Sunday, September 3, 2023

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Jeremiah 15:15-21
Psalm 26
Romans 12:9-21
Matthew 16:21-28

Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

I live in Texas, and you’ve probably heard that we’ve had a long, hot summer. I try not to complain because I really prefer summer to winter. I don’t like the cold and snow. Autumn is fine, but I’m never anxious for sweater weather or pumpkin spice everything. Spring is my favorite season, but I really do enjoy summer, normally. I have to admit that I have had enough. Our lawn is dead from lack of water, blazing sun, and overwhelming temperatures above 100 degrees.

The weather service posted this notice yesterday, “Our daylight hours are currently getting shorter by about a minute and 45 seconds per day. This will eventually HAVE to lead to cooler temperatures. (That’s just the way it works, you’ll have to trust us even if it feels impossible).” The comments under the post were very funny. One said, “You know, I don’t know how I feel about your attitude. ‘It’s going to get cooler by default’.” Another said, “It’s pretty sad when 97 feels ‘cooler’.” One more said, “The level of desperation is real.” We are all complaining, even those of us who try not to.

Arthur W. Pink said, “When we complain about the weather, we are, in reality, murmuring against God.” There is a Greek word in the scriptures that can be translated “complainer” or “grumbler.” It means “one who is discontented with his lot in life.” Complaining is not only unfruitful, but it can also be detrimental to the peace, joy, and patience that comes from the Spirit. Complaining is destructive and debilitating, but it also does not present a good attitude to those who are seeking God. What’s the point of Christian faith if we aren’t content with the things we can’t even change?

We are in good company when we complain. Take Jeremiah. He is known as “the weeping prophet” because of the gloomy nature of his message and the grief he expressed for his people. He was lonely. He often felt discouraged. There seemed to be no visible fruit from his ministry, and he even wished he hadn’t been born. He didn’t quit, but he only continued in his ministry because he was compelled by God.

Jeremiah had a right to complain. God called him to a tough job. He had to preach a hard word to people who wanted to hear only warm fuzzies. He was persecuted for doing the job God called him to do. He suffered at the hands of his own people. He lived in fear for his life and his future, but he had no choice. He had to do what God called him to do. The book by his name is one of the most honest and personal of all the prophetic books in the bible as Jeremiah admitted his unhappiness to God and to those of us who read his words.

Names have meaning as is often noted in Bible notes. A person’s name defines some aspect of their life like their personality, purpose, or heritage. Experts are uncertain to the meaning of Jeremiah’s name, although it has been suggested that it means “the LORD exalts” or “the LORD establishes.” These both make sense when we look at Jeremiah and his place in God’s story. The LORD raised Jeremiah up and established him as a prophet. Others have suggested that Jeremiah means “the LORD throws.” As we listen to Jeremiah’s words, this name also makes sense. Jeremiah felt that he was thrown to the wolves, tossed into a hostile world to face difficulty and persecution.

Throughout his book, Jeremiah makes several confessions, admitting to God his hurt and pain. In today’s passage, Jeremiah even says, “Will you indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?” It was bold to blame God for his heartache. He wanted to know where God is in the midst of his troubles. Why had he been abandoned? Why hadn’t God done something! Jeremiah was disappointed in his God and was not afraid to admit it.

I wonder how many of us have felt the same in our own pain. Our complaint about the weather does not seem so unfaithful. When we are complaining against “Mother Nature” or the weathermen, most of us are really just joking. We all know that we can’t do anything about the weather. There is so much more to complain about in our lives, like our health, finances, or losses we have experienced. I wonder how many of us have screamed “Why?” when we are experiencing fear and doubt. Have you ever felt abandoned and alone? Have you turned your hurt and pain on God? A.W. Pink reminds us that anytime we complain about anything, we are murmuring against God.

Jeremiah could not take his complaints to the people because they would just see him as foolish and false. He had no family, no wife, or children. He was alone, with only God as his companion. When he felt as if he had been abandoned by God, he felt completely alone in the world. That’s enough to make any of us complain.

