Picture 4 - Jesus Calls Us to Follow Him

A man was driving down the street in a bit of a panic as he was minutes away from a very important meeting and could not find a parking spot anywhere. Frantic, he looked up to heaven and prayed, “Lord, if you will have mercy on me and allow me to find a parking spot, I promise that I will come to worship every single Sunday and will give up drinking beer.” At that moment a parking spot right next to the building opened up. The man looked up to heaven and said, “Never mind. I found one.”

It is easy for us to want to live life according to our own way, and our own wants and desires. After all, if you look through the ads in a newspaper or on TV this is certainly the view that they perpetuate. So we make our own plans and pursue our own wants and desires as we live out our lives. The issue with this is when we, like the man in the previous story, try to do the same thing in our discipleship. The problem comes up when we try to apply those principals to how we follow Jesus.

Today we conclude our series on Four Pictures of Jesus with a picture of Jesus calling his disciples, us and anyone else who would follow him, to pick up their cross and follow him. The scene is the very next scene from last week’s story. Even though a week has passed for us, for Peter and Jesus and the disciples it has only been a matter of moments. We pick up with the very next verse.

We hear Peter as he confesses that Jesus is the Messiah; the Son of the living God. Remember though, I said that last week Peter did not understand what this meant. Here we see just how much that is the case. Jesus lays out for his disciples exactly what it means that he is the Messiah; the Son of the living God. He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things, be killed and on the third day be raised.

He probably lost Peter at be killed. And Peter not fully understanding, and not wanting anything bad to happen to Jesus says, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” Jesus rebukes him. Get behind me Satan. These are certainly harsh words. But what Peter does not realize is that if his words came true, if Jesus did not suffer, die and be raised, than his purpose for coming would not be fulfilled. If these things did not happen, salvation would not have been accomplished.

In a moment Peter goes from giving the confession that is the rock upon which the church will be built, to being a stumbling block, or hindrance. Why? He is choosing to do discipleship his way. He is choosing to go according to his will, standards, wants and desires. It is not that Peter is bad for not wanting harm to come to Jesus. But what he wants here, would prevent what God wants to happen in the bigger picture.

It is at this moment that Jesus teaches a lesson about what it means to follow him. He teaches a lesson about what it means to be a disciple. If any would come after me, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.

It is a call to discipleship that is quite costly. Denying ourselves seems to go against our very nature. It goes against the ways that our world tells us, and encourages us to live. Taking up our cross is willing allowing ourselves to suffer for the sake of the gospel. This is not saying, “give up your material possessions.” It is much more and deeper than that. What it means is that following Jesus isn’t always a cake walk. It isn’t always a making me happy walk. Following Jesus is a cross walk.

You see God loves his creation and has gone through great lengths to restore and bring his creation back to himself. He has done this for you and me. Since Jesus did go to Jerusalem, suffer, die and rise again, you and I have forgiveness, everlasting life and salvation; God’s gift to us, given graciously, freely because he loves us so very much. This is yours. You have it. You can count on it. You can count on it because it is from Jesus.

Since this is the case, and indeed it is; when we hear the words of Jesus calling us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him, we hear an invitation to experience life that is rich, full, abundant, and better than anything we could imagine. From the perspective of the world it may look like we our losing our lives, but in reality it is life that is better than anything we could ask for or imagine.

This is life that is marked by the things that we see in the Epistle lesson from Romans. This is life that we are able to live right now, here in this very place where God has placed us. Each and every one of you has different gifts that God has given us to be used in this place in order that through us and the way we live our lives, the people in this area would know that God loves them, and they would know of his love, mercy and forgiveness in Jesus.

Today we are going to hear from three people who answer this call in different ways. They are going to invite you to join them in the work that they do in this place. They are going to invite you to walk with them along this cross walk in serving God by serving others. As you listen to them, I pray that you would allow yourself to be challenged to step out of your comfort zone and explore some ways of denying yourself taking up your cross and following Jesus. We do this not because we have to. We do this not because it makes God love us more. We does this because in so doing we find life; real, true and abundant.

May you find great joy in this life, now and always. Amen.

