On This Rock
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Pentecost + 14
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Matthew 16:13-20
Thinking back, it’s hard to imagine NOT feeling the way I felt. But I realize, intellectually, that at some point before then I DIDN’T feel that way, and I came to the full realization of the emotion in the context of a quiet, post-dinner conversation with a couple of close friends.
When the time came to make the statement where and when it counted, I found myself a little short of breath, having forgotten to breathe, and shaky, jittery, for the same reason. There was a cacophony of emotions welling up inside of me, because I knew that what I was going to say was going to have far-reaching consequences, for at least the foreseeable future, if not for the rest of my life.
But I went ahead and made the confession anyway.
It’s an interesting word, confession. If we think in legal terminology, we immediately think of … guilt. If you confess, you are stating that you did in fact commit whatever … crime or misdemeanor of which you are accused.
In religious terminology, we most often, I suspect, think of confession in the sense of the sacrament, one of those duties you have by which you spend time with either a priest or a confessor and … do something similar to what the legal term refers to – confess sins – both serious and less-so – in order to receive absolution for them.
As a matter of practice, we here at Jerusalem who have attended the baptism services that we’ve held over the last couple of years have also witnessed a confession. Just before the candidate is lowered into the water, we ask the congregation to “hear now the confession of faith,” and that confession is proclaimed simply and clearly:
“Jesus Christ is Lord!”
It is the earliest identifiably, uniquely CHRISTIAN statement. It is at the heart of what sets Christians aside from any other religion or faith practice.
It is the statement that early Christian martyrs were asked to recant or deny or risk losing their lives over. For many, it was their last word on this earth.
It was the password written in the sand in the form of a fish by which early underground Christians identified each other through times of persecution. (The fish was said to symbolize the baptismal waters, the loaves and fish that Jesus used to feed the five thousand, and Jesus’ own declaration to the disciples to become 'fishers of men'. The Greek word for fish, icthus, is an acrostic consisting of the initial letters of five more Greek words, which briefly but clearly described the character of Christ and His claim to the worship of believers: 'Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter' which translates as 'Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior'.)
To say Jesus Christ is Lord is to set the world on its head.
What is it about that statement that would seem to be so counterintuitive … so obviously incorrect to the world at large? In simple terms, it is a refutation of what would seem to be an objective fact. Jesus was crucified. Jesus died. Jesus was buried.
The world stops there.
Most of the time, ANYTHING and anyone stops at the grave. “Jesus is Lord” does not logically follow “Jesus was buried.” And you know what? It’s true. There is a critical intermediate statement: “Jesus rose from the dead.”
It was that critical, pivotal, NECESSARY statement that brought on so much antagonism – and even today, we find folks who still dismiss it out of hand. It simply does not fit into their world view. THAT IS TO BE EXPECTED.
I know there are those who still claim to be Christian and deny the resurrection, and thus the divinity, of Christ, my inclination is to still keep the conversation going with them as brothers and sisters, but to do so with a quizzical look on my face, asking ‘WHY do you still consider yourself Christian?’ To me, faith is at the heart of belief. And it is that step of faith that it takes to say ‘Christ is risen’ that then leads to the confession that we share with Peter in today’s text: Jesus Christ is Lord. Peter’s words proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah, the Savior of the Jews. When we as Gentile Christians proclaim ‘Jesus Christ is Lord,’ we are saying to Jew and Gentile, to Atheist or Agnostic, to Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, and anyone else who would care to listen, that Jesus Christ is Lord of OUR LIVES.
No one and nothing else is.
Supposedly.
When it comes down to it, to say it is one thing. To live it is entirely another matter. Words can indeed be cheap.
So how loud are our actions speaking?
How apparent is it, here, today, in Emmerton and in Warsaw, that Jesus Christ is Lord of the lives of the people who call themselves Jerusalem Baptist Church?
I realize we live in a generally, maybe a better word would be ‘loosely’ Christian society. By that, I mean that we live in a society that is, at least superficially, acquainted with the ‘look’ of Christianity: a church with a steeple every few miles, if not blocks. Groups of people gathering in and around them periodically throughout the week, cars parked in the parking lot, occasionally a special sign standing out front announcing some special event or speaker. Perhaps, as in the case of Jerusalem, the building serves as a polling place during elections, or as a shelter in times of inclement weather, or if it is an inner-city church, as a community center during the week, or a soup kitchen for the homeless.
Those are expressions of what Christianity has come to be expected to ‘look’ like, in a wholesome, benign, community-oriented view of the role religion plays in society, but what does it really truly mean to say and believe that Jesus Christ is Lord? The role we play in society and the role Christ plays in our lives might sometimes strain each other. We endeavor to be good citizens and ‘good Christians’ in a non-intrusive, low-key way.
