august 27 2023
August 27th 2023
Old Testament: Isaiah 51:1-6
Psalm: Psalm 138
Epistle: Romans 11:33-12:8
Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20
Sermon Text: Matthew 16
Sermon Title: “Who do You Say that I Am” and “The Keys” again.
Grace to you and peace, form God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is”? (Matthew 16:13b) “John the Baptist … Elijah … Jeremiah … one of the prophets”. (Matthew 16:14b) “Who do you say that I am”. (Matthew 16:15) “Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. (Matthew 16:16) “On this rock, I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. (Matthew 16:18) “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven”. (Matthew 16:18a)
There are so many wonderful options for preaching in our Gospel text this morning, based on the verses I just reread. We could focus on Jesus as the Christ, as the long-promised Messiah and the only way to eternal life. We could listen to how this confession of Jesus is the rock/doctrine on which the church will take its stand against the devil and the world until the end of time. We could also speak again of the Office of the Keys which I spoke on just a few weeks ago. Perhaps we should touch briefly on each of these three ideas; first, on the all- important question of Jesus; “Who do people say that the Son of Man is”? (Matthew 16:13b)
C S Lewis, who a Christian author and apologist in the mid 20th Century, set out an argument to answer Jesus’ question. His famous answer was that Jesus was one of three things; He was either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord of all. Now if you want to claim that Jesus wasn’t God, but was a good teacher of spiritual things, right and wrong, morality, etc, which so many people try to do, you will have a problem with the text of Holy Scripture.
As you know, Jesus claimed to be God in multiple places, saying to the Pharisees, “Before Abraham was, I Am” (John 8:58) and the Apostles testified to this as well. In the book of Colossians, which we are studying in Bible Class, Paul wrote “In Jesus, the fulness of the godhead was pleased to dwell”. (Colossian 1:19) Now, if Jesus was only a man and not God, and yet claimed to God, that would make Him either a liar and therefore not a good teacher of morality or else a lunatic; mentally ill; denying basic reality. The other possibility here is that Jesus is really who He claimed to be in Holy Scripture; the Lord of all; which is what we confess.
The disciples had now been with Jesus for over two years, and our Gospel text begins, “Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they answered, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets”. (Matthew 16:13-14) Many believed He was simply a great teacher or preacher, like many of the prophets of old or even John the Baptist. This is still a common belief about Jesus.
Then “Jesus said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter (boldly) replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. (Matthew 16:15-16) (As opposed to all the false gods that people worship) Peter’s confession of Jesus was perfect, but why? Because it came not from his own superior thoughts or understanding, but from God; for “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”. (Matthew 16:17)
“No one can say Jesus is Lord, except in the Holy Spirit”. (1st Corinthians 12:3b) This confession of Peter is same thing that we confess to this day in the church, but only by the grace and mercy of God; working through the Word of God and the Sacraments. As we confess in the explanation of the Third Article of the Apostle’s Creed, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in my Lord Jesus Christ or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel”, the good news of salvation, forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life, through the atoning death and bodily resurrection of Jesus.
For He said, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock (confession) I will build My (Jesus’) church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. (Matthew 16:18) Satan and hell have been defeated, along with sin and death; and they will not prevail against the preaching of the Gospel. So, we confess in the Creed, “I believe in the holy Christian Church” of whom Paul declares, “Christ Jesus is the head”. (Colossians 1:18) “For Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her”. (Ephesians 5:25) As we sing in the hymn, “The Churches one foundation, is Jesus Christ her Lord”. (LSB # 644) Of course, “This promise of Christ does not guarantee that any particular congregation or denomination in the visible church will never pass away”.
Let me be clear, Jesus is not saying here that Peter is the head of the church, but rather that his confession is what the church will proclaim until the end of time. The Scriptures assure us that the Holy Spirit will continue to call and gather and preserve His church until that day. Whatever the enemies of Christ throw at the church, the Church of Jesus Christ will ultimately prevail, because it is built on the rock of Christ. As the Lord declared through the prophet Isaiah, “My Word, that goes out from My mouth, will accomplish that which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it”. (Isaiah 55:11)
This is God’s promise to His people; that He will work in the church through His Word and sacraments. Jesus makes this very clear in the next verses, though many protest that these means do not work; that we must add something to them to make them more palatable to our so-called wisdom or feelings. He addresses the disciples saying, “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”. (Matthew 16:19) This teaching is so important that Jesus taught it again in Matthew, which we will hear in a couple of weeks.
Jesus said, “I will give”; and Christ fulfilled this promise on the first Easter evening when He appeared to the disciples who were gathered behind locked doors. He said; “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you … He breathed on them saying, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven and if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld”. (John 20:21b-23) This authority to forgive and retain sins extends beyond the Apostles/disciples to the church in every time and every place.
This is clearly taught by Luther in the Small Catechism under the “Office of the Keys. “This office is that special authority which Christ has given to His church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent”. (Luther’s Small Catechism, “Office of the Keys”, explanation) When this is practiced in the church, “it is just as valid and certain as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself”. (Luther’s Small Catechism; Explanation, Office of the Keys) As I just said, many in our day claim that this “doesn’t work” or “all it does is make people mad”; and so it is rarely practiced. I would warn you though that it is a dangerous place to be, to say that God’s Word; which the author of Hebrews declares, “discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12b), does not work. I would then ask the question, do you know better than God, what will work and won’t work.
