Matthew 16: Kingdom Foundations

Jesus reveals the fundamental truth that will become the foundation of His church and teaches the disciples about what it truly means to follow Him as King.

• The importance of building our faith on a proper foundation
• Jesus warns about the "yeast" of false teaching from religious leaders
• Peter's confession that Jesus is "the Messiah, the Son of the living God"
• Jesus declares this truth will be the rock upon which He builds His church
• The distinction between Peter (the man) and the foundational truth he proclaimed
• Jesus begins explaining His coming death and resurrection
• Peter rebukes Jesus and is strongly corrected
• The cost of discipleship: denying yourself and taking up your cross
• Faith built on truth rather than feelings or experiences

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Chapters

• 0:48 Introduction to Kingdom Foundation
• 5:19 The Importance of Solid Foundations
• 8:39 The Pharisees Demand a Sign
• 12:36 Peter's Confession: The Messiah Revealed
• 14:25 Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection
• 15:44 The Foundation of True Faith

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, matthew, chapter 16, and today's title is Kingdom Foundation Kingdom Foundation. Have you ever watched somebody, or watched a group of people build a house? I had the opportunity to watch this before. I've seen it a few times, but I remember the first time I watched somebody build their own home and I just had no idea what the whole process was like. And so I just kind of thought, okay, well, you just kind of build it and it all kind of takes the same amount of time and it's fine. And so when I saw the process begin, I had no idea how amazing it was going to be to really inform what our walk with God looks like. And we're going to see some of this today on why the foundation is so important. So we're going to jump into all of that, as always. So you want to get your Bibles open with me to Matthew, chapter 16. While you're doing that, take just a moment to like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast it doesn't cost you anything, but it really helps us and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown discussion on Facebook, and you can find all of the links to all these things at thebiblebreakdowncom. You can get the podcast, youtube channel and the Facebook discussion all of that right there, all the links to it right there. Okay, all right. Well, as we have been jumping into this a little bit further, the overall idea of the Gospel of Matthew is that Jesus is the King, king Jesus, and Matthew starts off with that In chapter 1, he has his receipts and he says I can prove to you that Jesus is the rightful King of our earthly kingdom. But then he spends 2 through 28 saying but he is so much more than that. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And he spends this entire chapter, our book of the Bible just sharing with us, from a Jewish perspective, that Jesus is who they have been looking for. And now, in chapter 16, he is going to talk to us about this idea of what it looks like to have a kingdom foundation and what a kingdom foundation is. At this point we don't know exactly how long, but it's possible. Jesus has now been in his earthly ministry for two of the three years. He's slowly starting to wrap up what's going on, and before long we're going to be going into the city of Jerusalem with Jesus. It's going on, and before long we're going to be going into the city of Jerusalem with Jesus. But at this point he is going to ask Peter a question and Jesus is going to talk about the foundation of the kingdom of God, and it is so important to realize how important a foundation is, which is what I was telling you earlier.

Speaker 1: 3:04

I had the opportunity to watch someone build a house. I had the opportunity to watch someone build a house and I watched this person mark off where the boundaries were going to be for their house. Right, they did that. And then they dug down into the ground. They dug deep down in the ground to find out, you know, to get down to the rock, the bedrock, and there were certain you know, parts of it that were fine, but there were parts that wasn't. So it just it took a long time to dig down to the bedrock.

Speaker 1: 3:30

Then, when they did that, they started to pour concrete. It was going to be a concrete slab house and they did that and it took them forever to shape it up, to frame it up. I mean, they took crazy care with this foundation. And then, after they set the foundation, they let it sit for a while, just let the concrete just kind of cure, kind of just harden, and all of this. And I remember thinking, man, if it takes this long to lay the foundation, how long is it going to take to build this house? I mean, it took them a month to lay the first step, the foundation. But then what was amazing is, after they laid the foundation, it only took them a month to do almost the rest of the house. So it took just as long to build the foundation as it did to build onto everything else.

Speaker 1: 4:19

And when I was watching this it occurred to me that that is what it is to be in the kingdom of God, that we have to be so very careful that the foundation of our faith is on the right things, the hills we're willing to die on. Once we have settled who Jesus is, who he is in our life, then we can just start building, building, building the rest of our faith. But that has got to be central and we're going to see that in today's chapter. So if you have your Bibles ready, you want to see how Peter answers the question of what is the foundation of the kingdom of God. So here we go. First of all, jesus is going to have a kind of a fuss with the Pharisees, and then we'll get there. Verse one says this One day the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test test Jesus.

