Matthew 16:21-26. "On Bearing Our Crosses."

This Sunday sermon, based on Matthew 16:21-26, was preached at Grace of God Lutheran on September 3, 2023. Scripture selections come from the New International Version. 

This message is adapted from a devotion written by the Rev. Dr. Mark Paustian in his book More Prepared to Answer. It was delivered live on September 3 by our congregational chairman, Mr. Dwight Becherer, and was recorded for this podcast feed by our pastor, Tim Walsh, who was leading worship at our Labor Day Retreat that weekend. 

Our services are at 9:30am on Sundays mornings, at our campus in Dix Hills on Long Island. Visit our website for more information, at www.graceofgod.church.

Transcript

On Bearing Our Crosses.

Matthew 16:21-26

Grace and peace are yours in the name of Jesus, who died and rose. Amen.

Perhaps you have experienced this; perhaps you have not. Not every Christian does. But many, especially those who did not grow up Christian, can relate to this experience.

Through the message about Jesus, they find something real. Something they know to be important. They find answers to the big questions of life in their crucified and risen Savior. The reality of Jesus brings fullness and light to them, and they just have to tell people about him; invite people to hear about him! But when they do, they're met with a certain coldness in faces that had never been cold to them. Sometimes they find that as they become closer to Christ, the more distant their loved ones become. And this hurts.

If this is something you’ve experienced, my first encouragement is that you try and understand the people who are rejecting what you're sharing with them. I give you the example of a young Mormon woman, who left that intensely legalistic life behind for the life of grace in Jesus. She found joy and peace which she had never had! But to her parents, her newfound joy and peace was a betrayal. It felt to them as if she was ungratefully tossing aside everything they had ever tried to give her. 

On the other hand - here’s a more and more common situation in our society - a young person who was raised entirely outside of religion may find the same joy and peace, but his or her parents may see their faith as an accusation. “You have been lying to me,” this young person is saying to them in their eyes. “You have been hiding something good and true from me.” 

Whatever your background, if you are a new convert, you will probably find your friends and family listening intently for hypocrisy. They are ready to hear Pharisaic, holier-than-thou superiority rolling off your lips. They are ready to hear you judge them for the choices they make and the values they hold. They are ready to be distanced from you because of your new faith. And sometimes, this is exactly what happens.

Sometimes that needs to happen. Perhaps you were engaged in some activity with those loved ones which you now see would undermine your relationship with your Savior. Sometimes it doesn’t need to happen. A young, growing faith can easily fall into the trap of zeal without knowledge. Pharisaism is an easy shortcut for the new Christian. It is for this reason that the New Testament, over and over, urges us to love. Love and Pharisaism cannot coexist.

Still: What do we say to the new Christian who is not unloving, who is not intentionally dismissive or judgmental, and yet finds him or herself newly distanced in once-close relationships? What we can say is this: Your Jesus can repay from his own fullness all he takes away. Author Larry Crabb once made a statement that should have been obvious: "There's more to life than making pain end." 

We so often make ending pain our all-consuming passion. More than pain, we want to remove any discomfort whatsoever. We want to get our little lives just so, as if that were the point of living. The gift God gives to us in these relational heartaches is the energy we are provided as we are turned entirely toward Christ. He is the point. He is the “more” in “there's more to life.” The good thing brought about by this ache you may feel is the opportunity it gives you to find Jesus and to know him in a deeper way. He is at work when new emptiness sends you thumbing through your Bible, hungry for a word from him. I will not dismiss the pain of the loss you feel. I encourage you: Feel its weight fully. Don't forget it. In it you feel your thirst, like a deer panting for water. That is your desire for the One who loves you more than mere humans can ever do. The Lord blesses such thirst.

Next, I direct you towards your new brothers and sisters; your spiritual family in Christ. Again, I don't do so to dismiss the pain you may feel as other relationships may grow distant. But despite that pain, the reality of your family in Christ is a beautiful truth. There are people in this world who come from the same place as you, and who are traveling toward the same destination as you. You have a far deeper connection with them than with anyone else. After all, this spiritual bond, this bond of faith, is the only real unity that exists. Biology is biology. But the Church will be your people forever.

In our Gospel reading today, Jesus spoke of this reality. He spoke of the need for us to take up our crosses as we follow him. He does not shy away from telling us that the life which follows him is a life in which we suffer. Yet while one relationship or another may be lost because of your newfound faith, I urge you: Do not willingly leave anyone behind.

Matthew's Gospel is Matthew's firsthand account of Jesus’ life. But at one point, it becomes not a biography of Jesus, but an autobiography of Matthew. In Matthew chapter nine, the author recounts the day Jesus found him. Matthew was working as a tax collector, sitting in his booth. 

Suddenly Jesus stood before him. His strong carpenter hands grabbed the corners of Matthew's table. He spoke just two words: “Follow me." I always wonder what kind of Man Jesus was, and what kind of presence and power he had. Because Matthew actually got up and walked away! Away from his job, from his money, from everything, to follow Jesus.

 Well: Almost everything. You see, Matthew did not leave his friends behind. 

Immediately after beginning to follow Jesus, Matthew threw a party, to which he invited both his old friends and his new friends. Together in one place were the other tax collectors Matthew knew, and also the disciples and their Lord. Matthew didn't keep these circles of friends carefully apart. He shoved the followers of Jesus and the non-followers all together into one decidedly uncomfortable mix. And he hoped that this beautiful, risky gesture would accomplish…  Well, who knew what it might accomplish?

It does not take much to put yourself in a position to share with your family and friends the love of Jesus. You will want to prepare for that moment. Your preparation comes through faithful, unhurried time with Jesus in his Word. You’ll also want to think - but not overthink - the words you can use to express what your faith is and what God has done for you. God will provide opportunities for you to do this.

While you wait for those opportunities, what you never need to do is pretend to be something that you are not. You never need to pretend that you're further along in your growth than you are. Because the people you know who don't really know what it means to be a Christian, are pretty sure it means having to be perfect. Those people will be surprised by your simple honesty.

That honesty will sound something like this. “I am not perfect. My sins are ever with me. But I know I am forgiven. And I am not always happy, just because I’m a Christian. Sometimes I'm very sad! But my stubborn Jesus always reminds me that heaven is mine, and that I'm never going to die."

The last thing I want to show you, new brother or sister, new child of God, is how phenomenally important you have become, if you are the only one in your circle of family and friends whose eyes have been opened to Jesus. You are necessary. No other life is interchangeable with yours. Who else will love the people around you with the love that Jesus has for you? In your circle of family and friends, even if all the rest are still blind to Jesus, at least one can see him. That’s you.

I pray that God gives you the opportunity someday to sit down with them, look them in the eyes, take a deep breath, and say something like what James Dobson said to his teenage son after the death of a friend. I'll paraphrase it: "I will always care about what you do and what happens to you in this world. But you need to know this one thing. Nothing in life matters more to me than having you with me forever in heaven. And if I know anything at all, I know that the only way is Jesus. I'm tearing my heart open for you now, because this is certain: Someday I'll be looking for your face in heaven. I'll be searching that great new Jerusalem for you. And whatever else you do before then, I beg you, take another look at Jesus. I love you, and I want you to be there.” Amen.