The Church: God’s Divine Construction Project, Part 1 (Matthew 16:1-20; 28:19-20)

Okay, we're going to go ahead and start with Sunday school and most of you know Jeff Miller and Cornell and I are rotating. Cornell of course is going to continue his teaching on Daniel and I will resume my teaching on 1st Samuel and we'll do this on a rotational basis.

So this this week and for a four-week series Jeff Miller is going to do a short series on the church, its purpose and its plan and its purpose and what we as the body of Christ should be and this is a handout that Cornell will be passing out so I'll turn this over to.

Jeff. Okay thank you. You can keep that. Thank you very much good to see you all this morning. What a privilege we have to be able to gather together and fellowship and worship and study God's Word and so this morning as Cornell said we're just going to jump into a very brief study, it's just four weeks, on the church and there's a there's a handout there.

The notes are all going to be there for you. I thought I'd reproduce those for you and make sure that you have those for a couple of reasons. One is you're going to be able to see where we're going and how we're going to get there through our little study.

Also this is a study that originally was around seven or eight weeks and so to fit it into four I've just sort of condensed it down and boiled it down into a a briefer form as you have in your hands and so it's if we don't get through everything on a given Sunday you're going to have the notes and so what's going to happen is is you take these class notes out the door at the end of the day at whatever we didn't cover we'll sort of beautifully and mystically and magically as you walk out the door turn into homework.

Okay so no it's summertime so you don't have to see this as homework but anyway you'll have it and if you are not able to come on a certain Sunday you'll still have the notes and be able to follow along in that way but what we're going to do this morning is take a look at the church and it's obvious that I'm following along one of the metaphors that is in scripture for the church and that is of a building and so we're going to this first week we're going to see the master builders plan and his people as we look at Matthew chapter 16 and also Matthew chapter 28 and then we're going to look at the proclamation and the progress as the church through the book of Acts moves out and begins to reach out to the world according to the promise that Jesus himself makes in Matthew chapter 16 that he will build his church as we're going to see and then on on weeks three and four we're going to see the four purposes of the church and those purposes are worship, transformation, fellowship, and witness.

We're going to look at the book of Romans for three of those and then finally back to the book of Acts chapter 10 for the witness and so it's going to be a bit of a whirlwind trip. There's an awful lot here.

It originally was not designed to be a a fully orbed systematic ecclesiology that would take many many more weeks but it's designed to take a study like that and sort of boil it down to the essentials.

Okay so and really it was produced initially to be able to use with a group of people who might want to like plant a church and rather than have the very ubiquitous and common philosophy of church plant that is commonly known as the seeker sensitive movement which is essentially a man-centered church planting program and has been for about 45 years.

This gets down to what the Bible says about what God's plan is for his church and how to do it. So it was initially designed to be something you could take to like three or four families who might want to plant a church who might be wanting to know how to go about doing it and rather collect all of the man-centered opinions that would would be there you could actually lay this out and show them what the Bible has to say about it which is the only way to do it so that you could be doing God's work God's way.

So that's what we're going to look at this morning. It's a very brief study of the God's plan for the church and then we're going to look at these four core purposes of the church. Okay and hopefully there'll be some time at the end for some questions if not well we'll try to work them in next time and that way we'll cover all of the material.

So why don't we commit our time to our Lord and ask his blessing on it and then we'll just jump into our study. Father thank you for this opportunity that we have to gather together. We know that in time space history you have ordained that we would be here today and so we are grateful for that we know it is by your grace that you have brought us together all things are by your grace and we pray that you would lead us through our study here in your word by your spirit that you would make things clear as we move through help us to understand your great plan for your church and how we are to participate in it.

And we just thank you in the name of our great Savior Jesus Christ amen. Well in the Bible as you probably well know in order to communicate God's relationship to his people there are many metaphors used figures and the Bible is very rich in figures and that type of thing.

And of course one of them very familiar would be picturing God's people as a flock like a flock of sheep and God being of course the Good Shepherd. This comes right out of the Old Testament as you know and in this right into the New Testament Jesus in John 10 speaks of himself as being the Good Shepherd.

That's the Good Shepherd chapter. This is built right off of Psalm 23 and what the Old Testament has to say. God's people are also pictured as citizens citizens of a new nation citizens of a kingdom under King Jesus.

Paul reminded the Colossian believers of that truth in Colossians 113 when he said he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. The Bible also pictures not only believers but all people.

Okay here's a relevant one as slaves. All people are slaves. Paul in Ephesians 2 said that unbelievers are said are slaves of Satan sin and the world system. But believers in Jesus Christ are said to be slaves of Jesus Christ set free from the bondage of sin to serve a new master.

