From the desk of Pastor Ben
The Invincibility of the Church
“And the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”     (Matthew 16:18b)

With this memorable phrase Jesus clearly declares His church’s invincibility: not even the power of death (“Hades”) can by its “gates” hold God’s redeemed people captive. The formidable doors at the entrance of death are not nearly strong enough to keep God’s church imprisoned. Her Lord and Savior has conquered sin and death on her behalf (Romans 8:2). “Because I live, you will live also,” Christ promised the disciples (John 14:19). Our Lord’s ultimate victory over Satan is so certain that the book of Hebrews speaks of it in the past tense: “Therefore, since the children [believers]  share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14; Acts 2:24; Revelation 1:18).
The apostle Paul upheld the same truth for the Corinthian believers who wavered in their belief in the resurrection:
“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.                         (1Corinthians 15:54c-57)
In view of what Jesus was about to teach the apostles regarding His own death and resurrection and their willingness for self-denial (Matthew 16:21-24), He assures all who would ever believe — the church — that the dreaded shackles of death could never permanently capture them and hold them captive.

Ask Yourself:
How does it change your view of the day ahead to know that nothing — not even death or hell itself — can thwart god’s plans for your life and the lives of His people? How could you exercise this freedom and confidence in practical, specific ways? What fears could it erase?

From the desk of Pastor Ben
The Identity Of Believers
“I will build My church.”        (Matthew 16:18a
Jesus short statement here also emphasizes the identity of His people, “My church.” This is the first New Testament usage of the Greek word ekklesia for “church,” and with no qualifying explanation. So, the disciples would have understood it only in its most commonplace sense as meaning “called out ones” — or as one of its synonyms, such as “assembly,” “community,” or “congregation.” The fact that Christ likely spoke in Aramaic does not change the basic understanding the apostles would have had, namely “an invited gathering,” a term regularly used of synagogue meetings.
After the Day of Pentecost, ekklesia took on a new and technical significance in the epistles (which contain instructions for its proper functioning and leadership), denoting God’s redeemed community established on Jesus Christ by the Spirit’s coming.
The author of Hebrews mentions “the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven” (Hebrews 12:23), speaking of the redeemed throughout the ages. Jesus undoubtedly uses they term “church” here in this same way, as a synonym for citizens of His eternal kingdom (see Matthew 16:19). Therefore, believers today can take great comfort and confidence that Jesus never builds His kingdom apart from His church or His church apart from His kingdom.

Ask Yourself:
How well do you think you understand the central mission and purpose of the church? Would you say your church is built around those core, biblical objectives? How are you living them out as a body, and how could you reposition certain things to do it better?

From the desk of Pastor Ben

The Intimacy of Believers’ Fellowship

“I will build My church.”         (Matthew 16:18a)

In describing the church, Jesus also alludes to the intimacy of the fellowship of believers: it is “My church.” He is the Architect and Lord of His own church. So, He guarantees that believers are His personal possession, eternally under His love and care. Believers constitute Christ’s Body, “purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). As such, they are also one with Him in an intimate, holy fellowship: The one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him” (1 Corinthians 6:17). In that fellowship there is a mutual respect and love, whereby Jesus is not ashamed to call His followers “brethren” (Hebrews 2:11), and God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them” (11:16).

Such close fellowship explains why when people attack the church, they actually attack God Himself. For instance, when the risen and ascended Christ confronted Saul of Tarsus (soon to be Paul) on the Damascus road, He asked, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). By persecuting the saints, Saul had been persecuting Christ as well.

Whether it is the church or His chosen people Israel, God has always closely identified Himself with His own and jealously guarded their well-being. “He who touches you, touches the apple of His eye” (Zechariah 2:8). The front part of the eye, the cornea (or “apple”), is the most sensitive of all the exposed parts of the human body. Harm done to God’s people is like sticking a finger into His eye. That’s why we must nourish the fellowship of the church.

Ask Yourself:
What are some of the things that threaten the intimacy shared between members of the church, between members of God’s family? Seeing how seriously God takes this, what could you do to join Him in restoring the unity and fellowship that’s broken when brothers and sisters collide?

From the desk of Pastor Ben

The Certainty Of The Church

“I will build My church.”         (Matthew 16:18a)

With this brief statement, Jesus points to the certainty of His church. It is the divine promise of the divine Savior, therefore it will be built. Only the Father, through His Son, can produce the godly results that equal the church.

When believers study and obey the Word, walk in the Holy Spirit, and produce the fruit of the Spirit, they can be certain they are where Christ is building His church. They are not the ones who ultimately build the church, but Christ ministers through them to build his church. The true church is always “under construction,” even if Christians in certain local assemblies become complacent or disobedient.

