Jesus the Light 30 Christ’s Church
On this Rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell will not overpower it Mt.16:18
No blessing comes to any man who has a deficient view of Christ. Imaginary “christs” can do nothing for anyone because they do not exist. Only what is revealed about Christ to the heart of a man by the Father in heaven will result in blessing.
Jesus is the Christ: the Anointed Priest and King. As Priest, there exists no other Mediator between God and man. No other sacrifice will avail to cleanse from sin. No man can do what He does. He alone is the Priest that can safely represent man before God without rejection.
As King, He rules and governs the heart of His servants according to the law of His kingdom. No other rulers, no codes or traditions can be accepted by His subjects. His Word exclusively must command His people.
The confession of Jesus as the Christ declares what Peter echoed in Acts 4:12: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” There is no other means of acceptance before God.
No other sacrifice could ever remove sin. No other priest could ever represent us and secure salvation. No other mediators have power to take away sins. No, there is but one anointed Priest: Jesus the Christ.
Neither is there any other ruler over our hearts except Jesus Christ the Lord. No other codes, rules, systems, or traditions will dictate our obedience. Jesus alone is King! We must bow to none other than Him! His Word alone will govern our lives! 1 Cor.7:23: “You have been bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.”
Christ alone is the Rock upon which His church is built. The confession that there is no other King, no other Priest, is the unshakable Rock that all of hell’s wisdom and might cannot overcome. Hell cannot undo what has been supernaturally imparted to the heart of a man by the Father in heaven. There is no other means of entrance into this church that Jesus is building.
1 Cor.3:11: “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor.10:4: “That Rock was Christ.”
Dear Listener, make no mistake: Peter is not that Rock upon which the church is built. Jesus said Peter is a stone, but he is not the foundational Bedrock upon which the church stands; that is Christ alone. Jn.1:42: “When Jesus beheld him, He said, ‘You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone.’”
No, neither Peter nor any other man are qualified to be the foundation upon which the church is built. Christ alone is the Rock that cannot be shaken, that can support His church. Let no one mislead you; Peter could never be that Rock.
In the very next moments recorded in Mt.16:21-23, Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked the Lord for His saying that He must be rejected and crucified. But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but man’s.” No, Peter is no stable base for the church to rest upon.
Peter, thus, is simply a servant in the kingdom, but not the foundation of it. Christ alone can support the church that He is building. It belongs to Him.
He says it is “My church” -Mt.16:18. No man is the founder of a church. Jesus alone is both Founder and Foundation. No man is the general overseer of the church; Christ alone is “the Overseer of our souls” – 1 Pet.2:25. Senior Pastors are a deception for Jesus alone is the “Chief Shepherd” – 1 Pet.5:4.
It is His Church and He alone can safely and properly build it. He is building His one church, not the multiplied denominations scattered throughout Christendom. We dare not shift to another foundation, another priesthood, another Christ, another Gospel, another ruler, or another code of law. There is no church membership that will take you to heaven other than His.
Eph.2:20-22 says this church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”
In God’s temple, everything says, “Glory!” The outshining of His character is seen, the excellence of His moral perfections shine forth. Truth is dispensed, sacrifices rise, and the Lord dwells in the midst with holiness overshadowing all.
Christ as the Cornerstone is the reference point for all that is built upon Him. He is the foundation that the apostles and prophets have laid.
Everything rests upon Him and He determines the dimensions and scope of the building. Man’s substitutes and carnal contributions are rejected as worthless and not according to the Pattern of Christ.
This is the church that Jesus builds. It is not built with wood and cement. Living stones grow into a holy temple in the Lord. 1 Pet.2:25: “You are living stones that God is building into His spiritual house, as a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” Only people can be holy, but not timbers and stones, bricks and mortar, or places and things.
People are the dwelling place of God, not buildings, cathedrals, or sanctuaries. The flesh yearns for the external, the tangible, and visible. It is why we “go” to “Church.” There, we imagine, we are entering sanctuaries of sacredness: places that will consecrate our failing flesh. This is grand deception.
They are not holy places. The very temple in Jerusalem was a place of merchandise and corrupt religious business [Jn.2:16], a virtual cave for thieving robbers to hoard their illicit gain [Mt.21:13]. There in defiled courts, worthless sacrifices were offered that provoked the hatred of the Most High God [Isa.1:11-14].
The denominational business centers throughout Christendom may account their religious structures to be holy places, the Church, but Christ does not. Buildings are not the Church. The Church is not somewhere to “go” and attend religious ceremonies and activities. Church “sanctuaries” and meeting halls are not holy places.
Acts 7:48,49: “The Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands; as the prophet says: ‘Heaven is My throne, and earth is the footstool of My feet; What kind of house will you build for Me?’ says the Lord.”
True worship has nothing to do with sacred places, institutions, and religious structures. What is the house of God? The true believers in Christ Jesus are that house, the church, and “God’s building” – 1 Cor.3:9.
1 Cor.3:16: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” Yes, Heb.3:6 says Christ is “Son over His house, whose house we are, if indeed we hold fast the confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.”
Going to Church is a carnal concept handed down from Babylon. Spiritual individuals comprise the church that Jesus is building; that is His house.
Copyright Steve Phillips 2020