The Gospel & The Church Part 1 | Matthew 16:18-20

Scripture

• Matthew 16:18–20

About this sermon

Introduction: Good bible interpretation is an exercise in self-discipline. It is a reverential self-discipline. It is a self-discipline that arises out of holy respect for the fact that the book we are attempting to understand is the Word of God. Will we allow the text to say what it says? Will we carefully examine the evidence, and with God’s help, allow that evidence to speak while we occupy the place of the listener? Will we do this without fear of the outcome? Will we do this with one desire — the desire to know the truth? Good biases still produce bad interpretations. By “good biases” I mean the desire to protect against false doctrine. I mean that the fear of bad doctrine and those who promote it can sometimes get in the way of hearing a text that SOUNDS LIKE that bad doctrine. It ISN’T that bad doctrine, but the very possibility that it could be CONFUSED with it skews the way that we handle the text. We are attempting to protect the text when the text never needs our help. The verses that we come to this morning have, in my estimation, suffered from interpreters who do just that. Out of fear of sounding like Rome, or out of fear of somehow diminishing or misdirecting the glory that is Christ’s alone, interpretations have been offered that seem forced. And as a result, if they are not sound, the main point is missed. What is the main point of verses 18-20? The Lord Jesus will build His church through the proclamation of the gospel by making use of ordinary, but redeemed, human beings. Today we consider five glorious realities about the gospel and the Lord’s church. • THE BUILDER OF THE CHURCH (vs.18) The first thing we note is that the church belongs to Christ. The people of God are the people of the Messiah. And the people of God are the people of Jesus. This is a bold Messianic claim. It would be blasphemous if Jesus was not who He claimed to be. To say that one will build His own congregation, in a context where the disciples would have understood that congregation as the people of God, is only appropriate if you’re God. I agree with John MacArthur that when Jesus speaks of “church” here He is speaking in a non-technical fashion. This is the congregation of the Lord He is talking about. This is the assembly of the people of God. To place yourself by your words as the OWNER of that assembly, and the BUILDER of that assembly is an astounding claim. John MacArthur — “Matthew 16:18 contains the first use of ekklēsia in the New Testament, and Jesus here gives it no qualifying explanation. Therefore the apostles could not have understood it in any way but its most common and general sense. The epistles use the term in a more distinct and specialized way and give instructions for its proper functioning and for its leadership. But at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus’ use of ekklēsia could only have carried the idea of “assembly,” “community,” or “congregation.” … In describing the inhabitants of heaven, the writer of Hebrews speaks of “the general assembly and church of the first-born” (Heb. 12:23), referring to the redeemed saints of all ages. That seems to be the sense in which Christ uses church in Matthew 16:18, as a synonym for citizens of His eternal kingdom, to which He refers in the following verse. The Lord does not build His kingdom apart from His church or His church apart from His kingdom.” That is true. But it is also true that the church of Jesus Christ is unique. That the church found post-Pentecost, the church that can be described as Christ’s body, is something not found in the Old Testament. THE COMMUNITY OF GOD’S REDEEMED PEOPLE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT? YES. A SPIRIT INDWELT PEOPLE, A NEW COVENANT PEOPLE? NO. The church, in that sense, is post-advent, post-crucifixion, post-resurrection, post-ascension, post-Pentecost. And the church, in that sense, is a mystery. Representing truth hidden in times past, but now brought into clear view. JESUS PROMISES TO BUILD HIS CHURCH. So, following the confession of Peter that Jesus is Messiah and Lord. A confession only made possible by divine revelation. THE LORD HIMSELF then makes the point that the people of God are HIS PEOPLE. He is the Lord of the church. He is the Savior of the church. He is the King of the church. He is the BUILDER OF THE CHURCH. The Lord of the church PROMISES to go on building His church, and in those words there is reference to what is coming in the future. You see, if ekklesia is taken in its general sense, then the building did not just begin. The congregation of believers OT and NT are explained by Jesus. The coming of Christ was necessary for everything that God has ever done in salvation. He came into the world to provide the just payment necessary for the redemption of ALL of His people, and to be the justifier of all of them. And yet there was something coming in the future that the world had not yet seen.

Topics

• Church & Fellowship
• The Church