Christ, the Church and the Cross

If we want to be built into the church, we have to take the cross.

Stephen Kaung

Reading: Matt 16:13-27.

Of the four gospels, the gospel according to John not only gives us the history of our Lord Jesus while He was on the earth, but the apostle John also interprets the history of our Lord Jesus. He gives us the inner meaning of His coming. In the gospel of John he tells us that the Lord Jesus came into this world, not just to seek and to save the lost; of course he did come to seek and to save the lost, but that is not His ultimate purpose. His ultimate purpose in coming to this world is to find His bride. Because He is the bridegroom, so He came to find His bride.

But while He was on earth, He couldn't find His bride anywhere. All He met were the blind, the crippled, the deaf and even the dead. So while He was on earth, He had to create His bride, and that was His work on this earth. He saved the lost, opened the eyes of the blind, made the crippled walk, He made the dead rise from the dead. He was preparing a people to be His bride.

But very strangely, while He was on the earth for thirty three and some years, never once did He mention why He came to this world. That is to say, He never mentioned the word church. The word "church" was to be his bride, but He didn't even mention that word until toward the end of His life. Why? Because it was not ready. It is still a mystery, hidden in God through the ages, He was waiting for the right time to even mention this word "church". It was in Matthew chapter 16 that for the first time He released that secret. It was the time when He was rejected by His own chosen people. So He retreated to the border of Caesarea-Philippi.

Caesarea-Philippi was a gentile city and it was while He was near that border that He asked His twelve disciples a question: Who do men say that I the Son of man am? "I have been among them for many years, so who do they say I am?" And the disciples reported to our Lord Jesus, "You are John the Baptist risen from the dead. You are Elijah, the great prophet, you are Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, or you are one of the prophets. You are the Prophet, prophesied by Moses, and among God's people, God would raise up one, and whoever would not listen to Him would perish."

They reported to our Lord Jesus all the good comments about Him. They hid from the Lord all the bad comments about Him. Now if anybody should hear such good comments, he would probably be more than satisfied and say "I am not worthy of it." But it was not so with our Lord Jesus. With all these good comments, He was not satisfied, so He asked His own disciples, who had been with Him for over three years. They were with Him day and night; they should know better, so He asked them, "Who do you say that I am?" And Simon Peter, always the spokesman among the disciples, spoke up and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Immediately our Lord Jesus answered: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in the heavens.

Dear brothers and sisters, here we discover the greatest revelation in the whole universe. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. So far as His person is concerned, He is the Son of God, so far as His office is concerned, His work, He is the Christ, the One sent by God, the One sent by God with a mission, and that mission was to redeem the world. Brothers and sisters, there is no revelation greater than this; the Father reveals the Son to us.

Without the revelation from the Father, all man can know about the Lord Jesus is that He is a great man, probably the greatest of men, but that's all. They can never realize that Jesus is the Son of God, they can never understand that Jesus is the Christ, sent by God to realize a mission. It is only by revelation from the Father. We remember when our Lord Jesus was ministering in the world, and He said, "No one know the Father except the Son, and no-one knows the Son but the Father." So dear brothers and sisters, we are blessed.

Thank God, out of the numberless number of people that God should look upon us and that He should open our understanding; He should reveal His Son in our hearts, and enable us to se that Jesus is the Son of God. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily and we are complete in Him. He is the Christ, the Sent One by God, to accomplish a mission that no-one could accomplish: to redeem us unto God. So our Lord Jesus said to Simon, "You are blessed, it is the Father who has revealed this to you." Dear brothers and sisters, we thank God because it pleases Him to reveal Jesus Christ to us.

We have believed in Him, we believe He is the Christ and the only Christ, He is the Son of God, the only begotten Son of God and by believing in Him we are saved and our sins are forgiven; we receive a new life, the life of our Lord Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit who comes and dwells in our spirits. We become children of God, and we can call God Abba Father. Thank God, we are in the family of God. This is the greatest revelation that man can have and by the mercy of God, He has given it to us.

