Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Beyond Series, Week 2 - Legalistic Relationships

  I am going to be honest with you, I don’t want to do this sermon. Because by having to do this sermon I have to practice it in my own life. And after this past week, I don’t want to practice it at all. This week started off great. Sunday was a great day of worship, and afterwards I had a nap, and then a great sermon discussion with fellowship afterward. Monday started off good as well, especially since I had been working on installing a faucet in a sit down bathtub for a couple of weeks and it finally clicked how to do it. Sure I ran into another problem after that, but at least progress was being made. 

But then something happened. A situation broke out and I was called into help in the matter. Though I tried to deescalate the situation, the whole thing blew up. After that, another situation happened and something snapped in me. Even as I prepared to deliver this sermon, it was not fixed. By nature I am a loner type. I like to be alone, I like to work alone, I like to accomplish things on my own. I have had to work exceedingly hard to move past that desire to be alone. And what progress I had made, felt like it broke this week, and now I feel myself wanting to return to that loner world. 

And as I prepared this week, I tried to change the order of the sermon topics in this series as to avoid this week’s, because I knew it was exactly what I was dealing with. And I can see clearly the cure for what was broken in me, but I don’t want to purse it. I know exactly how God has planned for us to talk about our subject today, because he foresaw my need to work through it as a living example for you. And so, it is not the knowledge of what needs to be done, that I need, but rather the actual carrying out of that knowledge. 

Having the knowledge and putting into practice are two parts to a whole, and literally what Jesus spoke about in Matthew 7:24 where he said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”


And so let’s get into the knowledge part and then apply it together, by opening our Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 4 verse 18.  And as we open to Matthew 4:18, let’s recap our last week to see where we are in our Beyond series.


Last week we talked about God’s desire for us to live as new creations. That if we have accepted Jesus as our Savior, we are to no longer live in the old ways of sinful living, but move beyond the power of sin in our lives and live according to the Spirit of God. And with that understanding we looked at moving beyond trusting in the things of this world for our security of tomorrow. We zeroed in on understanding that God has called us to trust him for today and to let him take care of tomorrow. That we are not to put our hope into the plans we’ve made, but be willing for those plans to change as God leads.


Now, with that fresh in our minds, let's look at several points of interest in the life of Peter, as we look at his life to see our our topic today, which is going beyond legalistic relationships. Now, we’re not going to spend too much time on anyone one passage, but instead I want to paint a picture of Peter for you, so we’ll move through these passages pretty fast. The first point of interest I want us to look at, is in Matthew chapter 4, starting in verse 18, where it reads,


“18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’ 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.”


So we have at our first point of interest, Jesus calling Peter, and others, to come and follow him. The second point of interest will be in Matthew 14:25-30. We pick this moment up at a point in Jesus’ ministry where he has sent off his disciples in a boat and stayed behind to pray. Let’s read in Matthew chapter 14, starting in verse 25, 


“25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: 'Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.' 28 ‘Lord, if it’s you,’ Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to you on the water.’ “29 ‘Come,’ he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’ 32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’”


A monumental moment on the lake that day, Peter walks on water. Next let’s turn to Mark 8:31-33, where Jesus is speaking to his disciples about his eventual death.


“31 He (Jesus) then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ he said. ‘You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’”


Ouch, that’s gotta hurt. Finally, let’s turn to John chapter 13 starting in verse 36, where Jesus is again speaking to the disciples about his eventual death. 


“36 Simon Peter asked him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus replied, ‘Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.’ 37 Peter asked, ‘Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ 38 Then Jesus answered, ‘Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!’”


After going through those four passages, do you see a pattern here? Peter is called out of his regular job of fishing and is catapulted into the work of Jesus, and he becomes zealous in his faith. He is on fire! It is Peter who wants to walk on the waves as his master did, it was Peter who believed that Jesus could not die, and it was Peter who was willing to go to death for Jesus.

Now I like to joke that Peter is one of my favorite people in the Bible. Because I see a lot of myself in Peter, especially the foot in mouth act that he seems to like to do. Not only is Peter the most outspoken of the disciples, but he also gets the most flack from Jesus. 


Though Peter was the only disciple that wanted to go walking on water with Jesus, he is also the one that is told by Jesus, “You of little faith.”

Though Peter believed that there was no way Jesus could die and spoke up about it, Jesus scolded him by saying, “Get behind me, Satan!…You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

And though Peter proclaimed his willingness to die, Jesus revealed that he wouldn’t actually do it, when Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”


Several times throughout Peter’s time with Jesus, Peter gets shut down in what he thought was the right action. But the reality is, Jesus was right in every situation. Though Peter got out of the boat and walked on water, his faith was small, because he couldn’t fathom that Jesus would have to die for the sins of humanity. And Jesus was right when he called out Peter’s pride, which showed he had more faith in himself rather than God, when Jesus revealed that Peter wasn’t going to lay down his life, but rather walk away instead.


Again, and again, and again in Peter’s life, he was corrected for his lack of trust in Jesus. But story doesn’t end there.


Let’s move over to John chapter 21 and drop down to verse 15. Here we get the aftermath of everything. Jesus was indeed arrested, Peter indeed denied him, and Jesus was indeed crucified. And after all of this what does Peter do. He goes fishing.