Picture 3 - Jesus is the Christ

Are you familiar with QBQ? It has nothing to do with football or with grilling food. It is actually an organization accountability concept. And the idea is that as people ask questions there are really deeper questions that they want to know the answer to. QBQ stands for the question behind the question.

For example, when we ask what God will do in a certain situation; what does God do with people who have never heard the gospel? What we are really asking when we ask that question is, “Will God do the right thing in that situation?” And the answer to that is a resounding, “Yes!”

Our series on 4 pictures of Jesus continues today as we see the picture of Jesus identified as the Christ. Here we see Jesus using a QBQ of sorts. He is asking the disciples about who he is. This is a great and awesome story. It is one that we hear often and know well. Jesus is with his disciples. They have seen some amazing things over the past days and weeks. Two very large crowds were fed. Jesus walked on water. Now he is asking, “Who do people say that the Son of man is?”

Jesus knows the answer to this question. He is not asking because he doesn’t know. He is setting the disciples up for the question behind the question. This is the really important one. And in doing this he emphasizes the importance of the second question. Who do people say the son of Man is?

Well there are all kinds of answers out there. Can you name any of them? John the Baptist. Or Elijah. Still others say Jeremiah or one of the prophets. What about today in our world? Who do people say that Jesus is? There are all kinds of answers out there. Can you name any of them? A good moral teacher. A wise religious leader.

But then Jesus gets to the heart of the matter. He gets to the QBQ. He gets to the question behind the question. “But what about you? Who do you say that I am?”

Now notice what is going on here. Jesus is not correcting the other views out there. He is not saying, “Go and fix the false views that are out there.” Instead he is asking but what about you? Who do you say that I am? And Peter answers on behalf of the others. For all the times that Peter goofs up; for all the times that Peter says the most ridiculous things; for all the times that Peter winds up with his foot in his mouth; this is not one of those times.

Instead he confesses the confession which is the very foundation and rock upon which the church is built. You are the Christ; the son of the living God. To be sure, Peter does not yet fully grasp what this means. We will see more of that next week. But for now he answers the questions right. Jesus is the Christ; he is the Messiah; the son of the living God.

The question about who Jesus is is not one that stays within the limits of the story of the Scriptures. But it is one that travels down through time to us today. It is a question that the church has answered with her very life ever since Jesus first uttered those words.

Now if you have ever had any kind of a writing course you about the five Ws and H. Do you remember what those are? They are questions that tell what is really going on in a story: who, what, when, where, why and how. When I get to work with this particular text, I like to take these questions and insert them here to help understand what is going on.

Now before I do that, let me make a point very clear. This is not an exercise in guilt. The point of this is not to be aware of all the times that we mess up or fail to do the things that we should be doing. The point of this is to open our eyes to begin to see and recognize those opportunities to answer these questions, to live a life that answers these questions, and in living that life we find the life that God so freely and graciously gives us because of Jesus. Ready?

Who do you say that Jesus is? He is the Messiah. He is the son of the living God. That is, he is God in the flesh. He is our Immanuel. He is the only one who can save us from the powers of sin, death and the devil. This is not anything that we are able to accomplish on our own. Yet God freely, graciously, abundantly gives it because of Jesus. He gives it because he loves us so very much. He gives it because he loves this world so very much.

What do you say that Jesus is? He is the savior. He has purchased and redeemed us. Not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death. Because Jesus endured the things that he endured; because he underwent great suffering, and was rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and because he was killed and raised after three days, our sins have been forgiven. Because our sins have been forgiven, we live before and with God and are restored to God. This is not because of us or anything that we have done, but for Jesus’ sake.

When do you say that Jesus is? Just as there is no one place or part of our lives where God should be limited, there is also no time. What are those opportunities that God gives you to share his love, to show his love, to share the good news about Jesus? I am not just talking about the words that we say, but the things that we do. I am talking about the love that we show, and the service that we give.

Where do you say that Jesus is? It is too easy to get caught up in thinking about our lives as broken up into compartments. We have our work life. We have our school life. We have our home life. We have our church life. The goal is to keep them separated. But that is not the view of the Scriptures. Life is one complete whole. So the relationship that we have with God is one that impacts every compartment of our lives. The way we chose to live in those areas says a lot about what we believe. God gives us opportunities to make that confession to share that good news.