Thankfully, we have at least one example in Holy Scripture. St. Paul illustrates how this works in his two letters to the Corinthian churches. In the first letter, he warns, “not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother (Christian) if he is guilty of sexual immorality, or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler … purge the evil person from among you”. (1st Corinthians 5:11, 13) This severe warning had its intended effect as we see in the second letter. There, the same person who had been disciplined, purged, from the congregation had repented and Paul instructs them to “turn to forgive … lest he be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow”. (2nd Corinthians 2:7)
Now, of course, we are not to go out actively looking for sins in other people, in order to rebuke them, nevertheless, when we become aware of them, some sins compel us to confront the sinner, for the sake of their own soul and for the sake of those weaker Christians who might follow their bad example, thinking it is okay. Therefore, it is in fact loving ones neighbor, to call them to repentance; to turn from their sin and back to Christ and His Word of forgiveness.
This is always the ultimate goal of any confrontation over sin, to bring the Gospel to bear on the situation. So, we pray for and attempt to warn those who are in danger, using the practice of Matthew 18, as Jesus taught it. If the erring person repents, we rejoice with all of heaven, “over one sinner who repents”. (Luke 15:7a) If the erring person never repents, we must tell the truth and not pretend that they are a believer; since they have rejected Jesus and the salvation that He offers freely to all. If they die in their unbelief, they will be lost forever, “nevertheless, if such individuals repent and return”, our Lord will forgive and welcome them home.
Here is how our Lutheran Study Bible sums up this key that withholds forgiveness. “Someone may object, saying that only God can look into someone’s heart to judge whether penitent faith lies within. This is clearly true; but Jesus has directed us; commanded us; (in the church) to deal with the facts as we know them. We have no choice but to obey Him. This use of the Keys serves as the strongest possible warning, that no sinner dare take sin lightly or treat it flippantly”. (Lutheran Study Bible, “Keys of the Kingdom”, page 1617.)
The second use of the Keys, the Gospel use, is practiced both in the Divine Service as well as in private confession and absolution. So, we pray a general confession of our sins at the beginning of nearly every service, acknowledging that we are “poor miserable sinners … deserving God’s temporal and eternal punishment … praying that God would be gracious to us”. Then the pastor pronounces the Absolution/forgiveness “by virtue of his office as a called and ordained servant of the Word … and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ”. (Lutheran Service Book, Divine Service III, pages 184-185) Since it is by Christ’s command that the pastor does this, we can be sure of the forgiveness/absolution that he declares.
The questions and answers in the Small Catechism are also helpful in understanding this Office of the Keys. How is the Office of the Keys related to the proclamation of the Gospel? It is a special God given way of applying the Gospel to the individual; in addition to the other means of grace; Word and Sacrament. Who are to be forgiven and absolved? Those who repent and ask for forgiveness are to be forgiven. Who (actually) receives the forgiveness given in absolution? Only repentant believers receive the forgiveness. (Small Catechism, Confession, Questions # 271-273)
In light of this truth, the next question is; Who are repentant believers? Repentant believers are those who (acknowledge) and are sorry for their sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. (S. C. Confession, # 274) As the Psalmist declared, “I acknowledged my sin to You and I did not cover up my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin”. (Psalm 32:5) As our Confessions teach, “Then, good works are bound to follow, which are the fruit of repentance”. (A. C. XII, 6) As, Jesus also said to the woman caught in the act of adultery; “Go, and from now on, sin no more”. (John 8:11b)
The follow up question is, whose sins are not to be forgiven? Unrepentant sinners; that is those who are not sorry for their sins … as long as they do not repent. (S. C. Confession, # 275) Then there is this helpful note; “secretly unrepentant sinners (hypocrites), reject the forgiveness which the absolution truly offers them”. (S. C. Confession, # 274, note) Again, we will speak more of this when Matthew 18 comes up in the readings in a few weeks.
Our Gospel reading this morning concludes with these words; “then Jesus strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that He was the Christ”. (Matthew 16:20) This is one of several times that Jesus tells people not to tell people who He was; but why? Most likely it was because of all the confusion among the people, including at times the disciples, about the purpose of His coming. For example, the Apostle John recorded, “Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king; withdrew again to a mountain by Himself”. (John 6:15) His identity would be fully revealed after His death and bodily resurrection.
Right after our text today; the Gospel text for next Sunday, Jesus will “show His disciples that He must … suffer many things … and be killed and on the third day be raised”. (Matthew 16:21b) That is the purpose of His coming into the world, for Jesus is the world’s only Savior from sin, death and the devil. He suffered and died that we might not die, but live eternally. Therefore, all we who belong to Christ, confess with Peter this morning, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. (Matthew 16:16b) And we gather around His means of grace in the church, knowing that “the gates of hell will not prevail against it”. (Matthew16:18b) Amen.
The peace of God …