I Believe

Text: Matthew 16:13-20

Focus: Confession

Function: To help the church understand the power of their words.

Form: loose exposition.

Intro: Until I came here to be the guest pastor, I did pulpit supply for my good friend, Todd Hammond.

He pastors two small country churches near my house and one of them is fairly moderate, the other is very conservative.

He would say to me: “Now Phil, be careful! Don't beat up the conservatives in and then he named the one church that is more conservative. They are good people and they just need to be loved.

He is better than me. He knows how to shepherd people right where they are and will not offend.

Jerry Brenneman and I met together a lot 20 years ago, and we have been meeting a lot now, and plan to continue when I move to Michigan. He told me that he was afraid that if he were here, he would offend people because he was to conservative. Being able to walk that balance is very hard.

A few news services garner huge followings, either on the right side or the left side by driving a wedge between sides, exposing every weakness, real or made up, of the other side in order to keep people listening.

They do it by demonizing the opposition.

And I don't listen to the extreme right or left sides because as a Christian, I cannot abide with the way they say what I believe.

We need to communicate with love and respect.

My friendship with Jerry is very important to me because I love and respect him as a brother in Christ and he helps me see, and respect, the integrity of views that might oppose mine.

I promise you that Todd will not offend you and he will be able to work well with both sides of this congregation.

And today, I have a hard task. Because this scripture is about the power of confession.

There are several statements in this passage that have been interpreted in wildly different ways.

But I suppose the most difficult one is this phrase shrouded in mystery: “you have the keys to the Kingdom, whatsoever you bind on earth...”

I promise you that when I get to the illustrations, I am not trying to offend anyone.

Today, I will speak to the power of grace. Because I believe that we, as Christians, as current citizens of the Kingdom of heaven, have a lot of power with our words and actions.

What is Church?

You know the pat theological answer: It is NOT the building, but it's the community of believers.

You know this. You know that when you leave these doors, you do not leave church, you leave this building, this church building. But wherever you go, the Church goes. Wherever you are is where it is.

But there has been a lot of argument over 2,000 years of Church history as to which is the real, of the best, or the most faithful, or the one true Church.

And you know me enough to know that I have a sense of humor.

My nephew became an Orthodox Church Priest.

That sort of upset his very conservative Nazarene father in law, my twin brother.

But his journey was authentic, sincere. He made the switch because he saw Christianity in America progressing toward American Civil religion and moving away from NT Christianity.

He didn't quite agree with the Roman Catholics, so he tried the Orthodox Church and he found something there that was deeply spiritual, deeply mystical and nothing like the Churches he had attended.

It is sort of ironic because the Orthodox Church are named “Greek, Russian, American and etc.”

I attended his ordination service. It was a 2 hours long. Most of their worship services are 90- to 120 minutes long. And the kicker is, they have very few seats. The people stand the whole time.

The music is very liturgical and anything but contemporary.

And yet, the church was full of younger families. Most of them were not Greek. They were couples and individuals like him how found what they perceived to be a safe place. To them, the ancient traditions guaranteed that they wouldn't say crazy, or indefensible things.

They do well separating politics from theology.

And at his ordination service, all the other priests welcomed him with their version of the holy kiss.

I witnessed it. There were 7 or 8 priests who kissed him 3 times on one cheek, 4 times on the other, and then 3 times on the first cheek. I think.

Now, I used to be the South Central Indiana District's representative to the Brethren Revival Fellowship.

And I learned the cadence of the holy kiss. (call Kathy to stage) It is right foot in, while extending the right hand, embrace hand, pull the person toward you and as the left foot gets close, kiss, peck, the other person on the lips. On the lips.

At the Mohler congregation where I served in Ephrata, PA, we passed the holy kiss to everyone. We were very biblical and since the Bible says, as a command: “Greet one another with a holy kiss,” we did it at love feast. First I kissed my wife, and then she kissed the head deaconess and then I kissed the head deacon and it snaked through the entire congregation. It was an holy event. But it sure freaked out my son.

So, I told my nephew that I appreciated the demonstration of affection and brotherhood his fellow priests had given him and I would do the same according to our tradition. I grabbed his right hand, pulled him toward me and planted one on the lips. He was shocked.

I have to confess something here. I was a little bit upset with the entire congregation because although I have been serving the Lord since I was 4, I was not allowed to take part in their communion.

Apparently my church, to them, is not the one true church. And it seemed to me that if I allowed them to deny me communion, then I was going along with a judgment against my own salvation.

It is sad that doctrines divide us.

So again, this begs the question: What is the Church?

It is right here in this statement by Peter, the rock.

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Peter did what Paul speaks of 1 Timothy 6:12. He testified the good confession in front of others.

We are Christians by faith. And our faith is demonstrated in our actions. Membership in the Church universal is gained by one source, confessing Christ.

Peter says: “I believe.”

We say it to. And the public confession is essential.

I was upset that I couldn't partake of the communion elements, even though my nephew invited his ordained uncle to his own ordination service.

When we confess Christ, we belong to Jesus.

