Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

        The text for today is the Gospel, the confession of St. Peter. And as I mentioned to the children, foundations of any structure are of absolutely critical importance.

        I would like you, for a moment, to picture in your mind’s eye the building with which you are most familiar. The Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy. Someone has published a photograph of that with the following inscription underneath it. "Mediocrity takes a lot less time and most people don’t notice the difference until it’s too late!"

        In other words, except for an awful lot of heroic efforts on the part of the Italian government to keep the Leaning Tower leaning instead of falling, it might be known today as the "Fallen Tower of Pisa". It didn’t have a particularly good foundation, or it wouldn’t be leaning at all.

        You see, if the foundation isn’t right, the money and the energy that is put into the structure is absolutely in danger of being completely wasted, and there is always the potential for great disaster for that structure.

        In the Gospel reading today, our Lord Jesus Christ responds to the great confession of St. Peter. And He says to him, that first of all, this was a confession of faith that he did not invent on his own, but rather it was revealed to him by the Father in Heaven, and so it is of divine origin. And that confession is quite astounding. In fact, I would submit to you that there is more theology crammed into that one verse than could be possibly explained in the span of a twenty minute sermon.

        He says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

        A little bit more about that later.

        Sometimes perhaps we too wonder what the foundation of the church is. For some, who perhaps are not so well grounded in the scripture, might think it must be the budget. That the budget is the foundation of the church. That if we make sure we get the bills paid, then we can get everything done and therefore we are adequately then the church. But it isn’t, of course.

        Another might think it’s the pastor. But I have news for you. It can’t possibly rest on me, or people like me, because that would still be a human foundation, and that would be pretty fallible, I assure you.

        Then, some people have said, "Well, it must be St. Peter himself. After all the sentence says, "Peter you are the rock and upon this rock I will build my church." So a lot of people have figured that Peter is "the rock" on which the church is built. But that too is also, of course, a human foundation. And none of it is so.

        So let us give careful ear to our Lord as He tells us what the nature of "the rock" on which the church is built really is. Because, unless we build it carefully and rightly upon the right foundation, it endangers the entire church.

        The misunderstanding of the nature of that particular foundation could lead the church to spiritual disaster, and I might add, it has. Indeed, an awful lot of people have thought that perhaps St. Peter himself is "the rock" upon which the church is built. Well, then the foundation is but a man, is it not?

        If "the rock" is Peter, it is said, then the church really can’t even exist unless there is someone who continues to occupy Peter’s throne in Rome. And then rules the church by his authority as "Christ’s Vicar on Earth". But that, again, would be but a human foundation. All others outside of that church then, are considered to be not a part of the church. In fact, I’ve even been told by some that since I’m a Lutheran, and not under the authority of the Pope, that in fact I am not a Christian!

        Then, if that is so, then salvation is not available anywhere else except that particular church. And now my salvation becomes dependent on whether or not my membership resides in the church that is ruled by St. Peter.

        It was, after all, to this very argument, that Martin Luther wrote and over which the Reformation began nearly 500 years ago. The Church of Rome had transformed the authority of St. Peter’s throne into a greater authority than that even of scripture itself. That the tradition of the church was now able to inform the church what God’s word really meant. And what transpired as a result of that was, good works became exalted. And good works became the means by which faith was acquired. Even if you were in the church of Rome, now good works became the means by which you pay for your sins in such fashion such that, if you do it rightly, then you might get out of a fictional place that has no scriptural foundation of any kind, called Purgatory, sooner.

        And so the tradition of St. Peter being "the rock" corrosively worked its way out through the church. And so it is a dangerous foundation upon which to build, and so has brought great harm.

        Others would say, and closely identified with the first, that "the rock" upon which the church is built is, in fact, tradition itself. Which is, of course, nothing but a manifestation of human reason. Now, let me tell you that I do believe that tradition can be a good thing if it is not taken too far. Indeed, we Lutherans have lots of traditions. For instance, we believe that lime jello is a major food group! What’s more, when Lutherans watch Star Wars and Luke Skywalker says, "May the force be with you", we automatically respond, "And also with you!"

        We have our traditions. But what’s more, a tradition can be the glue that actually holds society, or can hold a culture, together and without it it can sometimes fall apart. So I’m not saying that tradition is always and only a bad thing. Tradition can be a very very good thing. But when human traditions override the very clear teachings of God, and when the church is founded on flawed, fallen, corrupted human reason, tradition cannot be trusted as "the rock" on which the church is built.

        It was, after all, human reason which denied the authority of God’s word in the first place, and substituted for it the thinking of men. It was, after all, human reason and tradition that becomes then their own misguided authority. It is then, human reason and tradition that becomes such a powerful thing that the plain words of Holy Scripture are explained away and we learn, in error, that what God’s word says it didn’t really mean, after all.

        Human reason and fallen tradition sometimes invents doctrines that are not contained in the scripture. And thereby lead the people of God astray. It was, after all, human reason and tradition which have led many theologians to deny the very deity of Christ Himself, to deny the resurrection of the dead, and to insist that all of scripture conform to how we perceive the truth from the viewpoint of, you guessed it, human reason.

        Human reason then cannot and will not save us. But will always lead us astray in spiritual matters if not guided by the Holy Spirit and the word of God.

