Counting the Cost

Text: Matthew 16:21-28

Focus: Surrender

Function: To encourage people away from temporary wealth into eternal wealth.

Form: Bible Study

Intro: We live in the day and age of Mega-Churches.

And pastors like me watch in frustration as there seems to be what feels like a war of attrition when congregants slowly migrate from the small to the mega-church.

But there are reasons why some churches stay small. And for the most part, the reasons are good.

We small church pastors comfort ourselves in the knowledge that all a large crowd indicates is a large crowd.

And we are very, very grateful for the continued support of congregants in small churches.

Small churches offer a form of community in a multi-generational way that mega-churches cannot hope to match.

Small churches may oftentimes offer a much more authentic Christian Community than mega-churches.

And most of the time, that is comforting.

But I believe that this passage of scripture speaks well to an issue that may keep small churches small.

This passage of scripture is a call to self-surrender, to sacrifice for the Kingdom of God.

That kind of sacrifice has been the hallmark of our Denomination.

The earliest Brethren lost their wealth and were kicked out of their homes, even their own countries because they believed that they were members of the greater Kingdom, the Kingdom of God. And that kind of allegiance did not sit well with the rulers of their lands.

Southern Ohio Brethren and Mennonites lost their farms and some their very lives for participating in the underground railroad.

Brethren all across the nation were imprisoned and even killed because they refused to partake in human warfare.

And it isn't just Brethren and Mennonites. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his life for his Christian principles of non-violent resistance.

In the first 3 centuries of the Church, the gospel spread across the world. And it wasn't because of the miracles at the hands of the apostles.

It was because Christians lived with strong convictions. Oftentimes they were martyred for sport in the Roman Coliseums because they refused to acknowledge that Caesar was god.

But the biggest reason why the Church spread was because their witness, their Christian practices, were consistent with their message.

There was no state welfare system. And almost all of the care-giving for the poor and dispossessed happened at the hands of the Church.

We hear that talk today, it should be done by the Church and not the state.

But for that to happen in the first 3 centuries, individual Christians gave up their own wealth and lived simple lives in order to fulfill the commands of scripture.

To coin Jesus' phrase from this monring's scripture: “They gave up their lives here to gain eternal life.”

It was so genuine, so authentic, that people joined the Churches in droves because they saw authentic Christian faith.

According to this passage, the Christian life is a life of surrender.

Jesus is saying that, “whoever makes a priority of the comforts given by this life gives up the rewards of eternal life.”

It is a way for Jesus to restate His axiom from Matthew 6: “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

According to this passage, it is a false form of Christianity that says we get it all now and at the end, we get more in heaven.

Perhaps materialism feeds into the mega-church phenomena.

Last week I mentioned my niece and nephew, the Orthodox Priest and his wife.

She is a writer and is quite good.

It's funny that she lives in Crawfordsville, IN, and yet teaches High School in PA.

That is a wonder of the internet. I have witnessed her spend hours on video chat with an individual student. She gives her students quality individual instruction.

But I digress. She writes this blog. And one time she did a rather funny critique of the mega-church concept. She likened it to a 16 theater movie complex. And, depending on the mood of the day, one could go to whichever service made them feel good for that day. For example, if a person was feeling soulful, they could go to the mystical experience, or if they were feeling giddy, they could go the comedy format. If they were feeling energetic, they could go to the Rock and Roll format and etc..

She wrote the article to expose how at times consumerism informs the decisions of worship and church attendance. She decries the concept that going to Church “is all about us” instead of the fulfillment of the command to love God and love our neighbor.

The error of thinking is that we go to Church to get something out of it. No. We go to serve Christ.

And I read an article once tracing the Church attendance of a couple in Naples, FL. When they were first married, they choose a church that met after 10:30 so they could sleep in. Then they had kids and they choose a church with a dynamic children's program. When their kids became youth, they went to the dynamite youth program church and when they were empty-nesters, they went to a church that catered to that need.

Was this bad?

Maybe not for them, but it wrecks havoc with relationships, Church budgets and Pastor's egos. I suppose the last is good.

Let us look again at this passage of scripture.

It starts with Jesus telling them that Jesus Himself is going to suffer.

Jesus sets the stage for what it is to live the Christian life. Jesus calls us to look at His example.

Does this mean that we are all going to suffer?

I hope not! Suffering is not easy, or fun.

But at least twice, Jesus says: “Take up your cross and follow Me?”

I thank God that not all of us, or even most of us, will not suffer for the sake of the Kingdom of God.

