A sermon preached by Pastor Lewis Polzin on August 29, 2020 at St. Peter–Immanuel Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, WI, on Matthew 16:13-20. You may play the audio of the sermon here.
A mostly unedited transcript of the sermon follows the jump:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this morning is from the Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 16th chapter:
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
Last week, we spoke about truth and how it shouldn’t be surprising when we say something true. It so happens that Peter spoke, in that moment, a truer truth than had ever been spoken, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. But, here today, Jesus speaks the most shocking truth ever spoken, that He must suffer in Jerusalem and be killed and raised from the dead. It shouldn’t have been shocking; after all, if anyone read the Old Testament, it should have been plainly clear that the Messiah, the Christ, would be the suffering servant, bearing upon Himself all our iniquities, and that He would be killed for our transgressions.
Still, this is Jesus. He is meek and mild, He is loving and compassionate, He is fiery and plain-spoken. He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and no one should come against Him, right? After all, this man does signs showing Himself to be God, and the miracles He performs help thousands. He heals the sick, raises the dead, feeds the crowds, literally walks on water. Who would want to have Him harmed, much less killed?
Peter’s outspokenness doesn’t really surprise us here. With all that in mind, it seems right that he should rebuke Jesus telling Him that. It will never be, should never be. Peter no doubt exclaimed that he would die before he let Jesus get hurt. Peter wants to protect his friend, his Lord. But Peter doesn’t realize that these must happen. For Peter to truly live, Jesus must die. Jesus must take His sin away and pay the punishment on behalf of Peter, then Peter can truly be the Peter he was meant to be: sinless, perfect, full of zeal.
Jesus’ rebuke of Peter here seems harsh, that He should call Peter Satan. Yet, it is the devil’s words coming out of Peter’s mouth, not the Word of God. The devil would tempt Jesus with ease and comfort, but Jesus came to suffer and die. Jesus commands Peter to look to God’s Word and what He’s doing in the world through Christ, rather than the simple things of mankind. Think about this for a moment: my dad died of brain cancer over six months ago. If the doctors had discovered a cure for it a week before he died, we would have been overjoyed. We would have celebrated so hard, we’d probably still be going. If after he died, they discovered the cure, we’d still be excited, not for my dad, but for every family that never had to go through this again. But, as excited as we would be, these amazing discoveries would have meant very little, in fact, nothing at all, compared to what Jesus was setting His face towards in Jerusalem: His murder at the hands of angry men that He might die to take away the sins of the world. Nothing compares to the importance of that.
In fact, we are called to give up even all things in the world, that we should follow after Jesus. We are to take up our cross and follow after Him; in a very real sense, to bear our burdens, heavy though they be, and follow Him. We are to lay everything we are down at His feet, to be welcomed into eternity. For Peter, he was being called to lay down his boisterousness, his zeal, his anger, and look at Jesus, to be like Him, to be saved by Him. What is it that we are to deny as we look to Jesus?
It’s a big question, and, honestly, it’s one that we have not done well in answering, even asking, for a long time. As Christians, we are to deny ourselves if we are to be counted among the faithful. It means we give up all our rights, all of who we are, that we, too, would be placed into the congregation of the faithful. In this, you’re not earning anything for yourself, you’re not doing super-righteous things to earn God’s favor; you already have that. Rather, your Christian love should flow from your salvation, and in that love, you give yourself over to others for their needs.
Now, you could demand things, and insist upon your rights. You’ve been serving in this congregation for twenty years at least; you deserve the right to have your opinions heard and followed. You’re the head of the household, and you will be respected. You’re an American, and you can say what you want, when you want, how you want, and everyone else be cursed. In human terms, you’re almost expected to do that. But, is that really what you want?
L’Shawn and Bishop this day were baptized into Christ. That death that Jesus went through was delivered to them in the water this day. The crucifixion of Jesus came to them; their old Adam was drowned, and the New Man was raised up in them that they might be Christ’s own. This is the work of God, the things of God. This is His major work. They have been welcomed into the kingdom of God forever through these waters. Gentlemen, you are now being called into a new life, a life that follows after Christ, a life that gives up your rights for the sake of others. And it’s a life like no other, for it leads to something greater. If you are faithful in this life, if you do not give up the profession of faith, if you are edified by God’s Word and His Spirit, then the eternal life that has been gifted to you today will be yours forever. But, I must tell you, it’s a life of suffering. If you are to follow after Christ, it’s a life that will not always bring you joy. If you are to mirror Christ, then you may also be persecuted. You certainly will not always get what you want and how you want it. But, what you will get is the fulfillment of the promise of everlasting life in bliss and peace. That is what Jesus has won for you through His death and resurrection.
No one has given up anything to earn this life, or buy this life, but it comes as a free gift. It comes as a promise. And it comes as we are built up and strengthened for it in this place. Jesus will give us what He’s promised; now, we are being called to faithfulness until we have it firmly in our grasp. It is a beautiful and wonderful thing, that we should receive the glory of God. Jesus, crucified for us, is the most glorious thing. It was bloody, it was messy, it was murder, and through it, our Lord won for all people live everlasting. The Son of Man, the Messiah, came into His kingdom through the cross. So, too, shall you. You will come into His kingdom through His cross, and you will come into it bearing your own.
What are you called to give up? What are you called to lay down? What are you being called to do now that you are counted among the faithful? L’Shawn and Bishop, you’ve been called. How will you answer? I pray the answer is the same as it was today, the promises you made in your Baptisms. I trust that it will, and we will certainly help you. For the rest of the Baptized in this place, what is your answer? When you are shocked in what it means to follow Christ, how will you answer? When Peter was shocked that the Messiah would die and rise, he tried to stop it–not a faithful response. When you’re shocked that you have troubles in this world, when you’re shocked that you won’t get your way, when you’re shocked that people won’t listen–even if what you know is just simple common–how will you respond? Will you take up your cross and follow Jesus or will the words of Satan spew from your mouth?
Well, even if you should be less than faithful, know that your Jesus has died and risen to forgive even that sin. We should strive to follow in our Lord’s footsteps, footsteps that lead to the cross. Yet, we will fail. But, the Christian life is one of repentance and the forgiveness of sins, and we start again the next day. We drown our Old Adam daily, and rise again to Christ. It’s a daily struggle, but we are baptized, and our Lord promises that He will do this.
In this way, it is good that we are here to hear the things of God, to feel the things of God as the water poured over us, to taste the things of God in the Supper. These are what we set our minds toward, for they deliver to us the greatest feat ever in history: the death and resurrection of the Christ. Take comfort in that, the glory of the Lord, and now live for Christ, that you may receive the reward promised to you since before even the world began, and which was given to you in Baptism. Receive here eternal life. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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