SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 1, 2002
8.00am/10.00am
Matthew
16:21-28
In that incident recorded for us by Matthew, which we just
heard, Peter must have been feeling pretty pleased with himself. Jesus had just
asked the disciples, after the very general question, "Who
do people say the Son of Man is?", the much more direct question, " Who do you say that I am?". Peter, speaking up for all of
them maybe, said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God”. And Jesus tells him, " Blessed are you, Simon,
son of Jonah. This was not revealed to you by man, but any my Father in
heaven. "
Peter had given to Jesus recognition as the
long-awaited Messiah. But now Peter is to receive a ‘double whammy’, so to
speak. Jesus, after this goes on to give his first open prediction of his death.
He explains to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, there to be betrayed
to the Jewish leaders and then handed over the Roman powers to be crucified- and
after that to be raised from the dead. All this is too much for Peter.
Like all Jews he would have been waiting for the coming of God's Messiah; the
one who would come up and establish God's Kingdom, and at that time of Roman
occupation and oppression that would spell liberty. The Messiah would reign over
his Kingdom, Israel, bringing in the golden age that would mark the end of all
human evil. So when Peter had said that Jesus was the ‘Christ’ (which is the
Greek equivalent for the Hebrew Messiah) then we Jesus goes on to predict his
death, Peter’s mind is thrown into confusion, not to say shock-horror. So, he
decides Jesus needs a bit of advice and takes him to one side!
He says
in effect, "Look, Lord. This can’t be right, surely. You're the Messiah. You're
going to come and set up God's Kingdom and throw off the Roman yoke."
Then
Peter gets cut off short. You are a stumbling block. Get
behind me, Satan. You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of
man. Poor Peter! He had completely misunderstood, because he had his
pre-conceived idea.
Peter, like his contemporaries, failed to realise
that the way to glory, the way to the crown was through suffering, through the
Cross. It was through indignity and shame and rejection and through the ignominy
of death on a Cross- the form of execution reserved for the lowest of criminals.
It is the way described by Paul in Philippians:
(Jesus) became nothing, taking on the nature of a servant, being
made in
human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled
himself and became obedient to death, even death on a
Cross. Therefore
(only then, only after that) God exalted him to the highest place and gave him
a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every
knee
should bow.
That is God's ordained way to true
glory, not the passing fancy and glory of the world.; God's ordained way of
victory; God's ordained way to Kingship and leadership. It comes not through
might and majesty but through meekness and through humility. That is what Peter,
and as many others as could accept it had to learn.
There was more to
come. Jesus turns to his disciples and says, If you want to come after the
follow and me me, you've got to follow the same route. You also have to take up
the way of the Cross. He didn't mean of course that every one of them was going
to have to die on a Roman gibbet. But they had to go that way. They had to take
up the Cross and follow Jesus.
Those words weren't just for the
disciples. They were for anyone who would follow him; who would be his disciple.
If anyone would follow me, he must deny himself and take up
his cross and follow me. And in the next verse, Whoever wants to save his life must lose it, but whoever loses his
life for me will find it.
There's no such thing as discipleship
by being a spectator; discipleship by following our own desires. There's no such
thing as discipleship just by mental assent to a set of beliefs. We don't just
sign our names up on a form, and then that's it! Discipleship runs much deeper
than that. It's a way of self-denial. Not of denying who we are. We are, each
one of us, God's unique creation, and to deny that is to insult God, to throw
his gift of personhood back in his face.
What Jesus is saying here, is
that we've got to say, "No" to our own personal wishes, no to our own personal
comfort, "No" to our own personal plans and desires. We can't run life our own
way and claim to be Jesus' disciple. On the contrary we run life God's way,
according to his will. That is what Jesus did and for that it led him to the way
of a literal cross.
Discipleship means being someone who learns and
then follows the way of Jesus; the way of his teaching. To be a disciple is to
learn from Jesus, learn the truth about God, learn the way life is to be lived;
look at the way Jesus lived and then follow in it. So it's a way of service, a
way of giving to others. That runs contrary to all our human desires and wishes,
doesn't it. Jesus had said to Peter, remember that he had in mind not the things
of God, but of man.