And it’s not, I want to go to a relaxing place to fish type of situation. No, it’s a return to life before Jesus. Did Peter think that the last three years were a waste of time, was it a foolish way of spending his life? To me, Peter fishing was his way of returning to the only thing he got right. Sure he walked on water, sure he cast our demons, sure he saw people healed and feed in miraculous ways, but he wasn’t faithful. So the only place for him was the sea. Something broke in Peter, and he returned to what was most comfortable for him. And it’s in this state that Jesus shows up, and has a conversation with Peter in verse 15 of John chapter 21. Let’s read it together,


“15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” ‘Yes, Lord,’ he said, ‘you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my lambs.’ 16 Again Jesus said, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He answered, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Take care of my sheep.’ 17 The third time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ He said, ‘Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.’

“Jesus said, ‘Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.’ 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, ‘Follow me!’

“20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, ‘Lord, who is going to betray you?’) 21 When Peter saw him, he asked, ‘Lord, what about him?’ 22 Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.’”


This is a wonderful moment of Peter’s life, it’s his restoration. The three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves him, mirrors the three denials of Jesus that Peter professed earlier in the Gospel. Jesus is restoring Peter to their right relationship. Peter, corrected time and time again by Jesus, and finally coming to a realization that he really was who Jesus said he was, is restored to who Jesus saved him to be. And Peter walks away from this with a better, fuller understanding of who Jesus is and what his relationship with Jesus is based upon. 

It’s not based on what Peter can do for Jesus, but rather who Jesus is and his love for Peter. It’s a grace based relationship. No act that Peter did, no attitude that Peter held, would separate Peter from Jesus. There was only one thing Jesus needed to know, Peter “do you love me?”

Why did all come down to this? Because it was all based on God’s grace and not Peter’s work. Grace is the fixer of relationships. Grace is what allows us to deal with our own short comings.


In his book, The Way of the Heart, Henri Nowen writes, “Only in the context of grace can we face our sin; only in the place of healing do we dare to show our wounds; only with a single-minded attention to Christ can we give up our clinging fears and face our own true nature (pg.17).” 

The grace that flows from God to us is the answer to the question. And this might be what you need to come to know. You might be wondering what you need to do, it’s to follow Jesus in his grace based relationship structure. Can we correct, can we rebuke? Yes, but there needs to be grace that follows it. God calls us to move beyond legalistic relationships where people have to reach a certain standard in order for us to love them, and if they do not we feel it’s acceptable to totally rejection them. Instead God wants us to move beyond this understanding of works based relationships and into a grace-filled relationship structure.

When we don’t live in these grace based relationships, we get what’s happening right now in our culture. Right now, if you do not say the right things or think the right thoughts you could be censored, or canceled as it’s being called. You might have said something dumb in your youth, and now your whole world could fall down around you because of it. 

In our political discussions, if a person disagrees with us, or says something we don’t like, then a-pox on them, they are anathema, rejected, silenced, excommunicated from us. What used to be common middle of the road stances, are now being viewed as hate speech. And it’s easy to fall into the trap of not extending grace, because that so-and-so doesn’t deserve it. And that’s probably true, but that’s not what grace is, grace is what we do not deserve, not what we deserve.


But for me, this understanding is not what I struggle with. The understanding of God’s grace needing to cover me and the call on my life to share that grace in my relationships is not where I am faltering. It’s the actual doing it.


It’s me accepting the grace of God to mend my relationships. It’s sitting with those that have wronged me, and working through the hurt. It’s the doing, that is hard, not the knowledge. Yet Jesus calls me to follow him, as he called Peter, and as he is calling you today. We are to follow him in grace, poured out to others.


For the most part I have been successful, political talks, sharing my faith, even interpersonal relationships with my friends and family have been grace based as much as I can, though I have not been perfect. But when something breaks within you, it’s hard to move forward. That’s why I thank God for the conversation between Jesus and Peter in John 21. It could have been so easy for the Gospel writer to not worry about this restorative, grace-filled conversation, it could have been easy for Jesus to just skip it, but by God’s grace it wasn’t left out. 


And it’s in that restorative, grace-filled conversation that we can see a couple ways that we are called to extend grace to others in a real way. 


First, we need to be personally restored in our relationship with God. We need confession in our lives, we need prayerful lives, we need a strong relationship with God. Second, we need to feed others. Meaning, we need to extend what God has given to us. We need to share the transformative work that God is doing in us, with others. We need to extend grace to people.

Finally, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus. Living in grace based relationships, rather than comparing our walks with other people for better or worse.


Does that mean that we shouldn’t keep people accountable? No. Does that mean we shouldn’t stand for biblical truth? No. What it does mean is that we call people to God on his terms, all the while extending godly love that is not based on what a person does, but because we want to be conformed to the image of Jesus, and Jesus is grace-filled, and he died for that person so they might know him. He gives us the perfect example in how he deals with Peter: Jesus rebukes and restores; that conversation shows how we are to both call people to the way of God and at the same time extend grace.


The reality is the application is the hardest part of this, not the understanding that it needs to be done. So my challenge this week is for us to go before God and ask, where haven’t I extended grace that I need to do it? What relationship needs to have more grace in it, and how best can I go about it. And that means there might need to be some forgiveness asked, and forgiveness extended.


God has called us to go beyond requiring people to meet a standard before we will extend the love of God, it’s time to put all things aside that keep us from being grace-filled people, God’s people. Amen

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