The following sermon was presented by the Reverend John W. Howe, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia, on September 11, 1988. The title is, I Will Build My Church, and the scripture reference is Matthew, chapter 16, verses 13 through 28. 

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew. Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do men say that the Son of Man is? And they said, Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.

He said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. The powers of death shall not prevail against it. I 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.

Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, God forbid, Lord, this shall never happen to you.

But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me, and you are not on the side of God, but of men. Then Jesus told his disciples, if any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?

For the Son of Man is to come with the angels in the glory of the Father, and he will repay every man for what he has done. Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. The Gospel of our Lord. January 1st is officially New Year's Day, but as any parent of school-age children realizes, the real beginning of the new year comes on the Tuesday after Labor Day. Kids are back in classes, neighborhood pools are shut down, the temperature takes a dramatic dip, and routine begins to settle in upon us. It's a new beginning, new school year, new church school year.

For many of you, it is a new church. We know that in this part of the country, folks do a lot of moving over the summer. And if you're a newcomer, we want to welcome you especially this morning.

The gospel lesson that we just heard couldn't be more appropriate for a time of new beginnings because it focuses the foundational question. Who do men say that I am? Who do you say that I am?

This is a pivot point in Jesus' ministry. I don't know if you notice it, but up until this time, everything has been moving toward this question, and after it, nothing is the same again. It's very interesting.

It says, from that time, from the time of raising this question and Peter answering it for all of us, From that time, Jesus began to teach them that he was going to have to suffer and die. Evidently, he had not done that previously. That's what his ministry was all about.

But he didn't try to tell them about suffering and death until they had come to grips with this question. Who do you say that I am? From that time, he began to teach.

It's interesting that this incident took place in Caesarea Philippi. That's where the Jordan River begins. It has its headwaters in Caesarea Philippi.

And I don't think that's accidental. All of Israel, all of Jordan is dependent upon that river as it makes its way south. And you could say that out of Caesarea Philippi, everything that the Jordan ever becomes flows.

Out of this question, who do you say that I am? Everything else flows. It's a question that is surprisingly current, isn't it?

As folks are gathering in great droves, some out of curiosity, some to protest the showing of a movie, a rather scandalous movie about Jesus. Time magazine runs a major article. Who is Jesus?

Who do men say? that He is. They say all sorts of things, don't they?

Some think you're a prophet. Elijah or John the Baptist come back from the dead. Some think you're a madman.

Some think that you're a crazy rabbi with delusions of grandeur. Some think that you've come to prepare the way for Messiah. Some are even beginning to think you may be He.

variety of opinions about Jesus. Who do you say that I am? Sooner or later, he looks each of us squarely in the face and makes it very personal.

Who do you say that I am? The man that we've come to call Simon Peter, up to this point he's been known as Simon Johnson, steps forward and gives an astonishing answer. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

I want us to notice several things about what Jesus has to say about that answer. The first thing is, he says, you didn't figure that out for yourself. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.

Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because my Father in heaven has revealed it to you. You see, you may think that it was your decision to become a Christian. You sat there and analyzed it all, and you figured it out, and you decided one way or the other.

But Jesus says, you didn't choose me. I chose you. And at best, you are simply responding to my initiative.

But you know, even the response itself is the gift of God. Did you know that? Ephesians chapter 2, For by grace you have been saved through faith.

This is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. Not because of works, lest anyone should boast.

Even faith itself is the gift of God. You didn't figure this out, Peter. my father showed it to you.

But secondly, I'm fascinated that while Peter had the right answer to the question of who Jesus is he didn't even begin to understand what that entailed. That's immediately evident. From that time Jesus began to explain that he had come to suffer and die and Peter immediately says, God forbid, Lord!

What a great phrase. God forbid, Lord. this will never happen to you he saw correctly by divine revelation who Jesus was but he totally missed what that was going to entail how many of you know that it's possible to do that recognize who Jesus is and totally miss what he's up to I'm sure that that's why Jesus ordered all of them not to say anything about it Isn't it interesting?

They correctly saw, or at least began to see, who he was. But he says, don't tell anybody. Don't tell anybody yet.

Because you don't understand what it means. And you're just going to get more folks all whipped up thinking that I've come to overthrow the Roman government or something. Set up a political empire.

Don't say that I'm the Christ. You don't understand yet what that means. The time will come when you do.

But be quiet now. Terry Fulham has said that a new Christian or someone who has newly come into the experience of the Holy Spirit really ought to be locked up for about a year. And there is a truth to that.

We praise God for the new enthusiasm, but so often, you know, we do it badly, don't we? There was a rector from this diocese who came to the renewal conference this weekend. And we learned that he had previously been very antagonistic to the renewal until Bishop Evans spoke with him personally last week.

The reason he was so antagonistic was that some well-meaning but misguided charismatics had told him that unless he spoke in tongues, he wasn't a Christian. You know what they were trying to do? They were trying to share something that was very exciting to them, but they did it so badly.

Get all excited. Go tell everyone that Jesus Christ is Lord. But do it right.

Do it right. Be careful how you do it. Don't beat them over the head with it.

Share it. I'm interested. Thirdly, Jesus changes Simon Peter's name.

It wasn't really Simon Peter. It was Simon. He gives him a new name.

