On This Rock

6/7/25

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Sermon Transcript

Well, the world has a new pope!

And one way we can tell is that the nightly news is suddenly very interested in religious issues such as the church, the head of the church, the Apostle Peter, and the priesthood.

Now, normally, I wouldn’t care much about what the nightly news has to say, but our friends and co-workers out in the world are also watching the nightly news. They may have some questions about the church based on what they have heard, and we need to be able to answer those questions from the Bible.

And that is my goal here today. I want us to look at what the Bible has to say about those topics so that we can be ready when those questions come our way.

To do that, I want us to focus on two great statements about the church, both of which involve the Apostle Peter. One of the great statements was made to Peter, and the other great statement was made by Peter.

For our first great statement about the church, let’s look at Matthew 16:18, where Jesus tells Peter three things about the church.

What did Jesus tell Peter about the church?

First, Jesus told Peter who owns the church.

There is a phrase that we hear all the time in the world these days - it is the phrase “my church.” The idea it seems is that you can have your church, and I can have my church.

But let’s see what the Bible says about that. If we perform a search in our electronic Bibles for the phrase “my church,” what do we find?

We find only one verse, and it is the verse we are looking at now.

Matthew 16:18 (ESV) - 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.

That is Jesus speaking. And that is why I personally like calling the church the Lord’s church. It reminds me who owns the church.

And, yes, the New Testament sometimes uses the word “church” to mean what we usually call a “congregation,” and so perhaps if we say “my church” we just mean “my congregation.”

I understand all of that, but let me ask you a question: do your friends understand all of that? When you talk to your friends about “my church” and “your church,” how do they understand those phrases?

What did Paul command?

Colossians 4:6 (ESV) - Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Seasoned with salt! Perhaps one way that we can obey that command when it comes to the church is to start calling the church what it is - not my church, but the Lord’s church!

And that is all we mean when we call the church the church of Christ - it is the church that belongs to Christ. The church is the church of Christ - not the church of Eric.

The church is not my church. I did not build the church. I did not purchase the church with my own blood.

That distinction is crucial. Why? Because if something is mine, then the world tells me that I have the right to do with that thing whatever I please. After all, it is mine. I can change it, I can sell it, I can discard it, I can destroy it.

And the church? What if the church is my church? Can I change it? Can I do with it as I please?

If it’s my church, then I can change its organization, right? I can change its teaching, right? I can change its worship, right? After all, it’s my church, right?

Wrong. Jesus is the only one who can rightly use that phrase “my church” in that way - as Jesus does right here in Matthew 16.

The church belongs to Christ - that is what Jesus told Peter in Matthew 16.

Second, Jesus told Peter who built the church.

Jesus owns the church because Jesus built the church.

Now, when Jesus was speaking in Matthew 16, that event was yet future - but we now know the exact day on which that great event occurred: Jesus built his church on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.

And what building material did Jesus use when he built his church? Peter answers that question for us elsewhere.

1 Peter 2:4-5 (ESV) - As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

We are those living stones! Jesus built his church with people! God’s spiritual house is made up of people.

I know our children understand that fact! But I sometimes wonder if we do. We don’t go to church; the church goes where we go! We are the church! Jesus built his church with us!

Third, Jesus told Peter about the foundation of the church.

“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.”

I think we all know that there is some wordplay going on here.

The name “Peter” in Greek sounds like the Greek word for rock or stone. And so, Jesus was saying: “You are Petros, and on this petra I will build my church.”

But the wordplay in Matthew 16 is more than just that play on Peter’s name. It also brings to a word that Daniel used five centuries before Peter was born. Daniel called the church a rock or a stone in Daniel 2:44-45.

But, wordplay aside, we are left with a question: what is that rock upon which Jesus built his church?

Now, a large part of the religious world today would have us believe that Peter himself was that rock. But does that make any sense? I don’t think so.

Yes, Peter’s name sounded like rock, but when we read about Peter in the Bible his name is about the only thing that reminds us of a rock!

The Peter we find in the Bible is much more wavering and impulsive than he is steadfast and immovable. Peter just does not seem very rock-like.

Peter’s defining characteristic was his rashness. Peter did not always know what to say - but he always said something. And Peter did not always know what to do - but he always did something.

