Called to Be Purposeful

Who is Jesus?

Who is Jesus to you?

We all have different responses to that question.

Lots of different responses:

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In Matthew 16 and 17 Jesus spends time with his closest disciples to help them understand his purpose.

But as Jesus helps them discover more of his purpose, he gives Peter a clear calling and through that conversation, we discover that we called to be purposeful too.

Matthew 16:13-20

Matthew 16:13–20 NLT

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” 15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” 20 Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

MESSAGE NOTES

Peter’s answer reveals Jesus’ purpose

One of my mother-in-law’s favourite contributions to Sales of Work and so on was the Guessing game.

We had guess the name of the teddy bear.

And countless guess the number of sweets in a jar.

There was an awful lot of - you might think, not very good - guessing in that video about who Jesus was.

It’s also clear that as people began to observe Jesus and his ministry, there was an awful lot of guessing about who he was and what his purpose was too.

What did they know about him at this point?

He is born in unusual circumstances and of questionable parentage. He is from a poor family, but his birth threatens a king and attracts foreign diplomats. Rather than stay at home and take on the family business, as expected of a Jewish male, he becomes a wandering teacher who leads a ragtag group of disciples. Rather than take on a wife, which was also expected, he remains single and unattached. He has no visible means of income, and yet spends a lot of time at parties and provides food for thousands. He performs incredible miracles, but never uses his power to benefit himself. He casts out evil spirits but, at the same time, is blamed for being in league with them. He is a student of the law of Moses, but teaches that it doesn't go far enough. He appears to be a righteous person, but he hangs out with the dregs of society. He even eats and drinks with them. He talks about eternal life, but seems to be obsessed with death and, in particular, his own death on a cross.  It's little wonder that people were confused.

The guessing game took place every time he appeared in public and, in fact, even among his closest associates.

And so, perhaps it’s no surprise that Jesus asks:

Matthew 16:13 NLT

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

The disciples' answers weren't wild guesses.

Jesus did have things in common with John the Baptist, Elijah, even Jeremiah - prophetic ministry, the proclamation of God's Kingdom, a willingness to suffer for truth.

They were in the right neighbourhood.

But they were still guessing.

Peter was the one who got it exactly right.

But Peter got it right

Matthew 16:16 NLT

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

He correctly sees that Jesus is the Son of Man (as Jesus calls himself in the question), the Messiah or Christ, and the Son of the Living God.

Now, Jesus has been called all of these titles in Matthew’s gospel so far.

What’s different here is that Simon Peter brings them all together for the first time.

And as he does so, he reveals Jesus’ purpose.

In acknowledging Jesus as the Son of Man, Peter alludes to Daniel’s dream:

Daniel 7:13–14 NLT

As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.

Jesus is the one who is given authority.

Honour.

Sovereign control over all the nations of the world.

He is to be obeyed by every race and nation and language.

His rule is eternal.

His Kingdom will never be destroyed.

Jesus is the one who is given the everlasting kingdom and power and glory.

That’s his purpose.

Peter declares that Jesus is Messiah or Christ, which is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew, which means “anointed one”.

And this title was soon to become so associated with Jesus that it almost became his surname.

In Judaism, Messiah or Christ meant the one they believed would come and fulfil the hopes of the nation.

That’s Jesus’ purpose too.

Traditionally, as we can see throughout the OT, three sorts of people had been anointed with oil: prophets, priests, and kings.

Jesus did in fact fulfil the expectations of all three of those roles.

Like the priest, his purpose was to put people in touch with God - although he did it perfectly.

Like the prophet, his purpose was to show people what God was like. Only, he did it perfectly.

And like the king, his purpose was to exercise God’s rule over God’s people. Only, he did it perfectly. And he was also, uniquely, the Servant of the Lord at the same time.

And finally, with remarkable insight, Peter proclaims Jesus as “the Son of the Living God”.

He recognises who this carpenter-teacher really is.

No human words can adequately describe him.

