View Full Transcript
Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Good morning, St. Paul Lutheran Church. It's a Sunday drive to church for the feast of Peter and Paul. Wow. June 29th, the year of our Lord 2025. June 29th is either or the day that Peter and Paul were martyred or the day that Peter and Paul had their relics moved or maybe both. It looks like it's the old tradition though that this is the day that Peter and Paul were martyred in the year 68 under Nero, just a few months before he murdered himself. What a mess. Nero was in Rome.
[00:00:34] And remember this tradition of Peter, who was crucified upside down, who.
[00:00:42] And the old tradition is. It's not 100% sure if this is a true tradition or not, but it stuck around because it's old. It goes way back that they were going to crucify Peter and he says I'm not worthy to die in the same manner as my Lord. And so they crucified him upside down. Which sounds fine because the Romans loved love. That kind of nonsense. I mean they, you know, you. If you gave them a new way to kill someone, they would try it. That's just kind of how the Romans were.
[00:01:10] But Paul was beheaded because he was, remember a Roman citizen.
[00:01:14] And there's this old place where it happened. They said that the three.
[00:01:20] I should have probably warned about the kids. But where Paul they. The old tradition was that the places where Paul's head bounced was their fountains. Three fountains came up. So you can go visit the. The chapel of the three fountains in Rome. And that's the place where it was said that Paul was beheaded. Well anyway, they both died and they both died confessing Christ. They both died because the emperor set himself against God.
[00:01:48] But their blood is like all the blood of the martyrs, the seed of the church. And what I'm kind of marvelous day to consider to have all these confirmations. We got a bunch today coming up and baptisms too, that the church still stands and we still confess our faith.
[00:02:08] This faith in Christ and this willingness, I mean this is this amazing martyrs vow that our compromise will make today this willingness to die, to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from the confession of Christ. It's absolutely beautiful. Now the hymns you'll notice are about Jesus. And I think this is so important that for example, the opening hymn, My Hope is built on nothing less. And then the hymn of the day.
[00:02:35] Where did it go? Where are you? Hymn of the day. Lord Jesus Christ, the church's head. This is so important because our friends over in Rome want to make the claim that Peter is the Church's head, that the Pope is the Church's head. So we have to be careful that while we're remembering, remembering Peter and remembering Paul and thanking the Lord for all that they did and all that they taught and all that they gave to the Church and this last great matter of devotion, that they shed their blood for the sake of the Gospel, and we praise the Lord for them. We remember that Jesus is the head of the Church.
[00:03:13] Okay, the collect, where did it go? I printed out the large print bulletin, which has got me. Oh, also we are.
[00:03:22] We're using Divine Service one. We've been using Divine Service three, and we're using that as our liturgical base.
[00:03:29] But on feast days, which will hit a few, quite a few actually, this year, we'll bounce over to Divine Service One to notice that difference. So you'll notice that page 151, Divine Service One today. Here's the collect. And you'll notice how it's the collect for this day of Peter and Paul. Let us pray.
[00:03:47] Merciful and eternal God, your holy apostles, Peter and Paul, received grace and strength to lay down their lives for the sake of your Son.
[00:03:57] Strengthen us by your Holy Spirit that we may confess your truth and at all times be ready to lay down our lives for him who laid down his life for us, even Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
[00:04:15] Oh, man.
[00:04:18] Reminds me of this line from Luther. He wrote a little essay on the burning of Brother Henry.
[00:04:25] It's a famous little piece. These were some of the.
[00:04:28] Brother Henry is one of the first martyrs of the Reformation. There was a couple before him. But Luther heard about it and he wrote this letter of encouragement to the parish of Brother Henry.
[00:04:39] And he writes about in the Martyrdom of Brother Henry, he says, in our day, the true pattern of the Christian life has reemerged.
[00:04:48] And that.
[00:04:50] Boy, that is really something, that the true pattern of the Christian life is martyrdom.
[00:04:59] That's something to think about.
[00:05:01] Our psalm is Psalm 46, which is a mighty fortress Psalm. When Luther wanted to sing A mighty Fortress, he'd say to Melanchthon, master Philip, let's sing Psalm 46. And they would go off and sing, a mighty fortress is our God.
[00:05:15] You'll notice this.
[00:05:17] It's a psalm with two stanzas and one refrain. So the first stanza is one to six, and then the refrain, verse seven and eleven.
[00:05:27] The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress.
[00:05:31] Second stanza is verse 8 to 10. And then the verse or the refrain again, verse 11. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. The first stanza one to six sets up the scene. We are in a city that is besieged by trouble on every side. But we are fine because the river runs through it and God's in the midst of her, and she shall not be moved. And we are fine.
