The Rock
Part 5
What God will form us into
9th December 2016
For the past four weeks, We've been looking at these words from Matthew's Gospel:
Matthew 16v13-18
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."
After recording this remarkable conversation, in which Peter clearly and calmly stated that Jesus is the Messiah, and the Son of God, which was an acknowledgement that He is divine, and Jesus responded by identifying Peter as the first real believer, the beginning of the church, Matthew tells us:
Matthew 16v20-23
Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at
the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be
raised to life.
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"
Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind
the concerns of God, but the things of men."
Jesus warned his followers what was going to happen but Peter, who'd said, "Tell me to walk on the lake and I'll do it", who was the first to confess Jesus was "the Christ, the Son of the living God", took Jesus aside and argued with the person he'd just acknowledged was God. He said, "Never, Lord. This shall never happen to you". Peter thought he knew better than Jesus.
Can I ask, are there areas of our lives where we think we know better than Jesus? Do we think, "Never mind the Bible, I know better than that", "I'm going to ignore this passage of the Bible because I know better than that".
Jesus told Peter, "Get behind me Satan".
Peter must have been on the top of the world a few minutes earlier. "I'm so close to Jesus. I'm the one the church will be built on. Me. Peter." Now he hears the Lord say "Get behind me Satan".
Can I ask a second question, do you experience this in your walk with God? Some days you feel so close to Jesus, like you really understand Him, like you're Jesus's best friend. Other days you feel like you can't get near him, you feel like he's angry with you, you feel like you've just done stupidest thing in the world.
Peter was a real Christian. He messed up just like we do. He acted and spoke as if he was wiser than Jesus. He told Jesus what to do. And Jesus replied, "You are a stumbling block to me. You don't have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
Can I ask a third question, how infected are we with earthly, human thinking? How affected are we by the BBC and the Sunday Times and the Guardian? How affected are we by what our schools and universities have told us? By what our parents taught us? By what our friends teach us? How affected are we by "common sense"?
Common sense doesn't get out of the boat and walk on the water. Common sense doesn't tell a carpenter from Galilee that He's God. Faith does these things. Faith says these things.
How much do we let Jesus down because we don't have in mind the things of God, but the things of men?
Jesus had said to Peter, "You are Peter [the rock] and on this rock I will build my church". That was a prophetic statement. Peter wasn't very rock-like then, was he? The way he immediately started to argue with Jesus shows he was more like jelly than rock; he had as much faith - if not more - in himself than in Jesus. But Jesus doesn't just see what we are; He sees what we will become by the power of His Holy Spirit. He sees what he will form us into - to be glorious stones in the wall of His temple. He sees what we will be a million years from now. He sees what he is doing in us now, and what he will continue to do in us for all eternity.
He saw Simon Peter - a headstrong, somewhat egocentric, slightly unthinking person - and he saw his passion for Jesus, and he saw what Peter could and would become. He told him, "I call you the rock" not because of what he was but because of what he would become.
And Jesus calls YOU a rock, because of what YOU will become. Whatever kind of Christian you are today, you are becoming a magnificent stone in His temple.
Peter continued to get things wrong. He went on to hide on the night Jesus was arrested, to deny that he'd ever met Jesus, to try to defend Jesus by cutting a man's ear off. So be encouraged if you continue to get things wrong. Jesus has it all in hand. Jesus will sort you out. It might take some time, but He will do it. You are a rock, too.
Peter was so broken hearted by his failures that Jesus had to meet him on the beach after the resurrection (John 21v1-17) and cook him some breakfast and ask him, "Peter, do you love me?" Peter answered "Yes Lord". Jesus asked again, "Peter, do you love me?" Peter answered "Yes Lord". Jesus asked him a third time, "Peter, do you love me?" Peter answered "Yes Lord, you know I love you". Jesus told him to go and build the church, to feed His sheep.
Peter preached the first ever Christian sermon (Acts 2) and 3,000 people were saved. He preached in Solomon's Colonnade (Acts 3) and 2,000 more were saved. He and John were arrested. They stood before the Sanhedrin - the Jewish leaders - and told them they would obey God rather than men (Acts 4). Peter was the leader of the early church. He did great things for God, because God can take a jelly and make it a rock. How about you and me?
Jesus said, "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." He's building it out of living stones like us. No matter how much we doubt, no matter how we fail, whatever sin remains undealt with in our lives, God takes us as we are, and He will make each one of magnificent, for His glory. He is making a glorious temple out of us.
And you're included, if you believe that He is the Christ, the son of the living God.