I got over my upset. If I could change it, I would. But I am not going to let it bother me because membership in the body universal is the most important thing here.

And this passage gets even more debatable.

The antecedent to the noun “rock,” the rock that the Church is built on, is debated by different circles.

My Orthodox nephew can trace the lineage of Peter and his successors all the way down to “The Patriarch of Alexandria” or, “the Pope of Alexandria.”

Of course, Roman Catholics say they can trace the lineage of Peter and his successors all the way down to Pope Francis, the current pope.

And Protestants, that is us, btw, say that Jesus wasn't speaking about Peter and an human succession, but Jesus was speaking of Peter's great confession: “I believe.”

I know a lot of sincere, Holy Spirit filled Roman Catholics and Orthodox believers, but I tend to agree with the Protestant tradition. It is by confession that we get to into the Church universal, the catholic “small c” church.

So, that is the first point of this passage. Membership is gained by confessing Christ.

Romans 10:9-10 is always a part of my baptismal ceremony or prayer of faith. It says, “if we confess with our mouths and believe in hearts, we are saved...”

The second point of this passage is that Christ's Community, the Church, is eternal.

We are not involved in some sort of fad, some sort of religious fad which will fade with the passing of time. It will not fade or ever go away.

No spiritual power of evil can overcome Christ's eternal community.

The Church is built on a rock that cannot be moved. Even the gates of hell, the mightiest resistance of Satan, or evil itself, can overcome it.

I find great comfort in that. I was serving on team for a mens retreat 20 years ago this year. I lived near Indianapolis and I was at a meeting in North Manchester. I got the call that my dad was in St. Joseph Hospital here in FW and he was dying.

I remember the agony and pain I felt. Before I could muster the strength to drive to FW, I slipped into the sanctuary of the Brethren Church in North Manchester. I was sitting in the balcony and I was looking directly at the chandeliers. They were guilded brass with Crosses stamped in a design around them. Behind the pulpit was a big cross. And I fixed my gaze on those crosses and it was as if the Lord was leading me. I thought: “For nearly 2,000 years, people have died in the hope that those empty crosses bring. Dad will die in that hope and I can trust in the fact that I will see him again.

That cross that Christ was crucified on was the symbol of one of the greatest evils that humans have ever done to each other. It was the Roman symbol of oppression. It said this to the nations whose followers fell victim: “obey us, or else.”

And that cross is now the symbol of our hope. The Church is eternal.

And finally, the Community is functional.

“Whatsoever you bind on earth is bound in heaven and whatsoever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven.”

We have power as Christians. We have the power to either bless or condemn.

And this passage speaks to the power of our words.

Kathy and her best friend, the praise team leader at our Church in PA worked together. Remember, this was a very conservative Church.

And one of the women got pregnant where they worked. Kathy and Beth decided to throw a baby shower for her and her spouse at our house.

In our house, when you first walk in is a cross with a flower on it. There is a wooden plaque that says “Jesus is Lord.”

And the party went very well.

Of course, there were some Christians who would not attend because they would not participate in such a debacle.

You see, the woman left her husband for someone else.

And it was even further complicated because the pregnancy was the result of artificial insemination. That was necessary because the spouse was also a woman.

So here we have two conservative ladies from a conservative church hosting this event in the parsonage.

It was a stretch for me.

Remember the scripture: whatsoever you bind on earth..., whatsoever you loose on earth..., you have the keys to the kingdom....”

Did you wonder what that means?

The lady they worked with came to Kathy and said: “you are a pastor's wife, right?”

“Yes.”

“You know what kind of person I am? My living situation?”

“Yes.”

“And you will host us in your house? ...Why?”

Kathy said: “judgment is not up to me. I know this: Jesus loves me. Jesus loves you. How can I do anything but show you that love?”

The woman broke into tears.

Her mother, also a conservative Christian sobbed when she said this to Kathy after the shower: “No Christians show my daughter any love. They feel so judged and condemned by the Church. I keep telling my daughter that Jesus still loves her. And now you have proven it.”

What we loose, what we bind, we have the keys.

We have the power to give grace or the power to give condemnation.

My greatest experience of this happened to me. I turned away from Christ for a few years when I was young. My eldest brother was in Seminary in Minnesota.

My fundamentalist tradition had no room for tobacco use. Tobacco use was proof of an unregenerate heart to them. I didn't know any better.

My brother, when I was visiting asked me: “Do you still smoke?”

Expecting a sermon and judgment, I hung my head and told him I did.

He then handed me an ashtray and said to me: “Please smoke outside.”

I couldn't believe his response. At the time, I was so excited about Jesus. I was veraciously reading the New Testament. Jesus was showing so much to me. I knew that I was saved.

And my brother's acceptance of me, even though I was bound by a habit that was not healthy and we are called to be slaves to nothing but Christ Jesus... His acceptance was one of the most grace filled and affirming moments of my life.

We hold the keys, we bind and we loosen God' grace.

Let us loosen His grace to everyone.

God is the one who sets people free, not us.

Note, the three points are from: Byron Flynderson