Matthew: Christ and Christians (16:13-20)

This sermon was preached to Grace Church Guildford on 8 October 2023. The audio recording of the sermon can be found below along with the transcript.

Sometimes a single question can change the entire course of your life. That’s true in romantic relationships, isn’t it? A couple spend some time getting to know each other, and then one day that life changing question is asked: ‘Will you marry me?’ And their lives change forever. That single question causes great joy and happiness, changes the course of their lives for good. However, it is also possible for a question to change our lives in unwanted ways. You find yourself sitting in the health centre or in a hospital room, and turning to the doctor you ask that question that you almost don’t really want to know the answer to: ‘Is there anything that can be done? How long do I have?’ It is possible for a single question to change the whole course of your life, whether it is for the better or the worse. And this evening we will think about such a question. In fact, tonight I am going to ask you a question that will change your life in even more drastic ways that the two questions we have just thought about. For this question will not only cause you to experience joy for a few years in this life, but for forever in the next. This question not only confronts you will your coming death on earth, but of your certain destruction for all eternity. Friends, tonight we are going to ask the most question you can ever be asked, and we shall see that it is a question that each one of us here this evening must give an answer to. What is this all-important-life-changing question? ‘Who is Jesus?’

That is the question that the whole book of Matthew was written to answer. If you are joining us for the first time in our series through Matthew, or have forgotten what was happening when we were last in the book back in July, then helpfully we pick up tonight at a pivotal point in the book. Indeed, this evening we are restarting our series at the very centre of the story. You see, up to now, Matthew has been preparing his readers, hinting and alluding to us who Jesus is. However, here tonight in this passage, he finally tells us about the moment that Jesus turns to his disciples and actually asks them that question, in 16:15: ‘Who do you say that I am?’ At last, after 16 chapters, the disciples have to make a decision, a declaration, about Jesus’ identity. They have to answer that great question: Who is Jesus? And yet, did you notice that it is not just Jesus’ identity that is discussed in our passage? For after Peter declares who Jesus is in 16:16, Jesus immediately declares who Peter and the rest of his disciples are. Here, at the pivotal point in the plot of Matthew, at the very heart of this wonderful book, we find ourselves having to ask two questions, determine two different identities. Not only who Jesus is, but also who we are. Those are the two questions we will consider together this evening: (1) Who is Jesus? (16:13-16) (2) Who are you? (16:17-20)

1.     WHO IS JESUS? (16:13-16)

I wonder if you are here tonight, and you’ve never really taken time to seriously think about that question. Perhaps you haven’t heard much about Jesus before. You didn’t grow up in church, haven’t read much of the Bible, and so while you know that a man called Jesus is important to Christians, you aren’t really sure why. You are ignorant of what he did and said, and so don’t really have an opinion about who he is. And so, when I ask the question ‘Who is Jesus?’ tonight, you don’t really know what to say. Well, if that is the case, did you notice that certainly isn’t true in our passage? For at the time of Jesus, there seems to have been no shortage of answers about who he is. Everyone had an opinion, the whole population seemed to be talking about this very question: Who is Jesus?

We see this at the very start of our passage, where in 16:13-14 we read: [READ]. These different responses given by the people all ultimately boil down to the same answer. Jesus was identified as a prophet, a messenger sent by God to speak to his people. That is what John the Baptist, Elijah and Jeremiah all have in common, and people seem to have seen Jesus’ ministry as a copy of theirs. Perhaps he was one of the great prophets brought back from the dead. Or another new prophet sent to speak to God’s people. And it is easy to see how the crowd arrived at this conclusion. After all, Jesus had been teaching great with authority and this was accompanied by many signs and wonders, the kind of healings and miracles that had only ever happened with the prophets. Most people living in Jesus’ day thought that he was a messenger from God, a significant teacher sent to speak to God’s people.

And today, many say something very similar. For a long time in our Western world, it has been popular to say that Jesus was clearly a good man, a significant teacher, someone who came with an important message. Whether you admit that he is sent from God or not, whether you liken him to other significant human teachers like Buddha or Muhammad or not, it is hard to deny that he was an important teacher, had something significant to say. After all, there is reason why so many have followed his teachings over the last 2000 years, why his life has made such an impact in our world, his example inspired so much good. And yet, as one writer puts it, ‘It is possible for men to have good thoughts of Christ and yet not right ones, a high opinion of him, and yet not high enough.’ (Henry)

Now of course, there are many who don’t have high opinions of him today. If you asked random passers-by on Guildford High Street what they thought of Jesus, some may say he was an important teacher. And yet, many would express other opinions. Perhaps they might say that he is irrelevant and inappropriate today. That the morals Jesus taught are offensive and outdated in the 21st Century. Perhaps they would say that he was deluded or foolish, They might even try to say that he didn’t exist. Despite all the historical evidence for his life, they may insist that he is just a myth with a moral, a fairy story we tell ourselves to help us cope with the difficulties of life. That is who many say Jsus is today on the High Street, in your workplace, at your school or on your campus at university. And yet, in the end, we see it doesn’t actually matter who they say he is. What really matters is who you say he is. For that’s what Jesus asks. After asking about public opinion in 16:13-14, he turns in 16:15 and asks: [READ].