He surpasses them all.

But in all that Simon Peter and the disciples had experienced, they were driven to the inevitable conclusion that Jesus is Messiah, Son of the Living God.

The disciples had already said this before, in a moment of extreme pressure, after being caught in a storm on the lake, and having watched Peter first walk on the water, and then sink, and have to be rescued.

Now, coolly and thoughtfully, Simon Peter says so again.

Simon Peter and the disciples go far beyond the rest of the people, who had given Jesus a high place, recognising him as one of the figures associated with the end-time.

Simon Peter acclaims him as God’s final self-disclosure.

That is Jesus’ purpose.

Jesus still asks this question today

The answer we give - both as a church and as individuals - will turn our lives, our ministries, and our destinies in one direction or another.

Because that’s one of the most remarkable things about this exchange - Jesus’ response to Simon Peter’s declaration is to reveal Peter’s purpose to him

Matthew 16:19 NLT

And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”

What does it mean for Peter to have the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven?

It goes back to a picture in Isaiah of Eliakim:

Isaiah 22:22 NLT

I will give him the key to the house of David—the highest position in the royal court. When he opens doors, no one will be able to close them; when he closes doors, no one will be able to open them.

Eliakim was to have the key of the house of David on his shoulder.

He alone was to have the purpose of opening and shutting the door to that house.

His duty was to be the faithful steward of the house.

He would carry the keys.

And in the morning he would open the door.

And in the evening he would close the door.

He would be the person through whom visitors would gain access to the royal presence.

What Jesus is saying is that Peter would, in the days to come, be the steward of the Kingdom of God.

But as we know from the rest of Jesus’ story, this would be about opening the doors of the Kingdom, not about shutting them.

And that’s exactly what happened.

On the Day of Pentecost, which will celebrate next Sunday, Peter opened the door to 3,000 souls:

Acts 2:41 NLT

Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.

He opened the door to the Gentile centurion, Cornelius, so that it swung open to admit the Gentile world.

He opened the door of faith to the Samaritans:

Acts 8:14–17 NLT

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God’s message, they sent Peter and John there. As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit.

The Council of Jerusalem open the door even wider for the Gentiles, based on Peter’s witness:

Acts 15:14 NLT

Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself.

Jesus’ promise to Peter that he would have the keys to the Kingdom was the means by which the door was opened for God to admit thousands upon thousands of people in the remainder of his days.

But this purpose is not just for Peter.

Every Christian has the purpose of being the steward of the keys of the Kingdom.

Every one of us must open the door of the Kingdom to those around us.

I remember when I got my first car.

It was a lovely, shiny, blue Rover 100.

It was my pride and joy.

I could, and did, spend hours washing and polishing that car.

But if I’d never put the key in the lock, if I’d never put the key in the ignition and turned it, I would have missed out on the car’s purpose.

It was meant to be driven.

It was meant to get me from A to B, and back again.

You and I have the ability to provide access to the Kingdom of God available to those on our frontlines.

We are stewards.

We are administrators.

We are gatekeepers.

We can provide the keys to the Kingdom for those in our family, amongst our friends, and neighbours, to our work colleagues and social contacts.

Or we can choose not to.

But if we do, then we may well be excluding those people from the Kingdom.

Our purpose is to witness to them, to share God’s Word with them.

The keys are our opportunity to bring people into the Kingdom of God by presenting them with the Good News of salvation found in God’s Word.

You will fulfil your purpose by acting with purpose

Jesus gave those keys to Peter.

But he hasn't taken them back.

Every follower of Jesus holds a set of keys.

Your workplace, your street, your family - those are the doors you've been called to open.

And Peter didn't discover his purpose by sitting quietly and thinking about it.

He discovered it by doing it.

He found out what it meant to hold the keys to the Kingdom the moment he stepped out of that upper room on the Day of Pentecost and opened his mouth.

He found it when he knocked on Cornelius's door.

