Matthew 16:18
Jesus’ Church
The Church - Has there ever been an entity more misunderstand? By
the world this creation has gone from being reverenced and feared to
being despised and mocked. Even among those who call themselves
Christians, the church is misrepresented, avoided, and scorned. At
its very best, Christians seem to dread their church and at its
worse, they blaspheme and insult. Why is this so?
Well I will tell you upfront, it is not God’s fault. The church God
gave us is essential, alive, and vibrant. If a church is no longer
so, if it is dead and dried up, it is because of what those who have
been entrusted with its care and ministry have done to it.
If we are to understand the church, we should go back to the very
beginning—to the very first time the word is used in our Bible, to
the moment when God Himself first revealed it. We need to see the
church afresh through the eyes of the One who created it. Then
perhaps at least those who are members of it will care enough to want
to learn more about it.
Just one truth to give you this morning.
I. The Church Belongs to Jesus.
Matt 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
CHURCH;
A. The church belongs to the One who named it.
1. Jesus was the One who called the church "church."
2. Understand that words have meanings, and, in the Bible, we
can understand more about the object if we understand the
word selected to name it.
3. In the Greek, the word for church means the "called out."
4. If God selected the word for "called out" to represent the
church, we need to ask ourselves two questions:
a. Who is doing the calling?
b. What is He calling us out of?
5. Who is doing the calling?
a. That would be Jesus.
b. Jesus is the only One with a voice powerful enough to
call people from all across the globe and all across
time to Himself.
(1) In history, we learned about "the shot heard
around the world," which was Ralph Waldo
Emerson’s description of the first engagement
between British and American soldiers in
America’s battle for independence.
(2) That shot was nothing compared to Jesus’ call!
Jesus’ call, though a simple silent phrase which
one would have had to strain to hear at the
foot of the cross, has reached billions as it
echoed through the millenniums; yet, it is as
strong and resolute today as it was 2,000 years
ago.
(3) Forty plus years ago I heard it in the middle of
the night and it dropped me to my knees and
changed my life.
(4) I hope you have heard it too.
6. What is He calling us out of?
a. The word means "called out." Called out from what?
b. Called out from this world and its sin.
(1) Jesus’ voice is calling us to leave sin,
rebellion, selfishness, carnality, worldliness—
anything and everything that separates us from
God.
(2) That is one of the things that makes the church
different in its behavior.
(a) A church that has not left sin behind is no
church.
(b) It may be a club, an event, a gathering, a
concert, a show—but it is no church.
(c) When a church takes a stand against sin, it
is not trying to be judgmental, condemning,
or harsh.
(d) It is simply doing what God has called it to
do.
B. The Church belongs to the One who built it.
Matt 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou
art Peter, and upon this rock I will BUILD my
church….
1. Notice that Jesus plainly states in the text that He is
the Builder of the church.
2. When you read that, don’t let your mind start thinking of
he buildings of a church.
a. God has blessed our church with a lot of building
space.
b. This church has gone through four building programs
and has not finished yet!
c. However, none of that is what Jesus was referring to
when He called Himself the church’s Builder.
3. Jesus was referring to the people.
a. Jesus does not build His church with stones and wood
but with people.
1 Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built
up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to
offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ.
b. God puts people where He wants them inside of His
church.
c. He does that by gifting everyone with different gifts.
(1) Every Christian has a gift, a talent, an ability.
(a) God gives some gifts of the spirit, some
gifts of the hands and some gifts of the
head.
(b) Some understand spiritual things better.
i. By God’s grace, I seem to see things in
the Bible that others do not.
ii. However, that is a spiritual gift and
should not be confused with
intelligence because I am not smarter
than most. In fact, I tend to go the
other direction in intelligence.
(c) Some understand intellectual things better,
i.e. computers, design, internet
(d) Some work better with their hands.
(2) And every Christian is called to serve in some
capacity.
(a) Several Bible passages list the callings
God gives to those with spiritual gifts.
Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and
some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some,
pastors and teachers;
(b) My gifts are spiritual and my calling is
that of a pastor and teacher.
(c) We have some people whose gifts are less
spiritual and more intellectual and hands
on who do things like count money, keep
records, clean and maintenance things—and
these people are no less convinced that God
has called them to do their work than I am
that God has called me to do mine.
(d) Every Christian needs to find out what the
Builder has built them do in His church.
C. The Church belongs to the One who claimed it.
Matt 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build MY
church….
1. Notice the personal pronoun that Jesus used, "MY."
2. "MY" shows possession and ownership.
a. This is MY Bible.
b. This is MY tablet.
c. This is MY suit.
d. This is not MY pulpit.
e. This is not MY church.
f. It is interesting what children think. Several times
children have come up to me to ask me if this church
was mine. No. It is not.
g. In fact as a pastor, I try not to refer to the church
or the pulpit as mine. Some pastors do and there is
the sense that if we belong to this church, it is
ours; but as I do not want people to think that I
think that I "run" the church so I try to use that
phrase.
