Grace,
mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
The sermon
text for today was inspired by the Holy Spirit through the apostle St Matthew. And
we read from his gospel:
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.
Prayer: Let
the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O
Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Our Gospel reading today begins
with a wonderful discussion between Jesus and his disciples. Jesus says to
them: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say
John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others say 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.”
Our reading today teaches us what
it means to make a confession of faith. You are the Christ, the Son of the
living God. As Christians, Jesus calls us to make a faithful confession: to
listen to the Word of God, and then to speak back to him as our own faith the
same words which he spoke to us.
When we stand and say the creed
in church, sometimes a pastor might introduce it by saying, “Let’s stand and
confess our faith together.” Confess. And the beginning of the service we
confess our sins: we hear what God says in his word about sin, and we speak
back to him in confession: we are sinners, we are guilty, we have sinned. But
also, we confess our faith: we hear what God says in his word about his Son,
our Saviour, our Redeemer, and we speak these words back to him. I believe
in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. Or we might say like Peter in the
reading today: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. This is
what it means to confess our faith. – But who are we confessing to? Well, first
of all, we are confessing our faith before God and before Jesus Christ himself.
He’s listening to us. But also, we are confessing before each other—when we
confess the faith and each of us hear it, then we are all built up and
strengthened by that confession. But also, we confess the faith in the presence
of the angels—they rejoice and celebrate when they hear the word of God on our
lips. And also, we confess to the world—we live in a fallen and corrupt world,
full of sin and problems, and yet, every Sunday we come here together and we
say: I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. Take
that, world! Take that, despair! Take that, liars, grumblers! Jesus, you are
the Christ, the Son of the living God.
So here we are today, coming
together as the Christian church on earth, making a confession of our faith.
But first of all, Jesus says to
the 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?”
Jesus makes a distinction here.
There’s a difference between a confession of faith and a mixed bag of opinions.
We are not a place where we are called together to share our opinions—we are a
place where we are called to make a confession of faith together with one
voice. So it’s true: Jesus has some things in common with John the Baptist.
John the Baptist preaches the word of God and calls people to repentance, and
so does Jesus. Elijah performs wonderful miracles, and so does Jesus. Jesus
makes many prophesies like Jeremiah and the prophets. But if Jesus is simply
just another John the Baptist, or just another Elijah, or just another prophet,
then we don’t know who Jesus is yet.
We might think: Jesus is a bit
like the Dalai Lama. We might think: Jesus is a helpful teacher, a wonderful
philosopher. We might think: Jesus helps me get through the day. Yes – all
those things are somewhat true, but they are not the full truth. They’re simply
opinions. The church is not built upon opinions.
Jesus says, “Who do you say
that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God.”
You are the Christ, says
Peter. You are the Messiah, the chosen king of Israel who has been promised for
centuries in the Old Testament. You are anointed by the Holy Spirit to be our
prophet, our priest, and our king. You are the Christ.
And Peter also says: the Son
of the living God. Every other god is a dead God—a statue, a picture, a
figment of human imagination, a dream, a delusion. But Jesus is the Son of the living
God. He is conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary. He is one
with the Father, true God, God of God, light of light, true God of true God.
Yes, Jesus, 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.
To make a confession of faith
like Peter is not something that has a human origin. People like you and me
don’t just make up stuff like calling Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living
God. We don’t come to these kind of conclusions because of our reason and
intellect.
To make a confession of faith
like Peter comes from the Holy Spirit, it comes straight out of heaven from our
Father in heaven.
Jesus says: Flesh and blood
has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
As a pastor, I’m not actually
called to tell you what God’s word means. I’m not actually called to interpret
God’s word to you, and make it relevant to you.
Sure, I can explain things, and
try to make things easy for you to understand, but the word itself is already
relevant. The word of God is already powerful, without me making it powerful
for you.
All I am called to do is to tell
you what God’s word says. I’m not called to say, “I know God says that,
but this is what he means.” No, I’m only called to tell you what God says. Thus
says the Lord.
And when we speak the word of
God, then the Holy Spirit works in us a confession of faith when and where he pleases.
This is not something we can control—this is the Holy Spirit at work. So Jesus
preaches his word, and then Peter listens to it, and he says: You are the
Christ, the Son of the living God. And then Jesus tells Peter where this
confession of faith came from. He says: Flesh and blood has not revealed
this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
And so, on the basis of this
confession of faith, Jesus is now going to do something really wonderful. And
he says something quite extraordinary to Peter. He says: 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.
Jesus gives Peter a new name.
Beforehand Jesus calls him “Simon”. Now he calls him “Peter”. And the name
Peter means a rock. Sometimes people have the nickname “Rocky”. This is a bit
like what Peter means—it sounds like the word “rock”.
