WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:02.319 Good morning, everybody. 00:00:03.520 --> 00:00:03.919 Morning. 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:05.360 My name is Matt Armstrong. 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:12.400 I'm one of the pastors here, and it's my uh privilege to get to bring you the word this morning. 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:15.439 Uh today we're continuing in our Lenten series. 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:18.559 This is the season of Lent that leads up to Easter. 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:19.760 It's about 40 days. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:23.440 Well, it's exactly 40 days, uh, except for Sundays. 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:26.239 Sundays are feast days during the season of Lent. 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:28.079 And it's very much like Advent. 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:31.039 It's a time of preparation for something to come. 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:42.240 In Advent, we prepare for Jesus coming into the world in Christmas, at Christmas, and during Lent we prepare ourselves for Easter and Good Friday. 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:45.759 And because of that, Lent is a time of reflection. 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:47.439 It's a time of preparation. 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:49.759 It's a time of renewal. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:01:06.799 It's a time when Jesus invites us as his people to kind of pause and to reflect, to be introspective and actually to look into the dark crevices, nooks, and crannies of our hearts, those places where we would rather not go. 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:16.879 And the reason isn't because Jesus wants us to wallow in our sinfulness, but because what he wants from us is that we would invite him into those dark places. 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:27.680 And that he would come and bring his healing light and continue to free our hearts from those things that bring us shame, separate us from him. 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:33.120 And this for this reason, Lent is one of my favorite times of year. 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:37.920 And I think our passage this morning captures the heart of Lent very well. 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:43.599 So let's look again at our passage, verses 31 to 33. 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:58.560 And he, Jesus, began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:00.480 And he said this plainly. 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:03.680 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:15.599 But turning and seeing the disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:16.719 Point one. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:26.400 The way Jesus' kingdom comes into the world is often confusing and frustrating, destabilizing for us. 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:32.800 Now this scene comes immediately after a climax in Jesus' ministry. 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:43.759 He's just performed some amazing miracles, and Peter, on behalf of the disciples, has made the confession for the first time that Jesus is the Christ. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:45.039 He is the Messiah. 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:52.240 He is the anointed one, the promised king, who would come and sit again on his father David's throne. 00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:58.080 And he would renew and restore Israel to its former glory. 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:02.719 This is amazing news. 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:26.319 In Peter's eyes, and in fact in the eyes of most Israelites, the Messiah was the coming general who would lead God's people to overthrow their tyrannical overlords, the Romans, and set them back on top where they used to be, where they used to enjoy the top seat under David and Solomon. 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:35.360 But then immediately after this incredible confession that Jesus is the Christ, Jesus then drops this bomb. 00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:42.400 He says to his disciples and to the crowd, I am going to be rejected by the leaders of Israel. 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:44.479 In fact, I'm going to be killed. 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:48.719 And on the third day, I'm going to rise from the dead. 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:57.520 Now, this would be like a student athlete committing to go to UGA on a football scholarship to play under Kirby Smart, right? 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:01.439 That's he's the head past uh head pastor, head coach. 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:06.800 I mean, I'm learning this context at Redeemer. 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:11.199 I think you guys think UGA is maybe where the Messiah's gonna come from. 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:13.120 But anyway, back to the illustration. 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:24.000 You know, a student, athlete, goes, he commits, he moves to Athens, he starts taking classes, and then the first team meeting, Coach Smart gathers all the players around to lay out the plan for the season. 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:26.399 He goes, listen, guys, here's what's gonna happen this year. 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:28.959 We're going to lose every game. 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:39.839 You might not be surprised if one of the players kind of took him aside and began to rebuke him and say, Coach Smart, this is not the way we want to start the season. 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:40.800 Right? 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:44.959 Coaches and generals don't plan to lose. 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:50.879 But that's exactly how Jesus is presenting himself here. 00:04:51.680 --> 00:05:01.360 And Peter, like the rest of the disciples, they believe that the Messiah came to take care of the bad guys and to give them a pain-free life. 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:04.240 And so he rebukes Jesus. 00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:10.160 And then Jesus gives him one of the strongest rebukes that we see in the New Testament. 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:24.879 But before we become, we get too hard on poor Peter, let's reflect on how we respond when our plans, when our lives take a turn that we did not expect and that we did not want. 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:29.040 I remember a few years ago, I think it was 2020. 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:31.040 Does anyone remember that terrible year? 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:41.040 There was a season in 2020, there was four or five weeks in a row where something like terrible happened in my life. 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:43.120 And it seemed to happen on Tuesday. 00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:48.079 I don't know why, but after a couple weeks I just started dreading Tuesday, and then it kept happening. 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:56.240 And uh I remember praying after in week three, okay, Lord, really, uh this can stop, please. 00:05:56.560 --> 00:06:08.319 Uh but little did I know that this was just the beginning of a 24-month period of time with a lot of difficulty and suffering in my own life. 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:11.600 And only in retrospect could I see what God was doing. 