Matthew 16:24 (21-28)
"Live our CHRISTian Confession by Faithfully Following CHRIST"
Sunday, August 31, 2008; 16th Sunday after Pentecost
[Jeremiah 15:15-21; Romans 12:9-21]
In the name of the Triune God-Father, X Son, and Holy Spirit. [Amen.]
(Matt 16:24 ESV) "Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after
me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'"
Introduction: Dear fellow faithful followers of Jesus Christ.
Just what does it mean to be a Christian? For many people it means
living a certain lifestyle. While that's certainly part of being a
Christian it's not the substance of it. The very first question-and-answer
in our Synodical Catechism directly addresses this issue:
(Luther's Small Catechism with Explanation, © 1991 CPH, page 47) "1. What is
Christianity? Christianity is the life and salvation God has given in and
through Jesus Christ."
Dr. C. F. W. Walther, whom many consider to be the father of The
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, stated in one of his sermons,
(God Grant It: Daily Devotions from C.F.W. Walther, © 2000 CPH, pages 704f.)
"To become a Christian is to be thankful to God.
"A true Christian is one whose eyes have been opened so he vividly
recognizes that he is a completely unworthy sinner and that everything
temporal and eternal, in body and soul, and in earthly and heavenly goods is
a pure blessing of grace that God gives him for Christ's sake. A true
Christian does not merely grant this in humility. Instead, this knowledge
illuminates his entire being like a new sun, and in this light he sees
everything he is and has. Therefore, he lives in constant thanks [to God] .
."
Dr. Walther continued, "The Christian remains flesh and blood, and
therefore he is often slow to offer praise and thanks [to God]. The
Christian must especially regret that he has not thanked God often enough
for his cross, need, sickness, poverty, ridicule, and disgrace, which are
mostly a greater blessing of God than good days, health, wealth, and glory.
"A Christian is an enemy to his unthankful heart," Dr. Walther said.
Being a Christian is not merely an identification badge or words
cheaply spoken. It's not merely having been baptized or confirmed, or being
a member of this or another Christian congregation. No, it means to be so
full of faith in, hope in, and love for Jesus Christ that we live life in a
way that is totally different from the world in which we live. It means
being so filled with Christ-like care, concern, and compassion that they
spill over and into the lives of others. It means, fellow Christians who
confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, that in light of today's Gospel Reading,
we .
Transition: Live our CHRISTian Confession by Faithfully Following CHRIST
knowing that while doing so we will sometimes experience chastisement
similar to when Jesus Reprimanded Peter and at the same time we quizzically
consider that Jesus Taught an Illogical Equation for Eternal Life.
I. Jesus Reprimanded Peter. [21-23: "From 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. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, 'Far be
it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.' But 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.'"] It's
utterly ironic that immediately before Christ reprimanded Peter, Matthew
recorded that Peter boldly declared,
(Matt 16:16 ESV) "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
In response to his confession of faith Jesus complimented Peter for
his rock-solid belief.
Shortly thereafter came the eye-opening revelation that .
A. Jesus' appointed mission was to atone for mankind's sins. This
was the first time Jesus revealed His purpose in graphic detail. He had
certainly alluded to it in the past, such as after he had chased the
moneychangers out of the temple He told the Jews, Who asked Him to explain
His actions,
(John 2:19 ESV) "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will
raise it up."
His passionate action reflected the prophecy King David
stated in Psalm 69,
(Ps 69:9 ESV) "For zeal for your house has consumed me, and
the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me."
and again in Psalm 119,
(Ps 119:139 ESV) "My zeal consumes me, because my foes forget
your words."
His agonizing suffering, His crucifixion death, and His
victorious resurrection from the dead composed the atonement activity that
liberated us from Almighty God's divine damnation-judgment for our sins.
Our Savior's substitutionary payment of the penalty of our sin-riddled guilt
has calmed God's anger and dispelled His vengeance. We don't need to live
our lives fearing His temporal wrath and eternal punishment.