The New Testament clearly asserts the certainty of Christ building His church. He told the people, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me” (John 6:37). Peter told the crowds at Pentecost that the Lord adds to His church “as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself” (Acts 2:39b). When the Gentiles do Antioch heard Paul and Barbara’s, “they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region” (Acts 13:48-49). God’s sovereign choice of those who believed ensured the building of Christ’s church.

Ask Yourself:
How can you attest to the fact that Christ is building the church where you worship and serve on a weekly basis — that it’s not the work of man but the work of God? What have you seen Him do that couldn’t be attributed merely to good planning, hard work, and follow through?

From the desk of Pastor Ben

The Foundation of The Church – Part 2

“I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church.”
                                (Matthew 16:18a)

Christ did not make the foundation for the church Peter or his papal successors. That is clear from what happened shortly after the teaching here. When the apostles asked Him who is the greatest in the kingdom, He placed a small child before them and said, “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:1-4). Had the church’s foundation been the greatness of Peter alone, the apostles would not have asked who is the greatest. Or, if the Twelve had forgotten a previous teaching about Peter as the special rock of the church, Jesus would have reminded them and likely rebuked them for not remembering (Matthew 14:31; John 14:9).

Not long after this, James and John’s mother asked that her sons have the main places of honor in Christ’s future kingdom (Matthew 20:20-21). Such a request would not have been made had these disciples understood that Peter already was Jesus’ most favored apostle as head of His church on earth. Our Lord also did not use this instance of misunderstanding to correct the brothers about the nature of Peter’s supremacy.

Peter himself never claimed a superior rank in the church but simply called himself a “fellow elder” (1 Peter 5:1) and “a bond-servant” (2 Peter 1:1) and warned fellow elders not to lord it over the sheep (1 Peter 5:3). Like all saints, Peter looked for the glory that is yet “to be revealed . . . When the Chief Shepherd appears” (v. 1,4).

Ask Yourself:
Why is Jesus’ servanthood model such a difficult one for us to grasp, much less to live? If this truth were to really take root in you, what changes could you begin making this week, this month, to orient your life toward greater service and sacrifice . . .toward God’s style of greatness?

From the desk of Pastor Ben

The Foundation of the Church – Part 1

“I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church.”
                                (Matthew 16:18a)

Here Jesus addresses Peter as representative of the apostles, which explains two different Greek forms for “rock”: petros for Peter the man and petra for Peter as group spokesman. The foundation of Christ’s church is the apostles as His uniquely appointed teachers of the gospel. Because it is God’s Word that the disciples, and subsequently the true church, always taught, Christ is the cornerstone of its foundation (John 5:39).  Paul declares, “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11; Ephesians 2:20).

The early church gave highest priority, not to the prestige of the apostles as persons or title holders, but rather to their doctrine — “continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42a). Peter himself warned the crowd not to credit him only with the healing of the crippled man: “Why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?” (3:12). He did command the man to walk (vs. 6), but he spoke on God’s behalf and his fellow apostles’ as well as his own.

Because they joined the apostles in proclaiming the gospel, the prophetic teachers of the young church were also part of the church’s foundation. Martin Luther noted that “All who agree with the confession of Peter are Peters themselves setting a sure foundation.” That process continues through believers today, “as living stones . . . Built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5).

Ask Yourself:
Are you ever guilty of taking too much credit for what God accomplishes through you, enjoying the insufficient, temporary fruits of pride, forgetting that you are just a vessel of His goodness and glory? How do you counteract this, and why is it so terribly important to do so?

From the desk of Pastor Ben

The Source of Truth About Jesus – Part 2

“Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
                                (Matthew 16:17b)

Perhaps the greatest source of truth as to Jesus’ identity was His claim to be Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8). Not only the Jews’ week but their entire calendar rested on the concept of sabbath, which means rest or stopping. The 7th day of the week (Exodus 20:11) and every other sabbath observance was a time of rest and worship (see Leviticus 23 and 25).

All 9 sabbath-based events picture the eternal rest of the saints of God, when Messiah comes to earth, frees His people, and establishes His kingdom. So, for Jesus to claim fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1-2, as he did in the Nazareth synagogue (Luke 4:18-21), was clearly to assert messiah-ship. To present Himself the source of rest (Matthew 11:28) meant He was the source of holiness, and to claim lordship of the Sabbath meant He was Lord over everything.

The order to keep the Sabbath day is the only one of the Ten Commandments not binding on Christians today (Colossians 2:16-17; Hebrews 4:3, 9-10). The Lord graciously gives every believer a jubilee liberation, which entails a perfect, final, and eternal rest.

