The Pipe and Pencil Podcast
Welcome to the Pipe and Pencil Podcast where we help all church members learn more about theology and church history. It might be tough sometimes but the reward is worth it.
As C.S. Lewis said, "I believe that many who find that "nothing happens" when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand."
I hope this podcast will give you the tools to study the Bible's doctrines and history and share what you have learned with others.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
The Pipe and Pencil Podcast
#9 - Jesus in Galilee: Kingdom Parables, the Church's Foundation, and Spiritual Warfare
Can the origin of the word "church" reshape your understanding of its true meaning? This week, we journey through the second year of Jesus Christ's ministry, a period known for its widespread impact and growing popularity. We'll unravel the significance of Jesus' teachings in Galilee, a melting pot of Jewish and Gentile cultures, and how ancient prophecies from Isaiah underscore this region's pivotal role. By exploring the socio-economic backdrop, we bring the historical and geographical context of Jesus' ministry to life.
Jesus' parables often hold profound lessons, and this episode shines a light on the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven from Luke, chapter 13. Through these stories, Jesus depicts the kingdom of God starting small but growing immensely. We'll analyze the symbolism of birds and leaven in these parables, representing external threats and internal corruption. Additionally, we revisit key events like the feeding of the 5,000 and the bread of life discourse, illustrating Jesus' mission to reach both Jews and Gentiles and the expansion of his ministry.
Finally, we discover the foundation of the church, focusing on the pivotal moment when Jesus names Peter and declares the church will be built on the rock. By dissecting the Greek terms "petros" and "petra," we'll clarify that Jesus, not Peter, is the cornerstone of the church. In the context of Caesarea Philippi, a center for pagan worship, this declaration takes on even greater significance. We also explore Peter's reflections in 1 Peter 2 and trace the etymology of the word "church" from its Greek origins, emphasizing the concept of believers as a living temple. Join us as we uncover the resilience and mission of the church, highlighting its proactive role in spiritual warfare and spreading the gospel.
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563531425133
Check out my favorite, free online Bible timeline: https://www.thebiblicaltimeline.org/
If you're studying the gospels, you NEED to look at Rick Aschmann's chronology of the Gospels. This is the best harmony of the Gospels chart I've ever seen:
https://biblechronology.net/ChronologyOfTheFourGospels.pdf
For more info on Galilee:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galilee
Here's the link to Justin Taylor's article on the Galilean Jews:
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/7-differences-between-galilee-and-judea-in-the-time-of-jesus/
For a more in-depth look at Caesarea Philippi and the Gates of Hell, check out this article by Ray Vander Laan:
https://www.thattheworldmayknow.com/gates-of-hell-article
Note: Using the links below will help support the show.
To purchase our recommended timeline book:
#Ad https://amzn.to/4ch
If you would like to read more by R.T. France, here is a link to one of his commentaries that was the basis for Justin Taylor's article:
#Ad https://amzn.to/4cQ079N
Stephen, I'm glad that you're listening today. Today we're going to get into the second part of our series. We're doing kind of a mini-series on the life of Jesus Christ and this is part of our bigger series on the history of the church, and today we're actually, in our lesson, going to be talking about the first time that the word church is mentioned in the Bible. So we are going to slow down just a little bit. We're going to take our time to get through the portion of our lesson that we want to do today. We have already worked through Jesus' early life in ministry, pretty much through his first year, and most people agree his ministry is about three and a half years. So our lesson today will be basically focused on the second year. So we're going to do that today. Next week we will be talking in depth about baptism. In this week we see Jesus beginning his ministry. We looked at that last week and we said that his purpose here was part of the new covenant and it says in Jeremiah, chapter 31,. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother saying Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. And that's why it is so, I think, important to notice where Jesus is starting his ministry.
Stephen:When we look at the divisions of Jesus' ministry here, there's actually a link that I'm going to leave in the description to, I think, one of the best chronological layouts of the Gospels that I've ever seen, and if you look at it, you'll notice that there are basically the three divisions of Jesus' ministry the year of preparation, the year of popularity, and then there's the year of opposition, which is the third year, and what you will notice is that the bulk of Jesus' ministry is in Galilee, and there is a reason for that. The Bible says that he came to his own. His own received him not. Well, literally, that's what you see when you see him in Galilee. This is where Nazareth is, this is where he is from, this is where his ministry begins. But again, why is it that the majority of his ministry is directed towards this area? Well, I think there's actually another reason for that.
