1 Corinthians 3 16-23 M
Apostles Peter and Paul
Mark 8:27-35
1 Corinthians 3:16-23
June 29, 2003
“Pillars of the Church”
Introduction: We have all heard about people who are called, “Pillars of the Community.” These are people that have stood strong in adversity, remained calm in calamity, and remained rock-solid through the storms of life. These people are people of character. The police department of Waverly Tennessee goes as far as to try to list the characteristics of these people, trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. I’m sure more characteristic could be added to describe those people that we consider as “Pillars of the community”. But all these describe the two men we remember today, St. Peter and St. Paul the Apostles.
The festival of St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles, draws attention to these two pillars of the New Testament church. On this day the two are remembered together, but each has another day of his own (The Confession of St. Peter, January 18; The Conversion of St. Paul, one week later, January 25). This is, of course, in keeping with their most prominent positions in the growth of the early church. Nevertheless, this day is not really intended to focus on Paul and Peter the men, great though they were. The unifying theme of this festival is the suffering and service that these two, like so many other saints, endured and rendered to God’s kingdom. This festival focuses on what God has done through these two men, pillars of the church, standing on the solid foundation, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
If I could, I’d like to be like Peter—bold, always close to the action, the kind of guy your buddies look to in the crunch. He’d have made a great quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. If I could, I’d like to be like Paul too—brilliant thinker, sharp as a tack, a real way with words with a passion for the Gospel and His Lord.
With either Peter or Paul, we see two men who cast huge rays of light over the early Christian church and who continue to guide the church even in our own day by their words and actions. The church could use more Peters and more Pauls. On this festival honoring these two pillars of the church, we remember how God used both apostles. But more than remembering them, we’re called to be like them, as God uses us in the building of His Holy Church on earth. In our Epistle lesson, God, through St. Paul, declares to you how you are indeed like the apostles. He says to each one of you:
You Are God’s Temple/Servants—with Peter and Paul.
I. You are a temple of God—with both Peter and Paul (v 16).
A. Peter and Paul are revered as true pillars of the church, and deservedly so. Not only was Peter “chief” among the Twelve. He jumped out of the boat to walk on the water, took the coin out of the fish’s mouth and cut off the High Priest’s servant’s ear. His confession of Jesus as the Christ marked the turning point in the Lord’s ministry. Jesus appointed him as shepherd of the Lord’s sheep. Paul, after his dramatic conversion, became the greatest missionary the world has ever known. He was the inspired writer of 13 New Testament books.
B. As I said it would be great for us to be like Peter and Paul. Peter - bold, courageous, a natural leader, wise, an honored pillar of the church and Paul, brilliant, thoughtful, adventuresome, an honored pillar of the church.
C. Paul himself tells us that we’re like them. We are temples of God. We are servants of God. What an honor! As believers in Christ, God himself dwells in us! As his Spirit dwells in us we are His temple. We exist for a purpose, to make God known in the revelation of His Son as the Savior of the world. God has contained His glory within us and made us His servants, just as the glory of God was clothed in humility in our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ humbled himself and became the servant of all.
II. Being God’s temple means you and I are his humble servants—like Peter and Paul.
A. To be like Peter and Paul sometimes means trial and trouble. Peter was shamed, beaten, went to jail, and probably died being God’s temple and servant. Paul was humiliated, stoned, ship wrecked and snake bitten. He risked his life through many trials so that the Gospel could be preached (2 Cor 11:25–33).
B. Being a temple of God may not be everything that we would expect it to be (vv 18–20). Being a temple of God means using our bodies and our lives for humble service, taking up our crosses and following Jesus (Mk 8:31–35). Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. When Jesus tells us that we must take up our cross it doesn’t mean wearing it around our necks as decoration. When we follow Jesus we end up denying our desire to be wise and famous in the eyes of the world—the way Peter and Paul did. When we follow Jesus we end up being willing to suffer shame and even death to be a witness (a martyr) for Christ—the way Peter and Paul did. One of the toughest things I ever did was to make a public witness about Jesus my Savior. As a teenager I often did things my own way, what teenager doesn’t? In my high school there were kids that belonged to those “Christian clubs”. I thought that they were kind of nerdy, so I never joined. Yet I thought that it was important to so how pledge my agreement with them. I went to a local tee shirt shop and I had them make a tee shirt for me. In big bold letters it read, “Jesus is the Answer”. For all of our questions inside and outside of school, the answers are found in Jesus. I took a deep breath in the morning as I put the tee shirt on. I was risking it all, my cool that is. What would my friends think of me? Would they think I was one of the nerds? It wasn’t easy walking through the halls that day as I was trading in the coolness and the wisdom of the world for the foolishness of the cross.
III. There are Dangers in trying to be like Peter or Paul.
A. One of the biggest problems in the Corinthian church was people wanting to be like Paul or Peter or Apollos, without realizing what Paul and Peter and Apollos were themselves really all about. The Corinthian’s were taking pride in the human namesakes of their factions. But Paul, Peter, and Apollos each were devoted only to proclaiming Christ. In the end it is not about being like Peter or Paul. It is about faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
B. We are temples of God not because of Paul or Peter or anyone else, but because of Jesus Christ. Neither Paul nor Peter was crucified for us, but Jesus’ death has earned for us eternal salvation. We were not baptized in Paul’s or Peter’s name. We are baptized into the name of Jesus. By our Baptism into Christ Jesus we became children of God. Faith in Jesus, not in anyone else, brings the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, making us temples of God.
C. And because we are temples of God, which means we are also servants of God, we truly possess all things. We have a relationship with God restored by the forgiveness of sins. We are the people for whom God rules and controls all things on earth. We have the full inheritance of sons and daughters of God, including life everlasting in the joys of heaven and a name that God will never forget.
D. All this, quite obviously, is infinitely and eternally better than the honor—the fame—that we might have simply by human characteristics such as trustworthiness, respect and responsibility, citizenship and courage, and adventure and intellectual brilliance that we might associate with St. Peter and St. Paul. We would be foolish to settle for anything less.
Conclusion: I’d like to be like Peter and Paul. I know, I’ll never match their fame or their exploits, or even, I’m sure, their contributions to God’s church. But you and I do indeed stand with the apostles, not just as pillars holding up God’s church, but as the very temples of God. Christ has made us that. We are pillars of Christ’s Church as we confess our faith in Him alone as our Savior from sin. We are pillars of God’s Church as we confess our sins and receive the forgiveness that He has given us through His Word and Sacraments. We are Pillars of God’s Church as we express our faith in acts of love and charity to each other and all people. We are not only Pillars; we are the very Temple of God, filled with His Holy Spirit. God has done it all, working in us and through us. Christ Jesus came and he suffered as he gave his life in service, so we will— as we bear our crosses, standing strong in adversity, remaining calm in calamity and rock-solid through the storms of life, Like Peter and Paul we are “Pillars of the Church”, resting on the foundation of Jesus Christ. Amen