The Third Tent

[HKHaugan]

So far we have looked at two tents, the individual believer and the gathered believers.  Now we want to look at the third tent, the universal Body of Christ.  It is here we find the standard by which the first and second are measured.

 

The place to start is Matthew 17:13-19 where Jesus asks Peter who the Son of Man is.  This is the critical passage that identifies God’s plan for those who believe in Him.  It not only describes the third tent but its fabric as well.  So let’s read it first, mark it, learn it and then inwardly digest it.

 

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

  They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

    “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

  Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

  Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

 

Having read it let’s mark it. 

 

Actually, Jesus marks it for us with two questions, an answer, Jesus’ reponse, a personal destiny, a mission and an eternal purpose. 

 

The first mark is two questions. The first is aimed at Peter’s external cultural awareness of who the Son of Man is.  The second is aimed at Peter’s internal heart awareness.  One leads to the other.  Jesus is giving us a process here, a process with a purpose, a process we need to apply to ourselves and lovingly toward others.  It has to do with where all of us are in our minds, hearts and spirits.  What is really the foundation of our life; the way we respond to circumstance, to others, to making choices and decisions?  In whom or what do we ultimately trust to shape our daily living experience?  Is it a philosophy, a religious institution, a political system, an ethnic heritage, or belief in self to get life right on our own?  How much do we react out of cultural conditioning and how much do we rely on faith? Can we help others ask those same questions?  One telling question to keep us honest when someone asks what our religion is, “Do I respond with a denominational name or do I say ‘I am a disciple of Jesus Christ?’ 

 

In this passage Jesus wanted Peter to be aware in his mind and heart where he stood personally right then and there.  No pat generic answer would do.  It was no longer about what Peter’s family believed or what his culture believed or even what his traditional religious heritage had conditioned him to accept.  It was what Peter personally, individually, uniquely believed in his mind and heart about Jesus Himself in the moment the question was asked.  This was the transforming moment for Peter.  This was the moment he stepped out of his past into his present and his future in the Kingdom of God.  This was the moment the Holy Spirit moved through Jesus in Peter’s mind, heart and spirit.  It was the moment of the conception of the Body of Christ, the Body of Christ to be born at Pentecost by the will of the Father.

 

The second mark is Peter’s answer.  “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  It is as though he blurts this out, the flamboyant, impetuous nature of Peter suddenly sensing in the Spirit what for centuries had been the hope of Creation. 

 

Then the third mark is Jesus’ immediate response. It is marked by what it is and by what it is not. “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” 

 

First, what it is.  The word ‘blessing’ really means to be touched by God so this was not conjecture, guesswork or a stab at being right. This was God inspiring Peter. Jesus confirmed it.  Here Jesus seizes the moment for this is the moment of salvation, of eternity and the temporary becoming one with eternity.  It was the Father’s presence, the Father’s gift and the Father’s revelation in Jesus’ words through the Holy Spirit embracing the mind, heart and spirit of Peter.  At that moment Peter was at one with God, believing with his mind, trusting with his heart and having faith with his spirit.  That was his moment of justification, of the beginning of sanctification, of being right with God and the beginning of his spiritual life for eternity.

 

Second, what it is.  It was a shift in identity for Peter.  A bloodline, an ethnic group or a nation no longer defined the image of God in Peter. He was given a new name directly linking him to his Creator. He was given a spiritual identity.  He went from being Simon son of Jonah to Peter child of God.  What we need to see here is why he was called Peter.  What distinguishes Simon from Peter is one is born of the flesh and one is born of God.  Scripture is written after Pentecost so he is identified early in Scripture as Simon Peter a spiritually reborn child of God in a human body.

 

But it doesn’t stop there.  There are two Greek words for Peter used here are Petros and Petra, little rock and big rock, which leads us to revisit what we just said about the moment of Jesus’ words to Peter.  That moment “was the Father’s presence, the Father’s gift and the Father’s revelation in Jesus’ words through the Holy Spirit embracing the mind, heart and spirit of Peter.  At that moment Peter was at one with God, believing with his mind, trusting with his heart and having faith with his spirit.  That was his moment of justification, of the beginning of sanctification, of being right with God and the beginning of his spiritual life for eternity.”  In other words that moment was ‘the Rock moment.”  There are four elements in “the Rock moment,” God’s revelation, Peter’s recognition in his mind, realization in his heart and response in his spirit.  This is the ‘rock’ upon which Jesus would build His church.  Peter was the first to really ‘get it.’  It wasn’t Peter the human being upon which Jesus would build His church. Scripture makes that clear. No, it was the Father’s gift.  Peter was given God’s way, “revelation-recognition-realization-response”, a unique God-given faith response by unique individuals, accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord that would be the way Jesus would build His church.  This is how we measure the first two tents, our individual faith and the faith of any gathered group of believers.  These make up the Petros, the little rocks, that point to the big Rock, Petra, the Father’s way of revelation.  When the big Rock started to move it would cause an avalanche of little rocks and the gates of hell would not be able to hold it back.  Scripture fulfilled!  See 2Sam.22:2, “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;”  Ps.18:2 “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”  Is.26:4 “Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.”

 

It is ‘the Rock Moment’ upon which God builds the third tent, His church, His revelation of who Jesus is and Peter’s recognition, realization and response to Jesus’ question that sets the stage for all future children of God being born again.  Thus the church is the living Body of Jesus, the Rock. As Savior and Lord He is its Head.  He is the Head of each believer and their gatherings, the first and second tents.  The church is not an institution.  No denomination or individual is the measure of what the church really is.  The church is a spiritual movement.  It is a movement motivated by God not men.  It is a living Holy Spirit breathing organism built on the Father’s revelation of His Son Jesus, faithfully recognized by the mind, faithfully realized by the heart and faithfully responded to by man’s spirit.  Peter’s faith in Jesus is a little rock and Jesus is the big rock.    It is the Body of Christ as defined in Scripture (2Tim.3:16) that shapes the individual believer (tent one) and the gathered group (tent two).  How personal, how spiritual, how individual and how unique is this?

 

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (Mt.28:18-20 NIV).”