Stephen:If you go to Isaiah 9, verses 1-7, it says but there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish In the former time. He brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he's made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond Jordan, galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness on them has light shone. The Lord says glad when they divide the spoil For the yoke of his burden and the staff for his shoulder. The rod of his oppressor you have broken, as on the day of Midian, for every boot of the tramping warrior in battle, tumult, and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For the fire, for to us a child is born, to us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder. In his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness, from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Stephen:Now that is a little bit of a longer passage for us to read, but I hope you notice a few things. Isaiah is looking ahead and he's seeing this as if it's actually happening right in front of him. He says in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond Jordan, galilee of the nations, these people who have been in darkness. Now they see a great light. They have seen a great light. Notice. It says of the nations. This is the land that is referenced right before. Isaiah says Now, before we continue on and start looking more at the ministry of Jesus, I want to take a moment to get our history hat back on and let's talk a little bit about Galilee. And, as always, there will be some more information in the description about what I'm going to be looking over right now.
Stephen:But when we look back, when we think about Israel maybe this happens to you when you think of Israel in the Bible, perhaps you think that there was the Jewish people and the Romans and they were united against them. Of course, you had people like the Samaritans, but outside of that you have the Jews and you kind of think of one big happy family maybe. Big happy family, maybe. Well, we've already mentioned that there were different denominations in the Jewish faith, but also a lot of how you were seen as a Jew was based on where you were born. You were born. Now.
Stephen:The thing about Galilee is, unlike Samaria, galilee was mostly uninhabited after the Assyrian invasion. It was desolate for a long time. After Pompey completed his conquest of Israel in 63 BC, there were many waves of Jewish settlers that came into the land. So, unlike Samaria, you do have a significant group of Jews. There's some scholars that think that there was a large group of Jewish people that were from the Davidic line that settled in this area. That would make sense. That would seem appropriate, knowing that this is where Jesus would come from, from Nazareth.
Stephen:Nazareth and Capernaum were the Jewish settlements the strongholds, I guess, would be a better way to put it. They were the Jewish strongholds in this area. However, there was a vast, vast group of Gentiles in the area. Now their main industry was farming a lot of olives, grain and fishing. But one thing to note these Galilean Jews is they were bilingual. They could speak Greek.
Stephen:To think that these Jews were united with the southern Jews, the Judeans from around the area of Jerusalem. That is not the case. They were completely different, and I'll be leaving a link to an article by Justin Taylor. He references some of the writings of RT France and helps put all this together. I think you'll like it. But he mentions seven ways that these people are different. First of all, you have to understand. Racially they are very different.
Stephen:This area, as we know, had always been a more mixed population. Now there were the more conservative areas like Nazareth and Capernaum, but even these were in very close proximity to largely pagan cities. Tiberias would be an example of one of those more Hellenistic cities. Geographically, galilee was separated from Judea by the non-Jewish territory of Samaria, and it was also separated from Perea, another Jewish area, by the Hellenistic settlements of Decapolis. Politically, they were different.
Stephen:Galilee was under a separate administration from Judea almost all of its history. In the time of Jesus they were under the rule of Herod Antip sons, but when he was deposed in AD 6, they were ruled directly by a Roman prefect. So that's where you have leaders such as Pilate that come into play when you're in the southern part of Israel. It should be noted that they were also different economically. Galilee had better agricultural fishing resources. Judea was more mountainous.
Stephen:Culturally, the Judeans did really not think very much of their northern neighbors. They were not seen as being as sophisticated and, of course, the Galileans were more heavily influenced by the Gentiles in the minds of the southern Jews. Linguistically they were different. The Galileans had a very distinctive form of speech, a form of Aramaic, and religiously they were different. They saw the Galileans as being lax in their observance of rituals and you have to remember, galilee was pretty far away from Jerusalem, so that didn't help matters. Again, all the things I listed, I'll have an article referencing that in the description.
