“It’s Time To Lose Your Life”

            Matthew 16:21–23 ²¹From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. ²²And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” ²³But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

            What are the attributes of a church and how do they differ from being the Church?  A church in at least the last 60 years, give or take a few years, has been a social gathering with the word of God being spoken in it.  Depending on the amount of social events the church primarily exists on Sunday morning.  However, with some social events the church might extend that one hour a week to another hour or two happening through the week.  Most churches grew because of family, and a lot of our churches are run by a family that has had its heritage imbedded into the very beginnings of a church.  This is actually a cross section of churches across the world.  It is very sad, but there are more churches dying across the world then ones starting up and it is easier to start a new church then it is to save a dying church, because the dying church is gripped with the fear of change.

            Peter was in his comfort zone; he had been following Jesus and truly believed that Jesus was the Son of God, the messiah that everyone had learned about in the Torah (O.T.).  Peter had been by Jesus’ side and was privileged to have one on one discussions with Jesus as did the other twelve apostles.  You can imagine the starry eyed apostles looking on as Jesus performed miracles, taught them to pray to God the Father, and to hear the authority coming from every word that emanated from the mouth of Jesus.  I’m sure the apostles were thinking things are good, it can’t get any better than this, and in their minds and especially Peter’s mind everything should stay this way forever and ever.  Amen!

            Nothing ever stays the same and everything changes as time changes everything.  The only thing that does not change is God and His word.  However, like Peter we think that everything should stay a certain way and never change. Of course, if you were to ask each person to describe this utopia they imagine, each utopia would be a little different.  Whether our utopia is right or wrong, still it is our utopia and we want to impose on God and expect God will keep it that way or at least the pastor will.  After all a pastor is here to do what man wants not what God wants. 

            Peter could not get the idea that Jesus did not come to stay, and that what Jesus was doing with the disciples and especially the apostles, was to prepare them for the life of the Church where Jesus was not going to be with them in the flesh, but rather in Spirit and the Holy Spirit too.  Peter’s agenda was to keep everything the same, and hang on the robe of Jesus for the rest of his life.  This is how we become a hindrance to God who is growing His Church.  Our sinful nature, like Peter’s, gets in the way trying to keep everything the same even when the world around us is changing. Maybe a church should die so that the Church can live.

            Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”  So then, what is the Church?  The Church is the things of God and what it is not is the things of mankind.  We were created to be children of God (The Church) not children of mankind (a church).  It is our sinful nature that turns our thoughts towards those things that are of mankind’s desires and turns us away from Godly desires.

            Matthew 16:24–26 ²⁴Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. ²⁶For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?

            Matthew 6:33 ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

            We are so afraid of change and doing it God’s way because and the reason is that we don’t want to give up what we feel is our precious treasures on earth including what we call life.  We are addicted to the world and like any addict we live in denial of our addiction to the world.  If you want to save this life on earth you will lose your life in heaven.  This might sound like you have to give everything up.  Well you’re right, you do and as you put your life in God’s hands you will get everything that you have now that is good back (Matthew 6:33).  You see it’s time to lose your life so that you can gain the real life from God.  Now you have heard the law.

            Matthew 16:27–28 ²⁷For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. ²⁸Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

            The apostles did see Jesus coming into His kingdom as they stood and watched Jesus ascend into heaven and sit on the right side of God the Father.  But, not until some of them witnessed their Lord and Savior die on the cross as Jesus had told them it would happen.  Jesus could have taken the easy way out and set his mind on the things of man, but where would salvation be?  Jesus set His mind on the things of God and for what reason?  His reason was to bring salvation to the creation that was separated from God the Father through sin.  And the reasoning behind saving what was separated from God?  God’s good and wise reasoning is because we belong to Him and we do not belong to the devil, and we do not belong to our sinful nature. 

            We belong in the love of God as His children and through Jesus Christ suffering and dying on the cross we are adopted back as His children.  God looks at us His children and sees our struggle with sin and through Christ He sympathized, and empathized with us to give us His love through His grace and mercy.  Isn’t this awesome and great?  Through Christ we are His body, we are His Church, and the things of God.  Amen.

“Humbled into the One Body”

Isaiah 51:6 ⁶Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

            In the gospel reading Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of the living God.  Jesus in part and excitingly compliments Peter as He discerns that Peter has recognized Him for who He actually is.  Jesus is Christ the Messiah the very Son of the living God sent to build His bride the body our Lord calls His own, which is the Church. 

