Encounter the Truth

Jonathan Griffiths: Maybe this is you. You want to follow Jesus, you see something very attractive in his life and in his message, something very appealing. You're even committed to him on some level, but you're grappling with the claims of his word. You know that you don't understand the basics yet.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths. Jonathan, I can imagine that there may be someone listening today who is in exactly that position. They've maybe been listening to Christian radio or this podcast for a little while and they see something about Jesus that is attractive to them, but because they don't know the basics, they're just on hold. They're not moving. What would you say to that person listening today?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, I'd say keep listening. I think that would be my encouragement. I'm so glad that you are listening today if that is your situation. The thing you need to do, the thing you must do, is to keep investigating for yourself the teaching of Jesus Christ, the claims of Jesus Christ, and the substance of his word.

Don't settle for a lack of understanding before you're able to respond to Jesus Christ personally. Get the information, hear his word, and consider your own response carefully. Part of the reason we're here on Encounter the Truth is to facilitate that for you. We trust that today's broadcast and today's message will be of help to you.

Steve Hiller: Well, we're going to ask you to open your copy of the Bible if you have one handy and join us in the book of Matthew. We're in chapter 16 and continuing a message called "The Christ Who Demands a Response." Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: The disciples, it seems, make something of a habit of fretting about food supplies. In chapter 14 and chapter 15, they memorably express concern about a lack of adequate food to feed the great crowds that are assembled before them. Now, they've traveled on to a new place. They've crossed the Sea of Galilee once more, and having reached their next interim destination, they suddenly realize that they're out of food.

They're thinking on a very practical level, in concrete terms. They've got their phone out, they're on Google Maps, and they’re searching up bakery and grocery store, bread, and so far there's nothing, nothing nearby. Bread is the theme of their practical discussion, but Jesus's mind is still on the exchange with the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He's thinking about spiritual things, and so he picks up on the theme of the disciples' discussion and he turns it in a decidedly spiritual direction.

As the disciples talk about the bread supply, he introduces a very significant spiritual warning: watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Leaven spreads through dough, as you know. It has a permeating impact, and Jesus is quite clearly warning the disciples of the dangerous influence of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and their way of thinking, their attitude, their outlook, and their refusal to see the truth.

The disciples, of course, miss this entirely at this point. They think that Jesus is somehow still talking about the bread supply, as they are. Jesus has a word of rebuke for them at this point, and it's quite strong. "O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread?" It might sound like a simple misunderstanding, but Jesus says that there is actually here an issue of faith. There is a lack of understanding that points to a deeper concern.

Why are you talking about the bread supply? Don't you understand who I am? Do you not yet perceive? Don't you remember the feeding of the five thousand with the five loaves and all the leftovers, or the feeding of the four thousand with the seven loaves and all the leftovers there? How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about the bread? Don't you see that I am more than able by this point to provide bread? That is not our concern here. That is not our big issue. That's not the thing to be fretting about.

The concern is that there are those around—the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the religious leaders—who will refuse to see the meaning of the miracles. They will refuse to accept the signs from heaven. They will refuse to draw the obvious conclusions concerning me. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Then the disciples understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of the bread, but the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

One of the very striking and sometimes surprising things about the gospel accounts is the way in which they highlight the sheer slowness of the disciples to figure out who Jesus is. This is all the more surprising because the gospels were written down by disciples, followers of Jesus. But their slowness to gain spiritual insight into his identity, to have a deep and robust faith, to come to a place of real knowledge—the process of really getting there and getting it—is actually a very, very slow process.

In these verses, we find them in a state of confusion and bewilderment. They clearly want to follow Jesus and they clearly want to serve him, but there are big gaps in their understanding. They're still grappling with what they're hearing and with what they're seeing. They're still trying to figure it all out.

As I reflect on the disciples at this point in their journey, I find myself wondering if there might be some even among us today who are in that kind of place. Maybe this is you. You want to follow Jesus, you see something very attractive in his life and in his message, something very appealing. You're even committed to him on some level, but you're grappling with the claims of his word. You know that you don't understand the basics yet.

If that's you, and it may well be a number among us, it's important to hear and take on board the warning that Jesus issues here in verse 6: watch and beware the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Watch and beware, says Jesus. You might say, "As it happens, I've never met a Pharisee. I've never met a Sadducee, so I'm really not too worried about their leaven. Thanks for the tip, I'll keep an eye out, but I think I'm okay."

