Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Matthew 16:21-26
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  September 3, 2023

The Christian life is a lot like the stock market. What do I mean by that? Well, if you look at the history of the stock market over a period of many years, you will see that it consistently trends upwards. However, a closer look at those individual years will show a series of rises and falls, sometimes dramatic rises and disastrous falls. So, too, the life of the Christian. Our goal in the Christian life is to follow Jesus as he leads us to our heavenly home. The path to heaven is that gradual uphill climb that we all are traveling as we speak. But a closer look at our lives as Christians will show a series of rises and falls, sometimes dramatic rises and disastrous falls. 

Perhaps there isn’t a better illustration of that truth than what we see in the life of Peter. We relate so well to Peter, don’t we? Maybe we don’t think we could be as bold or confident as he often was, but we certainly can relate to his failures. We see one such example of the stock market-like path of Peter in Matthew’s Gospel. In words we heard last week, Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do you say I am?” It was Peter who stepped up to the plate and hit one out of the park as he spoke for the disciples. In a Spirit-wrought confession of faith that we all wish to emulate he said: “You are the Christ.” Unfortunately, we quickly see that Peter’s dramatic rise would soon be followed by a disastrous fall. For the first time, Jesus is explaining what it really means to be the Messiah. He doesn’t beat around the bush. He doesn’t speak in parables. Very plainly, he tells his disciples exactly what it meant that he was the Christ. “From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised again.”

Talk about a shock to the system! Imagine if your loved one, your hero, your teacher and friend sat you down one day and told you that it was absolutely necessary for them to make a choice that would cause them to suffer very much. How would you react? Wouldn’t you try to talk them out of it? Wouldn’t you try to find another way? Wouldn’t you? “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “May you receive mercy, Lord! This will never happen to you.” Isn’t that what Peter is doing here? We might think so. But let’s imagine that your loved one sat you down and told you that it was absolutely necessary for them to suffer very much, but that the end result would be worth it. Let’s imagine that they had to undergo some very painful medical treatments with horrible side effects, but that it was absolutely necessary. It was the only hope for them to live. Wouldn’t that change our response? Jesus is telling his disciples God’s plan of salvation; how it was necessary for Jesus to suffer all of those things–rejection, pain, even death itself–so that he could defeat death on the third day, the day we now call Easter. He said that all this was necessary, the cross was necessary. It was the only hope for them to live. But it seems as if Peter didn’t even hear that because Peter wasn’t thinking about anyone else. He wasn’t even really thinking about Jesus. He was only thinking about himself. And that’s why Jesus responded the way that he did. “But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a snare to me because you are not thinking the things of God, but the things of men.”” If you thought it was a shock to the system to hear Jesus describing his suffering and death, think of how those words must have stung Peter! He wasn’t thinking about God’s plan or God’s will, he was only thinking about himself. And because of that, he was equated with Satan. 

One of the great Church fathers, Augustine, once wrote: “The first destruction of man was the love of himself…” And that’s really what the problem was, wasn’t it, way back in the Garden of Eden? What do we hear there? “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was appealing to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate. She gave some also to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” The “things of God” in that case was that Adam and Eve not eat the fruit. But what ruled the day? The fruit was “appealing to the eyes.” It looked good enough to eat. “And that the tree was desirable to make one wise…”Adam and Eve weren’t satisfied with what God had told them. They were convinced he was holding out on them. And so, thinking of only themselves, they took the fruit and they ate it. They loved themselves more than God. They thought of what they wanted rather than what God wanted. And in that instant, they threw away their relationship with God and joined Satan’s team. And it’s the same thing Peter did! It’s often the same thing we do too, isn’t it?

Peter’s problems still plague people today. Instead of having in mind the things of God, we too often have in mind the things of men. Our will, our desires, our decisions, not God’s. Jesus could very well be speaking those same words to us! Because when we choose to love ourselves more than God, when we choose to want what we want rather than want what God wants, like Adam and Eve, like Peter, we are aligning ourselves with Satan. 