Speaker 1: 5:01

Remember that's very common to challenge the different people in the who are teachers of the law. So here we go. They came to test Jesus. They demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority. He replied you know the saying red sky at night means fair weather tomorrow, red sky in the morning means foul weather all day. You know how to interpret the weather signs in the sky, but you don't know how to interpret the signs of the times. Only an evil and adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign. But the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. Then Jesus left them and went away.

Speaker 1: 5:39

Later, after they crossed over to the other side of the lake, the disciples discovered that they did not bring any bread. Watch out, jesus warned them, beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn't brought any bread. Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said oh, you have such little faith. Why are you arguing with each other about having no bread? Don't you understand? Even yet? Don't you remember the 5,000 that I fed with five loaves and the baskets that were left over for you to pick up? Or the 4,000 that I fed with seven loaves and the large baskets of leftovers you picked up? Why can't you understand that I'm not talking about bread? So again I say beware the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Then at last they understood that he wasn't speaking about the yeast and bread, but about the deceptive teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Now pause for one second. It is worth giving the disciples a little bit of a break.

Speaker 1: 6:46

Jesus was so good at telling stories and he was so often using parables that you can kind of be like okay, yeast, maybe he's talking about bread, you know. But actually he was talking about. What would happen a lot of times is you would have, you know, bread dough, and if you didn't put any yeast into it, then it would stay flat, it wouldn't rise, it'd be unleavened bread, be flat bread, but you put just a little bit of yeast in it and then it would rise. And so what Jesus is actually saying here is he is actually saying be so very careful, because the Pharisees and the Sadducees are sneaky, because they look really good but their truth, what they say, it sounds true, but it's about 1% off, 2% off, but that's enough to slowly get out of whack. So be so very careful of that 1% to 2% that's off about the Pharisees, because it'll ruin the whole thing and then later they're like oh okay, well, now I get it All right. Here we go.

Speaker 1: 7:41

Verse 13, here's the one for the chapter. It says this when Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked the disciples who do the people say that the Son of man is? He's talking about himself. Verse 14 says well, they replied some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. Then he asked them but who do you say? I am Simon. Peter replied you are the Messiah. That's a Jewish word for meaning the promised king, the son of the living God. So he says you're not just the king of the world, you're the king of all things.

Speaker 1: 8:20

Verse 17,. Jesus replied you are blessed, simon, son of Jonah, for my father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter, which means rock, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven. And then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. There's so much in this, we're going to come back to this at the end. Was the Messiah? There's so much in this, we're going to come back to this at the end of the chapter. Let's keep going. Verse 21.

Speaker 1: 9:01

And from then on, jesus began to tell the disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would rise from the dead. But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. Heaven forbid, lord, this will never happen to you. Then Jesus turned to Peter and said get away from me, satan. You are dangerous. You are a dangerous trap for me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view and not from God's. We'll come back to that as well.

Speaker 1: 9:37

Then Jesus said to his disciples if any of you want to be my follower, you must give up your own way. Take up your cross and follow me. If you are trying to hang on to your life, you will lose it, but if you try to, but if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your own soul? For the son of man will come with his angels in the glory of his father, and he will judge all people according to their deeds. But I tell you the truth some standing here right now will not die before they see the son of man in his kingdom. Wow, there's a lot there, and so let's divide this up and talk about what's going on.

Speaker 1: 10:20

Well, first of all, this is one of those passages that sharply divide the Catholic Church from the Protestant Church, because the Catholic Church believes that, in this phrase, when Peter says I believe you are the Son of the living God, and then Jesus says on this rock, I believe you are the son of the living God. And then Jesus says on this rock, I will build my church. They think that what Jesus is saying is upon your leadership, peter, I am going to build my church. And that is how they start to frame up what the Pope is, because they think that Peter was the first pastor, leader of the church in Rome, and then it passed down. And it passed down, and that's where the apostolic authority of the Pope eventually comes from. However, if you know the Greek definitions of this, when it's talking about this rock, he's actually talking about the truth that Peter has just said. It's not saying that upon you, peter, is all the power and the authority and you're really awesome and I kind of like you and you're going to be the leader of the whole thing. Right, that's not what he's saying. He is saying that I am now going to call you Peter and upon this rock, upon this truth that you have just stated, I am going to build my church and nothing is going to be able to conquer it.

Speaker 1: 11:34

Well, what is the foundational truth that he's going to build his church on? The foundational truth is that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of the living God, and that when you move forward under the authority of the name of Jesus, no power of hell will be able to stop the church from proclaiming the truth. And so that's why the foundational truth of Christianity is the resurrection of Jesus, that Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and he proved it when he raised himself through the power of the Holy Spirit from the dead. That's why the foundational proof is Christianity did not begin with anything other than an event, and that event was the resurrection of Jesus. And then later, the Holy Spirit inspired people to write the scriptures, and it was to tell the story of Jesus. That's why, right after that, he starts to talk about his death and his resurrection. He said I'm going to prove to you that I am the Son of God.

