
trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. -- 2
Corinthians 5:19. Telling others about Jesus, helping more people to hear the
Word of God, announcing forgiveness to poor, desperate sinners: that's not just
my job - it's your job, tool In I Corinthians, chapter three, we read, "So then, no
more boasting about men!" (No more counting on "preachers" to do all the
preaching!) "All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the
world or life or death or the present or the future - all are yours, and you are of
Christ, and Christ is of God."

"How to build a Church." You found it on a rock, you build it strong, and you
put someone in charge of it. Except that you don't do it, of course - God does
it, and has already done all these things. This building is larger and more
magnificent than the tallest sky-scraper or the hugest cathedral. May the Lord
help us to remember that, for Jesus' sake, we Christians are inside this great
building. We are part of it, and will remain part of it until that day when we
inherit the heavenly mansions. Lord, keep us steadfast till that day, AMEN.