Matthew 16:13-19 WHY BUILD A NEW CHURCH?
Last Sunday after church we did some talking and some planning in connection with our future church building. The man that is planning to help us design it was here, and he had some conversation with us. With God’s blessing, we hope to do some initial work next summer and then put up the structure in the summer of 2006. That’s, of course, is with God’s blessing.
If someone were to say to you, “Why?” – what would your answer be? “Why do you want to build a new church? In LaPorte, there are already plenty of churches. Why build another one? Why don’t you just go to one that is already here? Building a church can be a very stressful thing – why would you want to go through all that? It seems like a lot of trouble.”
What would your answer be? Do you have an answer ready? Here are some answers I hope you don’t use. “Well, I like the pastor.” If that’s your answer, then thank you. But is that really a good enough reason to buy property and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars building a brand new church – because you like the pastor? You know, if you look hard enough, you’re bound to find another church with a pastor that you like too. There are lots of likeable pastors out there. Do you like me so much that you want to build a monument in my honor, out on Johnson Road to honor me? I hope not! So that’s not a good answer.
So why build a new church? Some might say, “Well, our church is friendly.” And I think you might be right – our church is pretty friendly most of the time. But you know, there are a lot of friendly churches out there. And some of them are probably better at being friendly than we are. I don’t know if our church would take first place in a “friendly contest.” Do you really think our church is so uniquely friendly that we actually need to build a special building to show off our friendliness? So that’s not the right answer either.
So why build a new church? Some might say, “Well, our church teaches from the Bible.” You know, you’re getting warmer if you say that one. You’re definitely getting warmer, but let me ask you this – aren’t there a lot of churches where the members say, “Our church teaches from the Bible”? Just about every church in LaPorte would tell you that they “teach from the Bible.” So if you tell someone that’s why we want to build a new church, they wouldn’t be impressed by your answer.
So have I taken away all your answers yet? What is a good answer to the question, “Why do you want to build a new church in LaPorte? Why?” My goal for today’s sermon is that by the time we are done studying God’s Word together, you’ll have something better to say. It’s time to start speaking more clearly, because people want to know why we are here. What is it, that makes us so unique, so different, that we actually want to build a special building, to glorify Christ? Let’s look at a moment in the life of the Apostle Peter, and we’ll find our answer there.
Jesus and his disciples were taking a break from all the crowds. And while they were off by themselves, Jesus asked Peter, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” There were lots of opinions out there, on who Jesus was. The disciples told him, “Some say John the Baptist. Others say Elijah. And still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” The world at that time was very confused about who Jesus was. People were all over the place in their beliefs. Everyone had a very cloudy, very murky, unclear view of Jesus – “I don’t know – maybe one of the prophets.”
But then Jesus asked his disciples, “But what about you?” Are you as cloudy and murky and confused as the rest of the world? “Who do you say that I am?” Then the Apostle Peter said. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter was not cloudy or murky about his beliefs. He was crystal clear. Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. We call his clear, statement of belief a “confession.”
Whenever you hear the word “confession” you might think of someone who is being interrogated by the police, and after awhile they give a “confession” of their crimes. That’s not what we’re talking about here. When we say “confession,” we are talking about a crystal clear statement of beliefs. Peter here, clearly confessed Christ – there was no doubt about what he believed.
Today, are people crystal clear about what they believe about God? Last Saturday, for example, in the paper, different churches had articles in the paper – they had a chance to say what they believed, and we will talk about some of those thing in our Bible class today. But if you read those articles, you probably found yourself saying, “These people aren’t being crystal clear about what they believe. They’re being foggy. They’re dancing around the issues.” And that really is the state of religion in America today. It’s very cloudy out there, very murky. No one takes a stand on anything anymore. Is homosexuality a sin or not? Yes or no? Do you believe in evolution or not? Are you for abortion or against it? And then there are the really important questions: Do you believe that Christ is the only way to heaven, or not? Is everything in the Bible God’s Word or not? Where do you stand? Many Christians, and many churches, are very foggy, very cloudy in their beliefs. “We don’t want to say yes or not to those questions.”
Has that affected you? What kind of Christian are you? Do you actually know where you stand, or are you foggy on what you really believe? If you do believe in something, do you believe it enough that you are willing to stand up for it, even if the rest of the world says that you’re wrong? Or are you wishy washy, like everyone else? You don’t want to “ruffle any feathers”? You prefer to blend into the woodwork. Is that you? Is that the kind of church Beautiful Savior is? We’re friendly, we like our pastor, and we teach from the Bible, but we really don’t take a stand on anything.
