Fragile Faith

If you aren’t familiar (it is currently on Disney Plus if you want to binge watch it), it follows a boy named Cory Matthews through all the shenanigans of school and family.

I think I related with Cory a lot growing up. He was a good dude, but always seemed to make a mess of things and bumble around trying fix his mess ups, Mr Feeny seemed to always be right in the middle of the whole thing.

I think the relateability of the characters in TV shows, books, and movies are what draws us in so deeply.

I can remember the emotions of Cory and Shawn fighting, thinking about the fights I had with my friends. Or the crush Cory had on Topanga and their first kiss. She might have legit been my first crush.

Much like Cory, Peter is the most relatable people in the Gospel accounts.

He is outspoken, to the point that he sometimes speaks before actually thinking.

He seems at times to be overly confident, but in other times to seem like he has no clue what is going on.

And, perhaps most similar to me, he has some really awesome high moments followed by some quite low moments too.

In today's passage, we are going to see possibly Peter’s highest high, followed almost immediately by one of his lowest lows.

Today we are just going to walk with Peter through these verses and point out the ways we can see ourselves in the person of Peter.

Matthew 16:13–28 CSB

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus responded, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he gave the disciples orders to tell no one that he was the Messiah. 21 From then on Jesus began to point out to his disciples that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “Oh no, Lord! This will never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned and told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns but human concerns.” 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. 26 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? 27 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. 28 Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Here’s the first thing we can relate with in the person of Peter...

Like Peter...

1) We are all faced with a QUESTION.

Jesus and the disciples had traveled quite a bit over the last couple of chapters.

They had traveled all around the Sea of Galilee, then spent some time in the northern region of Tyre and Sidon, then back down to Galilee.

Now, they had made their way to Caesarea Philippi, 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee.

Caesarea Philippi was formerly called Paneas, named after the Greek God Pan, who the city served as a center for worship of, having temple to the God in the city.

It had been renamed by one of Herod’s sons, Philip, after himself and in honor of the emperor Augustus Caesar.

In addition to Pan, the city had also been a center for Baal worship for many years as well.

Needless to say, it was a mixture of culture and worship of all kinds of god. (Pan is where we get the term “pantheism”, which is the believe in many gods).

So it is significant that Jesus would take the opportunity, in this city of spiritual diversity, to ask His disciples what they were hearing about Him from the populace…Who do people say that I am.

In a sense Jesus is asking the disciples to “spill the tea” (for my teens in the room). (I think I just gained some positive aura).

Obviously Jesus was a popular figure with people saying He was possible one of the most well know prophets from the OT, or the reincarnation of His recently beheaded cousin.

But none of these ideas about Jesus were true. And yet Jesus seems to show that that the intention of the opening question was really just get to the more important one.

But, who do you say that I am?”

There it is, the question everyone of us must answer.

There are all kinds of ideas in our world about who Jesus was/is.

It is fairly well accepted that Jesus really was a historical figure that lived and breath and walked the earth. Most people are willing to admit that at least.

But outside of being a really good teacher, a great role model, and a decent religious advisor, He isn’t much more for many.

Others though would think of Jesus more as a political symbol or tool. I think that is true in our current political climate. Using the word of Jesus more for their political advantage and less because they really believe them to be true and worth living for.

I think a lot of us would think of Jesus as a friend, someone who cares about us, who served us by dying for our sins and offering us grace when we mess up.

And that is true, Jesus is a friend of sinners and He did die on the cross in our place and offers us grace when we mess up, but He is also much more.

See, it is only when we understand who Jesus really is that we come to understand the significance of what He has done for us and how our lives are transformed by knowing Him.

Peter steps up to the plate to answer this question.

I appreciate Peter because I also have always like to be the one who raises their hand first to answer the teacher’s question.

Thank the Lord he was right though (otherwise it can be really awkward, knowing from experience).

“You are the Messiah...” - The promised one from the OT, who was to come from the line of David and who would save His people from the tyranny of the Roman Empire.

Peter believed Jesus was this promised Savior, but he also believed more.

“…the Son of the living God.” - now this was a whole other level.

Jesus wasn’t just a really important man, He was God, having come from the Father.

This is a bold statement for a Jewish man to say about another Jewish man.

It was blasphemy, calling another man God, but Peter was convinced.

Jesus’s response is key to understanding the significance of Peter’s answer.

Jesus says Peter’s answer isn’t something he had come up with on his own out of his keen insight and impeccable reasoning.

No, Jesus says, Peter knew Him because God the Father had revealed it to Him.

And that is worth considering for a moment.

Jesus is saying to Peter, and to us, that the faith we have in Him as Savior and God isn’t something we can come up with on our own, but it is God’s doing.

Your faith is a gift from God. John 6 44

John 6:44 CSB

44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.

Your faith doesn’t come from a well worded sermon or a really good answer to one of your doubts.

Faith comes from God drawing your heart to Him.

Jesus is saying to Peter “Your are right Peter, and your faith is real faith.”

Jesus goes on to change Peter’s name, which throughout scripture signifies a change of direction in someone’s life.