But the key thing there is everybody's a slave. We just serve different masters. Apostle Paul uses the military theme. Of course they would have been very familiar with the the Roman soldiers that were there occupying them and the the the garb of the Roman soldier the helmet the shield of the the the breastplate and all of that.

And as we know very familiar from Ephesians 6 Paul uses that to to encourage believers to put on the whole armor of God and so he's playing off of that imagery. And agriculture is also used in Scripture.

We are seen taking God's Word and breaking up the hard rocky ground of unbelief as the word moves out and of planting the seed of the word and broadcasting that seed widely. And we know that that seed then lands on various kinds of soil.

But it is God who gives the harvest. And when the harvest stands then that harvest of souls can take place and it's God who gives the harvest. So farmers are pictured there. Okay farmers the second oldest profession in the world.

All right. The first of course being preachers. Everybody knows that some of the disciples were actually fishermen. I'm just kidding about that. Jim might see this later on. Okay just kidding. I heard that someplace some of the disciples as you know we're actually fishermen.

And of course our Lord when he calls them to himself he says follow me and I will make you fishers for the souls of men. He uses that imagery that would have been very familiar to them. Perhaps three of the most familiar metaphors used in Scripture are the bride the body and the building.

The bride maybe the most beautiful one where Jesus is pictured as the bridegroom who sacrificially gives his life for his church and then he nurtures and cares for and provides for the bride the body of Christ.

And again speaking of the body Paul really develops this metaphor throughout the New Testament Romans 1st Corinthians Ephesians Colossians. Christ is the head of the body. And so the human body is used to picture the church Christ being the head and all the various parts are are controlled by the head and all play an important part whether you are a hand a foot and ear whatever every single part of the body is important plays a very important part and it's the head that brings them all together to serve within the body as they function together.

But the New Testament also uses the image of a building coming off of the Old Testament concept of the temple. And of course as we have seen from our study of Hebrews going clear back to the tabernacle in the wilderness that place that God ordained would be a place where sinful man could come and fellowship with him and worship him on God's terms.

First the tabernacle in the wilderness then Solomon's temple and then later on of course in the second temple. But when God became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ that Old Testament system which pointed to him passed away and the church is then spoken of as the dwelling place of God.

Paul says in to Timothy in first Timothy as he sends him out to set things in order in Ephesus he said he calls it the household of God the household of God. That's the church. And that's the metaphor we're going to follow in our study as we look at the church God's divine construction project.

And the first thing we're going to see from Matthew chapter 16 where I invite you to turn in your Bibles is the master builders plan. The master builders plan. You're gonna build a building and you builders know this you have to build a foundation and foundations are important.

In fact they're critical and they're also something you don't often think about. We don't often think about the foundation of this building but this building of course is sitting on a solid foundation even the structural steel you can see how it was in some ways shaped this building.

But if you were ever to see some of the calculations the engineers had to do to even calculate the wind shear on the side of a building the lateral forces even of a 20 or 30 mile an hour wind are tremendous.

And so you have to take great care. And designing a building especially here in snow country they have to take into account snow loads and wind shear and all kinds of things. And this is not even hurricane or tornado country praise the Lord.

But the foundation of a building is critical and so is the foundation of the church. So what we're going to look at this morning is the master builders plan. And then on page two we're going to go through the opposition the foundation the architect the builder.

And then we're going to see the residents from Matthew chapter 16. What we see first of all is the opposition. This opposition had been going on for quite some time by the time we get to Matthew chapter 16 remember Matthew's purpose in his gospel account of the life of Christ is to prove to his Jewish audience that Jesus is their Messiah that he is the rightful king of Israel.

And that is exactly what he does. He opens right up with a genealogy that fulfills demonstrates the fulfillment of the part of the Abrahamic Covenant that promises the seed. The Abrahamic Covenant all the way back to Genesis chapter 12 promised three basic elements to the Jewish people to Abraham Isaac Jacob and all of their descendants land seed and blessing.

And that seed promise to Abraham was that there's going to be descendants from whom is going to come a special person called the seed. This of course goes clear back to Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 the first promise of the seed.

And so Matthew opens up his gospel account right out of the starting blocks by looking back toward the Abrahamic Covenant Abraham is told to look forward now from your perspective I should go this way that there's going to be a seed.

He can't see who that's going to be. But by the time we get to Matthew's account Matthew simply says the genealogy of Jesus Christ. And it's kind of connect the dots son of David son of Abraham. And right there you have the fulfillment of the seed promise of the Abrahamic Covenant by Matthew to set the stage for the rest of the gospel account at his baptism in Matthew 3 his father endorses him as my beloved son.