[00:05:55] Look. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter. The Lord utters His voice, the earth melts. We don't have anything to worry about. We are in the city of God. We are safe. But then, as we're going about our business in the city of God, someone's up on the city wall and they call us, hey, come and look at this. And we go up to the city wall and we look outside of the city at all these enemies that surround us. And we see that the Lord has gone out from the midst of the city and he's going and he's fighting everyone who is arrayed against the Lord's people.
[00:06:27] Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he's brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars to cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow, shatters the spear, burns the chariot with fire. So there' Jesus out on the battlefield, one after another, single handedly destroying all of the enemies arrayed against his church. And then he looks back at us, watching with awe and wondering if we need to go and help Him. And he says, be still and know that I am God.
[00:06:54] I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. We need to remember this, especially when it seems like all the powers of the world and the devil are arrayed against the church, the Lord Jesus. And we are tempted to try to do something about it, either to despair or to throw ourselves into the battle as if we're the ones that can fix it. The Lord looks at us and he says, be still, be still.
[00:07:19] Take it easy. Settle it down.
[00:07:22] Let's take it down a notch over there. Let's not get too excited, you guys just watch.
[00:07:28] Because the Lord Himself wants the glory for sustaining his church throughout all the troubles of this world.
[00:07:36] Amazing psalm.
[00:07:38] It's our Reformation Psalm, the first lesson. We're back into Acts like we were in Easter. It's Acts, chapter 15, which is the Jerusalem Council, if you want to put a date on it. It's January in the year 49 AD, 16 years after the crucifixion of Jesus.
[00:07:57] It's between the first and second missionary journey.
[00:08:01] I'm going to confirm that it is.
[00:08:07] Yes, it is. Between. That's right. I should have known that because Peter and Paul had not split up yet.
[00:08:15] So you think 49 A.D. there's been some persecution already.
[00:08:21] A lot of Christians have scattered. The apostles are mostly still based in Jerusalem.
[00:08:26] They're getting reports of the Gentiles, like from Peter's trip down to Caesarea and from Paul's trip over into Turkey.
[00:08:36] And some of the other apostles are going out and they're spreading the Gospel. And so the Word's getting out and they're trying to figure out what all this means.
[00:08:43] Can the Gentiles become Christian or do they have to become Jewish first?
[00:08:47] And so they get together and it's really quite beautiful. It's probably. And we don't even have this.
[00:08:55] The reading gets cut off after Barnabas and Paul relate what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. Because it's then in the very next verse that James kind of stands up and settles the whole thing with the prophet Joel. He quotes the Scripture, which is great.
[00:09:12] But we have Peter and Paul together here. It's in verse 6. The apostles and elders were gathered together to consider the matter.
[00:09:20] And what's the matter that they're considering? When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church. This is Paul and Barnabas and the apostles and the elders. And they declared all that God had done with with them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said it's necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.
[00:09:37] So here's the question. Do the Gentiles have to be circumcised? Do the Gentiles have to keep kosher laws? Do the Gentiles have to do all these laws of Moses?
[00:09:47] And so after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said, brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you that by my mouth, the Gentiles should hear the word of the Gospel and believe that was the Cornelius incident.
[00:09:58] And then verse 12, all the assembly fell silent. They listened to Paul and Barnabas, related what signs and wonders God had done. But that's not. I think this is an amazing thing. It's not enough. And again, alas, we don't have it in our lesson. It's not enough to tell the stories.
[00:10:14] It's not enough for the council to know what God did through Peter and to know what God did through Paul and Barnabas. They have to know that this is what the Bible says.
[00:10:24] So it's after this that. And I'll just. Let me read it to you. So the very next verse, Acts 13, after they had become silent, James answered, saying, men and brethren, listen to me. Simon has declared how God at first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name.
[00:10:41] And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written. After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen down. I will rebuild its ruins and I will set it up so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord. Even all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who does these things.
[00:11:03] That's sorry I said Joel. That's Amos, chapter 9, verses 11 and 12.
[00:11:08] And then James continues. Known to God from eternity are all his works. Wow. Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that we should write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, from blood.
[00:11:25] For Moses has throughout many generations, those who preach in every city being read in the synagogues every Sabbath. So that James brings the words of the prophets to bear, and that settles it, should settle it for us too. The Epistle is Galatians, chapter two, which is Paul telling his story about going up to Jerusalem for the Church Council. There's some debate about here. Paul says, After 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them, though privately, before those who seemed influential, the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. There's some question about what visit to Jerusalem. This is amongst the scholars. There's an early visit of Paul to Jerusalem. There's a famine relief visit. That's Acts, chapter 11. There's the Jerusalem Council, Acts 15.
