Matthew 16:18: I Will Build My Church

Matthew 16:18: I Will Build My Church

In light of the fact that this is our Recovenanting Sunday, we’ll be temporarily pausing our journey through Genesis and looking instead at Matthew 16:18. For context, I’ll read Matthew 16:13-20. 

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. 

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Let’s pray: Father, we know that in order to rightly understand both what this passage is teaching and how it connects to our lives, we need the Holy Spirit. So please, send your Spirit to minister to us through this passage today in a most powerful way. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen. 

In 1889, a pastor named A. B. Simpson started a church in Manhattan, just a block away from Times Square, called The Gospel Tabernacle. And, under Simpson’s leadership, this church would eventually become the thriving epicenter of an entire denomination that we now know as the Christian and Missionary Alliance. At one time, this denomination held the status of giving the most money per capita to support missionaries of any denomination in America. And A. B. Simpson’s church was at the heart of it. It had thousands of members and made an impact for the gospel literally across the globe. And, about a month ago, I actually paid a visit to The Gospel Tabernacle while I was at a pastor’s conference in New York City. However, today, it actually goes by a different name—John’s Pizzeria. That’s right. This church that was once a thriving center of missionary outreach has now been turned into a pizzeria. And I actually did have some of their pizza—and it’s good pizza—but what a tragedy that, at some point in this church’s history, it lost its way and began to decline and eventually ceased to exist. And if that can happen to The Gospel Tabernacle, it can happen to any church. 

And not only is it possible for any church to gradually drift away from its mission and values, I’d say it’s inevitable—unless we’re deliberate about going back to the Bible again and again and reminding ourselves why we exist and how we’re supposed to operate. Our impact for the gospel tomorrow depends on our diligence in doing that today. Because drifting away from biblical fidelity isn’t something that happens all at once. It happens incrementally. That’s why we have to be ever so diligent about correcting our course whenever we get off track by even the slightest degree. And that’s what I’d like to do today on this Recovenanting Sunday. I’d like to remind us of what Jesus wants our church to be like—the mindset we should have, the goals we should focus on, and the way in general that we should function. 

And the passage that I believe the Lord has laid on my heart is Matthew 16:18—because it’s one that, unfortunately, many churches today seem to have forgotten. Of course, please understand that my intention throughout this message isn’t to be critical of other churches but simply to prevent our church for making some significant errors that we also are prone to make if we’re not careful. 

Right before Jesus utters the words we find in this verse, he commends Peter for Peter’s wonderfully accurate insight that Jesus is indeed “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus then says a number of things to Peter that are very important and also very easy to misunderstand and are therefore very controversial. However, out of all of the things Jesus says, I’d simply like to focus on five words that we find in verse 18: “I will build my church.” And so our main idea this morning is that Jesus will build his church. I had to study those five words from Jesus really hard to come up with that main idea, so I hope you appreciate my effort. But the main idea of these words is indeed that Jesus will build his church. 

Now, notice that Jesus didn’t say, “You will build my church,” as if we could accomplish such a feat by our own talent or abilities or cleverness. Nor did Jesus say, “I will build your church, as if everything revolved around our desires and preferences.  No, Jesus said, “I will build my church.” It’s very important that we get that right—because a lot of churches haven’t. Yet, this statement might very well be the most important statement in the entire Bible about how we should think about church and, we might say, “do” church.

And as we consider these five words that come from the mouth of Jesus, we understand that the church was purchased with Christ’s blood, operates under his authority, is advanced by his power, and exists ultimately for his glory. All of that’s wrapped up in the five words, “I will build my church.” So let’s take a look at each one of those truths. 

The Church Was Purchased with Christ’s Blood

First, the church was purchased with Christ’s blood. That’s why Jesus calls it “my church.” When you and I were condemned in our sins and headed for eternal judgment, with no means by which to save ourselves, Jesus suffered the penalty for our sins on the cross. That’s what his “blood” refers to. It’s a reference to his death on the cross. It’s on the cross that Jesus endured the judgment we deserved, satisfying the justice of God the Father, so that we who put our trust in him wouldn’t ever have to face that judgment. 