With Abraham is was in receiving a new promise from God.

With Jacob it was after his wrestling match and the beginning of the people of Israel (his new name).

New name equals new purpose/calling/direction.

It is a symbol for salvation.

Now the next statement is one of the most debated in all of the New Testament.

What does Jesus mean with the word’s “petros” (Peter) and petra (rock)?

Does He mean that the Church will be built on Peter as the central figure in the Church (as Catholics believe)?

Or is it Peter’s confession that is the rock. Meaning the Church will be built on Peter’s confession about Jesus?

Or is if Jesus talking about Himself, saying that He is what the Church will be build on.

I honestly believe it is a combination of all three in a sense.

I believe Jesus is saying that He will build His Church with stones like Peter who understand who He is and confess Him as Lord.

In Peter’s 1st letter (1 Peter) he uses the same imagery to describe who we are as the church.

1 Peter 2:4–6 CSB

4 As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God— 5 you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and honored cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.

Peter, writing years after Jesus’s words in Matthew 16 seems to express what he now understood.

God chose us to be stones in the glorious and grant display of His goodness and grace to the world, His Church.

Our faith unites us with something so much bigger than any of us can really fathom, and yet we are given the keys that welcome those outside in.

“Who is Jesus?” is the question every one of us must answer.

If He isn’t God, then He really isn’t worth following.

If He isn’t Messiah, then those of us who worship Him really should be pitied.

But if He is those things, well then that changes everything doesn’t it?

2) We are all tempted to make Jesus more ATTRACTIVE.

I can imagine how Peter must have felt after that whole exchange.

I can imagine it because I know how I would have felt and I would have been floating.

Peter was likely floating too, holding his head high and feeling pretty good.

Good enough that when he starts hear Jesus talk about going to Jerusalem where He would suffer at the hands of the religious leaders, then be killed by them, and then 3 days later rise from the grave. When He heard that, he just had to say something.

So Peter pull Jesus aside and, Matthew tells us, rebukes Him for saying such things. Peter can’t fathom the idea that Jesus would be taken by the Jews and killed, at least not in his watch.

For Peter, and for the other Jews of his day, the Messiah was to be a mighty, warrior king who would come into Jerusalem and overthrown the powers that be. And then He would reestablish the Kingdom as it was in the time of David and Solomon.

So the thought of Him dying didn’t fit the mold.

Peter reveals something about all of us in how we interact with Jesus.

Peter’s confession in verse 16 is genuine, but he had some ideas of about Jesus that weren’t matching up with who Jesus really was and how that effected his life.

And that is the key. See if Jesus was the warrior King, come to set the Jewish people free, then Peter would be on his inner circle.

There would be benefits and opportunities.

But if He was going to die, well that wasn’t going to work out well for anyone, so he thought.

Peter had let the ideas of people and their interpretations of Scripture influence his understanding of Jesus.

We are no different than Peter.

Our temptation is to see Jesus through the eyes and ideas of our culture or our own desires and aspirations.

We want to make Jesus more attractive, both to ourselves and to the world around us.

Using Jesus as a way into heaven, but lessening or ignoring the command He gives us on how we are to live in this world.

See Jesus’s commands don’t sell well in our world.

We want Jesus, but we don’t want Him to mess with the area of our life we find to be most important.

Whether it is our jobs, our money, our relationships, our hobbies, our sexuality, our health, our entertainment choices, or whatever else.

And like Peter, we feel the need to pull Jesus aside and tell Him “Hey Jesus, people don’t really like all the stuff your teaching. Honestly, I am not a big fan of it. Maybe just lay off it a bit.”

And to that Jesus is saying “Get behind me Satan!”

Jesus is using strong words to express to Peter that what he is saying is way off.

Peter has bought into a lie about who Jesus is and what He had come to accomplish.

That leads us to the final point.

3) We are all called to DIE to SELF.

Jesus is saying it is not possible to come to him and keep our lives as they were.

it may sound harsh, but Jesus is offering to save our lives by losing what will never really satisfy us.

when we choose Jesus we lose something of little value and gain something of unimaginable value.

Jesus' question forces our attention off of what we perceived as loss in giving up the things we consider worth living for before we meet Jesus. And forces us to consider what we gain in Christ.

Self-denial is not asceticism, like Monks in a monastery, praying and humming all day long.

It is submission to a better king.

Self-denial, the self-denial Jesus is talking about here, is not giving up steak sandwiches and chocolate bon bons for Lent. Rather, it is giving up our own selves as lord. It is saying, “Jesus is Lord” and living like you mean it.— Douglas Sean O’Donnell

It is dying to what we once thought to be worth living for and finding in Jesus something worth living forever for.

Jesus doesn’t want your life to miserable, he wants you to enjoy it for forever.

So who do you say Jesus is?

Do you know Him as Savior and Lord?

Do you know Him as the one who offers real, abundant life?

Is He worth dying to all else in order to live?

I pray, like Peter, we can proclaim:

1 Peter 1:6–9 CSB

6 You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

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