Intro

F.A.S. – Lean In

Church can be a strange place. For me and possibly you if you’ve been in the church for a while, then this is all stuff you’re used to, but for a guest who has never been to church before, this can be intimidating. How should I act, who should I talk to, what are we singing about, and all that stuff. As a regular church attender, I sometimes forget how intimidating it can be to go to a new church. Also, I understand that sometimes I need a reminder of how church should be done sometimes, too. I get a bit lazy and complacent even as a pastor and I start to slip when I’m at church, too. So, I have a video that will not only help you if you haven’t been to church before, or if you haven’t been in a while but it’s also a great reminder if you, like me, have kinda been letting yourself slip.

[Lean In – Video]

While that video was a bit facetious, it does contain some truth. At one point or another in our time at church we all feel like this. We feel like we’re floating, just going through the motions, and then the pastor challenges us to step it up. We’re told to ramp up our dedication, to step up by coming to church more often, signing up to serve somewhere, give more in our offering, or to invite our friends. The problem is that we are experts in making excuses. I know that I am. I just don’t have any friends who would be willing to come to church. I already give enough. I just don’t have time to volunteer, besides there are tons of other people here who will sign up if there really is a need. Now I’m not saying all of this just to get up in your cornflakes to make you feel bad. I even catch myself saying these same things sometimes.

Linking Statement

It happens to all of us and it even happened to the disciple Peter in Matthew 16

Body

Retell the Setting [Who do you think Jesus is]

Explanation

Let me set up what’s happening and then we’ll look at the scripture. Jesus and his disciples are walking through Caesarea Philippi. This is important because Caesarea Philippi was a hugely important area for pagan worship. Many pagans would have been there worshiping the pagan God, Pan. There were statues, springs, caves, and other monuments dedicated to the God Pan. On this backdrop, surrounded by these symbols of pagan worship, Jesus asks his disciples this question, “Who do people say I am?” The disciples offer up a few answers. “Some people say that you’re John the Baptist. Others say that your Elijah, and others say you’re Jeremiah or another prophet.” Now understand what this means. At this time, John the Baptist was dead. Most people would know that he was beheaded, so apparently, there are quite a few people who believe that John the Baptist reattached his head and came back to life. Equally amazing is the idea that he is Elijah or another prophet. That would mean that the prophet rose from the dead and was back teaching and traveling around. Then Jesus asks the people who have traveled with him, who have seen the miracles he’s performed, who know him more than any other person, who they think he is. Without missing a beat Peter pipes up, “You are the Son of God.” This is a huge moment for the disciples. All through the book of Matthew Jesus is performing all sorts of miracles. He is healing people, teaching people, forgiving people’s sins and this entire time the disciples are like “Who is this guy?” I truly don’t know right until this moment when Peter speaks up and declares that Jesus is the Son of God. This is the climax of the entire book of Matthew tied up in these words Peter speaks.

Illustration

This claim by Peter is extremely important even for us today. Even the most staunch atheist will admit that there is ample historical evidence to suggest that there was at one point in time a Jewish figure who apparently made some waves in the area of Galilee and Jerusalem around the time that the Bible reports Jesus ministry taking place and that it’s safe to assume that this figure was most likely Jesus. Even followers of other Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism and Islam, will proclaim that Jesus was a real person and a great teacher from God. Even some atheist will confess that many of Jesus’ teachings are compelling and that he was a great teacher who delivered a message that was possibly ahead of his time. That sounds great, but they all fall short of actually claiming that Jesus as the literal Son of God. Great teacher and all around cool dude? Sure! Son of God? Nope. The renown theologian C.S. Lewis contemplated this idea that Jesus could have been a great teacher but was not the Son of God and ultimately dismissed it. His argument was that while one might find Jesus’ teachings compelling and that he ultimately argued for everyone to live a better life by following his teachings, it all falls apart when he very clearly claims he’s the Son of God. C.S. Lewis has this to say about it

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. … Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God”

Application

Who do you say that Jesus is? Assuming that most of you are Christians, I’d assume most people would say that he is the Son of God, but be aware of what you are claiming and don’t claim it lightly. It’s easier to say that He’s simply insane. Then you can ignore everything he’s taught because he’s a lunatic. It’s only slightly harder to say he’s a great teacher. I can pick which parts of his teachings I like best and leave out the stuff I don’t personally like. After all, even the best teachers here on earth get stuff wrong and it’s ultimately up to us to decide what we’re going to believe from them. The absolute hardest thing to claim about Jesus is that He’s the Son of God. That really changes things. No longer can I pick which parts of his teachings I want to ignore. He’s the Son of God and all authority has been given to him by his father! He is the perfect ruler of heaven and earth. He’s the one running the show. Who am I to say that anything from his mouth is wrong? That means that I have to follow him absolutely.