Jesus compliments Simon and says that he is Peter, which means one who stands like a rock in his beliefs.  It is important to know that Jesus addresses Peter then addresses all of the twelve apostles after complimenting Peter, so when Jesus says on this rock He is not using Peter’s name, which means standing like a rock, Jesus is using the actual word for rock implying that it is the solidity of the salvation God is giving us and not their belief as apostles that He is building His church upon. 

            Peter was not always the rock of faith.  We know that later on Peter has problems with his faith in Jesus as he first rebukes the idea that Jesus the Son of God must die for believing mankind to be saved (Matt 16:21-23).  Peter of course is also well known for denying that he knows Jesus when Jesus was arrested and standing trial.  Three times Peter denies knowing Jesus before the rooster crows surely putting doubt on Peter standing in his faith like a rock. Jesus is telling the apostles that salvation will be like an unmovable rock and this is what the church will be built on, the rock of salvation as the song goes.

            Romans 12:3–5 ³For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, ⁵so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

            Jesus prays to the Father to make us one with Him and the Father as Jesus also lets us know that He the Son of God and God the Father are one (John 17).  Jesus then takes the time to humble Peter as He prepares him to work with the other apostles by asking him to care for those whom the Father has given Him (John 21:15-19).  Jesus asks if Peter loves him and to feed His sheep. 

Though Peter was a disciple and an apostle Jesus lets him know he was no more important than any of those that will be sent to serve.  Peter might have made the connection to the time he denied Jesus three times as Jesus asks him three times if he loved Jesus and three times responding to Peter Jesus says feed my sheep.

No one person on this earth or in this church is more important than anyone else in this church or in this world.  We all need a savior.  Though some might think that some are more equal than others, we all share in the equality of sin and therefore share in the equality of grace and mercy from our Lord.

            Jesus humbled Peter to let him know that His church is not being built on Peter’s agenda, but rather on God’s doctrine of grace and mercy.  Peter was not only in the word of God he had been living with the Word of God for three years and living the action of God’s word for the rest of his life.  Peter lived through walking with Jesus; but it was not all fun, games, and social gatherings as he was walking with Jesus. Rather Peter learned from the school of hard knocks that he needed a savior and it was right to learn this from Jesus.  We too as disciples find ourselves learning from the very same school as Peter and many times we also need to be humbled and reminded we too need a savior.

            Thursday morning is when I usually write my article for you to follow along as I give the sermon on any given Sunday.  This Thursday did not lend itself to allow me to get my article done before Susan Seddon comes in to finish copying the bulletin to hand to you for this morning’s service.  Unknowingly the school across the street was having their opening ceremony to start school.  Normally they would call and let me know so that we can block of the lower parking lot if we are having Preschool and allow me to get to the church early enough to have a parking place. Well they forgot to call, and the workers who are redoing our parking lot were trying to prepare our lot to be able to put asphalt on as they watched the parking lot fill up with cars from the school parents.

            Being a good neighbor we always try to accommodate the school but this time it was going to be a little hard, but in good faith I started to let people park their vehicles on our grass to again accommodate the school, however out of fifty cars three got stuck and we tore up our front yard trying to get them out. After the parking lot crew got one very large van out, we pushed a Lincoln Continental out and then paying a tow truck to get the Chevy Suburban out of the yard it looked like a war happened on it.

            Well after speaking kindly to the school superintendent and expressing to the principle that she really needs to give us heads up on these things the school board graciously is going to pay and put our yard back into shape. 

So as the lady who owned the Suburban said she was saved from spending money at garage sales, neighbors from down the street came to help push which led to good conversation about our church, and the parking lot people coming to aid us, when the person came over to let me know they will repair our yard, I was able to say a thank you Lord for your grace and mercy and tell everyone that was there that God worked everything out for all of us.

            Jesus Christ worked with Peter to work everything out, and He works with us to work everything out too.  In fact Jesus worked everything out when He took our sins to the cross and suffered and died for them to un-separate us from His Father and truly makes us one with our God.  Our salvation is the result of us being humbled into the One Body of Christ which can only be made possible from a loving Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

 

 

“Faith Like A Canaanite Woman”

            Isaiah 56:1, 8 ¹Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.  ⁸The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”

            In verses 3-6 God is talking to the Israelites and telling them that if eunuchs and foreigners join themselves with the Lord then He will give them everlasting names and bring them to His Holy Mountain.  If the Israelites thought that they were exclusive because they are God’s chosen people then they had not read this verse and others like it.  We Christians have through history thought that God limits His selection to those who are of a certain denomination, or only those who attend a church service, or maybe those who think they are the righteous, but like the Israelites we too would be wrong.  God saves through His grace and mercy not ours.

