Jesus' Church versus the powers of hell

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.  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.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ (Matthew 16:13-20).

How old is the Church?  When was it founded?

In one sense, the Church began on the slopes of Mount Sinai.  When God gave Moses the Book of the Covenant, it included more than the Ten Commandments.  God provided the design for a place of worship called the Tent of Meeting.  The Lord gave rules for who could serve as priests and how they should dress while doing their work.  The Book of the Covenant explained how people could be forgiven when they broke God’s laws; the priests would sacrifice an unblemished animal and God would accept the animal’s blood as a substitute for the sinner’s blood.  At Mount Sinai, God formed the first Church—the people of Israel, a single congregation numbering in the millions.

But that first Church failed in its God-given purpose.  God created the congregation of Israel to do two things—love the Lord with all their heart and soul and strength, and love their neighbors as themselves.  But the Israelites turned away from God over and over again; they experimented with other religions, cheating on God like an unfaithful spouse who has a string of affairs. 

They also failed to love their neighbors as themselves.  The Israelites were supposed to teach unbelievers about the one true God who forgives sins and raises the dead.  But the Israelites were not good missionaries.  They were willing to do business with unbelievers, but did not use those opportunities to speak about God.  By Jesus’ time, foreigners were barely tolerated; a good Jew would never speak to an unbeliever unless there was no way to avoid it. 

The first Church, established at Mount Sinai, was a failure.   So Jesus came to start things over.  The Church as we know it began near Caesarea Philippi.  Jesus had spent a great deal of time with His disciples, teaching them about God and man, holiness and sin, Law and Gospel.  Then one day, Jesus asked His followers to tell Him what they’d learned: Who do you say I am? 

Some of the disciples might have been reluctant to speak up.  What if they said the wrong thing?  But Peter did not hesitate—he said You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.  This statement contained three important truths.  First, Jesus is the Christ.  Christ means ‘Anointed One,’ a person marked by God as His chosen servant.  Jesus was the Messiah spoken of in the Old Testament, the man sent by God to rescue people from their sins.  But Jesus was more than just a man; Peter called Him the Son of God.  Abraham, Moses and David were great men, but they were still sinners who needed God’s mercy.  To save mankind from sin, Christ the Messiah had to be better—He had to be pure.  All human beings are sinful from conception—we inherit sin from our fathers.  But Jesus is the Son of God—His Father is perfect, so Jesus was born without sin.  And Jesus’ Father is the living God.  He is not a statue or a carving.  He is not a life giving Mother Earth or a bunch of abstract teachings on how to find personal happiness.  God is a living being who cares about relationships.  He cares so much that He gets personally involved in earthly matters.  He cares so much that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). 

Peter gave the right answer—but don’t be too quick to pat him on the back.  Jesus replied, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.  Faith is God’s work in our hearts, a miracle sparked by His love.  Scripture speaks of this in many places.  Paul wrote, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by human effort, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).  Jesus said, You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last (John 15:16).  The Church of God is built by the Lord Himself, through the faith that He plants within our hearts. 

Peter made a confession of faith—he spoke out loud about his most cherished beliefs.  Peter stated the truth about Christ for everyone to hear, and Jesus was quick to show how important it is to speak this truth out loud. I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.  Peter’s birth name was Simon.  But when Peter spoke with such conviction, Jesus renamed him Peter, which means ‘rock solid.’ When ancient wood becomes rock-like, we call it ‘petrified.’  Petrify and Peter both refer to something that is strong and unchangeable.

Some people believe that Jesus constructed His new Church on Peter.  But Jesus did not say "on you the rock I will build my church"—He said on this rock I will build.  For all his toughness, Peter was still a man with weaknesses.  No lasting Church could be built on such a foundation.  The rock Jesus referred to was the statement that Peter made; our Lord promised to build His Church on the confession of the true faith. 

Sharing the faith with others is essential for every Christian.  Paul writes, if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved (Romans 10:9-10).  Jesus put it bluntly: Whoever confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father in heaven.  But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven (Matthew 10:32-33).  Our Lord was addressing each one of us when He said go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19).  As things stand today, sharing the Good News of Jesus with an unbeliever won’t even require that you leave your keyboard!

The Church established by Jesus has the same two duties as the first Church of Sinai—love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27).  As a member of the Church, God expects you to reject anything that distracts from holy living.  Of course, we all fail miserably at this—the temptations of the world are very hard to ignore.  Thankfully, God has given us a way to be forgiven.  On the cross of Calvary, Jesus was put to death as a sacrifice for our sins—God accepted His lifeblood in place of ours.  Through faith in Jesus, we are washed clean of guilt and are promised everlasting life in paradise.  When Jesus is part of our lives, we get the strength needed to show God’s love to others; our Messiah said, I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5).

Jesus promised that so long as the earth endures, His Church will be part of it: the gates of Hades will not overcome it.  ‘Hades’ is another name for hell.  Hades is the place that Satan and his demons call home.  When our Lord speaks of the gates of Hades, we picture the forces of hell charging out to wage war on God’s people.  But no matter how many demons are involved, no matter how carefully Satan lays his plans, the forces of evil will not destroy the Church—not so long was we stand on our confession of the truth.  Jesus said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:31).  The Church only weakens when we distort the truth or keep our mouths shut.

When face to face with an unbeliever, it’s tempting to curl up into a little ball like an armadillo or retreat into a shell like a turtle.  But we are chosen to be witnesses—we are to do what Israel failed to do.  We are a confessional church; we repeat our creeds every week so you know the important things to say.  Don’t be afraid of saying something wrong; Jesus promises, I will give you words and wisdom (Luke 21:15). Yes, it can be risky to speak out.  Confessing your faith can get you snubbed and ridiculed.  You might get called names or receive nasty emails.  Some Christians become victims of lawsuits or have their churches set on fire.  Followers of Christ can even be kidnapped, beaten, or put to death.

It’s always been dangerous to follow Jesus.  Paul wrote, For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered (Romans 8:36).  In the early days of the Church, spies would ask to be baptized so they could find out where Christians gathered; then they would betray the congregation to those seeking their arrest.  Congregations soon required sponsors for each baptism, so that a member of the church could vouch for the new person’s sincerity.

In spite of persecution, God’s Church has grown steadily.  When Jesus ascended into heaven, less than 100 people openly followed Him; today, one third of the world claims to be Christian.  And yet the Church seems to be in trouble.  Worship attendance is in decline. The Ten Commandments are not welcome in our courthouses. School children aren’t allowed to pray or have Christmas parties.  There are efforts to remove God’s name from our nation’s pledge and currency. 

We shouldn’t be surprised.  When asked about the Last Days, Jesus said Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold…there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equaled again.  If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the people God has chosen, those days will be shortened (Matthew chapter 24).  In Revelation chapter two, Jesus gives us reason to stay hopeful: Do not be afraid…Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. 

We know that whatever happens, God’s Church will endure.  Jesus said that the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Matthew 24).  There will be preachers working for Christ right up to the Day of Judgment.  And when Jesus returns in glory, there will be people of faith waiting on earth to welcome Him.  Paul writes, the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). 

We are the Church—you, me, and every believer who follows Jesus.  We are built on the confession first spoken by Peter—Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  God reached out and gave each of us faith in Jesus as our Messiah.  Because of God’s action, we are blessed—and we have work to do.  Peter says, you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9).  We are to love the Lord our God with complete devotion, and we are to speak of Him to a world that is lost in the darkness of sin.  Some may resist that message of light and try to keep us quiet.  But we know that so long as we speak the truth, Christ will never let us fall.  We are sheltered in God’s Church, and He will never let the gates of Hades overcome it.