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Grace, mercy, and peace be from God, our Heavenly Father, to you, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Did you know the Muslims believe that there is a Jesus? The Latter-day Saints believe that there is a Jesus. Jehovah Witnesses believe that there is a Jesus. Many different religions believe that there is a Jesus. But which Jesus is it that they believe is true? You see, the Muslims believe that Jesus was nothing more than a prophet, a man. Latter-day Saints believe he’s this very special person, but he’s not God in the flesh. Same with the Jehovah Witnesses. But what about you? Who do you say that he is?
When Jesus asked the question, he was trying to get a barometer of what all was being said about him. It’s a great example of how the whole world will acknowledge at least one, Most, that there was this guy named Jesus, but who is he? What did he do? How did he do it? From whence he came and to where he went? That’s where there’s a lot of disagreement and very, very vital disagreement. So when Jesus asked, who do people say that I am? Some say you’re this. Some say you’re that. Some say this. But what about you? Who do you say that I am? There must have been a moment of dead silence there, because I’m sure the twelve were looking at one another thinking, well, who’s going to answer?
Well, the same one that answers Peter is the one who next Sunday, Pastor, is going to talk to you about. There’s a little teaser for coming back to church. I’ll talk to you about this, Peter, and what he says a little later. But for this morning, Peter’s the one who speaks these profound words that the other 11 were thinking, I’m sure, but didn’t have the backbone or the courage. And you know Peter, first to speak, second to think. In this case, it’s good because his confession of faith wasn’t a thought. It was a belief, and there’s a difference. A belief affects your thoughts, but the thought does not create your belief.
So Peter confesses him to be the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Christ. And it’s the first time in all of the recorded Gospels, as far as chronologically speaking, that Peter or anyone makes this confession of faith. That you’re the Messiah, the Anointed One of whom Adam and Eve were given the promise in the garden, and all of those who believed in the same coming Messiah, you are that coming Messiah here in the flesh. That’s a profound statement of faith. And this is a very important statement of faith, because you and I know in this world, especially in our country, Jesus is spoken about very, very openly here. In fact, sometimes it’s minimalistically boiled down that, well, all that matters is that you believe in Jesus.
Again, as we began, who is this Jesus? What has he done? Which one are you speaking about? Because when Jesus leaves this world, he says to his church and to his apostles, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them faith. Everything I’ve commanded you. Don’t teach them minimalistically. Don’t just give them a little bit. Proclaim the full counsel of God. Because you and I know that our faith doesn’t sit static. Yes, it is a simple confession of faith. Jesus is Lord. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. But because of that faith, Satan will not let you or that faith sit static. He’ll pick at it like a scab. He’ll assault it with all kinds of rational thought, reasonable doubts, and all kinds of other things in order to get you to say, this can’t be true.
And God uses that same thing in your life to broaden and deepen and widen that confession of faith, who Jesus is. Because when you and I look at someone we love very dearly and see them laying in a bed and sin ravaging their body, either with old age or with some other disease, we begin to wonder about life and death, temporal and eternal. That simple childlike faith, Jesus is Lord, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, begins to have great depth, doesn’t it? And begins to take on broader meaning and begins to be a part of your fiber, who you are as God’s child.
When Peter confessed this truth about Christ, it’s an interesting time. Some basic, interesting, important notes to make about this event. First of all, when Peter makes this confession of faith, it was not in the midst of turmoil. I mean, it’s not as if Peter was sinking in the Sea of Galilee after he had walked out to Jesus, and Jesus is standing on the water, and Peter is sinking, saying, Lord, help me. It’s not as if that’s the opportune time for God to say, Peter, Peter, what do you think about me? Am I the Christ or am I not? Come on, Peter, as he’s sinking. This is not in a time of that kind of critical mass reached. Jesus asked the question, and under no duress, under no difficult time or anything, he makes this beautiful confession of faith.
It’s like us, isn’t it? When we’re not undergoing pressure, when we’re not being sifted, when we’re not being tried and tested in the fire, you and I can make these beautiful, eloquent, long, and even verbose confessions of faith. And they are right and salutary. Looking at a loved one who’s dying in front of us, and it’s very, very narrowed down, but that statement of faith, like Peter’s, is profound and deep and full of meaning. Pregnant with meaning, is it?
Another note about this is that this confession of faith was not made in Jerusalem at the temple. It wasn’t made at a synagogue anywhere near Jerusalem. In fact, of all the recorded times and places of Jesus’ life, this event happened as far from Jerusalem as any other recorded event from the Gospels. Way up north, in Caesarea Philippi. This confession of faith isn’t just for the Jews in Jerusalem. This confession of faith is for all, even into a very Gentile region that they were at.