In the gospels, the disciples sometimes play the part of the loveable yet slightly blundering sidekicks. They always seem to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. And yet, on this occasion they get it absolutely right! For in 16:16, Peter steps forward and declares: ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ Oh yes, the crowds thought Jesus was just another messenger, but Peter realises that he is actually the Messiah! The people said Jesus was simply another prophet, but Peter understands he is more than a prophet. Yes, the crowds had a high opinion of Jesus, but it wasn’t high enough. For Jesus wasn’t just a spokesman sent from God, he was the sovereign Son of God, the king sent to rescue and rule over God’s people.

That is what that word ‘Messiah’ means. It is the ‘Christ’, literally the ‘anointed one’. And this Anointed One, this Christ, was promised throughout the Old Testament. We read one such promise at the beginning of our service from Psalm 2, where we heard the rulers of the earth plot against God’s Anointed One. And yet, despite all their rebellion, this anointed one is sent from heaven and set up as king on earth. And here in 16:16, Peter shows that he understands this is who Jesus is. He realises that Jesus is the Messiah, this king sent from heaven to rule on earth. Jesus is not simply another messenger. Jesus is a monarch.

It is an amazing confession that Peter makes, and yet as we have slowly walked through the book of Matthew, I trust you see how he has come to this conclusion. Over the last 16 chapters, Matthew has told us how Jesus taught with greater authority than anyone ever had before, performed greater signs and wonders than anyone had before. Peter has listened to Jesus’ words and watched his works, and based on that evidence he came to his conclusion, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And you know, Matthew and the other gospel writers, recorded the words and works of Jesus so that we can come to the same conclusion. That is what John says in 20:31, at the end of his gospel, explaining: ‘these [things] are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.’ Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote down what Jesus said and did so that Peter’s confession can become our confession. So no matter who other people say Jesus is, we can know who he really is by reading this book.

If you are here this evening, ignorant about Jesus, then do you see here, that you too can follow in Peter’s footsteps. You too can come to this conclusion, make this confession, by reading about the words and works of Jesus as laid out for you here in Matthew. See the significance of his birth and baptism, consider the wisdom of his teaching in his sermons and the power of his miracles as he heals the sick, stills the storm, walks on water. Listen to what he said, look at what he did, and see that he must be the Messiah, the king sent from heaven to rule on earth. Oh if are here tonight and aren’t sure how you should answer that question: Who is Jesus? Then let Matthew show you. Take this gospel and read the first 16 chapters, look at the evidence that caused Peter to come to this conclusion and see that you must the same!

If you are a Christian here tonight, is there someone who you could maybe do that with? Do you have a colleague at work? A friend at school? A housemate at university? [...] They don’t have the first clue of who Jesus is! Friend, how are you going to introduce them to him? How might you ask them to read through a gospel with you? [...] Peter came to this conclusion about Christ by considering the evidence of what he did and what he said. Why can your friend or housemate not come to know Jesus the same way? Is that not how all our testimonies start? [...]

There may be some here tonight who haven’t answered this question because of ignorance. However, there will be others here tonight who aren’t ignorant of Jesus. Maybe you are a young person who has grown up in church and have heard all about Jesus. You know the Bible stories, been to Tuesday Club, Activate, Bible Class and YPF. You aren’t ignorant of Jesus, and yet you have been ignoring him. You know how you should answer this question, but you haven’t made Peter’s confession yet. Yes, you know who your parents say Jesus is. And you know who your friends or teachers say he is. And yet see here, the question that really matters is who you say that he is. That’s what Jesus asks his disciples in 16:15 [...]. I wonder if you are ready to answer this question for yourself tonight? Confess Jesus as the Messiah, take him as your ruler? For we see here that only those who confess Jesus to be their king will be part of his kingdom. It is only by confessing Jesus as Christ that we can become Christians. 

