Dear Church Family & Friends,
I invite you to read our scripture readings this week in Psalms 105:1-6 and Romans 12:9-21.
Our message this week comes from Matthew 16:21-28.
Who Are You Following? Matthew 16:21-28
Jesus Predicts His Death
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 life 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.”
This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
Some of you may remember comedian Yakov Smirnoff. He said when he first came to the United States from Russia; he wasn’t prepared for the incredible variety of instant products available in American grocery stores. He says, “On my first shopping trip, I saw powdered milk–you just add water, and you get milk. Then I saw powdered orange juice–you just add water, and you get orange juice. And then I saw baby powder, and I thought to myself, what a country!”
That’s how Peter must’ve felt. In Matthew 16:17-19 Jesus told him that he was to become the leader of the church and would give him the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
In the past couple of weeks if you turned on the news you would hear the latest polls and many speeches given during the Democrat and Republican conventions. In those speeches all the speakers were trying to convince us, that if we follow the one, they chose we would find truth, we will have a better life in this country. What they really were doing was asking you to choose. Who you would follow? They never seem to get around to telling us the cost. In our scripture, Jesus is telling his disciples and us, and this is most important, the cost of following Him. (Matthew 16:24)
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
The first thing that needs to be said is that this is a difficult teaching of Jesus. We should not fool ourselves. It’s better to confess this at the beginning than to pretend otherwise and lose our way in the end.
One of the most basic assumptions made about a life change, when we decide to follow Christ is that it happens instantly at salvation.
There is an immediate, substantive, miraculous change in habits, attitudes, and character. As a result, disciples are born not made. Of course, this isn’t true. Look how Jesus spoke to Peter when Peter assumed this. (Matthew 16:23), 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.”
So first, as Christians we need to be honest with ourselves when we hold our lives before God and second, measure our desire to be followers of Jesus and not merely religious spectators. The third thing that needs to be said is that it’s the end of our lives that Jesus is concerned about in this teaching. The end not as the last moment, but the end as in the goal or purpose of our lives.
So today I think I need to ask you this question.
Who are you Following?
Do you remember playing Follow the Leader? Of course, you do! The rules are simple. The leader gets to go wherever he or she chooses, and the followers either follow or quit the game. Followers don’t get to tell the leader where to go, that’s his or her choice alone. The leader leads and the choice are always there. Every follower continually decides how far he will go with whoever is leader, especially when he or she goes in way that is scary. If you are following, it’s always a matter of trust and choice.
Christians are playing Follow the Leader, only the game is life and it never actually ends, except in death, unless we walk away and refuse to play any longer. Jesus is continually saying, “Follow me, and I will lead you in the way that leads to life.” Along this way you will lose what this world tells you is most important, and in the end, you will discover your real life, and that’s really important!
We play this game all our lives in one way or another, whether we acknowledge it or not, it’s a game of trust and choice. For the followers of Jesus, the choice is always there. How far will you follow Him when the path leads along a way that you don’t yet know or understand? How much do you trust the one you are following? Peter couldn’t fathom that his leader would go the way of suffering. He resisted strongly. His trust was tested by the way of the cross that Jesus set before him.
In the children’s game, the leader realizes that if your followers don’t trust you, the game will end quickly. The followers will walk away. Jesus experienced that, and the same is true in our lives. Only our lives are never truly over until our baptism is made complete in death. The real question becomes: Who am I following? What path am I on? Do I have faith in the one whose way I am walking? It may seem irreverent to call this a game because games are fun and silly. But even though this game is not silly and certainly not always fun, it will bring you to the deepest joy of all: discovering God’s purpose.
So, we are back at the opening verse: this is a difficult teaching. We find it hard to walk in the way of Christ. It leads you away from self-preservation to the cross where your life is given away for the sake of others. This is not a path that we ordinarily follow. We follow a way that protects us; Jesus followed a way that led to vulnerability. Yet He promised that as we develop the capacity to trust Him, becoming vulnerable, we will actually find our heart’s desire. Abundant life. Remember that old gospel song: “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” I’m certain most of you have sung this at some point in your faith walk.
So now we have come to the point where we start to understand the true meaning of the cross, when we might desperately want the game to be over. We might ask ourselves; Can I get back to the normal life where I am in control, the one where I get to be the leader? Our normal way is to hold on to the things that we want, while Jesus, our leader, takes us on a path that requires giving up what we want for the sake of what God wants for our lives.
Discovering what God desires and pointing our lives in that direction is the way of the cross. It will likely mean personal sacrifice, inconvenience, and vulnerability.
One example I remember was Roger Staubach considered one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the National Football League. When he first started playing for Coach Tom Landry of the Dallas Cowboys, Staubach was not allowed to direct the team. Most of the great quarterbacks at that time called their own plays, but Coach Landry wouldn’t let him do so. Landry may have been a football genius, but Staubach was upset and even resentful. A great deal of tension existed between the coach and the quarterback until Staubach faced up to issue of trust and obedience. Once he finally learned to accept the authority of his coach, he found harmony, fulfillment, and victory.
