Christ's Church

Opening Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time that we get to gather together on Sunday morning. We thank you for the opportunity we have to sing praises to you and to hear from your word. We pray that you would bless this time for us this morning. Open our hearts and our minds, Lord, to receive your word. We pray that you would be with Brian as he leads us in worship and that you would be with me as I open up your word this morning. We pray this to your glory, Lord.

In a word of prayer as we ask the Lord's help as we study his word this morning.

Lord, by your word today, we ask that you would build up our church. That you would strengthen us. That you would give us wisdom and insight and willing hearts to live out the truth of your word.

Lord, we pray that it would instruct us well this morning and that you would give us receptive ears to hear it. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Introduction: The Church and Our Questions

Over the past few or several months even, I've thought a lot about Los Sierra Baptist Church. I know many of you have as well. I've thought about the people and the congregation here. I've thought about the future here. I've thought a lot alongside Brian and Ally May about the practical what of ministry, how the Lord might work in this church. There are many questions that have often risen in my mind.

Like, what will the Lord do to strengthen Los Sierra Baptist Church? How might the church how might the Lord see fit to grow this church? What types of things would the Lord have us do and not do? What would we start? What would we do by way of ministries and so many other things? These are pretty natural questions to ask, and many have asked me similar questions. As people have known that we've been planning to move to Riverside, they've asked, what ministries are you going to have? What programs are you going to start? What volunteers do you need? What events are you going to have or what special things are you going to do to attract families and the community? What will you do to increase the attendance of the church has even been a question that's been asked of me. To which I said, I I'm not sure about that one.

These are all fine questions. These are all practical questions. They deal with the things that we feel and we touch and we see all around us. But none of these questions quite get to the main thing. None of them get to the things we must consider first, and we must consider most. We want to know how Christ builds his church. We don't want to just know practical ways that people have built churches.

Christ's Church: Matthew 16

And so it's paramount that we understand what the Bible says about how a church is built, about how a church functions, about what a church should be. What ministries should a church have? What priorities mark a healthy church? What is meant to occupy a church as matters of first importance? Who does ministry in a local church? How is ministry accomplished? How can we know our church is faithful? We want to know what the Bible says about all of this. And so, starting today, we're doing just a quick three weeks thinking about the church. Thinking today, if you want to turn there for Matthew 16, Christ's Church. Next week on July 19th, looking at Matthew 28 and Christ's mission that he gives to his church. And on July 26th, we'll be in Ephesians 4 thinking about Christ's people, those who make up the church.

We want to base our church and our lives on scripture. So, look down with me in Matthew 16 starting in verse 13. If you have one of our Bibles provided by the church, this is on page 822. If you are new to reading a Bible, the large numbers on the page are chapter numbers and the small numbers are verse numbers.

Matthew 16 starting in verse 13 says this:

"Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his 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?' Simon Peter replied, '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. 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. 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.' Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ."

"I": The Church is Built on Christ

Matthew 16, 13 to 20 help us understand how Christ builds his church. We're going to look at that phrase that Jesus says in verse 18. "I will build my church."

If you want to take notes, here are points. Three points today. The first one is I. I, right there what Christ says, the church is built on Christ. Think about the context that we see here. Think about the larger context of the Gospel of Matthew and Jesus's ministry. People were always wondering who is this man? Is he a prophet? Is he a blasphemer? Is he of the devil? Is he truly of God? In the section just before this, he's speaking to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and they don't get it. They're not yet understanding who he is.

And you can imagine, wherever Jesus went, there would be murmurs about this man and what he had done and who he had healed and the 5,000 and the 4,000 that he had fed. And you could imagine like, as often depicted in a book or a movie, children scurrying around the streets and saying, "That's that's him, he showed up. He's here." And one child chiming in and saying, "My dad said he's a bunch of baloney." He he's making all of this up, none of it's real. And another child saying, "Well, my dad, my dad said that that is the Son of God."