            God’s plan was not to just pick a few people and let the rest of civilization suffer eternal death; rather God’s plan was to spread His word and love to every nation on this world.  If God had just wanted the Israelites He would have said go therefore and only baptize the circumcised. Matthew 28:19 says baptize all nations.  In Matthew 15: 21-28 Jesus might appear to us that He came for the Jews only but like the Centurion Jesus ministers to those who were thought to be non-believers and ministers to this Canaanite woman.

            Matthew 15:22–28 ²²And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” ²³But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” ²⁴He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

            I’m sure you have gone to our Lord in prayer and maybe experienced part of what this Canaanite woman had trying to communicate with The Lord Jesus.  Silence…  This seems like our Lord has chosen to be rude to this woman.  Jesus gives her silence as if to ignore the woman’s pleas for help.  I’m sure at times when we pray we feel the same as if Jesus was ignoring us then our sinful nature takes over and we start to lose faith.  For this woman, a Canaanite, she might expect this from Jesus as she belongs to a race of pagan beliefs, idol worshippers, and a people that despised the Jews and their beliefs. 

            The disciples that were with Jesus got tired of this Canaanite women crying and begging, and begged Jesus to get rid of her.  And then to rub insult to injury, Jesus lets her know that He only came to minister to the lost sheep of Israel.  Maybe the disciples wanted Jesus to grant her wish or they just wanted her gone, regardless the disciples also are begging Jesus, maybe only to save their ears from this woman’s crying.

            You would think this woman would have given up after the treatment Jesus and His disciples appear to hand out to her.  We who are supposed to be known as believers sometimes give up on our Lord with much less reasoning.  Our faith in our Lord waivers easily and we give up on Him.  It’s strange, the Canaanite woman did not give up instead she stays with Jesus in this conversation and even keeps up with Him as Jesus even compares her to dogs.

            Matthew 15:22–28 ²⁵But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” ²⁶And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

            She knew who Jesus was, contrary to her nationality this Canaanite woman knew Jesus was a descendent of David and even knew to call Him Lord.  She may have talked to others who had seen Jesus; she might have read or heard the Holy Scriptures that told of a savior who would come from the line of David.  She surely must have heard or even seen the miracles of healing and the driving out of demons from other people performed by Jesus.  Either way, this Canaanite woman had faith that Jesus could drive the demons out of her daughter.

            It seems strange that this woman stayed and seemingly took a verbal beating as she is compared to dogs at the dinner table.  What is really interesting was the woman took that analogy and humbly let Jesus know she would settle for the crumbs of the Master’s table.  Even the crumbs that fall from our Lord’s Table were enough for this woman to know her prayer would be answered. 

            We might think that we only receive crumbs, or that Jesus’ silence is not answering our prayers, but the truth is that Jesus is speaking loudly to us even in His silence.  The answer is not always no, or wait, sometimes it is to ask us where are we in our faith?  Are we one to give up, or are we one to be like the Canaanite woman and be persistent in our request.

            Luke 18:6-8 ⁶ And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. ⁷ And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? ^, Will he delay long over them? ⁸ I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

            We can have faith in this, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior will always make the correct judgment, even when we go against Him.  It would seem that Christ would chose not to save us as we continue to sin, but He forgives us.  It would seem that Christ would abandon us to our fate, but instead He intercedes for us.  It would seem that through our rudeness to our Savior He would give up on us, but He does not. 

            Christ our Savior will not leave us after all He died to be with us always even until the end of time.  We have a loving Lord who is awesome even in His silence because in the end He gives eternal life and relationship with Him.  For those whom He gathers Christ builds their faith through the knowledge received from His Word and Holy Spirit.  We have an awesome loving God and the best part of it all is that we get to worship Him.  God is going to give us an everlasting name.  Amen.

“TAKE HEART IT IS JESUS.  DO NOT BE AFRAID”

Matthew 14:22 ²²Immediately [Jesus] made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.