And of course don't miss the fact that in that passage and many of the rest of these we have the Trinitarian formula. The spirit is there the father is there the son is there. We have a Trinitarian salvation.

We have a Trinitarian church because we have a Trinitarian God. In chapter 4 of Matthew his temptation in the wilderness also validated his deity in the fact that he was exactly who the prophets predicted would come.

He performs a series of undeniable miracles that serve as signs validating his words and his claims to be the Messiah. In chapters 8 and 9 the whole time the rejection by the scribes and the Pharisees is building up.

They hate him they are hearing him teaching. These are the spiritual elite and there are. They are not only in denial of who he is they're threatened by who he is and he is exactly who he says he is. By the time we reach chapter 12 their anger their rejection is at a fever pitch to the point that they pronounce his miracles which they never denied.

They couldn't deny him they were objectively verifiable. They pronounced him to be the work of Satan and Jesus pronounces judgment on them. By the time you get to chapter 12 verse 34 for all intents and purposes for that generation of people it is over and they are now under the judgment of God.

Chapter 13 of course he teaches in parables which is designed to to prohibit unbelievers from understanding but to reveal the truth to believers. Very interesting. And in chapter 14 Jesus withdraws from Galilee taking his disciples up into the north country to begin to teach them about his impending rejection his and his death on the cross.

He takes them up to Caesarea Philippi. So in Matthew 16 1 we see the opposition still at a fever pitch. And the Pharisees and Sadducees came and to test him. They asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

He answered them when it is evening you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red and in the morning it will be stormy today for the sky is red and threatening. You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky.

But you cannot interpret the signs of the times. And here he really pulls out the old sword of the spirit razor-sharp and lacerates them. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

So he left them and departed. The opposition they tried to test him. He called them evil and adulterous. The issue was as we'll see in this next passage they're teaching. In verse 5 through 12 he begins to warn the disciples about the Pharisees and he calls their teaching 11.

They don't quite get it until the end. In verse 12 then they understood that he did not tell them to be aware of the leaven of bread but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They were false teachers.

They were apostates. And what they taught the people the Jews was not the truth. And when Jesus came along he did tell them the truth. And he warns them to to stay clear stay away from what these people are teaching.

That brings us to verse 13 and we're going to see the foundation of the church. In verse 13 he has departed. He's taken his disciples all the way up to Caesarea Philippi. This is not the Caesarea on the coast where Paul was taken when he was under arrest.

You remember that story in the book of Acts. This is a town that is about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee and about a hundred miles north of Jerusalem. So it's way up in the north. He does that to get them apart so he can begin to teach them about his impending death as he moves then back down for the last time to Jerusalem and his debt date with the cross.

And so he says in verse 13 it says 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 other say Elijah and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

This is not to be unexpected. Men do not have the answer for who Jesus is. And the question really does set up the answer. He's not asking him this question because he doesn't know the answer. He knows everything.

He's setting up the he asked the question in order to set up the opportunity to teach them what follows. And so this question is simply a way to get them to think about this. And men don't have the answer.

He has all of the data. He wants them to think about who he is. Who do men say that I am. And they're all over the map with who they say he is. And then he says in verse 15 but who do you say that I am.

And this is what he's getting after this question with the you there grammatically that is emphatic. That's that's in the emphatic position. It's also plural. So in other words he's basically saying all of you who do you say that I am.

And Peter's answer is is for himself but it is also for all the rest of the disciples. And it really is an answer for all of the rest of the church for all time. The monumental statement is here. This is what Jesus is really going after.

By asking this question Peter says you are the Christ the son of the living God. 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.

Matthew's use of Peter's full name is the only use of his full name in the gospel of Matthew and it highlights how significant this confession is. Peter says you are the Christ. This is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word which means to to anoint or to be smear as they would do with oil when they would anoint the new king.

The transliterated form of course we often hear is Messiah. You are the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah of Israel the anointed king of the Jews the rightful heir to the throne of David.

And he further defines who he is by adding the son of the living God. This is really important. It's a very specific reference to Jesus deity. One commentator says this. Peter further defines Jesus as the son of the living God.

This is a more definite identification of Jesus as deity than God's son or a son of God. Those title forms leave a question open about the sense in which Jesus was God's son. The Jews often described their God as the living God the contrast being with dead idols.