Right now, Church of the Brethren girls in Nigeria are suffering because of Jesus. They were targeted specifically because of the positive effect that the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria is having toward peace between Islam and Christianity and Boco Harem is threatened by peace.

Not all of us suffer, or are called to suffer.

But it appears that the commitment to the Kingdom of God may include suffering for the sake of the gospel.

We don't all suffer, but Jesus is asking us to be willing to.

Commitment cannot be masked. It is exposed by deeds.

The early church spread because of the sacrificial lives lived by the early believers.

The commitment to God's kingdom is an important concept.

Peter reacts strongly to Jesus statement:

Jesus says: “I will suffer...” and implies that it is may very well be part of Christian life. As a matter of fact, He tells us this in Matthew 10: ²³When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.²⁴“The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. ²⁵It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!

So, this passage of scripture tells us that suffering may happen to us. We don't like to think of that, but it is true.

Now, let us move to the next verses. The concept of suffering does not sit well with anyone.

Jesus' explanation of the future gets to be to much for Simon Peter.

Peter opens his mouth and inserts his foot, again.

Lord, never! Vs, 22.

And Jesus gives the strongest rebuke to any single person that He ever gave right here. It is direct at Peter.

“Get behind me Satan!”

Is Peter demon-possessed?

I doubt it.

But we, as humans are subject to error and some times that error can come straight from the pit of hell itself.

How did Satan gain this foothold in Peter? It is right there in the passage. Jesus tells us, Vs 23b: “...you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Human concerns are not evil in themselves. They are necessary. But they can be twisted.

This is similar to the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden: “The fruit was good for food, it looked good and it would make them wise.”

How are those three things bad?

God gave us eyesight. God created beauty. To gaze on beauty and enjoy it can be an act of worship.

God gave us taste buds and an appetite. To enjoy good food is a blessing from God and can be an act of worship.

And it could make her wise like God. Well, to be proud of wisdom is not good, to compete with God for wisdom is a stumbling block as well. But God's wisdom, imparted to an human being is a good thing.

These three things are not bad. They are not bad separately or combined.

Taking care of human needs is not wrong, or a sin.

So why this stern rebuke?

The satanic inroad was that Peter was only thinking about human, temporal things, not the things of God.

He wanted man's plan, not God's.

Our commitment suffers when place our plans above Gods.

And Jesus recognized it for what it was. It was not “good advice” from Peter, but it was another temptation by Satan himself.

Satan's temptation to Jesus was this: “take care of yourself, you deserve it. Don't worry about God's plan, live your own life.”

So Jesus warns us this: “living for ourselves, taking care of ourselves without respect to others, or to the future that God has entrusted to us, is the sin of living a selfish life.

Are mega-churches evil?

No! Of course not! As long as Christ is proclaimed!

I know a lot of great Christians who serve God in them.

But a consumerist mindset about Christianity and our faith does cross the line of selfish instead of sacrifice.

Jesus statement: “whoever loses his or her life will gain it, and whoever seeks to preserve his or her life will lose it” is a statement that tells us that whoever lives for the here and now, for personal gain only, will lose out eternally.

Mega-churches are not evil. But a consumerist mindset about our faith is.

Mega-churches aren't evil, but I believe that we have something better here.

We have the strength of community that is very real and very personal.

Agape, take hope for your future. You have built a lot here.

I Believe

Text: Matthew 16:13-20

Focus: Confession

Function: To help the church understand the power of their words.

Form: loose exposition.

Intro: Until I came here to be the guest pastor, I did pulpit supply for my good friend, Todd Hammond.

He pastors two small country churches near my house and one of them is fairly moderate, the other is very conservative.

He would say to me: “Now Phil, be careful! Don't beat up the conservatives in and then he named the one church that is more conservative. They are good people and they just need to be loved.

He is better than me. He knows how to shepherd people right where they are and will not offend.

Jerry Brenneman and I met together a lot 20 years ago, and we have been meeting a lot now, and plan to continue when I move to Michigan. He told me that he was afraid that if he were here, he would offend people because he was to conservative. Being able to walk that balance is very hard.

A few news services garner huge followings, either on the right side or the left side by driving a wedge between sides, exposing every weakness, real or made up, of the other side in order to keep people listening.

They do it by demonizing the opposition.

And I don't listen to the extreme right or left sides because as a Christian, I cannot abide with the way they say what I believe.

We need to communicate with love and respect.