Upon this greatest revelation, the revelation of the Father concerning the Son, then our Lord Jesus began to give us the second greatest revelation in the universe. Without the first revelation, the second revelation will not come. But after the Father revealed the Son to us, then the Son began to reveal to us the second greatest mystery in the Word of God. It is a mystery which has been hidden throughout the ages. But God is working toward that mystery. At that time our Lord began to leak out that secret. Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

Brothers and sisters our Lord Jesus says, "Simon, you are Peter." Simon was his natural name but our Lord Jesus said "you are Peter." Simon is a man made of dust, Simon is earthly, Simon is worldly, he is fleshly. Peter means a stone. In other words, by confessing the Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, a transformation came into that man. Instead of a man of dust, earthly, worldly, fleshly, now a new life had entered into him, a new element came into him, a new creation of God came into this man's life; God had turned him from dust to stone, from something fragile to something that is solid, something that is heavenly, something that is spiritual, something that is of God. So our Lord Jesus said, "on the basis of your confession, you are a changed person. You are now Peter, a stone, and on this rock, I will build my church."

Brothers and sisters, what is this rock? For some, because Jesus said to Peter "you are a stone" therefore the rock is the same as the stone. In other words, there are people who understand that the rock is Peter; that God will build His church upon Peter as the foundation. But dear brothers and sisters, we know that this is very wrong. Because Peter means a stone, a small stone, but the rock is a massive stone. Peter is only a piece out of this rock. He is not the rock. That massive rock is our Lord Himself. It is the confession of Peter, "He is the Christ, the Son of the living God, He is the rock, He is the foundation of the church." The Church is built upon Him, not upon Peter.

If the church was built upon Peter, you will discover immediately after his confession how he committed a serious wrong. And our Lord had to turn back and say "Satan get behind me." In other words, that foundation had already been shaken. But thank God, Peter is not the foundation of the church; our Lord Jesus is the only foundation. So remember, in 1 Corinthians 3 the apostle Paul said I am a master builder, but actually the word masterbuilder should be translated I am a foreman. He is not the masterbuilder; the masterbuilder is the Lord Himself and God is the builder. Peter is the foreman, in other words, he is the head of the laborers. He laid the foundation and said that that foundation is none other than Jesus Christ. Aside from the Lord Jesus, there is no foundation; He is the only foundation.

Now some people may say, is it not in Ephesians 2 that the Apostle Paul said, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. What does this mean? If Christ Jesus is the only foundation, how can the twelve apostles be the foundations? And furthermore, in the New Jerusalem, we find its foundation are twelve precious stones which bear the name of the twelve apostles. So it is as if the twelve apostles are the foundations of the Church. But brothers and sisters, Paul said that there is only one foundation: Christ alone is the foundation.

Now what does it mean by the twelve apostles as the foundation of the New Jerusalem? It is because the Apostle Paul explained it in chapter 3 of Ephesians. He said, this mystery of the Christ that has been hidden he mystery of the Christ, which in other generations has not been made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets. In other words, Christ is the only foundation, but this revelation of Christ Jesus is revealed to the apostles and through the apostles passed onto us. They are not the real foundation, it is Christ in these twelve apostles, Christ revealed to these apostles and through these apostles we come to know Christ Jesus. So it is still Christ who is the only foundation. Thank God for that.

Our Lord Jesus said, "I will build my church." This is the first time He mentions that word church. He came for that very purpose. And yet He didn't mention it until that time. What is the meaning of the church? So far as the word itself is concerned, it is a Greek word: ekkle¯sia meaning "called out ones gathered together", out of every nation, every tribe, every tongue every people: God called out a people for Himself. And these called out from the world are gathered together in the name of our Lord Jesus. That is the meaning of the church.

The church is not an organization, the church is not a human organization, the church is an organism, it is living, it is born out of Christ Jesus. Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them. Two or three are the smallest plurality. One believer does not constitute a church. You need at least two or three, but of course it is not limited to three; it is the minimum number because the church is a corporate body and no one person can become that body. It needs all these called out ones from the world gathered together, not scattered, gathered together under the name of the Lord Jesus, under the authority of the Lord Jesus, not under man's authority, but under the authority of the name of our Lord Jesus, and that is the church.