By referring to God. In this way Peter left no doubt about which God was the father of Jesus. He was the one true God. Since Jesus was the son of God he was the Messiah the king over the long-anticipated earthly kingdom spoken of 2nd Samuel 7 Isaiah 9 Jeremiah 23 Micah 5 2 and many many many other passages.

Peter expressed belief that Jesus was both Messiah and God. Jesus said just referred to himself as the son of man. But Peter viewed him as the son of God. So Peter's great confession is that Jesus is the Christ the son of the living God.

But where did Peter get that. Was he just so smart that he figured that out on his own. We know that's not true. Was he just so spiritual. He put all the spiritual indicators together. No we know. That's not true too.

Apart from the spirit of God we know what happened to Peter later on in the story right. Where did he come up with this. We didn't come up with it on his own. This great truth came from the architect of the church God himself.

Roman numeral three. In your notes Jesus says 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 in the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Peter's confession did not come from himself. That would be absolutely impossible. It came from God the father through the ministry of the spirit. Once again you have a Trinitarian formula here all three members of the Trinity are involved.

Spirit of God is behind the scenes but he is the one who reveals it from the father to Peter himself about the nature of the son. When Jesus calls him Simon bar Jonah he does that to emphasize that Peter is flesh and blood.

He's connected to his earthly father. And so it's his way of saying that you're a mere man. Where'd you get this from. And the phrase flesh and blood this is a Hebrew idiom for being a mere mortal being.

Jesus isn't putting him down per se but he's simply emphasizing. You didn't come up with this. That would be absolutely impossible. Simple man who is spiritually blind spiritually deaf spiritually dead as a post cannot reason his way toward God.

Absolutely impossible if you confess Jesus as the Christ the son of the living God confessed based because you really truly believe it. You didn't come up with that. You didn't reason your way toward that.

God gave you that because man cannot reason his way toward God God is the self-revealing God. And if he doesn't reveal himself to you you have absolutely no hope of understanding him on your own because of our our sin.

And so that's what's at stake here. He didn't come up with this on his own. God the Father revealed it to him because God is the architect of the church. He has an eternal plan and this is part of the carrying out of that plan.

But this great foundation is that Christ is the son of the living God. That is the foundation of the church. The church is going to be built on that truth because it's going to be built on him and his work.

So when Jesus says I will build my church in verse 18 he's identifying himself as the builder of the church. The builder is Jesus Christ and not even death can stop the construction of the church. The gates of hell or the gates of Hades are a picture of the entrance into death.

And we know that death didn't stop Christ from accomplishing his purposes and death cannot stop the church from accomplishing its purposes either upon this rock I will build my church. The builder of the church is Jesus.

The designer is God. He's the architect. But Christ is the owner of the church. He says this is my church and he's also the builder of the church. So if you want to continue with the imagery could say he's the owner builder of the church.

And we know that this verse is also historically controversial because Catholicism historically has said well there you go. You see Peter was the first Pope and we know that can't possibly be true for several reasons.

Christ was not saying that he would build the church on Peter. He's going to build it on himself on the fact that he is the Christ the son of the Living God. And so we know that also. And they would have known it the leaders if they would have just remembered their Old Testament because Psalm 118 says the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

And the cornerstone was the the keystone in the building of a church the key foundation stone. It was the first one they set and that cornerstone set the the elevation of the building it set the angle of the building and everything else.

It was the first one the most important one. The psalmist then goes on to say this is the Lord's doing it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

And again Isaiah 28 16 God through the prophet Isaiah says thus says the Lord God behold I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion a stone a tested stone a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation.

Whoever believes will not be put to shame. And so we have also the the statement that God is going to lay this stone. But also don't miss the connection to salvation. Whoever believes Jesus claimed to be the stone the Old Testament writer spoke of wasn't Peter.

It was Jesus himself last week of his ministry. He's addressing the priests and the Pharisees the opposition. Of course in that last week I mean they were trying to figure out ways to get him executed any way they could.

And he's a few days away from the cross. The hatred in the of the religious establishment is palpable. And he's teaching in the temple. And he's just told a parable about a landowner who leased his vineyard out to tenants.

You may remember that Matthew 21 he gets to verse 42 and Jesus says this Jesus said to them to these leaders. Now you have to understand these are the spiritual elite these are the teachers the the remember it's a theocracy.

So they're not. They weren't just the spiritual leaders. The religious leaders are also the civil leaders. And you may not see this for what it is right off the bat but this is this is Jesus taking out the old hickory baseball bat spiritually speaking and just swinging it with both hands and hitting these people right between the headlights.

Ok metaphorically speaking of course when he says have you never read in the scriptures. And guess what he quotes Psalm 118. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing and is marvelous in our eyes.