The reality is, of course, that the attitude of the religious leaders is everywhere to be found. It's found very widely in secular society, and we know this, don't we? The word of Jesus is set aside as quaint or foolish or worse. The claims of Jesus are dismissed as empty and false. The history of his life and his word is dismissed as mere myth. His miracles, the cross, and the resurrection are not even considered in any seriousness.

Then the powerful testimony of the church, of lives transformed, of history shaped over two millennia—well, that's all just swept aside as irrelevant to modern people. "Show us some real evidence," they say. No, the attitude of the Pharisees and the Sadducees is alive and well in the 21st century. Strikingly enough, this attitude is even found among some who will call themselves Christians.

In 2017, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC, conducted a survey of religious attitudes and beliefs in the UK in the run-up to Easter. Their findings were really quite fascinating. Among other things, they reported that fully one-quarter of people in Britain who self-identified as Christians did not actually believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Can you imagine that?

We'll take some elements of the message of Christ. We'll self-identify in some broad sense as Christians. But obviously, we would need some real evidence to believe in something as astounding as a victory over the grave, something like the resurrection. Cynicism, skepticism, doubt, and disbelief; a refusal to grapple with the evidence of the miraculous work of divine power in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. It is a refusal to go where the evidence will take us, a refusal to believe. Beware the leaven, says Jesus. Watch out for it.

Sometimes we'll hear the story of a kid who gets caught up with the wrong crowd and gets drawn into some bad stuff. I'm sure you've heard stories like this. A nice kid, comes from a good home, means well, is doing a pretty good job at school, a bit naive maybe, and a bit gullible. But he gets to know some cool kids from the grade above his or a couple grades above. They start inviting him to hang out a little bit, and then they give him a role to play in some of the stupid things they're doing.

They're into a little bit of shoplifting at the local convenience store, maybe some graffiti under the railroad bridge and one or two other things that aren't aboveboard. Before this kid knows it, he's caught red-handed when the authorities show up, when the police arrive, and his so-called friends suddenly are nowhere to be found. It happens, doesn't it? We know the stories.

The truth of the matter is that on the day of final judgment, the skeptics who sneer at the message of Jesus Christ, who pour scorn upon the faith, and who won't examine the evidence—here's the thing: they won't be there to bail you out. They won't be there to stand by you. They won't be your friends anymore when you have to give account to the judge upon his throne.

Beware bad company. Beware the leaven. Beware the influence. Ignore them, friends. Ignore the immature voices of skepticism and the destructive voices of doubt. Just make sure that you grapple with the evidence yourself. You examine the Bible accounts of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Draw your own conclusions.

It's interesting to me that these verses are here, that we have preserved for us a record of the disciples grappling with who Jesus is and what he can do and what it is that he is saying to them. We might have expected the disciples, who were in this immensely privileged position of being with Jesus and experiencing his ministry and hearing his teaching firsthand and watching the miracles—we might have expected them to just get this right away. They weren't going to struggle with any of this. But that's not what happens.

They really don't get it right away. In fact, the gospels are so very full of accounts of the disciples not getting it, of being slow to learn and slow to understand. That's what we see here. I think that is such a help and such an encouragement to us. It's an encouragement to you if you feel you're just slow to get there, slow to fully comprehend who Jesus is and what he means for you.

It's an encouragement for all of us as we seek to share Christ with others and they just seem slow to be getting it when it feels a long, hard road to get anywhere in sharing Christ. It was a long road, it was a hard road, and a slow process for the disciples too, but they did get there by the end. So we don't despair. We don't give up. We keep praying for a breakthrough in understanding.

Steve Hiller: Jonathan Griffiths here on Encounter the Truth and part of our message "The Christ Who Demands a Response," part of our series "In the Presence of the King," looking today at Matthew chapter 16, verses 1 to 20. We're pausing here, but we'll get back to the message in just a moment. If you ever miss a broadcast, come and listen online. The website is encounterthetruth.org.

Encounter the Truth is able to be on this station and make the website and the podcast available because of your generosity. As you give a gift this month, we want to say thank you by sending you a book called "An Anchor for the Soul" written by Paul Mallard. Jonathan, who is this book written for?

