What Is the Rock the Church is Built upon?

What Is the Rock the Church is Built upon?

by | Jan 17, 2016 | Difficult Scriptures

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Scripture in Focus: “ And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18).  
 
There are two traditional answers to the question of who or what was the rock Christ referred to in Matthew 16:18.  Some Christians believe that Jesus was speaking to Peter, and so Peter is the rock the church would be built upon.  Other Christians believe that because the Greek word for the “rock” the Church would be built upon is petra – a “large rock” or “foundation” – and Peter’s name was petros, meaning a small rock or pebble in Greek – Christ could hardly have been speaking of Peter and must have been speaking of himself when he said “on this rock ….” (see Ephesians 2:20, etc.).

But there is another possibility which perhaps fits the context of this verse better than either of these two options, and which may be closer to the true meaning of Jesus’ words.  When we look at the context of Christ’s saying, we find it was part of a larger conversation he was having with Peter:

… Jesus … asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”  Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”   Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.  And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”  Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah (Matthew 16:13-20).

The conversation begins and ends with the concept of Christ’s identity – Jesus first asks his disciples who people thought he was, and who they thought he was, then, after discussing the answers they gave, he closes the discussion by telling his disciples not to tell people who he was. When we keep this clear context of the conversation in mind, we see the subject of the whole exchange was “Who is Jesus?”

The crux of the conversation occurs when Peter volunteers “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), and it is then that Jesus confirms this assessment with an exclamation that can be summarized as “exactly!”  Jesus then told Peter that this was the “rock” or “foundation” – we might say “foundational truth” – on which his Church would be built:  the fact that he was the promised Messiah, the one through whom salvation would come.

Jesus also continued with another thought about binding and loosing, probably meaning that his Church would have the power to interpret the laws of the Bible in a manner similar to the “binding’ and “loosing” power the rabbis of that age exercised to permit or forbid things (to interpret the Scriptures rather than to make new laws or annul old ones). But the fact that the focus of this statement was not entirely Peter is clear in the fact that later, addressing all the disciples, Jesus repeated the same words, “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18).
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Whatever the exact nature of the “keys of the kingdom of heaven” and the “binding and loosing” was, Jesus returned to the subject of their discussion and closed the conversation by stressing that although he was indeed the Messiah – a fact that would form the basis of his Church – the disciples were not to reveal that truth until the time was right.   

A New World Watch List

A New World Watch List

by | Jan 14, 2016 | Persecution, The Church & the World

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Yesterday,  Open Doors, the Christian aid organization serving the persecuted Church, published its updated “World Watch List” ranking the top 50 persecuting countries in the world.  The Watch List is an excellent resource for churches and individuals to see where the most intense needs currently are and summarizing the situation regarding the persecution of believers around the globe.

The list is an important, though sobering publication. The fact that there are a top fifty persecuting nations to list is saddening enough, and the top listed nations among the fifty are guilty of persecution in the extreme.  Perhaps not surprisingly, North Korea maintains its top-persecuting rank, and Iraq and the African nation of Eritrea now take second and third place, respectively. 

The report does not just rank the most persecuting nations, however – it shows where there has been an increase or decrease in a given nation’s ranking, and provides other useful information. For example, although most people are aware of the incredible level of persecution being inflicted on Christian populations by Islamic extremists, the report helpfully indicates other aspects of this situation that we might not be aware of – such as the fact that  as  legitimate governments became more fearful of burgeoning Islamic extremism, they themselves are often responding by either boosting nationalism as a counterforce or tightening regulations and increasing surveillance over all religious expression.

There are some glimmers of hope. Some few countries have been downranked – such as Syria, which is down from 4th to 5th place, and Somalia, which is down from 3rd to 7th place – but in a number of these cases the downgrading is a result of the mass exodus of Christians rather than any improvement in conditions.  At least one country – Mauritania – has been removed from the list, but it has simply been replaced by another country where persecution is growing.   

