September 26, 2004 - Lesson: Matthew 16.21-23

SERMON TITLE: The Human Equation

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INTRODUCTION:

Hal Brady writes of a picture that is on the desk of Dr James Dobson. (1)

The founder and president of Focus on the Family, Dr. James Dobson, says he keeps a particular photograph in his files to remind him of what parents go through today.

It is of an elegantly dressed woman who is holding a cup of coffee.

Her little finger is cocked ever so daintily, and her face reveals complete self-assurance.

Unfortunately, this woman does not yet know that her slip has collapsed around her feet.

The caption reads: "Confidence is what you have before you understand the situation."

  1. Does this describe Peter?

    1. Is his slip showing.

    2. Oh, it is showing.

    3. What does this tell you about Peter?

  2. Do you ever find yourself in a similar situation?

    1. What do you do about it?

    2. What do you learn from it?

    3. What does this tell you about yourself?

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MAIN BODY:

  1. Let me ask you, What do you think of Peter?

    1. Do you like Peter?

      1. Peter, what Peter are you talking about?

      2. What do you know about him?

      3. Simon Peter, the disciple of Jesus.

    2. Do you like Peter?

      1. Oh, you do not know if you like him or not.

      2. I like Peter a whole lot.

        1. He is human and fallible.

        2. He makes a lot of mistakes.

    3. You would think that Jesus would replace him.

      1. How does he put up with all that he says and does.

      2. Yet Jesus is patient and kind.

      3. He trains and teaches Peter to truly become an effective disciple.

    4. We can learn a great deal from Peter about life and following Jesus.

  2. We learn from Peter that it is not about who you are.

    1. Well, of course, you say it is about who you are.

      1. How do you determine who you are?

      2. You are you.

    2. Peter was a fisherman.

    3. Peter is tough and strong.

    4. Peter knows how to sail a boat.

    5. He is very good at catching fish.

  3. We learn from Peter that it is not about what you know.

    1. Well, of course it is about what you know or what you don't know.

    2. Peter has an excellent mind.

      1. Peter had little formal education.

      2. Peter acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah.

    3. He does not yet understand the full mission of the Messiah.

    4. His misunderstanding of the mission of the Messiah leads him to faulty conclusion and inappropriate actions.

      1. Peter believes that he is doing the right thing.

      2. Peter is still influenced by popular opinion

      3. Peter makes a grave mistake.

      4. Peter makes more than one mistake.

        1. He does not understand the circumstances surrounding the event we call "The Transfiguration" which we will study further in Matthew 17.

        2. Peter answers for Jesus about the Temple Tax when he should not have.

        3. He falls asleep in the Garden of Gesthemne.

        4. He denies Jesus.

        5. Receiving the word that the tomb of Jesus was empty, he runs to the tomb, went in and looked, and then went home.

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  1. We learn from Peter that it is about who you become.

    1. It is not about what you become, for if you take care of the who the what will take care of itself.

    2. Peter becomes a different person.

      1. First, Jesus has to get his attention.

        1. Get behind me Satan.

        2. Peter is not Satan

        3. Peter is doing the work of Satan.

          1. The last of three temptations of Satan was the temptation that one could assume the rulership of this world without the sacrifice necessary to free humanity from the chains of sin.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him,'" (Matthew 4.8-10, NRSVA).

      1. Second Jesus, has to provide an opportunity for him to think about his position.

        1. "You are a stumbling block to me

        2. You are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."

          1. Peter is seeking to play God when he is having trouble playing Peter.

          2. Peter needs to change.

        3. This is not flip flopping.

One day one of Mahatma Gandhi's disillusioned followers came up to him and said, "You have no integrity. Last week I heard you say one thing, and today you are saying something different. How do you justify such vacillation?"

Gandhi quietly replied, "It is simple, really, my son. I have learned something since last week."

When Gandhi learned new information, he sometimes changed his mind and altered his position.

What do you do?

I do not want a leader who is not open to new thoughts, new ideas and new ways of accomplishing a purpose.

        1. Think of what might have happened if Jesus had come and conformed to the teachings of the scribes and the Pharisees.

        2. We need leadership that is constantly seeking fresh ways of looking at life, God and the Gospel.

        3. We also need them to conform to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

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      1. Third, Peter needs to learn humility and tenderness

        1. Is Peter embarrassed to be called Satan?

John C. Merkle, The Genesis of Faith: The Depth Theology of Abraham Joshua Heschel (New York, Macmillan, 1985), 180-81.

Embarrassment is the beginning of repentance: "Faith begins in embarrassment."

        1. Peter's embarrassement is clearly noted in John 21, 15-19

15When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." 16A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep." 17He said to him the third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. 18Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go." 19(He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, "Follow me."

  1. Peter learns from his mistakes.

    1. Peter becomes a powerful and effective witness for Jesus.

    2. Peter represents the power of the Gospel to change lives for the better.

CONCLUSION

  1. Virginia Mollenkott, in "What Gives You Faith?" Questions of Faith, writes about her teaching experiences: (2)

I love to watch students come alive. One of the courses I teach is freshman English, and that's a place where you can empower people. They often come to you beaten down. All anyone had done was tell them how bad they were in English. You try to encourage them to write about who they are, to talk about who they are, and you show some interest in them. You show them that they have something interesting in their lives. They're people.

Before I pass back their first graded paper, I give them a little speech: "This grade is not for you. This grade is for a piece of work you turned in.

"Then I ask them if they want to know what I think of them, and usually they want to. So I continue, "I think you're made in the image of God and of inestimable worth. There's no way anything I could put in my grade book could ever begin to estimate you.

"I learned to do this after I read Flannery O'Connor's story about the boy who went up in the attic and drew a circle with a big "F" in the middle because he hadn't been doing well in school, and hanged himself over the "F." He didn't distinguish between the grade he was getting and who he was.

For me, the meaning of life is to share with people the wonderful news that we are the daughters and sons of God, the disciples of Jesus Christ.

    1. This is what Jesus tells Peter.

    2. This is what Jesus tells you and me!

    3. Is you slip showing?

    4. What are you going to do about it?

1. Thanks to Hal Brady, Dallas, Texas, 8 May 1994.

2. Virginia Mollenkott, "What Gives You Faith?" Questions of Faith (Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1990), 88.

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