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August 16, 2008
A-Pentecost 14
Matthew 16:13-20
Pastor Robert Raasch

What’s Your Confession?

1. Consider its Content
2. Acknowledge its Source
3. Make Use of its Authority

(Mat 16:13-20)  When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" {14} They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." {15} "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" {16} Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." {17} Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. {18} 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. {19} 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." {20} Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

It’s the most important question you’ll ever answer.  The question is not, “Do you think Brett should still be a Packer?”  The question is not, “Will you have enough money to live on when you retire?”  The question is not even, “Will you marry me?”  No, the most important question that you will ever be asked to answer is the one that Jesus asked of Simon Peter here in our text.  The question is, “Who do you say I am?”  On the day that you and I stand before God on his sapphire throne, when God decides who’s going to heaven and who’s going to hell, that will be the question that God asks, “Who is Jesus Christ to you?”  Or, to put it another way, Christian…

What’s Your Confession?

Today God invites you to do three things:
I. Consider the Content of your Confession
II. Acknowledge the Source of your Confession
III. Make Use of the Authority Given through your Confession
           
First, consider the content of your confession.  Here in our text, we get a sample of some of the confessions that people were making about Jesus in his day.  When Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” they respond, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  In other words, the majority of people acknowledged that Jesus was a prophet, some kind of messenger, or spokesman from God—whether that be by physical reincarnation of one of the Old Testament prophets, or simply in the pattern or style of a prophet.

My friends, isn’t the same thing still true today?  There are a lot of people who acknowledge that Jesus was a prophet, someone who taught about the ways of God.  Even the Muslims regard Jesus as a prophet—not as great as Mohammed, but a prophet, nonetheless.

But what about you?  Is that all that you see Jesus to be?  A mouthpiece for God, a purveyor of religious truth?  Or would your confession take it a step further?  What would you say about the confession that Simon Peter made here in our text?  Peter says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Notice two things about the content of that confession.  First, notice that Peter identifies Jesus as the Christ.”  That is a loaded term.  It’s the word that was used for the Messiah, promised throughout the pages of the Old Testament.  In other words, Jesus was not just a prophet.  He was the one all the prophets were pointing to.  He was the Christ, the Anointed One, the one sent by God to rescue mankind from sin and hell forever.

Secondly, notice that Peter refers to Jesus not as the son of Mary or the son of Joseph, or even as the son of man (as Jesus often referred to himself.)  No, Peter says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  With those words, Peter is not merely confessing that Jesus is one of God’s children, like you and I are God’s children, you know, created in the image of God.  No, Peter is confessing that Jesus is, in very nature, divine.  He is equal to God, because he is God.  Or, as St. Paul confessed in Colossians 2:9, “In Christ, all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”

The question is, “Is that also your personal confession?  Or maybe better, “is that your personal conviction?”  In other words, do you believe that confession?  You realize, don’t you, that there are thousands, if not millions of people sitting in Christian churches, churches that recite the Apostles’ or the Nicene Creed each week, and yet, as individuals they don’t really believe that Jesus is God from God, light from light, true God from true God.  They believe that Jesus was a good man, but not the God-Man.  A helper, but not their Savior.  My friends, I pray that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you believe what Scripture says about Christ, what Peter confessed about Christ, namely, that Jesus is true God and true Man, whose perfect life and innocent death on the cross has set you free from sin forever.

But now, maybe you’re thinking to yourself, “Yes, that’s exactly what I believe.  I know who Jesus is.  I believe what the Bible says about him.  I know what the truth is”—and before you know it , you start to take a little credit for what you believe—which is why Jesus’ second statement is so important for us to take to heart.  You see, as important as it is to consider the content of our confession—it’s also important to:  II. Acknowledge the Source of our Confession.

When Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, what was Jesus’ response?  “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”  In other words, “Peter, the confession you just made about me was not something you figured out on your own.  It wasn’t the product of a logical thought process.  It wasn’t something that someone told you.  Rather, this as something that God revealed to you.”  Jesus says, “Peter, God gave you the ability to recognize my true identity.”

My friends, isn’t the same thing true for you and me today?  If you can say and believe that Jesus is God’s Son and your only Savior, that’s not your doing—it’s God’s doing.  Only God can work in our hearts the ability to believe what we cannot fully comprehend.  Only God can lead us to trust that our salvation is based purely on his grace, rather than our goodness.  How does St. Paul put it in 1 Cor. 12:3? “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.”  Or again in 2 Cor. 4:6, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

So, what does all that mean for you and me today?  It means that we can’t take any credit for being a Christian.  We can’t say that we examined the evidence and then made our decision for Christ.  We can’t say that we were smarter, more astute than anyone else.  No, if the content of our confession is Christ, the Son of the Living God, then we must realize that the source of your confession is God.  God is the one who put his truth in your heart and on your lips.  Bottom line:  Give God the credit for your faith.  Acknowledge that he is the source of your confession of Christ.