But Jesus didn’t give up on Peter after he rebuked him. No, he wanted Peter and the other disciples to understand the seriousness of what he was doing. This was a matter of life and death. In addition, he wanted them to Embrace the Cross so they could Anticipate the Crown. 

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. In fact whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. After all, what will it benefit a person if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul? Or what can a person give in exchange for his soul?””

Part of Peter’s objection to what Jesus was saying was out of concern for Jesus. But the bigger part concerned what it meant for Peter. The suffering that awaited Jesus would find its way to Peter and the other disciples. So here Jesus lays everything on the table. He says, “If you want to be my disciple, if you want to step in line behind me and follow me, then you’ve got to do three things: 1) You’ve got to say “no” to yourself. 2) You’ve got to embrace your own cross. 3) You’ve got to keep on following me. It’s straightforward, it’s direct. But what does it all mean?

Remember our friend Augustine? He said: “The first destruction of man was the love of himself;” He went on to say: “Learn to love yourself by not loving yourself.” Wasn’t Augustine saying the very same thing that Jesus says here? If we really want to love ourselves, if we really want what is best for us, if we really want to anticipate the crown of life, if we really want to follow Jesus, then we have to learn to say, “no” to ourselves. We love to say, “no,” don’t we? It’s one of the first words we learn as a child. But it’s never in the context of saying to ourselves, is it? That is something we struggle with every single day. Why do you think New Year’s resolutions have to be made and why do they never last? Because we have a really hard time saying, “no,” to ourselves. But that’s exactly what Jesus says we need to do if we want to be his disciples. We need to say, “no,” to ourselves, to our selfish sinful desires. We need to say, “no,” to the idea that we can save ourselves. Rather, we need to look to Jesus and embrace the cross. We need to understand everything his cross stands for. We need to say, “no,” to ourselves and our own way and get behind Jesus and see how he carried our cross, how he bore our sin, how he endured our punishment, how he won our salvation. And then we need to say, “no,” to ourselves and embrace the cross that God has placed in our lives. That may mean that our personal pleasures and comforts may become part of the past, especially if they were sinful pleasures. That may mean that from this point forward, our priorities might need to change. “In fact whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” 

Remember the question I asked before, about wanting to spare people pain in this life? There’s nothing wrong with wanting to spare people from pain. But if sparing them from pain in this life hurts them eternally, are we really helping them? If we want to make this life the be all and end all, if we want to have all the pleasures of this life and that becomes our only focus, we can do that–we can save this life–but we’re going to lose the crown. That’s what Jesus tells us here! However, he says that if we lose our lives here, if we say, “no,” to ourselves and embrace the cross, embrace God’s will for us, we will find that crown waiting for us. “After all, what will it benefit a person if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul? Or what can a person give in exchange for his soul?”

Embrace the Cross; Anticipate the Crown was the theme for our Synod Convention earlier this month. And that theme is really what Jesus is reminding us of here. We’re talking about souls. We’re talking about eternity. What value can you place on your eternity, on your soul? They are priceless. Is a good job that pays tons of money  but forces you to miss worship consistently, and constantly leads you into temptation really worth it? Are all the toys and pleasures of this life really worth giving up the crown of life, and eternity in paradise? Is that extra couple of hours of sleep really going to make you happy, or would you rather know that your soul is secure and your place in heaven is prepared? It costs us nothing to become a Christian. God did that, all of that, with no help from us. But believe me, it will cost you and me everything we have to be a Christian. Everything. Everything we are, everything we have, every choice we make, every word we say, everything we desire and need and live for–everything is no longer mine, but his. Say, “no,” to yourselves. Embrace the cross and gladly and joyfully take whatever struggles and suffering come because of Jesus and keep on following him. Lose your life, lose your very self–just say, “no.” But remember why we are saying, “no.” Remember what lies ahead at the end of this gradual upward climb. For even if we have to suffer very much, it will all be worth it in the end. For at the end of this road is a crown, a crown of life, the very gate of heaven. Amen.