Our Lord Jesus said, "I will build my church. Upon Myself. You are Peter, you are a stone." And with Peters everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus, who has received the life of the Lord Jesus in him, he is a new creation, he is a Peter, he is a living stone. And with these living stones our Lord Jesus builds us together into the church. He cannot build the Church with Simon. He can only build the Church with Peter. He cannot build the Church with natural man, with that which is worldly, with that which is earthly, with that which is carnal; of the flesh. He cannot build the Church with Simon; He can only build the Church with Peters; living stones, with a life from above, heavenly, spiritual, new creation, and with that He can build the Church. This will be the material for the building of the Church.

Sometimes I try to make people understand, so I try to use a formula. Once I was ministering together with T. Austin-Sparks, and you know T. Austin-Sparks, he was so heavenly, he was so spiritual, and his understanding of the Church was so universal. He hated formulas because formulas are mechanical, formulas are technical. Once you use a formula it becomes technical. It loses its heavenly spiritual nature. And I was ministering with him. I tried to get people to understand what the Church is, so I was forced to use a formula, so I asked brother Sparks to pardon me, I asked him to forgive me for a period, to allow me to use a simple formula. So I ask your permission to use a formula. But this is only used temporarily. It is not a fixed principle, but you can see the principle behind it.

I tell the brothers and sisters, suppose there are only three believers in the world, and they are the most spiritual three people. Now who would you say they would be? I would say, Peter, James and John, because these three disciples, out of the twelve, our Lord Jesus often separated them and allowed them to see something that the other disciples did not see. Now suppose in the world, there are only three believers; Peter, James and John. Now, what is the Church? Is the Church: Peter + James + John = the Church? What do you think? Let's look at those three men.

Look at Peter. He always wants to be the first. He is very outspoken. He appointed himself as the spokesperson among the disciples. He was very impulsive, very strong. He would not only deal with his brother, he said his brother Andrew sinned against him seven times, and he was so good as to forgive him. And he came to the Lord and said, "Will that be enough?" He was very proud of himself for forgiving his brother seven times. To his surprise the Lord said, "I didn't say seven times, I said seventy times seven."

And you know that with Peter, seventy times seven he forgot already. And I often wonder who offends who? I think it must have been Peter who offended Andrew. Andrew is so quiet and humble; he could notice very small things, that a little boy had five loaves and two fish. So I often wonder, that's what we are - we think our brothers and sisters offend us but oftentimes it is us who offends them. That's Peter.

And look at James and John. Our Lord Jesus called them the "sons of thunder." Now, are you afraid of thunder? When thunder strikes, it is frightening. And you remember how these sons of thunder thundered. One day when somebody cast out demons in the name of our Lord, but did not follow that Jesus, so John and James forbid him. "How dare you use the name of our Lord? You cast out demons but without being with us following the Lord." So John came to the Lord and said, "I forbid him." But the Lord said, "Don't forbid him; if he is doing something in my name, then he is with us and not against us."

And you remember when our Lord Jesus passed through the village of Samaria, and the Samaritans did not receive Him, because He was going to Jerusalem. Then John and James came to the Lord and said, "Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up? How dare they not receive you?" They had perfect faith that they could call down fire from heaven and burn up these people. That's thundering! And our Lord Jesus said, "You do not know what spirit you have." While He was going to Jerusalem, He was going to die; He was going in the spirit of the Lamb. But these two disciples had a different spirit.

And you remember when our Lord Jesus was going to enter Jerusalem all the disciples thought that He was going to be crowned. That was the last opportunity. So John and James got their mother out, their mother was the Lord Jesus' aunt, so the mother took the two sons to the Lord, and said, "Lord, promise me, I will ask you something, promise that you will give me it." But our Lord never gives anything without knowing what that promise is. So the Lord said, "What do you want?" She said, "That in your kingdom, my two sons may sit, one at your right hand and the other at the left."