So, consider the content of your confession.  Acknowledge the source of your confession.  Step Three:  III. Make Use of the Authority Given to you through your Confession.

Here in our text, after Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ, notice the promise that Jesus makes to Peter.  He says, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”  With those words, Jesus is not saying he’s going to build his church on Peter.  He’s not saying that Peter is going to be the first pope of the church.  Rather, he’s promising to build his church on the confession that Peter made, namely, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  But notice that Jesus also makes a second promise to Peter.  He says to Peter and really to all those who make the same confession that Peter made.  “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” (Mat 16:18-19). 

Huh?  What in the world is Jesus talking about there?  What are the keys to the kingdom?  The keys to the kingdom of heaven represent the authority to announce that the door to heaven is either locked or unlocked, depending on a person’s attitude toward the gospel.  For example, if a person refuses to believe in Jesus as Savior, or as is often the case, if he chooses to live in sin, rather than renounce that sin, then Jesus says, “Their sins are bound to them.  They’re stuck with them—and will pay for them in eternity.”

On the other hand, if a person repents of his or her sins, trusts that Jesus has paid for them, and is determined to leave those sins behind, then Jesus says, “Their sins are loosed, that is, untied.  That person is set free from the guilt and punishment of their sins, in this life and the next.”

Well, here in our text, Jesus is giving you, as a Christian, as someone whom God has built on the cornerstone of Christ—God has given you the authority to use both the loosing key and the binding key.  He’s given you the authority to comfort the penitent sinner with the good news that his or her sins are forgiven, while at the same time, warning the impenitent that their sins are not forgiven.  So now, from a practical standpoint, how would you do that? 

Well, you might do it by coming to the side of a fellow believer and saying, “I understand that you and your fiancée have decided to move in together.  Have you thought about how God sees that?  I’m really concerned that your choice to live in sin is ultimately going to separate you from God.”

Or maybe you bring that same message through one of your called pastors.  Each month, your pastors contact people who have made a pattern of allowing something else to become more important to them than being here in God’s House, being fed by his Word and Sacrament.  In love for them, and in concern for their souls, we warn those people of the grave danger of despising God’s Word.

Unfortunately, sometimes those warnings fall on deaf ears. Sometimes it becomes clear than those who have made a pattern of despising God’s Word are not really sorry for their sins, and tragically, would rather cling to sin rather than cling to Christ.  That’s when you as a congregation use the binding key in a third way.  Every month or so, you will see printed in the monthly newsletter the names of those men and women who have been removed from membership.  Sometimes that means that they moved out of town and we’ve lost contact with them.  More often, it means that in spite of repeated contacts by people like their shepherds, elders or pastors, they have shown that they have separated themselves from God and his Word.  They leave us no choice but to acknowledge that they are outside of the kingdom.  As long as they remain in that state of impenitence, the doors of heaven are, in effect, locked.

Now, someone might say, “Why would a church do that?  Why would a church ever tell someone that they’re, in essence, hell-bound?  Won’t that just make them angry?  Or turn them off? 
Maybe it will be exactly what they need to realize, “Wait a minute.  I’m on the wrong path there.  I don’t want to be cut off from God.  I need to go back and make things right with God.  I need to cherish the forgiveness that Jesus has won for me. 

And when that happens, what will be our response?  As individuals and as a congregation, our response will be the same as Jesus’ response:  “Take heart, son.  Take heart, my daughter.  Your sins are forgiven.  Welcome home, child of God.  The door to heaven is once again, wide open.”  That’s the message on which Christ promises to build his church.  The message that will ultimately over come the gates of hell.  So, whether you proclaim that message in your home when you say to your spouse or your child, “I forgive you.  Because God doesn’t hold your sins against you, neither do I.”  Or whether it’s here at church when you welcome back with open arms a sheep who had strayed away from the flock for a time.  Or whether it’s through the voice of the called servant of the Word who in the stead and by the command of the Lord Jesus Christ, announces that your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit—all are examples of you making use of the loosing key.  All are examples of you announcing with the authority of Jesus himself that the door to heaven is open.