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:18.720 He was doing a good work in my own life, in my own heart, and in the lives of the people around me. 00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:24.079 Like Joseph, I was eventually able to say, God intends this for good. 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:31.199 But in that moment, what I felt in my relationship with God is that I had been abandoned. 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:38.560 This is not where my life was supposed to go as a pastor, as a faithful Christian. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:43.759 And I would say I threw some temper tantrums over that time. 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:46.480 I'm not too ashamed to admit. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:57.360 So whether it's our plans for the day getting interrupted, or the loss of a job, or an unexpected illness, when these events come into our lives, we tend to respond like Peter. 00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:08.720 We are bold enough to rebuke God or to argue with him or to get angry, frustrated, perhaps even depressed. 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:29.120 But what Peter couldn't see and wouldn't see for some time was that this seeming catastrophe was actually the channel through which God would fulfill all of his promises, all the things Peter was looking forward to would come through the death and resurrection of Jesus. 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:35.120 What Jesus was teaching and showing his disciples is that his kingdom was upside down. 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:38.879 That's a phrase that a lot of modern theologians use. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:44.079 Jesus' kingdom was upside down compared to the kingdoms of this world. 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:48.000 All right, let's look at verses 34 and 35. 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:58.560 Jesus called to him, the crowd and his disciples, and he said, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:01.600 For whoever would save his life will lose it. 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:07.360 But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it. 00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:13.839 Our second point is that Jesus' life is a template for our own life. 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:24.000 See, not only is Jesus' kingdom upside down in his ministry, but his kingdom is upside down in our own lives. 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:32.720 This week I listened to uh a fun podcast, and they were discussing Back to the Future, one of the greatest movies of all time. 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:39.120 Uh came out in the 80s when I was just in the prime of my adolescent life. 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:42.320 Uh incredible, incredible fun movie. 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:47.279 Um they pointed something out that I, you know, I had seen but didn't really reflect on much. 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:52.799 At the beginning of the movie, Marty McFly, the uh the main character, his family is a mess. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:54.879 His dad is a loser. 00:08:55.120 --> 00:09:02.159 Uh this guy right on the right, that's Biff, that's his high school bully who continues to bully him now in adulthood. 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:06.480 His mom seems exceedingly uh tired and depressed. 00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:09.840 His brother and sister are kind of going nowhere. 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:16.879 His brother is dressed conspicuously in a McDonald's uniform and still lives at home, right? 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:20.000 And Marty fears that this is where his life is going. 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:24.879 His family are all losers, and he's gonna be a loser too. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:39.600 But after traveling back 30 years into the past, to the 50s, after some hijinks ensue, and Marty inadvertently uh changes a few things, he comes back to the future, and his family is completely different. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:51.440 His mom and dad are happy and fit, they play tennis, his dad's a successful author, his brother and sister are now dressed in uh you know successful business wear. 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:55.759 Um he now drives a four-wheel Toyota Tacoma. 00:09:55.919 --> 00:10:03.039 I mean, it's it's the pinnacle of um 1980s American success. 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:07.279 This is the gospel of the movie, Back to the Future. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:08.320 This is what we all want. 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:20.559 We know that we're all kind of messed up and broken, we come from messed up and broken families, and we want someone to come, and it'd be great if we could be that person, the hero of our own stories, that we would come and kind of fix everything. 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:22.879 And then, and and what does success look like? 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:26.559 It looks like you know, worldly success and affluence. 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:28.240 Right? 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:31.120 This is what Peter wanted and longed for. 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:35.840 It's what the nation of Israel longed for, and it's what we long for. 00:10:36.799 --> 00:10:42.399 And that's why Jesus' words in these verses are so disturbing. 00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:48.879 Not only is Jesus going to be crucified and resurrected on the third day, right? 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:51.360 Part there's parts of us that's like, that's great. 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:53.039 Thank you, Jesus. 00:10:53.360 --> 00:10:54.639 Please go do that. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:55.840 I'll be over here. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:10:58.320 I would love the benefits of all of that. 00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:15.039 But Jesus says, not only am I going to do that, but anyone who would come after me, anyone who would be a Christian, anyone who would follow me, they will need to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me there. 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:35.039 What Peter had to learn, and what Jesus wants us to learn, is that just as uh he brought, God brought redemption and healing into the world through Jesus' suffering, so our sufferings will be part of God's redemptive work in this world. 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:44.399 The pattern of Jesus' life, the gospel, will also be the template of our lives as followers of Christ. 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:47.519 The Apostle Paul put it this way in Philippians chapter 2. 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:58.559 He said, Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God, something to be grasped. 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:02.399 But he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave. 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:09.039 He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:18.159 Like Peter, we want a Savior who will come and take care of all of our problems and give us that pain-free life that we long for. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:26.080 But what Jesus tells us that if we are going to follow him, our lives will look like his life. 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:31.840 We too will need to follow him into a type of death. 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:40.559 But how we ask, I ask on a regular basis, how can this be good? 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:50.159 Well, the answer is that in God's upside-down kingdom, the way God works is that he brings life out of death. 