Jesus Builds His Church [Matthew 16, 18] ~ 20260111 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
2026 01/11 Jesus Builds His Church [Matthew 16, 18]; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20260111_jesus-church.mp3
Bought to Belong
Jesus came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mk.10:45). He came not for the righteous but sinners (Mt.9:13), he came to seek and to save the lost (Lk.19:10).
Jesus came to save us from the wrath of God, from the consequences of our sins. But he saves us for a much higher purpose. He buys us out of slavery, he brings us into right relationship with himself, he makes us new, all for greater things.
Titus 2 points to the price he paid for us, the identity he gives us, and the purpose he has for us.
Titus 2:13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Titus 2 tells us that we are redeemed from and purified for; in order to belong; we were redeemed from lawlessness, purified for himself, to be a people for his own possession. God wants a people who belong to him.
Romans 7 addresses the same:
Romans 7:4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.
We died to the law so that we can belong to Jesus, in order to live fruitful lives and bring pleasure to God.
Ephesians 5, using the metaphor of the marriage relationship also points us to the price he paid, to whose we are, and to what we are to be like.
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. ... 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,
Notice who is it that Christ loved and gave himself up for? Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
Acts 20 instructs the elders who they are responsible to care for:
Acts 20:28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
God paid the ultimate price; he bought the church with his own blood.
Salvation is an individual and personal thing; each one of us must put our trust in Jesus, but each of us are saved for something greater, to be part of something bigger than ourselves. We are saved to be a people for his own possession; we are not our own, we were bought with a price. Christ loved the church, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, Christ nourishes and cherishes the church. And elders are to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. We were bought to belong.
To God Be Glory In The Church (Ephesians 3:21)
We looked last week at Ephesians; Ephesians is a letter about the glory of God on display in the church.
Ephesians 3:21 to him [God] be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
The church is a primary means God uses to bring glory to himself. We, the church, believers in Jesus, have a high and holy calling, to be the body, to give grace, to build one another up in love, to know and display together the immeasurable riches of God’s grace, to bring God glory in his church.
The Foundation of Jesus’ Church
Jesus used the word ‘church’ only twice. Today I’d like to go back and look at what Jesus taught about the church. In Matthew 16, Jesus was asking his disciples what the word on the street was about his identity.
Matthew 16:13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
Then he asked them personally:
Matthew 16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
This is all about the identity of Jesus. It matters that we get Jesus right. It matters for a building to get the foundation right. Something built on the wrong foundation will crumble or collapse. Jesus is talking about building his church for eternity, so that even hell can’t prevail against it. Peter was given wisdom from God to perceive who Jesus really is. Jesus is who the entire Scriptures were pointing toward, the Messiah, the Christ, the fulfillment of all the law and the prophets. Jesus is the God-man, the Son of the living God, God with us, God in human form, God with flesh on. This is the solid foundation on which Jesus promises to build his church. Jesus will build his church on the truth of who he is. The Father revealed to Peter who Jesus is, and Jesus will build his church on all those who like Peter acknowldege Jesus for who he is.
It’s not Peter himself; in the next breath Peter gets it wrong and tells Jesus he can’t be killed, and Jesus says “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Mt.16:23). It’s not Peter in and of himself, but the truth the Father revealed to Peter about his only Son.
The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven
Jesus goes on to promise something great to Peter;
Matthew 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
What are keys usually used for? If you are entrusted with the keys to your place of work, what does that mean? What does that give you the responsibility to do? Keys imply authority. Keys lock doors and unlock doors. You get to let people in or keep people out. Keys to the kingdom of heaven grant people access to enter Jesus’ church, the visible outpost of the kingdom of God here on earth.
It is on the solid foundation of the divine identity of Jesus as Messiah, Son of God, that Jesus promises to build his church, the visible outpost of the kingdom of God. And Peter is given authority to proclaim the good news about who Jesus is, unlocking the kingdom of heaven to grant access to sinners otherwise destined for hell.
In Acts 2, Peter proclaimed the good news about Jesus to the devout Jews assembled in Jerusalem, and three thousand souls believed and entered the kingdom of God. By Acts 4, the number of believing men had grown to about five thousand (4:4), and the Jewish leaders arrested Peter and John. But Peter responded by boldly proclaiming the good news about Jesus;
Acts 4:11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
By their own rejection of the only way of salvation, the kingdom of heaven was locked to them.
By the end of Acts 4, the Holy Spirit was working mightily in the church, the believers were walking in unity, giving generously to the poor, even selling their land and possessions to give to the church. But in Acts 5, a couple conspired together to lie about their gift, keeping a portion for themselves (there was nothing wrong with that) but pretending to give it all. At Peter’s word, they were exposed as frauds and fell down dead. You can’t buy your way into God’s kingdom.