I read a story about a man who took his son to the woods to perform a life transition ritual as he was growing from childhood to manhood. The father sat his son on a tree stump, blindfolded him, and told him that he needed to sit there alone all night. He could not remove the blindfold or move even if something made him afraid. “When the sun rises, you can remove the blindfold and come home. Then you will be a man.” The boy did as his father said and when he was aware of the sun on his face, he took off the blindfold. There, on a stump nearby, was his father who had sat vigil with him all night to protect him from the dangers of the forest at night. The boy may have thought he was alone when he heard wildlife cries or the rustle of the underbrush, but his father would never have let him be harmed.

Jeremiah was never alone, but he had lost his way. The LORD answered, “Turn around and there you will see me. I’m right here with you. Times are tough but I will not abandon you. Speak what is good and you will see my hand do amazing things.” In his confession, Jeremiah was doing and saying what is worthless. Complaints do not change things. Complaints only make things worse. We all do it and those of us who are honest admit that we do it. Yet, our complaints have no value. Even when things seem like they can’t get any worse, we find peace and hope in the precious words of God’s promises. Transformation comes from the utterance of God’s word.

We are all “but people.” We are willing to make bold statements, but they are often accompanied by a “but.” This happens regularly on the court shows. The judge will ask “Did you sign a contract?” The person will answer, “Yes, but...” What mother has not said, “Yes you can have ice cream, but first you need to eat your dinner.” Not all “but” statements are bad, sometimes they are good. The key is to recognize how often we say it. I know I write it often (sometimes using the word “yet” which doesn’t change the meaning! We often even use it when we are talking about our faith. “I believe in your Jesus, but could you just make it easier for me to live my faith?”

Last week Peter made a great confession of faith; this week is his “but...” Though Peter confessed that Jesus was the Messiah, he didn’t want to believe that Jesus had to die. It didn’t fit his expectations. “You are the Christ but do it the way I think you should do it.” We love Peter, perhaps because he is so much like the rest of us; it is comforting to know that we are all “but people.” Peter made the great confession, but he wasn’t ready for the cross. Peter did not want Jesus to die, so he rebuked Him for talking about sacrifice and death. Peter had great faith by the grace of God, but in his next breath Peter’s faith seemed lost to his own needs and wants.

I’ve heard it said that God does not abandon us, but it sure does feel like He has sometimes. The trouble is, when we feel abandoned, it is not God who has left, but rather it is us that have turned away from Him. We may be just like Peter, looking right in the face of God but not seeing Him as He is because we are blinded by our own expectation and understanding. Peter confessed Jesus was the Messiah, but he did not yet accept what that really meant. When Jesus said, “I have to suffer” Peter rebuked Him. God was doing something new, something He’d promised since the beginning of time. Unfortunately, most of the people misunderstood God’s promises, Peter included. They doubted what Jesus was saying. They worried about His attitudes. They wanted to point Jesus in the familiar and comfortable direction they expected. They didn’t expect or understand that God had to die to fulfill His promises.

But God says, “Look at me.” He calls us away from our expectations and understanding to see the world as He sees it. He has promised that He will take care of us. We are quick to try to make things go our own way trying to take care of ourselves, but then we miss what God is saying and doing. God says, “Look at me” so that we will not take matters into our own hands.

Paul’s command to live peaceably with all is hard for us. We’d rather grumble. For too many people, peace means staying within the status quo, avoiding change in our thoughts and minds. Peter was given a gift of knowledge directly from God, that Jesus was the Messiah. Despite that, he still wanted to Jesus to fight for His kingdom the way an earthly king would fight. He didn’t know that there would be no real peace until Jesus overcame his enemies in His way. Jesus says, “Look at me!” He wants us to see Him as He is, to live as He has called us to live, and to rest in Him to find peace. This is not a peace that has overcome all our worldly problems that cause us to grumble; it is a peace that gives us contentment through them.

Jesus’ answer to Peter seems so harsh. “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.” Satan? Is Jesus calling Peter Satan? No, but Peter’s perspective flipped from God’s point of view to his own. He was thinking only of the glory and not the sacrifice that was necessary for God’s redemption of the world to be complete. God’s purpose for Jesus was not to fulfill any of our expectations. The Father sent the Son to die for you and for me. While we live in the hope of the glory to come, we cannot ignore the cross through which Jesus passed for our salvation.