And people have had so many opinions about Christ since that day, have they not? And so Jesus, as he often does as a good teacher, asked his disciples a question. And he says, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" Now, the Son of Man is a reference to Christ as the Messiah. It's an Old Testament reference. They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." Normal answers that people would have given. But that's not actually what Jesus wants to know. That question was a segue into the question that Jesus really wants them to answer. "Who do you say that I am?"

And this is the first instance in the Gospel of Matthew that we see one of the disciples perfectly and accurately identifying who Jesus is. "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." That is to say, you are the Christ, you are God. The Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, the Lord, whom Israel, God's people had been waiting for for millennia. The promised one back from Genesis 3:15, where it says that there will come one who will crush the head of the serpent. The one who will right every wrong. The one who will save his people from their sins. This is the one each week we come to sing and proclaim and rejoice in. This is Christ, the only mediator between God and man. Christ who says in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Christ is the one who lived a perfect life being fully God and fully man, who died a death that he did not deserve, but that was deserving of us. A death for all the penalty of our sin, all the eternal penalty of our sin, Christ satisfied on the cross. This is the Christ who did not stay in the grave but who rose again three days later, proclaiming victory and life for all who would trust in him, freeing us from the penalty and the power of sin. This is the Christ who ascended and now lives in heaven, resides there and intercedes for his own, continually applying his work of redemption to you. "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

That is Jesus. And if you have shown up here today and you are unfamiliar with Jesus, know who he is. Or if you have heard the name of Jesus and you have not trusted in Christ, that's the message for you today. That's the sermon today. Trust in Christ. The only savior from God who can save you from your sins. Christ and Christ alone.

Peter confesses rightly who Christ is. "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus replies, "Blessed are you, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you." How does one come to understand who Christ is rightly? It's the work of God to quicken a dead sinner's heart. Heaven had to reveal the reality of Christ to Peter. And he tells you, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church." Much has been said about what this rock means. Is it Christ? Is it Peter, who would then be a pope someday? Quick answer, no. But is it actually still Peter as one who's rightly confessing? Is it those who follow in the lineage of Peter, who would rightly confess and believe with all their hearts the truth about Christ that he's confessed here? On this rock, I will build my church.

It's a play on words as well. Peter means rock. Rock means rock. Two different Greek words. One's a big rock, one's a little rock. Is it Peter? It's hard to say that it's not Peter. Even grammatically, I mean he's the closest reference to rock. On this rock, what else would it be if not that rock? It's hard to separate the one who makes a right confession from the confession in context. So, we can say, yes, Peter. And we can say, all of those who follow in the footsteps of Peter and have true faith in Christ. This is the rock that Christ is building his church on. In fact, isn't it interesting that Peter's the one who then authors in 1 Peter 2:5, listen to this, that we are living stones like Christ is a living stone. You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, elsewhere called the dwelling place for God.

We, with Christ as the cornerstone, the church is built on Christ and those who profess true faith in Christ are built up around Christ into something that God intends. The church is built of those who trust in Christ and follow him. Because the church is made up of those who rightly confess about Christ, we proclaim him, we worship him, we serve him together, we gladly follow him. Because the church is built on Christ, we think of Christ who cares for the church of God in such a way that Acts 20:28 says, he obtained it with his own blood. Ephesians 1 tells us about Christ that all things have been put under his feet, and he's been given as head over all things to the church, his people, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. The church, the fullness, Christ's body. Colossians 1:18 says, he's the head of the body, the church, the beginning, the firstborn from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent. 1 Peter 5 speaking of Christ and the church calls him the chief shepherd over his church. And in Revelation 1, we get an interesting and intimate picture of Christ there referred as the Son of Man as well, and he comes in all of his glory and the picture that John sees of Jesus in Revelation 1 is the Son of Man walking among the lampstands which are his churches. He's intimately involved with, interested, invested in his church because the church is built on him, because it is Christ's church. And if we are part of his church, we say, "This isn't our church. This isn't my things or my way or what I think is clever." This is Christ's church and we follow him. We march to his orders. We don't listen to other voices. We turn to Christ and Christ alone. And like we sang, Christ is a solid rock for our hope of salvation and assurance and Christ is a solid rock for us to trust in and follow as a church, for us to stand on. Christ speaking of his church says, "I will build my church." The church is built on Christ.