[00:12:22] There's another where he swings by to say hi. Then there's the final where he gets arrested. So Acts gives us, I think five maybe indicates a sixth visit to Jerusalem.
[00:12:36] Which one is he talking about here? The majority of scholars say that this is Paul's visit for the council, and that matches up well with me. Our own Andrew Steinman says that I think it's good. So Paul tells about how he went down to Jerusalem and how he engages with Peter.
[00:12:51] On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised.
[00:13:01] For he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles. And when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me that we should go to the Gentiles and then to the circumcised. They just asked us to remember the poor, the very thing we were eager to do.
[00:13:25] So that little recounting of history. And it seems like this was happening a lot actually. Peter and Paul were interacting with each other and at times it was tense. Remember, Paul had to rebuke Peter up in Antioch because he was eating with the Gentiles and he stopped. But they settled that and they were both.
[00:13:45] Both men were driven by.
[00:13:50] Compelled by the love of Christ to confess the truth to all the world.
[00:13:57] This is a beautiful, wonderful, God pleasing thing.
[00:14:04] So that Peter will commend Paul and Paul will commend Peter. Peter at the end of one of his letters says Paul writes many things. Some are hard to understand which wicked men twist.
[00:14:13] But he commends Paul to the church, etc.
[00:14:16] Okay, the gospel lesson is Matthew chapter 16, which is the confession of St. Peter up at Caesarea Philippi. You couldn't find a gospel lesson with St. Paul because he does not come into the Biblical story until the stoning of Stephen when he's there holding the jackets and approving of this wicked deed. So Paul, maybe Paul's lurking in the background, but he's never mentioned in the Gospels. He doesn't come into the story until the book of Acts. So when we go to the Gospel, we're just going to hear about Peter. But it's a beautiful story about Peter. It's Peter's high point and then Peter's low point. We just get the high point in the text.
[00:14:54] They're up in Caesarea Philippi, Caesar Philip. It's this Gentile town way up north. It's about as far north as Jesus ever went with the disciples.
[00:15:03] It's by.
[00:15:06] There's this Caesarea Philippi is a really interesting city. It's a beautiful city. It's like headwaters of the Jordan River. So think where there's. I think there's three rivers that flow into the Sea of Galilee from the north, coming out of the foothills of Mount Hermon up north. And then those.
[00:15:23] And then they gather up in the Sea of Galilee. And then one river leaves the Sea of Galilee and flows down, that's the Jordan river and flows down into the Dead Sea.
[00:15:34] So these three rivers that are flowing into Galilee, that's Caesarea Philippi is up there by them. That's where Dan is. It's like the northern reach of the. Where the people are. So they whip in this pagan place.
[00:15:47] There's a.
[00:15:48] There's a famous like three temples that are built. You can see the ruins of them still. They're built into this bluff or this cliff. And out of one of them was a cave. And water apparently flowed out of that. That was called the Gate of Hell, the Gate of Hades. And then next to it was a temple to Caesar Augustus. And then next to it was a temple to Pan.
[00:16:15] So there's all these pagan temples there. So they're in the region up there. They're not in the city, but they're in the region.
[00:16:21] And so Jesus has his disciples all by themselves.
[00:16:25] And this is really when he's going to. He takes them on this retreat so that he can start reshaping their imaginations around what it means to be Christ.
[00:16:36] This is going to be where Jesus is going to tell them for the first time that it's necessary for the Christ to suffer and to die, which is the thing that Peter can't hear. And he even rebukes Jesus. Far be it from you. And then Jesus rebukes Peter, get behind me, Satan. But before that happens, it goes like this.
[00:16:53] When Jesus came to the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say that the Son of man is?
[00:17:00] And they said, some say John the Baptist, other Elijah, others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
[00:17:06] He said to them, but who do you say that I am?
[00:17:11] Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the son of the living God.
[00:17:19] And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah. That means son of Jonah. We can think about that when we baptize Jonah tomorrow morning.
[00:17:28] 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 tell you, you are Peter. And on this rock I will build my church.
[00:17:44] And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
[00:17:50] And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.
[00:17:54] And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
[00:17:58] What a text. Now there's actually a lot of things that will that come out of this text when you're looking at it in the Greek here's the first one. So here, Simon Peter's name is Simon, and Jesus is here changing his name to Peter. And the word Peter is derived from the word for rock. So rock is Petros, little rock is Petra.
[00:18:22] Jesus says, you are Petrus, and on this Petra I will build my church, my ecclesia, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. We notice here that it's not like. I mean, here again remembering the gates of Hell, this little gate of Hades tomb or temple that was there in Caesarea. But Jesus is saying that the church will storm the gates of hell and those gates will not prevail against it. It's not like hell is storming the church and the church is withstanding it. It's the opposite. The church is the one that's bombarding.