2.     WHO ARE YOU? (16:17-20)

This is what makes our first question so life-changing. For when we confess Jesus to be king, we come into his kingdom. When we call him Christ, we become a Christian. Saying who Jesus is, shows who we are. That’s true when answering other life-changing questions as well, isn’t it? When your boyfriend gets down on one knee and asks you to marry him, how you answer will have an impact on your identity. If you say yes, then you are instantly turned from a girlfriend into to a fiancée. What you say determines your status. And that is exactly what we see here in our passage. What Peter says to Jesus determines who he is. For in response to Peter, Jesus immediately declares in 16:17-18: [READ]. 16:17 is a reminder to us that though Peter came to his conclusion, was brought to his confession, by considering the evidence of the words and works of Jesus, ultimately and underneath it all, his discovery was the gift of God. Peter only recognised who Jesus was, because the Father opened his eyes, revealed the Son to him. We see here that salvation is a gift, a blessing of God’s grace. And that is true for all us here [...].

Having reminded Peter of that blessing in 16:17, Jesus then does for Peter what Peter has just done for him. Back in 16:16, Peter confessed who Jesus is: ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God...’. And so in 16:18, Jesus declared who Peter is: ‘You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church...’. Did you notice there that in both 16:16 and 16:18, Jesus and Peter give each other titles? Jesus is called ‘the Messiah’ and Peter is called ‘the rock’.

If you know much about the Bible, you will know that trying to work out what or who this rock is has caused all kinds of problems and disagreements over the years. However, I think it is really helpful to take a step back from this passage and realise calling Peter a ‘rock’ is actually something Jesus does throughout the Gospels. In John 1, we read of when Jesus first calls Peter to be a disciple, and yet if you go there and read of that event you will see that Jesus doesn’t come across a man called Peter, but actually meets a man called Simon. That is Peter’s original name. And yet, when Jesus first encountered him in John 1:41 we read that he said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas (which, when translated, is Peter).’ Cephas is a aramaic word, Peter is the greek word, and both mean the exact same thing. Both mean ‘rock’. If you grew up watching WWE wrestling, then you may remember the famous wrestler that was called: ‘The Rock’. And yet we see here that he is not the original rock. For that was the name given to Simon. And it was more a nickname than an actual name. Indeed, at the time, there is little evidence of Peter being used as a first name for anyone. Right from the moment Jesus first met this man, he told him that he would be a rock, for he gave him Peter as a nickname, rock as a title. And here in Matthew 16:18, he explains why, for he tells Simon: ‘You are Peter [that is rock], and on this rock I will build my church.’

Brothers and sisters, if you have been coming along the last few Sunday mornings, is this not what you have seen in the book of Acts? Jamie has reminded us how it was Peter who led the apostles to replace Judas, and how Peter preached that great sermon on the day of Pentecost. Next Sunday morning, we will hear Peter preaching again in the temple. In Acts 8 it is Peter that goes to Samaria to extend the boundaries of God’s kingdom, and in Acts 10 it is Peter who brings the Gentiles into the church for the first time. A quick look through Acts shows exactly what Jesus says here came true, for it was on the rock of Peter that Jesus built his church. Peter was the first person to confess Jesus to be the Christ, make clear that he believed Jesus to be the Messiah, and so it is Peter that Jesus first and foremostly uses to take that message to the rest of the world, to build his church on from the beginning.

We see here that there is something very special about Peter. And yet, we also see that, in many other ways, Peter is no different to us. After all, in 16:17 we are reminded that he only made his confession because it was given to him by God. And if you come back next week you will see that Peter certainly isn’t perfect, for almost immediately after praising Peter for getting it right in this passage, Jesus rebukes him for getting it wrong in the next passage. That is why any Roman Catholic argument for the Papacy from this text is entirely misguided. Peter isn’t perfect! He is just like every other sinful disciple of Jesus, except for the fact that he was the first. The first to confess that Jesus is the Christ. And so, he is the first whom Jesus uses to build his church. And yet, when you and I call Jesus our king, like Peter did, we too become subjects of his heavenly kingdom and are sent to serve him on earth. When we come to Christ, we also come into his church, belong to his people and are used to build them up as Peter did.

Two other parts of our passage have also been the centre of controversy over the centuries. And they are the two other analogies that Jesus uses here: (1) the gates of Hades (16:18); (2) the keys of the kingdom (16:19). Perhaps it is the second one, that idea of the keys of the kingdom, that has caused the most confusion. In 16:19 we read: [READ]. We get the basic idea when we remember that even today to give someone a key is to give them great authority, a position of trust and responsibility, like when someone is given the keys of a city to honour them or the keys of your house to let themselves in and out. And here Jesus gives such great authority, this position of responsibility, to Peter, and with these keys we are told that he can act on earth on behalf of heaven. These are the keys of the kingdom of heaven, the authority and responsibility to represent the realm and rule of heaven on earth.