Brothers and sisters, you know that in these three years, the disciples always quarreled among themselves as to who was the greatest. Now that was the last opportunity, and these two sons outmaneuvered all the other disciples - they got their mother out - and the word of an aunt carries weight. And the Lord said, "Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism I am to be baptized with?" Without really knowing what the cup is, or what the baptism is, they said, "We will." And the Lord said, "You will. But to sit at my right hand or left is not for me to give, but it is for My Father to give." Now is that thundering? The other disciples were indignant because they outmaneuvered them.

So brothers and sisters, if you get these three people together, you know what will happen: there will be lightning and thundering. Can this be the Church? No. Then what is the Church? Let us try another formula. Christ in Peter + Christ in John + Christ in James = the Church? No. Thank God for Christ in Peter, that is the material for the Church, but Peter is still there. Now Simon is still there; he is Simon Peter. Christ is there, but Simon is still in Peter. Christ is in John, but that son of thunder is still there, Christ is in James, but another son of thunder is still there.

So when Christ in them is operating, that is an expression of the Church, but when the natural man is operating, now there will be many problems. That is the reason why we have so many problems in the church because not only Christ is there, but you are there also. So somebody asks can we find a perfect church on earth? The answer is this; if you are there, the church cannot be perfect.

So, what is the Church? Let us try another formula. Christ in Peter - Peter + Christ in John - John + Christ in James - James = the Church. Now do you get it? Are you sure? Thank God, that's it! Now forget the formula and just remember the principle. Our Lord said "I will build my church on this rock." - on Himself. But the building of the Church, the material for the building is living stones, precious stones; nothing earthly, nothing worldly, nothing human, nothing fleshly: all that is fleshly, worldly, earthly and natural in us must be eliminated.

Only Christ, and Christ alone is the building material. So brothers and sisters, when you come to the Church, there is a cross there. You cannot come into the Church bypassing the cross. When you come to the door of the Church, the cross stands there. Anything that is natural, anything that is of self, anything that is of our own, anything that comes from Adam, from the world, earthly, satanic, all these things cannot pass through the cross. On the cross they were put to death, and what remains, which is Christ, enters into the Church. And this is the building of the Church.

The reason why the Church is not built is because we do not accept the working of the cross in our lives. Now let us continue. We have the greatest revelation; the Father revealed His Son, thank God for that, and we have the second greatest revelation; the revelation of the Church. Christ said, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." You know dear brothers and sisters, Satan hates the Church, because he has enough knowledge to know that when the Church is built, he is finished.

So the gates of Hades are open and all the satanic forces are released to attack the Church. He knows that if Christ finishes building His Church, that will be his end. This is the mystery of God; God used something that is inferior to the angels, to destroy the archangel. God uses man, who was created a little lower than the angels to finish the archangel who turned into Satan. That is the glory of God. But because man failed, Christ came to be a man, the Second Man, and though Him, a New Man, a new race, a new creation in Christ Jesus. Our Lord Himself, on the cross of Calvary dealt Satan a fatal blow, a complete victory, and then He led us into His victory.

What the Church is doing is the mopping up work. The decisive battle has already been fought and the enemy has been broken and Christ has overcome, and now He leads the Church to do the mopping up work; that is the work of the Church, that is the testimony of the Church; to overcome the world, the earth, satanic powers and claim the victory of Christ Jesus. So Satan hates the church, and that's why he tries every means to see that the Church is not built. He tried to change the church into the world; a religious world, he tried to turn a living organism into a dead organization. He tried to boost up our flesh to substitute the life of Christ. Brothers and sisters, he used persecutions to try to kill the Church, and if he could do that, he would use persuasion and temptations to grow up into a big organization.

Brothers and sisters, we know the vows of the enemy, so let us be careful. But whatever is built by the Lord Jesus, and our Lord Jesus only builds with himself, builds what is Himself in you and me: he will not allow any mixture, and whatever He builds, all the forces of the enemy could not prevail against it.