"Will Build": The Church is Built by Christ

But number two, look at the words "will build." The church is built not just on Christ, but by Christ. We might be what part of what the church is. We might be part of those living stones that are built up around the cornerstone, but we do not build the church. We do not have the strength or the ingenuity or the wisdom or the ability to build a church. Christ builds the church. And he doesn't do it by human means. We see that even when he says, "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who's in heaven." The church is built by supernatural power. Think about it. The living stones are those weak and wandering sinners that had been redeemed by Christ. People from every tribe and nation and tongue are gathered around Christ as his body. Who could do that but God Almighty?

Christ will be successful in this endeavor to build a church, to build a gathering of worshipers around him. Revelation 5 gives us the full picture, as the reason Christ is worthy to unleash the end times is because he is the one who has redeemed a people for himself from every tribe and nation and tongue. And all of heaven stands in awe and worships him for it. The church is built by supernatural power. He does build that church. We call that the Big C church, the universal church, all Christians, all believers in Christ from all time. But he also builds the local church and gathers misfit people together in a body, in a place like this, and unites them together in faith, so that what binds them together is stronger than anything that could bind them together in the world. No matter if they look different, no matter they have a million different demographics. Christ unites the people together because they are united to him. In such a way even that when people see it and observe it, they think, "How does that make sense?" He grows us in love together and makes us even as a group a powerful witness to the world. If there were five of us in this room worshiping Christ today, it would be more powerful of a witness to the world than anything the world could do. And yet if there were 5,000, it would be the same. Christ built his church by supernatural power, by bringing people to himself and uniting them together. And he does this through his powerful word. How does Christ build his church and sanctify individuals so that we're made holy and bound together in love? Well, Jesus says in John 17:17, "Sanctify them," as he prays for us, "in the truth, your word is truth."

If it is supernatural power that builds a church, where do we most clearly have the wisdom and power of God put on display for us? God's work in his word through his spirit. We want to depend on God and what he has said about our church. Christ builds his church. He says, "I will build my church." That's an assurance. That's not a maybe, that's not a can, but it's a will. It's going to happen. 1,000% guaranteed. "I will build my church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." When Christ builds his church through his supernatural power, we know that the church is unstoppable. And I mean unstoppable in every sense of the word. Cannot be stopped by anything. He says not even the gates of hell. Nothing can stand against the mission of Christ in his church. Understand this: no other human institution can thwart the work of Christ in his church. No government can stop Christ's work in his church, no persecution can stop Christ's work in his church, no famine can stop Christ's work in his church, no suffering can stop Christ's work in his church. Satan himself, if he wielded all of his strength, could not stop the church. "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Nothing on earth will ever be as successful in accomplishing God's purposes as the church. It is God's design that he would use broken sinners gathered around himself to accomplish his glorious redemptive and eternal purposes. It does not make sense on paper, but it's the glorious plan of God. There are many fine institutions in the world. There are many good nonprofits, but none are glorious. None are beautiful. None are purchased by Christ's blood. The church is purchased by Christ's blood. The church has been given the mission to make disciples. Everything else, every amiable cause can be good and can help the church. But nothing is unstoppable like the church. The saints in this room are more unstoppable than an organization of 1,000. This means for us that the church is a worthwhile investment. It's a worthwhile investment of your time and spending yourself for the good of the church and the saints in this body. This means that it's a good investment of your life. May it be said of all of us that we are churchmen and churchwomen, that it's obvious even to those around us, they love the body. They speak of it often. Look at their close relationships. Look at the hospitality that's shown in lives. Think about the practical ways even that a neighbor might peer in and see your investment in the local church. My neighbors at times have thought it's weird at the number of cars that could be around our house on a weeknight. I've come to realize that most people don't have people over, but the church is a community that from day one has always gathered together in rooms like this and throughout the week. The church is a worthwhile investment of your money. It is. Giving to the church is probably the most clear way that you could give to God's purposes in the world. You can give to a missions organization. It is not the church. The local church is God's plan for his mission on earth. And imagine imagine the thousandfold that we will reap in heaven. As we invest in God's eternal work here on earth. Does Christ promise to build this church? The question, the answer is yes and no. Christ is not saying, "I will build every local church ever in existence. If you call yourself a church, I'm building you." He is saying that he's building the church universal. And that may be in his good providence that churches that are local, as we've seen through history, come and go. But that the Lord works through them in mighty ways in season and out of season. But we pray and we bank our lives on this verse, "I will build my church," and we say, "Lord, we want to be faithful to you, and in whichever way you choose to build us and use us, we'll accept it. We we don't need to contrive something different. We will be faithful to you and your word. We will proclaim the gospel, and whatever fruit you seek to give and see fit to give, we'll accept it." So Christ does promise to build our church, but he doesn't promise to do it in any specific way here other than the preaching of Christ crucified so that there would be more and more sinners saved who are right confessors like Peter.

