So, Who is this Jesus Anyway?

August 27, 2023 Matthew 16:13-20 So, Who is this Jesus Anyway? Pentecost 13 Year A Prelude Welcome Invocation God of Many Names, we gather as a people formed by you. You drew us from the primordial and gestational waters. You give us breath and life and being. You meet us in the sanctuary and on the sofa. You call us by name with purpose, care, and love. May our time together in this space, online or onsite, remind us of our connectedness to you, each other, and all creation. May you be glorified, honored, and worshiped in spirit and in truth. May we be rooted, challenged, and encouraged in love. We welcome your presence among us. We seek your guiding Spirit. We place our trust in you. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Dr. Cheryl Lindsay) Call to Worship Family of God, as we gather today, Jesus asks us, “Who do you say that I am?” You are our Messiah, the Son of the living God! Family of God, as we gather today, the Holy Spirit asks us, “Who do you say that I am?” You are our Comforter, Advocate, and Sustainer! Family of God, as we gather today, God the Father asks us, “Who do you say that I am?” You are our Creator, Provider, and Healer! Family of God, as we gather today, the Triune God asks us, “Who do you say that I am?” You are Love that creates, saves, and enfolds us into the family of God! May we be instruments of Love in all that we are and all that we do. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, March 2023. Song. Take My Life and Let it Be. UMH 399 Children’s Sermon • Good morning! • I have some questions for you about superheroes. • A lot of superheroes have two different names, right? • They have their normal name and then they have their superhero name. • For instance, do you know the normal name of the person who is Spiderman? (Peter Parker) • How about the normal name of the person who is Batman? (Bruce Wayne) • And the normal name of Superman? (Clark Kent) • You really know your superheroes! Can you tell me how you learned so much about them? • (If you don’t receive an answer, ask: Is it because you read, watch, and pay attention to stories about those superheroes?) TELL (a.k.a. The Freeway) • Even though you know both the normal and superhero names of those superheroes, most of the people who are in those superhero stories do NOT know both names of the superhero. • Instead, it is only the people who are closest to those superheroes who know both of their names, who truly know who the superheroes are. • In today's scripture story, something like this happens with Jesus and his disciples. • Jesus asks his disciples who other people say Jesus is -- and there are lots of different answers – answers that are incorrect. • So then Jesus asks his disciples who THEY think he is. • Peter says "You are the Messiah" and Jesus says, "You are right! And, because you know who I am, you will help others know who I am." SHARE the Good News (a.k.a. The Destination) • The reason Peter knows who Jesus really is and other people do not know who Jesus really is because Peter and the disciples are paying close attention to Jesus. • Peter is a student of Jesus. He follows Jesus and goes wherever Jesus goes. He’s watching and listening to Jesus. • Because he does this, then he learns both of Jesus’ names. He knows Jesus the teacher and he knows Jesus the messiah. • And guess what? • We can know Jesus in the same way that Peter does. • We, too, can follow Jesus and learn from him. • And the way we do that is the same way you learned both names of the superheroes we talked about earlier – by reading, discussing, and paying attention to the stories – in this case the stories about Jesus. • This is one of the reasons why we talk about the Jesus stories when we are in worship and in Sunday school classes... • ...so that we can learn from Jesus and learn about who Jesus really is by reading and discussing the Bible stories that are about him. • And, the more we learn about Jesus, the more we can help others learn about Jesus, just like Peter did. • That's the good news for today. Let’s pray. CLOSING Prayer • This is a repeat-after-me prayer. Dear God, Dear God, Thank you for stories of Jesus… Thank you for stories of Jesus… …that help us learn… …that help us learn… …who he really is… …who he really is… …so that we can help others learn… …so that we can help others learn… …about Jesus and you. …about Jesus and you. Thank you and Amen Originally posted August 26, 2017 Updated on July 27, 2023 Written and edited by Nathanael Vissia View more children’s sermons here This material is the copyrighted property of rfour.org and Nathanael Vissia. It is also free. Please use, improve and share this material. But do not sell it or require any personal information for it. Affirmation of Faith Nicene Creed. UMH 880 Passing of the Peace Scripture. Matthew 16:13-20 Sermon. So who is this Jesus Anyway? It has been said that the church is one generation from extinction. I have heard that saying all of mu ministry, but now it seems more relevant than ever. The changes in our world seem to take over so rapidly. I think that in the midst of those changes, it is important on our task and mission. To stay focused on the words of God and the story of Jesus. Matthew is pretty good at telling us the story of Jesus. And as we have been following Matthew all year, he has been really good at telling us the mission of Christ and how Jesus worked so hard to drill the mission and ministry of the church into the disciples, so that the disciples could drill it into us. The foundation of our faith is who we are, who Christ is, and what we are called to do for the rest of