3. Yet, there is One who claims ownership of the church,
Jesus Christ.
a. I am concerned with the liberties that some are
taking with God’s church in this age.
(1) The type of music has been changed.
(2) The style of communcation from the pulpit has
been changed. Some churches do not even have a
pulpit.
(3) Many have changed the atmosphere of their
buildings. Some do not want their church to
look like a church.
(4) I believe the intent of the church service has
been changed. Their goal is not to lead souls
to Christ or to teach them holy living.
(5) In short, the very word "worship" has been
redefined.
b. I am not the pastor of any other church, but I fear
that men are taking liberties with that which is not
theirs.
c. If someone comes into our home, moves the furniture,
throws our music out and brings in theirs, locks our
family out and brings in theirs, there is going to be
a problem.
4. Jesus is the only Owner of the church.
D. The Church belongs to the One who commands it.
Matt 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it.
1. This phrase reveals a Commander.
a. That is not the statement of a spectator but of a
Commander.
b. Jesus was commading the church to action.
c. Why?
2. Because this phrase also reveals an enemy.
a. There are gates out there that we are to be attacking.
(1) That’s a war.
(2) When there is a war, there is an enemy.
b. In that scenario, there are only two possibilities.
(1) Either we are an enemy attacking victims or…
(2) We were the victims now being commanded to attack
our enemy.
c. The latter is the case.
(1) Satan is our enemy, and he has been kicking us to
the curb since before we were born.
(2) He not only bullies us, but this is all part of
a long standing feud that dates back to our
great, great, great grandpa, Adam.
(3) Those two went at years ago in garden called Eden
and—I hate to say it but—Grandpa Adam got
stomped. Before he knew what was going on,
Grandpa Adam was broken, brused, and laying on
the ground and there standing over him, with his
foot on Adam’s neck, was the devil.
(4) Ever since then, the devil has bullied, bruised,
and broken us all.
(5) But we have a Brother who got fed up with it.
a. He’s our adopted brother, Jesus.
b. No. Our family didn’t adopt Him. His family
family adopted us.
(6) But our Brother Jesus got tired of what the devil
was doing and called him out.
a. This time instead of a garden, they met on a
hillside called Calvary.
b. And what the first fight lacked in intensity,
this one more than made up for.
c. The fur flew and the dust arose so intesne
that nothing could be seen.
d. The only evidence of what was behind the
cloud of dust was the sounds of fists
against face and the utterings of moaning.
(7) The fight last three days and nights and it did
not look good for our side, but when it all
settled down, there Satan lay on the ground with
Jesus’ foot on his head.
(8) So Jesus’ command tells us that the church as an
enemy.
3. Because this phrase also reveals a mission.
a. Jesus left the church with this command, "Knock down
the gates of hell until all his fortresses are
demolished."
(1) But we need to remember that Jesus is not into
the buildings.
(2) It was not real gates that Jesus wanted tore
down, but the gates that held Satan’s victims.
(3) It may be hard to understand and even harder to
remember, but Satan’s army is not made up of
volunteers but victims.
b. Then how do we tear down the gates of hell? Two ways.
(1) We do it by rescuing lost souls.
(a) Satan’s desire is not to lead his army into
a glorious kingdom but to damn them into an
eternal fire.
(b) Every soul rescued from his army is a victim
saved from the devil’s tyranny and
damnation.
(c) I am praying some will be rescued today.
(2) We do it by convincing those who claim Jesus as
their Savior to live for Him completely and
openly.
(a) We have a major problem here.
(b) Too many who claim Christ do not live for
Him openly.
(c) While the rest of the world has come out of
the closet, Christians have moved further
back into theirs.
(d) But this is what the church is for, i.e. to
rally, organize, train, and encourage the
believers to stand for Jesus.
(e) I am praying some will come out of the
closet today.
4. Because this phrase also reveals a power.
a. The church uses the same power that Jesus used, God’s
power.
b. The human race fought Satan without God for
millenniums and the outcome was always the same. We
lost every battle.
c. As long as the church moves under Jesus’ command, the
church cannot be defeated.
d. Here is the thing:
(1) The church doesn’t need the world’s philosophy or
entertainment or methods to do the work of God.
(2) What do we need?
(a) saved soldiers
(b) holy vessels
(c) bold witnesses
(d) determined hearts
(3) And do you know what you have when you get that?
Jesus’ Church!
Does that sound like the church you are a part of? If not, maybe what
you have is not a church at all. I will promise you that there is no
way you will get bored at a church that belongs to Jesus.
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