Date: August 27, 2023
Festival: 13th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 16), Welcome Back Sunday
Text: Matthew 16:13-20
Preaching Occasion: Zion Lutheran Church, Mt. Pleasant, MI, and CTKLC
Appointed Scriptures: Isaiah 51:1-6; Romans 11:33-12:8; Matthew 16:13-20
Sermon Hymn: LSB #645 Built on the Rock
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dearly beloved, who do you say Jesus is? The world has its own absurd ideas. You’ve probably heard some of them before. Some say He was simply a great teacher, nothing more. He had a lot of good things to teach us about loving our neighbour and how to live a good life. Others, like Muslims, say He was only a prophet and not the Son of God, and that He only appeared to be crucified. He was only a messenger from God, and the New Testament authors corrupted His teachings. Some say Jesus was a socialist because He supposedly encouraged everyone to distribute everything equally, even though He took no interest in politics by saying His kingdom is not of this world, and He wanted nothing to do with Caesar. Others say Jesus was a capitalist, even though He flipped the money-changers’ tables over for turning the house of God into a marketplace.
Still, some Christians see Jesus as their therapist—that they only need Him when they’re feeling bad about themselves. Then, once they get their filling, they toss Him to the side until they need another ego boost. Others will treat Him like an ATM, believing the false promise that if you just give more money to the Church, or if you just think more positive thoughts, Jesus will bless you with a prosperous life.
So, I ask you again, who do you say Jesus is? Do you only see Him as a great teacher—that He has some good advice here and there? And the things you don’t like so much, you can reject? Is He only one of many great teachers you admire alongside Gandhi, Buddha, the Dalai Lama, and others? If so, He’s really not that great if there are others just like Him. Or is He only a prophet to you? If so, then Christianity is a sham and your faith is in vain, for that would mean He didn’t rise from the dead, which means you won’t rise from the dead either. Do you see Jesus as your political saviour—as your salvation from capitalism, or from those crazy liberals, or those narrowminded conservatives? If so, you will be gravely disappointed just like the Jews of Jesus’ day who were expecting a political messiah.
Or do you see Jesus as a sycophant—one who will boost your self-esteem and always tell you what a good job you’re doing—to help you think of yourself more highly than you ought to think [Rom. 12:3]? If so, you will be sorely disappointed when Jesus tells you to pick up your cross and follow Him, for that means you must die to all your selfish desires, even to die for Him. Or do you see Jesus as your ticket to wealth and prosperity? Again, you will be sorely disappointed because you cannot serve both God and money, Jesus says, for you will love one and hate the other [Matt. 6:24].
As you might’ve guessed by now, Jesus is none of these things. Yes, Jesus is a great teacher and prophet, but He is not only those things. Jesus is not a Democrat or Republican, or liberal or conservative, for as He said, His kingdom is not of this world [John 18:36]; so, He is not your political saviour. Neither is He your therapist; He’s not your “buddy.” He is not your bottomless ATM either; He is not “good vibes.” All these are confessions made with the flesh—that we would see Jesus as these vain things that soothe our own ideas rather than who Jesus says He is.
If you don’t see Jesus as any of these things, you will hear of it, if you haven’t already. You will hear of it from your co-workers, a televangelist, a friend, a content creator on TikTok, or a professor. If you’re a college student, you will hear many lies about Jesus at this university from your friends, classmates, and professors. As you hear these things, remember these are only variations on the lie from the devil in the Garden of Eden, “Did Jesus actually say…?” They want you to conform to the world rather than being transformed by the renewal of your mind in Jesus Christ [Rom. 12:2]. That is why we have our campus ministry here, that when you hear these lies, you have a refuge where you can hear Christ crucified for you truly preached.
What we confess here as Christians is different than what the world confesses about Jesus. In our services like today, we say to Jesus, “You’re not just a great teacher and prophet. You’re not my paradigm of liberalism or conservatism. You’re not my therapist. You’re not my ATM. Rather, with Peter, I confess: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” It was not accident that Jesus brought the disciples to Caesarea Philippi when He asked them about who people say He is. Caesarea Philippi was a pagan region. In these times, no Jew would’ve set foot in this area because there were temples dedicated to their false gods, such as Pan—the half-man, half-goat god of shepherds.
