Upon This Rock Christ Builds His Church

The Church’s one Foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord – the almighty and eternal Son of the Living God, conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, put to death and buried, risen from the dead, ascended to the Right Hand of the Father, but given and poured out for us Christians to eat and to drink in His Holy Supper here on earth.

He is the Foundation, or, as the Scriptures say, the Cornerstone who gives shape and strength and stability to the Foundation of His Apostles and Prophets. And He is the Wise Man who establishes, builds, protects, and sustains His Church – His House – upon the Rock, as we have heard in this familiar Holy Gospel this afternoon.

Because He builds His House upon the Rock, it stands fast against the winds and waves and storms that rage against it; and according to His Word and promise, even the gates of hell (or Hades) are unable to prevail against His Church.

As to “the Rock,” a lot of ink has been spilled over the years debating what it is and how that works.  It’s certainly not Simon Peter in and of himself as a fallen and fallible human being. Indeed, the Holy Gospels do not cover up or hide his human foibles and failings at various points along the way. Yet, the Lord chose Simon Barjona, called him to faith and discipleship, forgave his sins, restored him following his denials, and sent him to preach and administer the Gospel from Jerusalem to Rome (from Pentecost to Martyrdom). Thus do our Lutheran Confessions assert that our Lord addresses Simon Peter as an Apostle, a called and ordained minister of His Word, and says, “Upon this Rock,” that is, upon this Ministry – the Ministry of the Confession of Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

And that apostolic Ministry, upon which Christ Jesus builds His Church, continues around the world to this day, to the ends of the earth – and so also to this place – even to the close of the age.

It is to this same Ministry – of the Confession of Christ Jesus – that Pr. Hesse has been ordained, and for which he has now been called to St. John Lutheran Church here in Aurora, Indiana.

So has the Lord intended, from before the foundation of the world, that His servant Mark Hesse should become part of the foundation of His Church in this time and place. To that end, in all that he says and does Pr. Hesse is to be guided and governed by the Word of Christ Jesus, as recorded in the Holy Scriptures by the Holy Prophets, Apostles, and Evangelists.

Pr. Hesse has but one Name to proclaim and declare, one Name in which to Baptize and Absolve you, and one Name to rely upon, come hell or high water against him. That is the Name of the one Lord, Jesus Christ, given here in your midst from God the Father in heaven.

Pr. Hesse will have nothing else to offer you or give you than that, and there is really nothing else in heaven or on earth that you and your congregation need – nothing else that really matters. This is the point and purpose of it all, and it is more than sufficient, more than adequate.

It is revealed and given, first of all, in Holy Baptism, just as it was in the Baptism of our Lord that God the Father anointed Him with the Holy Spirit as the Christ and openly declared Him to be His beloved and well-pleasing Son. That is where Simon Peter learned to know and confess who Jesus is. And so, too, it is in your Holy Baptism that you have been named with His Name, anointed with His Spirit as a Christian, and adopted by God the Father as a beloved and well-pleasing son or daughter in Christ Jesus.

A pastor is given no greater or higher privilege than that of baptizing disciples of Jesus in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; for such baptizing with water and the Word works the forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal Life and Salvation to all who believe this, according to the sure and certain promises of God.

And of course, it is not to be forgotten or taken lightly that pastors also have this great blessing and benefit of Holy Baptism. That is not what makes a man a pastor, but it is the confidence and hope in which he is sustained in the Office of the Ministry and in all of his callings and stations in life. You are first and foremost a Christian, a child of God, before you are called, ordained, and sent to be a pastor of the Lord’s people, a shepherd of the Lord’s sheep under the Good Shepherd.

Forgiveness of sin does not begin and end with Holy Baptism. Indeed, forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ Name is at the very center of the Church and Ministry, the heart and soul of this Office and work to which you are called and ordained. You yourself depend upon the forgiveness of your own sins; and you, in turn, are given the tremendous privilege and responsibility to forgive the sins of others.

To be sure, it is the duty of every Christian to forgive as we are freely forgiven by the Lord Jesus, to forgive those who trespass against us, and to be reconciled with those we have trespassed against. But as a pastor, you are also entrusted with the office and exercise of the Keys – the preaching and administration of the Gospel – unto repentance and faith in the forgiveness of sins. You are to hear the confessions of God’s people with the ears of Christ Jesus, and to absolve them with His Word, with His Voice, in His Name and stead. However odd that might seem, that is how our dear Lord Jesus chooses to deal with us on earth.