Jesus was not saying that Peter was Satan, or even that Peter was trying to block Jesus’ mission. Peter was not seeing Jesus clearly because something was standing in his way.

Satan is real. The reality is that he is determined to destroy the work of God. Peter is not Satan, and Satan was not physically standing between Peter and Jesus, but Satan was very much a part of that conversation because Peter had fallen prey to the spiritual reality of our own human faults. Jesus rebuked Peter because his point of view made seeing the reality of Jesus impossible. Peter had seen Christ by God’s grace and power; he knew that Jesus was the Messiah. However, Peter had his own expectation of what the Messiah would do and how He would accomplish the work of God. Peter could not see the truth because something was “standing in his way.” That something is the work of Satan.

There is a very real spiritual battle that has been waged since the beginning of time. Adam and Eve faced the serpent in the Garden who asked, “Did God really say?” We struggle with the same question today. Satan needs to get out of the way so that we can each see Christ clearly. We are all “but people”, like Peter, when it comes to fully knowing what God intends. We confess faith but we want to do it our own way.

It is easier for us to blame human nature for the evil that we see happening in the world. Surely, we are too advanced to suggest that there exists a being like Satan! I’ve never seen him, have you? During Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, Satan tried to convince Jesus to pursue a different kind of work in the world. Temptation is real, we all know that, but we moderns think that it is ridiculous to blame a character; especially the notion that Satan is a dude in a red suit with horns and a tail carrying a pitchfork around the world. This is a good thing because Satan certainly is not a character and sometimes human nature is to blame.

Satan is real and sometimes our neighbors sin. This does not mean that our neighbor is Satan. Satan is real and sometimes it is our own weakness that causes us to sin. This does not mean we are Satan. We are reminded that he is real so that we’ll be prepared, not only if we see evil face to face, but when we are faced with the temptations that come to us through our neighbors and our own hearts. When we feel the need to grumble, especially about the things we can’t change, we are reminded that the best way for Satan to accomplish his goals is with the help of flesh and blood people doing his dirty work.

We see this humorously in the brilliant story of Screwtape and Wormwood found in the insightful book by C.S. Lewis called “The Screwtape Letters.” Wormwood is an apprentice demon his Uncle Screwtape’s advice. Uncle Screwtape teaches him how to use human nature to his advantage. Lewis wrote: “It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”

Screwtape advised his nephew to play upon the image of the devil as being a scaly red dragon with horns and a tail. Satan’s goal is to convince us that he doesn’t exist. What better way to accomplish that goal than to make his image so ridiculous that it just makes sense to ignore the reality of his existence? He’s done a pretty good job; many people, even Christians, doubt that Satan is real. It is not old fashioned to think Satan exists; it would do us well to remember that the battles we face are not just physical; a spiritual war rages around us all the time and it is up to us to be prepared to fight against Satan with faith and hope and grace every day.

That said, the biblical word that is often translated “Satan” does not always refer to the being. It means “an adversary, opponent, enemy.” Satan is God’s adversary; unfortunately, so are we when we follow our own path. Human nature is the enemy of God’s intention for His people. Temptation is real and we fall every day whether the temptation comes from Satan, others, or from within our own hearts. We are His enemies when we sin. Jesus cries, “Get behind me, Satan” when we stand in His way and do what we want to do rather than what He is calling us to. That doesn’t mean He’s calling us Satan, but that we are opposing Him in a way that is not only dangerous to ourselves but will hinder His work in the world.

We are just like Peter when He opposed Jesus. Peter was not standing there as Satan incarnate, but he had been convinced by his own understanding and the expectations of the world that Jesus would be the kind of Messiah they wanted. Death was not in their plan. Peter was ready to fight for Jesus in the flesh but didn’t realize that he’d been deceived in spirit. The world identifies Jesus according to their wants and needs. They want a teacher, a rabbi, a miracle worker, and a good man. They want a radical that is willing to stand up against injustice. They want a friend, a comforter, and a guide whose example we should follow. Jesus is far, far more. And because He is more, He is rejected by those who need Him most.

