August 29, 2004 - Lesson: Matthew 16.18a (13-18a)

SERMON TITLE: Building Blocks and Lincoln Logs

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INTRODUCTION:

A woman was trying hard to get the catsup to come out of the jar. During her struggle the phone rang, so she asked her 4-year-old daughter to answer the phone. "It's the minister, Mommy," the child said to her mother. Then she added, "Mommy can't come to the phone to talk to you right now. She's hitting the bottle."

  1. This humorous story makes a telling point.

    1. It is not the comment of the four-year-old to the pastor.

    2. Its trying to get at what's inside.

  2. In our case it becomes the search for truth and understanding.

    1. It is putting together the building blocks and Lincoln logs.

      1. If you are going to write a news article about a topic it is necessary to employ the 5 W's that help you to get to the heart of a matter.

      2. Who, What, When, Where, Why, and sometimes How

    2. This is important for our spiritual development and ultimate salvation.

Helga and I were staying at a farm in Obsteig, Austria in a room provided by Helga's mom and step-father.

Our sleep was interrupted by strong and strange noises coming from the meadow outside our bedroom window.

We commentated on the noise the next morning at breakfast.

We were told that we had the choicest room in the farmhouse to see and hear the Bucks in action against one another.

It was mating season.

We did not know.

People had come for miles, or kilometers to observe, but we didn't know.

    1. It's a little like hitting the bottle.

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MAIN BODY:

  1. He was a fisherman who one day came to Jesus.

    1. His name was Simon derived from Simeon.

    2. Jesus changed his name to Peter.

    3. It would prove to be prophetic.

  2. Peter has acknowledge Jesus as Messiah, the Son of God, the God-man.

    1. Jesus responds with a phrase that has been a source of a great deal of controversy and contention.

17And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church...

    1. It has created riffs and divisions in Christendom.

    2. There is a question or two that arises from this phrase.

Who or what is the Rock on which Christ says he will build his church?

  1. Depending on who you are that only one answer to this question although there may be three.

    1. That the Rock is Christ himself on which the Church would be built.

      1. Our hymnody is replete with hymns about Jesus and the Rock.

        1. ROCK OF AGES

Words: Augustus M. Toplady, 1776. An unsubstantiated story says the lyrics were inspired when Toplady took shelter from a storm under a rocky overhang near England's Cheddar Gorge; he reportedly wrote the words on a playing card.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save from wrath and make me pure.

        1. A SHELTER IN THE TIME OF STORM

Words: Vernon J. Charlesworth, circa 1880.

The Lord's our Rock, in Him we hide,
A Shelter in the time of storm;
Secure whatever ill betide,
A Shelter in the time of storm.

Refrain

Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,
A weary land, a weary land;
Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,
A Shelter in the time of storm.

        1. MY HOPE IS BUILT (THE SOLID ROCK)

Words: Edward Mote, circa 1834; first appeared in Mote's Hymns of Praise, 1836

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus' Name.

Refrain

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

        1. HIDING IN THEE

Words: William O. Cushing, 1876.

O safe to the Rock that is higher than I,
My soul in its conflicts and sorrows would fly;
So sinful, so weary, Thine, Thine, would I be;
Thou blest ""Rock of Ages,"" I'm hiding in Thee.

Refrain

Hiding in Thee, hiding in Thee,
Thou blest ""Rock of Ages,""
I'm hiding in Thee.

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      1. You can read scripture and find references to Jesus Christ as Rock.

Isaiah 28:16 (NRSVA)

16 therefore thus says the Lord GOD,

See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone,

a tested stone,

a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation:

"One who trusts will not panic."

1 Corinthians 3:11 (NRSVA)

11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.

      1. If this is so than the reference to Peter becomes meaningless.

        1. The word then ought to read, "You are Peter and on myself I will build my Church.

        2. We realize that this is not true, Jesus is foundational, but he is not the rock.

    1. The second choice that you have finds the explanation of Rock in our text in Peter's great confession.

      1. One of the Early Church Fathers wrote:

"Upon this Rock, that is, on the faith of his (Peter's) confession.