Retell the Complications [Why are you here?]

Explanation

The disciples finally get it. This is a huge moment for Jesus. These 12 might actually have what it takes to get this whole Christianity thing off the ground. Jesus starts blessing Peter right there. See, before this incident, Peter’s name was Simon. That’s why in the Bible he’s called Simon Peter. But now that he has made this bold claim, Jesus decides to change his name from Simon to Peter. The name Peter actually means “rock.” This is a huge deal because Jesus goes on to talk all about how because of Peter’s great faith Peter is going to be the “rock” on which Jesus is going to build his church. So right after Peter proclaims this really awesome news, that Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus takes the opportunity to spring some pretty upsetting news on them. He says, “Look, it’s great that you now understand who I really am, but now I must tell you why exactly I am here.” He says, “We’ll be going to Jerusalem soon. When we get there, I’m going to be arrested, the elders, priests, and scribes are going to torture me and I am going to suffer death on a cross. Three days after I die, I will be raised back to life.” Well the champion of faith and rock on which Jesus will build his church didn’t like this, so he pulled Jesus to the side to have some words with him. He’s like “Jesus, look, you can’t be going around saying that sort of stuff. You’re the Son of God! Remember, I just proclaimed that. You can’t die! You’re supposed to show up and kick butts and take names, not submit yourself to our oppressors and die!” Jesus then shouted back to Peter these famous words. “Get behind me, Satan!” He told Peter that you’re focusing on the things of man and not the things of heaven. Jesus then turns back to the disciples, turning his back on Peter and begins teaching again. This has to be supremely embarrassing that Jesus is now teaching the disciples with his back to Peter. Seems that the rock Jesus is going to build the church on really messed up.

Illustration

It’s understandable, because it takes a ton of effort to stay focused on the real reason we should be doing things. I remember a time back in college when I stumbled over this very thing. I attended college at, what was then called, Atlanta Christian College. I was very fortunate to have been offered a scholarship there, which was a big deal because the school was relatively small and didn’t give out many scholarships. I also started school there during a time of great change for the college. My freshman year the school announced that they were radically changing their identity since the school was expanding. First, the name was changing from Atlanta Christian College to Point University. They were also changing locations from East Point, Ga which was just outside of metro Atlanta, to West Point, GA, a small former textile town on the boarder of Alabama and GA, right outside Auburn University. They also announced that the school was expanding their athletics department to include many new sports, such as football. The students were overall quite excited about the changes, and I was too until I heard that in order to attract talent the school would stop handing out the already few academic scholarships in order to offer sports scholarships for the new teams. I retained my scholarship, but no new scholarships would be awarded for academics. I know that it probably shouldn’t bother me since I was still fine, but it felt like my school was going to value sports over actual academics. My fears seemed to become reality the following year, since we saw a huge influx of athletes due to our football team. The makeup of the student body up to this point mostly consisted of people who had a background in the church, many of whom were fairly strong and mature Christians. These new athletes were not necessarily there because it was a Christian school but because they were offered a scholarship. There was definitely tension on campus as it felt like more and more of the students attending the school just didn’t care about the “Christian” part of going to a Christian school. It eventually reached a point where I was really upset about how it felt like these athletes were stealing the identity of my school. That was until the Holy Spirit really sorted me out. One afternoon after a pretty rough day, I was thinking about how much better this school was before all these “Unchurched” people showed up when I was challenged by a friend. “Why exactly are you here?” “Well,” I replied, “I’m here to earn my degree in Biblical studies.” “And why do you want to do that?” “Because I want a job working as a pastor in a church. I feel called to it.” “So you feel called to spread the gospel and tell others about Jesus, those who may not know who He is?” “Of course!” “Well, what’s stopping you now? You’re now at a school surrounded by people who don’t know Jesus, and you’re upset because they are acting like they don’t know Jesus. You need to get your head out of your you-know-where and start focusing on what you’re actually called to do.”

