Built on the Rock

Matthew 16:13-20 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" ¹⁴ They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." ¹⁵ "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." ¹⁷ Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." ²⁰ Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

It had been a bright, beautiful sunny fall day. There were about 40 pastors gathered together in our storefront mission church in Radcliff, KY, for our pastors’ conference. We had a wonderful worship service and sermon the previous evening, but to be honest, I can’t remember anything about the sermon or who gave it. That morning we had very good doctrinal papers delivered, but, again, I can’t remember what they were about or who gave them.

What I do remember is receiving a phone call from my wife. She told me that a plane had flown into one of the World Trade Center buildings. I hung up the phone and interrupted the pastor mid-paragraph of his paper. I told them the little I knew. We all gathered in one of our Sunday School classrooms to watch the news. However, all we had was an old TV for watching videos, so it wasn’t connected to cable or a dish. So one of the pastors fashioned an antenna out of a clothes hanger, held onto one end and stretched out his other arm to get better reception.

I still vividly remember watching the grainy images of the second plane flying into the second of the Twin Towers. The weather may have been clear and sunny, but there was a shock, a depression, a fear, a funeral pall that fell over all of us – over all of America – as we saw fire pouring out of the buildings, smoke billowing up into the clear, blue sky above, while below rescue workers were rushing through the thick smoke and debris to find survivors.

Like the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Assassination of President Kennedy or the space shuttle explosion, 9/11, 2001 is indelibly etched into our memories.

It was a day that shook the very foundations of our nation.

We no longer felt safe.

We lost our confidence.

We mourned the tremendous loss of life.

We were scared, shocked, hurt.

But it is on this 10^th anniversary of 9/11 where we look to Scripture in order to build our safety, find our confidence, and construct our faith upon a solid foundation – one that does not crumble, one that does not shift, one that will not falter, one that will not fall. We build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ, the solid Rock of salvation.

Before 9/11, I think many of us were a bit naïve. But now we know that there are terrorists following a religion that has been warring against Christianity for centuries. It is a jihad, a holy war. They don’t play by any rules. They target civilians in order to incite and increase fear. They kidnap young boys and indoctrinate them into strapping bombs to their bodies and blowing themselves up in crowded marketplaces. They are evil.

But Satan is the original terrorist who has been warring against humanity for millennia, who plays by his own rules, who targets little children with short cuts and quick fixes, who seduces youth with drugs and sex, and who tears down families with anger, worry and fear. Satan’s only desire is to see us fail and fall from grace until we plunge into the abyss of hell.

Satan is the ancient serpent who lies, deceives and tempts. He is the seven-headed dragon who leads the whole world astray. He is a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. He is evil incarnate.

But for us fights the Valiant One, whom God Himself elected. Jesus entered battlefield Earth. In the midst of the smoke and debris, in the barren desert, on Calvary’s desolate hill and in the bleak tomb, Jesus took the fight to the devil. He crushed the serpent’s head. He slew the mighty dragon. He shut the lion’s mouth. You have no reason to be afraid any longer. Your confidence returns as you put your trust in Jesus. You have life now and hope for the future.

Ten years ago our economy was going fairly well. The stock market was up. Homes were being built and sold. Jobs seemed plentiful. Airports were a pain but not impossible. We knew we weren’t perfect as Americans, but we were pretty good, better than most. But then the terrorist attacks on September 11 shook our confidence in ourselves. It tore away the fabric of our self-reliance. It showed us how vulnerable we really are.

For maybe as things were going so well for us a decade or so ago, we began to think that our sin was only a defect, a weakening, a minor character fault. That it is something we can overcome with some good old-fashioned American ingenuity. Except … except that we can’t do anything on our own. The chasm that sin created between fallen humanity and a perfect God isn’t a matter of distance or morals or effort – it is a gulf between life and death. God is life and we are living in the “valley of the shadow of death.” And we are dying, little by little, every day one step closer to the grave. And so our salvation isn’t about making us better, or of self-improvement, or of being better than the next guy. It is a matter of raising us from the dead.

And there’s only One who can do that! The One who died and rose to life again. The One who has slammed shut the gates to Hades and opened wide the gates to heaven. The One who clothes us with His white robe of righteousness in Holy Baptism. The One who pours out His love and forgiveness in absolution. The One who feeds your hunger and quenches your thirst with His own body and blood. The One who died your death on the cruel cross and rose from the dead to give you eternal life.

I had the extreme privilege of attending the first Monday night game after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Green Bay Packers linebacker Chris Gizzi, an Air Force reservist, ran onto the field carrying the American flag before the game against the Washington Redskins at Lambeau Field. It was a time of complicated emotions filled with painful memories and heart-breaking images. But at least for a time, we were united as a nation in our grief, our anger and our new-found patriotism.

