Jesus Together: Living Truth Together (2)

Introduction

Matthew 16:13–19 NIV

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Pray.

Virtual Reality Church: Saw this CNN special of the spread of virtual reality churches. A pastor that travels the US in a trailer to tell people about the church but on Sunday morning he stands up in the living area of the trailer, puts on his VR helmet and goes to church. There are thousands that are a member of his church. Their avatars gather in pews. Do you know what an avatar is? Not the blue things that was in that movie. Avatars are something that represents you. And you can like dress them up now. Interesting that so many gamers and people that would never go to church are attending this. But just something feels off. Then something clicked in the interview. T

he reporter asked the pastor what he thought about the VR church versus the real church. He said this, “Well I think relationships can be much more authentic because people can hide behind an avatar. There is a level of anonymity that makes people feel more comfortable.”

The irony in this statement: people are authentic because they can give a false identity to everyone around them.

It does not take VR church for this to be our reality. We hide behind some shell of ourselves. We only let others see the version of us we want people to see. Our best qualities and none of our flaws. Our successes and none of our failures. Our good days and none of our bad ones. We are this walking avatar that we have created. AND NO ONE KNOWS US. Heck we dont even know ourselves.

The last few weeks we have been looking at what it means to follow Jesus. To be an apprentice of Jesus. To go on the way of Jesus requires relationship and community. The very model of apprenticeships came from the gospels and the calling of the first disciples… They were a small group. Let’s see it through the lens of Matthew 16....

Jesus organizes a small group

Peter’s confession is the high point of Matthew’s gospel

Matthew 16 is one of the most pivotal chapters and moments in this gospel. This is the first time that anyone has publically made any type of profession or declaration about Jesus in this way. Matthew narrating for us has made it clear with birth narrative and genealogy and many other hints, but no one, from the disciples, to teachers and scribes and pharisees, or Herod, or even John the Baptist have made a public proclamation that he is in fact the messiah. The entire first half of the gospel is working up to this moment and it serves as a climax. The first hearers of Matthew’s gospel would know this tension.

The first 16 chapters is a public interaction of Jesus ministry with the repetition of the inward and outward pondering of who is this man?

Then Jesus, with his disciples in an intimate moment offers the question to them....well two questions:

1. Who do people say that I am?

Acknowledging the general chaos and misunderstanding around the mission in public up to this point.

Then he turns personal...

2. Who do you say that I am?

Side note: There comes a point when we need to answer this question ourselves.

Peter, who is often the spokesperson for the disciples, whether because of his eagerness, leadership, or a literary style to have speak on there behalf....he gives the right answer.

Matthew 16:16 NIV

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

Consider the scene for a minute:

These apprentices, 12 of them, called to follow a rabbi. They know he is important, they know things said about him. They also know that this is just a crazy opportunity that no one like them is ever offered. So they follow.

Be with their Rabbi

Become like their Rabbi

So that some day they might do what their rabbit did.

On this journey these 12 are constantly and meticulously thinking through everything that is going on, memorizing teaching, participating in ministry. Usually getting it wrong:

Just the chapter before Jesus has healed mute, blind, deaf, paralyzed, and cast out demons for three days. Jesus sees the thousands and desires to feed them because they are hungry. The disciples AFTER ALL THE MIRACLES....WELL WE DONT HAVE ANY FOOD!

And Jesus heals them. I like to picture Matthew 16 as a campfire and they are reminiscing over everything they have seen. Admitting doubts and failures but all of the buzz that is going on around them.

Jesus asks: what are people saying....

But what do you say.

And they answer rightly through Peter. But even Peter is rebuked as having a thought or the mind of Satan in the following verses because he misunderstands the application of Jesus being the son of the living God, the Messiah.

And he and the disciples blunder it over and over again. Peter tries to cut off someone’s head when they arrest Jesus (only catches and ear), he denies he even knows him later when the stakes are high, the disciples flee.

The gospel of Matthew has this climax in the middle of the book, but then the rest of the book shows the disciples on a journey to fully grasp the fullness of Jesus the messiah. But they do it together. More campfires. Gathered when things go badly, the last supper, then after as they try and collect their emotions when Jesus is dead. They are together when the Spirit comes, they are together as they begin to live into the resurrection.

The Class meeting is the Methodist’s campfire gatherings

Yall are going to get a little history this morning. Before you yawn too big, church history, particularly our history, reveals God’s story in a unique way and how we fit in it. It reminds us of who we are. And perhaps invites us to dream again about who we might become. The early methodist movement, knew the importance of these campfire relationships.

