The Things of God

The Trap of Self Improvement

How many of you are planning on giving up something for Lent?

How many of you have already decided on what you’re going to give up?

Well, if you’ve already decided, I would ask that you ‘un-decide’ for me, at least for the remainder of this sermon. I ask that because a lot of the things that people give up for Lent don’t help them draw near to God, doesn’t really help get them into a penitential state of mind.

The story that immediately comes to mind for me comes from when I was in high school. We would do Bible class on Sunday mornings and start each week with our highs and lows. And the week before Lent started, there was a row of like six girls that all said something to the effect of “my low is that I’m giving up sweets or chocolate or sugar for Lent.” And there was this guy at the end who rolled his eyes a little harder with each one. Finally it was his turn and he looked over and said “I’m giving up tolerance for Lent.”

And every year it seems that social media feeds are flooded with people announcing their fast from social media or their commitment to reducing screen time - one year I gave up video games.

I’ve also seen different people try giving up a bad behavior for Lent. My sophomore year of college I gave up swearing - to varying levels of success, people give up complaining, people give up gossip.

And none of these things is necessarily bad to give up, right? It’s probably good for most of us to take a break from sweets, to reduce our social media use, to cut back on screen time, or to limit bad behavior. But all of these are really focused on self-improvement, essentially doing a 40-day diet or working to make ourselves better, not on improving our relationship with God. In the words of our text, they have in mind the things of man, not the things of God.

The Things of Man

What we see in the reading for the day is an encounter between Peter and Jesus, but just before this, Jesus is walking on the road with His disciples. And while they’re walking, they’re making conversation. It’s one of those situations where asking hard or personal questions is easier, like around a fire or on a hike - everybody’s focused on something so you can just throw those tough questions out there. So they’re walking, headed up the road and Jesus throws this one out there, He asks “who do people say that I am?” And the disciples tell Him some of the things they’ve heard. John the Baptist, the Old Testament prophet Elijah, a prophet are all different things that people are saying about Jesus. Then He follows up with this question, He asks them “who do you say that I am?” And Peter says, “You are the Christ.”

So they get to the villages they were headed toward and Jesus starts telling them that the Christ has to suffer, that the Christ will be rejected by the religious leaders, and that the Christ will be killed. Now Peter’s having none of that talk. He pulls Jesus to the side and starts to try and build Him up, starts to tell Him that those bad things won’t happen, can’t happen to Him. And Jesus turns it around, He says “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Peter just doesn’t get it, he thought the Christ was going to bring these corrupt religious authorities back into line, that the Christ was going to kick out the Romans, that Israel would return to a new Golden Age. And Jesus’ predictions about suffering, rejection, and death just don’t line up with that. He had in mind the things of man, not the things of God.

The Things of God

So Peter had in mind the things of man, he couldn’t see God’s master plan.

To Peter, Jesus meant Israel’s rise, a little hard to do if the Christ dies.

But Jesus held in view the mind of God, striving to release those held by sin’s bond

He was ready to take up the cross, to give up everything and count it all as loss

He wasn’t out to gain the world, His goals were higher, much more bold

Jesus’ eyes were on His death, already anticipating His final breath

Knowing the punishment he’d take, atonement for humanity’s sins would make

Peter didn’t see it, at least not yet, but the mind of God had a bigger plan set

Jesus focused on the eternal, that’s undeniably true, and He ultimately died for me and you.

An Eternal Perspective

So as we begin the season of Lent, it’s worth taking a minute to think about what it means to have in mind the things of God. And when I imagine someone like that, these are some of the things I picture.

This person spends time every day in God’s Word, and it’s one of the highest priorities of their day because it’s so exciting to them to spend time thinking about all the things God has said and done for His people. They spend time in prayer and are always excited and thankful that they get to talk to God so freely. When they interact with other people, regardless of how they feel about them, they view them first and foremost as a child of God, someone for whom Christ died. And when they face set backs in life, at work or with their families or just in general, their attitude always stays positive. Because they have in mind the things of God.

Because ultimately, they have their eye set on eternity. They know that Jesus went to the cross for them, that He died for them, and that He rose again for them. They know that they are forgiven for all of their shortcomings and mistakes and sins. They know that in thousands of years, whatever they’re struggling with now won’t matter. In thousands of years, that forgiveness and redemption that Jesus gave them is all that will matter as they live in paradise, walking with God in His new creation.

. . . so about giving up chocolate for Lent.

So to circle back to the beginning, what does this all mean for giving up various things for Lent? Well, it encourages us to make our sacrifices things that will draw us closer to the things of God, rather than taking care of the things of man. And maybe giving up chocolate will help with that - maybe every time you wish you could have chocolate you stop what you’re doing and pray. Maybe giving up social media will help with that - maybe you take that 10, 15, 60, 90 minutes you would’ve spent on Facebook or Instagram or whatever and spend it reading your Bible instead. Or maybe you do something entirely different, maybe instead of giving something up you add something to your routine - sacrificing your time. Maybe you add a time of prayer in the middle of your day, maybe you commit to watching the daily devotions, maybe you start to read a chapter of your Bible every morning, maybe you do something nice for someone else every day, or maybe you spend some extra time reflecting on all of your sins and how incredible God’s forgiveness for you is.

Whatever you settle on, keep your eyes fixed on the goal, the goal of growing closer to God and keeping the things of God in mind. Amen.