In Acts 10, at God’s clear direction (and even then a bit reluctantly), Peter proclaimed the good news about Jesus and unlocked the door of God’s kingdom to a Gentile Roman centurion who believed and was welcomed into the church.
It was the proclamation of who Jesus is, the good news that there is salvation only in him, that either locked or unlocked the kingdom of heaven to people, depending on whether they believed in the true identity of Jesus, or rejected him.
Discipling Discipline
Back to Matthew, what Jesus said about his church. Two chapters later, in Matthew 18, Jesus connects the authority of the keys to the authority of the church to recognize or exclude members in the context of disputes between brothers.
Matthew 18:15 “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.”
In this passage, the church is described as those (even two or three) who officially gather in the name of Jesus, and Jesus says that the church has authority to seek reconciliation between brothers (this must always be the goal), and for those who refuse to listen even after repeated confrontation, to treat them as outsiders. The church is given the authority to determine who legitimately belongs to the church, and who by their life and attitude demonstrate that they are not following or submitting to Jesus. We can’t see the true condition of someone’s heart, but we can with relative accuracy evaluate the condition of the heart based on how someone responds to loving correction.
The process is clear; if your brother sins against you, tell everybody who will listen, tell the elders of the church, post it on social media, make it public. No, you go talk to him, between you and him alone, with the hope of repentance, forgiveness and restoration. Only if he does not listen do you involve one or two others in the confrontation, again with the hope of reconciliation. Only if he refuses to listen does it then become a church issue, but still with the goal of restoration. Only if he refuses to listen to the church does the church then treat him as a Gentile and a tax collector.
This process is often referred to as church discipline, which is the corrective part of disciple-making. The final step, affirming that someone who refuses loving correction and persists in acting like an unbeliever ought to be treated as one, is often called ex-communication; removing from communion or fellowship. Removing someone from Christian fellowship is serious, but it is out of love for that person, for the truth, and for the church, and it is done always with the goal of ‘winning the brother’ and seeing them turn from their sin and be welcomed back into fellowship.
Keep in mind, ‘we all stumble in many ways’ (James 3:2); ‘If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves’ (1Jn.1:8); but genuine believers want to please Jesus, have remorse for their sin, and respond positively to correction. We are not called to be the morality police looking for wrongdoers to punish; we don’t remove someone from fellowship without careful and prayerful consideration and personal confrontation, in humility recognizing our own inclination to wander. But we must not blur the lines and pretend that unbelievers are believers when they are not.
We have gospel conversations with unbelievers, and we invite them to attend church, to hear the gospel preached. But we do not encourage unbelievers to take communion with us.
Communion for the New Covenant Community
Communion means fellowship; something we have in common. If I haven’t owned the fact that I am a sinner whose only hope is the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus in my place, if I haven’t put my trust in Jesus only and completely, if I haven’t been born anew and don’t have the Spirit of God living inside me, then I may have some superficial things in common with believers, like moral values or music preference or even a love for the Bible and great respect for Jesus, but I don’t have the most important thing in common. Partaking of the bread and the cup when we don’t really have the core essentials in common with the church is an empty ritual and dangerous to our souls.
Paul reminds the church of Jesus’ words at that last Passover meal:
1 Corinthians 11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
This is the family meal for the New Covenant community, which rehearses and reminds us of the gospel we are trusting in.
He goes on to warn:
1 Corinthians 11:27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.
In baptism, believers are immersed into or identified with the name of the one true God. ‘Name’ in the Bible expresses identity; character, nature, or reputation. To uphold the family name is to live consistent with the family values; to represent the family well. Where baptism is the way we identify ourselves as belonging to Jesus and the way the church recognizes a new believer as a member of the body; communion is the regular ongoing identification of those who belong as members to the church.
Communion is for born again baptized believers, those who have been publicly identified as members of Christ’s body, the church; who are living as siblings and seeking to uphold the family name.
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2026.01.11 Sermon Notes
Jesus Builds His Church (Matthew 16, 18)
We were bought to belong
Titus 2:13-14; Romans 7:4; Ephesians 5:25-29; Acts 20:28
To God be glory in the church
Ephesians 3:21
Matthew 16:15-19
Jesus will build his church
-The church is built on the identity of Jesus; Messiah, Son of God
-Keys grant access or deny access; the gospel proclamation of who Jesus is
Acts 2:41; Acts 4:4, 11-12; Acts 5:1-11; Acts 10
Matthew 18:15-20
The church is given authority to recognize or exclude members
see 1 Corinthians 5; 2 Corinthians 2:1-11; James 3:2; 1Jn.1:8
1 Corinthians 11:23-31
Communion is the family meal for the New Covenant community; it keeps the gospel central
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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org