Sremon on Matthew 16:13-20

Who do you say that I am? Who do I say that I am? I am a son, a husband, a father, a brother, a preacher, and a friend. Is this the kind of question Jesus is asking in this passage? I think so; all the things that I am identified as being are offices that God has called me to fulfill and Peter identifies Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This is the office that Jesus was called to fulfill.
Romans 10:9-10 states: 9”That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” This is what is occurring here with Peter’s confession. Is Peter now saved because he has confessed with his mouth that Jesus is Lord? Are we today saved because we attend church every Sunday? No, he is saved because of the belief in his heart. Jesus states, “Blessed are you Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but the Father in the Heavens.” It wasn’t Peter’s confession at all but the faith given to him by the Holy Spirit that caused his mouth to speak this truth therefore his salvation, and ours, has come through the faith that he and we have in his and our hearts and not the act of confession or attendance.. And what is faith but the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus has set up this dialogue with Peter to separate those who understand and those who don’t understand, those who have faith and those who do not yet have faith. Those who confess that Jesus is Jeremiah, Elijah, John the Baptist, or any other person are missing faith; thus are void of the Spirit working in their hearts. These people are in need of a true preacher.
Jesus then proceeds to tell Peter, “I say to you that you are stone and on this very rock I will build up my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Is Jesus talking about Peter as the stone or is he talking about his confession through the power of the Holy Spirit? Honestly the Greek is not clear as “stone” was never used as a name in Greek. Either Jesus is naming Peter as the first to have received the salvation by faith, given through the Holy Spirit, or Jesus is talking about those mirroring of Peter’s confession through the power of the Holy Spirit. What’s important here is Peter’s preaching and proclamation! After all what is Peter really doing? Is he answering Jesus’ question or is he preaching one of the first gospel sermons? As my Greek professor Dr. Jim Boyce would say, “Yeeeeessss.” I have already said that Peter was surrounded by people who didn’t understand and were in need of a true preacher not unlike our situation today. True preaching gives Jesus to those who have been afflicted, or crushed, by the demands of the law; it rescues them from their despair. Peter is one of the first preachers that God has sent to deliver the gospel in a way that saves. Preaching is the rock, the stone upon which Christ will build his church. Not some dunderhead that happened to get one answer right.
Jesus then proceeds to declare, “And the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” What are these gates of Hades but death itself? Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Nothing will stand between God and His chosen elect.
Jesus then delivers his directive, “I will give to you the keys to the Kingdom of the Heavens and what you bind on Earth you bind in the Heavens and what you loose on the Earth you loose in the Heavens.” It’s clear that Jesus is saying as a result of your faith I give to you the keys to the Kingdom of Heavens; in other words the power to preach and forgive sins. He has just assigned the office of preaching to Peter and to the reader of this gospel; not to gain their salvation but as a result of it.
So, I stand before you today as a true preacher sent by God with a word that saves. On account of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins, both conscious and unconscious, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You, like Peter, have heard the gospel and are chosen, you are the elect, whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not, you now will confess Christ with your mouth and with your actions. Your old self will cling to you like a bag of worms until your physical death but it is in fact dead. Your old self can no longer serve you in any way but instead stays here on this earth to serve your neighbor. Take the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and loose away serving your neighbor, not to gain salvation but because of it. Amen.