Stephen:Let me also read to you just a little summary from RT France about these differences. Rt France says in his book the Gospel According to Matthew, quote Galilee of the Gentiles was now an even more appropriate description than in Isaiah's day, as successive movements of population had given it a predominantly Gentile population until a deliberate Judaizing policy was adopted by the Hasmonean rulers, resulting in a thoroughly mixed population. That such an area should be the place of revelation of the Jewish Messiah needed to be justified, and that justification Matthew finds in Isaiah's prediction of new light dawning in Galilee after the devastation caused by the Assyrian invasion. End of quote.
Stephen:So let's keep that in mind, all of this that we've been talking about here, because it is going to help us understand why this great Galilean ministry was so important. This is really where his ministry begins, and you will find that his ministry is to Jews and to Gentiles. It is no mistake that we see Nathaniel saying in John 1.46, can anything good come out of Nazareth? This was really something on his mind, and now you can see why. And we are going to see Jesus doing the bulk of his ministry in Galilee. To see Jesus doing the bulk of his ministry in Galilee. We're also going to see him going to Samaria and Decapolis, but yet for some reason, almost avoiding Jerusalem. One has to wonder why.
Stephen:Well, if we go back and think about what we talked about with Elijah and Elisha, there was a difference in their ministries as well. Elijah was the one who would go before the king. He would go to the palace. Elisha tended to focus more on the common man. He tended to not be afraid to heal a Gentile. Jesus is going to work in that way of ministry. He doesn't really have much to say to the religious leaders who don't think that they need a Savior. They're good, they think they're okay. They are the sick ones who think that they are.
Stephen:Well. Jesus is going to go to Galilee of the nations, where there is darkness, and to those people, the ones that are in darkness are the ones that are going to receive the light. The ones that are in darkness are the ones that are going to receive the light, and that's where we left off. Last time was the beginning of his ministry the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is important for so many reasons. Jesus has, by this point, called his disciples and he has caused quite a stir in the synagogue. But now he goes to the mountain and he's going to talk about such things as the fulfillment of the law, that he is the fulfillment of the law. He's also going to help them understand the purpose of the law. That he is the fulfillment of the law. He's also going to help them understand the purpose of the law. In fact, I would say he's going to let the people know that not only could they not keep the law, but he's going to explain why the law is a lot more than what they thought it was.
Stephen:In so many ways, the Jewish law was so much better than the laws that were given in those times in the Old Testament, when Jewish law was concerned with making sure things were fair and done right. That's where we get the saying an eye for an eye. Basically, it's saying the punishment should fit the crime. The thought was if somebody stole something, it should be returned and we're good. If there was a life taken, say a murder, the murderer could die, but not his family. There was a difference. The punishment had to fit the crime.
Stephen:But, as we saw last time, jesus is taking it beyond this. It's not about an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth. It's about loving your enemies and doing good to those who hate you. The Pharisees were telling people hey, you know, as long as you don't do anything hateful to somebody, you are obeying the law. But Jesus said it's not enough to just not hate your enemy. It's not enough to even just say, well, I hate him, but I haven't done anything bad to him. That's not enough. Jesus said you need to love your enemies and do good to those who despitefully use you. And there are so many other things in the Sermon on the Mount that we could talk about. We'll just mention one more thing. There is the story of the wise and the foolish builders. Now it is important that you remember that story. Jesus says that we are to build our house on the rock. The rock a very particular word, and we're going to come back to that in a little bit.
Stephen:But we do see Jesus going on in his Galilean ministry healing. We see healing the slave of a centurion in Luke chapter 7. We see him raising a widow's son in Luke chapter 7 as well. It's important to note. In Luke 11, we see him mentioning the sign of Jonah. The Pharisees would ask for a sign and he says you're not going to get any sign except for the sign of Jonah. And what is that sign? The sign is that Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights. Belly of the whale, three days and three nights. That is the sign. Keep that in mind as well. That is very important.
Stephen:So during this time, during the first year, we also see Jesus beginning to introduce the kingdom of heaven to the disciples. Now there are several parables that he uses the sower, the parable of the weeds. There's also one about the hidden treasure and the net. And if you look over all of these, you're going to find that they do seem to have something in common. There is something being sowed or something that someone is seeking after and he's willing to give everything to have that. But we also see this constant picture of something that was intended to be good but we see something bad being mixed in with it.