Instead, we live our lives celebrating with thanksgiving
His merciful and gracious gifts of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life
that we receive and make our own personal possession by Spirit-given faith
in Jesus Christ. He assures us of those wonderful blessed gifts when we
recall our Holy Baptism, hear and read His Holy Word, and properly partake
of Christ's Holy Supper.
Sadly, as St. Matthew reported, .
B. Peter sought to prevent Jesus from doing His appointed mission.
Alvin was a crusty but deeply spiritual man in one of my past congregations.
When he experienced great surprise or alarm he would mumble: "Cotton pickin'!"
In response to Peter's attempt to discourage Jesus from His course of action
that would lead to intense suffering and inhumane death on Calvary's cross,
we might also say along with Alvin, "Cotton pickin'!"
Donald Guthrie wrote the following about that in his
classic work, Jesus the Messiah,
(Jesus the Messiah, © 1972 Zondervan, page 171) "It did not
occur to Peter how audacious it was to rebuke the one he had just
acknowledged as Messiah and Son of God. He was doing a strong man
protective act, as he later did at the arrest of Jesus. His words are an
example of impetuous inconsistency hard to equal. Did he really think he
had the right to pronounce the destiny of Jesus?"
Now, before we self-righteously condemn Peter without
realizing our own guilt, consider the following. Many people today also
deny Immanuel's atonement activity when they refuse to confess their sins
especially against fellow Christians and be absolved by them, choose to not
join together with fellow members of their household of faith in divine
service activity of Word and Sacrament, fail to daily read and contemplate
God's Word, and neglect to prayerfully intercede for one another and beg God's
blessings upon each other. Those Satan-inspired sins of omission along with
many others are ways that we join with Peter not so much in seeking to
prevent Jesus from doing His appointed mission (after all, He has already
done it!), but in saying, "I don't need or want what You have done for me."
Cotton pickin'!
Jesus sternly reprimanded Peter by brutally referring to
him as Satan and thereby reminding him in very cutting terms that he was
doing the devil's work by trying to prevent Jesus from fulfilling His
appointed mission. Although it's very unpleasant to hear and may even
offend us, let's realize that when we think thoughts, speak words, perform
actions, or portray attitudes that contradict our verbal confession of
faith, we too become Satan's cohorts who deserve the same severe rebuke that
Jesus gave Peter.
Let's then humbly confess our sins, revel in the reality
that
(1 John 1:7 ESV) ". the blood of Jesus . cleanses us from all
sin,"
and strive by the Holy Spirit's power to follow the
instruction Jesus gave to the adulterous woman whom He forgave,
(John 8:11 ESV) ". go, and from now on sin no more."
In other words, let's .
Transition: Live our CHRISTian Confession by Faithfully Following CHRIST
even though while doing so we will sometimes experience chastisement similar
to when Jesus Reprimanded Peter and at the same time we quizzically consider
that Jesus Taught an Illogical Equation for Eternal Life.
II. Jesus Taught an Illogical Equation for Eternal Life. [25-28: "For
whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my
sake will find it. For 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? For 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. Truly, 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"] Many people
decide what's right or wrong on the basis of logic . more specifically,
human logic. That's often especially true when they consider God's Holy
Word. They approach it with an attitude that says, "If it makes sense to
me, then it must be right. If it doesn't make sense to me, then it must be
wrong . and I'll add something to it, take something away from it, or change
something in it in order to make it make sense."
Well, Jesus Himself stated one of the most illogical equations
for eternal life when He said,
(Matt 16:25 ESV) ". whoever would save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
That seemingly illogical statement combined with what followed
it revealed that .
A. Jesus emphasized that life is at the center of this
consideration. All human life is absolutely precious to God, Who Himself is
the source and giver of life. Regardless of the conditions, circumstances,
or situation under which conception occurs, the resultant physical life is a
God-gift. In addition, the Holy Spirit gives spiritual life through the
Blessed Sacrament of Holy Baptism.