the world. Speaking of foundations, out scripture for today is all about foundations. This story of the disciples gathered together just before the transfiguration, where Jesus reveals himself is a turning point. This is when things get real, and Jesus acts upon his true power. This is a turning point because this is where the disciples move from confused, needy students to trusted colleagues in the ministry. In this story Jesus literally establishes Peter as the foundation, the rock of the church. He goes from Simon Ben Jonah, becomes Rocky. I will talk a little more about that later. But what stood out to me as I read this chapter this time – was that the foundation of the church was established just outside of the gates of hell. I will build my church on the Rock. The gates of the underworld wont be able to stand against it. I’ll give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. In other words, the church has been in danger of dying since its beginning. The gates of hell represent death. The Authority of the Church There is general agreement that the phrase "the gates of Hades" is poetic language for the power of death (see Isa. 38:10). What is meant is that the congregation of the new covenant will persist into the age to come despite all the efforts of the powers of darkness to destroy it. "The gates of Hades" may here represent a defensive posture: death will strive to hold in its prison house all who have entered its gates, but the Messiah's congregation will triumphantly storm the gates and rescue those destined for the life of the age to come. Douglas R.A. Hare, Interpretation: Matthew, John Knox Press,1993, p.191 Death is a threat to our bodies, our minds, and our spirit. Anything that we build up and create, is going to be destroyed one day. Death is the way of the world- it is what happens in life. And yet and still, Jesus has intentionally given us the keys to the kingdom of heaven. He says that whatever we unlock on earth witll be unlocked forever, whatever we fail to unlock, we remain unlocked forever. We don’t have the power over death, but we do have the power to unlock, to create, to build, to move forward. It is God that sustains his plan and moves our work forward. Authority What did Jesus mean by "the keys of the kingdom?" The day in which Jesus spoke there were religious teachers known as scribes. These scribes were the teachers of the bible. The scribe wore around his waist a belt and on that belt hung some keys which were symbolic of the knowledge of that scribe. Jesus said, “I am going to give you keys that will unlock heaven and will lock up the powers of hell and bind the devil and loose the power of God." What are those keys that Jesus gave to Simon Peter and what are those keys he has given to you. The keys of the kingdom are the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. Adrian Rogers, Sermon on Matthew 16:13 What Doors to Unlock In our I.D.-electronic-cryptic-cyber-coded age, keys are not only physical things that plague our pockets and puncture our purses. Many keys are mental, hauled about in the mainframe of our minds. "Hey, what's the key code to open the garage or raise the gate or log onto the computer or access the ATM or retrieve the messages or unlock our memories?" I wonder if Peter ever thought about returning the keys to Jesus, tossing them back to the Fisher King and saying, "Thanks, but no thanks." On the one hand, the vote of confidence must have been nice. Everybody loves to get a promotion, to feel that affirming slap on the back, to pocket the key to the executive washroom, to get the strong handshake and have a superior say, "OK, you're in charge now." Everybody loves it until they are in charge and they can't figure out which key goes to what door and everybody needs them to open every door right now or to lock every door right away. No one cares that the keys aren't labeled and there are a thousand of them to sort through. You've got the keys. You're in charge. Act like it! I can't tell you how Peter felt that day when Jesus promised him the keys or how he felt a few days or weeks later, because I'm not Peter. Not only am I not Peter, I'm a Presbyterian. So, I'm not standing in line hoping to be handed the pontifical keys to the entire church of Rome one day. In fact, as a Protestant Christian I happen to believe that I've already been given the keys and that's a major part of my problem. To the extent that you and I are key holders to the church of the risen Christ and provide some sort of access to the glorious realm of God, we've got a key problem and a much more serious one than how to haul all of them around. As keepers of the keys, we've got to figure out what do with them, what doors to open, what windows to unlock. That's the whole point, isn't it? Gary Charles, Keys In our modern Christian Folklore, we have heard a lot of stories about Peter and the Pearly gates. This is where the image comes from. I think that we see cartoons of Peter at the Pearly gate every day and every news story. In the cartoon we see the clouds, we see a gate, and Peter is standing outside of the gate usually refusing to let someone in, until they say or do what the artist wants them to do. Believe it or not, Peter has not always been so powerful. And that has not always been how this scripture was interpreted. The Church was always had leaders. But it seems that the catholic church didn’t really establish the office of pope until the 16th century. It was then that they started to officially talk about church leadership and talk about qualifications of church leaders. And they used this scripture to establish the position that Jesus