The beginning:

Early Wesleyan/Methodist societies were formed as a gathering of corporate worship and preaching, but this was not the core of the rapidly growing movement of the 17-1800s.

From the beginning Wesley would know that discipline was important. Not what you think about, like a parent disciplining their children. This is not just a behavior, pious pursuit. But discipline is referring to organization. They way they structured community was vital.

Early methodism had a passionate belief in the evangelical doctrine of conversionism and new life. They believed that in an instant or in time, God can make a radical shift in the life of the person as they come to believe in Him. Sanctification: But they also believed that this becomes a launching point to walk in this grace, to apply this truth, and to experience a deeper transformation. All towards holiness. Or becoming like Jesus.

So their organization or discipline, put them in relationships that focused on this deeper work of taking hold of what is true in Jesus.

This led to the creation of class meetings and bands. (explain)

At one point....In order to be a Methodist, membership within the Class Meeting was required in the revival movement. According to Wesley, the meeting involved 12 people, men and women, equipped to encourage and “more easily discern whether they are indeed working out their own salvation” (John Wesley, General Rules, 9:69-70). The class meeting became an access point for evangelism and hospitality, reaching the unchurched in masses.

These groups existed to encourage one another in love, to provide accountability, and to not just talk about the Christian life but to actually live it as well.

One scholar puts it this way:

“The class meeting was not just a means for facilitating mutual accountability; it was also a communal means of grace whereby men and women came to experience the reality of sanctification and the myriad levels of transformation that it entailed.” - Andrew Thompson

Means of grace. Something happens when we gather and testify to what Jesus is doing.

nineteenth-century American Methodist preacher:

“In these class-meetings many seekers of religion have found them the spiritual birth-place of their souls into the heavenly family, and their dead souls made alive to God.” - Peter Cartwright

“We have no doubt, but meeting of christian brethren for the exposition of scripture-texts, may be attended with their advantages. But the most profitable exercise of any is a free inquiry into the state of the heart.” - Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke

The class meeting was the heart of the Methodist revival. In 1776, Methodists accounted for 2.5 percent of religious adherents in the colonies, the second smallest of the major denominations of that time. By 1850, Methodist comprised 34.2 percent of religious adherents in the U.S, which was 14 percent more than the next largest group. And it is not hard to say that the most important growth factor was the class meeting....

A Different Kind of Meeting

Not your momma’s sunday school class. Listen, we have a strong sunday school program here. I am not telling you that our sunday school classes are not important. We should continue to support and resource these classes. What I am saying is let’s be clear that, in general, there is something very different about these groups. Mostly, Sunday school classes are centered around a teacher/lecturer/curriculum. It is information download where we go from one curriculum to another.

Formational: Consistently meeting together and accountability is formative. We are now considering our walk in Christ all throughout the week. We are learning to pray for our group. We are learning to have spiritual conversation that is honest. We are learning to listen!

Transformational: Son and daughter of God....how are you living this way?

Evangelistic: home groups, invitational to other people

So what are we doing?

Starting last fall I began training class leaders here at Marvin. Those leaders are beginning 4 new groups that will be launching on different days in the coming weeks. We are repeating the process of that training currently. Looking for potential leaders, OR those interested in a group, joining this fall. This process will be repeated over and over. This is not a program, so we are going slow and being intentional.

Sign-ups

Friends, lives are being changed already in just a few months on this journey. Testimony of new strength in marriage, people learning to pray, others challenged to share their faith for the first time.

Close Avatar:

You know what happens when you live as an avatar? You build this version of yourself that is unrecognizable even to your self. Madden Quarterback. JDubbz McMann, from The Texas A&M University. drafter and rises through the ranks. He is 6.3 and 250 but runs a 4.3 and is the best dual threat QB. We do this. Happy marriage, perfect kids, reading philosophy on our free time, or trading stocks, perfect balance of work and kids.

The problem is there is a huge gap from our avatar and reality. When that gap is big, our souls feel the consequences. We develop body image problems, insecurity, we become failures, we play the comparison game, we never have enough money, we are terrible parents, or lazy, or just not making anything of ourselves. When we live in this dreamland, we actually do not know ourselves and what God is creating us to be. But if we would gather in a space where we could be fully known and fully loved, and walk in the life of Jesus, something incredible is in store.

Pray.