Therefore I tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces. And when it falls on anyone it will crush him.

So this stone that you are rejecting is the one who's going to judge you. When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard this his parables they got this part. They perceived that he was speaking about them.

And although they were seeking to arrest him they feared the crowds because they held him to be a prophet. So the spiritually blind spiritually deaf spiritually dead as a post spiritual leaders of the day didn't get who he truly was.

But they got he was talking about them. When he starts talking about judgment Peter did not consider himself the foundation of the church. Later on in the book of Acts Peter says this. After he and John were involved in the healing of a man they were arrested they were beaten and then they were released.

But on the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander. John and Alexander are members of this hierarchy.

It's not John the Apostle and all who were of the high priestly family. Okay so here you got the the big wigs of the spiritual leadership. And they asked Peter a question concerning this healing of this man.

By what power or by what name did you do this now they asked. Okay they asked. Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them rulers of the people and elders if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man by what means this man has been healed.

Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified whom God raised from the dead by him this man is standing before you. Well this Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you.

Perfect opportunity for Peter to claim to be the stone. But he doesn't. He points to Jesus the stone that was rejected by you the builders which has become the cornerstone. And he's right back to the Old Testament prophecies.

And there is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. So Peter did not believe that he had any special authority in the church. And he certainly did not think that he was the stone or the rock prophesied in the Old Testament.

And clearly he he confessed Christ is the stone and I love the way he did it every opportunity he had. He mentions to these leaders and to the Jews you murdered your own Messiah but God overruled you and raised him from the dead.

That's not very secret sensitive in today's jargon of things. But he did it anyway because he was filled with the Spirit and it was true. Peter later on in his last letter to the church writing to Christians who are out in the world undergoing persecution he says this to them.

Put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good as you come to him.

A living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious. And he's just reaching right back to those Old Testament prophecies. You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

For it stands in Scripture. Guess what he quotes Isaiah 28. Behold I am laying in Zion a stone a cornerstone chosen and precious. And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe but for those who do not believe.

Back to Psalm 118. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do.

An amazing statement he brings together and shows us both the absolute sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man snuggled right up next to each other in Scripture. A stone of stumbling a rock of offense.

Why did they stumble. They disobey the Word of God and they're responsible for it as they were destined to do. Amazing. Peter didn't consider himself anything other than a slave of Jesus Christ and any opportunity had to say anything different.

He points to Christ as the rock the foundation of the church. Even back in that original statement when when Jesus said he refers to him he calls him Peter. The word he uses is a stone is the word Greek word for a loose stone like a stone you could hold in your hand.

But when he says upon this rock I will build my church he uses a different word a word for a massive outcropping or a boulder. So even the the language of the statement separates the two people. And you can't possibly call him anything other than an apostle for his day.

We do not have a succession of popes in the church. We don't even have any succession of apostles in the church. What we do have is a succession of truth. We pass the truth on from generation to generation not people.

Ok. So this is the foundation of the church of the revelation came from God the Father. And the revelation is the rock Christ the church of the church the foundation Christ the son of the living God. The builder is Jesus Christ.

Not even death can stop his plan to build his church. And then that brings us to the residents very brief 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 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. The ESV which I just read is somewhat of an unfortunate translation. A better one is found in the new american standard because what is what he's saying there is in the grammatical jargon it's perfect passive.

In other words it looks at an event in the past completed holistically with continuing state or result. But it's also passive. So listen to the new american standard. This also emphasizes the fact that he's not giving Peter the keys to the church so that he's going to determine who gets in and out of heaven.

He's simply saying you're going to repeat what God has already said is to be true. And so in new american standard says whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

It's already done. And Peter like the rest of the church is simply to affirm what God has already accomplished. He's not the pope he's not anything other than an apostle. But he also in exercising this is simply doing what every other Christian can do.

We affirm what God has already said to be true or we deny what he says is not true. The authority is with every single believer. And so there we have the builders plan. The master builders plan. And I think I'll just stop here and see if there are any questions.

So far there's this is we're moving very quickly. Ok let's jump right into the master builders people by ending with a reference to the people in the church. It just moves us right into the to the master builders people in Matthew chapter 28.

Let's go there. You're going to recognize this of course the famous Great Commission as it's commonly called. And we're moving to this section because this is where Jesus gives this great charge to the church of what he actually wants us to do.

And so we have the master builders. Yes. Well that certainly happens. And we're going to see that here. And it certainly does happen as we're going to next week on the seat of the book of Acts. But but the specific reference in that context is not to Peter himself.