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“If you’re able, please stand.” Reading Matt. 16:13–20. “Thanks be to God.”
A recent Gallup poll[1] told us some things we could have guessed. It was a poll evaluating how we perceive the “Honesty and Ethics” of various professionals. In the “very high/high” nurses rate the highest (75%). Members of Congress not so much (7%).
What about “Clergy”? The interesting thing with “clergy” was the change. A lot of professionals hadn’t changed much in 50 years. But “clergy” went from 61% rating them very high/high in 1977 to 27% in 2025.
Or you can look at headlines and news stories that involve Christians and churches. These stories don’t tend to celebrate great acts of service and sacrifice. Almost always it’s scandals and moral failures. These are nothing new to the church.
Another issue in our day is a basic apathy about the church. It’s one more institution, one more organization, one more very human organization. Basically, like those community drum circles you see at Pullen Park in Raleigh or other parks. A group of like-minded people gathering around a common hobby—but nothing more to it, nothing eternal, nothing powerful, nothing that will endure after the sun falls from the sky and the world is remade.
But for all the plainness of a church, all the humanity of a church, if the gathering is a true church and made up of true Christians, then it is “awesome as an army with banners” (Song 6:4, 10).
It is a gathering of warriors and champions. Truly, it is a gathering of kings and queens who fellowship with the only living God of the Universe. It is an outpost of the kingdom of heaven right here in Apex or Willow Spring or Fuquay-Varina.
Super-powers will come and go, nuclear warships can look intimidating, but Christ’s church will stand forever and possesses a power that can withstand the very gates of hell.
This morning we begin our series on the church. Part of the goal, as you can tell, is simply to think rightly about what we’re doing here as the church. It’s easy to let our thoughts become small when we think about the church, as if something inconsequential is happening. We need to lift our gaze and see what we really are.
Another goal is to build some convictions about church membership. What does it mean to be a member of a church, and who should be a member? If Christ’s church is such an eternal and powerful organization, how do we think about who’s in and who’s out? Who decides these things?
Last December we sent out a proposal for how to think about children in our church with respect to membership. As we had conversations with several of you about that, we felt it would be good to (1) hold off any change to our membership policy to the fall. But also to (2) do a series on the church and teach on some things we haven’t hit or haven’t hit for a while.
Today the new element is addressing the phrase, “the keys the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus said that he gave to the church “the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” What does that mean? As we work through Matthew 16 we’ll think about that this morning.
Sermon: (1) The Confession; (2) The Church; (3) The Keys.
Prayer – TFC GA, Iran, Cornerstone
Read Matt. 16:13–17.
The minimalistic confessions: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah.
John the Baptist after Herod had him killed:
King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” (Mark 6:14)
Other said Elijah. Makes sense, since Elijah performed such extraordinary miracles. And the OT ends with a promise that Elijah shall come “before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes” (Malachi 4:5).
Jeremiah possibly because Jeremiah was “a prophet of doom” (R.T. France, Matthew, NICNT, 616).
All these people are seeing something in Jesus, but not nearly enough. Then Jesus asks, “Who do y’all say that I am?” (2p plural “you”).
Peter answers for “the disciples” (whether just the 12 or more is unclear).
“You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matt 6:16).
“The Christ” = The promised Messiah, the anointed One.
“The Son of the Living God” = Not just a son of God but THE SON. Peter was there at Jesus’s baptism when God the Father said from the heavens,
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt 3:17).
This is the eternal Son of God with a unique relationship with the Father, and the Son who fully pleased the Father.
The confession of the church (Christ!) is a confession that “my Father who is in heaven” must “reveal.” We don’t figure it out. It’s “revealed” to us.
Application:
A true church always starts with a true confession of the true Christ.
Read Matt. 16:18.
With Peter’s confession, Christ redirects the conversation in unexpected ways. He begins to say some really important things about the church.
First, there’s the name. This is the first mention of the church by name in the New Testament.
The word is ekklēsia. In some ways it’s a simple word that means “a gathering.” It was used in secular Greek to speak of various types of “gatherings” of people.
In the Greek Old Testament it was used when Israel “gathered” before YAHWEH. “The assembly” is how it was translated sometimes.
Then Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished, in the ears of all the assembly (ekklēsia) of Israel: (Deut 31:30)
This word makes sense when “the church” being referred to is a “gathering of Christians” intentionally coming together as a local church.
But the word is also used of “the church” more broadly. Like here in Matthew 16:18. Jesus saying, “On this rock I will build my church,” means far more than a single, individual gathering of Christians somewhere. It’s the WHOLE PEOPLE OF GOD.
And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Eph 1:22–23)
Clearly, “the church” here does not mean an individual gathering of Christians in one particular area. It means all of us who are the people of God, set apart for Christ.
The reminds us of the interesting formulation of ekklēsia. It’s a compound word, made up of “called” (kaleō) and “out of” (ek). The word itself is like a one-word definition of what the church is. It’s the people who are “called out” from among the people of the earth to belong to God.
