The Church and our faith
Matthew 16:13-19
Introduction-
Last week we looked at finding purpose in your life.
The writer of Ecclesiastes Solomon said that all things outside of God were meaningless in the great scheme of things.
Pleasures and things are temporary.
The only way you find lasting purpose and meaning is when God is involved in your life.
There is a void in your life and only God can fill it. No matter what you put in there, it will never satisfy.
Today I want to look at faith- and how that plays out in your life.
People say that they believe, but if their actions do not fit their faith. Do they really have faith? What is it that they have faith in?
Shortly after Jesus was resurrected from the tomb by God the Father, He appeared to His disciples. John chapter 20 records that His disciples were locked up together, in great fear of the Jews, the Roman soldiers, and Jesus shows up and says “peace be with you” He shows them His scarred hands and His pierced side. They were overjoyed that Jesus was alive and Jesus came back to see them.
One that had not been there was Thomas. He shows up later and they tell him that Jesus was there. He showed us his nail scarred hands and his side wound.
Doubting Thomas says “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, and put my fingers where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
How many Doubting Thomases’ are here this morning?
How many would be honest that at least one time in our life they were Doubting Thomas.
“Unless I see, unless I touch, I will not believe. Not coming through a door, but miraculously Jesus appears before Thomas. “Put your fingers here, see my hands, reach out your hand and put it in my side- stop doubting and believe.”
Then Jesus got real personal
“Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
To those living at that time would not have been a lot because they could have seen Jesus.
To future generations, He says blessed are you who have not seen me yet believed.”
There is special blessings and special acknowledgment that have put their faith in Jesus when they have not seen yet.
Out text this morning is Matthew 16:13-19
This is Peter’s confession of Christ
“Who do people say the Son of Man is? They gave all kinds of answers.
“But what about you, who do you say that I am?
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Blessed are you because God the Father has revealed that truth to you. I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail.”
On Peter the Rock? No, Upon Christ! Being the Son of God and being resurrected.
Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Faith is looking beyond what is right in front of you to acknowledge what you know is truth.
We all put faith in something or someone.
Faith in our smartness? We saw how well that works.
We can put faith in other people. We all have been hurt by others.
We can put our faith in an organization or institution.
I would agree that putting faith in Jesus Christ is a step of faith, but I believe that also the evidence of history and the evidence of proof supports that step of faith.
Illustration-
Picture a stream flowing down toward a larger body of water. The current pulls in one direction. There might be a few branch offs that have some stagnant water, but most is pulling in one direction.
That is the way I picture Jesus.
There are some branch offs that I do not understand because He has not shown me the answer to those questions yet, but the current pulls and the evidence points to Jesus even though I do not understand all.
That to be is logical faith- it is not blind faith, because the evidence points to Jesus and it is overwhelming.
The Bible tells us that faith in God is powerful and that if you have the faith as small as a mustard seed that you would be able to move mountains that are in your life.
Yet many do not have that kind of faith and spend most of their life doubting the things of God.
There is one main point I want to bring out this morning, it is this- Jesus said to His disciples to follow Him! Follow Me!
If you have faith in Jesus Christ you will be following Him.
Faith is private- between you and the Lord.
Faith is corporate- we get together and worship and serve the Lord, and we do that by gathering in His house.
Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him. All three times Peter answered by saying yes!
Jesus then instructed him on how he could show that love to others.
Feed my lambs, take care of my sheep, and feed my sheep.
Then Jesus has a conversation with Peter about Jesus death.
Peter asks him about John the Baptist, how will that affect John?
Jesus says something profound here- “If I want him to remain until I return, what is that to you?
If I was going to paraphrase this conversation- it would be mind your own business!
I told you to follow me.
We are so worried about everyone else business and how other people are or are not following Jesus that we forget that it is our own responsibility to follow Jesus.
Faith is an action word- so is follow me.
Faith knows what and who we believe in- Jesus tells us to be committed to following Him.
Faith does not give up when it looks dark.
Following Jesus does not guarantee that you will have all the answers or that you will not go through some tough times and people will not do you wrong.
He promises that He will not leave you or forsake you in those times.
We can cope with hardships in life because of the hope we have in Jesus Christ Faith!
Our hope is an anchor of our souls firm and secure wither we are in good times or in tough times.
Our faith, our hope is anchored in Jesus.
I want you to think about something for a minute.
Lately on the news have been a lot of terrible things that ISIS gas done to Christians around the world for their faith- 20-40 at a time are being killed, tortured, be-headed, for their faith. The news keeps it as quiet and low key as they can. People hear in the US sat they are concerned. Concerned? Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, North Korea, those believers are in a battle for their lives. If that was happening here rather than 1000’s of miles away, would we be concerned or outraged? Would we do more than just talk about it?
Mark my words, the day is coming soon that it will be right here in our country.
Every day following Jesus gets a little bit harder; a little more writes are taken away.
I think most people have gotten the wrong idea of church in the US. Somehow in America we have gone from following Jesus and his teachings to coming into church and expecting Jesus to follow us and the church to entertain us.
Pastor’s give us a great message.
Worship team lead us xo we don’t have to do the work involved.
Teachers, teach us and tell us what we want to hear.
Entertain us- have somewhere for us to go if we are not busy.
Take all the work out of it or we will go somewhere else.
Whatever happened to following Jesus?
Whatever happened to wanting more of Jesus?
What about the sacrifice involved in following Jesus?
The disciples left everything to follow Jesus, today we have to beg people to fit Jesus into our schedules.
Is it possible to have faith without hope?
Job lost everything and was running out of strength. His friends told him to curse God and die but he could not do that.
Because he had faith in God. Wither he could see him or not- naked I came into this world and naked I will go out... it was all God’s and He was going to follow God.
I got news for you, until that becomes a revelation to you, you will not be able to do it in your own strength or your own abilities.
Jesus said to Peter- “Who do you say that I am?” you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Until you believe it, you cannot live it! You will not be able to follow because He will take you places that you will not be willing to go.
Today we took in 5 new members, which bring me to the final thought of following Jesus and being a part of the family of God.
Everyone who has joined this church has gone from attender to member.
That means that at some point you were willing to become a member and get involved in the body of Christ called here Rosedale.
To the 5 new members and everyone that has stood before this congregation, you said before God and this congregation that you will support this ministry with time, money, resources, and that together we would build the kingdom of God.
Membership is more than a name on a piece of paper. It is getting involved and being discipled and mentoring those that we come in contact with.
You see what Jesus told his disciples when he said follow me and they had a list of things that they wanted to do first.
You saw what Jesus said to those that had their hand on the plow and looked back desiring the old days rather than what is in front of them.
The church in the third world countries are exploding because the barriers are coming down. They put stuff, money in the right perspective. They are seeking God and deciding to his will and not their own.
Closing quickly
Most people do not have faith in God, they have a curiosity of God when hard time comes and they have nothing to hold onto. All of our excuses will be gone one day and what will you have left to hold unto? Why we did not want to follow Jesus will come to light, where we put our priorities.
Church is not a nice place to visit, or a nice addition to your life, it should be your life because Jesus builds it, designs it, and maintains it under His anointing and guidance.