But what has always united us as people is our sin. The anger, gossip, guilt, hatred, jealousy, coveting and lusts. But now since Jesus has defeated sin and removed its sting, He creates a new unity for us. He unites us, not in shared anger, grief or even patriotism – but unites us in love, joy, peace, forgiveness, resurrection and a shared eternal home. He unites us, not as American citizens, but as brothers and sisters in Christ and citizens of His heavenly kingdom. 

Today the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero will be dedicated and it will be open to the public tomorrow. As nice as this memorial will be, it is still a monument to death. Epiphany Lutheran Church, Wisconsin Lutheran School and the Holy Christian Church are not mere memorials or monuments – and certainly not about death. We are living, breathing, moving, growing creations of our God who died and now lives again. We are place that is alive with sins forgiven, guilt removed, children baptized, Christ proclaimed, truth preached, and communion celebrated. Alive with love that unites, faith that increases and peace that reigns.

A house is only as sturdy as the foundation it sits on. The hidden strength of the Christian Church is down at her foundation. Not her glorious cathedrals, her splendid liturgies, her finely-honed doctrines, her institutions and influence, or even her vast numbers. The Church’s strength is that she is built on the foundation of the prophets and apostles, with Christ – the rejected Rock – as her cornerstone. And she is bolted to the rocky foundation through the faith that confesses Jesus as the Christ and the Son of the living God.

The images of people jumping out of the Twin Towers to escape the hellish fires are disturbing. So disturbing in fact that news organizations are contemplating whether they should even show them any more. They are playing with facts and history. However, there is no denial of the disturbing fact that all of us as sinners are deserving of the eternal fires of hell. And here is no escape from these fires … except through Jesus. It has been said that you can’t get blood from a stone, but Jesus, our Rock, bled and died to take away our sins, rescue you from hell and win heaven for you. Jesus is the perfect Rescue Worker who climbed the ladder of His cross in order to pull you out of the hell fires. Instead of donning a helmet, gloves and axe, Jesus wore a crown of thorns on His head, nails in His hands and a spear in His side to save you.

One of the lasting memories in the 9/11 aftermath was President Bush standing at Ground Zero in his blue jeans with his bull horn, speaking to the police, firefighters and rescue workers. He called out, “I can hear you. The rest of the world can hear you and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” With those words, America took the fight to the terrorists. We went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. American troops went after and found Saddam Hussein. It took 10 years, but they finally found and killed Osama Bin Laden. We went on the offensive.

Standing on the rock above the temple of Pan, the half goat, half human god of shepherds in Caesarea Philippi, Peter made his bold confession of faith. Jesus said, “On this rock [of Peter’s confession] I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” With those words, Jesus is saying that we are going on the offensive. We are taking the fight to Satan and his demons. We are fighting to rescue those who are trapped as the devil’s minions. We are Christian soldiers marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before. We are white-robed saints, fighting in the devil’s killing fields here on earth, not afraid to die because we are confident of standing with other saints from every nation, tribe, people and language before the throne of God for an eternity. We follow into battle the One who descended into hell and kicked down the gates Himself!

Following 9/11 there was a memorial service at Yankee Stadium where clergy of all the world’s religions were invited to speak. It sounds nice and equitable and politically correct, but quite honestly, I wasn’t eager to see a parade of preachers get up on stage, stand before microphones and promote their own deity. We don’t need to hear a bunch of clergy implying that all faiths are the same, all beliefs are the same and all gods are the same.

They’re not all the same.

Simon Peter was right when he confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” He is the only Christ, the only Messiah, the only One anointed by God to be this world’s Savior. The only One who is God’s Son come in the flesh to save us. The only Conqueror of sin; the only Champion of death; the only Victor over Satan. Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” No matter how you work at it, Jesus doesn’t give us much in the way of “wiggle room.” In fact, Jesus doesn’t give us any wiggle room.

Jesus alone saves. He alone is our comfort. He alone is our safety. He alone is our Hero. He alone is our Rock upon which the Church is built. That is the message that trumps terrorism and tyranny. That is the message that  defeats death and offers deliverance. That is the message that heals hatred and provides heroism. That is the message that needed to be heard at Ground Zero 10 years ago. For that is the message that we need to hear, preach and proclaim, not just on anniversaries of tragedies, but every day to every lost soul. For only Jesus is the Rock upon which our faith is built. Only Jesus can make a difference. Only Jesus. Amen.