Why does Peter get this new name?
It’s in honour of the fact that he had made this powerful and wonderful
confession of faith, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and revealed by our Father in
heaven. Peter, do you realise, just what a ground-breaking thing this is, to
call Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God? Do you understand just how
amazing this is? This is a going to be a powerful foundation which is going to
change the world, and bring new live and hope and salvation to millions of
people all throughout history. The words you have spoken are a solid rock.
So Jesus calls him: Peter. You
are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it.
We have to make sure that we
understand these words properly. The church is not built on the person of
Peter. The church is built on this rock, the confession of faith that
Peter made on behalf of all the apostles.
Peter though ends up being the
first person to preach a Christian sermon on the day of Pentecost. In some
sense, Peter was the founder of the Christian church. He was the first one to
start it off, and to set it going. But Peter wasn’t allowed to simply say
anything. He had to continue preaching that same confession of faith he made
that day, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, who is now risen
from the dead.
And when Christian pastors all
throughout the world and all throughout time join with Peter in preaching this
same faith, and Christians everywhere believe and teach and confess this same
faith, then we know that this is the rock upon which Christ continually builds
his church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Some people say, “Never mind if
the church is going downhill—the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
That’s not what Jesus is saying here. Without the true confession of faith,
there is no rock in the church. Jesus will not build his church on the flimsy
foundation of our human opinions. Either the church is built on the pure and
clear word of God or it’s not a church. On our sign outside, we call ourselves
“St Mark’s Lutheran Church.” But that sign is not a guarantee that what we come
inside to find is actually a church. The gates of hell might very well be
prevailing against “St Mark’s Lutheran”. We might be “St Mark’s Lutheran social
club”, “St Mark’s Lutheran community group. But only when we have the
confession of faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God,
can we stare the world in the face with all honesty, to spit the devil in the
eye and say with all our might that we are church. On this rock I will build
my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
After Jesus says this, he says to
Peter: 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.
This passage is the basis of all
those pictures (and also all the jokes) about Peter standing at the pearly
gates letting people into heaven. But this passage has got nothing to do with
this. Because Jesus tells Peter that the keys to the kingdom of heaven are to
be used on earth. He says: Whatever you loose on earth.
So what are these keys? Well,
Peter’s going to need them. Jesus has risen from the dead—what for? Well, Jesus
wants Peter to go out, together with all the apostles, and open up the kingdom
of heaven for people. And even today in the church, as a pastor, this is what I
am called to do for you: As a called and ordained servant of the word, I am
called to announce the grace of God to all of you. And on behalf of my Lord
Jesus Christ and by his command I forgive you all your sins in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Do you understand how powerful
those words are? Jesus says to his disciples on Easter Sunday: Receive the
Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone their sins, they are forgiven. If you do not
forgive them, they are not forgiven.
So these keys to the kingdom of
heaven are what Jesus gives to the church. Peter and the other apostles were
the first Christian pastors. And they also gave the pastoral ministry to be
shared with others. And even today, we still have pastors in the church, who
are called to use the keys to the kingdom of heaven for your benefit.
So what are we supposed to do
with these keys? Well, we’re not called to dangle the keys on a chain, but
we’re called to lock and unlock: to open the door of heaven, and the close the
door of heaven.
To anyone who knows that they are
a sinner, and wants to be free from their sin, and wants to turn from their
sin, and to do better, we say: the door of heaven is open for you.
But there are also things in the
bible which are called sins. And if people don’t want to turn from their sin and
stay with it and reject what the word of God says about it, then we say: the
door is shut.
So it’s not like pastors just
open and shut the door of heaven as they feel like it. A pastor has absolutely
no authority at all, except the word of God. We can’t withhold forgiveness from
people if God’s word doesn’t withhold it. This is Jesus who forgives through
the ministry—this is his work, and so it can only be empowered through his
word.
So, in our church, every Sunday
you can come and hear the forgiveness of sins spoken for you. Every Sunday you
can hear God’s own voice coming out of heaven right to your heart opening the
door of heaven for you. And in the Lutheran church, people can also come and
badger their pastors to speak these words for their comfort any time they like.
This is what pastors are here for: we are sent by Jesus to open the door of
heaven for you.
So who do you say that Jesus is?
Say with Peter: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Say it
with all your might, with every fibre of your being. And say it in all your
poverty, all your helplessness, all your weakness, and look to Christ, who is
the strong one for you, for has died for you, risen for you, and open the door
of heaven for you.
Flesh and blood has not revealed
this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
Amen.
Lord Jesus, you are the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Come and enter into our church today with all your
angels and with all your power, and build your church among us, and put away
the gates of hell so that the devil, and everything evil in us and in the world
may never prevail against it. Amen.
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