What Jesus Demands of the World – Lesson 20

Demand #45 – Do This in Remembrance of Me, for I Will Build My Church

[ Jesus] 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 Bar-Jonah! 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, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
—Matt. 16:15-18

Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
—Matt. 28:19

And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.
—Luke 24:49

“I Will Build My Church”
I hope that you understand that when Jesus promises to build His church that he means us. That is the living stones that He builds together to make His body or “church”. He gathers a people who trust him as their Lord (John 13:13; 20:28) and Savior (John 3:17; 10:9). Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:14-16).

The Shepherd is creating His flock. He also says that the Kingdom is like a net that “gathered fish of every kind” (Matt. 13:47). Think of the Kingdom of God not as a physical territory or a race of people but as a rule or reign. The King is building His kingdom and during this time there are other unfaithful persons present. In a parable Jesus said, “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while” (Luke 20:9). Jesus planned on being gone a while prior to His return but He made provision for us. He made provision for His church.

Jesus Took Care to Provide for the Church Though the Holy Spirit
Jesus established a framework along with the sacraments to guide us. He sent the Holy Spirit to each of us and through the Holy Spirit inspired the Scripture and provided additional guidance for the church. He said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18) and “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17). We have one God, one essence, but in three persons so we each can have access.
“Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled”
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27).

Jesus Provides a New Testament for His Church
The Apostles served the early church in teaching and leadership. So “Israel” according to the promises of God moved through that phase in which they had 12 Apostles rather than 12 tribes. After Judas left, Jesus said: I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (John 16:12-14) He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (John 14:26). I don’t find the argument very instructive regarding the Acts 1 selection of Matthias or God’s selection of Paul. God in His Grace and mercy used Paul as an apostle. We don’t know what happened to Matthias. Maybe the 11 jumped the gun. God worked it out either way and we have the New Testament to guide us today.

Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus responded, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! 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, and the gates of hell 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” (Matt. 16:15-19). So in a positive way, Peter (the pebble) well be used to build the church on the boulder of the revelation of Jesus as Messiah along with all who share the revelation. This will contrast with the Pharisees who shut up heaven and won’t go in themselves and serve their father the devil since Peter and the others will unlock the revelation and bind the enemy. The spiritual revelation is shared to build the kingdom.

The Spirit and the Word Are Inseparable
We have both the Holy Spirit and Scripture. We wouldn’t try to separate them. That would be foolish. No one may grasp Scripture rightly apart from the Holy Spirit. All sorts of errors and cults have appeared (and regularly reappear) when Scripture bent to some human perversion. They work together and never apart. Any teaching or “revelation” is always held up to the standard (or plumb line) of Scripture.

People are moved by the Holy Spirit to feed on Scripture and make it part of them. “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).

Although the early Church held councils regarding the canon of Scripture, the early Church did not make Scripture to be Scripture. The early Church simply recognized that Scripture was Scripture. This may seem like a small distinction but it is crucial to understanding why we reject teaching, even historic teaching by the church fathers, if it deviates from Scripture. The Church, and no leader in the Church, has the authority to modify or alter Scripture. It is sin to modify or alter Scripture. And I can’t tell you how happy I am that I can teach that without risking my life because many have died for that principle (Sola Scriptura).



Demand #46 – Do This in Remembrance of Me – Baptize Disciples and Eat the Lord’s Supper

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
—Matt. 18:15-17

And [ Jesus] said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
—Luke 22:15-20

How Jesus Demands That We Handle Sin in the Church
The first part of this chapter deals with Church discipline. As Christ builds His Church we’ll occasionally need to deal with unrepentant sin in the Church. I mentioned a few weeks ago that you may have secret sin but there is no such thing as private sin because we are one body. However, at this point, I’m talking about public sin that is not repented of. The person will not repent of the sin even when faced with multiple individuals who are asking for the sin to be repented of. So the person is sinning and is in your fellowship and will not stop. Then, Jesus says, let them be as a Gentile or tax collector. You greet them. You don’t “shun” them. You are not hostile. You are pleasant but they can’t be part of your fellowship. For example, you wouldn’t share the Lord’s Supper with them. You wouldn’t baptize them if they hadn’t been baptized yet. We don’t do Church discipline very well. We try to do this and sometimes I think we are making progress. Culturally we have difficulties with the concept and folks generally get mad and leave.

Go, Make Disciples, Baptizing Them
We recently went over baptism as an ordinance or sacrament. Just before Jesus ascended into heaven, He said we should “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). Baptism is integral to discipleship so we do place appropriate emphasis on it as Baptists. John the Baptist ruffled feathers (a polite way to express the rage that got his head cut off) by teaching that an outward sign was required of the Jews to show that they were the people of the Messiah. To the claim of simple inheritance as Abrahams offspring, John replied, “Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham” (Matt. 3:9). As John indicated, there is a difference between true believers and mere descendants of believers.

I think one of the most permanent changes in my mind from our study of baptism a few months ago is the understanding of the symbolism of the water as the wrath and judgment of God (1 Peter 3:20-21). This is the only verse that points at a direct meaning for baptism and it is Noah’s flood.

As Jesus practiced baptism, it was a mark of conversion and outward sign of an inward and spiritual event. It corresponds most closely to Justification since it is once for all and is not a repeated ordinance or sacrament.

“Do This in Remembrance of Me”
We have also recently taken an in depth look at the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper. In the Lord’s Supper Jesus altered and modified Passover. It was a completion and fulfillment of Passover. He said, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood’” (Luke 22:19-20). It is our Passover in which Jesus is our Passover lamb (Exod. 12:13, 23).

How Is the Cup and Bread the Blood and Body of Jesus?
Piper is careful to present a view of the bread and cup that is purely commemorative and symbolic. He is also careful to say ordinance and not sacrament. When we did our in depth study I indicated that I think more happens than a memorial meal. I think we are spiritually in communion in a special way and that is why the warnings about communion are so serious. It is spiritual and not physical. There is no confusion between the physical and spiritual Body of Christ.

There is nothing of what I would call idolatry. Dropping and spilling are not tragedies. Stewart doesn’t need to eat and drink all the leftovers to avoid disposing of the body and blood of Christ. But in my view it is clearly more than “just” a memorial meal. When you partake unworthily, you are doing a dangerous thing.

The Demand of Jesus: Be the Church
What we are and what we do as a Church has been planned and directed by Jesus. We are not the product of a “plan b” after Jesus failed. We are the product of the Grace of God and His Sovereign plan being worked out in the world. Jesus is on mission in the world today building His church and as we pray for the unsaved and share the Gospel we are on mission with Him.