August 29, 2021

Grace, mercy and peace be onto you from God our Father and our Lord, and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. The text on this morning's message is the Gospel, which was read at the lectern.

This week, we see the continuation of last week's Gospel. Where Jesus asked "Who do people say that I am?" And asked the disciples, "Who do you say I am?" And Peter confessed: You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And now this week in the Gospel, Jesus begins teaching Peter and the other disciples what it means that He is Christ, the Son of the Living God. It means that He will face persecution from the leaders, the elders, the scribes, the chief priests. It means He is going to be put to death, but also another day, He will rise again. That's what it means for Him to be Christ, the Son of the Living God. That's what He came into this world to do.

Cuz that was God's purpose. For the Salvation of mankind. For the forgiveness of sins. For the defeat of death and the devil. Peter doesn't like what Jesus has said. And he says, "Lord, no, may this never be. May this never be."

You see, Peter doesn't really understand what it means that the Son of God came into this world. To save sinners here. He still has in mind the type of Messiah that's going to drive out the oppressor and restore the kingdom to David. The physical kingdom. And so, he said "No, this doesn't fit into my world view, or my expectation of who Christ the Son of the Living God is."

And believe me, Peter is not alone.

There were many in his day that thought that the Messiah should be the one who drives out the oppressor. Even among the other disciples. And even in our own world, when you begin to tell people about Jesus, and you begin to say, well He came into this world to suffer and die and rise again so that we might have the forgiveness of sins from God. And that doesn't fit their picture of who Jesus should be. He should be the one that takes care of all my perfect problems. He shouldn't be the one that tells me that I shouldn't do this and I shouldn't do that. And that's how they view it. That Jesus is... just what I shouldn't be doing, blaming me, making me feel guilty about doing what I shouldn't be doing. You see, their point of view doesn't see Jesus as the one who is the Savior from sin, death and the power of the devil.

The see Him as moral teacher. Agent for social justice. All sorts of things. But not the one who dies on the cross to redeem mankind from their lost state because of their sin. And to win for them the victory over the grave, the devil by His resurrection. They don't have in mind the things of God, but rather they have in mind the things of man, as Peter did.

Peter, you don't have in mind the things of God. And we, too, as sinners living in a fallen world, the sin in the world all around us, many times, we fall into the same trap of maybe viewing things of truly a world point of view, the things that are important to the world, but not view things according to God. Or live according to the things of God. Or a choice in our Salvation through the things of God.

And we sin. We fall into that trap. We recognize it. We ask for forgiveness, and the word of forgiveness is in us. That we might live in the face of God.

So, I hope we understand that for Jesus to be the Christ the Son of God, that means there's going to be a cross. That means there's going to be death. It means there's going to be resurrection. But what are the things of God that concern me in my day-to-day life and you in your day-to-day life? Becuase God definitely has things that he wants us to be about as His children.

And Saint Paul does a very good job of laying out in our Epistle lesson what those things are. Not being conceited or haughty. Rejoicing with those who rejoice, weeping with those who weep. Being patient in tribulaiton, constant in prayer. Contributing to the needs of the saints, and showing hospitality. Be fervant in spirit, serve the Lord, rejoice in hope. Don't be associated with evil. Don't repay evil for evil, but do what is honorable and insightful. Whenever possible, live at peace with everyone. And don't repay evil for evil, but let evil be overcome with good.

That's what's hard isn't it? It's how God wants us to live our lives. Those are the things of God that He wants us to put into practice in our day-to-day lives as His children. Shouldn't be difficult, should it? But yet, we are sinners, and we don't always do that. We often times allow our sinful nature to overcome our nature in Christ. And more often, sadly, we act more like the world than we ought.

Jeremiah gives us a good example of what it is to live of the things of God in an ungodly world. He is persecuted, he is ridiculed, he is mocked, he suffers. And if we're bold enough, courageous enough to show forth the things of God in our life, we'll be mocked, ridiculed, persecuted.

And yet, God says the time will come when all will pay. Jesus says this is why you ought to be about living the things of God in your life. Because why? Because I'm coming back again, and I will repay everybody for what he or she has done.