"My Church": The Church Gathers Around Christ

Jesus says, "I will build my church." Number three, look at that word "church." "I will build my church." The church is built on Christ. The church is built by Christ and the church gathers around Christ. We've talked a lot about the church. We've hinted at what church means, but we've been assuming by and large, and we often do on a day-to-day basis, the word "church." What is a church? What is the church? The word "church" here is a Greek word, ekklesia. It's the word where we get ecclesiastical, like an ecclesiastical council from the church. Ekklesia is a rich word in the Bible. In Paul's time and in Jesus's time, there was a Greek translation of the Old Testament called the Septuagint. This is a helpful text for us at times as we do Bible study because we can see familiar words that Jesus knew in the Greek language that he also knew were in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. And Paul does the same thing. Paul will even quote the Septuagint in some places. Ekklesia is the word in Greek in the Greek translation of the Old Testament that speaks of the gathered people of Israel. Anywhere you see an assembled, gathered body of God's people, you would see that word in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. Most notably, I think, you can think of Exodus. Think of the purpose of the Exodus. Pharaoh, let the people go that we can go and worship our God in the wilderness. And then think about what God says, as he saves his people through the Exodus in a mighty way, through many plagues and through the Passover, in Exodus 19:5 and 6. God says, "You are my treasured possession, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation." God's people described as an ekklesia gathered there at the foot of the mountain, "You're my treasured possession."

And then, in 1 Peter 2:9-10, we read this: "You're a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you might proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." God is gathering a people to himself through Christ. And the great gathering of the church universal is expressed in local churches. We gather as an expression of that greater gathering. And this is the natural Christian pattern. It is weird for Christians to not be part of a church. In fact, it's abnormal and it's contrary to the new nature that Christ has given you. Consider verses from the New Testament that show that as part of the ekklesia, the assembly, the gathering, we gather. Hebrews 10:24 and 25: "Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together as is the habit of some, but continue all the more as you see the day drawing near." John 13:34: "How will the world know that you are my disciples? By your love for one another." Love is committed. This is not flimsy or weak love. This is committed love. You cannot tell me, or I cannot tell my wife I love her and be gone every day for a month and never say a word about it and never warn her, and that's my habit. Home one day, gone 30, just for fun. You'd say, "You don't love your wife. You're not present with her." Presence, fellowship, relationship, community. One of the most clear ways we express love for one another. Think about all the "one anothers" in the New Testament: pray for one another, confess to one another, forgive one another, love one another, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, show hospitality to one another, on and on and on again. Can you do any of them without being body and flesh in a room together? Life up against each other. You have to be in community to obey even the commands of scripture that are normal for a Christian. You can also think of the picture of the early church. The day of Pentecost happens in Acts 2, and immediately in Acts 2, they're gathering every day together in homes, breaking the bread, committing themselves to the apostles' teaching and prayer. If that's not obvious an obvious enough example, I don't know what is. God saves people in a miraculous way in that context from every tribe and nation, many different language speakers. And immediately, we should gather together. It's obvious. We've been joined to Christ, we're joined to one another. It's baked in even to the notion of the word "church."