Overall, the picture painted by the new World Watch list is one of growing severe and extreme persecution, and Open Doors is to be thanked for the work they put into carefully monitoring and documenting the escalating situation. The list is itself a powerful weapon in raising awareness and enabling informed reaction to the problem of intensifying worldwide persecution, and we would highly recommend it to every believer.  The Watch List can be freely download from the Open Doors website here , and  we urge you to familiarize yourself with the list and to use it for prayer and action on behalf of the millions of persecuted believers around the world.

*You can read an interview with David Curry, President and CEO of Open Doors, on our sister site, LivingWithFaith.org, here. 

Alternative History

Alternative History

by | Jan 10, 2016 | Discipleship

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​“God, who … calls those things which do not exist as though they did” (Romans 4:17  NKJV).

​In his Hugo Award winning science fiction novel, The Man in the High Castle,  Philip K. Dick created a “what if” world showing what the United States might have become if the assassination of President Roosevelt had occurred, and this event had eventually led to the American loss of  World War II and the United States being taken over by Germany and Japan. 

Although the author of this novel was apparently a somewhat unorthodox believer, it is clear that he was interested in the Bible and knew many of its characters and stories.  This is interesting because at its heart, the kind of “alternative history” genre that The Man in the High Castle pioneered is, in a sense, based on a profoundly biblical idea. In the Bible we see many examples of God comparing what might have been with what actually was – often well in advance of the events which triggered alternative histories. Even from the beginning we find the Genesis narrative giving two possible events based on obedience and disobedience to God – and their subsequent very different outcomes (Genesis 2:16-17).  

When God was about to lead the people of Israel into the land he had promised them, he also presented them with two possible histories: one based on obedience and one on disobedience – two divergent histories of blessings and curses:

“See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient … you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess” (Deuteronomy 30:15-18).

In the same way, we find the prophets of God continually reminding Israel of the history they had given up in favor of the history of rebellion, defeat and punishment they had chosen (Jeremiah 17:5-8, 21:8-10, etc.). The story has continued throughout history as we know it, of course.  Left to ourselves, we humans have usually chosen the wrong path and made history what it is. Yet the word of God shows a carefully prepared and executed plan which made possible a switch from the disastrous history humans have chosen to one which will eventually bring them a far better reality (Revelation 21:1-7).  

In The Man in the High Castle, a single event – the assassination of the American president – led to a different history.  The alternative histories of what is now and what God plans for humanity are also affected by individual events. The story of Eden in Genesis  tells us of the first defining event for human history which created one outcome, but the stories of the birth, temptation, and sacrificial death of Christ told in the four Gospels show other defining events which have made possible a truly alternative history.

When we understand this, we come to see something about our own lives:  we too have the opportunity to construct alternate history.  Every time we choose to either turn away from wrong or to embrace it, to do good or not to do good, we construct an alternative reality.  We make our own part of history – and that of those around us –  better or worse.  In this sense, we have the God-given ability to create our own story, to choose our own history,  to make history different for ourselves and for others in our every word and every deed. 
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What alternate history will you make this year? 

Cutting Back to Move Forward

Cutting Back to Move Forward

by | Jan 2, 2016 | Growth

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“Therefore … let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1 ESV).

Every New Year an astonishing number of people in the Western world resolve to lose weight and to make their health, appearance and lives more what they want them to be. Every year the vast majority of those tens of millions of people fail.  Most resolutions only last a month or so  – if that – and “I want to lose weight” becomes “I wanted to lose weight, but …”.

In talking about laying aside the extra weight, the author of Hebrews wasn’t talking about physical weight, of course, but about stripping away things that affect us in the race which we run.  The same can be said about all kinds of racing – from sailboats to cycles: the less non-essential weight we pull, the less we are slowed down.

That’s a principle that can affect us as we go into a new year, also – again, not in terms of physical weight, but the weight of responsibilities and activities that slow us and give us less time for more important things. Each year many of us make resolutions to try to do better at some of the things that are important to us – perhaps to spend more time in prayer, study, or service.  But adding more things to do to an already full “to do” list is often doomed from the outset.

