I Will Build My Church
Listen here.
I was talking with a friend not too
long ago, and he was telling me about a project they had done at his church.
They had a fellowship hall that was not handicap accessible. It was a separate
building beside the church, but you had to go up about eight steps to get into
the building. They decided their best option was a ramp that would run along
the outside of the building, and a new door that opened into the middle of the
hall. As they were setting their posts near the new door they had installed,
they ran into a problem. They ran into a huge flat rock. They couldn’t find an
edge, it was so big. They contacted the local inspector and asked him what they
should do. They discovered that there had been a well right next to their
fellowship hall a couple hundred years ago, and the previous owners had decided
to cover it with a large rock and bury it. The inspector told them, “That
stone’s been there for over a century. It’s not going anywhere. Use it for your
foundation.”
Your foundation is key in building
because it holds everything that goes above it. Even as we’ve talked with
builders and architects about expanding our own building, they’ve told us that
everything gets a lot easier after they get out of the ground – after the
foundation is set. And even the fundraiser we’ve been talking with and making
plans with has talked about foundational gifts – gifts that set a strong
precedent to inspire others in the rest of the campaign – which we hope will
begin in some quiet ways this Fall and become more public in the new year.
The church – not just the building,
but he whole assembly of those who are saved through faith in Jesus – the
church is also built on a foundation. You heard the account a little bit ago.
Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” “Some say John, some
say Elijah, some say one of the prophets.” “But who do you say that I am?” And
Simon-Peter gets it right, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
“Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! (that is Simon son of John) For flesh and
blood has not revealed this to you, but My father who is in heaven. And I tell
you, you are Peter (which means “rock”), and on the rock (the feminine form of
the same word) I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it.”
Jesus says he is going to build his
church – which is a strange word, church, it means, “those who are called out,”
and we understand it to be those who are called out of this world into the
kingdom of heaven, into the reign of God. Jesus is going to build his church on
a rock – not Peter (Petros - the masculine) but on his confession (petra –
feminine). Jesus builds his church on this confession of faith: You are the
Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Across my career, I have read many
books and articles about how to grow a church. I’ve read about making worship
services user friendly. I’ve read about doing good in our community. I’ve read
about building relationships with neighbors. I’ve read about all kinds of
ideas, tips, tricks, and techniques for how to get the church to grow. Oddly, a
lot of them miss the important message of this text. Jesus says, “I will build
my church” and I will build it “on this rock.” He builds the church on the
message that he is the Christ – he is the promised Savior. He would die to forgive
our sins. He would rise and give us everlasting life. That’s the message that
builds the church – Christ crucified and risen. It builds us in the sense of
bringing people to faith, drawing more people into the kingdom of heaven, and
in the sense of building God’s people in faith, maturity, good works, hope,
joy, and love.
And do you suppose Jesus is done
building his church? Nope. He won’t be done until he comes again, raises us up,
and makes us perfect like him. He is still at work in your life and in mine –
confronting our sin, comforting us with forgiveness, and constantly creating
faith in us through the Word and Sacraments. And he continues to draw people to
himself by drawing them to His cross. In fact, this is why he was lifted up as
it says in John 3 – that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
And make no mistake, eternal life
has everything to do with the forgiveness of sins. This is why Jesus says he
will give Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven – to bind and to loose sin.
And Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom in John 20 when he breathed on all of
the apostles and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the
sins of any, their sins are forgiven. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it
is withheld.”
This is our foundation. Our sins
are forgiven in Jesus’ death. We have eternal life and are promised
resurrection through his resurrection. And this is where he builds his church –
where people believe in him – the crucified and risen one.
And this is where some of those
ideas from church growth people can be helpful. If people don’t understand
what’s happening in the worship service that could make it hard to hear about
Jesus. Doing good in the community can get people’s attention and give you an
opportunity to tell someone about your faith in Jesus. And relationships are
always important because so often they are the context that you or I get to
share the hope we have in Jesus.
There is a lot of doom and gloom
out there about the future of the church. We’ve heard it. The church in the
U.S. is not growing. The culture is more secular and sometimes even hostile.
And on and on. Remember, though, the gates of heal shall not prevail against
the church. The time that we are in is not a time to be timid or fearful. It is
a time to look to the rock from which we were hewn – look to the rock that is
our foundation – to look to Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God who
builds his church even today.
Do you know that I have baptized
more adults here at Gloria Dei than I did in all the years I was in Michigan? Jesus
is at work here! I believe there is opportunity here and now to be part of what
Jesus is doing – building his church. I’m not saying that things will magically
change and all of a sudden we’ll be a mega-church. I’m not even sure that we
want to be a mega-church. I am saying that you and I still need Jesus, and he
is still here doing his work. The people in our community need Jesus, too, and
he is still doing his work. He is at work to bring them into his kingdom … and
he draws us into his work to build one another up in faith, but also to reach
others and bring his salvation to them. He is, after all, the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Amen.
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