      1. The Church is not built on confessions or dogma, but on people.

      2. Confessions are important

      3. Confessions are necessary

      4. Confessions are only confessions.

One of the best known British preachers of the 20th century (with a 30-year tenure as minister of London's Westminster Chapel). (1)

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, speaks of how he feels a greater spirit of unity with those whose identity is shaped by a common love for the Lord than with those whose identity is shaped by a denomination:

Some people come in to me and they say, 'I am glad to meet you, I come from India (Australia, America or some other country), and I am a good Congregationalist'; or others come and say, 'I am a good Methodist', or 'I am a Baptist,' and immediately I feel there is no union.

But others come, and they do not tell me whether they are Baptist or Methodist or Congregationalist, they just come in and say, 'What a wonderful Lord we have! Thank God this is the same gospel here as in my home country and my hometown!' And immediately I am one with them. We are related, we are in the same family, there is a fundamental union of Spirit. I feel that I have known them all my life, and that if I were to meet them again in the future, I would never be more close to them than at that first moment.

That is the unity our Lord talks about; it is not an external matter, nor a matter of denomination or organization.

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    1. The last option is that Peter is the Rock.

      1. Jesus is saying You are Peter the rock-man.

        1. "SIMON" is from "SIMEON": that hears or obeys; that is heard

        2. "PETER": Jesus at once recognized Simon, and declared that hereafter he would be called Cephas, an Aramaic name corresponding to the Greek Petros, which means "a mass of rock detached from the living rock."

      2. You are Peter, a rock-man, and on you as a rock I will build my Church.

        1. Peter's name and works were to be complimentary.

        2. Peter was the first to open the kingdom of heaven to Jews and Gentiles.

          1. Peter admitted the Jews to the , the "called out ones," on the day of Pentecost.

          2. Peter admitted the Gentiles to the , the "called out ones," at the home of Cornelius (Acts 10).

      3. Peter was the first master builder.

        1. Christ builds the Church by employing Peter as the foundation of a spiritual house.

        2. Peter's zeal, activity, and stable faith are indeed the living rock which forms the basic material for the erection of a Church.

      4. Christ is one sense builds on Peter.

      5. Peter builds on Christ.

      6. The Church has Peter for its rocky foundation.

      7. The Church has Christ for its spiritual foundation.

      8. There is no promise of Peter's present supremacy.

        1. There is no promise of the privilege of being handed down to successors.

        2. The rest of the Apostles had no conception of any superiority being conferred on Peter.

        3. As a matter of fact the disciples would have a royal battle over the question of who would be the greatest and sit one on the right hand and the other on the left hand of Jesus.

  1. Just as Peter is the Rock-man, so we are to become a living rock in a living temple.

    1. Paul writes that we are built on a sure foundation.

13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. 15He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, 16and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. 17So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; 18for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, 20built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone, Ephesians 2:13-20 (NRSVA)

    1. Peter writes that we are to be living stones.

4Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and 5like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For it stands in scripture: "See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame," 1 Peter 2:4-6 (NRSVA)

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CONCLUSION

  1. How do we become lively, living stones?

Growing in Christ (2)

A friend was telling me that her folks had just returned from an early summer Alaska cruise. She said they enjoyed the trip a great deal, but she said, her dad came home with one observation in particular that really impressed him.

He said the flowers in Alaska are huge! The pansies, day lilies and impatiens all had flowers that were just immense. Even the dandelions stood two feet above the grass with flowers that were 6" across.

He wondered what kind of fertilizer the Alaskans were using-- but when he inquired they said "none."

Why then, he asked, are the flowers so big? The answer came back: Nearly twenty hours of sunlight!

With that much exposure to sunlight, anything would grow bigger and stronger.

    1. The same principle applies if we want to grow in Christ.

      1. If we want to get bigger in love, stronger in patience;

      2. If we want to stand taller in selflessness;

      3. If we want to shine brighter in godliness;

      4. We need to spend more time in the Son.

    2. Peter's confession and life become foundational and fundamental in demonstrating the way to accomplish this.

      1. With all his faults and failings Peter was a living Rock.

      2. He proved himself in the struggle for the proclamation of Christ.

      3. You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!

    3. We are being proved and approved in the same way.

1. Lloyd-Jones, Growing in the Spirit: The Assurance of Our Salvation (Westchester, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1989), 140.

2. from Mike Froncek, preachingnow@preaching.com

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