And that is why it is so fundamental and so necessary to the integrity of the Office, to the Church and Ministry of the Gospel, that you maintain the absolute confidentiality of those things that are confessed to you. As Christ forgives the sins of His people through the Word that He speaks with your lips, it is vital that your lips not speak of those sins to anyone else, anywhere, at any time. They are altogether swallowed up by the Gospel, removed as far as the East is from the West, and remembered no more before God in heaven. Whatever temporal consequences remain on earth are the concern and responsibility of other authorities.

By the same token, where you are given to confront and deal with those who refuse to repent of their sins but persist in them with hardness of heart, there you must exercise the binding key, as needs may be, that the Lord’s Church and Ministry not become agents of evil or a den of thieves. Our hope and prayer, even then, is that the Lord in His mercy would work repentance in their hearts, unto faith in His free and full forgiveness of sins. But His forgiveness is deliverance from sin and every evil, not a license to continue in sin.

To those who believe and are baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus, who live in the promise and significance of their Holy Baptism, and who by faith confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, you are also given the profound privilege – as already here this afternoon – of administering His Body and His Blood in remembrance of Him. That goes hand-in-hand with the proclamation of His death until He comes, the preaching of repentance and forgiveness of sins in His Name. To celebrate the Lord’s Supper is an exercise of pastoral care, within a context of ongoing pastoral care. It is the Family Meal at the heart of the Lord’s House, and you are the housefather entrusted with the stewardship of this Mystery for the children of God under your care.

Are you up to the task? No, of course not! None of us are, not of ourselves. Consider again St. Peter and his faults and failings. As Luther confesses, if this Ministry depended on us, it would all fall apart and go to rack and ruin. Yet, this is how the Lord has determined to preserve, protect, and prosper His Church on earth, and so shall He be with you, strengthen and sustain you in this Office and work. Your labors are not in vain in Him! He rather delights to work by the way of His Cross, and He manifests His glorious power precisely in such weakness, in the frailty of flesh and blood.

There is salvation by no other way or means than the Ministry of the Confession of the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God. Though He is despised and rejected by the world, He is the Cornerstone upon whom everything rests and depends. And by the preaching of His Word and the Ministry of His Gospel, He has granted to you – to His pastors and to all His people – such exceedingly precious and very great promises, that you should become partakers of the divine nature in Him. For He became like you, that you should become like Him.

As He was crucified for your transgressions and has been raised for your justification, so are you raised from death to eternal Life, in both body and soul, in and with Him. This is what it means that the gates of hell (or Hades) shall not prevail against His Church. Death and the grave do not get to have the last word against you, because they are defeated, undone, and burst apart from the inside-out by the Lord Jesus Christ. Death no longer has any hold on Him, and neither shall it be able to hold onto you. For Christ is risen from the dead, and He has opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all who believe and are baptized in His Name.

Built on this Rock, the Church shall stand, even when steeples are falling. For here stands the Font before our eyes, declaring how God has received us. The Altar recalls Christ’s Sacrifice and what His Supper here gives us. And here sound the Scriptures that proclaim Christ Jesus, forever the same, our Savior and our Redeemer!

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Ministry of the Confession of Christ Jesus

Now you know who the Wise Man is, who builds His House upon the Rock.  And when the winds blow, the rains pour down, and the waves beat and slam against that House, it shall not fall, because it is founded on the Rock

The Wise Man is your Lord Jesus.  He is the One who builds His Church.  And it is His Church.  If we simply remember those few important points, then we shall not be ensnared by the many fights and arguments that have been fought over this beautiful Holy Gospel.

It is the Lord’s Church, and He is the One who builds it, using the same Wisdom by which He has been the Architect of all creation: The Word and Wisdom of God, who speaks, and it is so.  But He brings His creation to fulfillment by His own Incarnation.  Not only that He has become Flesh, but also that in His Flesh He has borne your sin and become your Savior, and has poured out His holy, precious Blood to atone for you, to make peace with God; to reconcile you to the Father; to cleanse you with His Spirit, and to anoint you with His Spirit, so that you are now His Christian.

So it is that He also brings you into His House, His Holy Church, and herein He keeps you safe.

Remember that it is His House, and that it is in Wisdom that He builds it, even though the way in which He goes about it seems altogether foolish to this fallen and perishing world.

