Built on Christ, we have the keys to heaven.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 13, August 27, 2023

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Matthew 16:13-20  ¹³When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”  ¹⁴They said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  ¹⁵He said to them, “But you, who do you say that I am?”  ¹⁶Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  ¹⁷Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.  ¹⁸And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overpower it.  ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.  Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”  ²⁰Then he commanded the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. (EHV)

Built on Christ, we have the keys to heaven.

Dear disciples of the living God,

            Imagine the answers He would receive if Jesus asked these questions in our day.  What answers might we expect to hear to Jesus’ question, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”  A teacher.  A myth.  A lawgiver.  An aid?  How many of our friends and neighbors do you suppose know the real Jesus?  I suspect there are many who don’t know the truth or the blessings that come with it.

Perhaps the more distressing questions for us might come with what Jesus next asked His disciples: “But you, who do you say that I am?”  Do we answer as the rest of our world answers?  Do we know the true Jesus?  And, do we have a ready response, or do we have to think about how to answer?  Perhaps equally concerning is whether we answer at all.  How often do we make a point of telling those around us who Jesus is and what He has given us?  How often do we lift up a fellow troubled soul with the Good News that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God.”?  Why are these questions important?  Because, my friends, Built on Christ, we have the keys to heaven.

Jesus asked, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”  They said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  All of these sound like rather noble answers because the people obviously thought highly of Jesus.  Yet, all of those answers miss the point.  Yes, Jesus was sent by God to His people.  However, Jesus was not just a prophet.  Certainly, Jesus is a great teacher and miracle worker, and He called people to repentance as did the men mentioned by the people, but Jesus came to be so much more. 

Jesus is not the forerunner of the Messiah as all of those answers supposed.  And yes, Jesus already knew full well what the people thought of Him.  Still, Jesus asked this question to prepare His disciples for His next question, “But you, who do you say that I am?”  To which Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Knowing that Jesus is the Christ means knowing that Jesus is the One promised by God to restore His kingdom of blessing and peace.  It means knowing that Jesus was sent to end the rift between God and man, the one God-Man God had been promising through His prophets since mankind fell into sin.

Knowing that Jesus is the Son of God is also critically important, because only the Son of God and Man could carry out God’s plan to rescue sinners from the darkness and death of our rebellion against God.  Jesus had to be true man in order to be under the law, so that He could obey the law on behalf of all of us wicked sinners who fail so often.  Furthermore, Jesus had to be true man so that He could suffer the death we deserve and the punishment of hell in our place. 

If Jesus had been just an ordinary man, even with special God-given powers, He would have suffered and died only for His own sins.  Yet, because He is truly God as the Son of God without any sin or fault, Jesus could and did live in perfect holiness and righteousness and pleasing to His Father in heaven in every way possible.  And because He is the true Son of God, Jesus’ horrible suffering and cruel death on the cross, suffered in our stead, would be the appropriate price to exchange for the eternal death penalty every sinner in history rightfully deserved, including you and me.

In addition, that Jesus is the Son of the living God, sets Jesus apart from any imagined children of the gods that a multitude of pagan religious myths had been used to mislead people throughout generations.  There is only one true, living God, the God who created the world and everything in it—the same God who loves us enough to sacrifice His own beloved Son so that we might live with Him forever in heaven, totally free from sin, guilt, shame, and death.

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”  This is such an important point in our day and age.  Many are the people who imagine that they make a decision on their own to know Jesus and believe in Him.  Many others imagine they can reach heaven by their own works and devices.  Yet, neither is true. 

For you and me and anyone who knows Jesus and what He has done for us, the credit for our faith in Him all goes to God.  The Father promised a Savior for people who could never earn or deserve relief.  The Father sent His Son to live and die on our behalf, so that the Father could, and did, declare us innocent for Jesus’ sake.  The Father and the Son, together, send the Holy Spirit through His Word, and through the messengers blessed with the Word, to transform formerly dead unbelievers into living children of the heavenly Father through the Gospel and the Sacraments instituted by Jesus.  Through the message of the Old Testament prophets, what he had heard from Jesus, and had seen in the deeds Jesus did, the Father in heaven had opened Peter’s mind to the truth and granted him sure, confident faith that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 

Simon Peter, and you and I, are blessed by this faith in Jesus.  It is through this faith that we receive forgiveness of all sins, salvation, and eternal life.  We are privileged to know and believe what God wants all people to believe and thus be saved.  There is no one who Jesus didn’t die for.  There is no one in the history of the world that God didn’t want to save.  Yet, for that salvation to happen, they need to learn of Jesus and believe in Him as their Redeemer and Savior. 

