Matthew 16:21-27, Jesus Building His Church

Jesus has said in Mt. 16:18.  It is not a surprise that He mentions His Church here.  We have been with Him through the rejection of the leaders and heard His parables that prepare for discipleship between the two advents.  Then Jesus has been bringing His disciples to consider the need of the Gentiles.  We now see three major things that perfectly fit where Jesus is headed: the announcement that He will build His Church, the first announcement that they will be going to Jerusalem where He will suffer at the hands of men, and the transfiguration.

Let us remind ourselves of foundational truths concerning Christ and the Church.

1.  He is the builder; we are FELLOW-WORKERS (1 Cor 3:9-10).

2.  He is building the CHURCH.

3.  The Church is HIS (Acts 20:28).

4.  The Church is a spiritual BUILDING (1 Peter 2:4-5a,7).

5.  Peter and the Apostles are the FOUNDATION of the building (Eph. 2:20).

Today’s passage is vitally related to building the Church.  The first truth above is that He is the builder and we are fellow-workers.  Our passage explains this.  What is Jesus’ primary activity in building the Church?  It is the suffering that is going to happen in Jerusalem.  How will we be of any help as fellow-workers?  Only if we also take up our cross; only if we seek the eternal profit that comes from losing our lives for His sake.

Isn’t Peter amazing.  He is the one who gave the answer to Jesus question, who do you say that I am.  He confessed Jesus as Lord.  Then, seemingly just moments later, Peter is telling Jesus what He can or cannot do.  We may just want to chalk this up to Peter’s temperament.  But Jesus does not share that view.  He says that Peter is playing the role of Satan; Peter does not understand the ways of God.  He only knows man’s way.  For us, the Christ, the Son of the living God does not suffer at the hands of men.  But of course, if the Son of God does not suffer, there is no salvation; there is no Church full of saved people; and there is no resurrection, no hope of eternal life!

Why is Jesus' death and resurrection essential for building His Church?

·        Col 1:13: Christ delivers from the power of darkness into His kingdom.

·        Heb 2:14-15: Satan has the power of death so the gates of Hades must be opened!

·        Col 2:12-15: Jesus triumphs over the powers of darkness thru death, resurrection.

·        From that resurrection comes the believer's life & power:

o   I Peter 1:3: we have living hope/inheritance by resurrection.

o   Rom 6:4: life, identified with Christ's death/buriel/resurrection.

o   Acts 4:10: man healed in the name of resurrected Christ.

o   2 Cor 10:1-6: our warfare, with resurrection power, destroys Satan's strongholds.

o   Phil 3:10: thus we long to know the power of His resurrection.

o   Eph 2:19-22: prayer to know power of resurrection.

          The Church will come into existence AFTER death!  Remember, Easter is not about "new life after conception".  It's about "new life after resurrection".

          Here is one final thought concerning the overcoming nature of the Church, referring to the “gates of hell” in v18:

The gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. The phrase “shall not prevail” may be understood as meaning, “shall not stand against.” The imagery pictures the church as being on the attack against the gates of hell. Hell (Gr hades) represents the kingdom of Satan. While Jesus’ resurrection certainly will overcome the sting of death, it will also enable His Church to aggressively attack the gates of hell by snatching out victims from darkness into His glorious kingdom. One does not attack with gates; he defends. It is the church which is on the attack here.