Do you remember when Peter “buckled”? He had a chance to clearly tell people what he believed, and he buckled. He denied Christ three times because of fear! And if you’ve ever buckled, watered down your beliefs, apologized for believing the truths of Scripture, then you’ve probably felt that fear too. But Christ forgave the Apostle Peter for giving in to that fear. And Christ forgives us too. The blood of Jesus Christ covers all those times we have watered down what we believe. If you’ve ever been cloudy, or murky, when expressing your beliefs, then today, be comforted in knowing that you are indeed forgiven of that sin – Christ has taken that sin away.
You see, this is why Beautiful Savior is here. This is why we would like to build a church in our community. You can go anywhere and find friendliness, or a pastor that you like. And there are a ton of churches that are thumping their Bibles in LaPorte. But if you are looking for a church that teaches the truths of God’s Word in a crystal clear way, then this is the place for you. If you are looking for a church that is willing to take a crystal clear stand on the various issues in our society – to take a stand based on Scripture – then this is the church for you.
You see, here we are crystal clear about sin. We’re not going to pull any punches. If God calls something a sin, it’s a sin, and we’re not going to dance around the issue. And here, we are very crystal clear about the Gospel, that Christ the Son of God, who was crucified and raised to life – he has taken away all the sins of the world. You are forgiven because of Jesus Christ, and we want to be crystal clear about that too. You can jump around from church to church if you want to, but I don’t know how crystal clear that message of sin, and of God’s grace given to you in Christ – I don’t know how clear that would be. You might find yourself trying to find those truths in the cloudy way that churches talk.
We don’t think we’re better than other churches. We realize that the truth we have here is a gift from God, as Jesus reminded Peter in verse 17: “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.” We don’t think we’re better – we’re very thankful, that God has blessed our little church with the crystal clear truths of His Word – these things have been revealed to us by our Father in heaven.
Look at the promises that God gives to people who clearly confess Christ in their lives. Verse 18: “I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” Stop there. Sadly, a lot of churches misinterpret that passage to mean that Jesus is planning to build his church on Peter. Can you imagine what a disaster that would have been, for Jesus to build his church on a human being? Just five verses later Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind me Satan!” That’s the foundation of the church? Later Peter denied Jesus. In the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul had to correct Peter, because he had fallen into a sin. Jesus didn’t build his church on a human being like Peter, that’s crystal clear. If you study the original languages, it becomes even clearer.
What is the rock, upon which Jesus is building his church? It’s Peter’s confession: “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Upon that rock, that clear confession of faith, I will build my church, Jesus says. What a great promise! As you clearly confess Christ to others, Jesus promises you that he will build his church. And so I want to encourage all of you this morning to look for ways to do that in your lives – to clearly confess what you believe to others. That’s how the church is built, and that’s Jesus’ promise to you.
And look at that other promise: “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” As you clearly confess Christ, Satan can’t overcome it. The church will survive! It’s true that the Devil gives Christian churches a hard time. He loves the wishy-washy churches. But the churches that are clear on what they believe – Satan will do what he can to give them trouble. He’ll attack them in the media, he’ll confuse its members with all the things they hear that other churches are believing and doing. But Jesus promises here, that as you clearly confess your faith in front of others, the gates of hell will not overcome it. The church will be built, and it will not fall. What a great promise!
Peter clung to these promises, as we see in that second reading today, when he says that God has “given us his precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature.” People who are clearly confessing Christ to others, trusting in God’s promises – if that’s you, then you are participating in something bigger than yourself – you’re doing God’s work in this world. That’s what made Peter so bold and so confident in the face of pressure to be a wishy washy milktoast. In our first reading for today, we see him boldly and clearly confessing what he believed – he was not afraid, because he was trusting in God’s promises. That’s the kind of church we want to be.
So what would your answer be, if someone were to ask you, “Why build a church? What’s so unique about yours?” Maybe you’ve come up with a better answer after pondering God’s Word this morning. I know that for me, after reading the paper last week, and after reading the Scriptures and studying God’s Word in connection with this sermon, I think I’ve changed my answer to that question. I would say that we’re building a church not because we think we’re so friendly. Churches like that are a dime a dozen. LaPorte doesn’t need another friendly church. And we’re building a church not because we like the pastor so much. That’s really a bad reason to be building a church. And yes, it’s true, we’re one of those churches that say that they teach from the Bible. But that’s not what makes us unique.
What makes us unique is that it’s very very hard to find a church that is clear, crystal clear, like the Apostle Peter here, crystal clear on what it believes. But Beautiful Savior is one of those churches. We are crystal clear about sin. And we are also crystal clear about Christ’s forgiveness. Those sorts of churches are not a dime a dozen – they are few and far between. But, by the grace of God, that’s who we are. Our big thing here, is that we clearly confess the Scriptures, and we clearly confess Christ. There are no clouds here, no confusion or murkiness. We make our stand based on the Bible, and trust in Christ’s promise that he will bless us and protect us from the gates of hell.
Don’t you think that’s worth going through the trouble of putting up a building? I think so. Amen.