Here Jesus describes this action as that of binding and loosing, another analogy or figure of speech. I think this is why these verses initially seem so hard to understand, because they involve analogy built upon other analogies! This last one of binding and loosing sounds like a farming image (bind and loosing sheafs of hay for example), but it is actually a judicial image, the language used at the time to refer to a judge handing down a judgment. Even today we talk about a binding judgement, one that is enforceable and impact future courses of action. And so, here Jesus tells Peter that he is giving him the authority of the kingdom of heaven to hand down judgments, to consider cases and render the judgments of heaven here on earth. It maybe doesn’t initially seem this way to you, but this truth has huge implications for us today, particularly for our life as a local church. For as we go through the next few chapters of Matthew, we shall see it becomes clear that this authority given to Peter in Matthew 16 is given to the whole church in Matthew 18. Peter not only has the ability and authority to act on earth on behalf of heaven, but we do as well as a local church. And these two passages, Matthew 16 and Matthew 18, are at the very centre of all that we do together as a church. Why do we have membership here at Grace Church? What is the role of our elders? Why do we not belong to the CoE? All of these questions about the church are answered by what Jesus says here in Matthew 16 and then later in Matthew 18. Which is unsurprising given that these two passages are the only two places Jesus actually explicitly speaks about ‘the church’. Uses that term ‘church’. We will continue to think about what this authority to act for heaven on earth means for us as a church in the weeks and months to come. However, here in Matthew 16, we see the first way we use this authority, these keys, is to declare on earth the verdict of heaven when it comes to who Jesus is. That is exactly what Peter does in our passage, isn’t it?

Previously in Matthew’s Gospel, we have heard a voice from heaven declaring who Jesus in. Back in Matthew 3 at Jesus’ baptism, we read how the clouds split open and a voice cried out, ‘This is my Son...’. A voice from heaven declaring the verdict of heaven on who Jesus is. And here in Matthew 16, we hear the very same, a voice declaring a verdict on who Jesus is, and yet we read not that this voice came from heaven, but was spoken on earth, when in 16:16 Peter declared, ‘You are the Messiah the Son of the Living God.’ And in 16:17, Jesus confirms on behalf of heaven, that this verdict is right and true. He says that though it has been given on earth, it has come down from the Father in heaven. And he gives Peter the keys of the kingdom, and in Matthew 18 gives his church this same authority of heaven, to keep doing just that, to keep declaring on earth the verdict of heaven about who Jesus is.

And you know brothers and sisters, when we do that, when we declare on earth this verdict of heaven about who Jesus is. When we say he is the Son of God. When we proclaim the Gospel, preaching it in our sermons, singing it in our songs, exalting it in our prayers, protecting it in our churches, sharing it with our neighbours, displaying it with our lives, that is the means through which Jesus will keep that promise in 16:18. That is how Jesus will build his church. When we use these keys of heaven, we overcome the gates of Hell.

That is a wonderful promise in 16:18: isn’t it? [READ]. And Jesus explains how it is that he is going to accomplish this in 16:19. The keys are the means by which Jesus build his church, the keys are the thing that will prevent us being overcome by the gates of Hades.

That phrase the gates of Hades is used throughout the Bible, in places like Job 38:17, Is 38:10, to describe the doors of deaths, the prison in which we will all be put in. That’s what the Bible tells us is the fundamental problem we all face, we are all imprisoned by death. We have all sinned against God, and as a result, deserve his eternal destruction, will be punished by being placed in his eternal prison. And once we go into death, we never come back. Once pass through those gates, we will be trapped there forever.

That’s how the ancients spoke of death, a door from which you cannot exit, a gateway through which you could only go once, a prison which will keep you forever. Death is a one way trip, it’s gates could not be overcome, it is a prison from which no one can ever escape.

And yet the good news of Jesus Christ, the gospel of Christianity, is that this messiah, this son of the Living God, went into that prison for us. Died on the cross taking all of the punishment for the sin of his people. Jesus pass through the gates of Hades on Good Friday, and on Easter Sunday he rose from the dead, passed back out through those gates again, for even death could not imprison the Son of the living God. Even Hell could not hold Jesus back. For as he declares in Revelation 1:17: ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.’

The good news of Jesus Christ, is that he is the Messiah, the Living One, and he holds the keys of death and Hades in his hand. And that if you believe in that, part of the people who proclaim that, you too can be sure that the gates of Hades will never prevail against you. For you are part of Christ’s church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. As we have sung this evening, we have a king whose throne forever stands. And as Hebrews 12 declares, we belong to a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Oh yes, the gates of hell are great, and yet all who confess Jesus as the Christ, are given the keys of heaven, the authority to act on earth on behalf of heaven, the job of building the church on earth as the kingdom of heaven. And because our king is the living one, the Son of the living God, we can be sure that we will never be overcome. That he will build his church through us, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.