Stephen:Now we've been focusing on the book of Luke. In Luke, chapter 13, luke mentions two of these parables about the kingdom of heaven. He mentions the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the leaven. Now, there's a lot of confusion about these stories, so we're going to take a look at it and this is where we're really going to get into how to study your Bible. This is the Pipe and Pencil podcast, and we want to make theology accessible for all, and one of the ways we do that is helping you understand that, yes, you can read and understand your Bible if you rightly divide the word of truth.
Stephen:So let's look at Luke, chapter 13. In Luke 13, verse 18, it says he said therefore, what is the kingdom of God like and to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden and it grew and became a tree and the birds of the air made nests in its branches. To what shall I compare the kingdom of God, he says in verse 20. It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until it was all leavened. Now in Matthew we see this referred to as the kingdom of heaven, and what we notice in this passage is the first thing we see is this tree, and it starts out small and then it grows. It grows and it becomes large enough for the birds to nest in. Now there is a resemblance of this to Daniel when we go back and look at the stone that hits the feet of the statue and then it grows till it fills the whole earth. We do see that. But we also see birds and many people have tried to figure out what do the birds mean. Also, we see a woman here who hides the word here is hid hides the word here is hid leaven and some flour until the whole of it was all leaven. Now this is where our Bible study skills are going to come into play and this is going to help us later on. We see these two pictures together.
Stephen:Let's think about the birds first. In context, when Jesus is talking about the kingdom of heaven, you can refer back to the parable of the sower. If you're. In Matthew, all of these parables are going to be in chapter 13. In Luke you can go back to chapter 8 and look at the story about the sower. But in Matthew Jesus points out that in his story there is seed that falls by the wayside and the bird, he says, represents the evil one who has come to steal that away. So if that's what the bird represents in the parable of the sower, then in these other stories about the kingdom of heaven we can assume that the birds are going to have a similar picture.
Stephen:What about the leaven? So many people have said that this is a picture of the church of God as it's growing and growing and growing. But there's actually a warning here Leaven never pictures anything good. In the scriptures, at the Passover they are not allowed to have leaven. They have to remove all of it from the house. Jesus will even go on to say beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. So if we know that these pictures represent the kingdom of God, its growth starts out small and then grows we still need to see the warning here.
Stephen:And the fact that these parables are put together kind of gives us two different ways to look at some of the dark forces that will try to infiltrate the church, that will try to attack the church. The birds are nesting in the tree. You could think of those as kind of external attacks on the church by the evil. One Leaven is what is trying to corrupt the church from within. These are bad doctrines, like the leaven of the Pharisees. So we need to watch out for bad doctrines, whether that be legalism or any other bad doctrine, and we need to watch for external attacks to the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. Now, does that mean that we need to feel threatened or feel like the church of God is in danger? I don't think so. We know that victory is won already for the church, and we're going to talk about that in just a few minutes.
Stephen:But here let's make sure we keep these pictures in mind Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount. He is revealing the truth of the law, of what is actually required. It's not just about the letter of the law, is it? It's about the spirit of the law. Now we see him talking about the letter of the law. Is it? It's about the spirit of the law? Now we see him talking about the kingdom of heaven. It's a kingdom that is being sown, but there are going to be some weeds, there's going to be some tears that have to come out.
Stephen:In fact, there's another story of the kingdom of heaven, in Matthew, where he talks about the fish being gathered in a net. The net is cast out. The fish are brought in, but not all of them are kept. Some of them are cast out. There's a picture there as well. It is God's will to save the world. His blood can do it. God's will to save the world, his blood can do it, but there will be people that reject it. We are going to see how all of this comes together as we go throughout the rest of church history, especially as we get to Revelation.