Application

I’ll admit that even sometimes I lose focus, like Peter does. We all do. I want to ask that question of you today. Why are you here? Me and all the volunteers at REACH, we ask this question constantly. What is it about REACH that causes students to worship here? Each one of you here tonight made the decision to show up when you could have done anything else, why? It’s a difficult question to answer because so many people have so many different reasons. Maybe it’s because this is where their friends go. Maybe it’s because they like the music. Is it because the people are friendly? Maybe it’s the pizza and soda or the games. There are many reasons that people choose to go here for. Maybe I mentioned the reason you come here, but there’s a problem with those reasons. They are all things of this world. We can’t place our experience at church on things of this world because we’ll be let down. If your friends don’t show up, then it was a bad Sunday. If the music just didn’t sound good, then I just can’t connect with Jesus. If someone said something to me at church that was unkind, then I just can’t open my heart. Someone else I’m having drama with is here so I have a bad time. What if we stripped all of that away? What if we lose the music, the games, the cafe, the small group leaders, and even our friends. If all REACH could offer you was Jesus, would that be enough? At the end of the day, the only thing we can really and honestly give you is Jesus, because this is where He is, among his people. Is Jesus enough for you or are you still too focused on worldly things? Be careful, though. Because if you decide that all you need is Jesus, then you have to decide just how far you want to go to get to him. Jesus tells us just how far you have to be willing to go in the remainder of this chapter.

Retell the Resolution [How far are you willing to go?]

Explanation

So Jesus turns from Peter and begins teaching, with his back to Peter, about what he expects of his followers. Up to this point, I’ve been paraphrasing this so we can all understand things better and so it can be a bit more dramatic, but this next part is crystal clear, so I want to read it together. It’s from

​Matthew 16:24–27 CSB

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will reward each according to what he has done.

Jesus is making this clear as day for us. How far must one go to follow Jesus? To the cross. They have to die to themselves. We often take that as metaphor, but Jesus is being serious. All the suffering he is going to go through, you must also be ready. You cannot try and live for your own goals and own ends and also live for me as well. Jesus needs it all, 100% commitment to his cause.

Outro

C.T.

This entire chapter is telling us the opposite of what that video at the beginning of my sermon said. We have to lean into Jesus, and not away. Lean in!

Shotgun Application

If we want to lean in then we have to recognize Jesus as the Son of God and treat him like it. It’s easy for us to say Jesus is my Lord, but it is very different to live it out. When I disobey my parents, I deny who Jesus really is as the Son of God. When I continue to hold a grudge against someone, I also decide that Jesus really isn’t my Lord. When I make the choice to not do what Jesus says, I lean away from who he really is. It’s not enough to lean in to who Jesus is, we also must lean in to why we are here. Peter knew who Jesus was but failed to lean focus on the things of heaven and instead set his mind on the things of earth. When I decide to worry about everything going on around me instead of trusting God, I lean away. When I allow myself to be distracted by the music, the games, or other people around me, I lean away. When I choose to dwell on what others may think about me instead of what my heavenly father thinks about me, I lean away. If we want to lean in then we must set our minds on the things of heaven and not of earth. The final step of leaning in is the hardest. If I want to lean in then I must die to myself. So many of us claim that we live our lives for Jesus, but our actions say otherwise. I can shout to God and say that I have died to myself, but I never give him any time through scripture or prayer. I claim to pick up my cross, just as long as I don’t have to serve somewhere. I like going to church, not being the church. I’m just too busy. I’ll sing about how Jesus can have it all, except my time. Jesus lays it all out perfectly clear. He wants everything, your entire life, or nothing at all.

Closing Statements

If you want to move past this hollow sort of faith, if you want to feel on fire for God again, if you want to feel fulfilled again, then you have to lean in. What is holding you back from leaning all the way in to Jesus? What are you still doing that prevents your life from showing others that you believe Jesus is the Son of God? What worldly things are you still focusing on that stops you from setting your mind on Heaven? What parts of your old life are you still clinging on to that prevents you from dying to yourself to live for Jesus? Pray for God’s grace to shake yourself loose from those burdens so you can declare Jesus is the Son of God through the way you live your life, set your mind on the things of heaven, and die to yourself so you can pick up your cross and follow Jesus. That’s the way you lean in to Jesus.