Yet we try.  For example, here in the United States it is estimated that about 40% of Americans make New Year’s resolutions – but only about 8% of those who make resolutions say they are successful in carrying them out.  It’s certainly not for the lack of desire, but one of the leading reasons people give for failed resolutions is simply lack of time – the discouragement of trying to add an extra physical workout or daily Bible study session to an already overloaded day.

That’s where running lighter comes in.  The quickest, most effective way to run faster, more easily, more effectively, is to drop non-essential weight. The way to live more easily, more effectively, is often to drop non-essential things that slow us down.  Here’s where it comes down to resolutions.  A recent study of successful resolution makers found an interesting similarity between people from many different backgrounds and lifestyles:  those who were most successful in adding something they desired to their lives were very often the ones who dropped or cut back some non-essential in order to do it.

It’s the simplest of principles, but it’s one that works.  If you would like to really make progress in a good direction this year, why not resolve to add something you know you need in life – more time with the Book, more time in prayer, more time in helping others, or whatever. But if you don’t want to become one of the 92% who resolve but fail – drop something else. It might mean less time in front of the television or the computer, less time texting or shopping, or any number of things that take your daily time.  It can be anything that could be trimmed back a little, cut down some.    
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The fact is, if you are careful to drop something for everything you resolve to add, cut back something for everything new you want to do, your chances of success are increased dramatically.  So if you have wanted to do more in some aspect of your Christian life, try doing less in some other area of your day and see how it helps.  

The Gifts the Wise Men Gave

The Gifts the Wise Men Gave

by | Dec 20, 2015 | Giving, Relationships, Updates

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Although many give gifts to each other at this time of year, supposedly in honor of the gifts the Magi or “wise men” gave to Jesus, perhaps we can find a timely reminder in that story of the focus of those individuals who gave gifts to Christ.

We really don’t know how many wise men brought gifts to the young Jesus (it’s only tradition that there were three of them), where they came from (other than “the East”), or even when they came (the New Testament shows it could have been up to two years after the actual birth of Jesus when they arrived at the house in which he was living).  The one thing we do know for sure is what the gifts were that they gave to the young Jesus: “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11).

The three types of gift (the origin of the tradition that there were three wise men) were all illustrious ones, and perhaps the most expensive, by weight, that could be given in that ancient culture. It’s easy to understand that gold was considered a gift fit for kings. Frankincense was an expensive fragrance used in the making of incense offered in the Temple (Leviticus 2:1-2) and was thus a fitting gift to be given to a priest (Hebrews 4:14-16). Myrrh was another expensive fragrance which was often used in embalming the dead – as it was for Jesus (John 19:39-40). In that sense it was a fitting gift to one destined to die for humankind. Whether these symbolic aspects were realized by the wise men or not, the three gifts were all certainly appropriate for the king and priest who was born to die.

Although those physical gifts are not ones that we can give directly, the New Testament does show that just as the gold, frankincense and myrrh had symbolic associations, if we choose, we too can offer things in our own lives that are associated with the same gifts. 

Faith: 1 Peter 1:7 tells us: “These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” Rather than  gold, we can give the better gift of faith.

Relationship with God: The Book of Revelation refers to the prayers of the saints as fragrant incense before God: “Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne” (Revelation 8:3-4). The incense offered to God on the heavenly altar is directly associated with the prayers that we can offer.

Relationship with others:  2 Corinthians 2:14-16 says, “But thanks be to God, who… uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life.” Just as the pleasing fragrance of myrrh could be used in contexts of life and death, our walk before others can be a pleasing fragrance of life to those who can appreciate it. 

So we can give, if we so choose, the symbolic equivalents of the gifts the wise men gave to Christ. If we let it, the story of their gift-giving can inspire us to develop, through God’s grace, our underlying faith, our relationship with God himself, and our relationship with others. Even those of us who might feel we have little to give can give even better gifts – that may please the Son of God even more – than the gifts the wise men gave. 

*Reproduced from a December 2014 post on our sister site, LivingWithFaith.org