Which Rock?

Aug. 24, 2014                                                                                                    

Acts 5:17-29, Matt 16:13-20

I gave this sermon at Trinity Lutheran Church, Clawson, Mi. as part of facilitating a Core Values process with them. As a trained Transition Pastor I help congregations make pastoral & ministry transitions, and help them peer into the future. 

There is a story of a pastor standing at the back of the church in a receiving line after his first worship service. Everyone was telling him what a 'nice' sermon it was, when a strange-looking guy came through the line, grabbed his hand, and said, 'Pastor, that was the worst sermon I ever heard.'

The pastor was a little surprised, but went right on shaking hands. A few minutes later the same guy came through the line again. This time he said, 'That sermon had nothing to do with the text.'

Later, this same fellow showed up a third time: 'Pastor,' he said, 'If all your sermons are as boring as that one, I'm never coming back here again.'

At that point, a considerate member of the congregation drew the pastor aside and said, 'Don't worry about him. He's just a little crazy. He’s just repeating what everyone else saying.'
--As retold by James A. Harnish, First Things First, 14 June 1992, Tampa, Florida.

Prayer

Imagine you’re walking along side of Jesus…You’ve been chatting about the people that have been healed in the town you just left. You’re amazed… your excited.. the adrenalin is flowing… you and your buddies are high 5ing each other… it’s been a great day. Then Jesus looks you square in the eye and says, “Who do you say I am?”

The question stops you dead ion your tracks… you look at Jesus… Jesus is looking at you… “Who do you say I am?” And you’re stuck… How do you respond?

Does this question strike the fear of God in you?

            Who do you say I am?... Jesus is asking…

That is the question this week… perhaps it’s the question of a lifetime. 

It’s the question we all must answer at some point in our lives. 

It’s a question on what you believe… on what you stand up for.

It’s a question on what’s most important in your life.

It’s a question on what you value.

The question Jesus is asking is not a request for a mere confession or intellectual assent, but do I dare say, a response of acclamation!

 A statement of belief...

A statement of how we live our faith & life.

The past few weeks of the news cycle have been quite crazy…There has and continues to be the mass killing of Christians in Iraq... The suicide of Robin Williams…The shooting of Michael Brown… The terrible flooding in our area… While stuff like this happens all the time around the world… periodically these things get highlighted… bringing us an up close and personal view of life & death and destruction. 

While these events are not related… there is a connection that is real because at the end of the day… there is a response. We need an answer. We are looking for a response to all that is happening. We are looking for understanding and reasons why things happen. Jesus is seeking a response as well.

Our Bible stories today in Matt & Acts are bookends to how Jesus believes we should respond. Jesus’ friends are grappling with how to answer Jesus. The following might be going through their heads. 

        Do we tell him what he wants to hear?

        Do we give the safe answer… John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah…?

        Do we not answer?

Peter of course answers… perhaps for all of them and perhaps a bit hesitantly… “You’re the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” A few verses later Jesus is accosting Peter when he says, "Get behind me Satan." You can visualize the rest of them all nodding in agreement. I believe it’s safe to say… we’d all be doing the same thing. Nodding our heads. This doesn't really get us to where Jesus wants us… does it?

Acts 5 get’s us to the other end. It’s what happens when we respond in the way of faith. You see… Jesus’ friends have made the bold response about who Jesus is and are responding by sharing the story of Jesus with others. Folks… they’re sharing the good news… they are sharing who Jesus is. It’s a value… guiding principle… an important part of what it means to be a person of faith… a Christian! As a result… they find themselves in jail. As a result… it doesn’t stop them… they continue to share Jesus. As a result… it was a risk… at the end of the day… it was about obeying God rather than people. 

Again... Jesus is asking… Who do you say I am? It’s a question of extraordinary vulnerability. The Christians in Iraq are answering… and some are dying. What about you…? Are you responding? Jesus is asking… what will I/we wager our lives? It’s risky… we might be ridiculed… resented… preyed on… even jailed. Really.... which rock do we place our life…Ourselves or Jesus? 

In part… not only is Jesus asking who he is… we have to ask who we are… and after worship we will gather for conversation about what our values you really believe as a faith community. What values you will stake your life as Trinity Lutheran. The values of how you will respond in faith to a community of need. And Values that help you answer Jesus, Who do you say I am?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book “The Cost of Discipleship  says, “The new situation must be created, in which it is possible to believe in Jesus as God incarnate; that is the impossible situation in which everything is staked solely on the word of Jesus. Peter had to leave the ship to risk his life on the sea, in order to learn both his own weakness and the almighty power of the Lord. If Peter had not taken the risk, he would never have learned the meaning of faith. Before he can believe, the utterly impossible situation on the seas must be displayed. The road to faith passes through obedience to the call of Jesus. Unless a definite step is demanded, the call vanishes into thin air, and if men imagine they can follow Jesus without taking this step, they are deluding themselves like fanatics.” (The Cost of Discipleship, 68.) 

How do you answer Jesus? Who do you say I am?