And finally, the other note, when Jesus calls him the Messiah, as we said, it’s the fulfillment of all those Old Testament passages referring to the coming one, the anointed one. But you and I know in reading the Old Testament, priests were anointed, prophets were anointed, kings were anointed. So what does this anointing mean and what does it stand for? Once again, come back next Sunday, the pastor will tell you about it. It implies his death. He was anointed for death. Your death. He was anointed for resurrection. The resurrection that he gives to you in your baptism. But more about that next Sunday.
Simon Peter is praised for this great confession of faith. And sadly, this is a great stumbling block for the Roman church. They see this as the precursor to the Bishop of Rome, when Peter was supposedly the first. And it begins to be their whole structure upon which they built the office of the papacy. It’s sad. It’s not what the text talks about. This text is about the confession of faith that Peter makes. Not about Peter. Peter is called blessed, are you, O Simon Barjona, because Peter makes a confession of faith that was not revealed to him by his own reason or senses, but by the Father in heaven, not by flesh and blood.
The same reason you are blessed, because your confession of faith does not come by reason or senses, but by the Father in heaven. Jesus blessed Peter with this faith. Peter is blessed because of this blessing given to him by God, not by flesh and blood. And that is the same as you and me. And it’s not just a moniker. It is a profound statement of what we believe with our entire being. It affects, it infects all parts of our person. And in fact, what is it that we struggle with the most? With our flesh. Not with the spirit that reveals these things to us. It’s our senses that cry out, how can this be? Not our spirit, which says, yea and amen, which gives rise to the battle into which we’ve been thrust.
Paul talks about this battle in his letter to the church of Ephesus. In the sixth chapter, he writes, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. We wrestle against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. You know that part at the beginning of the Creed, I believe in all things visible and invisible? These are the things of which we believe to be true. And these are the things that cause us fear and anxiety, for these are the things that we cannot see reasons for their existence. But we know they exist, for we fight and struggle against them. And they wage war against our faith.
Our body is being waged against by sin. We know that. It’s our faith that’s being waged against by these heavenly demonic powers that are continually fighting against us. But the promise given to Peter, no, not just Peter, the promise given to the twelve apostles, no, not just to the twelve apostles, the promise given to all who confess this faith is that nothing in these dark, heavenly, and all kinds of evil, demonic spirits will ever, ever triumph over your faith. That faith which was not given to you by flesh and blood, that faith which was given to you by the Father in heaven, through the Spirit’s work, nothing will prevail against it. Everything will wage war against it, but nothing will prevail against it. That’s a promise.
Peter, who would die a martyr’s death, you know, had to find comfort in that as he closed his eyes in death. In fact, all of those apostles that saved John died. John died in that faith, as John died in that faith, but not a martyr’s death, but died in the midst of trial and travail, knowing and believing this to be true, even though their senses and their minds screamed something other than this truth.
The final part, or the third part, of this gift to Peter, to the church, to all, is the gift of being gathered together in a body, an assembly, whose sole purpose is to loose and bind sin. Now that should not be a difficult thing to grab hold of. Remember your confirmation days. There are two great doctrines in the scripture: Law, which binds sin, which keeps us in guilt and shame, and gospel, which releases us. Breaks those bonds of guilt and shame. Who is it that wishes us to be bound in those chains and to die in those chains? Satan and all the heavenly demonic foes. Who wishes to free us from those things? The Jesus who gave us the faith, who revealed this to us not by flesh and blood, but by the Father in heaven. The one who says, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that by believing we have life in his name.
Now you younger folk can remember this. Some of you older may not, but there was a movie called Spider-Man, and in it, there was that one character. A line that says, to him who has great gifts, great responsibility goes along with it. I know I’m butchering it, but you know, remember that point. You and I have been given a great gift. See, unlike the prophets who had revelation from God, but not the complete and full revelation, and even unlike the apostles in that the apostles proclaimed and wrote down for us those things of Christ’s life, but they themselves had their life ended early. You and I have all of the prophetic teachings and all of the apostolic teachings, and we have it completed. We eat and drink it. We partake of it and hear it put into our ears and plant it home.
Remember what Jesus himself said, Blessed are your eyes, for they see. Blessed are your ears, for they hear. For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people long to see what you see and did not see it. Longed to hear what you hear and did not hear it. You and I have had the full revelation laid upon us. It is this confession of faith which will endure. It will not be broken. We will die in it and it will continue on. Pastor and I have been called by you all to stand upon the shoulders of those who preceded us, not to invent new teachings, not to proclaim to you something that’s timely for this time of year or of generation, but to speak to you eternal things.
And by golly, that’s what we do. And long after we’re gone, and long after we’re dead, and the worms have eaten our flesh, someone else will be called by someone else in this congregation to proclaim those same truths. For this faith is what goes on to the end of ages, when faith is not needed, and finally, all has been brought to righteousness by Christ.
In the name of Jesus, amen. Peace of God which passes all understanding. Keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.