So have the Scriptures told us, that the Wisdom of God is foolishness to man; that the Cross is a scandal and a stumbling stone.  Likewise, the Office of His Holy Ministry.  How offensive it is, that God should call men like Peter and Paul, a denier and a persecutor, men who are sinful and mortal and in need of salvation, like yourself.  Finite creatures.  Fallen.  Frail.  Flawed.  Sometimes too timid to speak, when they ought to speak.  Sometimes too quick to speak, when they ought to shut their mouths and listen.  Sometimes courageous and bold, even to the point of sticking their feet into their mouths.  And otherwise scared to death to do that which God has given them to do.

It is easy to know the faults and flaws of St. Peter, at least some of them, because that holy Apostle has seen to it that his own faults and failings were included in the preaching of the Holy Gospel.  They were written down by St. Mark and by St. Matthew.  And yet, God chose this man, and through his mouth, his lips and tongue, through his voice, the Lord caused His Gospel to be heard.  He caused His Holy Name to be confessed.  He preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

This man, who was at one point afraid of a little servant girl, huddled around that charcoal fire when our Lord was led to His Passion, stands up in the strength of the Spirit and boldly preaches to those crowds of people on Pentecost: “You crucified the Christ, the Son of the living God.  But now, repent, and believe the Gospel.  Be baptized in His Name for the forgiveness of your sins.  For this promise is for you, and for your children, and for as many as God shall call to Himself.”

So has He called you.  By His Word of the Gospel, that is why you are here.  That is why you have been baptized.  That is why you pray and confess.  That is why you are a faithful Christian within your own stations in life, whatever those may be.  That is why you live by faith in the midst of sin and death, and why you cling to Christ Jesus, though for now you cannot see Him.  It is by the Word that He speaks to you through sinful, dying men whom He has called and sent, into whose mouths He has placed His own Name for the sake of your repentance, forgiveness, and salvation.

That is what He did for St. Peter.  And not only for St. Peter, the Rock, but for the whole Church.

Our Lutheran Confessions answer that persistent question, as to what exactly is “the Rock” to which the Lord Jesus refers.  To be sure, many other answers have also been given, and various interpretations.  But our Confessions say it simply: Christ Jesus addresses St. Peter as a minister of the Gospel, and so He says, “Upon this Rock,” that is, upon the Ministry of this Confession.

The preaching of Christ Jesus by those whom He calls and sends, that is the Rock upon which He establishes His Church.   He does it through St. Peter and the other Apostles to begin with, and in the apostolic Holy Scriptures to the close of the age.  Thus do we confess one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.  And on the basis of that apostolic Word, He continues to build and sustain His Church on earth through those men who are called and sent in His Name.  Perhaps some of you will someday be called and sent in that way, but already such men are sent to each and all of you.

And what is it that characterizes that Office of the Holy Ministry?  That Ministry of the Confession upon which Christ Jesus builds His Church, what is it that chiefly defines it?  What is it all about?  What is it for?  It is for the forgiveness of sins.  That is what this is all about.

It is the Office of the Keys that defines the Office of the Holy Ministry.  Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.  The Keys of forgiveness in Jesus’ Name.

Again, you hear it in Peter’s preaching on Pentecost: “Repent, and believe the Gospel, and receive the forgiveness of sins.”  For as Jesus promises, “Whosoever sins you forgive, they are forgiven.”

Astounding.  Miraculous.  The Glory of God placed not only into the mouth of men like St. Peter, but into the ears of sinners like yourself.  And what your ears hear, it is so.  Here, then, is the New Creation.  Here man is taken again out of the dust of the ground and made into a living being.

Here there is Life and Light and Salvation, where there was only darkness, death, and damnation.  Here there is now something very good, called forth by the Word of Christ from out of nothing.

Not only mighty winds and heavy rains and powerful waves, but even the gates of Hades, that is, the gates of death and the grave shall not be able to prevail against Christ’s Holy Church.  That is His promise.  And that is true for you, as well, who live within His Holy Church.  The guarantee of that Word, the guarantee of your forgiveness and of your resurrection from the dead, is the fact that God has raised this Jesus from the dead, who was crucified, dead, and buried for your sins.

It was impossible for death to hold Him.  His Body did not suffer decay.  His soul did not remain in Hades.  Death and the devil could not contain Him or restrain Him.  Nor can they have or hold you, who belong to Jesus, who believe in Him and are baptized into His Cross and Resurrection.

When I was growing up, I always loved this particular passage.  But I also puzzled over it.  This phrase, “The gates of Hades (often translated, the gates of hell) shall not prevail against her, against the Lord’s Church,” what does that mean?  For years I struggled with that picture.  Sometimes you hear people talk about the Church storming the gates of hell, or some such thing.  But that seems backwards.  That seems skewed in some way.  But what is really going on here?

