Calvary Lutheran Church

What You Believe Really Does Matter

May the God of peace fill you with all joy in believing. Amen.

Matthew 16:13-20

Dear Christian Friends:

            Just before he dropped through the trapdoor of the gallows in Tel Aviv, Israel, Adolf Eichmann made this statement, “I have lived believing in God and I die believing in God.” Normally, we would say “What a wonderful confession of faith.” But then we remember who Adolf Eichmann was. He was the chief organizer of the holocaust that sent six million Jews to the gas chambers. And that expression, “I have lived believing in God and I die believing in God,” was commonly used by Nazis who had left the church but still professed a belief in God. We have to ask ourselves, “What God did Adolf Eichmann believe in?” 

            It was 1953, shortly after World War II, when the Korean War was looming large on the horizon. Songwriter Ervin Drake felt that the country needed a song that gave hope and faith to its people. He then wrote his famous song I Believe. It still holds the record for the longest number one hit on the music charts. Every famous singer has sung it at one time or another. It has been described as the most popular ever and a religious standard. It reads in part:

“I believe, above the storm the smallest prayer, will still be heard.

I believe, that someone in the great somewhere, Hears every word.

Every time I hear a newborn baby cry, Or touch a leaf, or see the sky,

Then I know why, I believe!”

We have to ask ourselves “What was it exactly that Ervin Drake believed in?”

            In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ (in other words, “Lord, I believe in you, Lord, I believe in you) will enter the kingdom of heaven. . . . Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evil doers!’”  (Matthew 7:21).

            Anyone can say “I believe in God” or just “I believe” Or “Lord, Lord.” It doesn’t necessarily mean they will ever see the inside of heaven. Faith alone, in and of itself, is not enough. Instead, we have a text this morning which says,  

WHAT YOU BELIEVE REALLY DOES MATTERS!

            Jesus had taken his disciples to Caesarea Philippi, a pagan Roman city, seven miles north of the Sea of Galilee. It is where the Jordon River starts through natural springs. And wherever you have natural springs you will usually find evidence of pagan idolatry, because pagan gods were often associated with water. The Greeks called the area Paneas in honor of the god Pan. A huge rocky cliff is located in this area with a huge indentation in the cliff where the Greeks say the god Pan was born. That is where they set up shrines to that god.

            Perhaps it should not surprise us that Jesus in this remote, pagan-filled setting would ask his disciples this question, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” (Matthew 16:13). In other words, “What does the average person on the street, who maybe has just a smattering of religious or church background, who perhaps has heard stories or rumors about me; who does he think I am?” Jesus wasn’t making just small talk or idle conversation. This was a life-changing question. How one answers that question has immediate and eternal consequences. 

            That question is still being asked to this day. And the answers are all over the board. Moslems say that Jesus was a prophet, but not the greatest prophet, that would be Mohammed. Some say Jesus was a great travelling teacher or sage, not unlike Gandhi or Confucius. Others say he was a non-conformist like the hippies of the sixties. You could ask 10 different people that question today and you would get 10 different answers. But perhaps the most common would be, “We don’t really know who he was.”

            And from the disciple’s answer, the people in Jesus’ day did not really know who he was either, although they had somewhat higher opinions of Jesus that most do today. They were so impressed with Jesus that they thought he was some great prophet in their history who had come back to life, like John the Baptist, who called people to repentance; after all, Jesus called people to repentance. Some thought he was Elijah, the great miracle worker, Jesus was a great miracle worker. Some thought he was Jeremiah who warned the people of coming judgment, Jesus warned people of coming judgment. So they certainly held Jesus in high regard to think he was the reincarnation of one of their heroes in the past. But even their answers were not elevated enough.

            Then Jesus asked Peter specifically, “Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15).  Didn’t Jesus know what Peter believed? Couldn’t Jesus simply look into Peter’s heart? Why did he even ask the question? Because you can never ask that question or confirm the answer too often, even if you had been with Jesus everyday for the last two years, or you have been a Christian your entire lifetime. 

            Peter’s response said it all, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). In other words, “You are the Christ, the anointed one, the long-awaited Messiah whom God had promised was coming ever since the days of Adam and Eve; the one Isaiah said would be born of a virgin and die a despised criminal; the one who would be pierced for our transgressions, and crushed for our iniquities; the one who would be named “Jesus” because he would save his people from their sins. And the only reason he could accomplish all of this was because he is the very Son of God.  He is God incarnate. He is God come in the flesh, the second person of the Trinity from all eternity, the creator of the universe.

