What do you hear on the street?

Listen to Jerry's message


One of the many great things about Wornall Road, thechurch@brookside is that we have a plurality of leaders. Any serious reading of the New Testament will reveal that the early church had a plurality of leaders with Jesus as the "head" of the church. This is our goal at Wornall, we seek to stay focused on Christ as the head of our church and work with a number of pastors/leaders who serve together for the cause of the Gospel. Our pastoral team includes Jerry Skyes, who serves as our Executive pastor. In his role Jerry manages most of the daily operations of our church and provides extensive pastoral care to our group. This past Sunday Jerry brought a great message from Matthew 16:13, sharing with us several key factors found in that text.

As you listen to Jerry's message pay close attention to the many responses that the disciples give to the first question, "who do men say that I am?" Clearly, there are a lot of people saying a lot of things about Jesus, and clearly the disciples are listening to what people are saying. The bottom line, as John Piper says "God is not honored by our ignorance".

There was no shortage of opinions in Jesus day about His nature and purpose, and there is certainly no shortage of opinion today about Jesus. Bottom line - the world did not know who Jesus was then and the world today still does not know the true nature of Jesus. The world is never a source of truth and insight about the things of God.


In fact when Peter answers that Jesus is the "Christ the Son of the Living God" Jesus quickly attributes that response to His Father in heaven, and specifically states that "flesh and blood" did not reveal this to you. The term "flesh and blood" is used four other times in the New Testament:

1 Corinthians 15:50 (speaking of the resurrection body), "I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable."

Galatians 1:15–17 (Paul speaking of his own conversion), "When he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem."

Ephesians 6:12, "We are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." (Piper remarks concerning this passage)
"So flesh and blood is the merely human non-supernatural forces in the world. These are not our real enemies: the real ones are supernatural"

Hebrews 2:14 (concerning Jesus' incarnation), "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature."

Concerning the use of the term "flesh and blood" in Matthew 16, Piper, rightly I believe concludes the following:

"So my conclusion from all these uses of the phrase "flesh and blood" is that it is simply a way of referring to ordinary humanity, finite, limited, natural. So when Jesus denies that "flesh and blood" has revealed his true identity to Peter, he is saying that mere human powers by themselves cannot recognize the true glory of Christ. Neither your humanity nor anyone else's has opened the eyes of your heart to recognize the truth and beauty of Christ."

Piper continues: "The inevitable reflex of our natural antipathy toward this truth is blindness. Why can't flesh and blood see the light of the glory of God in Jesus Christ? Jesus said in John 3:19, "Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." We inevitably love darkness; that's why we can't see the light. No one is blind against his will. The blindness of fallen flesh and blood is simply this: fallen flesh and blood hates the light.

And so Peter did not own up to the truth of Jesus by means of his own powers. Flesh and blood could never reveal such a wonderful thing as the true Messiahship and Sonship of Jesus. Something more than flesh and blood would be required in order to recognize Christ for what he really is.

If any of us in this room has recognized in Jesus the glory of the Son of God and acknowledged him as the fulfiller of all God's promises—the Messiah, then something more has been at work on us than flesh and blood."

WOW! As a Christian you can have the great assurance that none other than God Himself has made Himself known to you!

This week as you read this passage over a few times, recall the moment or time in your life when you first realized Jesus was in fact the Son of God, and that you wanted Him to be your Lord, Savior and King. Recall the passion with which you were drawn to Him. Remember that it was not your wisdom or the wisdom of the world that revealed this to you, but God Himself. Real truth, real wisdom, real peace, is found not in the "flesh and blood" of this world, but in the truth that comes from God Himself. That truth is known to us through the person of His Son Jesus and through the scripture, God's holy word.

If you do not see Jesus for who He really is, the eternal Son of God, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life and took upon Himself the wrath of the Father and bore our sin, died, buried and raised on the third day, now at the right hand of the Father and promised to return again as King....if Jesus is not your saviour, your King and your Lord - ask today for this truth to be revealed to you by God Himself.

Take from this passage the truth that truth can be known, and that truth is Jesus, the son of God as revealed to us by God Himself.

In another sermon we will follow up with the promise of Jesus that upon this confession of Peter, Jesus will build His church! What a powerful and empowering promise!