Sermons

---

The Church: Called Out
September 10, 2000
First in a sermon series on the Church
Pastor Dan Baumgartner     
Matthew 16:13-20

I can look at you this morning and say beyond the shadow of a doubt: I know what you are called to. Oh, you say, Dan you’re feeling rather prophetic this morning! Or maybe you say “What a relief! I’ve been agonizing over where I’m called…what is it?”

Well, here it is: You are called to be the church. Wow, you say…so you went to seminary for that?! We’re sitting here on Sunday morning, and you say we’re called to be the church? But bear with me for a moment.

Tim Burgess and I ended up in a little bookstore together in the San Juan Islands this summer. We were the only people in the store, and we both love books…so we were looking around, talking about different books, and eventually struck up a conversation with the owner, a woman in her early 60s. We chatted a bit, and at some point in the conversation she said, “I’m sort of anti-religious, you know.” 

We talked some more, but before we left the temptation was too much for me, and I said, “Would you mind if I asked what you meant by calling yourself anti-religious? Do you mean you don’t believe in God?” She thought about it, and said, “No, I think I believe in God. It’s the church I have a problem with.” If I’ve heard that once, friends, I’ve heard it a hundred times. In the next six weeks, we’re going to think and read together about this community called “the church.”

When we look at this very important passage from Matthew, we need to remember the material that comes before it. For 16 chapters, Matthew has written mainly about Jesus’ life and ministry. Sixteen chapters worth of healings, sermons, teaching and increasing conflicts with the religious authorities of his day. In 16 chapters, Jesus has said almost nothing about himself. But at this point, as Jesus is setting his face towards Jerusalem (and Matthew is very clear that Jesus knows exactly what he is heading to, including his death on a cross), it’s almost like he needs to know about his disciples. Do they get it at all??!! Do they understand anything at all about who he is? He has to know.

Now, whether Jesus intended it or not, this is a perfect setting for him to ask the question of his followers. Caesarea Philippi is at the north end of the Sea of Galilee. It is mainly a non-Jewish area, but it is a very spiritual one. Archaeologists tell us that there were at least 14 temples of Baal in the surrounding area, the Canaanite fertility god.

And then there was Pan, the god of nature. It was rumored that Pan had actually been born in this area, and was still worshipped there. In fact, the original name for the city had “pan” right in it. Furthermore, the headwaters of the Jordan River were in this area. And we know how important the Jordan was in the life of the people Israel. And finally, Herod Phillip, the builder of this Caesarea, built a huge, glimmering temple of white marble there, dedicated to Caesar, the allegedly divine Roman emperor. And so it is against this amazing backdrop of spirituality that Jesus asks his questions. 

Now, it strikes me that this is not so different from our culture today. Look at our city…every major religion, and in fact every minor religion is represented here. Probably even just on Queen Anne Hill. But beyond that, you can’t walk into a coffee shop without finding flyers for dianetics, psychic healings, spiritual counseling, or hybrid religions with pieces cut and pasted from various faith traditions. It’s against a backdrop like this that Jesus chooses to finally ask: “Who am I?”

Now the answers he gets are flattering. Some say John the Baptist, the voice of one crying in the wilderness…the forerunner to the Messiah. Others say Elijah, the top of the prophets’ ladder. Many Jewish people believe that the Old Testament book of Malachi says that Elijah will return again just before the Messiah. And in fact, to this day at the celebration of the Jewish Passover, many people put an extra chair at the table for Elijah. And at some point during the meal, they open the front door to see if Elijah is there. If he is, then the Messiah is very near. 

Still others said Jesus was Jeremiah, also rumored to be returning before the appearance of God’s Anointed One. Or perhaps, people said, Jesus was another prophet. As far as we can tell, the prophets, those mouthpieces of God had been silent for over 400 years at this point, and people were saying, “In Jesus we might be hearing God again!” The point is…all the reviews are GOOD! People were saying GOOD things about Jesus!

But what about YOU? Jesus asks. Now, we can’t spend long on this, but there is probably something very instructive here for us in how we talk with others about Jesus. At this point in Matthew, Jesus has been with these guys for about two years. Two years they’ve had to ask questions, to watch Jesus, to look and listen, to consider. We sometimes think if we just take 5 minutes to tell someone the four spiritual laws they ought to convert on the spot. Jesus gives them two years. But there’s something more as well. There also DOES come a time to ask: Who is Jesus?

Now, Peter hits the jackpot with his answer. He nails it, he’s exactly right, he hits the nail on the head. Peter doesn’t get everything right, that’s for sure, but he gets this right. “You? You’re the Christ! [God’s Anointed, the long-awaited, God incarnate, our Savior]. But you’re more…you’re God’s Son [the very essence of God, intimate beyond description]. But not just the Son of any god…not the measly gods of marble, but the Living God. You’re it! You’re the Past (long-awaited Christ), the Present (Son of the Living and active God now) and the Future (the Son of Man who will judge)…all rolled into one…you’re IT!”

To all of that, Jesus responds: “Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes! And blessed are YOU, Simon son of Jonah…because flesh and blood didn’t reveal this to you. In other words, you didn’t sit down and study this out, think about it, mull it over, solve it…no, my Father the one in heaven REVEALED it to you.” And so we see that even Peter’s faith, his trust, his confession… even that comes as a gift from God. And Jesus continues: “As long as you’ve named me, Peter, I’ll name you. You are Peter (petros) and on this rock (petra)…so there’s a little word play here…I will build my church.”

