The proper foundation on which to build a church

Trust & Obey, Week 2: Matthew 16 & 18, Part 1

Guess how many total times the word “church” appears in all four Gospels combined?  Don’t google it.  I’m going to give you the answer in a moment.  Just off the top of your head, how many times do you think the word “church” appears in all four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, combined? 

Two.  That’s it. 

And both times it is Jesus who speaks the word “church.”  Both are in the Gospel of Matthew. 

As we continue this blog series I’m calling Trust and Obey, about the teachings of Jesus we misinterpret or neglect, this week I’m writing about church.  The premise of the sermon series, Trust and Obey, is that the actions of our lives reveal what we believe.  As Jesus himself taught, we show we love and trust him by obeying his teachings.  So what did he teach about church?

Turn to Matthew 16, verse 13.  This story likely occurs during the latter part of Jesus’ three ministry years.  Jesus and his disciples are near Caesarea Philippi, which is 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee.  There, in what seems to be a private conversation with his disciples, Jesus asks them what rumors they have been hearing people say about him. His disciples respond that they have heard people speculate if Jesus is John the Baptist, or one of the prophets of old, like Elijah or Jeremiah. 

Then Jesus asks what his disciples think, and Peter makes a bold declaration, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”  That’s a very good answer.  And yet, while that answer is correct on the surface, I’m doubting Peter fully understood it.

How could Peter say it, if he didn’t understand it?  Here’s how.  We sometimes say truthful things we don’t fully understand.  Let me see if I can illustrate.  What is the equation for Einstein’s theory of relativity?

E=mc²

But what does it means? Can you explain the theory of relativity?

How different it is to know the formula versus knowing what it means!  Same for Peter. He could say the formula correctly: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”  But I think it is entirely possible that Peter and the rest of the disciples had at least some misconceptions about what it meant that Jesus was Messiah, Son of God.  Certainly, a more developed understanding would come in time. 

For now, what Peter said is true, and Jesus is excited.  Jesus is not John the Baptist or Elijah or Jeremiah reincarnated.  Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God.  And Jesus is so excited that Peter has declared this truth that Jesus erupts with joy saying, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven,” and then comes the first of two instances in which Jesus says the word “church.”

“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” 

As I mentioned in the previous post, there has been a lot of debate about what Jesus meant by this statement of building his church on the rock.  While some have taken a literal view, that Jesus was talking about Peter himself being the leader, others, especially Protestants, have a different view on the rock upon which Jesus will build his church.  They say that the rock is the testimony of Peter, the content of what Peter had just said, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.  It is on that truthful, powerful, statement that the church of Jesus will be built.  In other words, Jesus is declaring that the church, whatever it will be, he will be its foundation. 

So the first thing we learn about church from Jesus is that the church has a foundation, and Jesus himself is the foundation. That might sound obvious.  Jesus is the foundation of the church.  But it is of utmost importance. In the next post we learn how churches can be built on other foundations. 

Photo by Scott Blake on Unsplash