The Gathering Storm: A 5-day DevotionalSample

When Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, he made an acknowledgment unlike any other in the history of mankind. People around the world from every nation confer authority on their kings, queens, and democratic leaders. . . . Citizens of every nation owe their allegiance to the authorities over them. But when Peter declared that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, he proclaimed the unassailable and universal rule of the One, true King over the cosmos. All other claims to authority, all other citizenry commitments to corporeal kingdoms pale to the oaths Christians take to Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

Jesus affirmed Peter for his answer, but He also made clear that the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, is a revealed truth—not a human discovery. Christ also declared that upon Peter’s confession, He would build His church. This is essential for Christians living in this secular age, facing the secular storm. When churches and denominations surrender to the forces of secularism, they do so because they departed from the “rock,” namely, the lordship of Jesus Christ. Jesus told His disciples that the confessional affirmation of His lordship is the immovable foundation upon which the church will stand. Jesus promised that nothing on earth, not even the gates of hell, will defeat Christ’s church so long as it stands upon the rock of Christ and His lordship.

The lordship of Christ also demands that the church live out conviction and obey Christ in all His commands. The moral authority of the church has been seriously buffeted by the scandal of sexual immorality that is tolerated and the scandal of sexual abuse that has been denied. The obedient church of Jesus Christ cannot just preach a biblical morality; it must live out that morality. Otherwise, our words will ring hollow.

In the end, churches must stand for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. This means that our faith and theology extend from Christ and His apostles. We stand in that faith that Christ taught His church and continues to teach through the Holy Scriptures. This is the faith that the true church has believed, confessed, and taught from the time of the New Testament until today.