Why do you say that Jesus is? If the answer to this is out of obligation, guilt or because I have to, then it is the wrong answer. We make this confession about Jesus; we live this life that is impacted by him, because we believe that it is really and truly life. It is life that is better than anything else we could imagine. Living life with Jesus is life that is abundant. It allows us to live life as God meant for it to be lived. It is life that is worth living. It is life that is secure in our relationship and connection with God. It is life that allows us to be part of something that is eternal and bigger than ourselves.

How do you say that Jesus is? It could very well be with the words that we speak. And there are times that this will be the case. But it will also be in the way that we chose to use the gifts, time and resources that God has given to us. Each of us has different gifts. We are all different members of the same body. One is not more important than the other. Each is required for the body to be healthy and whole. The way we live our lives matters. The things we do are important. There is no one right answer to this question; except to say that we answer it.

Again, I am not asking these questions to instill guilt. I don’t want you to feel bad. Instead, I want you to begin to think about the opportunities that God gives us to live in and experience life lived in this confession and understanding of who Jesus is. The answer to this question; the answer to these questions are not just about having the right answer. They are about life and living life with God. Not life that we establish with him, but that he establishes with us. It is life that is abundant and wonderful.

What we are talking about here is a great gift and privilege. It is not about us. We are not number one. We are not the most important thing in life. God is. And God is about a great work, or restoring and reconciling a broken creation. So God has given to us the privilege of being a part of this work. From the perspective of some it may seem that we are losing our lives. But we are really not. Instead of living for ourselves, we are living for the sake of the good news of God’s love in Jesus. We are living for the sake of the gospel, and in living that, we find true life.

Who is Jesus? That is the question of the day. The more you think about it and ponder it, the more you will see opportunity to live that out. As you go about your week this week continue to ask the questions. Continue to find opportunities to live them out. And as you do this, know that Jesus is present with you. May you have the courage to lose your life for the sake of the gospel, and May you then find true life as it was meant to be lived. Amen.

Picture 2 - Jesus worthy of our Faith

Our series on the pictures of Jesus continues today as we see Jesus having a conversation with a foreign woman. It is kind of an odd conversation talking about bread and dogs. But as we unpack it what we see in this picture is that Jesus is worthy of our faith. He is worthy of our worship. And that he is for everyone, not just the people who are like us.

How would you define the word “faith”? What do you think of? … Is it a religion, as in my faith is Christian. Is it a series of beliefs? Is it a way of getting God to do whatever we want him to do, as in, if you have enough faith, then God will…?

You may have heard me say before that faith is the hand that holds onto the promises of God. It grips them tightly, knowing that those promises will be kept, because the one who made those promises is faithful.

So then, faith lives within and according to those promises. It influences everything that we do. Faith lives in the reality of the promises that it holds onto, no matter what the situation may be. Faith is persistent. Think about this for a moment. Because it impacts how we live our lives, and the things that we do, and the witness that we give…

I can’t help it. No matter how hard I try to resist, I am powerless against it. I would like to think that I’m not, but the reality of the situation is, that it is actually my kryptonite. When it hits me, it hits me hard, like a ton of bricks and then, well then I’m a goner.

It’s just two words, but there is nothing I can do to stop them. “Pleeeeaaaaaaaassssseeeeeeeee, Daddy!” They are always said with a killer smile and the biggest blue eyes. And the worse part, is that they are persistent. I mean, this isn’t fair. I’ve tried to say “no.” I really have, but the kryptonite gets stronger and stronger. “Pleeeaaassseee, Daddy!” The more I resist, the harder it comes. I think I’m sweating just talking about it. She is a persistent one I’ll tell you what. But it works, and she knows that it works. That is why she keeps it up, she is too smart for me. Her faith that I will cave is greater than my initial responses. She knows that all she has to do is flash those big blues at me and…bingo.

In fact, just the other night she was up way past her bedtime. I was working on a puzzle and she comes downstairs. She helps me sort through the pieces and says, “Daddy, I love you so much. You are the best dad in the world. If I were in outer space I would love you best in all of space.” She could have asked me for anything at that moment and gotten it.

