Ever have a bad day? That’s a bit of a rhetorical question actually. All of us have.
One mother writes:
It was one of the worst days of my life: The washing machine broke down, the telephone kept ringing, my head ached, and the mail carrier brought a bill I had no money to pay.
Almost to the breaking point, I lifted my one-year-old into his high chair, leaned my head against the tray, and began to cry.
Without a word, my son took his pacifier out of his month and stuck it in mine.
➢ Clara Null in "Humor for Preaching and Teaching"
One of the passages in the scripture that has remained emotionally bookmarked in my psyche is found in Matthew 16.
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ,a the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter,b and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hadesc will not overcome it.d 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will bee bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will bef loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. 21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his lifea will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. 28 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Why was Jesus rebuke so severe?
It is there because I try to imagine what Peter might have felt like as he received extraordinary praise and scathing rebuke from Christ in what would seem to be the same exchange. From the heights to the depths in a matter of minutes. That had to hurt.
Couple Peter’s zeal and impetuous nature with a desire to please Christ and there is extreme vulnerability. If this was no particularly important person, then the words might not have made a difference but these words and this person was so critical. As we get older and more adept at life in general, our words carry a greater impact generally. We forget what it was like to be on the receiving end of comments that either made our spirits soar or crushed them. Just a side point to say that we need to become wiser about our speaking, the use of words as we age. There are those that feel that age should bring license to become less careful, more “frank”. Really, I think the opposite.
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Col. 4:6
I am sure that it was more than a “bad day”.
While I realize that Christ was fully human and fully Divine, I struggle to imagine that he was as I am by times. For instance, in the times when he stole away from the crowds, was he simply setting a pattern for us to follow? Was he underscoring by behavior a discipline to be embraced by future followers? Was he submitting to some “duty” as an example for us? I think that I have an easier time imagining that he was running away out of absolute necessity. In my own life, there are times when I am running on empty. I have nothing left to give to people and in those times the best thing that I can be is “unavailable”. Let me ask you a question church. Do you believe that? Are there times when in your heart, you would feel that you are better pastored because a pastor is unavailable to you because he is being ministered to by the Spirit of God?
Look at Luke 5:15,16.
Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
I would propose to you, that if this is not taking place in my life at times, then there will be merely another “human presence” that you seek. To think otherwise is to elevate “missiology” over “Christology”.
It is to say that what we do is more important than what we believe about God and about ourselves.
I am sure that Jesus spoke this way for good reason.
It wasn’t a lack of patience for Peter as a person but something far more critical.
This was a tone normally reserved for the Pharisees and the religious leaders of Christ’s day. He used terms like “whitewashed tombs”, blind guides, hypocrites, blind fools, snakes, brood of vipers. (Seven Woes – Matthew 13-39)
So clearly there was something at stake here that was essential.
With the Pharisees it was their smug, self-righteous pride and refusal to humble themselves to receive from God. With Peter, it was something “nice” that stood in the way of something greater. It was the sentiment of personal relationship or friendship with the Person of Christ that elevated itself over mission. On the one hand, who could blame Peter for this expression? But on the other hand, when we choose what is nice over our mission as individual believers or as a church, there is something nearly wicked about that. “Get thee behind me Satan.” Even the Pharisees were never addressed like that. Perhaps there is a greater danger that nice may be our undoing even more so that legalism.
To the “lukewarm” Laodicean church, Christ said,
14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” - Revelation 3
To be lukewarm is obviously perilous for the church. To choose our ways over God’s ways is fatal to a church. Why? Because we are situated in a community which is relying on the church to be faithful and true to its mission. They may never say that but that is what they expect. You see we are “grace peddlers”. That is all that we have to offer. We are not here to draw attention to our own righteousness. Our job is not to make people look at us but to cause them to see Christ. How do we stay on track and consistently choose what is necessary over what is nice? How does spirituality reign consistently over sentimentality?
In my opinion, it is a question of Christology preceding missiology.
In other words, an understanding of who Christ is and what He is all about must always be the precedent and the underpinning of mission. If what we are doing, our mission cannot be clearly connected to an accurate understanding of who Christ is then we are better, not doing it or not perpetuating it. An understanding, a proper vision of Christ is the only reliable foundation for effective ministry.