When you say Jesus Christ is Lord, it means that when you say and believe the same thing, you are given to it. It is not so much a part of who you are, it IS who you are. You are defined by the Lordship of Christ in your life, not the other way around.
Here’s the dangerous and tricky part. Insofar as we are each different from one another, the Lordship of Christ is going to look different in each of us. sometimes to greater or lesser degrees of difference, but different, nonetheless. Sometimes in small ways, but sometimes in different, more obvious way.
So how are we going to live with those differences?
I believe that question is at the core of how we are going to view our identity as a family of faith, and it is going to color our surrounding community’s view of US as a family of faith – as much as I dislike the concept of litmus tests, if there ever was one that was appropriate, this is it.
Growing up in Chile, I remember hearing testimonies of people who would walk in off the street into a service, and in the course of their sharing, they stated that what drew them to the church in the first place was the love that the members shared among themselves – and with those outside the church. The fact that they were claiming Jesus as Lord of their lives made a difference in how they LIVED their lives.
You may be thinking that I am stating the obvious, but there is a time when the obvious must be restated, reemphasized, re-kindled in our hearts.
And there is a time when we ALL need to be held accountable to what it means to claim Jesus as Lord.
So what does that mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?
It means that we are not exempt, either from failing to live out what it means to claim Christ as Lord, or of excelling in that same thing. In other words, we end up on either side of the spectrum. Sometimes we hit the mark, sometimes we don’t.
Please take that as a given, not as a criticism. I’m intentionally using the ‘we’ there.
It is in how we respond to those moments when one or another of us fails that marks us as Christians. Do we respond in judgment, in rejection, or in compassion and sorrow? There is a time for each, as the writer of Ecclesiastes says, and we, as people of a post-Easter faith must live in the light of that understanding – of that Lordship.
My confession was relatively short. I stood and took her hands in mine and said “I tried to think of a funny way to work in the phrase ‘as you wish’ into the conversation, but all I could come up with is ‘I Love you.’
And that, just as saying – and MEANING ‘Jesus is Lord’ when I was 17, has made all the difference.
Let’s pray.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Pentecost + 14
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Matthew 16:13-20
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ 14 And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ 15 He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ 16 Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ 17 And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ 20 Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Thinking back, it’s hard to imagine NOT feeling the way I felt. But I realize, intellectually, that at some point before then I DIDN’T feel that way, and I came to the full realization of the emotion in the context of a quiet, post-dinner conversation with a couple of close friends.
When the time came to make the statement where and when it counted, I found myself a little short of breath, having forgotten to breathe, and shaky, jittery, for the same reason. There was a cacophony of emotions welling up inside of me, because I knew that what I was going to say was going to have far-reaching consequences, for at least the foreseeable future, if not for the rest of my life.
But I went ahead and made the confession anyway.
It’s an interesting word, confession. If we think in legal terminology, we immediately think of … guilt. If you confess, you are stating that you did in fact commit whatever … crime or misdemeanor of which you are accused.
In religious terminology, we most often, I suspect, think of confession in the sense of the sacrament, one of those duties you have by which you spend time with either a priest or a confessor and … do something similar to what the legal term refers to – confess sins – both serious and less-so – in order to receive absolution for them.
As a matter of practice, we here at Jerusalem who have attended the baptism services that we’ve held over the last couple of years have also witnessed a confession. Just before the candidate is lowered into the water, we ask the congregation to “hear now the confession of faith,” and that confession is proclaimed simply and clearly:
“Jesus Christ is Lord!”
It is the earliest identifiably, uniquely CHRISTIAN statement. It is at the heart of what sets Christians aside from any other religion or faith practice.
It is the statement that early Christian martyrs were asked to recant or deny or risk losing their lives over. For many, it was their last word on this earth.
It was the password written in the sand in the form of a fish by which early underground Christians identified each other through times of persecution. (The fish was said to symbolize the baptismal waters, the loaves and fish that Jesus used to feed the five thousand, and Jesus’ own declaration to the disciples to become 'fishers of men'. The Greek word for fish, icthus, is an acrostic consisting of the initial letters of five more Greek words, which briefly but clearly described the character of Christ and His claim to the worship of believers: 'Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter' which translates as 'Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior'.)
To say Jesus Christ is Lord is to set the world on its head.
What is it about that statement that would seem to be so counterintuitive … so obviously incorrect to the world at large? In simple terms, it is a refutation of what would seem to be an objective fact. Jesus was crucified. Jesus died. Jesus was buried.