Jonathan Griffiths: This book is for anyone who's walking through a time of trouble or difficulty. I'm so conscious that there will be many listening to the program today who find themselves exactly in that space. If that is you, if you're walking through the valley of trial, I'd love to get this book into your hands to be an encouragement to you from the scriptures to look to the Lord and find your hope in Jesus during this time.

There will be others who are listening today and who have friends and loved ones who are going through a very difficult season in life, and perhaps you could get hold of this book and give it to that loved one and bring encouragement to them today. I'd love to get it to you.

Steve Hiller: We want to send you a copy of this book, "An Anchor for the Soul," as our way of saying thank you for your financial support. You can give online at encounterthetruth.org or over the phone. Our number is 1-833-99-TRUTH. Again, the website is encounterthetruth.org and the phone number is 1-833-998-7884. You can also write to us at Encounter the Truth, PO Box 5513, Ottawa, Ontario, K2C 3M1, or in the US at Encounter the Truth, 215 North Arlington Heights Road, Suite 102, Arlington Heights, Illinois, 60004. Let’s get back to the message. Again, here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: For the disciples, a time of perilous confusion does eventually give way to a powerful recognition, and that's where we're going next. Jesus does want to hear from the disciples what others make of him and what they make of him. He wants a response. He demands a response. Now having traveled some distance north along the path of the Jordan River to Caesarea Philippi, he asks them in verse 13, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" The Son of Man being a name that Jesus often used for himself.

They said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." Those are some very interesting responses. People clearly recognize that Jesus has a prophetic message, but they're not getting to the heart of his identity. So now we press a little bit further in verse 15: "But who do you say that I am?" What about you then? What do you think? He presses them.

Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Now, this is a huge moment in the ministry of Jesus in the gospel story. Here is a moment of clarity, of confession, of recognition. This isn't a vague answer, is it? It isn't an answer that is pretty close to the truth. It's not an answer that is kind of nearly there. No, this is it.

Peter certainly has more to learn, as we're going to discover. But this is a very powerful confession of Jesus as the Christ, that is, as the Messiah of Israel, the promised King in David's line, the ruler who came to save. He is the divine Son of heaven. Here is God himself come to rescue and to rule. What Peter expresses, what he articulates—this is the perfect answer. This is the full and true response.

It's a lovely moment. We sense that it is significant, that it is weighty, and that it is meaningful. Why is this so? What do we learn from this big moment of recognition? Jesus wants us to see that for Peter and for us, coming to this point of confession is a mark both of blessing and of responsibility. I'd like to say something about both of those. First of all, it's a mark of blessing in verse 17. 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."

In worldly terms, if you and I were in Peter's shoes at this point, we might feel that we deserve congratulations. We like to be congratulated, of course. Finally, a contestant on "The Price Is Right" who has guessed it correctly, who got it right, and now come the balloons and the special prize and the cheers and the applause from the studio audience. But Jesus doesn't say clever are you, or special are you, or impressive are you. No, he says blessed are you.

He says, "Peter, the Father has blessed you in bringing you to this point of recognition. You didn't get here all by yourself, Peter. Flesh and blood did not do this. Your own powers of reasoning and investigation didn't get you here alone. No, this has been revealed to you, Peter. It's a blessing."

That is such an important reminder for us. If we believe that the gospel is true, if we sense that as the people of God we have an insight that the world around just doesn't share—they don't see it—none of that is ever a cause for pride. None of that is ever a cause for smugness. What's it a cause for? It's a cause for humble thanksgiving. True thanksgiving that the Father has so blessed us that we might see and we might believe.

Knowing that flesh and blood will never on their own get anyone to this point of saving faith, as we have concern for those around us—and I trust that we do—for our loved ones, for our friends, and for our neighbors, here is a reminder above all else that we must pray that the Father would bless them with eyes to see who Jesus is and hearts to believe.

Peter has a special role, of course, as the first to make this very wonderful confession in full. He is a kind of leader among the disciples and among the apostles, and he in his confession of faith will be a kind of foundation for the church. His name means rock, and he will be a rock, as verse 18 says. But the truly important thing here is not Peter personally so much as the confession that he has made. In this confession of faith, it is a very powerful thing. It means responsibility. It means huge responsibility in verse 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." Some, of course, do think and do argue that the privilege and responsibility that Jesus is speaking of here is for Peter personally, but it's worth noticing that Jesus uses just the same language to speak of a responsibility that is very clearly and explicitly for the whole church in chapter 18 and verse 18.

