Focus: Faith for the future
Function: To help people release the burden of the past.
Form: Bible Study
Intro:
This morning's sermon is a teaching about the power and authority of the Church.
In C.S. Lewis' book: The Screwtape Letters, the author imagines a tactic that Satan uses to distract believers from their real purpose.
The book is fiction, written during WWII and it is a supposed series of correspondences between a sub-demon and his boss. The sub-demon's task is to dismantle the faith of a brand new Christian. His boss is giving him ideas as to how to distract this man.
One trick almost succeeds. He tries to confuse the man's passion for his faith with the man's passion for his politics.
We feel strongly about both, and since we feel this way, we can easily forget that they are two different subjects.
Misplaced passion, in one sense, is what is happening here in this passage. Instead of following Jesus, Peter wants to get religiouis.
Peter, James and John are singled out for a special revelation of Jesus' glory.
They are alone with Jesus when suddenly Jesus starts shining in brilliant white light.
And then while He is shining, Moses and Elijah also appear with Jesus, shining brightly as well. And the three get into a deep conversation before these three apostles.
And Peter realizes that this is a significant moment. So when it is over, he comes up with an idea, They should build three booths, monuments, to commemorate the event.
I can't blame Peter. He realizes that this must be a sacred sight. But, should the place itself should be worshiped?
The lesson here is that only God, expressed in the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit be is to be worshiped. We are not to worship places or objects. That, is the theme of our music this morning.
During the Middle Ages, great cathedrals were built around relics. Relics were objects from the ancient church, the bones of the apostles, the shroud of Turin, a waterfall where someone received a healing, or had a vision of Jesus or some saint.
In hindsight, we doubt whether or not the money and expense behind that was what Jesus really intended.
But the thing is, in some places, real miracles did indeed happen. Other things were false, but some were indeed true.
And it didn't seem right to just ignore the miracle as if it was an every day occurrence. That attitude seems to cheapen the grace that God showed, or the power that God has.
When God does great things, it is important to remember it. It builds our faith.
Christians have debated about what that means about a Church building. Is this place right here a sacred place? Is it more special than other places?
I know this, when my soul is deeply troubled, or I am especially moved by the Holy Spirit about something, this sanctuary, and the sanctuary of every Church I have ever pastored has indeed become a sacred place for me to pray.
For some reason, it helps me connect better.
But, is it really a sin if a child runs in this room, or someone drinks a cup of coffee here?
And we all have preferences about that. I don't think they are worth fighting over, but I do want to look at the Spirit behind this passage, because the principle about building man made monuments was important enough to take up a significant portion of the story of Jesus in His Holy Scripture.
So to understand it better, let's look at the context of these verses. In Chapter 16, several important things happen about the foundation of the Church.
The Church is established when Peter gives the “Great Confession”
Matthew 16:13Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
The Great Confession: Jesus is the Savior, the Anointed One!
On that confession, “we need a Savior and Jesus is it!” God builds His Church.
The Church is built on the doctrine: God, save us!” It is a great confession and it is humble because it specifically states that we need God.
The Church, with all of its problems is established as God's mechanism for bringing God's good news to humanity. Praise the Lord.
Some say, the Church is an human institution. And they are correct, but God is the one who appointed it, and therefore, it has a divine mandate.
The importance of the human/divine partnership isn't lost in our account this morning. Here is Jesus, the creator of humanity, having a deep conversation? Or was it a consultation? With Moses and Elijah.
The Church is given divine authority. Verse 19: What we bind, will be bound, what we loose will be loosened.
Does anybody really know what that means?
It means one thing that is very important: God indeed listens to us. God partners with us. God expects us to speak, pray and do something with this faith of ours.
What do we bind and loose? Vs. 19
There are times, when I feel that I am facing genuine evil, and I pray a prayer, sometimes under my breath binding powers of darkness.
There are times, when I get it wrong, and I continue to live without forgiving and I too get all bound up inside.
What are we to loose? That is much clearer to me: We loose grace and mercy. That much is evident in so many ways in what Jesus did while walking on earthy.
What else do we bind? We bind up oppression and injustice. He left us here to transform the world through faith in Him.
Jesus spent 3 years teaching us what is important to Him.
And then, He charged the Church with continuing the same action.
Luke 4:18-19: Jesus came to set the captive free. Make sure we are focusing on that same action.
So Imagine how the disciples reacted to this statement by Jesus about Peter. In the rest of the chapter, it seems that this discussion about the power and authority of the Church prompted more confusion among the disciples.
And Jesus kind of lets them sit in their confusion for a while.
Because then, He starts telling them that the next few weeks are going to be a real trial.