Stephen:So as we look over Jesus' second year of ministry, so as we look over Jesus' second year of ministry, we see that it all is happening in Galilee—that is the focal point—as he is reaching out to not only Jews but to the Gentiles. At the end of this second year, we see him sending out the Twelve. The beginning of the third year is going to mark the beginning of the year of opposition, and after the first part of this year, we see the end of his great Galilean ministry. He finishes this part of his ministry by feeding the 5,000 and by giving what we call the bread of life discourse, and this is in the book of John and this is really important. This again marks the turning point as we leave this year of popularity. In John chapter 6, he will feed 5,000 people and then, when they follow him desiring to see more of the miracles, he says I am the bread of life. And it's at this point where we start to see that there are those that are following Jesus because they believe he is the Messiah. There are others that are just following him to see the miracles. But we also are going to see in this passage something that kind of divides a lot of the churches today.
Stephen:If you look at John chapter 6, look at verse 48. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying how can this man give us his flesh to eat? So Jesus said to them Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him, as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father. So whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.
Stephen:Jesus said these things in the synagogue as he taught at Capernaum. When many of his disciples heard it, they said this is a hard saying. Who can listen to it? Who can listen to it? And today this is still a hard saying. So again, we're going to have to put on our thinking cap. We're going to have to really rightly divide the Word of Scripture to understand what is being said here. And yes, this is something you can do. There will be churches where people, very smart people, very learned people, will try to tell you that this is a literal passage. Other people will tell you well, no, this is. You know, our communion supper is something that we do as a memorial. Maybe we can figure it out. Look at verse 61.
Stephen:But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life, but there are some of you who do not believe, for Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him, and he said this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father. Notice two things it is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh is no help at all, and the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. The flesh is no help at all. Yes, jesus is talking about his flesh in this passage, but he then goes on to say Jesus, as we know from John 1, is the Word, and it's the words that he speaks to us that are spirit and life. His words. Where do we have the Word of God today? That would be the Bible, god's Word, I believe.
Stephen:When we take the communion it is exactly what Jesus said. It was a memorial. In fact, this kind of isn't really hard to understand if we go to the Lord's Supper. Jesus had not gone to the cross yet, but he gave them the bread and the wine. It was a picture. Sometimes even Bible students, even Bible professors, will take little things out of context. It's always helpful to get the full context and look at other passages of Scripture and let the Bible be its own commentary. If we look at the first Lord's Supper, it seems pretty clear that it was a picture. Jesus had not gone to the cross. The true bread is Jesus, the Word he said. It's his words. He is the Word and we have his Word today. They are spirit. His words are spirit and life for the believer and it is with this talk, the bread of life discourse that many would leave.
Stephen:But then Jesus turned to the disciples and he said do you want to go away as well. Peter says Lord, to whom can we go? And now what I want to do is actually look at another confession that Peter makes. After Jesus starts to wrap up his ministry in Galilee, he goes to places around the area Magdala, bethsaida. Eventually he ends up in Caesarea, philippi.
Stephen:And let's again go back to Matthew 16. This is an important passage. In Matthew 16, the Pharisees have asked for a sign again and Jesus repeats what he said that there will be no sign except for the sign of Jonah that will be given. He then warns the disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, what we were just talking about earlier. They think he's talking about bread, but he warns them no, that's not what I'm talking about. And they understood that he was talking about the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
Stephen:Now, in Matthew 16, 13, it says now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples who do people say that the Son of man is? And they said some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said to them but who do you say that I am? Simon? Peter replied you are the Christ, the son of the living God, and Jesus said this blessed are you, simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father, who is in heaven, and I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. We're going to look at this passage again. Jesus is just moved into his third year of ministry and right now he's trying to prepare the disciples for what is to come.
Stephen:Now there's a lot of debate about this passage, but there are some things that we can know about it. First of all, let's understand the language here. When Peter is being called by that name, that name literally means a stone. Okay, just a stone. Now I can guarantee you that's not something you would want to build on. He then goes on to say on this rock, I will build my church. Now these words sound similar. The word for stone is petros, the word for rock is Petra. Now, when we say Petra, we're not talking about a stone. We're talking about like when Jesus said the wise man will build his house on a rock. That's what we're talking about when we see Jesus being laid in a tomb that was carved out of stone. That's that word. That's what we're talking about. This is a mighty, mighty stone. So we see Jesus saying look, what you said did not come from you. God, the Father gave you this. This came from heaven. So we see our first clue that there's something bigger at work here. And then Jesus makes that clear when he says you are but a stone on this rock. I will build my church. I will build my church at Caesarea Philippi.
