The Christian Warfare
The Christian life is not a cruise ship but rather a battleship. The purpose of entertainment is to amuse you. To keep us out of the warfare. The Lord calls us to Christian warfare. To fight. Life with Christ is a life marked with suffering. The defining feature of Matthew 16 is who is Christ??
V13 – who do people say that I am??
1. The conflict. Who is Christ? This the defining conflict. Everyone has an idea and many have made Christ into their own image. Jesus likes what I like and Jesus hates what I hate. Christ “christos” -Christ = “anointed” * Christ was [and is]1 the Messiah, the Son of God * anointed — The world is looking for a savior. The world is looking for a king. Jesus is not just a man, not just a prophet, but God. The Son of living God.. V17 – It is a revelation of the Holy Spirit that has given Simon the ability to see who Christ is. It is the Spirits work.
2. The Cities – there is only 2 cities. The first city. V18 the church ekklēsia – a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly. The ekklesia includes Jews and Gentiles. Jesus says it is My Church. The rock is built upon this crucial confession. the other city He calls hell.
3. The commission – V18-19 – the keys have been given to the church. He commissions his church to exercise those keys. The preaching of the Gospel and the other is the exercise of the discipline which includes the sacraments.
Summary: Jesus isn’t retired He is seated at the right hand of God commanding us to go and fight and conquest for the kingdom of heaven. That weapon is the Gospel. Pick up your cross and follow Him.
“Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 16:17 NKJV