God intends that we live the life He gave us in a way that
honors Him by serving mankind. In so doing, we follow Jesus by
self-sacrificially serving others as He so clearly said about Himself,
(Matt 20:28 ESV) ". the Son of Man came not to be served but
to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
It's in that context that we realize that Jesus was
referring to both physical and spiritual life. After all, He gives us our
physical life so we can serve Him by serving others and thereby lead them to
Him who declared about Himself,
(John 14:6 ESV) "I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me."
But the fact that Messiah emphasized that life is at the
center of this consideration only made it more significant that .
B. Jesus pointed attention to future life. In his great 1
Corinthians 15 resurrection discourse the apostle Paul wrote,
(1 Cor 15:19 ESV) "If in this life only we have hoped in
Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied."
He realized that a future life lay ahead of this present life
even as Jesus pointed out in today's Gospel Reading. In order to obtain
that future life we must cling by Spirit-given faith to Jesus Christ alone
for forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. In order to gain that future
heavenly life we must be willing to lose this present earthly life that is
sin-stained and sorrow-stricken. That means that we don't live for
ourselves seeking what we want and what pleases ourselves. Rather, we live
for Christ seeking what He wants which He identified when he said,
(John 6:40 ESV) ". this is the will of my Father, that
everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life,
and I will raise him up on the last day."
We fulfill that divine direction when we .
Transition: Live our CHRISTian Confession by Faithfully Following CHRIST
knowing that while doing so we will sometimes experience chastisement
similar to when Jesus Reprimanded Peter and at the same time we quizzically
consider that Jesus Taught an Illogical Equation for Eternal Life.
Conclusion: The "weeping prophet" Jeremiah recorded the comforting words of
Yahweh,
(Jer 15:19a, 20b-21 ESV) "Therefore thus says the Lord: 'If you return, I
will restore you, and you shall stand before me. . for I am with you to
save you and deliver you, declares the Lord. I will deliver you out of the
hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.'"
God desires nothing more than that we trustingly turn away from our
sinful ways and follow His sanctified direction. The Holy Spirit empowers
us to do so in the strength of our Baptismal covenant that God made with us,
namely, that He would be our God and we would be His dear children through
faith in Jesus Christ. In that light let's heed what we just sang in
stanzas one and five of today's sermon hymn,
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 CPH, #688:1, 5)
"'Come, follow Me,' the Savior spake,
'All in My way abiding;
Deny yourselves, the world forsake,
Obey My call and guiding.
O bear the cross, whate'er betide,
Take My example for your guide.'
"Then let us follow Christ, our Lord,
And take the cross appointed
And, firmly clinging to His Word,
In suff'ring be undaunted.
For those who bear the battle's strain
The crown of heav'nly life obtain."
Saint Paul reminded the Christians in Rome some 2,000 years ago and us
here in Perryville and nearby today,
(Rom 12:9, 14, 16a, 18, 21 ESV) "Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil;
hold fast to what is good. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not
curse them. Live in harmony with one another. If possible, so far as it
depends on you, live peaceably with all. Do not be overcome by evil, but
overcome evil with good."
That succinctly sums up what Jesus Himself taught in today's Gospel
Reading. That's the truly cross-bearing activity of Christ-like care,
concern, and compassion for one another. That's adding meaning and
substance to the words that we speak and sing in our liturgy, creeds, and
hymns. That's how we Live our CHRISTian Confession by Faithfully Following
CHRIST knowing that while doing so we will sometimes experience chastisement
similar to when Jesus Reprimanded Peter and at the same time we quizzically
consider that Jesus Taught an Illogical Equation for Eternal Life.
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our holy
Savior. Amen.
In the name of the Triune God-Father, X Son, and Holy Spirit. [Amen.]
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