        Inspired by the Holy Spirit, he has confessed the truth, and is not going to back away from it regarding who Jesus really is. Consider the two elements of that confession. You are the Christ... I’m sure I’ve told you before, but if not I’ll just refresh your memory. Please understand that "Christ" is the Greek word for the Hebrew word "Messiah". You are the Messiah... the Christ. The one long-promised in whom the hope of Israel, and all the nations, rests. The promise had been given to Abraham that through his seed not only his children, but all nations, would be blessed. And that promise is connected again and again and again throughout the entirety of the Old Testament to the one who would come who was known as the Christ.

        Part B. Jesus is the Son of the living God. Jesus’ favorite name for Himself which He almost exclusively used to describe Himself that He is the Son of Man. Indeed, He is the second Adam, a name also given Him in the scriptures. Here is one man, as we discussed last week, with whom God is well-pleased. And how can there be a man with whom God is well-pleased? Because He is a man who does not sin. Who keeps the law and who does so perfectly on behalf of you and me. And thank God He did, because we are lawbreakers. We are sinners. We have constantly failed God in thought, word, and deed. And along comes Christ, the Son of the living God, who in human flesh keeps the law and ascribes to us His own righteousness as a gift. And then, remember that He is also of the living God. Not only human but divine. For no man could die for your sins! You can’t even die for your own sins, and neither can I.

        But God’s Son, when He breathes His last on the cross, when He sheds His own life’s blood for the forgiveness of sins, His life is full and complete and absolutely payment, far outnumbering our sins, far out-strengthening our sins, absolutely overwhelming our sins, so that we may declare, as He does, that indeed our sins are no longer a factor separating us between the living God and ourselves.

        These two phrases, You are the Christ and the Son of the living God, have more theology crammed into them than we could possibly begin to imagine. It is no wonder, then, that it had to be the Father who revealed it to Peter, and who prompted him to give the confession. It was the very content of Peter’s confession that, 300 years later, led to the refuting of the heretic named Arius, who had denied the very divinity of Christ. And he and his followers were exited from the church, and rightly so. Because they had ripped the gospel out of the nature of Christ and made Him nothing more than a man.

        It was indeed at that time that another great confession of the church was penned by those faithful to the apostolic word, by those listening to this confession You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, and to this day, to this day 1700 years later we still stand and confess the words of the Nicene Creed, that was penned by those faithful to the word of God.

        It is the truth of Peter’s confession in which we have hope, a sure and certain hope, that our sins are forgiven. That we have eternal life and salvation and victory over death. And without that confession, there is no church.

        But let me retract that! The confession is not "the rock"!

        The confession is not "the rock"!

        Rather, the confession is exactly what is confessed. That this one, this one who asked, Who do you say that I am? is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

        For is Christ is not the Son of the living God, if He is not the Messiah of God, then no cross, no nails, and no tomb would have had any meaning for us whatsoever, and there would have been no church.

        For you grammaticians in the crowd, listen carefully. The sentence is clear and straightforward, and it is not hard to understand if you know a little Greek, but I’ll explain it to you anyway.

        When Christ issues the statement, "Peter you are the rock-man" (that kind of thing), You are the Christ the son of the living God, when you say that, Peter. Listen to the words.

        You are the rock, and upon this rock I will build my church. Peter is the rock, he has the character of a rock, given the confession he gave. But he is not "the Rock". That is a masculine noun, as is befitting the name of a man. And then He goes on. And upon "this rock". Now, if Christ had meant to indicate Peter, He would have used a masculine noun to refer back to him. But the noun is feminine. The noun refers to Christ. The noun refers to the church itself, and to "the rock" on which the church rests, who is Christ.

        Masculine nouns would refer to Peter. The feminine noun refers to that which is confessed, who is Christ, the Son of the living God.

        For those of you who are not grammaticians, I probably just lost you. But let me tell you, its as clear as the nose on your face if you simply read the text.

        I am reminded that while I was still going to the seminary there was a confessions symposium, which I am blessed to go to again this year. But while I was there, there was a Father Trevard, a Roman Catholic theologian who was invited to speak at our conference. And he was also a Greek scholar. And I’ll never forget the stunned silence in the room when this Roman Catholic priest got up and said, "On the basis of this text, there is no foundation for the Papacy at all, because it’s simply the nature of the Greek language to say otherwise. " Thank God for honest scholarship!

        And so, "the rock" is not Peter. "the rock" is not even the confession of Peter. "The rock" is Christ, the Son of the living God. And of course, it would have to be, would it not? For the church rests on Christ. St. Paul writes clearly that we are the body of Christ, of which Christ is the head. And all things find its fulfillment in Him. The foundation is Christ the divine human one. The foundation is Christ the crucified and risen one. The foundation, "the rock", is Christ the redeeming one, who has purchased us with His own innocent precious blood, and calls us His own. It is Christ who is the glory of the church. And here alone is the foundation for its building. Here alone is the message the apostles carried to the world, which has changed the world. Here alone is the foundational rock that only this rock will do, which is our Lord Jesus Christ.

        And then please notice the very end of the text. Against this rock, against Christ, the Son of the living God, are dashed every effort of Satan. For not even the gates of hell will prevail against this rock. And it is on this rock, who is Christ, that all of our sins are shattered and broken, and made of no effect.

        Yes, dear friends, foundations of any kind, for any structure, are critical. The church, with all of her human failings, comprised of sinners, does not rest on sinners, but on Christ alone. And all of this is possible only because of "the rock". For He is the Christ, the Son of the living God, in whose name we conclude. Amen.