Our Lord Jesus Christ, He is the stronger Man who has invaded Satan’s kingdom and bound him up by the way and means of His Cross, so that He who is our Savior and our God in the Flesh might release us from the bondage of sin, death, the devil, and hell.  And that is getting to the point at hand.  We, His Church, are not the ones who storm the gates of Hades in order to get in!  Rather, on account of Christ our Lord, the gates of Hades shall not prevail against us to keep us in.

Fast bound in Satan’s chains you lay, death brooded darkly over you.  The gates of Hades had you trapped, and they were locked, shut tight by sin.  But where there is forgiveness of sin, there is life and salvation.  And as Jesus was raised from the dead, so shall you also be raised from death and the grave, and so shall you be glorified in Him, both body and soul, together with all who have departed in the faith, in the confession of His Holy Name.  Hades, death, and the grave shall not be able to hold you nor any who belong to Christ; they shall not prevail against His Holy Church.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Wise Man, and He has built His Church well.  He has set her pillars, and He has prepared His Feast for her in the face of all her enemies.  So here you are set free from your sins, from the fear of death, and from all the assaults and accusations of the devil.  Here you are safe and sound in Christ Jesus, so that you may eat and drink in Peace, receiving the Fruits of the Tree of Life, His Body and His Blood, given and poured out for you and for the many, for the free and full forgiveness of all your sins.  Here you have life with God in Christ, now and forever.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The Confession of St. Peter

The true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ is the knowledge of repentance and faith in His forgiveness of sins. It is the knowledge of His Cross and Resurrection; not only as historical facts, but as the means by which He has accomplished salvation and entered into His Glory as the Christ, the Lord’s Anointed.

To confuse Him with John the Baptist is mistaken, yes, but not so far fetched; for it is by John’s Baptism that Jesus is manifested and made known to Israel. Everything flows from and with His Baptism, even unto His death upon the Cross and His Resurrection from the dead.

The Father revealed Him to be the Christ and His beloved Son when the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form as a dove, and the voice from heaven spoke concerning Him, as He came up out of the waters of His Baptism. All of this belongs to the Jesus who went into the waters on behalf of all the people (including you); who submitted Himself to St. John’s preaching and baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; who thereby committed Himself to sacrificial suffering and death as the Lamb of God, who takes upon Himself and takes away the sins of the world.

The Word and promise of the Father at His Baptism is the faith that Jesus confesses with His entire life, and the confidence with which He proceeds to Jerusalem, to the rejection of the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and to His Cross and Passion. He has willingly taken up the Cross in His Baptism, and He carries it faithfully unto His Crucifixion, in the expectation that His Father will raise Him up again. He knows that His suffering and death are neither useless nor unfruitful, because He knows that He is thus given under heaven among men for the salvation of all people. He takes their place under the Cross, under the burden of their sin and death, in order to receive on their behalf the Name that is above every name, and the Spirit of God in His own human flesh, and the very Life of God as true Man. So that, in His Resurrection from the dead, you and all people — all who believe and are baptized in His Name — become partakers of the divine nature.

This is what it means for Him to be the Christ.

As a Christian, a disciple of this Lord Jesus Christ, you learn all this, you know all this, and you receive it and share in it, by following after Him, that is, by taking up His Cross and following Him, through death, into life everlasting. That means suffering the rejection and hostility of the world, on account of Christ and His Gospel. And it means bearing the burden of your neighbor’s needs and of your neighbor’s sins, by loving and serving your neighbor, and by forgiving his or her trespasses against you. But it also means the daily dying of your old Adam, and of your own sinful flesh, through contrition and repentance. It means that you are put to death by the Law of God, in order to be raised to new life in Christ by His Gospel, His forgiveness of your sins.

You have been named with His Name, anointed with His Spirit as a Christian, and adopted as a beloved child of His Father, by the washing of water with His Word in Holy Baptism. That is where and how you have received His Cross, and it is from your Baptism that you now follow after Him and learn from Him. You confirm and make certain His calling and choosing of you there, by the ongoing catechesis of His Word; that is, by the preaching of His Law and His Gospel, the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, the preaching of His Cross and Resurrection.

Apart from that preaching and catechesis, you do not know the Man. You will not confess Him, at least not rightly, but you will deny Him when His Cross looms large and His Passion presses upon you. Apart from His preaching and catechesis, you will fear the wrong things, and desire the wrong things, and be zealous in pursuing your own good intentions, which actually do nothing but pave the road to hell. Your own wisdom and knowledge, without the Word and Spirit of Christ, are a Satanic delusion, which promise you the world at the cost of your soul.