Stephen:We have to understand this was a town built by Herod Philip and it was not a very good town. This town was at the base of Mount Hermon and it had become a worship center for the Greek god Pan. In fact, it was said that at the base of the mountain there was a cave where the spirits of these fertility gods would go to the underworld and then, when they would come back in the spring, they would come out through this cave. Therefore, this cave was known as the gate of hell. This is where Jesus and his disciples are. At this town, they can see the mountain. They know that gate is there. They know what happens at this gate every year and I'm not going to detail that, I'll leave a link in the description. But this was an awful place.
Stephen:But yet Jesus chose this place to make this statement. He's telling his disciples this is the message, the gospel that the word of God became flesh. He is the Messiah, he is the anointed one. With that message we are to build God's church. And in the same way, this mountain, I see it, I picture it just being on top of this gate. You almost feel like Jesus is saying yes, even here, you can go, in this town, you can attack the gates of hell head on. The church will prevail. What used to be a city of demonic worship can be a city devoted to the living God. Not by our power. We're merely just stones, but we're built on the foundation of Jesus Christ and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
Stephen:You say well, are you absolutely sure? I mean, it does seem that Peter was given authority, and that is true. That is true, he is given authority. But if we were to ask Peter if he was the rock that the church was built on, if he was the rock that the church was built on. What do you think he would say? Well, we don't have to wonder. Look at 1 Peter 2. Maybe he says something about this.
Stephen:1 Peter 2, verse 4, as you come to him, a living stone, rejected by men but in the sight of God, chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, for it stands in Scripture Behold, I am laying in Zion a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. So there it is, the bread of life. Is Jesus the very foundation, the stone, the rock, the rock that the church is built on? Is Jesus Christ? Do we have spiritual leaders that have authority in our churches? Yes, are they the foundation? No, jesus Christ is the foundation. That is what Jesus is teaching here. There is something else that he will want to talk to the disciples about as well, and that is the church.
Stephen:And, by the way, this is the first mention of the word church. We've been doing church history for—this is our ninth episode now and we finally found it. We found the word church. So what does this word mean? If we look at the Greek word behind the word church here, does it actually mean church? Let's take a look at that. The word here is is ecclesia. Now, the word ecclesia. If we actually translate it, it actually means an assembly or a congregation. It doesn't really have anything to do with the definition of, say, a church building. It's a group of people, a called-out group of people, and when we see it in this light, it's going to help us understand a little bit about our theology. Every time we see church, it is this word ecclesia. You say, well, where did the word church come from? Well, that also is a very good question and one that we should ask. The word church actually goes back to the old English word kirk. You'll also see it in German kirch. But if you go back further, you'll find that that English word kirk is a transliteration of a word in the Bible, the word kuriakon. And oh my, this is going to. It's really it sounds like a lot and it sounds confusing, but let's get our definitions right.
Stephen:Let's think of the word Messiah. The word Messiah is what we would call a transliteration. The Hebrew word for Messiah is Mashiach and that word, if we were to translate it, means anointed one. So let's think about what we're doing here. We have the word Mashiach and we are transliterating that. We're turning it into an English word Messiah. But we could just translate it and get the word Anointed One. Does that make sense? I can further.
Stephen:Let's say I take the word Messiah and I translate it into Greek. Well, then it becomes Christos, because their word for anointed one. If you translate Christos, that word is anointed one. Now, if I transliterate again, just changing the letters, turning it into an English word, it becomes Christ. So Messiah and Christ are the same thing and they mean anointed one. And I hope you're with me If you have to rewind. Listen to that again. Listen to it again.
Stephen:We need to get comfortable with knowing what the difference is between translating and transliterating. Those are two different things. Ecclesia could be transliterated, but that's not what our Bible translators have done. The word could be translated as assembly, but they didn't do that. They changed it to church, which is actually a transliteration of another Greek word, kyriakon. Now you say, well, okay, what does that Greek word mean? That Greek word is actually an adjective and it means belonging to the Lord. Now I'm going pretty fast through this, so I will leave a link in the description to some great information about this.