touched Peter, and Peter passed his leadership on, so that every bishop had been touched by someone who touched peter. Until the church was established, Peter was just a normal fisherman. In the bible and in the protestant church – Peter represents us – the ordinary faithful person, just trying to navigate life and figure out how to keep a relationship with God. In the bible, anything that Peter does, we can do to. Any power that Peter has, we have that Power, authority and responsiblility also. There is one cartoon of Peter at the Pearly gates, he is standing at an open gate, but with no keys, no clip board, no judgement. He is standing there welcoming each person as they come in. His power is in opening the door to heaven and letting people in, not keeping them out. Perhaps that is where our power lies as well. What we unlock stays open forever, and what we don’t unlock stays locked forever. The future of the world is in our hands, the future of the church is on our shoulders. I know that I have told this story before – but it is appropriate. Who Do People Say You Are? I have a friend who’s principal of an elementary school in North Texas.One day there was a minor altercation on the playground – a second-grader pushed one of his classmates off the slide, and, while she wasn’t hurt, it could’ve been dangerous. The teacher sent for the principal. She talked with the children in the hallway outside their classroom. She got their story and then explained the seriousness of playground safety and how important it was to be nice to each other. When she finished, the little boy apologized, and that was that. A couple of days later, she happened to see the little girl with her mother in the checkout line at the grocery store. She smiled and they waved discreetly to each other. She got into the adjacent checkout line, but was in earshot of the little girl. She overheard the mother ask her daughter, “Who was that lady who just waved to you?” The little girl said, “She’s works at our school.” “What does she do?” the mother asked. The little girl said, “She helps people apologize.” My friend told me later, “It helped me to think much more clearly about what I do in my work, beyond titles and status, to what actions I take that make it meaningful.” A band director friend told me about going back to a community where he’d once taught. He said it was fun getting reacquainted with band parents and friends he hadn’t seen for years. He said he was standing on the sidewalk downtown when a young man came up and asked, “Do you remember me?” He didn’t have a clue, but then, he’d taught a lot of students, and they had long-since grown up. He said, “You’re going to have to help me out here.” The young man told him his name and said, “You’re the one who introduced me to the world of music, and I just wanted to say thank you.” Who do people say YOU are? Philip W. McLarty, The Unspoken Question People know us by our actions. Who are we in the world? It all depends on who Jesus is for us. Is he a teacher, a guide, a prophet, a Lord, A savior? In Matthew 16 the disciples had a better understanding of who Jesus was. In his teaching, Jesus liked to ask a lot of questions. Jesus asks over a 100 questions in the bible. But today he asks the most important question – who do you say that I am. Peter came to realize that he was the Son of God. Peter’s faith becomes the rock of the church. We are the church today, and the church remains one generation from disappearing. Sometimes that generation turns into a day. And sometimes the day that we have turns into a moment. The church can be only a moment away from disappearing. Literally in one moment in this story Jesus is praising Peter and calling his his rock. And the next moment he is telling Peter to get away from him because he is satan. Peter never gets a chance to redeem himself in Jesus lifetime. But he goes one to truly be the foundation of the church. This is another of those stories that is told in all 4 gospels. But it is told in Mark, Luke and John in different ways. Matthew is the only gospel to use to the word church. That is probably a later edit of the book. But it is intended to make us a part of the story. It is intended so that we can tell this story today – and witness the life of the church. The keys have been passed on to each of us. What is our power to overcome the gates of hell. The power to confess to the world that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. One Word: Jesus William J. Bausch tells a story that says it as well as it can be said. The story says that God created the heavens and earth and everything in them. He created them by His words. God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. This happened with everything. God was proud of His work. He was especially proud of the man and woman which He made. But the devil was jealous and angry. One day when God was enjoying the man and woman, the devil slithered up to God and asked him why he liked those strange human creatures so much. When God opened His mouth to speak, the devil craftily put a bond upon God's tongue. God could not speak, not even one word! Since God's creative power was in His words, the sly old devil had bound God's power. The devil laughed at God and then proceeded to corrupt man and the woman. Aeons went by, and the devil came back to scoff at the silent God and mock Him. God responded to this by holding up one finger. "One?" asked the devil. "Are you telling me that you want to say just one word?" God nodded. The devil, thought, "I suppose that even God could not do much with just one word." So the devil removed the bond from God's tongue. Then God spoke His one word in a quiet whisper. He spoke it for the man and the woman. It was a word that gathered up all the forgiveness, love, and creativity God had stored up in His heart during His long silence. His one word was "Jesus." And that is the word that changed everything. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Jesus us our rock. When we remember that, we will win the race. The Triumph of Jesus In 1896, after fifteen centuries, Athens renewed the Olympic games, thus fulfilling the dream of Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France. You can imagine how proud the Greeks were to host the first modern Olympics. You can also imagine how disappointed they were at their athletes' lack of success in event after event. The last competition was the marathon. Greece's entrant was named Louis, a shepherd without competitive background. He'd trained alone in the hills near his flock. When the race started, Louis was far back in the pack of marathoners. But as the miles passed he moved up steadily. One by one the leaders began to falter. The Frenchman fell in agony. The hero from the United States had to quit the race. Soon, word reached the stadium that a lone runner was approaching the arena, and the emblem of Greece was on his chest! As the excitement grew, Prince George of Greece hurried to the stadium entrance where he met Louis and ran with him to the finish line. In this sports tale we have something of the history of the human race. Most historical figures make their impact, achieve a measure of fame, books are written about them, but as the years go by they begin to fade. Less and less is written or spoken of their lives until they rest in relative obscurity. With Jesus Christ, however, one finds quite an opposite phenomena! Christ started from way back in the pack. He was born in relative obscurity, never had many followers, commanded no army, erected no edifices, wrote no books. He died young, was buried in a borrowed grave, and you'd think he'd be quickly forgotten. But, no! His reputation has grown so that today he is worshiped on every continent, has more followers than ever before, sixteen times has his picture been on the cover of Time magazine, and his sayings have been translated into more than 200 languages. Stephen M. Crotts / George L. Murphy, Sermons For Sundays: After Pentecost (Middle Third): The Incomparable Christ, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. ___________________________ Amen. Song. Forward Through the Ages. UMH 555 Morning Prayer Lord, we hear the wonderful words from Matthew’s gospel in which Simon Peter acknowledges Jesus as the Christ, the son of the living God. He is given the name Peter, the rock upon whom the church will be built. We would like to be the kind of “rock” that Jesus could count on – to be strong in the face of adversity; brave when danger is present; compassionate when sorrow and strife prevail. You have called us to be your church and we ask for your transforming love that we might be better witnesses for you. Today we name in our hearts before you people that we love who are dealing with sorrow and illnesses; people who feel abandoned and alone; people who are entering schools and colleges, military service, the workforce. We also name those people and situations filled with joy and hope; a new home, the birth of a child, celebrations of special occasions, and often just a beautiful day. Hear the cries of our hearts to you, O God. Heal and transform lives. For we ask these things in Jesus’ Name. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment Matthew 16:16 is known by many Christians as “the Good Confession”. In some congregations (yours?), individuals coming to join the church are asked to make a confession of faith, declaring “I believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God”. When we not only speak this, but we believe this statement, we want to align our life with the life of Jesus, who came to show people the Way of Life. Week by week, we acknowledge one way of moving into alignment is to share gifts with the One who has first given to us. Shirley Erena Murray, a contemporary Christian song writer, puts this idea into words with the hymn “Take My Gifts” (CH#381). (if you can sing one verse, do so. Or invite the congregation to sing!) “Take whatever I can offer – gifts that I have yet to find, skills that I am slow to sharpen, talents of the hand and mind, things made beautiful for others in the place where I must be; take my gifts and let me love you, God who first of all loved me.” Let us offer our gifts to God, with thankful hearts. Prayer of Thanksgiving Receive these gifts, Lord God, as signs and symbols of our desire to line up our lives with the life of Jesus, the Christ. By your power, multiply these gifts and challenge us to be ever-more generous, that we might share the Good News of your love with this hurting, hungry world. AMEN. (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Resist the powers that use people. Hear the cries of the weak. Dare to work for justice. Know that God—Source, Word, and Spirit— is your help, will keep you safe, and will bring you new life. You are blessed by God and sent to serve. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Mary Boyd) Community Time. Joys and Concerns Benediction As you go, take the keys of heaven with you. Unlock hope in a world in need of encouragement. Loose joy where there is despair. Give peace room to grow. Release love with every encounter. And the God of hope, joy, peace, and love will be with you. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Dr. Cheryl Boyd) Additional Illutrations