[00:18:52] And then he says he makes this great thing.
[00:18:55] Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you because this confession is only given from God in heaven. And then this in verse 19, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven that you there is not plural. It's singular. It's one of the problems that we've got in English is that you can be you, like you individual, or y' all, which is you, not individual, you plural, or all y' all, which is something else, which I don't know. I don't know. I do not know the difference between y' all and all y' all.
[00:19:26] But I bet you guys are going to tell me when you see me at the door in a few minutes. That'll be handy. So. But here he. Jesus does not say.
[00:19:34] Jesus does not say, I give the. The keys to y' all. I give. He says, I give you, Peter, the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Now, this is the verse that the Catholic Church loves to use to say that Peter is the head of the Church, the Pope is the head of the Church, and he has the keys to the kingdom of heaven. For that. We say it's true in Matthew 16:19.
[00:19:59] But then you just got to go over to Matthew 18:17, where Jesus gives the keys to y' all there. It's plural.
[00:20:09] Again, you can't see it, unfortunately, in the English. Although the King James.
[00:20:13] You know, I have a theory about the King James. The King, Old English had it it was the difference between the and ye.
[00:20:20] So the is singular, ye is plural. So if you're reading the King James. Well, I'll do it. I'll read the. I've got a King James around here somewhere. Hold on, let me grab it.
[00:20:31] Okay. Matthew 16:18.
[00:20:34] And I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. That's the thee and the thou that's singular. But then if you go over to chapter 18 and you read it verse 17, and if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen, as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
[00:21:16] Again, I say to you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them.
[00:21:24] Of my Father, which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.
[00:21:29] So in Matthew 16, the keys are given to the Peter. In Matthew 19, the keys are given to ye, the Church.
[00:21:40] And this is seen also in John, chapter 20, when Jesus breathes in the disciples and says, whoever sins you forgive. That's plural. They are forgiven.
[00:21:51] So we could go with the Roman Catholic argument that, hey, look, in Matthew 16, just to Peter, we could say, that's right, there was just the Pope. Peter was the Pope from chapter 16 to chapter 19, and then he wasn't anymore.
[00:22:06] It's also good to note that as soon as Jesus makes Peter the Pope for a few chapters, he also rebukes him and says, get behind me, Satan.
[00:22:14] And well, we don't want to make too much out of that.
[00:22:20] But Peter, as soon as he's given this authority, thinks that now he has the authority to protect Christ from suffering. Yai, yai, yai.
[00:22:28] And Jesus says, no, no, no, no. Hey, I'm still Lord, I'm still head of the Church. I'm still the one that's in charge. That's why we sing, by the way, our hymn of the day. Lord Jesus Christ, the Church's head, you are her one foundation. And oh, and that's our doctrine. By the way, I missed. The main point is that when Jesus says, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church, what is the rock?
[00:22:54] Is the rock the person of Peter? No.
[00:22:57] Is the rock the office of Peter the Pope? No. What is the rock?
[00:23:03] The rock is the confession that God the Father gave revealed to Peter that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Rock of the church is the confession of Christ he is the Church's one foundation.
[00:23:19] That's what we sing in you. She trusts before you bows and waits for your salvation Built on this rock Secure your church shall endure Though all the world decay and all things pass away. O hear, O hear us Jesus.
[00:23:35] O Lord, let this your little flock, your name alone confessing continue in your loving care True unity possessing your sacraments, O Lord, and your saving word to us, Lord, pure retain Grant that they may remain our only strength and comfort.
[00:23:53] Marvelous, really. It's a hymn extolling Jesus and has the byproduct of kind of putting the Pope in his place, which is. I don't know, which is sad that when you're saying that Christ is the church's one head, you're actually getting after the Pope, but. Well, that's what he deserves for claiming to have this office through which he regulates the salvation of all people.
[00:24:20] All right, well, there you go.
[00:24:21] That's the Sunday drive. I think we've done the Sunday drive to church for the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul.
[00:24:29] If you're still driving. I did a little Q and A podcast that's on the whatnot. The podcast, that's a different podcast, but I put one of those. I hadn't done that in a while, so put one of those out on Friday so you can switch over to there and listen to that business if you've got some time on your way to church. Otherwise, we'll see you soon. A Bible class on the liturgy, hopefully. Well, we'll see, Lord willing. Finishing up this week, then we can get to our study of the Augsburg Confession and rejoicing today in these baptisms.
[00:24:56] Smith Baptism Early Service, the Power Baptism Second service, and the adult confirmands that are joining us as well. God be praised for all of his great gifts. See you soon.