Stephen:But let's get this in our mind that there is a word for church, curiacon. If we transliterate that word, you get these old English words like kirk or, in German, kirch, and you end up with church. It all comes back to this word, curiacon, and it's an adjective that means belonging to the Lord. So when we think of the church, how many of you have heard the phrase the Lord's house? That would be an appropriate way to use the word kyrkon. It means belonging to the Lord. So we could say that this house, this dwelling, that this house, this dwelling, it belongs to the Lord Kyriakon.
Stephen:Now, oddly enough, that word, or a form of that word, shows up in our New Testament two times, but never in reference to church. And let's look at these 1 Corinthians 11.20. In that verse it talks about when you gather together to eat the Lord's supper, kuriakon. This is a singular form of an adjective, kuriakos. It's saying that this supper is the Lord's kyriakon, the Lord's supper. Where's the other place? We see it In Revelation. We see the word kyriake when John is in the Spirit on the Lord's day. The Lord's day, it belongs to the Lord. That's where we get that word. So the day belongs to the Lord. You could say this day is kyrarche or belongs to the Lord. You could say that this supper, kyrakon, it belongs to the Lord.
Stephen:We need to keep this clear in our mind. A building can only be a church building because it belongs to the Lord. But just understand that when we use that word church, that's kind of like saying this is Bob's, of like saying this is Bob's. Well, I've told you who it belongs to, but I'm not really telling you what belongs to him. In the same way, when we say church, we're saying it's the Lord's. But we could use that word, this Greek word, krioraiakos, to refer to anything that belongs to the Lord, to describe it as an adjective, like the Lord's Day or the Lord's Supper. So with this understanding, we see that the church is not a building. It's about the people, it's the assembly.
Stephen:You say well, how did we end up translating assembly as church. Well, that's a story for another day, and we'll probably get to that when we start talking about King James, when we get to the 1600s. But right now, how does this apply to us? We've learned all of these things as Jesus is preparing his disciples for the ministry that they're going to have. He's trying to teach them about the kingdom of heaven and about the church. Here's what we need to remember. The church is not buildings. It's not offices. That's not what we're talking about. It's people. Remember what Peter said Stones fitted together, being built on the foundation. Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples for something that's going to be coming. Where once they worshiped in a physical temple, the kingdom of heaven was going to introduce something different In the kingdom of God. The temple's not a physical location. It's the saints, each one fitted in his or her proper place in this new living temple. That's you. You're part of it, this temple that's being built all over the world.
Stephen:Now has the church had its rough times? Yes, the assembly has been through a lot, a lot of turmoil, division, here and there, tribulation, but you can take comfort in something Whether the building is there or not, whatever the government says, whatever happens, jesus said the church will prevail. He doesn't want his church, his assembly, to be passive. His assembly to be passive. He expects them to attack the gates of hell head on, just as in Caesarea Philippi. If someone was talking about starting this new group, this new assembly, this new temple, one would think you would start in Jerusalem. But Jesus talks about the foundation of his church, his assembly, right there in Caesarea Philippi. What does that say to us? It doesn't matter if you're in Jerusalem or if you're in Las Vegas. God's church will prevail. And Jesus has not called us to simply be a defensive church. Even in Caesarea Philippi, right there at the gates of hell, jesus tells his disciples the church will prevail.
Stephen:We don't have to be on the defense all the time. We can be on the offense. We can share the word of God, we can pray. We can pray for the darkness to be pushed back. We can pray that the hearts of many people will be open to the gospel.
Stephen:We do know that it's our job to spread the word of God, just as the farmer does his seed, but we know it falls on different ground, that's, different hearts.
Stephen:We may not be able to change hearts, but we can cast the seed and we can trust and pray that God will till the soil of those hearts. And I think that's what we need to be doing. We need to be actively engaging in the marketplace, actively praying, because we know that the gates of hell will not prevail. We are built on a sure foundation and it's not any one person, not Peter, not just the apostles, but Jesus is the cornerstone. He is the one that should give us some assurance and give us the courage to do what he has told us to do, which is to go, plant the seed, take his word, take the bread of life to the ends of the earth and complete the mission that he started so long ago, not just in the New Testament, but all the way back when he called out Abraham and said your descendants will be a blessing to all the nations. The work is still ongoing and nothing can stop it. Thank you.