Brothers and sisters, this is why we are at the end age, and the bible says that there will be a great shaking, not only of the earth but also of the heavens, not only the earthly kingdoms, but even that which is heavenly. Everything will be shaken, and whatever can be shaken will be shaken. So that which cannot be shaken will remain, and this is the eternal kingdom of God. So brothers and sisters, the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

However, be careful. After the two greatest revelations, on the basis of these two greatest revelations, Christ began to reveal the third greatest revelation. What makes Jesus the Christ? It is the cross. If Christ does not go to the cross, there will be no Christ. The mission would be unaccomplished. So here our Lord began to show us what makes Him Christ, and what makes Him Christ, makes the Church. So after that He began to reveal to the disciples, "I am going to Jerusalem, I will be rejected, I will be killed, but on the third day I will rise from the dead."Look, Peter, who just received such tremendous revelation - what did he do? He laid hold of the

Lord, shook Him up and said, "Lord, never, never go to the cross, you don't need the cross, you can have the Kingdom. Our Lord Jesus turned and said, "Satan get behind me, because you are not mindful of the things of God, you are mindful of the things of man." Brothers and sisters, this man who had just received such tremendous revelation turned to be an instrument of Satan. Why? Because there is the flesh in him; the Simon in him.

Even with that great revelation, his natural man, his natural mind is still there. And the natural man, the natural mind says, "love yourself, protect yourself, preserve yourself." That is the first instinct, "don't suffer, think good of yourself." Oh, Satan is behind that; Satan found a loophole there so he could use Peter to try to keep Jesus from the cross. If Jesus listened to Peter, there would be no cross, but there would be no Christ.

What makes Jesus the Christ is the cross. Therefore, the apostle Paul said, "I knew nothing among you, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is our message, this is the testimony of God. Christ, and the cross. Without the cross, there would be no Christ, without the cross there would be no glory. But this is not only true of Christ; this is also true of the Church.

What makes the Church? What builds the church? The cross. So He turned to His disciples and said, "If any one desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever shall desire to save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it" Dear brothers and sisters, if we want to be built into the church, we have to take the cross. If you bypass the cross, you will not be built in the Church.

That is the reason why the Church is still not finished building. It is because God's people love the prosperity gospel and deny the way of the cross. Once I talked with a world famous charismatic leader and he told me one thing, he said, "What we charismatic people lack is preaching the cross. Because we do not preach the cross, we have all these confusions."

Brothers and sisters, do you want to follow the Lord? Do you want to be built in the Church? Do you want to see the Church finished quickly? There is only condition: deny yourself. Peter denied the wrong person; he denied the Lord three times but what he should do is deny himself. We do the same thing. Oftentimes we deny the Lord, but we will not deny ourselves, we protect ourselves and love ourselves, but the Lord said, "Follow me. I'm walking in the way of the cross, to be crucified, are you willing to follow me?

If you are willing to lose your soul life, you will gain it to eternity, for my sake." O brothers and sisters, I know you love the Lord, will not that love not constrain you to lay yourself down, willing to die, willing to walk the way of the cross? It is hard, it is difficult, but it leads to growth; it leads and to the glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle, or of any such sort, holy and blameless, fit to be the bride of the Lamb.

Come quickly Lord Jesus. What is He waiting for? Every bridegroom on the earth is waiting for the bride, but the bride delays. Our Lord is waiting for the bride, but we are not growing up, we are not mature, we have not been conformed to His image. We are not His like, we cannot be His counterpart, so He is waiting. He should have come back in the first century, but since then He has been waiting, then the second century, the third century, and even to the twenty first century.

Are we waiting or is He waiting? He is waiting for us. The Lord have mercy on us. Dear brothers and sisters abandon yourselves, absolutely to Him, let Him finish the work. Our prayer is His prayer: He is praying, He wants to come to receive us, but we are not ready. Oh brothers and sisters, we are at the last days and we have a blessed hope; even to see His coming and not pass through death. The saints in past centuries waited and waited but He didn't come, so they died. Brothers and sisters, may that not be so with us - we are here not waiting for death, but waiting to see Him come, even in life. Praise the Lord, Amen.

Message shared in Temuco (Chile), in September of 2004.

Copyright © AGUAS VIVAS | CHILE 2004