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:57.519 He brings strength out of weakness, and he brings healing out of suffering. 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:02.799 Like Peter and the other disciples, we tend to miss what Jesus had just said. 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:09.919 Yes, he said that he would be rejected by the leaders of Israel, and yes, he said he would experience death on the cross. 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:15.919 But he said, Finally, I will rise from the dead. 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:29.360 And in the same way, when we humble ourselves and follow Jesus where he wants to lead us into our own death, he has promised that we will resurrect too. 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:40.080 Though we struggle to see it in the moment, Jesus is able to bring incredible redemption through the pattern of the gospel in our own lives. 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:46.159 And if you've walked with Jesus for some time, you've probably experienced this in big and small ways in your own life. 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:53.600 God often uses our sufferings to free us from the sin and idols that entangle us. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:14:00.159 And he changes us as he frees us from those idols, from those empty cisterns. 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:10.240 We are now free to receive Jesus in all his glory as our Savior and all the benefits that come to those who love him. 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:21.039 We gain a new identity as children of God, fully understanding, more deeply understanding what it means to be loved as sons and daughters of the King. 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:29.120 We gain a peace that surpasses understanding because we know that no matter what comes into our lives, God is with us. 00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:32.720 He will never forsake us, and he will always provide. 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:40.240 We gain the ability to comfort others who are also suffering, as we have suffered because we have been comforted by God. 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:48.639 And we are able to love others with the love that we have received from our gracious and loving God. 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:52.159 I love the way Henry Nowen describes this. 00:14:52.559 --> 00:15:03.120 He says, powerlessness and humility in the spiritual life do not refer to people who have no spine or who let everyone else make decisions for them. 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:16.320 Rather, they refer to people who are so deeply in love with Jesus that they are ready to follow him wherever he guides them, always trusting that with him they will find life and find it abundantly. 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:18.960 This is Jesus' promise. 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:32.080 He tells us that if you will follow me to the cross, I will bring life and redemption and healing into your life and through your life to the world around you. 00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:35.840 Finally, let's read verses 36 to 38. 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:42.960 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, Jesus continued, and forfeit his life? 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:46.879 For what can a man give in return for his life? 00:15:47.120 --> 00:16:00.480 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, to him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father and the holy angels. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:06.000 Point three, confessing our weakness and need for Jesus is the way to life. 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:07.840 Jesus is telling us. 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:09.679 Now these are hard words. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:13.840 These are some of the hardest words Jesus says in the Gospels. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:19.759 But Jesus is showing us that he loves us enough to tell us the truth. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:22.720 The worst thing isn't to be told our need. 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:25.600 The worst thing is to be left alone in our need. 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:30.799 But Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. 00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:35.440 I love the way Eugene Peterson captures this idea beautifully here. 00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:37.600 He says, pain isn't the worst thing. 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:39.679 Being hated isn't the worst thing. 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:43.039 Being separated from the one you love isn't the worst thing. 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:45.360 Death isn't the worst thing. 00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:52.080 The worst thing is failing to deal with reality and becoming disconnected from what is actual. 00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:57.519 The worst thing is trivializing the honorable, desecrating the sacred. 00:16:57.759 --> 00:17:08.720 We don't become mature humans, being uh human beings by getting lucky or cleverly circumventing loss, and certainly not by avoidance and distraction. 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:10.640 Learn to lament. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:13.279 We're mortals after all. 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:16.960 We and everyone around us are scheduled for death. 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:18.400 Get used to it. 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:20.079 Take up your cross. 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:24.640 It prepares us and those around us for resurrection. 00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:29.839 Beloved, this is what the season of Lent is all about. 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:35.599 It's a time to reflect, it's a time to see our need where we fall short. 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:40.240 Because it is just in those places that Jesus wants to meet us. 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:46.000 It's when we see our lack that we cry out to the one who has promised to meet all of our needs. 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:48.559 And he says, I love you. 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:50.400 I will never reject you. 00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:52.880 And I've come to heal you. 00:17:53.599 --> 00:18:08.000 And so, beloved, during the season of Lent, I invite you to invite Jesus into those places of your heart, where he is leading you down into death to say no to things that you run to for life apart from him. 00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:10.400 Because he wants to be your all-in-all. 00:18:11.359 --> 00:18:13.519 He loves you more than you can understand. 00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:20.319 Let's use this time of Lent as preparation to celebrate what He's given us at Easter. 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:21.119 Let's pray. 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:24.480 Our Father, God in heaven, Lord. 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:27.440 These are hard words. 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:33.119 None of us enjoys taking up our cross and denying ourselves. 00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:39.920 And yet you tell us that you bring eternal, everlasting life to us through resurrection. 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:43.759 Lord, we pray all of this with thanksgiving in Jesus' name. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:44.400 Amen.