My friendship with Jerry is very important to me because I love and respect him as a brother in Christ and he helps me see, and respect, the integrity of views that might oppose mine.

I promise you that Todd will not offend you and he will be able to work well with both sides of this congregation.

And today, I have a hard task. Because this scripture is about the power of confession.

There are several statements in this passage that have been interpreted in wildly different ways.

But I suppose the most difficult one is this phrase shrouded in mystery: “you have the keys to the Kingdom, whatsoever you bind on earth...”

I promise you that when I get to the illustrations, I am not trying to offend anyone.

Today, I will speak to the power of grace. Because I believe that we, as Christians, as current citizens of the Kingdom of heaven, have a lot of power with our words and actions.

What is Church?

You know the pat theological answer: It is NOT the building, but it's the community of believers.

You know this. You know that when you leave these doors, you do not leave church, you leave this building, this church building. But wherever you go, the Church goes. Wherever you are is where it is.

But there has been a lot of argument over 2,000 years of Church history as to which is the real, of the best, or the most faithful, or the one true Church.

And you know me enough to know that I have a sense of humor.

My nephew became an Orthodox Church Priest.

That sort of upset his very conservative Nazarene father in law, my twin brother.

But his journey was authentic, sincere. He made the switch because he saw Christianity in America progressing toward American Civil religion and moving away from NT Christianity.

He didn't quite agree with the Roman Catholics, so he tried the Orthodox Church and he found something there that was deeply spiritual, deeply mystical and nothing like the Churches he had attended.

It is sort of ironic because the Orthodox Church are named “Greek, Russian, American and etc.”

I attended his ordination service. It was a 2 hours long. Most of their worship services are 90- to 120 minutes long. And the kicker is, they have very few seats. The people stand the whole time.

The music is very liturgical and anything but contemporary.

And yet, the church was full of younger families. Most of them were not Greek. They were couples and individuals like him how found what they perceived to be a safe place. To them, the ancient traditions guaranteed that they wouldn't say crazy, or indefensible things.

They do well separating politics from theology.

And at his ordination service, all the other priests welcomed him with their version of the holy kiss.

I witnessed it. There were 7 or 8 priests who kissed him 3 times on one cheek, 4 times on the other, and then 3 times on the first cheek. I think.

Now, I used to be the South Central Indiana District's representative to the Brethren Revival Fellowship.

And I learned the cadence of the holy kiss. (call Kathy to stage) It is right foot in, while extending the right hand, embrace hand, pull the person toward you and as the left foot gets close, kiss, peck, the other person on the lips. On the lips.

At the Mohler congregation where I served in Ephrata, PA, we passed the holy kiss to everyone. We were very biblical and since the Bible says, as a command: “Greet one another with a holy kiss,” we did it at love feast. First I kissed my wife, and then she kissed the head deaconess and then I kissed the head deacon and it snaked through the entire congregation. It was an holy event. But it sure freaked out my son.

So, I told my nephew that I appreciated the demonstration of affection and brotherhood his fellow priests had given him and I would do the same according to our tradition. I grabbed his right hand, pulled him toward me and planted one on the lips. He was shocked.

I have to confess something here. I was a little bit upset with the entire congregation because although I have been serving the Lord since I was 4, I was not allowed to take part in their communion.

Apparently my church, to them, is not the one true church. And it seemed to me that if I allowed them to deny me communion, then I was going along with a judgment against my own salvation.

It is sad that doctrines divide us.

So again, this begs the question: What is the Church?

It is right here in this statement by Peter, the rock.

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Peter did what Paul speaks of 1 Timothy 6:12. He testified the good confession in front of others.

We are Christians by faith. And our faith is demonstrated in our actions. Membership in the Church universal is gained by one source, confessing Christ.

Peter says: “I believe.”

We say it to. And the public confession is essential.

I was upset that I couldn't partake of the communion elements, even though my nephew invited his ordained uncle to his own ordination service.

When we confess Christ, we belong to Jesus.

I got over my upset. If I could change it, I would. But I am not going to let it bother me because membership in the body universal is the most important thing here.

And this passage gets even more debatable.

The antecedent to the noun “rock,” the rock that the Church is built on, is debated by different circles.

My Orthodox nephew can trace the lineage of Peter and his successors all the way down to “The Patriarch of Alexandria” or, “the Pope of Alexandria.”

Of course, Roman Catholics say they can trace the lineage of Peter and his successors all the way down to Pope Francis, the current pope.

And Protestants, that is us, btw, say that Jesus wasn't speaking about Peter and an human succession, but Jesus was speaking of Peter's great confession: “I believe.”