The world stops there.
Most of the time, ANYTHING and anyone stops at the grave. “Jesus is Lord” does not logically follow “Jesus was buried.” And you know what? It’s true. There is a critical intermediate statement: “Jesus rose from the dead.”
It was that critical, pivotal, NECESSARY statement that brought on so much antagonism – and even today, we find folks who still dismiss it out of hand. It simply does not fit into their world view. THAT IS TO BE EXPECTED.
I know there are those who still claim to be Christian and deny the resurrection, and thus the divinity, of Christ, my inclination is to still keep the conversation going with them as brothers and sisters, but to do so with a quizzical look on my face, asking ‘WHY do you still consider yourself Christian?’ To me, faith is at the heart of belief. And it is that step of faith that it takes to say ‘Christ is risen’ that then leads to the confession that we share with Peter in today’s text: Jesus Christ is Lord. Peter’s words proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah, the Savior of the Jews. When we as Gentile Christians proclaim ‘Jesus Christ is Lord,’ we are saying to Jew and Gentile, to Atheist or Agnostic, to Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, and anyone else who would care to listen, that Jesus Christ is Lord of OUR LIVES.
No one and nothing else is.
Supposedly.
When it comes down to it, to say it is one thing. To live it is entirely another matter. Words can indeed be cheap.
So how loud are our actions speaking?
How apparent is it, here, today, in Emmerton and in Warsaw, that Jesus Christ is Lord of the lives of the people who call themselves Jerusalem Baptist Church?
I realize we live in a generally, maybe a better word would be ‘loosely’ Christian society. By that, I mean that we live in a society that is, at least superficially, acquainted with the ‘look’ of Christianity: a church with a steeple every few miles, if not blocks. Groups of people gathering in and around them periodically throughout the week, cars parked in the parking lot, occasionally a special sign standing out front announcing some special event or speaker. Perhaps, as in the case of Jerusalem, the building serves as a polling place during elections, or as a shelter in times of inclement weather, or if it is an inner-city church, as a community center during the week, or a soup kitchen for the homeless.
Those are expressions of what Christianity has come to be expected to ‘look’ like, in a wholesome, benign, community-oriented view of the role religion plays in society, but what does it really truly mean to say and believe that Jesus Christ is Lord? The role we play in society and the role Christ plays in our lives might sometimes strain each other. We endeavor to be good citizens and ‘good Christians’ in a non-intrusive, low-key way.
When you say Jesus Christ is Lord, it means that when you say and believe the same thing, you are given to it. It is not so much a part of who you are, it IS who you are. You are defined by the Lordship of Christ in your life, not the other way around.
Here’s the dangerous and tricky part. Insofar as we are each different from one another, the Lordship of Christ is going to look different in each of us. sometimes to greater or lesser degrees of difference, but different, nonetheless. Sometimes in small ways, but sometimes in different, more obvious way.
So how are we going to live with those differences?
I believe that question is at the core of how we are going to view our identity as a family of faith, and it is going to color our surrounding community’s view of US as a family of faith – as much as I dislike the concept of litmus tests, if there ever was one that was appropriate, this is it.
Growing up in Chile, I remember hearing testimonies of people who would walk in off the street into a service, and in the course of their sharing, they stated that what drew them to the church in the first place was the love that the members shared among themselves – and with those outside the church. The fact that they were claiming Jesus as Lord of their lives made a difference in how they LIVED their lives.
You may be thinking that I am stating the obvious, but there is a time when the obvious must be restated, reemphasized, re-kindled in our hearts.
And there is a time when we ALL need to be held accountable to what it means to claim Jesus as Lord.
So what does that mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?
It means that we are not exempt, either from failing to live out what it means to claim Christ as Lord, or of excelling in that same thing. In other words, we end up on either side of the spectrum. Sometimes we hit the mark, sometimes we don’t.
Please take that as a given, not as a criticism. I’m intentionally using the ‘we’ there.
It is in how we respond to those moments when one or another of us fails that marks us as Christians. Do we respond in judgment, in rejection, or in compassion and sorrow? There is a time for each, as the writer of Ecclesiastes says, and we, as people of a post-Easter faith must live in the light of that understanding – of that Lordship.
My confession was relatively short. I stood and took her hands in mine and said “I tried to think of a funny way to work in the phrase ‘as you wish’ into the conversation, but all I could come up with is ‘I Love you.’
And that, just as saying – and MEANING ‘Jesus is Lord’ when I was 17, has made all the difference.
Let’s pray.
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