The Builder of the Church

Jim ButlerMatthew 16:13–18

Matthew 16:13–18 raises the question Jesus himself poses: 'Who do you say that I am?' This sermon works through three movements in the passage — the question of Christ's identity, Peter's confession and the divine grace that produced it, and the establishment and indestructibility of the church Christ is building. The sermon engages the Roman Catholic and Protestant dispute over the rock on which the church is founded, arguing from John Owen and J.C. Ryle that the rock is the person of Christ whom Peter confessed, not Peter himself. The chief application is that Christ — not human ingenuity, celebrity, or programme — owns, builds, protects, and defines the conduct of his church, and that faithfulness, not fantastical success, is what he requires of his people.