Today’s psalm is the prayer of one who has been falsely accused. Saul knew that he was no longer in God’s favor, so he persecuted David. Saul suspected David of conspiring against him and did everything he could to demean him in the eyes of the people. The reality is that Saul was falsely accusing David of the very things he was doing. If you study the word “seek” (or its forms) in the story of David and Saul, you will discover something interesting: Saul sought David while David sought God. Saul wanted David dead; David wanted to follow God’s heart. In this psalm prayer, David wrote, “Yahweh, I love the habitation of your house, the place where your glory dwells.” David always wanted to be with God.

The people in Jeremiah’s day did not like what Jeremiah had to say so they accused him of being a very bad man. People also accused David of being bad. Jeremiah and David were persecuted by people who wanted their way, who wanted to do what they thought was right. Their truth was dependent on their desires and their motivation was totally self-serving. As we read the lectionary passages this week, it might seem as though David and Jeremiah were self-righteous as they talked about their goodness. Yet, these texts are prayers of humble supplication before God, seeking His help in their troubles. We tend to respond to persecution and false accusation with a need for vindication, but David asked God to look at his life and do what is right according to His Word. This assertion of righteousness is not a claim that David was a perfect person; he was definitely not more righteous than others. In the psalm we see David’s example of faith in God’s mercy and justice. We learn that even when we are being persecuted, we can live the life God has called us to live, keeping our eyes on Him and trusting that He will do what is right.

We may feel alone at the moment, but as we stand in the presence of God, we will see His mercy and His grace. God is calling us to the life that seeks Him above all else, even if seeking Him puts us in a risky or dangerous place. His path may not be easy, but He is there with us. His path may lead to physical death, but He has promised a life that will last forever. When we die to self, we are free to live for Him. This is what it means to take up our cross.

Many people, including Christians, have reduced the rest of our passage to a frivolous motto. After telling Peter that he’s got his mind on the wrong things, the things of the world, He tells the entire group of disciples that they have to be willing to set aside everything for His sake. He says, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” How many of us have used this verse to find comfort in the midst of suffering? “This is my cross,” we say. What are we calling our crosses? We use it to help us through a hard day at work dealing with a frustrating co-worker. We use it when we are sniffling and sneezing from the common cold. We use it when we can’t seem to pass that math test we need to complete to get our degree. Our cross often becomes those things about our discontent and the complaints we have in our lives.

The cross calls us to do what is right not for the reward but rather because genuine love demands it. Love often commands what is hard. We are to rejoice in hope; not hope in the glory but rather hope in the cross. How many of us really want to be patient in suffering or persevere in prayer when it appears God is unwilling to answer as we want? Paul’s words get even harder. How do we bless our enemy? Is it really possible to be humble in this world of ours? What if, like Jonah, we know God will not avenge us but will seek our enemy’s repentance? How can we let go and treat our persecutors as if they deserved our compassion and mercy? How can we let Christ die for the sake of all human flesh when most people will never deserve His grace?

We do so by picking up our cross and following Jesus. We do so by laying down our lives for the sake of His Gospel and speaking God’s Word into the lives of all whether we want them to be saved or not. We trust in God by humbling ourselves before His throne of grace realizing that we ourselves have no reason to expect His incredible blessings. We do so when we stop paying attention to the things that distract us from seeing Jesus as He is.

Sometimes we have reason to complain because the blessings of God seem to come through pain and abandonment. Through it all, we are called to speak what is precious: the message of the cross that brings true life to those who believe. There are those who will not want to hear. There are those who will stand in our way, especially Satan. We are reminded that we will not fully see God’s glory while we live in the flesh. We live in a world that is imperfect, but we can trust that God is always faithful to His promise.

Our cross will never save the world, but as we stop complaining about our struggles, we will discover the incredible blessing of being raised to new life in Christ. That new life will not always be pleasant; as a matter of fact, we are more likely to see persecution as we are obedient to God. But the new life to which we are raised is one that will last forever even if we suffer death at the hands of our enemies. We need not fear Satan, the world, or our own hearts. Let’s just keep our eyes on Jesus and though we lose our lives we can rest in the promise that Jesus has already saved it.