Called to confess Jesus, serve Him and live for Him

Sunday 30th August 2020

Called to confess Jesus, serve Him and live for Him

Readings of the day

Isaiah 51:1-6

1“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness
and who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were cut
and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
2 look to Abraham, your father,
and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was only one man,
and I blessed him and made him many.
3 The Lord will surely comfort Zion
and will look with compassion on all her ruins;
he will make her deserts like Eden,
her wastelands like the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
4 “Listen to me, my people;
hear me, my nation:
Instruction will go out from me;
my justice will become a light to the nations.
5 My righteousness draws near speedily,
my salvation is on the way,
and my arm will bring justice to the nations.
The islands will look to me
and wait in hope for my arm.

Psalm 136

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.

4 to him who alone does great wonders,
His love endures forever.
5 who by his understanding made the heavens,
His love endures forever.
6 who spread out the earth upon the waters,
His love endures forever.
7 who made the great lights—
His love endures forever.
8 the sun to govern the day,
His love endures forever.
9 the moon and stars to govern the night;
His love endures forever.


10 to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt
His love endures forever.
11 and brought Israel out from among them
His love endures forever.
12 with a mighty hand and outstretched arm;
His love endures forever.

13 to him who divided the Red Sea[a] asunder
His love endures forever.
14 and brought Israel through the midst of it,
His love endures forever.
15 but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea;
His love endures forever.

16 to him who led his people through the wilderness;
His love endures forever.

17 to him who struck down great kings,
His love endures forever.
18 and killed mighty kings—
His love endures forever.
19 Sihon king of the Amorites
His love endures forever.
20 and Og king of Bashan—
His love endures forever.
21 and gave their land as an inheritance,
His love endures forever.
22 an inheritance to his servant Israel.
His love endures forever.

23 He remembered us in our low estate
His love endures forever.
24 and freed us from our enemies.
His love endures forever.
25 He gives food to every creature.
His love endures forever.

Romans 12 

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Matthew 16:13-28

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 
17 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. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter,[b] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[c] will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be[d] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[e] loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life[f] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.  28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Talk

Called to Confess Jesus, Live for and Serve Him

 Introduction Too often the Church is considered to be a cruise ship with a crew who look after the needs of the passengers and see they have 'a good time'. The better picture is that the Church is like a naval or, merchant or cargo ship where each person has responsibilities to fulfill for the needs and progress of the whole ship so it fulfills its aims and reaches its goals. The only exceptions are those in the sick bay and the church does need to see that there is the need for space for those who need TLC and the space to rest and be refreshed according to their needs. 

1. Called - Matthew 16:13-28 I have taken last weeks as well as this weeks readings from Matthew for completeness sake but only want to look at this passage summarily as we have covered some of this ground recently 

1. Confessing - vv 13-20 The key question is - who is Jesus? Answer - the Messiah i.e. The true King of God's people and the whole created order 

2. Accepting - vv 21-23 Jesus' establishing of the Kingdom is not through political means or revolt against the regime but through self-sacrifice for sin on the cross, resurrection for the conquering of death, and ascension for his ascendancy to the throne where he is seated at the right of the Father. 

3. Following - vv 24-28 As I have said before, the way Jesus addresses this would have been difficult for those present to make sense of as people carrying a cross were sentenced to death but, Jesus says what he has to say whether understood, at the time, or not. It would be understood later, as it is today - hopefully, and we pick up the theme in what Paul writes. 

2. Living & Serving - Romans 12:1-8

 1. Given - v 1-2 [12:1] 

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. [2] Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

I think that many cultures are familiar, or were familiar with, sacrifices but the term 'living sacrifice' jars as sacrifices were usually dead! What's more, I think Paul may have intended that so folk would sit up and listen. What he is saying ties in with the phrase of Jesus, 'take up your cross and follow me'. Paul, in the footsteps of Jesus is saying that 100% commitment is the deal. Also, this is true worship - think about that. Worship that is 100% 24 / 7! 