In fact, when we read Matthew 16, it seems that the only reason Jesus was talking to Peter in verse 17 and not some other Apostle was because Peter had been the first of them to answer Jesus’ question in verse 15.

And, as for being a rock, what we find instead is Peter sinking like a rock just a few chapters earlier in Matthew 14:30. And we find Peter proclaiming his loyalty to Christ and then denying him. And we find Peter sleeping when Jesus needed him the most. And later we find Peter avoiding the Gentile Christians for fear of offending the Jewish Christians.

Does any of that sound like the rock upon which Jesus would build his eternal kingdom as planned before the foundation of the world?

Many today say yes, but those who think so need to keep reading a bit further in Matthew 16.

I suspect we have all had the experience of being on a spiritual rollercoaster. One day we feel very close to God, but then the next day, not so much.

We all have our ups and downs when it comes to living the Christian life, but has anyone ever experienced those ups and downs like Peter?

Here in Matthew 16:18, I think we would all agree that Peter was at a high point.

But, if we keep reading, what do we find just five verses later? What is Jesus saying to Peter in verse 23?

Matthew 16:23 (ESV) - 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.”

“Get behind me, Satan!” That is quite the spiritual drop from verse 18! But that’s Peter!

Rocks are strong. Rocks are stable. Rocks provide a firm foundation. Does any of that sound like impulsive, wavering, vacillating Peter? No, not like Peter and, I think I can safely add, not like any of us either. My purpose is not to pick on poor Peter! None of us would qualify as such a rock!

But that does leave us with a question: if Peter was not very rock-like, then why did Jesus give him that name in John 1:42?

The short answer is that we don’t know for sure because Jesus didn’t tell us. But, knowing Peter as we do, I think that name change tells us a lot more about Jesus than it does about Peter.

One of the most wonderful things we learn about Jesus in the Bible is that when Jesus looked at someone, Jesus did not just see who that person was - Jesus also saw who that person could become!

I think Peter received that name “Rock” from Jesus as a constant reminder both of what Peter should be and a constant reminder of what Peter could be. I think that name change was Jesus’ vote of confidence in Peter!

But, name or no name, Peter is most certainly not the rock of Matthew 16:18, and I am certain that Peter would have been the very first person to tell us that.

But what then is the rock on which Jesus built his church? If it’s not Peter, what is it?

Some would say that it is Peter’s confession in verse 16, and I think there is a sense in which that is true.

But I don’t think that great confession itself is the rock. I think the rock in verse 18 is the subject of the great confession in verse 16. The church was built on Jesus Christ, the Son of God!

1 Corinthians 3:11 (ESV) - For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:19-22 (ESV) - …you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, …

1 Corinthians 10:4 (ESV) - For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

It is Jesus who gives the church its stability and its permanence. It is Jesus who makes everything straight and true. It is Jesus who makes the church unshakable (Hebrews 12:28). Jesus is the foundation. Jesus is the cornerstone.

And, yes, Paul just told us in Ephesians 2 that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. And so, yes, there is a sense in which Peter plays an important role in that great foundation.

But that role is not because of who Peter was but rather is because of what Peter proclaimed and what the prophets and the other apostles also proclaimed - they all testified about Christ!

Peter’s testimony about Christ and Peter’s confession about Christ both pointed to the one and only one foundation of 1 Corinthians 3:11.

The church of Christ was built on Christ, on the word of Christ, on the testimony of Christ, on the divinity of Christ, and on the great confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God!

Jesus is the one foundation of the one church. What does that fact tell us about the church?

One thing that fact tells us is that the church is more powerful than any earthly organization, be it religious or otherwise! The church cannot be moved. The church cannot be destroyed. The church cannot be defeated.

Just look at what Jesus told Peter right here about the church he was going to build.

Matthew 16:18 (ESV) - 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.

Now, there is some disagreement over what that means. The Greek word used there is Hades, which sometimes means the place of punishment but more often just means the place of death.

Either way, we see the great power of the church.

If Hades means Hell, then what we see here is the church storming the gate of Hell, and the promise of Christ is that those gates will not hold!

That is us, the church, proclaiming the gospel of Christ and snatching people out of the hands of Satan! Jude wrote about that.