So many Christians today have in mind the things
of man. We want to be disciples by assent, disciples by assent to a creed maybe,
disciples by church membership, disciples by coming to church on Sunday morning,
but discipleship is for 24/7; discipleship is 24/7/365. It's not just something
we do for a few hours on Sunday morning; not even just on Sunday. It's
something, which affects the way we live on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday and Saturday as well. It's a way of taking into account God's
way, Jesus' way, his desire, his will.
Nothing in fact more
angered Jesus than a religion of show, of hypocrisy; a religion, if you will,
without discipleship. Listen to the word of the prophet Jeremiah:
Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely make
offerings to
Baal and go after other gods that you have not known, and
then come into
this house which is called after my Name and say, "We
are delieverd!"
(7:9-10,English Standard Version)
True
discipleship comes from the heart. True conversion of the heart produces true
discipleship, for it involves that act of the will.
Jesus then goes
on further to say What good will it be to a man if he gains the whole world, yet
forfeits his soul? What can any man give in exchange for his soul?
We
live in this world, its lures, its temptations. We can't hide away from it. Like
everyone else we're exposed to the media (though let's not forget that the TV
does have an On/Off switch!). we're exposed to media temptations, advertising.
We're exposed and lured into wanting things we don't really need. We think if we
get these things, we'll be happier. We'll be more fulfilled. But Jesus is saying
"No". Whoever wants to save his life must lose it. What good to gain the whole
world, then forfeit our soul.
We have here held before us two opposite
goals. Either to live for self and for the things of the world, to fulfil our
own desires, or to follow Jesus, and to gain our souls. We're offered that
choice. He offers every one of us that choice.. We can't give one in exchange
for the other. If we choose to live the way of the world, of our own desires,
whims and fancies, then we'll find out we lose out on our soul, and at the end
of the day it's going to be too late to do anything about it. Jesus says, When
the Son of Man comes in his Father's glory then each person will be rewarded for
what he has done
There is one other aspect of this matter I would point
up. Two other times in Matthew's gospel we read of Jesus predicting his death.
On the last occasion (in chapter 20), the mother of James and John come and ask
Jesus if her sons have top place in the Kingdom. She had got it wrong like Peter
had; also self and the world's way of thinking was ruling. Immediately after
Matthew places for our attention the incident, as Jesus made his way to
Jerusalem, of the healing of two blind men. They're at the roadside when they
hear of Jesus coming by. They cry out, Lord, Son of David,
have mercy on us. How very different. And it's a lesson that is also a
lesson on the way of the cross.
We want to be right with God. We want
to be accepted by him. But in our human pride we think we can achieve this by
our own will and effort; that we can do some good thing to please God. But no!
We all, if we're at all honest know we have things on our conscience; things
which separate us from God; things which make us unclean in his sight. The OT
prophet Isaiah says that even righteousness is but filthy rags. We need
what we can't do. We need forgiveness and cleansing. God says in his
Word:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just, to forgive us our sins, and
cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
And that is because Jesus died on the
Cross. To find forgiveness and acceptance by God we must accept his way, which
is the way of the Cross; this too is part of talking up our cross, which is
Jesus' Cross. The Cross is the core of all aspects of Christian life and
discipleship.
The following was added at the 10.00am service,
which included a baptism
In baptism this morning
we are doing two things for N.
First we are acknowledging the need for
forgiveness and cleansing. We are acknowledging that the initiative in this is
God's through Jesus. By the water of baptism we have a symbol of cleansing and
when N is taught of her baptism's meaning it will tell her of her need of
cleansing and of God's love for her in giving Jesus to carry on the Cross her
sin- for that is what we mean by living life our own way: that is what sin is-
only in Jesus is there the answer to our sin
Secondly we admit N to the
fellowship of the church. As we've thought already, church membership does not
equal discipleship. But it is the place where we can learn about Jesus and about
God and his way for our lives. It is the best place to learn to be a disciple.
One of the promises mad on N's behalf was a 'Yes' in response to the question
"Do you turn to Christ". One of the wonderful things is that when we turn to him
and take up the cross, he promises to be with us always. In the words of the
hymn-writer:
O Jesus I have
promised
to serve thee to the
end
Be thou for ever near
me
my Master and my Friend.
Teach N these words. Today she starts on a road
toward discipleship.
If anyone would follow me, he must deny himself and take
up his cross and follow me.