You need to know that this has been a very controversial passage down through the ages. What is this ROCK that Jesus will build his church on? Is it the PERSON of Peter? Or is it the CONFESSION that Peter makes? The Catholic Church has always claimed that it is the person of Peter, and so this is an important scripture as they think about the apostolic succession of church leadership right down to today’s pope. Protestant churches have said “No, it’s not the PERSON, it’s the MESSAGE, the confession that is the rock.” I’ll let you think on that for a moment. Probably there is some truth in both. But the point here is what Peter does. Peter points to Jesus. Jesus is the builder of the church.

That reassures me. Jesus is building the church. That takes us out of the church-building business. Fundraising, bricks, mortar, multipurpose family health centers, chapels…these things aren’t building the church. Jesus is. Jesus says, “I will build my church. NOT “I will build my church with this kind of building, or this kind of structure, or by following this set of by-laws, but “I will build my church,” my ekklesia, that’s the Greek word here, my PEOPLE, my CALLED OUT PEOPLE, my community.” And there is some real mystery here.

Maybe you were thinking that the church was just a voluntary organization that you joined like the Kiwanis Club? No, it’s much more. Maybe you thought it was a location, a building. No, it’s the people. Maybe you thought the church was an institution? Well, it has become that sometimes, but that’s not the most important thing. Maybe you thought the church was something you shopped for, that you tried out in different places around town? Well, you may have visited with different parts of Christ’s called-out-people….but ALL are called by Jesus to be the church.

You are called to be part of this people. When you, at some point in your life, came face to face with Jesus Christ, and realized God was calling you…you were being called to be part of a people. The Bible knows NOTHING about our American individualistic approach to faith. The faith of the Bible includes Jesus calling His church into existence, and we get to be part of that. And so we are not “the church of people who are helpful to others” nor “the church of this or that race” nor “the church of a place, the church of Green Lake.” No, it is the church of Jesus Christ. 

Now, in Minneapolis, I ran across a little storefront church that had this name: “The Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of the Truth Which He Purchased with His Blood…Incorporated!” Now, I originally wrote that down because I thought it was kind of funny. But as I have thought about it this week, I like it more and more. At least it says something of who and whose we are! [I probably could do without the “Incorporated” though!]

This is so important. It is Jesus that is the caller and builder of the church. Whenever we stray off onto other things, whenever anything else becomes primary…we get ourselves into trouble. Jesus builds the church on this Peter, pointing at Jesus and proclaiming who He is. And when you join, when you become a member of a local church like Bethany [and I’m still so amazed that there are so many of us who never have!]…when you join this community, you don’t do it to sign onto a committee, or to mow the grass or whatever. No, when you join you are acknowledging what happened when Christ gave you the gift of faith, when you understood forgiveness, when you were baptized or reaffirmed your baptism…you are remembering that, and intentionally binding yourself together with others whom Christ has also called.

The problem is…that some of you feel an awful lot like that owner of the bookstore up in the San Juans. “God’s cool,” but you don’t like the church.

I’m going to share with you a little pastoral secret: Sometimes I don’t either! In fact, sometimes I’m still surprised that I’ve been called to pastor a church, because I’ve had such a love-hate relationship with the church as an institution. I still go crazy when the institution gets in the way of the gospel. And it does, sometimes. I can look back into history and see the day when so many churches were supporting slavery, on Biblical grounds, and I say, “Oh, God! What were we thinking? It’s so wrong!” Or in our own Presbyterian denomination, I see our Book of Order growing to the point it might be bigger than the Bible, full of all the things we should and shouldn’t do, but at the same time our understanding and heart for missions being so diminished, and I think, “Oh, God, what are we doing?!” And it seems that just when I get discouraged, just when I feel like it’s hopeless…God gives me a picture to encourage me, and remind me what He’s about.

At our church in Minnesota we had a dear friend, Bev Peterson. Bev is a senior citizen now. When she was in her 50s, her husband Bob had a debilitating disease that left him in pain and barely mobile for years. Bev had to work to pay bills and support them for some 12-15 years. And what happened during those years was that four men from the church set up a rotation. Every single day one of them would go over to visit Bob at lunchtime. Make his lunch, talk to him, pray, read to him, then take his wheelchair out around the neighborhood for fresh air. Every day for over twelve years. And when I first heard that story, my heart cried out, “Oh, Lord! This is it! This is your church!”  

Last month I met with one of our missionaries, with his wife. He told me some of the history of how this community helped him discern God’s call, of how he and his wife have received support and friendship and prayer for their ministry over many years. About how when they come back here to visit, there is always a house for them to stay in, and a car to drive. And I listened to him tell this, and I thought, “Oh, God. THIS is how you wanted it to work!” 

Or sometimes I come here to worship on a Sunday morning, like this morning. And I feel it get very quiet, and you can sense the Holy Spirit settle over this community. And one person leads us in prayer, another sings, another shares a word from the Lord, another starts a song, and all of the gifts of God’s people work together, and I think, “Oh, God. This is so good. This is your church!”

And we get to be a part of that. Our part is no different than Peter’s was, really. Our job is to live and speak and act in such a way…that we too point towards Jesus and say “He’s the One!” Jesus is the one, and he’s entrusting to us the job of showing people on earth the way to heaven. He’s the One whom the Gates of Hades, the place of the dead, couldn’t hold, and therefore His called-out-people don’t need to fear those gates either. We tell that to others as we point to Jesus.

I want to leave you with a quote from Leslie Newbigin from the 1950s: He said, “It is surely a fact of inexhaustible significance that what our Lord left behind Him was not a book, nor a creed, nor a system of thought, nor a rule of life…but a visible community.”

It’s Christ who called that community into being. And it’s Christ who calls you and me to be part of His body, the Church. Amen.