            Oh, you may call yourself a Christian. Your parents may have been Christians. You may attend church and even be a member of a church. But if your faith does not include the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, it means nothing, because what you believe really does matter.

            So how did Peter and the disciples come to this understanding of Jesus? Was it Jesus’ miracles that convinced them? We know he performed miracles regularly. Was it Jesus’ teachings that convinced them? We know that he preached as one who had the authority of God. Was it his holy nature? We know Jesus was sinless. Did they suddenly come to this conclusion on their own? No. Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). The faith to know Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, does not come naturally to us. It is not a decision that we make on your own, much like we decided to come here to church this morning. It is not a conclusion we come to by logical investigation. It is not that simple. Every part of our reason, our logic opposes this truth. This is why faith cannot originate in us, it has to come from the almighty God. He is the source of the one and only true faith, which he proves by instilling it even in  little children in baptism. He alone can breakdown all our barriers. All credit belongs to him. 

            But Jesus continued, “And I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18). Peter’s name was Petros, singular, masculine in the Greek, and it means small rock or stone. So Jesus was saying, “You are a small rock or stone, but the rock on which I will build my church is a petra, plural, neuter in the Greek, and it means a huge bolder or rocky cliff. What Jesus was saying was that he is not going to build his church on a person, like Peter or Paul or some pope or Martin Luther, but on something much bigger and stronger and lasting. And that is Peter’s confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

            So to this day, Christ himself is the foundation of his church, Paul calls him the “chief cornerstone.” There are many teachings in the Christian faith, but this one stands out among all the rest. The Church today must stand on the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

            We have an expression for that, we call it a Christ-centered church. Some might say, “All churches are Christ-centered.” Some like to think that all churches are basically the same, that differences arise only from differences in interpretation. You can think that way, but it’s not true. You have Christ-centered churches, and man-centered churches, and the man-centered churches are some of the largest in the country.

            Man’s church has no power over hell. Christ’s church does.  Jesus said, “The gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18). The word Hades is sometimes translated as “hell” or simply “death” or the “grave.” All the evil that comes out of the gates of hell cannot overcome Christ’s church. Jesus gave a list in Mark 7: sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly (Mark 7:21)—all suffering, pain, sorrow and death; none of it will overcome the faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. In Christ we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

            And that is because Christ’s church has the keys of heaven. Jesus concludes, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19). In Christ’s church the gospel is administered in word and sacrament. When believers repent, the gospel of forgiveness is pronounced on them, and they are forgiven. When unbelievers do not repent, judgment is pronounced, and they are not forgiven.  Christ has given those keys and the power behind them to his Christ-centered church.

            Knowing by God’s grace that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, knowing that we are conquerors over the gates of hell, knowing that in the gospel we have forgiveness and are his children and heirs of heaven; we are not tossed back and forth by every wind of doctrine that happens to be popular at the time. We are not tempted by every sin that is thrown at us. The highs of life do not overly excite us so we become attached to his world. The lows of life do not overwhelm us that we fall into despair. We are like that rocky cliff at Caesarea Philippi —solid, unmovable, impenetrable.

            Another songwriter, Nikolai Grundtvig, wrote in his famous hymn:

“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 soul distressed,
Longing for rest everlasting.
CW #529 st. 1

We are God’s house of living stones,
Built for his own habitation.
He through baptismal grace us owns

Heirs of his wondrous salvation.

Were we but two his name to tell,

Yet he would deign with us to dwell

With all his grace and his favor.
CW 529 st. 3

If there were just two members here at Calvary Lutheran Church whose faiths were built on the Rock of Christ, and all others were unbelievers and hypocrites, you would still be Christ’s church, enjoying all his grace and favor.

I suspect there are a lot more than just two. I suspect you are all members of Christ’s Church, knowing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Amen.

May we pray:

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for calling us out of the darkness of spiritual ignorance to the light of your truth that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Endow us richly with your Holy Spirit and by his grace sustain our faith, making it strong and free of doubt and confusion. Keep us always faithful and true to your Word so that we do not stary from it even in the slightest degree. By inspiring us to make diligent use of your Word, enable us to grow in knowledge, to abound in faith, to be filled with comfort and hope and peace, and to be strengthened in our inner person. In your name we pray. Amen.