So, in this place, Jesus asks them, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” And they answer, “Some say John the Baptiser, others say Elijah and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Then He asks, “But who do you say I am?” And Peter speaks for all the disciples present when he gives his famous answer. Jesus is more than just a prophet, and He is not one of these false pagan gods—He is the Christ, the Son of the living God! Our flesh, that is, our reason cannot realise this; rather, it is revealed to us from the Father through the Holy Spirit. Now, why does this confession matter? Why is it such a big deal to confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God?
This confession is the rock Jesus said He would build His Church, which means His Church is built on Him, just like we sang a little while ago, “Built on the Rock the Church shall stand / Even when steeples are falling. / Crumbled have spires in ev’ry land; / Bells still are chiming and calling, / Calling the young and old to rest, / But above all the souls distressed, / Longing for rest everlasting” [stz. 1]. The gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church because the Church is built on Christ, who is risen from the dead. Just as we confess in the Creed, Christ descended into Hell. We don’t have time to get into all He did there, but it should suffice to say He rose victoriously from its depths. No one except Jesus has gone to Hell and come back. Jesus literally loves you to Hell and back. This means, with His Church built on Him, our Rock, you have been rescued from the assaults of Hell.
Even more, only God can forgive sins, or as Jesus says here, to loose and bind sins; and He has given these keys—He has delegated this authority—to His pastors. Before the face of the false god Pan, the pastoral god of shepherds, Jesus calls Hid disciples to be shepherds, or pastors. And Jesus continues to raise pastors in a pagan nation such as ours. And here at Christ the King Lutheran Chapel, you have a refuge from a pagan campus who spread all sorts of lies about Jesus and will pressure you to give up your Christian confession.
They do this because as good, pious Christians, you take the teachings of Jesus seriously, and rightly so. But when you realise you’ve fallen short and cannot live up to the standards of Jesus’ teachings, like not being as good as a parent as you should be, or as good as a spouse you should be, or student, friend, employee, or even not a very good Christian, as is true of all of us, Jesus has given His pastors the keys to forgive your sins. If you suffer with negative feelings about yourself, Jesus is not your situational therapist to give you high self-esteem; He is your God who gives you God-esteem—who gives you eternal worth in Him because He esteemed you so highly that He died and rose for you. You are worth so much to Jesus because He did not purchase your salvation with cheap things like human currency that loses its value with time, but with His precious body and blood that is risen for all eternity; it is therefore not prosperity in this life He has promised but the riches of eternal life in the new creation. Money cannot buy you salvation; Christ has already done that for you in His death and resurrection. Happiness fades like flowers and grass, but the joy Jesus has for you lasts forever.
That is why Christ has given you a campus pastor here—that when you realise you’ve fallen short of God’s Law, you can come into my office and receive Absolution to have your sins loosed from you; that when you are feeling down about yourself, you’ll be pointed to Christ our Rock who loves you dearly despite what you may feel about yourself; that when you desire prosperity in this life, you’ll be pointed to Christ who has already given you the prosperity of eternal life in His kingdom, which has no end; that when your professors or your boss or boyfriend or girlfriend or whomever pressures you to conform to the world rather than having your mind continue to be transformed by Christ, you have a refuge here where you’ll be pointed to Christ’s good and acceptable and perfect will for you; that when you feel like God is against you, you can see He is for you when you look at the cross. As God said through Isaiah, “Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD; look to the rock from which you were hewn” [51:1].
And so, when you pray, “Forgive us our trespasses,” look to the cross—to the rick from which you were hewn. Look to the cost of your salvation and forgiveness, which Hell could not overcome but found itself conquered by Christ’s death and resurrection. Why? That you might rest on this immovable Rock—the Son of the living God—whenever your soul is distressed, looking to Christ’s Word and Sacraments that remind you of who you are in Christ Jesus, just as we sang in the sermon hymn, “Here stands the font before our eyes, / Telling how God has received us [as a child of God]. / The altar recalls Christ’s sacrifice / And what His Supper here gives us [forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation]. / Here sound the Scriptures that proclaim / Christ yesterday, today, the same, / And evermore, our Redeemer” [stz. 4]. To Christ belongs all the glory, now and forever. Amen.
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