He changes it from Simon to Peter. That's a significant thing. That often happens when God begins dealing with His people in Scripture.

There's a name change. Jacob, which means supplanter, dirty little thief, becomes Israel, prince of God. Extraordinary name change.

Abram, which means exalted father, becomes Abraham, father of multitudes. And Simon, which means shifty, sandy, unstable, you would never build anything on Simon, becomes Peter, a rock, strong, solid, dependable. Mind you, it's promissory.

It took a while for Peter to grow into that. He immediately betrays his new name and goes on betraying it again and again right up until the night before Jesus was crucified. But it is a promise.

Praise God. He begins to do something new in Simon's life at the very moment of recognition, even though the recognition is only partial and incomplete. He begins to do something in you at the very moment of your response to who he is.

He begins. It takes a long time to work it out, but he does begin. Jesus says, wherever this recognition is present of who I am, there I will build my church.

A lot of people misunderstand this business about thou art Peter and upon this rock. He is not saying I'm going to build the church on Peter. Praise God for that.

It's a play on words as a matter of fact. He is saying you are petros, masculine. It means literally a small rock, a pebble.

And upon this petra, feminine, which literally means a gigantic boulder. You're a little pebble. And upon this gigantic boulder, I'm going to build my church.

What gigantic boulder? Himself. The church's one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord.

He's playing on words. Peter, I'm changing you. I'm changing your character.

I'm giving you a new name and a new nature, and you are going to become, in a little tiny way, a chip off the old block. You're going to become something like me. In fact, upon this gigantic boulder of what has just come out of your mouth, the right answer, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Wherever that recognition is present, I'm going to start building. I'm going to build my church. I'm going to build it.

And it's my church. Aren't you glad? It's not Peter's church.

Not Paul's church. Not John Howe's church. It's not Truro's church.

It's his church. He's going to build it. And he says the powers of death shall not prevail against it.

I think a lot of us have turned that around in our minds. That's not a very helpful translation. What that sounds like is this wonderful bastion of the church is going to stand there four square and solid as the powers of death beat against it, but they won't prevail.

In fact, it's the other way around. Literally, it's the gates of hell will not prevail against the church of Jesus Christ beating on them. Do you see the difference?

We're not just to stand there and wait to be attacked. We're to go out and march into hell for a heavenly cause. I will build my church, and it's going to be a mighty, hell-conquering church.

And the gates of hell will not stand against it. I will build it, and it's mine. But I give to you the keys to the kingdom.

Please notice, it's not just to Peter. He uses very, very similar language two chapters later to a whole group of disciples. He says, I give you the ability to bind and loose.

You use keys to do that. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose upon earth shall be loosed in heaven.

That's the power of the keys. And He gives those to all of us. The gates of hell will not prevail against it.

You have the keys, unlock the gate. the gates of hell and the gates of heaven are the same depends which way you're going and I give to you the power to unlock the gates of hell and set captivity free to come through those gates the other way to be part of the church that I'm building what an awesome privilege and responsibility to share this good news of who Jesus is with folks who can begin as we have begun to respond to it so He can do in them what He's doing in us and build His church. From that time, He began to teach them that He would suffer and die and be raised again.

Do you know what that teaching is? That's the keys. that's what unlocks the door I give to you the understanding of who I am and what I've come to do that's the thing that sets people free because he took my punishment upon himself I don't need to suffer because he took my death upon himself I don't need to die because he took hell upon himself I can go to heaven that's what sets people free we've got to share it with folks they need to know that I give to you the keys to the kingdom to set people free.

The gates of hell will not prevail against them. And then he says this, I've come to die, and if anyone would follow me, he or she must also take up his cross daily and die with me. Hey, wait a minute, wait, wait.

Who said anything about following you? just answering the question, who are you? But you see, as soon as you begin to understand who He is, there's a claim upon your life.

If He is Christ and God and Lord, then everything changes. I'm not in charge anymore. There's someone else.

My possessions are no longer mine. They're His. my house, my bank account, my family, my relationships, my time, my vocation.

It's not mine. It's His. If He's Lord, it's His.

And I need right now to begin to die to it. Maybe, literally, die for Him. But certainly die in the sense of relinquishing, letting go.

Do you see who I am? It entails letting go of all those claims to privilege and prerogative and making your own mind up about things. Do you see who I am?

That entails my dying and it entails yours. You're going to come after me? You're going to follow that insight given to you by God to where it must lead?

Take up your cross. today. Every day.

But there's good news here. That's the key to life. See, you've totally misunderstood it.

You thought that you had to hang on to all those things. You try to hang on to them, they're going to slip through your fingers like sand. Let go of them.

he who would lose his life for my sake in the Gospels will find what he really was made to be. Looks like death. In fact, it's life abundant.

Life lived to the hilt. The headwaters question. Who do you think I am?

Are you willing to follow that where it leads? Let's bow our heads together. Lord Jesus, thank You for drawing us to Yourself.

Lord, continue to draw us. Continue to teach us and lead us and show us and shape us. Help us to understand more deeply and more fully and more profoundly what it means for you to come as one who serves and holds back nothing, even unto death.

and as one who calls us to join you in that. We pray in your name. Amen.