Speaker 1: 12:34

Well then, after that we get where Peter. He's a little confused, and so he decides he's going to come up and he's going to tell Jesus what's going on. But I think it's important that we realize that Peter has just been told that Jesus really is the Messiah, and so we don't need to look at this necessarily that Peter is now coming and trying to take charge of Jesus. He's not trying to tell Jesus what is true and what is not true. What he's doing is he is saying Jesus, there's no way someone can kill you. You're the Messiah. So it's not that Peter is not trusting what Jesus is saying. He is more just saying but you're the king, you're all powerful.

Speaker 1: 13:09

But that's where Jesus is not calling Peter Satan. He's calling what Peter is saying a deception. He's saying get away from me, satan, you are dangerous. Because he is saying that what you are saying is trying to take away from my glory, not actually give me glory. So we understand and frame this. But you know, what I also love Is he rebukes Peter and then right after that, he starts talking to Peter again. He doesn't throw him away, he just says no, no, no, peter, you got that one wrong. That came from the devil, come from me, be careful, not everything you think is from me. All right, you were right a minute ago. This one's not right. Clean that up, keep coming. I love that. And then, at the very end, he says something that is also sometimes confusing, and that is I tell you the truth. Some standing here right now will not die before they see the son of man coming in his kingdom.

Speaker 1: 13:54

Now there are two things that scholars believe Jesus is talking about. First of all is the very next chapter. Tomorrow we're going to talk about one of the most amazing chapters in the entire New Testament and that is where it talks about the transfiguration of Jesus, where Jesus actually shows his glory, what he looks like in his kingdom glory to Peter, james and John. And so that does not necessarily mean a future-flung thing, one day but it actually means that I'm about to show you my glory, and it's going to happen really soon. The second thing that people say is in that space, right there, he's talking to his 12 disciples. That includes John, and John, in just a few years time, is going to get an absolutely amazing revelation of Jesus as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Speaker 1: 14:44

And so, as we finish this chapter today, there's just so much in this, but I want to ask this question, and that is this what is the foundation of your faith built on? That's a very challenging question, because we have to really spend some time and think about it, and only if you have thought about it it can you give a really quick answer. What your answer cannot be is it cannot be if it's going to be sustainable. Your answer cannot be that I'm a Christian because, like the most foundational statement cannot be I'm a Christian because of something. I feel something, I have experienced something that somebody told me one day that sounded right, and so that is not good enough, if I can say it like that, because what are you going to do one day when you have a different emotion? What are you going to do one day when you go to church and you don't have all the feels? What are you going to do?

Speaker 1: 15:41

If your Christianity is based on a feeling, then you're going to be devastated. Where's the feeling? I guess God's not real. That's why the foundational understanding of who we are in Christ and what the kingdom of heaven is is not based on a feeling, it's not based on an emotion. It's based on the truth. And the truth is that Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and he proved it when he raised himself from the dead. That because Jesus is alive, we have hope. Matter of fact, in another place in the Bible, paul says if the resurrection of Christ is not true, then we are to be pitied among all because we believe a lie, but because Jesus is alive. All of this is true.

Speaker 1: 16:24

Therefore, my faith in God is not based on how I feel, it's not based on the circumstances around me. It's not based on whether or not God answered my prayer the way I really thought he should. My faith in God is based on the person and work of what Jesus did and he rose again. And here's the thing Once we get that foundation right, then everything can start be. Everything can be built on top of it. And there's nothing wrong with experiences. As a matter of fact, can I tell you, there's been a few times in my life when I was struggling with my relationship with God. There were things I didn't understand and I didn't know. And I just would say you know what? I don't know what to do right now, but I can't deny what I've seen and experienced like that. Those were times when that those experiences held me firm while I was trying to figure some things out. But at the same time, the reality is is once our foundation is settled, then we can build experiences and things on top of us.

Speaker 1: 17:20

I want to ask you a question again what is the foundational truth of your trust in Jesus? Is it because of what you think, what you feel, or is it because the truth that you know, and that is no matter what I feel, no matter what I face, I believe that Jesus is alive, he is the king, he is for me and not against me. Let's pray right now. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you that your truth is provable, your truth is holy and it is worthy, and that, lord, even though there are times and we don't always know what's going on, we know we can trust you. We celebrate you today in jesus name. We pray amen, amen. Say this with me if you know it. God's word says in matthew, 28 verse, verse 19, excuse. It says all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Matthew, chapter 17.