Partnering with Jesus as He builds His church.
Wayne Duncan
Matthew 16 (ESV):13Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 14And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17And 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. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19I 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."
In this passage Jesus gives insight to the church.
Firstly the church is built on the revelation the Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
The Church essentially exists to co operate with the Father as he reveals Jesus in the earth.
Jesus is the Christ, the savior of man, the savior of the world and the only hope for salvation and for the lost.
Jesus is building His church and we get to be in it and touch it.
There are two ways to build a church.
1) You can do your own thing and ask Him to come bless it.
2) or you can find out what he is doing and join Him. This releases great power and anointing and blessing.
It has always been the intent of God, that the church be built on the revelation of Jesus. This is the primary reason for the existence of the church. Everything else is secondary.
Secondly we see that the gates of Hell will not prevail against the church.
The church is the most powerful organization in the world today. Both in the physical and spiritual world. It will become increasingly so, as what we are positionally becomes more and more of a reality experientially.
Thirdly we see that he has given us the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus has entirely completed everything we need to release the climate of heaven into our present reality. That means that "as it is on heaven" it can be here.
So the church positioned under and in Him positions it's self to be a vehicle of Gods good news, His goodness and His glory.
2 comments:
Just for encouragement
A study in 2 Peter chapter 1
1:1 I am Simon the Rock, bondman and ambassador of Jesus Christ. What God accomplished in Christ to rescue us is what gives our faith equal value. (If righteousness had anything to do with personal merit or performance, then only the good enough amongst us would qualify. The word, lanchano, to be measured out beforehand, to be allocated something by allotment, emphasises the fact that nothing we did or determined to achieve had any influence upon God to qualify us. Faith is not a reward for personal diligence; it is everyone’s portion; no one’s faith is inferior to another’s because God sees all equally justified in Jesus Christ. Salvation belongs to everyone based on exactly the same merit. God’s righteousness is responsible for our faith, Rom.1:17)
1:2 With a faith of equal content as our reference, we may now increasingly know ourselves the way God has always known us, (the knowledge of God) realised in Jesus our leader, and be overwhelmed by the multiplied effect of grace and peace in our lives. (In this context no one can ever feel ignored or neglected again.)
1:3 God’s powerful intervention is the authority behind all this. He gifted us with all that it takes to live life to the full. Because of what God knows (about our original design,) He introduced us as it were to ourselves again (kaleo, to surname) because it was His intention to restore His glory and virtue in us. (See Peter’s testimony in Math.16 in the notes.)
1:4 His knowledge of us is the vehicle through which He bestowed the magnitude of His priceless promises upon us; the expectation of the promises pointed towards our restored participation in our godly origin; (His image and likeness revealed in us. The factory settings are restored; every compatible programme is again installed in our hard-drive to facilitate the Divine Nature.) Thus we have escaped the distorted influence of the corrupt cosmic virus of greed and lust.
1:5 Now that the stage is set to display life’s excellence, imagine the extreme devotion and focus of a conductor of music; (epichoregeo, epi, preposition, + chorus, chorus or choir or orchestra, + ago, to lead as a shepherd leads his sheep) how he would diligently acquaint himself with every individual voice in the choir, as well as the contribution of every specific instrument, to follow the precise music represented in every note in order to give maximum credit to the original composition; this is exactly what it means to exhibit the divine character. Before a performance the first violinist will give the exact note for every instrument to be finely tuned to that note, in the same way the faith of God gives that exact pitch. You are the choir conductor of your own life; study the full content of faith; you will find virtue there, and within virtue faith-inspired knowledge will voice its contribution. (There is a level of understanding that can only be accessed by faith. Heb.11:3, “by faith we understand that the ages were framed by the Word of God...)
1:6 The one attribute reveals the other, strength of character emerges out of faith-knowledge, in its strength follows the ability to prevail in patient perseverance, these are the ingredients that reveal depth of devotion;
1:7 out of such devotion flows true friendship, brotherly affection inspires divine love.
1:8 While you diligently rehearse the exact qualities of every divine attribute within you; the volume will rise with ever increasing gusto, guarding you from being ineffective and barren in your knowledge of the Christ-life displayed with such authority and eloquence in Jesus.
1:9 If anyone feels that these things are absent in his life, they are not; spiritual blindness and short sightedness only veil them from you. This happens when one loses sight of one's innocence.
Notes
1:3 “Simon son of Jonah, I say you are Rock...and within the context of this revelation will I establish My original identity; and the stronghold of ignorance will not prevail against the onslaught of My church.” Math.16:13-18.
By revelation Simon discovers that Jesus was so much more than the son of Joseph and Mary, He was indeed the Messiah, the son of God; “now that you know who I am, let me introduce you to yourself, Simon, son of Jonah, you did not begin in Jonah, look to the Rock from which you were hewn, the quarry from which you were cut; you have forgotten the Rock that begot you, the Father who gave birth to you... I want to tell you who you really are, you are Rock (petros), and upon this Rock revelation of mankind’s original identity will I build My ekklesia church and the gates of hades will not prevail against it. Man began in God. The Greek word translated, church, consists of two words, ek, a preposition that always denotes origin, or source, and klesia, from kaleo, to surname, or to point out by name, to summon by name. The word hades is also a combination of two Greek words, ha, means negative or not, and ideis means to see, thus not to see, ignorant of. Isa.51:1 and Deut.32:18.
1:7 See the Message translation, “...each dimension fitting into and developing the other.”
1:8 These things being in you, uparcho, to begin under, from upo + archomai, to commence or rehearse from the beginning.
Hey!
Awesome post.
I love how layered the Word is..keeps us hungry!
(check this out on google)
The area of Caesaria Phillipi was in that time renowned to be one of the foremost sites of Pagan worship. It was characterised by a huge rock with receptacles hewn into it for the display of idols and (mostly)sexual rituals of all kinds were done there.
Imagine a good jewish boys reaction to Jesus saying that he will build his church there!!
I.E I'm the rock, you are a rock and I'll build my church on this one!!
Almost a precursor to "Go peter ..kill and eat".
Interesting stuff..the rock is still there and you can see pics on google
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