I want to take just a few minutes to highlight some of the tendencies that develop in nice churches, churches that choose “sentimentality” over spirituality. It is so difficult to address because the things that hold the church back are often so very nice. It is hard to “question” them without being misinterpreted or seen in a negative light, much as we see Jesus response to “nice” Peter.
➢ The desire to stay together for our sake rather than coming apart for His sake. New small groups are better born out of existing groups than any other way. That means that our sense of mission arises from an understanding of a sacrificial mindset that subjugates my wants to God’s will. We can stay together and get too close. So close that it is intimidating for others looking for a way in.
➢ An unconscious belief that God is going to repeat himself and that the way forward is backward.
Back to poor Peter.
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:13-19
He got it right here. Hit the ball right out of the park. He said what no one else knew or at least what no one else would dare to say. It was really a heretical statement. He was willing to be declared a heretic for his belief.
And he was commended for it. Strongly. Ever been in those moments when it goes right and you are charged? It happens to me in golf. I hit the ball and it goes farther than I can hardly believe. It happens again. Then I get up and hit it again and I muscle it . . . just to try to get a little extra and because I begin to believe that it is muscle that has made the prior difference. And with the muscle, I forget about the mechanics of the unnatural golf swing and all is lost because I think that the rules no longer apply. I believe in my heart that I can achieve more by my strength than I can by the physiology of golf. It never works, for long at least. Someone said, “Nothing fails tomorrow like the successes of today.”
Moses knew what that was all about. You get water once out of a rock at God’s direction then it should work twice. So he already knew how to do it. Problem. God said something different. Moses failure to hear that difference and act accordingly, robbed God of glory somehow.
Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.” The Lord answered Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the place Massaha and Meribahb because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Exodus 17:4-6
2 Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. 3 They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! 4 Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? 5 Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!” 6 Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. 7 The Lord said to Moses, 8 “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.” 9 So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. 12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” 13 These were the waters of Meribah,a where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord and where he showed himself holy among them. Numbers 20:2-13
It’s a very fine distinction between these two portions of scripture but I find something stark here that frightens me for my own life and the church.
God rarely does repeat performances. I’m not sure that I ever see it in the scriptural record. Everything that he does is unique. Every person that he puts his hand to is infinitely different. Boyd’s Bears is incredible in their creativity and yet tame in comparison to God.
Fingerprints, facial recognition, voice recognition, footprints, DNA. We could never do that. We find something that works and we want to hang there. Moses did so he hit the rock. It worked just fine before. I always say that the first time he hit it, he realized his mistake. The second time he realized God’s mercy. Between a rock and a hard face, God delivered the deliverer. Another classic mistake when we elevate methods over the master.
Missiology, the way that we do things, even good things over Christology, . . . our understanding of Sovereignty and Lordship. I can tell you one thing for sure, God is still the Lord of the Church, if it’s a church and he won’t be managed or manipulated. He’ll do what He says He will do. Methods, they become our downfall when we think that we are the architects of pour success, especially in the church. Perhaps one of the greatest casualties is relevance and effectiveness.
➢ The willingness to assume responsibility that is primarily someone else’s.
One of the areas that I find most concerning here is in our children’s programming. Thank you to all who involve yourself with our children. There are actually, people who are wearing themselves out for other people’s children. You see, if you as a parent are not reaching your children and nurturing spiritual life within them, there is less chance that anyone else will be able to do that. If there is no evidence of visible spirituality at home and no teaching or learning that comes from the parents, then there is little that the organized efforts of the church can accomplish. Even worse, the likelihood of transformational experiences with our children being perpetuated into adulthood is greatly diminished in homes where Christ is not Lord.
➢ We are willing to work harder at the things that we can control than we are at allowing God to fully take control.
That’s why prayer occupies such a low priority in our organizations. We’ll come together to talk about praying or to study praying but don’t seem to be able to make time to actually come together to pray. Let me ask you if your really believe that there is anything more important to the vitality of a church than prayer.
➢ A “consumer” appeal that replaces a “discipleship” call.
We are much better at marketing to consumers than we are at making disciples. Was Jesus “seeker sensitive”? He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Jesus spoke to his disciples about carrying a cross before he was ever nailed to one. We read that this morning in Matthew 16.
Scriptural Examples of Choices Guided By An Understanding of Mission
After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Luke 2:46-50
After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”
When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.” Acts 21:10-14
While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Matthew 12:46-50