But, now, the Lord Jesus has given His Life, His body and soul, in exchange for the world; that the world might be saved through Him, and have life in Him, in His Resurrection from the dead. Thus has He given Himself for you and for all, and for all of your sins. And by His Cross and Resurrection, He has opened up the gates of Hades, in order to bring you out; He has opened up your grave, in order to raise you up from death; He has opened up heaven to you, in order to bring you into life with Himself, in body and soul. And He has opened up the way of repentance for you through His Gospel of the forgiveness of all your sins.

It is for the sake of that Gospel that He raised up Simon Peter, and restored Simon Peter, not only to discipleship, but to the apostolic ministry. He rebuked Peter and called him to repentance, to be sure; but He did so in love and with mercy, both for Peter and for His whole Church on earth. He rescued Peter, in order to rescue and raise up His people through Peter’s confession of His Name. He poured out His Spirit upon Peter, in order to give him the true knowledge and wisdom, and the true boldness and confidence, not of bravado, but of the Cross and Resurrection.

Thus, by St. Peter’s preaching and catechizing, men and women, boys and girls, were brought to repentance, to faith in the Gospel, and to Christian discipleship. You hear that throughout the first half of the Book of Acts, beginning with the great Day of Pentecost. Let us give thanks for that.

But St. Peter also knew, from his own experience, as also by the Lord’s Word and Spirit, that all of this — repentance, faith, and life in Christ — continues to depend upon the preaching and the ongoing catechesis of Christ Jesus.

Even though you already know the story and the facts, and you have already been established in the Truth (by your Baptism into Christ), the knowledge by which you have life and godliness, and by which grace, mercy and peace are multiplied upon you, is the living and active Word of Christ which is preached to you; which daily calls you and brings you to repentance, and purifies you from sin; which names you with the Name of Jesus, and anoints you with His Spirit, and teaches you to pray, praise and give thanks to your dear God and Father in heaven.

Therefore, in love, and by the grace of God, St. Peter’s preaching and catechesis have been preserved and handed over for the edification of the whole Church: in the Acts of the Apostles, in his two Epistles, and in the Gospel According to St. Mark (written under St. Peter’s apostleship). By these apostolic Scriptures, the Name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene continues to be given under heaven among men, so that, by His Name, you are raised up from death to stand in the health and strength of faith in the Gospel; and you shall be saved.

Along with St. Peter’s confession, you also have the comforting example of the Lord’s mercy upon him. In grace and peace, the Lord Jesus cared for Simon Peter and made of him a faithful disciple and a great Apostle, so that he was by no means useless or unfruitful. The Lord bore good fruits in him, which still feed the Church to this day, to the ends of the earth, and to the close of the age.

By these good fruits of St. Peter, and by the catechesis and confession of Christ Jesus in this place, the same Lord also cares for you, and He bears good fruits in you, as well. The preaching of His Cross and Resurrection puts sin to death in you, and brings you to life in Him. As you are preserved in the grace and promises of your Holy Baptism, and as you are given to eat and to drink the holy Body and precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, you are indeed a partaker of the divine nature. You are set free from the bondage and corruption of your covetous lust and selfish greed, and you are brought from faith to moral excellence, to self-control, to brotherly kindness and love.

These qualities are yours, and they continue to grow and increase, because Christ is yours, who has given Himself for you, and who gives Himself to you by the Gospel. He does not abandon you, nor leave you to your own devices; but as He was crucified for your transgressions, and has been raised for your justification, so does He forgive you, and restore you, and give you His own life.

Though you know your flaws and failings — such as your arrogance and pride on the one hand, and yet also your fear and denials on the other hand — nevertheless, your holiness and righteousness are sure and certain in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead. He is with you in peace and love, and He is your courage and strength, your confidence and sufficiency. Even your falling and rising, your daily repentance and His daily forgiveness of all your sins, are a beautiful confession and example of His perfect grace and mercy.

As you are His Christian, you are neither useless nor unfruitful, but even your enemies, as well as your friends, begin to recognize that you are with Jesus — because He is surely with you.

As He is the Chief Cornerstone of His Apostles and Prophets, and of His whole Church in heaven and on earth, so is He the Chief Cornerstone of your life, both body and soul; and so does He glorify His Name in you, both now and forever.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.