In order for anyone to be saved, the message of the Gospel had to go out into the world and change people’s lives.  Jesus loved the answer Peter gave Him, and He promised His disciple, “I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overpower it.” 

There is a play on words, here, between the name given to Peter (which means rock) and the bedrock upon which Christ’s kingdom is built.  Many have confused the issue, and maybe more have misused it.  We might say of a child that “He is a chip off the old block.”  In other words, the child is very much like his father.  By his faith, Peter was made a child of faith, a child of the Living God who is Jesus.  The Church, the gathering of all Christian believers of all time, is built upon the foundation that is Jesus Christ.  There is no other solid rock upon which we might be saved. 

Through Isaiah, the Lord declared, “You are my witnesses.  Is there any god except me?  There is no other Rock.  I am not aware of any other.” (Isaiah 44:8)  Thus, Peter’s statement of faith summarizes the support upon which every good thing is built.  Just as St. Paul later wrote to the Christians in Ephesus, “So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household.  You have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the Cornerstone.  In him the whole building is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.  In him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19-22)  Like Peter, Christian believers are stones being built into the dwelling place of God where He resides until He takes us home to heaven.

Jesus told Peter, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.  Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”  Like Peter, Built on Christ, we have the keys to heaven.  Because of all that Jesus has done for us, and through the faith in Him the Holy Spirit has worked in us, we have been made right with God.  All of our sins have been forgiven and forgotten by God, and He gives us the privilege and authority to forgive the sins of penitent sinners, so that they too may be built into Christ’s Church. 

“The gates of hell will not overpower it.”  The word Jesus used here is “Hades,” usually meaning “the place of the dead” to the Greek speaker.  When God’s Son entered the picture, Satan lost any power to accuse us from his prison.  The gates of heaven have been opened wide by the life and death of Jesus.  Therefore, death cannot hold the believer, just as it couldn’t hold Jesus.  As Jesus made this promise, He was assuring us that He would rise from the grave on Easter Sunday, and we know from history that it happened.  The door to death’s prison has been blown to bits by the rising of the Christ, so that even though the world often views death as the end, for the Christian believer, it is merely the portal between our life here on earth and our eternal home in heaven. 

Now, this is where Jesus’ question for you and me comes in, “But you, who do you say that I am?”  Built on Christ, we have the keys to heaven.  Because we know Jesus, and we know and believe what He has done for us, we are in perfect position to open the gates of heaven for those around us still caught in sin and the devil’s lies.  We have the opportunity and command to share the Good News about all Jesus has done for sinners, to forgive the sins of penitent sinners, and to assure our children, friends, and neighbors of God’s love for them in Jesus. 

So, to Jesus’ question, have we done enough to share the Good News with our children?  Have we always forgiven our neighbors when they admit to sin and repent?  Is there someone you know, who really needs the comfort of knowing that Jesus, the Son of God, lived perfectly for him, suffered, died, and rose again so that his or her sins are paid for, and all their guilt has been removed?

Dear friends, use those keys we have been given.  Reach out near and far, at home and away, day in and day out, with the message of Christ crucified for sinners.  Perhaps you are the only one who will have the opportunity to reach a lost soul and rescue that struggling person from Satan’s lies so that they too will enjoy a home in heaven.

Then, when you recognize that, like me, you have often fallen short of using these keys as we should, you have a Savior who has lived, died, and rose again for you.  The Son of the Living God bore all your sins, and mine, on the cross of shame, so that the Father in heaven now counts us as His dear children through faith in Jesus.  Rejoice and be glad; Built on Christ, we have the keys to heaven.  Amen.

The one who testifies about these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”  Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus!  The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints.  Amen.