A term that the Bible often uses to refer to this is “redemption,” which is actually a term from the ancient slave market. Back in ancient times, if one of your relatives, let’s say, was captured in war and being sold at the slave market, you could redeem that person by paying the required sum of money. Essentially, you were buying them out of slavery. And that’s what Jesus has done for us. Through his death on the cross, Jesus paid to set us free from our slavery to sin and from the judgement our sins deserved. And because Jesus purchased us, we now belong to him. That’s why Paul refers to the church in Acts 20:28 as the people whom Jesus “obtained with his own blood.” And that’s also why, in our main passage, Jesus calls the church “my church.” The church isn’t a building or an institution or an event but is rather a group of people—people who have been purchased with the blood of Christ. 

By the way, that means that the church is unspeakably precious to Jesus. In fact, the church is even repeatedly referred to in the New Testament as the bride of Christ. So, I know it’s popular even for many people who call themselves Christians nowadays to speak in a derogatory way about the church, but that’s actually a grave error. You can’t love Jesus or be close to Jesus while at the same time despising his bride. It doesn’t work like that. Just like, if you had a problem with my wife Becky and insisted on talking in a derogatory way about her, you and I can’t be friends. If you have a problem with Becky, then you have a problem with me. Likewise, if you reject the church, you’re also rejecting Christ. He purchased the church with his own blood, so that, even with all her flaws, she’s still unspeakably precious in his sight. 

The Church Operates under Christ’s Authority

Second, not only was the church purchased with Christ’s blood, it also operates under Christ’s authority. The church operates under Christ’s authority. That’s another reason why Jesus refers to the church as “my church.” Jesus also says in Matthew 28:18, that we recite each week here at Redeeming Grace, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” And, as Paul says of Jesus in Colossians 1:18, “And he is the head of the body, the church.” So, since the church is indeed “my church,” as Jesus says back in our main passage, that means it’s bound to operate according to his desires and his instructions. 

Yet, this seems to be something that many churches have forgotten. Many churches seem to have developed something of a consumer-driven approach rather than a Jesus-driven or Bible-driven approach. And the reason I say that is because it’s basically the same approach that businesses take toward consumers. Like Burger King and their slogan, “Have it your way.” That’s a good description of what Burger King seeks to do. They design everything around the desires and preferences of the consumer—from what menu items they offer to how they cook their burgers to what they put on their burgers to the layout and aesthetic design of their building. Everything’s oriented around the consumer. And that’s what just about all other businesses do as well. 

Yet, it seems as though this consumer-oriented mentality that’s so appropriate for the business world has found its way into the church—and with tragic results. So, instead of seeking to discern what Jesus wants and what will please Jesus and glorify Jesus, many churches ask, “What do people desire—specifically people who aren’t Christians? What do people who aren’t Christians want us to talk about? What’s going to draw the largest crowd? What kinds of beliefs and ideas are popular in the culture right now that we can jump on board with? What kind of church do people want to belong to? What amenities will they enjoy the most?” These are the kinds of questions that determine what Sunday morning looks like at many churches—questions that are oriented around the preferences of “the consumer.” 

As a result, many churches downplay core gospel truths such as human sinfulness and God’s judgment and the need for repentance because these truths aren’t in line with consumer preferences. Even though many of these churches don’t come right out and deny these offensive teachings—although some of them do—they still very conspicuously omit public mention of them most of the time. So, there are a lot of churches where you go in and hear teaching that doesn’t necessarily say anything clearly unbiblical, but if you listen to enough of that teaching, you’ll notice that certain key truths and themes of Scripture somehow never seem to come up. So the problem ends up being not so much what’s said but rather what isn’t said that should be said—again, core gospel truths like human sinfulness, God’s judgment, and the need for repentance.

In addition, they’ll also show their consumer-oriented mentality by employing various methods that are driven more by a spirit of pragmatism than they are by biblical convictions. This often manifests itself in church services that are focused on entertaining people or offering people what basically amounts to a group therapy session rather than nourishing people with substantive biblical truths. I’ve also seen a wide variety of gimmicks employed from time to time—efforts to attract people that rely on famous personalities or novelties or shock value instead of on the glories of Christ and the wonders of the gospel.