That doesn't mean that our salvation is based upon what we do. But it does mean our judgement is going to be based on what we do. And if all we do is live according to the world, or live godless lives, conform to the ways of the world, to not seek in repentence God's forgiveness, then when He comes, guess what? He'll treat us like the rest of the world. Away from Me! Into the darkeness with weeping and gnashing of teeth. But if we do follow His way, we deal with persecution and the ridicule and the mocking and all that for His sake, He says "I'll take care of it. I'll take care of it."

You just consider yourself living a life, given all things of God.

And it isn't always easy. Sometime back, I think a couple years ago, I told you the story about if you put a frog into a boiling pot of water, it'll jump out. But if you put a frog in a pot of water that's room temperature and you gradually raise the dial, it will cook itself to death. It will never jump out. It will always be accomodating itself to whatever temperature it is around him.

Now, if there was something that clearly came down that was against God's will, we would probably jump at it. We'd say no way, we're not going to follow that! But, you see, over the years, guess what's happened? We're like that frog in that pot of room temperature, and over the course of time, our world and culture have changed such that we live in a world that allows things that it didn't allow years back. We live in a world where things are acceptable, even though it's clear that God's word is against it. And we seem to have lost our voice. And if we do raise our voice, we're mocked, ridiculed, poked fun at. "You don't really believe all that stuff, do you? You don't really believe that that man died on a cross and offered you forgiveness of sins, do you?"

That's where we find ourselves, more and more. Conforming to the world rather than conforming to God, don't we? And so we confess... He offers forgiveness.

And He also gives us that grace to carry out those things of God in our life. Because, by ourselves, we can't do it. We are powerless. But the Holy Spirit of God guides us, leads us, directs us in the things of God. He gives us boldness to live the things of God, to live our faith outside of ourselves.

I don't know if you saw it or heard it, but a man by the name of Lou Holtz, this past election, he made a pretty bold statement. And I don't know that the local news media necessarily picked up on it. But what did Lou Holtz do? You know anything about Lou Holtz other than he used to be the coach at Notre Dame? He's a very devout, practicing Catholic. And he said publicly, he called out the Democratic nominee, Joe Biden. And he said "How can you be a practicing Catholic when you support what's against our faith? How can you be a practicing Catholic if you agree that it's okay for a child to be aborted in its ninth month?"

Well, that's politically incorrect, so now Notre Dame had to send something out "well that's not really what he..." it's like, he was very adament what he meant. He said I wasn't questioning his faith, I just say how can you claim to be, if you support what's against God's word?

I bet his email has been filled with vile emails. There's probably some that are like good for you! Good for standing up and speaking your peace.

The Bible gives us lots of examples of people who live the things of God in their life. Probably the best example is Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

And when we read their stories, and we see how they lived according to the things of God that were important to God, were faithful to God, even in the midst of their persecution, God took care of it. And even in the moment when the enemy sought to destroy them, God turned the tables, and they ended up being destroyed.

You gotta understand the things of God when it comes to Jesus. We're thankful, we're grateful that He fulfilled that will of His Father by going to that cross, suffering and dying that we might be forgiven of our sins. But then also rising again, that we might be free from death as well. That we might have that hope of resurrection, as well.

We're thankful that He gives us His word, that He continues to proclaim His love to us, and what He's done for us, and how He wants us to live. We're thankful that He offers us His body and His blood with the bread and wine. To strengthen us in the assurance that we really are forgiven our sin. Here are the tokens of His sacrifice. But also, to receive that grace that we so desperately need. To live the lives that show forth the things of God in our lives to a world of darkness and sin.

In the hope that those who bear witness to our life in Christ might come to the knowledge of His love for them. And acknowledging Him as their Savior. And seek to set aside the things of the world from their life, that they retake up the things of God in their life.

That's what it means for Jesus to be the Christ. And that's what it means for us to be His bride, His church, His body in this world.

Yes, there will be temptations to concern ourselves with the things of the world. But those things are fleeting. They're fast. They last for a while. They offer no hope. No comfort. All they demand is more and more of us. But the things of God provide strength, peace, joy, hope and they're a light in this dark world.

Yes, we will be like Jeremiah. We will be persecuted. But Jesus reminds us, "Hey, think about it! I'm coming back with my angels, and I'm going to deal with everyone accordingly."

When He comes, then, may we by His grace for His glory, be found in Him and in about things of God. And not the things of this world. May God grant that to us for our continued comfort and salvation. In Christ Jesus, Amen.

And now may the peace of God, which surpasses our human understanding, keep our hearts and our minds in faith in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.