The woman in our text is an example of faith. She is a wonderful example of faith, because she models the persistence and what it is to live in the expectations of the promises made. She knows that Jesus heals. She knows that Jesus will heal her daughter, whether he does that at the moment she asks, or whether he does that with his second coming, she knows that her daughter will be healed, and so she acts on that.

What does she do? She is amazingly bold. Do you know why? Well, she has three strikes against her. This woman is a gentile, that’s strike one. She is not a Jew, and in those days gentiles were not looked upon very highly.

She was in the area of Tyre and Sidon, that’s strike two. Tyre and Sidon weren’t exactly popular vacation destinations. In fact, in the Old Testament these two towns came to be symbols of evil and enemies of God.

And she is a woman. Now, this point of view is not something that we condone in our world, but back in that culture, being a woman would be strike three. In other words, there was no conceivable reason why this person should be talking to Jesus. Except for one. Faith.

Life with faith looks different. Because life with faith is not reactionary, you just hunker down and hope for the best, you deal with the problems as they come and pray that those problems are few and far between. Is that something you can relate to? Does it feel like that is really the way it is sometimes?

But the life with faith, lives in the promises of God. For example, we know that when Jesus returns, he will make all things new. Heaven and earth will be restored. That must mean that heaven and earth are important, right? Therefore we should care for our planet and be good stewards with what God has given to us.

Or how about the life with faith living in the promises of communion? What does that look like? … The body and blood of Jesus are in, with and under the bread and the wine. And so we receive forgiveness of sins, life that never ends and salvation. When you receive those you can live in the forgiveness of our God, not in guilt. But is that usually the way we think about it?

Or what about baptism? We know that in the waters of baptism that we are not only made God’s own dear daughters and sons, but we are also made brothers and sisters with one another. Therefore the ways that we interact with one another, the ways that we share our lives together is to reflect that reality.

No matter what happens, life with faith says that we know God made these promises and we are going to live according to them. And the woman in our text is an example of that. What is going on here? What is her situation? What happens? Not only did she have the three strikes against her, but then in her dialogue with Jesus it seemed as if he was not going to grant her request.

First he ignores her. He gives no reply, not even a word. Talk about an awkward silence. The disciples in their brilliance have come up with a solution, “Hey Jesus, get rid of her.” What does she do? Common sense would say to give up and go home. It was a good try, but really the deck was stacked against you. No, instead she goes and she kneels before Jesus. But this is not just respectful or nice kind of kneeling.

This is worship. She is worshiping Jesus. Why? It must be motivated by faith. From the position of faith, worship happens because God is worthy of worship, no matter what. He is not only worthy of worship, but worthy of the trust that says, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

But know this, the worship of the woman here is not worship that is being done to manipulate God into giving her what she wants. This is not pushing the right buttons to make God bend his will to ours, as if God is some kind of heavenly ATM that hands out whatever we want if we push the right buttons. No, this is worship that is always the proper response to God, because of who he is.

She worships and begs another time for Jesus to heal her daughter and what is Jesus’ response? “It’s not right to take the children’s food and give it to the dogs.” Ouch. What in the world is going on here? To use the term dog here could be an insult. Why isn’t this woman giving up yet? What is Jesus doing here? …And yet she boldly responds, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.” And with that her daughter is healed.

Now I can’t express enough how this is not a name it and claim it type of theology. This is not if you believe enough you can get whatever you want. This is not faith as a carrot that gets God to do what we want him to do. Rather this is a picture of faith in action. Faith is the hand that holds onto the promises of God. So what do we hold on to in our lives? What are the things that we cling to? What drives us and moves us? What strikes fear into our hearts? I believe that there is another lesson here also.

So then what in the world is Jesus doing in these verses? It seems kind of harsh doesn’t it? Especially when we know that Jesus is loving and merciful and compassionate. Well, scholars have debated quite a bit about this one. I personally think that what is going on here is that Jesus is teaching his disciples (and you and me too) a very important lesson.

This is the lesson that Jesus is teaching his disciples. Jesus is for everyone, even the people who are not like us. Even for the people that we would otherwise write off.