We'll come to that in another message, but the parallel is very important here. Peter is acting as a leader and a representative of the disciples as a whole group, of the church as a whole. Because Peter and all believers who follow Peter have the gospel confession of Jesus Christ, because we have the gospel, we have this tremendous privilege and tremendous responsibility. We have in our hand the very keys of the kingdom.

When I was a student working a summer job, my boss needed to go on a trip out of town and he said, "Could you drive me to the airport to catch this flight?" I was glad to do that. He then said as we were getting to the airport, "You're going to need to hang on to my car until I get back. You drive it home. You keep the keys." Well, his car was a top-of-the-line BMW, a big eight-cylinder car, and I was maybe 17 years old. I didn't need to think very long before accepting that request and saying I'd be very glad to hang on to the BMW for you for a few days.

I have to say, those keys sat very well in my pocket. I was glad to have them there. I felt privileged to keep them. I'm sure that nice car has been scrapped by now after all these years. I'm sure the keys have been thrown away, nice as they were. But for us who believe, how blessed are we? How privileged are we to hold another set of keys? In the gospel, we have in our hands the very keys of the kingdom of heaven.

The message, the gospel, the good news that Jesus came and Jesus lived and Jesus died for sinners—that message opens the door of heaven itself to a lost and a dying people. Jesus says that as we declare his message, as we speak his word, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

The disciples, the church of Jesus Christ, as it declares the gospel to people, speaks with heaven's authority. As we declare the gospel, we proclaim the good news that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God who came to live before us and to die in our place. Based on a person's response to that message, we can say to that person, "Welcome, brother. Welcome, sister. The door of heaven is open to you. You're a part of the family of God."

Or we can say with tears in our eyes and trembling in our voice, "Friend, you aren't part of the kingdom. You aren't part of the kingdom because you won't accept Jesus. If you won't repent of sin, if you won't believe in the Son, you're not part of the family of God, much as we long for you to be." In that very real sense, as the church speaks and applies the gospel here on earth, we speak God's own word and we do so as heaven's representatives.

Notice the contrast here within the passage. Notice the irony. The religious people came along presuming to act as judges over Jesus. "Show us a sign," they say. "Perform a clever trick for us and maybe we'll believe." But Jesus, what does he say? He declares them wicked and he has no more time for their folly.

Then the fumbling disciple who in humility confesses Jesus as the Christ, who makes that gospel declaration—Peter in this particular moment—that fumbling disciple holds the very keys of the kingdom. He speaks as heaven's representative, and the same is true of the church of Jesus Christ today.

Here in Ottawa, we live in a city that is very interested in geopolitics and in power. If we were to take a map of Ottawa and place a pin on the map in the location that epitomizes power, we might very quickly put the pin on the Houses of Parliament on Parliament Hill. That would be a natural thing to do, of course.

But with the perspective of heaven, where we ask where is real influence, where is spiritual power, where is lasting power, I think the pins are dropped on the churches of Jesus Christ throughout the city, aren't they? That's where lasting influence takes place, and it's a remarkable thing.

It's a remarkable thing because the cynical and the skeptical world looks on at the church of Jesus Christ and it says this is an irrelevance at best and probably something worse. Outdated, uninformed, stuffed full of gullible and undiscerning people. But little does the world know that the church of Jesus Christ that holds the gospel holds the very keys of heaven itself.

As we close, I simply want to ask each one here: where are you within this great spectrum of response? Are you in that place, perhaps, of perverse incomprehension? I hope not. But if so, please don't stay there. Are you perhaps in a place of precarious confusion? If so, please block out the noise of the skeptics and grapple with the evidence of the word of God yourself. Ask God to give you insight to help you see.

If you are in that place of blessing, having made that powerful confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, rejoice in the privilege that is ours together in Christ as the people of God.

Steve Hiller: Jonathan Griffiths wrapping up our message "The Christ Who Demands a Response," looking today at Matthew 16, verses 1 to 20. It's part of a larger series "In the Presence of the King." If you ever miss a broadcast in the series, you can always listen online. Just visit our website, encounterthetruth.org.

Encounter the Truth is able to be on this station and make the website and the podcast available because of your generosity. As you give a gift this month, we want to say thank you by sending you a book called "An Anchor for the Soul" written by Paul Mallard. For producer Mark Bennett and our Bible teacher Jonathan Griffiths, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time.