Jesus well summarizes His perfect lordship over all things, including those who know Him and ultimately enjoy His Sabbath rest forever: “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matthew 11:27).

Ask Yourself:
How do you experience God’s eternal rest already in your relationship with Him? In what areas are you inviting turmoil, stress, and chaos even though His rest is available to you? How could you better demonstrate through your lifestyle the rest that God offers His people?

From the desk of Pastor Ben

The Source of Truth About Jesus – Part 1

“Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
                            (Matthew 16:17b)

The teachings and miracles of Jesus, amazing as they were, were not enough by themselves to convince the apostles of their Lord’s rightful identity. In this respect, the disciples were hardly any better, humanly speaking, than the thrill-seeking crowds who heard the same messages and saw the same signs. Human capabilities, represented here by Christ’s expression “flesh and blood,” can’t give us an understanding of divine spiritual truths (1 Corinthians 2:14). God, through the Holy Spirit, must reveal them to us and allow us to understand His Son.

From the gospel narratives we can infer that the Father disclosed His Son primarily through the Son Himself. Nothing suggests that the apostles ever received divine revelation from anyone other than the Lord Jesus. Christ made many astonishing claims about Himself, such as that He came to fulfill the law and the prophets (Matthew 5:17) and that in the last days many would call Him Lord (7:22). He also asserted, “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:51), and, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved” (10:9; 14:6). And along with such teachings, Jesus did numerous amazing miracles (Matthew 4:24; 8:26; John 2:6-11; 11:38-44).

God’s Spirit, through His written Word, still reveals Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to sinners and allows them to confess this to the world and to grow in knowledge of Him (see Romans 8:29; 10:17; 1 Corinthians 15:49).

Ask Yourself:
Why is it so important that God reveals Himself to us, rather than merely leaving us clues that we can piece together on our own? What would be the result of a Christian faith that depended on our ability to figure it out? How can we avoid concluding that we do figure everything out?

From the desk of Pastor Ben
Confessing Jesus

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona.”        (Matthew 16:16-17a)

Finally, the apostles accepted the truth of Jesus’ son ship and messiah-ship beyond question. They would still experience times of failing and bewilderment (Matthew 8:26; 14:31) regarding what He said and did, but they would have no further doubt about who said the words or performed the deeds. The Holy Spirit had confirmed the truth of Jesus’ identity in their hearts and minds. Without question, the apostles now knew Christ was the fulfilled of their hopes, the source of their salvation, and the desire of all nations.

Some of the things the disciples later said and did demonstrated that they did not at this time fully understand the Trinity or the full nature and work of Christ. But they knew He was truly the Messiah and truly the Son of God. “Son” here, reflects the concept of oneness in essence — a son is one in nature with his father. Therefore, Christ was and is one in nature with the Father (John 5:17-18).

People who confess that Jesus is God, which means to genuinely agree that He is Lord and Savior (1 John 4:14-15), the Father will eternally bless them (Ephesians 1:3-5). God pours out all His powerful, all-sufficient resources on those who come to Him through saving faith in His Son, because through the Son they become the Father’s own children.

Ask Yourself:
Try to count the blessings that have been poured into your life since you acknowledged Jesus as Lord, remembering that blessings are not the only things that make you feel happy and energized, but rather the positive, eternally beneficial aspects of God’s mercy and favor.

July 11
From the desk of Pastor Ben

Examining Jesus’ Identity – Part 3

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
                                (Matthew 16:16)

Here, Simon Peter was again the spokesman for the disciples. In a concise and emphatic manner, with no hesitation, Peter declared Jesus to be the Messiah.

Peter’s fellow disciples had paved the way for his decisive identification of our Lord. Andrew had enthusiastically proclaimed Him to be the Messiah, and Nathaniel had called Him “the Son of God . . . The King of Israel” (John 1:49). The apostles also knew that John the Baptist testified to Jesus’ being the Son of God (1:34), and the more time they spent with Him, the more they were convinced of His divine nature, power, and authority.

However, the apostles, like their fellow Jews, had long expected a conquering and reigning Messiah who would defeat Israel’s enemies and establish His righteous, eternal kingdom on earth. And when Jesus’ humility, meekness, and servant leadership failed to match up with that pre-conceived picture, it tended to delay the Twelve’s confident conclusion concerning His real identity and role. That Messiah would experience so much opposition and suffering, not to mention eventual execution, was inconceivable to them (John 14:5). But now, they were all (except Judas Iscariot) ready to stand firmly on the truth of Peter’s ringing confession of faith.

Ask Yourself:
Does your confidence ever waver concerning who Christ is? If so, what are the most common conditions that bring about such doubts? If you were to start with the unshakable belief that Jesus is truly the Son of God, how would that change your reaction to these doubt-inducers?