From the disciples’ perspective, this woman was totally outside of the system. She was one of “those people.” So they could have blown her off. But this picture of Jesus not only encourages to live our lives with faith and in the expectation that God keeps his promises no matter what, but to also make sure that we don’t write people off in our witness to God’s love in Jesus Christ. You see, no matter how many strikes they have against them, no matter how much who they are or what they do offends or upsets. Because they are human beings and because Jesus died to redeem all human beings, then they should be treated with love and respect.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that anarchy should rule the day. I’m not saying that there is no place for rules and that they are unimportant. God established rules. I am also not saying that there is no such thing as right and wrong and that everything is relative. That is not true, and I don’t believe that.

However, what I am saying, is how we respond to all people needs to be in line with what we know about the mission that God has given to us, it needs to be in line with the witness that God has established us to bear. So that they might come to know of his love and grace and mercy in Jesus. It needs to be in line with love that God so graciously loved us with.

You see, the reason why this is important, and matters, is because this love and mercy is what Jesus showed, and continues to show to us. It is the way he treated us. The status that we have with him, we have from him. And while it is a great source of comfort for us, it does not make us better than anyone else. If anything, it allows us to better be loving, gracious and full of mercy.

None of this is easy or simple stuff. Yet this is the reality of life lived in relationship with our God. It is wonderful. It is yours. And may it always be a great source of comfort, joy and strength for you. Now and Always. Amen.

Picture 1 - Jesus Walks on Water

How many of you have some form of picture in your life? This could be something that you carry in a purse or wallet. It could be something that is hanging on a wall in your home. Yeah. We keep pictures because they help us to hold things in our minds. Maybe it is something from a special time or event. Maybe it is something from a special place. Maybe it is something of a special person. Whatever it is, pictures are an important part of our lives.

Beginning today, and going through the next three weeks we will be looking at a series of pictures that Matthew gives us. These pictures are pictures of Jesus. They are pictures that allow us to understand who he is. They are pictures that help us to keep our eyes and our hearts and our minds focused and fixed on him. They are pictures that give us guidance in our lives.

Last week we saw Jesus feed a crowd that numbered somewhere between ten and twelve thousand people. And so we see that Jesus immediately made the disciples get into the boat and leave while he dismissed the crowds. He goes by himself and prays and evening comes.

The disciples find themselves in a boat. They are a long way from land. And a storm comes. Have you ever been on a boat in a storm? Mindy and I went on a cruise for our honeymoon. We were on this a really big boat. But we were in the midst of a storm. I kid you not, we could look out the window and see the horizon moving up and down.

Finding yourself in a boat can be difficult enough for some people. Finding yourself in a boat during a storm is much, much worse. So here are the disciples, in a much smaller boat than a cruise ship. They are out in the middle of the water, with no radar, no land in sight and there is a big storm going on.

Now remember, some of these guys are fishermen. They did this for a living. Boats would be nothing new. And yet, here they are. Matthew does not tell us that they were afraid of the storm. I sure would have been. No, what scares the disciples is that in the fourth watch of the night; sometime between three and six in the morning. They see Jesus walking on the sea.

They were terrified. I mean, can you blame them? Wouldn’t you be? It is the middle of the night, and here is Jesus walking on the water. You just don’t see this kind of thing happening. They cry out in fear that it is a ghost.

Now, allow a little aside here. This is one of the great things about the scriptures. They don’t give us an unrealistic rosy picture of the disciples. This is not exactly a flattering picture of them or their actions right now. But it is certainly human. I think that is great that the people are real.

OK. Back to the story. Jesus says, “Take heart; it is I. do not be afraid.” And Peter says, “If it’s you tell me to come to you.” He does. And Peter, gets out of the boat. He gets out of the boat. I mean this is absolutely beyond reason. Not only does he get out, but he walks on the water too. He walks to Jesus. But then he notices the wind and he begins to sink.

“Lord save me.” He cries out. And Jesus grabs him and pulls him out. “O you of little faith, why did you Doubt?” Jesus rebukes him. They get into the boat and the wind stops. The disciples worship Jesus and say, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

What a picture this is. And in this picture we see that there are a couple of things that Matthew wants us to see. First, is that Jesus is God. The second is that this God is very patient, loving and gracious.