Jesus gave that command because he is the ultimate and supreme sacrifice, given by God, once and for all and therein is God's mercy - we who receive have been have been freed from death. 

From there, and this looks at the same concepts as Romans 8:1ff, is the whole idea that we don't conform to the ideas and ideals of this world but with our minds being transformed and renewed, we conform to the will of God. So, I say it yet again 'Your will be done . . . .' It is so simple yet so difficult because . . . . I need say no more! 

To know and grow in the will and mind of God we have to engage with Him through reading the word, seeking him and living in trust. I encourage that for us all. Then Paul gives a reminder: 

2. Humble - v 3 [3]

 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 

Is he sort of saying, 'don't be holier than thou'? We live in a world filled with arrogance, pride, stubbornness and the like but we have just thought we don't conform to this world and these words I just used sum up some of the attitudes we are to de-conform from or better, be transformed from. Humble - it can bring up a sense self-debasing - but it is not that. 

In Philippians 2:5-11 Paul writes about how Jesus humbled himself by not claiming his 'rights' but laying them aside for the cross which he went to for us. 

I am going to read it: [5] In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: [6] Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; [7] rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. [8] And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! [9] Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, [10] that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

Have the same 'mindset / attitude'.It also resonates with verses 1 & 2 from Romans 12 which we have just looked at. I think it is amazing how much and how many of these concepts hang together, intertwine and overlap. Jesus / Peter / Paul - but then, it is a whole and not people's fancy ideas or philosophies etc. Paul moves on and we will too: 

3. Integrated - vv 4-5

[4] For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, [5] so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 

He has been talking about individual who form a whole corporate people and now he spells it out - as our human bodies are complex yet function as a united whole (sickness of course creates problems), in a similar way, the body of Christ should also function as a united whole! 

When it doesn't, say no more, it is actually a sign of something being wrong. How much do we actually see ourselves as belonging to all the others who are in Christ? Tough one that, especially when we take it locally and further afield. 

4. Contributing - vv 6-8 

[6] We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.

 If your gift is prophesying, 

then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 

[7] if it is serving, then serve;

 if it is teaching, then teach; 

[8] if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; 

if it is giving, then give generously; 

if it is to lead, do it diligently; 

if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

 Just a few observations and in no particular order: 

• 1 Corinthians 12:12-20 and Ephesians 4:1-16 are expansions of the same ideas as in vv 4-8 

• That suggests that there is no exhaustive list of the gifts for service and ministry.

• There are other complementary passages as well as these

• In looking at them we do well to consider, how we contribute and what is neglected.

• There are times when we need some gifts more than

• There are some which should never be neglected. 

• These are not really about how the church runs as an organisation, rather'

• They are the blocks for building the church, building up the people of God, so they are the Church.

 Back to vv 3 & 4, your body is most useful and functions best when it is in harmony with each part of the whole otherwise, chaos or worse!

 • 1 Corinthians 12 (plus chapters 13-14) and Ephesians 4 really spell out how each person functions individually as part of the whole so that God's people are maturing in love, faith and hope.

 • From there, they go out and draw others in and lead them to Christ so the people of God grows in other ways. 

Conclusion All this bears reflection under these unusual and changing circumstance. 

How when we are not meeting in the more usual way can we do this now?

 How can we do these sort of things for the better when we are? 

Given there may be no fast solution, hopefully meeting under changed circumstances when practical, what more can we do now and then? 

I would encourage prayer. 

Prayer that what we are in does not stop the people of God being that, rob us of effectiveness in ministry and outreach, but that we grow and develop and as the church has to do in all sorts of challenging circumstances, find fresh ways of functioning.

 I would also encourage talking and exploring fresh ideas even if they aren't feasible or feasible yet.

 Finally, we are under the sovereignty of God and the victory of the cross. So, we seek His way forward. We recall and rejoice in that we are a called people, called to confess, called to follow and called serve. Let's just do it!