By this time in His ministry, the religious leaders have him under the ban.
They have outlawed anyone publicly declaring that He is the Messiah.
They have said that anyone who follows Him will be thrown out of their form of Church.
The disciples clearly didn't understand the nature of the power and authority Jesus gave them.
They didn't understand how Jesus' very lifestyle confronted the power structures of His day.
Shaine Claybourne said this: Charity wins awards and applause, but joining the poor gets you killed. People do not get crucified for charity. People are crucified for living out a love that disrupts the social order, that calls forth a new world. People are not crucified for helping poor people. People are crucified for joining them.
He was talking about what happened to us when we follow the principles that directed Jesus' life.
Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins, but Jesus was killed, not for preaching charity, but for joining the poor. When He joined the poor, He condemned their materialistic lifestyle.
I worked with Ephrata Area Social Services. It was an agency put together in cooperation by all the churches in town.
It was effective and the program worked well.
Every year, the president of Ephrata National Bank and other business leaders rented the luxurious banquet hall in Ephrata, put on a big show, wined and dined the rich of the town and raised over $100,000 for the charity.
These guys knew how to do it. And those who were giving were in a safe environment. They didn't have to come into contact with the poor. It was the social gathering of the year for the entire town and everybody that was anybody was there. And I am grateful for what they did.
But Jesus didn't just give to the poor, He became one of them. And others could not accept it.
And Peter, who was just promised leadership in the Church was not getting what Jesus kingdom looked like.
So Jesus, who joined the poor begins to tell the disciples that He is going to Jerusalem and they will crucify Him and He will rise from death three days later.
What was Peter's response to Jesus saying: “I am going to Jerusalem and they will crucify me there? (YOU KNOW)
Right, Peter said: Never Lord!
And what specific phrase did Jesus use to rebuke him?
(YOU KNOW) Right, Get behind me Satan, you are setting your mind on human things instead of divine things.
So Peter, who was promised this incredible position soon after gets rebuked as the mouthpiece of Satan himself.
Peter wasn't getting it.
Then Jesus makes the most difficult statement in all of scripture about the cost of discipleship:
would somebody read 16:24-26?
24Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
If Jesus were at some big stadium or a guest on the 700 club today He might say those same words like this: Following me isn't about chasing the American dream, its about taking up your own cross to follow Me.
I am not going to add or take away from that statement except to remind you that Jesus actually said this. It isn't my words.
And then, the actual introduction to today's passage: Would someone read verses 16:27-17:1?
27“For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done.
28Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
17:1Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.
Six days later. There are people who have said “well, the Bible can't be true because all of those people died and Jesus still hasn't returned.”
Listen, the prophecy was fulfilled 6 days later.
And again, Peter didn't get it.
In Chapter 16, He confesses the great confession. Then, he contradicts Jesus and Jesus rebukes him as Satan's own mouthpiece.
And here, he decides to commemorate this Holy place with three booths.
By so doing, he takes the focus off of Jesus and the future of Jesus' continuing mission and places it on the past.
We learn this: Don't worship the past.
God wants to be with us in the future.
So how does God answer Peter's idea to ritualize tradition instead of continuing the work of Jesus? (repeat)
From heaven itself this time, God rebukes Peter and we hear the voice of God speak to Peter, James and John: “Look at Jesus, Listen to Him.”
This is a loving answer by God to Peter.
STOP, a moment, Peter! Look at Jesus! LOOK AT HIM. You cannot add to Him. And then, after you have stopped, looked and listened, I will be in you and you will do more than you ever imagined.
What I hear in all this is a reminder to Peter to let God be God and to be silent before Him.
It is so easy for us to spiritualize, all from a good heart, all from zeal to God and entirely miss what God is actually doing.
At this time, the entire culmination of Jesus' teaching is coming together for the apostles.
And the message is, don't focus on the past, but have faith for the future.
Think about that.
That doesn't mean the past isn't important, but keep it in perspective.
You, I, and everyone you know has past memories that are incredible. Instead of being the end of success, they are proof that God is still going to be there in the future.
I can think of incredible miracles, but God doesn't want me building monuments to them. God wants us to look at what He can STILL DO in us today.
At the same time: You, I and everyone we know has past problems, past pains, past failures and past abuses against us, but that is not the future that God has for us.
Freely, without judgment, God has chosen to forgive us. We too, get to forgive others and move ahead.
You all know Jeremiah 29:11, For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you... ...God plans to give us a future and a hope.
This is God's word as well.
So have faith. This is a gentle reminder to look forward, not back and partner with God for His future for you, for us, for this Church and for the Church as an whole.
God is doing great things.
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