I know a lot of sincere, Holy Spirit filled Roman Catholics and Orthodox believers, but I tend to agree with the Protestant tradition. It is by confession that we get to into the Church universal, the catholic “small c” church.

So, that is the first point of this passage. Membership is gained by confessing Christ.

Romans 10:9-10 is always a part of my baptismal ceremony or prayer of faith. It says, “if we confess with our mouths and believe in hearts, we are saved...”

The second point of this passage is that Christ's Community, the Church, is eternal.

We are not involved in some sort of fad, some sort of religious fad which will fade with the passing of time. It will not fade or ever go away.

No spiritual power of evil can overcome Christ's eternal community.

The Church is built on a rock that cannot be moved. Even the gates of hell, the mightiest resistance of Satan, or evil itself, can overcome it.

I find great comfort in that. I was serving on team for a mens retreat 20 years ago this year. I lived near Indianapolis and I was at a meeting in North Manchester. I got the call that my dad was in St. Joseph Hospital here in FW and he was dying.

I remember the agony and pain I felt. Before I could muster the strength to drive to FW, I slipped into the sanctuary of the Brethren Church in North Manchester. I was sitting in the balcony and I was looking directly at the chandeliers. They were guilded brass with Crosses stamped in a design around them. Behind the pulpit was a big cross. And I fixed my gaze on those crosses and it was as if the Lord was leading me. I thought: “For nearly 2,000 years, people have died in the hope that those empty crosses bring. Dad will die in that hope and I can trust in the fact that I will see him again.

That cross that Christ was crucified on was the symbol of one of the greatest evils that humans have ever done to each other. It was the Roman symbol of oppression. It said this to the nations whose followers fell victim: “obey us, or else.”

And that cross is now the symbol of our hope. The Church is eternal.

And finally, the Community is functional.

“Whatsoever you bind on earth is bound in heaven and whatsoever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven.”

We have power as Christians. We have the power to either bless or condemn.

And this passage speaks to the power of our words.

Kathy and her best friend, the praise team leader at our Church in PA worked together. Remember, this was a very conservative Church.

And one of the women got pregnant where they worked. Kathy and Beth decided to throw a baby shower for her and her spouse at our house.

In our house, when you first walk in is a cross with a flower on it. There is a wooden plaque that says “Jesus is Lord.”

And the party went very well.

Of course, there were some Christians who would not attend because they would not participate in such a debacle.

You see, the woman left her husband for someone else.

And it was even further complicated because the pregnancy was the result of artificial insemination. That was necessary because the spouse was also a woman.

So here we have two conservative ladies from a conservative church hosting this event in the parsonage.

It was a stretch for me.

Remember the scripture: whatsoever you bind on earth..., whatsoever you loose on earth..., you have the keys to the kingdom....”

Did you wonder what that means?

The lady they worked with came to Kathy and said: “you are a pastor's wife, right?”

“Yes.”

“You know what kind of person I am? My living situation?”

“Yes.”

“And you will host us in your house? ...Why?”

Kathy said: “judgment is not up to me. I know this: Jesus loves me. Jesus loves you. How can I do anything but show you that love?”

The woman broke into tears.

Her mother, also a conservative Christian sobbed when she said this to Kathy after the shower: “No Christians show my daughter any love. They feel so judged and condemned by the Church. I keep telling my daughter that Jesus still loves her. And now you have proven it.”

What we loose, what we bind, we have the keys.

We have the power to give grace or the power to give condemnation.

My greatest experience of this happened to me. I turned away from Christ for a few years when I was young. My eldest brother was in Seminary in Minnesota.

My fundamentalist tradition had no room for tobacco use. Tobacco use was proof of an unregenerate heart to them. I didn't know any better.

My brother, when I was visiting asked me: “Do you still smoke?”

Expecting a sermon and judgment, I hung my head and told him I did.

He then handed me an ashtray and said to me: “Please smoke outside.”

I couldn't believe his response. At the time, I was so excited about Jesus. I was veraciously reading the New Testament. Jesus was showing so much to me. I knew that I was saved.

And my brother's acceptance of me, even though I was bound by a habit that was not healthy and we are called to be slaves to nothing but Christ Jesus... His acceptance was one of the most grace filled and affirming moments of my life.

We hold the keys, we bind and we loosen God' grace.

Let us loosen His grace to everyone.

God is the one who sets people free, not us.

Note, the three points are from: Byron Flynderson