            Jesus never meant to stay with us on earth and hold our hands throughout our lives.  However, Jesus did leave us with an out stretched hand to help us out of the pits we put ourselves into.  That’s right we put ourselves in the pits life wants to hand us.  Isn’t that the pits?  Or is it?  Jesus lets us go not to fend for ourselves but to fend for ourselves through faith that He will come when we need Him.  The apostles didn’t need Jesus to row the boat for them they can do this on their own.  Should anything come up that might hinder the apostles’ crossing then faith should take over and see them through.  We should certainly read the instructions God has provided to show us how to row the boat of life, especially when the storms of life pop up.  Faith should see us through all of our storms we face.

            Read Matthew 8:5-13, here a centurion realized that he did not need Jesus to go with him to heal his servant.  Jesus realizing this centurion’s faith stayed in place and healed the servant without going to where the servant was.  Faith is what Jesus asks us to have as we witness all that He does and has done.  We witness what Jesus has done through the Holy Scriptures, and what He is doing through observing the answers to our prayers, and when we realize and see our salvation.  Our sinful nature finds a way to get between us and faith in Jesus Christ.  Our sinful nature creates doubt in us whether or not our Lord will follow through with all of His promises.  Our sinful nature steals the joy from knowing what our Lord has promised us and feeds us with lies.

            Matthew 14:22–33 ²³And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.

            The storms of life beat on us all and most of the time.  Surely we have times of calm but when the storm kicks up we get afraid and life gets a little unsure.  We hear the thunder, and see the lightning strikes and then we tremble wondering why God has abandoned us.

            Our little wired hair Jack Russell, Rusty, is very afraid of storms.  Up until this year Rusty was also afraid to go down to the basement because of the open stairs leading down.  Those open stairs just looked to him like he might fall through them.  Rusty would always jump on Anita’s lap when it stormed or if I’m home then it is my lap he jumps on to protect him from the storm.  Rusty always wants us to take him for a ride during the storms too in hopes that we will drive him away from the storm.  This year Rusty is spending more time alone because Anita is working at Wal-Mart, so Rusty doesn’t have a lap to jump on when it storms. 

            The good news is Rusty has overcome his fear of the basement stairs.  The bad news is that his fear of the storms trumped his fear of the basement stairs and overcoming his fear we find him in the basement during storms.  You would think after nine years of storms Rusty would be used to them by now, but every time I’m with Rusty during a storm, I still have to tell him everything will be all right.  Rusty looks at me with eyes that say, “Yah right, tell me another story!”

            Like Rusty no matter how many times the storms of life hit us we still fear that God’s not going to answer our prayers or that He has left us completely.  Our sinful nature wants us to doubt as did the apostles in the storm.

            Matthew 14:22–33 ²⁵And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. ²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

            Take heart it is Jesus.  Do not be afraid.  Many people say they hope they will make it to heaven; this is because our sinful nature wants to put doubt into our minds and into our hearts.  But Jesus tells us He is with us to the end of the age.  Age, in this context means an era, the end time of creation where the beginning of the new heavens and earth will begin.

            Matthew 14:22–33 ²⁸And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. ³⁰But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” ³¹Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³²And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

            Peter actually walked on the water long enough to come to Jesus before his sinful nature took control and he sank into the sea.  We are constantly sinking into the sea of our sinful nature.  And though water by itself cannot baptize us, the Word of God with the water can.  O you of little faith, you are baptized into adoption and protection of our loving Father in heaven.  Fear not, Christ from the cross has reached out His hand to save you.  Peter had lost faith and sunk into the sea, but Christ renewed his faith when He rescued Peter from being drowned by his sinful nature.

            Peter had been with Jesus for three years and had witnessed the many miracles and acts of love that Jesus had done.  Through the works of Jesus Christ Peter had been given enough faith to cry out “Lord, save me,” and Christ reached out and saved Peter.  Notice Jesus said “O you of little faith,” knowing that Peter had received some faith as do we through the word Jesus had given him.  This is the good news; this is what is so great and awesome, Jesus Christ reaches out grabs our hand and saves us.  We are adopted to be brothers and sisters with Christ; though we might have faltering faith through the storms of life Jesus is here to save us.  We are not saved because of the amount of faith or belief we have, but even with a little faith and belief we are saved by the grace and mercy of our loving God, this is the good news; this is what is so great and awesome.  Amen.