Is the Church an Anachronism?

I have been reading Dan Kimball's book, "They Like Jesus but not the Church". It would seem from reading the book that the church is in trouble today. Is that true? Probably yes and no. The church isn't admired within the general population. Of course, the church is not about to go away because it is the church of Jesus Christ. He is the head of the church.

Rick Warren did a marvelous job on his interviews with Barack Obama and John McCain. It was great to see the church portrayed in a positive light -- and be relevant to what was happening in the world!

What do I mean when I say that the church is an anachronism? To our society, the church seems out of place. It is something out of the past and not relevant today. Of course, I don't believe that this is true, but it seems to be a very common belief. The scripture for today comes from Matthew 16:13-19:

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"
So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God."
Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

It is important to note that this interchange took place at Caesarea Philippi, not Caesarea (a seaport and seat of Roman power in New Testament days.) Caesarea Philippi is in the northern part of Israel and was a center of pagan worship. The rocky cliffs are filled with pagan temples carved into the rock face. The question concerning the identity of Jesus is especially appropriate where idolatry is so prevalent. Of course the imagery is also understandable. The presence of rock. The idol temples composed of rock. Even the gates of Hell fit in this setting, for the caves in the rock were known to the Jews as the the gates of Hell.

The question put to the disciples by Jesus itself is messianic. He asks who do people say, "The Son of Man" is? This is a title from the book of Daniel. I think that Jesus is already making major claims in the face of all of the idolatry. Of course, the disciples gave some general answers as to Jesus' reputation. Then Jesus really comes to the real question: "What about you? What do you say?"

What about the answers that the disciples gave? They were reasonable. The Bible even says that Herod believed that Jesus was a reincarnation of John the Baptist. People were looking for the coming of Elijah. And certainly Jesus wept over Jerusalem as did Jeremiah. Jesus probably looked like a prophet to the outside observer, but he was so much more.

Peter gave the right answer. Of course, his name wasn't Peter until he gave the answer. In fact Peter which means rock wasn't even used as a name. So it was more like Jesus say, that is a great answer -- so great that I am going to call you Rocky. Why, because the truth that you announced is the Rock upon which I will build my church. There it is -- the church. It was built upon the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. It is His church. In fact, Jesus says that Hell better watch out because the gates of Hell wont keep the church out. How relevant can you be! Nothing in this world can stand against the church. Much could be said about the binding and loosing, that is material for a whole posting itself. But, at the very least it means that the Lord's Prayer which says, "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven", takes place in the church.

Why is this important? It tells us at least six important truths about the church:

• The Church is God’s Creation – it is never irrelevant
• The Church is given to Men – they are not always relevant
• The Church is representative of God’s Kingdom
• We must – and do – belong to the church
• We must always seek to see the church as representing Jesus
• We must always seek to make the church relevant to our world.