John Stott, a theologian, says, "From the day of Pentecost onward, it has been the clear it has been clear that conversion to Christ means also conversion to the community of Christ. As people turn from themselves to him and from this corrupt generation to the alternative society which he is gathering around himself, these two transfers of personal allegiance and social membership cannot be separated." If you say you love Christ, you will love his people. If you say you belong to Christ, you will belong to his people. If we can say it really clearly. Maybe the word "membership" isn't in the Bible, even though we are members one of another, but church membership is biblical. It's expected. It's how you faithfully live out the Christian walk together, by joining together in commitment committed lives to one another to obey all that scripture commands. We as an expression of our love for one another, and especially as an expression of our devotion to Christ, gather together on the Lord's Day, on Sunday, as has been the habit since the beginning of the church in Acts. And we gather around Christ. We gather around his gospel that is clearly proclaimed in his word and in the preaching and in our songs. We gather around his word because he speaks to us through it. We gather together to pray, knowing that we pray because we have a Christ who intercedes for us. And we have the Spirit who intercedes with groaning too deep for words for us. When we partake in the ordinances of baptism and communion, we are getting a picture of the gospel. In baptism, that picture of being buried with Christ and raised to new life. What happens in regeneration when God enlivens our souls? And in communion, we're regularly remembering the sacrifice of our Lord and the fact that it unifies us together. Over and over and over again, in our service, we gather around Christ. We live out the unity of the gospel together. Think about the gathering of the local church in unity and the picture that it paints. Think about your favorite sports team. I don't actually see any jerseys in here today. You, you know, it's not football season, so there we go. You know when somebody's a fan of the Broncos or the Dodgers or the Lakers or whatever it is. And you often see people with the same jerseys gathered together. In fact, you see hundreds of thousands of people gathered together in stadiums across the world. You just saw it in the World Cup. Guys, there are people I saw recently who are not sports fans. I don't think I've ever heard them talk about sports, and they've been talking about soccer nonstop for a month because of the World Cup. But you see people gathered together for these things that interest them and intrigue them, these commonalities that are obviously visible. Is it not natural for us to gather together around Christ? And should that not be, maybe though we're not wearing crosses on our T-shirts, an obvious thing that Christ unites us, that Christ's love compels us to join together and love one another dearly? We want to represent Christ well. A small way you do that is showing up here on Sunday.