He found it when he laid his hands on the Samaritan believers and watched the Holy Spirit fall.

He found it every single time he chose to act - to open a door, to speak a word, to step toward someone who needed to hear the good news.

And here's what I want you to notice.

Peter didn't wait until he felt ready.

He didn't wait until he had all the answers.

He didn't wait until his faith was strong enough, his words were polished enough, or his past was cleaned up enough.

He had denied Jesus three times, remember.

Three times.

He knew failure from the inside out.

And yet Jesus still gave him the keys.

That tells us something important.

Jesus doesn't hand the keys to perfect people.

He hands them to forgiven ones.

He hands them to people who have looked Jesus in the eye, like Peter did on that beach in John 21, and heard him say: "Follow me."

You may feel like the last person who should be opening doors to the Kingdom.

You may feel too ordinary, too inconsistent, too aware of your own failings.

But if you belong to Jesus, the keys are already in your hand.

The question is simply this: what are you going to do with them?

Because here is the thing about keys.

A key sitting in your pocket doesn't do anything.

It only fulfils its purpose when you take it out, put it in the lock, and turn it.

You and I are surrounded by locked doors every single day.

There's a door on your street - the neighbour you've smiled at for years but never really spoken to about anything that matters.

There's a door at work - the colleague who is going through something really hard right now, and who doesn't know where to turn.

There's a door in your own home - the family member who has drifted from faith, or never had it, who is watching your life more closely than you realise.

There's a door in the places where you relax and socialise - the friendship group, the club, the gym - where you are probably the only follower of Jesus in the room.

Every one of those situations is an open invitation to act with purpose.

It doesn't have to be complicated.

It doesn't have to be a long speech.

Sometimes it's simply being the most caring person in the room.

Sometimes it's asking the right question at the right moment.

Sometimes it's an invitation - to a meal, to a Sunday Celebration, to a conversation.

Sometimes it's just choosing to stay a little longer when everyone else has already left.

Small acts.

Faithful steps.

Doors, opened one at a time.

Peter didn't open all the doors in a single day.

He took them one by one, as they came to him, step by step across the frontlines of his world.

You will do the same.

And as you act with purpose, you will discover your purpose more fully.

That's how it works.

You don't find your calling by waiting to feel it.

You find it by following it.

That's exactly what our Generous Discipleship response today is all about.

When you make a pledge to give regularly to the work of God through this corps, you are doing far more than managing a budget line.

You are choosing to resource the open door.

You are saying: I believe this community of faith has the keys to something that the people around us desperately need - and I want to play my part in keeping those doors open.

When you ask for a conversation about becoming more involved in ministry here, you are doing the same thing.

You are saying: I don't just want to watch this happen.

I want to be part of it.

I want to be a steward of the keys.

And every time you step out onto your frontlines this week - in your home, your workplace, your neighbourhood, amongst your friends, in the places where you relax and belong - you are acting with purpose too.

Every one of those moments counts.

Every one of them matters.

Every one of them is you, faithfully carrying the keys.

As we continue through this series, we are asking a simple question.

What are you called to be?

Today, Matthew gives us part of the answer.

You are called to be purposeful.

Not giving because it’s your duty.

Not busy for the sake of it.

Not performing a role.

Not simply filling a seat.

But purposeful - living with a clear sense of who Jesus is and what that means for how you spend your money and your days.

Simon Peter got one thing spectacularly right before he got so many things wrong.

He looked Jesus in the eye and said: "You are the Messiah. The Son of the Living God."

And in that moment, Jesus looked back at him and said: here is who you are, Peter.

Here is what your life is for.

That same exchange is available to you today.

When you know who Jesus really is - not a good teacher, not a moral example, not one option among many, but the Messiah, the Son of the Living God - it changes everything about who you know yourself to be.

You are not an accident.

You are not here by chance.

You are not just passing through.

You are a steward of the keys to the Kingdom of God.

And the doors are waiting.

So let's go and open them.

Generous Discipleship Altar Service

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