Usually, it’s bad practice to look at the parts of a Greek word and use them to define the word. Sometimes you do like in the word philadelphia from Romans 12:10. It means “brotherly love” or “brotherly affection,” because that’s what the parts of the word means. But usually, it’s bad practice.
Yet, with ekklēsia it’s almost like there was a change. It started as a typical word for “gathering.” But then it took on the sense of its parts, “the called-out ones.”
Second, there’s the place of Peter.
In this verse Jesus also calls out the unique role that Peter will play: “On this rock I will build my church” (Matt 16:18). The name “Peter” (Petros) sounds like the word for “rock” (petra). In Mark 3:16 when Jesus called the Twelve it says his name was “Simon” but Jesus gave him the name “Peter.” He was named (Petros) for what he was—“the rock” (petra).
Peter as “this rock” has to do with his unique place in the early church. In those first few chapters of the book of Acts, Peter’s place is really important. He’ll preach the Pentecost sermon in Acts 2. Be part of miracles and bearing witness to Christ in Acts 3–5. In Acts 10–11 he’ll preach the gospel to the Gentile Cornelius.
All of these moments are important for the development of the early church. They remind us of Peter’s place as the leader of the early church. But beginning in chapter 11, his place begins to fade. Peter is mentioned 55x in Acts, but not once after Acts 15:7. It’s not that he did anything wrong. It’s just that he had fulfilled that call of being the initial “rock” for the church.
Third, there’s two massive promises made about the church.
Then we see Christ make two really important promises. First, “I will build my church” (Matt 16:18). Whose church is it? Christ’s church! What will he do with his church? He will build it. He calls us to “build one another up” as brothers and sisters in the church, too (1 Thess 5:11). Yet, it’s Christ’s promise that is the reason our “building up” can be successful.
Behind and beneath and above and within all that we do is Christ’s own work.
Then is the second promise: “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18). There is no greater enemy to our life in the church than the devil himself. But Christ promises that even “the gates of hell” will not destroy the church or the people of God.
Nehemiah Coxe (ca. 1650–1689), a London pastor and theologian from the 1600s:
In this [promised vengeance against] the Serpent there is not only implied a Promise of raising up a Savior of the Seed of the Woman…but also of propagating and preserving a Church in the World that should be Heirs of that Salvation, and should maintain a spiritual War with Satan and his Kingdom, which on their part should end in perfect Conquest and Victory…. But although this was done by himself alone, yet was it not for himself only, but for his Body the Church, of which every true Believer is a Member, and shall certainly obtain Victory through the Faith of his Name. And against this Church the Gates of Hell can never prevail, but a Church there ever shall be in the World, so long as the World continues, and ever was since the first Promise [in Genesis 3:15], though maligned and persecuted by the Devil and wicked Men.
Nehemiah Coxe, A Discourse of the Covenants that God Made with Men Before the Law[2]
Armed with these promises and this commissioning, Peter is given something else, “the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” Read Matt 16:19–20.
What are “the keys”?
A couple New Testament verses help us to see. Revelation 3:
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.’” (Rev 3:7)
And then in Luke 11 in Jesus’s teaching:
“Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” (Luke 11:52)
“The keys of the kingdom of heaven” have to do with the authority and power to open and close gates, gates that allow or prevent people from entering “the kingdom of heaven.”
The context of Matthew 16 is helpful. What has happened in this passage? Peter has made a true confession from his heart about who Jesus really is. What is the result of that? He has entered “the kingdom of heaven.”
Through a right profession of faith, anyone can enter the kingdom of heaven. To such a person the door is wide open.
But anyone like the “people” in Matt. 16:13–14 who say Jesus is only John the Baptist reincarnated or a miracle worker or a prophet? Such a confession gains you no access to the kingdom of heaven. You are locked out. To you the door is shut.
So, one aspect of “the keys” is the preaching of the gospel.
The Heidelberg Catechism Q 83 summarizes the keys this way:
What are the keys of the kingdom?
A. The preaching of the holy gospel and Christian discipline toward repentance. Both of them open the kingdom of heaven to believers and close it to unbelievers.
The Heidelberg Catechism, Q 83
The church isn’t the kingdom, but the church is like an outpost of the kingdom. Some have used the analogy of an embassy (e.g., Jonathan Leeman, Greg Gilbert). When you travel to another country, it’s possible to go to the US Embassy in that country if you get in a real jam. Once you get inside the embassy, you’re on American soil. In terms of citizenship and legal protections, it’s as if you’re in one of the 50 states of the US.
The kingdom of God has to do with God’s rule as King. Wherever there is a person who has submitted to God’s rule as King over their lives, the kingdom of God is present. In the church are people who have submitted to God as King. The kingdom of God is here and it’s “at hand” (Matt 4:17). But it’s not interchangeable with the church.
