Known to Know
As God knows us, we must seek to know Him.
This scripture, found in Matthew 16, tells us four things we need to know if we want to be a vital and vibrant part of the continual spread of grace and love.
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, H asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 4 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”15 Then He asked them, “But who do you say I am?”16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon, son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’),[ and upon this rock, I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” – Matthew 16:13-19
Know God (vs16)
Jesus initiates the conversation by asking who people say He is, but I am not sure that Jesus was primarily concerned about what others thought of Him. He wanted to know who His disciples thought He was. If Jesus were physically in a room with us today, I think he’d like to ask us the same question. Who do we say He is? It’s THE most important question. Get it right, and we will ultimately gain everything. If we get it wrong, we will eventually lose everything.
Bold, brash Peter—perhaps by luck rather than logic—gets it right. Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Lord, the anointed one. At this moment, he comes to know Jesus on a whole new level. The penny drops, and things change. While Peter had been with Jesus for a while, this realization solidified their commitment. Peter’s life forever changed because of who he knew Jesus to be.
All mission starts with us knowing God. Do you know Him? Unless you know Him, you can’t follow Him, and if you don’t, whatever mission you are on will be less than it could be. The apostle Paul, the pioneer of what it meant to mission, said that he considered every other outstanding achievement in his life a loss compared to knowing Jesus. We should as well.
Know God’s Voice (vs17)
As Jesus acknowledges that Peter has got the question right, He reveals the source of where Peter got the correct answer. It wasn’t that he’d heard it through the grapevine or had intellectually put the pieces together. He got it right because God Himself had revealed it to him. In other words, God had spoken, and Peter had listened.
The next crucial step in knowing our mission is knowing God’s voice. We spend too much time figuring out what we want when our energies should be directed toward what God wants. His plan is always better for us. I have wasted too much of my life trying to make things happen with my strength and will. But things never take off in mission until we follow God’s voice.
Jesus said, “My sheep know my voice, and they follow me” (John 10:27). He’s the shepherd, the man with the plan, and our job is to follow him.
Know the power of His Church! (vs18)
If we want to make a difference, we must understand the power of the local Church. All missions must tie back into the Church because only the Church can bring the sustainable, holistic change necessary, and the Church is God’s primary plan to change the world.
Jesus looked Peter squarely in the eyes – fully knowing all Peter’s failings and failures – and said to Him. “Peter – you are a rock. And on this rock, I will build my Church.” Despite all the well-publicized failures through the ages, the Church remains the bastion of trust, the dispenser of love, and the vessel of hope for our world.
And Jesus says about this Church that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. By this, the instruction is not that the Church should hunker down and protect itself against the world's darkness but that the church should assertively move into areas of darkness and shine Jesus’ blazing light. The gates of hell do not prevail because the church stands firm against them; they do not prevail because the church assertively and lovingly dispels the darkness. We cannot separate our ecclesiology (the church) from our missiology (our purpose).
Know what to do with what’s been entrusted to you! (Vs. 18/19)
Note that he was entrusted with a great responsibility once Peter knew Jesus, his voice, and was invited to know the power of the Church. Jesus says, “Whatever you bind of the earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you allow on earth will be allowed in heaven.”
As Jesus ushers these words, he gives believers an incredible responsibility. We must take this responsibility very seriously, steward it well, and give our best energy and effort to ensure we are as faithful and responsible as possible with what God has given us.
So often, we take lightly the responsibility of our faith and its call to make a difference. We fail to realize that much rests on what we do. To steward our responsibility well, we must know what to do with what God has entrusted to us.
God has an incredible plan for your life. It’s bigger and better and bolder and brighter than you could imagine. But to fulfill that mission, you must know God, his voice, the power of His church, and how you will handle what He has entrusted to you.
Know the One who knows you!
This scripture, found in Matthew 16, tells us four things we need to know if we want to be a vital and vibrant part of the continual spread of grace and love.
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, H asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 4 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”15 Then He asked them, “But who do you say I am?”16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon, son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’),[ and upon this rock, I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” – Matthew 16:13-19
Know God (vs16)
Jesus initiates the conversation by asking who people say He is, but I am not sure that Jesus was primarily concerned about what others thought of Him. He wanted to know who His disciples thought He was. If Jesus were physically in a room with us today, I think he’d like to ask us the same question. Who do we say He is? It’s THE most important question. Get it right, and we will ultimately gain everything. If we get it wrong, we will eventually lose everything.
Bold, brash Peter—perhaps by luck rather than logic—gets it right. Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Lord, the anointed one. At this moment, he comes to know Jesus on a whole new level. The penny drops, and things change. While Peter had been with Jesus for a while, this realization solidified their commitment. Peter’s life forever changed because of who he knew Jesus to be.
All mission starts with us knowing God. Do you know Him? Unless you know Him, you can’t follow Him, and if you don’t, whatever mission you are on will be less than it could be. The apostle Paul, the pioneer of what it meant to mission, said that he considered every other outstanding achievement in his life a loss compared to knowing Jesus. We should as well.
Know God’s Voice (vs17)
As Jesus acknowledges that Peter has got the question right, He reveals the source of where Peter got the correct answer. It wasn’t that he’d heard it through the grapevine or had intellectually put the pieces together. He got it right because God Himself had revealed it to him. In other words, God had spoken, and Peter had listened.
The next crucial step in knowing our mission is knowing God’s voice. We spend too much time figuring out what we want when our energies should be directed toward what God wants. His plan is always better for us. I have wasted too much of my life trying to make things happen with my strength and will. But things never take off in mission until we follow God’s voice.
Jesus said, “My sheep know my voice, and they follow me” (John 10:27). He’s the shepherd, the man with the plan, and our job is to follow him.
Know the power of His Church! (vs18)
If we want to make a difference, we must understand the power of the local Church. All missions must tie back into the Church because only the Church can bring the sustainable, holistic change necessary, and the Church is God’s primary plan to change the world.
Jesus looked Peter squarely in the eyes – fully knowing all Peter’s failings and failures – and said to Him. “Peter – you are a rock. And on this rock, I will build my Church.” Despite all the well-publicized failures through the ages, the Church remains the bastion of trust, the dispenser of love, and the vessel of hope for our world.
And Jesus says about this Church that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. By this, the instruction is not that the Church should hunker down and protect itself against the world's darkness but that the church should assertively move into areas of darkness and shine Jesus’ blazing light. The gates of hell do not prevail because the church stands firm against them; they do not prevail because the church assertively and lovingly dispels the darkness. We cannot separate our ecclesiology (the church) from our missiology (our purpose).
Know what to do with what’s been entrusted to you! (Vs. 18/19)
Note that he was entrusted with a great responsibility once Peter knew Jesus, his voice, and was invited to know the power of the Church. Jesus says, “Whatever you bind of the earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you allow on earth will be allowed in heaven.”
As Jesus ushers these words, he gives believers an incredible responsibility. We must take this responsibility very seriously, steward it well, and give our best energy and effort to ensure we are as faithful and responsible as possible with what God has given us.
So often, we take lightly the responsibility of our faith and its call to make a difference. We fail to realize that much rests on what we do. To steward our responsibility well, we must know what to do with what God has entrusted to us.
God has an incredible plan for your life. It’s bigger and better and bolder and brighter than you could imagine. But to fulfill that mission, you must know God, his voice, the power of His church, and how you will handle what He has entrusted to you.
Know the One who knows you!
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