Notice what Christ says next: "I will build my church, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." And then he says in verse 19, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Interesting verse. Maybe you've never known what to make of that verse. I think Jesus is telling verse 19 to the church that he's described, "I will build my church" in verse 18. The picture in verse 19 is that Christ gives his church his authority. Not completely, not perfectly, but Christ gives the church authority. He says, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom." If I give you the keys to my car, I'm not surprised if you go drive it. I've entrusted you with that. If someone enters my house without keys, I'm wondering, "What's going on here? You're not allowed in here. What are you doing?" But if I give someone the keys to my house or I say, "Hey, here's where the hide-a-key is," then I've said, "Come on in. You're welcome." You can come in the house and do as I'm not gonna be there, but you can go take care of that thing while I'm gone. I've given them some measure of authority to do something on my behalf. Keys in the ancient world were a sign of authority as well. You can think of the key to a city even. Nowadays, it's just kind of a representative thing that we do to honor somebody perhaps. But keys all throughout scripture are a picture of authority. In fact, in Revelation 1:18, Jesus, the resurrected Christ, holds the keys of death and Hades, showing that he has power and victory over them. And here Jesus says to lowly sinners gathered around himself, the church, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom." At the beginning of Matthew, Jesus came proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. In fact, if you want to think about the whole theme of scripture, in large part, it's the kingdom of God. And getting back to Eden. The keys of the kingdom, the kingdom that Christ inaugurates. He gives us authority somehow. What do the keys do? Well, it says, "I'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven." And then he tells us what they do. They bind and they loose. "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." What does the church have authority to do, to act on behalf of heaven and to state what is true in heavenly reality on earth? Whenever a church baptizes someone, they're saying, "We recognize that you are a true Christian, that you are trusting in Christ, that you've made a right profession." Whenever whenever we gather around the Lord's table, we're affirming that same thing. The ordinances even have been given to the church to express this kind of authority that God has given the church. The church, the local church even, is authorized to act on behalf of Christ. This is just another one of those wonderful ways that God invites us into his work of grace and into this church, the "I will build my church" reality, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. We play an active part in that, friends. This is a role we take on as members of a local church. Gladly, joyfully, and at times when it's hard, even with tears and pain in the midst, we do it to honor Christ, to fulfill what he's told us to do, what he has given us to do.

Living as Christ's Church

So how will Los Sierra Baptist Church succeed and be faithful? We must know that Christ leads us, that this is his church and not our own. That gives us a great amount of humility, doesn't it? To consider what should we do in this church? Well, we've got to go to Christ first. What does he say? What are his instructions? We want to know and ensure that we are building on a sure foundation, on Christ the solid rock. He unites us. He leads us, and he's at the center of everything we do here. He must be. If we find ourselves straying from that, let's all take a deep breath and pause, reassess. We also want to be looking to Christ, not just building on Christ, but looking to Christ to build his church. Praying to Christ our Lord, expecting him to do the work, the supernatural work that only he can do. We want to look to Christ and preaching the gospel to ourselves in the midst of the congregation and the believers here, but also to lost people that Christ would continue building his church through our efforts there. We want to trust in and following Christ and looking to him, the simple means of grace that he gives to us. He gives us the word and prayer. He gives us gathering together in a church community. He gives us the ordinances to strengthen us, to fill us with his grace, to help us day by day. We want to look to Christ in being faithful rather than clever. We'd rather just follow what the Bible says simply than add on to it so it looks clever or brings people in. And we want to continue to gather around Christ. We want to live faithfully as a gospel church. We want to weave our lives together in the truest sense. Take responsibility for one another and take up together the responsibility that he's given us, the authority even, that Christ has given us as a church.

Closing Remarks and Benediction

Would you pray with me?

Lord, we do pray that you would build this church, Los Sierra Baptist Church. We know that we are precious to you because there are precious saints here, whom you love, whom you have died for, who you care for, who you lead on as the good shepherd. Help us as a church, Lord, to follow you faithfully. To bank everything on your word and your promises. Lord, help us ever to cling to Christ. Make the gospel sweet to us as a group, but make the gospel sweet to us as individuals. May we cherish Christ. May we never tire of reveling in the love and grace and mercy and forgiveness and undeserved kindness that you have lavished upon us. Lord, help us to be a church that is marked by your grace and represents you well. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Would you please stand as we sing?

Church, please turn in your hymnal to hymn 354, "The Church's One Foundation." That's hymn 354.

[Hymn singing]

Our benediction this morning comes from Ephesians 3:20 and 21. "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

Friends, it's been a joy to worship with you this morning. If you would, stick around. All are welcome to join us for lunch in the fellowship hall. Probably in 20 or 30 minutes.