Yet, all of this ignores a key truth we find in Matthew 16:18—that the church belongs to Jesus. Jesus is Lord of the church and is therefore the one we should seek to please and the one whose preferences should drive our worship. So, all of that effort that’s so often put into “consumer research” should instead be spent researching the Bible to determine what Jesus wants, what he values, what his will is for the church. The church belongs to him and therefore should operate under his authority. You see, according to the Bible, Christians aren’t citizens of a democracy; we’re citizens of a Kingdom. And in this Kingdom, Jesus is King. As he states so clearly here in this passage, it’s his church. 

The Church Is Advanced by Christ’s Power

Then, third, we also see in Matthew 16:18 that the church is advanced by Christ’s power. The church is advanced by Christ’s power. He declares, “I will build my church.” He’s the one who will do it. Although we certainly have a role to play, that role is simply instrumental in nature. We’re not the ones who build the church but simply the instruments through which Jesus builds the church. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3:6-7: 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. So we can’t grow this church any more than we can grow a plant. We can scatter seed and we can add water, but only God can give the growth. He’s the only one who can change people’s hearts. 

I once heard it said that we can control two things: the number of seeds we plant and the quality of the seeds we plant. And that’s what we seek to do through our outreach efforts—both as a church and hopefully also as individuals. We want to plant as many gospel seeds as possible, and we want to ensure that the seeds we plant are of the highest quality possible. The rest is up to God. He’s the one who gives the growth.  

And, when you think about it, this is actually an incredibly liberating thing. I don’t know about you, but I personally find it so comforting to remember that people’s eternal destinies don’t depend on me saying the perfect things or phrasing things in the exact right way when I’m talking with people about the gospel. That would be a terrible burden to carry. So, praise God that it’s not all riding on our shoulders. Instead, Jesus is one who gives the growth and builds his church.  

You know, if we learned anything from our church’s study through the book of Acts this past year, it’s that the church advances by the power of the Holy Spirit. Hopefully you picked up on that no-so-subtle theme. Because the Holy Spirit is all the early church really had. They didn’t have buildings, they didn’t have money, they didn’t have cultural respectability. And yet, the gospel spread by the power of Jesus through the Spirit. So, back in Matthew 16:18, when Jesus says, “I will build my church,” that’s a truth that should echo through our minds. The church is something Jesus builds through his power, not something we build by our cleverness. 

And so…—here’s where all of this gets super-practical—prayer could not be more central to the life of a healthy church. A couple of weeks ago, God impressed a thought on my heart very distinctly. And that thought is that, if you merely engage in human effort in an attempt to advance the gospel, then you’ll only see what human effort can accomplish. If you want to see what God can accomplish, that begins on your knees in prayer. And, brothers and sisters, I’ll just say that God can accomplish more in a single moment than we can accomplish in an entire lifetime of self-sufficient striving. That means, if we want to see real gospel advance, prayer can’t be an afterthought. And, by the way, that’s why we have a Prayer Gathering here at our church building each Wednesday evening. How I pray that God would stir people’s hearts to be a part of that! That’s where the victory’s won—it’s won on our knees in prayer. 

The Church Exists for Christ’s Glory

Then, finally, as we consider these words of Jesus in Matthew 16:18, we’re reminded that the church exists for Christ’s glory. The church exists for Christ’s glory—that is, it exists to make much of him. That’s the reason why, as Jesus says here, he will build his church. He’s not building it so that everyone can see how wonderful we are but rather so everyone can see how wonderful he is—in union, of course, with the Father and the Spirit. 

As Paul writes in Ephesians 3:21, “[T]o him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.” Also, a couple chapters before that, we read in Ephesians 1:11-12: 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In fact, that phrase “to the praise of his glory” occurs not once but three times in Ephesians 1. Three times, Paul emphasizes that as the ultimate goal of our salvation. We were saved to be trophies of God’s grace—so that people could look at us and see how glorious he is. So that should be the grand ambition of our lives personally and also our central ambition for this church. 