Jude 1:23 (ESV) - Save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

But if Hades just means Death, then what we see here is the great promise of Christ that “if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death” (John 8:51), and we see here the destruction by Christ of “the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14).

And, of course, the gates of Hades were no obstacle for Jesus, as we see in the great prophecy quoted by Peter in Acts 2:27 - “For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.”

Either way, Hell or Death, what we see here is that the church is more powerful than any earthly kingdom, including any earthly church - none of which can do the first thing about Death or Hell.

But is that how we see the church? What did Jesus say?

• I will build my church - but it’s not going to be very big?

• I will build my church - but it’s not going to be very powerful?

• I will build my church - but I’m not really sure how well it’s all going to all work out?

• I will build my church - but, you know, let’s just do the best we can with what we have?

• I will build my church - but let’s not get carried away - after all we can do only so much?

No! No! No! That is not what Jesus said. Jesus said:

• I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

If we ever feel ineffective in this world, if we ever feel like only a footnote in the religious world, if we ever feel powerless - then that is because we are not seeing ourselves as we really are! That is because we are not seeing ourselves as God sees us!

The Lord’s church will never be destroyed! The Lord’s church will never be defeated! The Lord’s church will break every earthly kingdom (including every earthly church) into pieces and bring them all to an end! (Daniel 2:44)

The church is more powerful than any earthly kingdom, and more powerful than even Death or Hell! Do we believe that fact? Do our lives show that fact? Are we proclaiming that fact?

That is what Jesus told Peter about the church.

What did Peter tell us about the church?

For our second great statement about the church, let’s look at 1 Peter 2:9.

1 Peter 2:9 (ESV) - But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

The book of 1 Peter was written to encourage suffering Christians. And one way Peter encouraged them was to make sure that they had a proper understanding of the church, which is something that can encourage us as well.

What did Peter tell us about the church?

First, Peter tells us that the church is a chosen people.

As with the physical nation of Israel under the Old Covenant, the spiritual nation of Israel under the New Covenant, which is the church, is also a chosen people.

What does it mean to be chosen by God?

First, we know with absolute certainty what it does not mean, what it cannot mean. We are not individually predestined to heaven or hell without regard to what we do in this life.

If we flip forward one book from 1 Peter 2:9 to 2 Peter 3:9 we will see that God is not willing that any should perish. The door of the church is open for all who will obey the gospel. There is no limit on how many can enter its gates.

So what then does it mean when the church is called a chosen people? What it means is the same thing it meant under the Old Covenant. It means that God has created and set aside a special people to worship him, to serve him, to love him, and to obey him.

We are chosen for a purpose. We are chosen to be the obedient children of God. We are chosen, not to do as we like, but to do as God likes.

We are chosen for service. We are chosen for good works. We are chosen to glorify God and obey his commandments. The church is the chosen people of God!

Second, Peter tells us that the church is a royal priesthood.

Here we see a beautiful golden thread that runs all throughout the Bible from the very beginning to the very end.

Adam and Eve enjoyed a close access with God in the Garden, but they lost that access when they sinned and God drove them out.

But God wanted that access restored. God wanted a reconciliation with man, and that great reconciliation has now occurred in the church. Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:16 that we have all been reconciled to God in one body through the cross. And that one body is the one church (Ephesians 5:23).

That is what it means when the church is called a priesthood. Under the Old Covenant, only the sons of Levi could draw near to God (Numbers 16:9). No one else had that access.

Numbers 18:7 - I give your priesthood as a gift, and any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.

But today, as priests, we in the church all have that access to God. We in the church all enjoy that gift.

James 4:8 - Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

That is what it means to be a priesthood, but we are more than that. We are a royal priesthood.

God does not just want us to have access to him. God wants us to reign with him. Romans 5:17 says that we reign in life by Jesus Christ. We are all members of the royal family, and we all enjoy the privileges that come from being related to the king!

Yes, the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies in the Old Testament, but he was the only one who could do that, and he did not do that with boldness.

But that is not true of us.

Hebrews 4:16 (ESV) - Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace…

Hebrews 10:19 (ESV) - …We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus.

Ephesians 3:12 (ESV) - In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

We draw near and enter with confidence. We enter with boldness. Why? Because we are the royal priesthood of Christ!

Third, Peter tells us that the church is a holy nation.

What does it mean that the church is a nation?