OK. First, is that Jesus is God. Now in the ancient world, water was seen as a force that was chaos. It can symbolize sin. It is always in motion and it cannot be controlled. If you remember the pictures from the tsunami in Japan or of all the flooding that happened in the Midwest, or even the flooding after Katrina, you can understand the power of water.

So, if there is one who is able to have control of the water it is God. Something else that is important to understand here. Our God indeed has power over the water. That is something that is clearly seen in the lesson from Job. God sets the boundaries and says, “Thus far you shall go and no further.” This power that God has over the water is somewhat unique. Not all gods in the ancient world could do that. There is one story where some gods unleash a flood and go and cower in the corner out of fear.

Not the God of the Bible. Not Yahweh. He does not cower in the face of the mighty power of the water and the waves. No. He establishes the boundaries. He controls the water. So when we see Jesus walking on the water here, what we need to understand is that this is not just another miracle. This is not just some fancy trick that he can do. This is Jesus showing his power over the water, the wind and the waves. This is Jesus doing something that only God can bring about.

Then when Jesus calls out to the disciples and he says, “Take heart; it is I.” He is using a form of the name “I am.” This is God’s name. This is Yahweh. So you can say that not only is Jesus showing that he is God here, but he is identifying himself in the same way. Wow. What a powerful and literally awesome picture. Jesus is God; truly, one hundred percent. He is God in the flesh. He is God with us. He is our Immanuel.

Peter finds himself on the water too. He makes it out to Jesus. But then becomes distracted and begins to sink. Now this is where we see the second part of Matthew’s picture. We have it down that Jesus is God. He makes a pretty good case on that one. But now we see that this God is patient, loving and gracious.

We see this in Jesus’ response to Peter. It is true that he rebukes him. But he doesn’t give up on him. You see it is important to be aware of how we hear these words. As Lutherans, we are very good at feeling guilty about things. It can be easy for us to hear these words as words of disappointment or condemnation. But what if these words are words that are spoken in the same way that you might talk to a child who is learning to walk or ride a bike?

What if in these words we hear love and compassion and not just shame? After all Peter is learning. There is enough faith there for him to get out of the boat. But what we see is that there is still a lot for Peter to learn. As we jump ahead we will find that there are many more times where Peter doesn’t seem to get it or understand just right, and yet Jesus doesn’t give up on him. Jesus doesn’t insult him, yell at him, or put him down. He doesn’t look the other way and ignore it. He does rebuke Peter. But he does so with love, patience and compassion.

This is a very important picture that helps us to understand who our God is. You see this God is not only the one who has power over the water and the wind and the waves. But he is also the one who has power over sin and death and the devil. He is the perfect one who gave his life to pay the price for the sins of the world. He is the one who walked victoriously out of the grip of death on Easter morning. He is the one who defeats Satan and all the forces of evil. This is a God of very great power.

But he is also a God of very great compassion. And we see both his power and his compassion in our lives too. We see his power as we are reminded that our sins are forgiven. We are able to take them to him, confess them to him and know that he really truly forgives them. Even the things we struggle with, and find ourselves doing again and again, are not too much for him to forgive.

We see his power as we remember our baptism and the promise that holds for us in knowing that since we were united with him in a death like his that we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

We see his power as we receive his body and blood in, with and under the bread and wine of Holy Communion. These are given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of your sins. And wherever there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.

We see his compassion, when we consider our own lives and how easy it is for us to get caught up in the things of this world and what we want for ourselves. While we may not find ourselves walking on water, we can just as easily take our eyes off of him and begin to depend on what we want and our own resources. That can be a very scary time. But when we do find ourselves in the midst of that we call out to him. And in his compassion, he uses his great power to save us, and restore us.

Peter eventually got it. He did have a few pretty big blunders along the way, but he didn’t stay one of little faith forever. The life that God is calling us to live, the life that he gives us in Jesus is better than anything else. Yet it is not easy. After all, what do you expect when that very call says, if anyone would come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me? As we make this journey together we can love and encourage one another as we grow and mature in who we are as God’s people. There is no better way to live.

I pray that this is a great blessing to you now and always. Amen.