To put it in more common terminology, that’s what it looks like for a church to be “successful.” Contrary to what many might assume, the success of a church isn’t defined by the number of people attending, the amount of money contributed, how nice the facilities are, or any other measurement of that nature. Instead, biblically speaking, I’d say the main measurement of a church’s success is the degree to which that church is showing forth the glory of Christ. That’s the main question we should be asking: “Is our church showing forth Christ’s glory?” That’s what success looks like. And that’s what I believe God’s laid on my heart for our church for this upcoming year especially: Striving, by the grace of God and the power of the Spirit, to show forth the glory of Christ more than ever before. Do I want the church to grow numerically? Sure I do. But the goal we’re focusing on here at Redeeming Grace isn’t to be a big church but rather to be a healthy church and a faithful church and a church that shows forth Christ’s glory. 

Conclusion

And here’s what that looks like, practically speaking. Taking that abstract statement and putting it in practical terms, here’s what it would look like for our church to show forth the glory of Christ. Three things—very briefly. First, that we’d become known for our love more than anything else. As Paul writes to the church of Philippi in Philippians 1:9: “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more….” So, apparently, he already considered them to be a loving church, but his prayer is that their love would abound more and more. And that’s my prayer for our church as well. My consistent prayer is that, from the moment people step foot on this property, they’d sense the love of Christ in our midst.

A few years ago, two ladies started attending our church. And at first, I thought they might be sisters or just very good friends. But as it turned out, they were romantically involved with each other and had been together for close to a decade. Now, our church doesn’t believe that’s God’s plan for the way human relationships should work, but it was such a blessing for me to see the people of our church loving on those two ladies. I mean, people were so deliberate about showing those ladies the love of Christ. Not only did people from our church warmly engage them in conversation while they were here, but they invited these ladies to their homes. And as it turned out, these ladies had some financial needs, and I happened to see people from our church giving them generous amounts of money from their own pockets. We were also able to get them plugged into one of our Community Groups. 

In fact, the people of our church were so loving to these two ladies that even after 3-4 months of involvement in our church, these ladies still had no idea that we didn’t believe the relationship they had was a God-honoring relationship. Now, I eventually had to break the news to them, since they applied for church membership and I couldn’t let them be church members while they were in that situation. But get this: even when I told them about our church’s position on that issue, they were surprised, but at least one of them wanted to continue being involved in our church anyway because she felt so loved. That’s what she told me. Even though she was now aware that we disagreed with her lifestyle, she felt so loved by our people and wanted to keep coming—and actually did keep coming for a season. Praise God for that. And I pray that our church would exhibit that kind of love more and more as we move forward throughout this next year. So, if you see someone on Sunday morning you don’t recognize and who you think is probably a guest, take the initiative to step out of your comfort zone, engage them in conversation, and show them the love of Christ in any way you can, as the Spirit leads you. 

Then a second way I’m praying we’ll show forth the glory of Christ more than ever before this upcoming year is by deliberately reaching out to people in our lives who aren’t yet Christians and pointing them to Jesus. That’s the greatest way in which we can show love to them. That involves praying for them on a regular basis, building genuine friendships with them, often through hospitality, and eventually sharing the gospel with them. Because the glory of Christ is seen in an unparalleled way in the gospel. So, if we’re going to show forth the glory of Christ, that involves opening our mouths and telling people about what he’s done in the gospel to put his glory on display. 

And I pray that this upcoming year, we’d feel a greater sense of urgency to do that than we’ve ever felt before. The situation really is every bit as urgent as rescuing someone from burning building. People all around us are dying every day and going somewhere for eternity. I just did a funeral last week for someone who was only 37 years old. People are dying, and they’re going somewhere. And we have an opportunity to make sure they know how they can go to heaven. As I’ve said, we can’t change their hearts, but we can be deliberate about praying for them every day, building relationships with them, and engaging them with the gospel. Jesus will build his church, but he’s determined to do so through our faithful obedience. 

And, finally, a third way for us to show forth the glory of Christ is to devote ourselves to prayer like never before. If our efforts at reaching out are going to result in a steady stream of new Christians, we’re going to have to be a praying church. Again, as I mentioned, the Lord reminded quite plainly that if we merely engage in human effort in an attempt to advance the gospel, then we’ll only see what human effort can accomplish—and if we want to see what God can accomplish, that begins on our knees in prayer. That includes praying together, like on Wednesday evenings, praying in Community Groups, praying as families, and praying in our own personal times with God. Only then can we expect God’s blessing and for fire from heaven to come down to the altar, just as it did with Elijah, and consume our sacrifice.