But the church contains the evangelists for the world. Those who preach the true gospel that enables people to enter the kingdom of heaven. Preaching is the way we open the door for the world to enter in.
Romans 10:
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Rom 10:9–10)
All those who respond in faith are citizens of heaven, not just citizens of earth.
First thing is preaching. Did you notice a second thing in Heidelberg?
What are the keys of the kingdom?
A. The preaching of the holy gospel and Christian discipline toward repentance. Both of them open the kingdom of heaven to believers and close it to unbelievers.
The Heidelberg Catechism, Q 83
“Christian discipline” is a second aspect of “the keys of the kingdom.”
You can see this in Matthew 18:
“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. 16 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. 17 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.
18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matt 18:15–20)
Jesus begins the passage talking about church discipline. If a brother sins, go to him and tell him his fault. If he repents, great. If not, it escalates. Bring one or two others. If he repents, great. If not, it escalates. Tell the church. If he repents, great. If not, there’s a final step where you remove the brother from the church.
And then Jesus uses language just like in the passage about “the keys of the kingdom of heaven”: “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt 18:18).
Binding (deō) and loosing (luō) can mean something physical, like when you bind something with rope or untie it and let it free (Matt 21:2).
It can also have the sense of moral obligation. Paul in 1 Corinthians 7 uses the language to refer to being “bound” (deō) to a wife or “free” (luō) from a wife, using the same verbs (1 Cor 7:27).
The verbs in Matthew 16 and 18 should really be translated, “will have been bound in heaven” and “will have been loosed in heaven.” The idea is that when the church is thinking right and acting right and makes a good decision on a church discipline matter, its decision has already been made in heaven itself.
God will guide the church in its decision, and what it decides will have already been decided by heaven itself.
The important thing here is this: There is a profound connection between what the church decides in a discipline matter and what is decided in heaven by God himself. Once again, this is part of what it means that Christ has given to the church “the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”
In a real and sobering way, the church represents God’s own authority and God’s law in the world today. We do this under Christ’s own authority—he’s “the head” of the church, “the church” is “the body of Christ.” And we do it submitted to God’s Word—his word is where we learn what true righteousness and justice are.
But submitted to Christ and submitted to his holy Word, we represent God’s authority and law in the world today.
The church is an Ambassador, a Foreign Diplomat, explaining to the world what the requirements are to become a citizen of this heavenly kingdom.
We are gatekeepers letting people in and keeping people out—as they accept the true gospel or reject it.
This trickles down to very practical matters like church membership. The church has the big picture responsibility of defining the true gospel for the world around us.
But then there’s the practical side of it where each church must decide who its members are. And since the church is to be an outpost of the kingdom of heaven, its members must first and foremost be citizens of heaven. They must be Christians.
Now the Bible is clear that only God knows the heart. Only God is omniscient. And yet still, a church must decide if a person is a Christian and can join a particular church.
It’s clear from the Bible, that we generally take people’s word, and we can see something of their heart from their words and actions.
The same is true with closing the doors, excommunication. The Bible assumes that we can judge actions and remove people from the church for their words and deeds (Titus 3:10)—even though only God is omniscient.
Part of the church using the keys of the kingdom is opening the doors to the church to the right people and also closing them with excommunication when it’s appropriate.
We do this submitted to God’s Word and under his authority. And in our church, we do it through the leadership of the elders. But with those caveats, we are still to use the keys of the kingdom.
The true church is built on a true confession of the true Christ. Christ will build his church, and the very gates of hell shall not destroy it. That church is entrusted with the responsibility and authority of the keys of the kingdom.
So, take heart. Being part of “the church of God” is being part of something eternal, powerful, and secure. Any given day or year might be rough. But the end is settled. As Nehemiah Coxe said, it will “end in perfect Conquest and Victory.”
I’ll close with a quote from John Stott:
If the church is central to God’s purpose, as seen in both history and the gospel, it must surely also be central to our lives. How can we take lightly what God takes so seriously? How dare we push to the circumference what God has placed at the center? No, we shall seek to become responsible church members, active in some local manifestation of the universal church. We shall not be able to acquiesce in low standards which fall far short of the New Testament ideals for God’s new society….If instead we keep before us the vision of God’s new society as his family, his dwelling place and his instrument in the world, then we shall constantly be seeking to make our church’s worship more authentic, its fellowship more caring and its outreach more compassionate. In other words, we shall be ready to pray, to work and if necessary to suffer in order to turn the vision into a reality.
John R. W. Stott, The Message of Ephesians[3]
Prayer and closing song.
[1] Full results: https://news.gallup.com/poll/700736/nurses-continue-lead-honesty-ethics-ratings.aspx.
[2] Coxe, A Discourse (1681), 39.
[3] Stott, The Message of Ephesians, BST (IVP Academic, 2021), 129–30.
Here are some other recent messages.
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