The dictionary tells us that a nation is a community of people inhabiting a defined territory and organized under an independent government.

So, if the church is a nation, then what territory do we occupy and what is our independent government?

Philippians 3:20 answers the first question: “our citizenship is in heaven.” Yes, the church is here on earth now, but we are not an earthly kingdom (John 18:36). The earth is our battlefield (Ephesians 6:11). We are a heavenly kingdom, and our life is hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:2).

And our independent government? We are a kingdom with Christ as our King. Jesus is the head of the church, and his will is revealed to us in the word of God. That is our government.

And so that is what it means when the church is called a nation. But what does it mean that the church is a holy nation?

What it means is that the church is different from the nations and kingdoms of the world, and we are different from anything else that calls itself a church.

We are dedicated to God’s will and to God’s service. Others may follow the standards of the world, but for Christians the only standard is God’s standard. We are set apart for service to God.

We have not been called to blend in. We are not here to be assimilated. We have been called out to be set apart and to be different. We are to be the salt of the earth.

And so one way in which the church is different is that Christians are different. But there is also another way in which the church is different. We are different because God sees us differently.

Peter tells us that in the next phrase:

• We are “a peculiar people” (KJV).

• We are “a people for his own possession” (ESV).

• We are “his own special people” (NKJV).

Yes, God created all things and so he owns all things. But Peter is saying more than that here. We are not just God’s possession; we are God’s special possession. We are “a people for God specially to possess.”

And how special are we?

Think for a moment about something you own that is very special and very important to you. Something you don’t want to ever lose. Have you written your name on it? I suspect that you have.

We are like that with God. We are so special to God that God has written his name on us!

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 (ESV) - And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

God has put his seal on us! He has written his name on us! We are his special possession!

And what we have said about God the Father is also true about God the Son.

Titus 2:14 (ESV) - Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Yes, Jesus purified us, but Jesus purified us for a purpose. Jesus purified us “for himself.” Jesus purified us so that we would be “a people for his own possession.”

If anyone ever asks you what we mean by the phrase “church of Christ,” please take them to Titus 2:14. That is what we mean!

Jesus says that we are a people for his own possession. We are the church of Christ! We are his church! We are his people! He purified us for himself!

The church of Christ is not our name! It is our description! The Bible describes the church. The Bible does not name the church.

Names are given to distinguish like things, but there is no like thing to the eternal kingdom of Christ. The denominations all have names, but the Lord’s church does not. The one church does not need a name, and so it does not have a name.

Invitation

Why did Jesus build his church? Why did God make us a chosen race? Why did God make us a royal priesthood? Why did God make us a people for his own possession?

The Bible answers those questions in several places, but God gives us one answer right here.

1 Peter 2:9 (ESV) - But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

To put it bluntly, one reason God did all of those wonderful things was so that we would open our mouths! So that we would tell the world all about what Jesus has done for us!

So let’s do that right now.

Those of us here today who are in Christ have been saved by Christ. Our sins have been washed away in the watery grave of baptism. We have come out of that watery grave a new creature to walk in newness of life. We did not earn that salvation; it was a free gift from God.

Because we have been saved, God has added us to his church - the one and only one body of Christ - the one and only one church built by Christ. God did that; we did not do that.

But if you have not obeyed the gospel of Christ, then you are still living in darkness. You have not been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of Christ (Colossians 1:13).

The good news is that all of that can change today. The good news is that you can become a member of the Lord’s church today.

But we will not be the ones to make it so. We will not vote you in to the church. We will not add you to the church. God will do that - not us. God will add you to the one church built by Jesus Christ and purchased with his own blood.

And what will we do? What we will do is proclaim the gospel to you, as is happening right now. We will listen as you make the good confession, we will watch as you are immersed in water for the remission of your sins, and we will rejoice with you as you arise to walk in newness of life!

And then you will be what we are - members of the Lord’s church. You will be what Peter and Paul were - members of the Lord’s church. You will be what every faithful Christian is - a member of the Lord’s church. Not because we make you so - but because God makes you so.

Can you be a Christian and only a Christian? Yes, you can. That can happen today!

Can you be a member of the one church that Jesus built without being a member of any man-made religious group? Yes, you can. That can happen today!

All you need to do is come now and obey the gospel of Christ! All things are ready!