There are more admirers of Christ than followers of Jesus. You can admire Christ easily and still go on with church activities. You can come to worship and feel morally chastised, or pleasantly uplifted and go home satisfied, only to return to life as it always has been with nothing changed; still admiring Christ. The choice is whether we will seek to be disciples being changed by faith decisions or be content to be an admirer of Christ.
For instance, when my children were growing up Bonne and I had a rule for our children, when it came to work and sports on Sundays eclipsing family life and church life. They could work or play sports on Sunday as long as they attended church with us Sunday. Our children thought this was unfair, unreasonable and almost cruel. It was our way to give our children a choice to be disciples or admirers of Christ.The disciples thought the same thing, especially Peter. Who would they follow? This is pretty hard stuff. But Jesus didn’t intend it to be so hard for us to understand. I think He wanted His followers to know something rather simple. That He was going to die so that others may live. That is the meaning of the cross.
Following Christ is a seemingly absurd way. Whereby losing means gaining, and dying means living. Becoming vulnerable means becoming courageous. This is so contrary to what one would expect that we often miss it. The more we embrace the way of the cross and the more we open ourselves to God’s love, the more we discover joy and abundance.
Following Jesus is a way of life that is shaped by letting go and following Him. It is to find life at its most purposeful when you are giving your life away. It is offering your coat to the man who has none, walking the second mile when one seems enough, or turning the other cheek when it appears so much smarter to retaliate. This is where we get confused; it is by choosing to die to the things that we take as “common sense” that we find joy in this mortal life.
A good leader tells the truth. Jesus told his followers to watch out: you can gain the whole world and lose your soul. It’s a kind word of caution that we need to hear, because we are surrounded by messages that say otherwise. You can gain all sorts of stuff, power, and prestige, and realize you are empty, still looking for what satisfies the soul.
For the followers of Jesus, the way leads to a cross. He told us that honestly, but He also told us as we learn to walk in His way, we will find life abundant. We cannot follow this way in our own strength, and if we could, we would only end up with the delusion of power and self-preservation, isolated from others.
There is a better way.
It’s the way of the cross. It’s a game in which the goal is God’s purpose for your life and living into that purpose.
It’s the way of faith, trusting not in your capacity to get it right or always do it well, but trusting in the one you are following.
It’s by following that we learn to follow. We learn to walk by walking. We become courageous by being vulnerable. We find life by letting go of life only to find God’s life given back to us. It’s a strange and wonderful way that Jesus sets before us.
We all follow someone. We all play the game.
In the end it comes down to this:
Who are you following?
In His Service,
Pastor Joe
Listen To Audio: Sermon 20200830
Listen to the Audio of the Service: Service-Aug30
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Pastor Joe will be available at the church on Thursday afternoon from 2 to 4. If you need to speak to him, contact Pastor Joe at 570-267-4570 (cell) or email: joetravis@live.com
Sunday September 6 , Pastor Alan Hickok will be filling in for Pastor Joe as he and Bonne will be attending a Family Only Memorial Service for his Mother, Karen Murphy.
Newsletter Deadline is Tuesday, September 1st.
The Loose change offering today goes to the Food Bank.
Sunday School begins at 8:30 – please join us! Weekly notes about the upcoming lesson will appear on your email.
PLEASE NOTE: We ask that you wear a mask as you ENTER the church and as you EXIT. To EXIT, please use the Front, Side, EXIT DOOR. Thank you. Members of Session.
There is a Blessing Box by the EXIT Door with items to take as needed or give.
If you are in the parking lot, PLEASE TUNE YOUR RADIO TO 89.5 FM TO HEAR THE MORNING SERVICE
Anyone wishing to share an experience where they feel God guided or intervened in a life experience or wish to give their testimony, sing, play an instrument, read a poem, please contact Cathe at 607-768-9269 or parks1944@gmail.com .
It is the hope of residents and staff at Meadow View, that folks will come back and sing again with them – smile and wave, bring joy and hope and that some day soon, we can walk through their doors, give hugs, shake hands. So, as a tentative date, Tuesday Sept. 8 at 10:30 is a chosen date. Members from the Episcopal Church will do an abbreviated Morning Prayer which consists of scripture and prayer, then the singing of hymns and other selections. Please consider giving an hour of your time to bring a relief from boredom and loneliness to those who need the care of professionals. Of course, this can change if it rains. Mail is looked forward to almost as much as Bingo! ! Within the next couple weeks, bring a happy card along to church, write a little note. Consider what would lift your spirit and share it. Bring it along to church and we will put them all in a big envelope and Joyce will deliver it to “The Box” at Meadow View’s front door. It will be quarantined, then the cards will be distributed throughout the facility. Meanwhile, you can rest assured, you will be bringing smiles to those who receive them.
If you wish to contact Pastor Joe, there is also now a link in the website with his email, as a private message, under the contact section of the Website.
