June 25 The Great Life Matthew 16:13-18
This morning I want to talk about The Great Life. As I researched the topic, I found a number of websites dedicated to The Great Life. One was a site helping people become entrepreneurs (logo of www.thegreat.life: build, live, enjoy). One was a site dedicated to cooking (pic off http://www.thegreatlife.com.au) . One was about Great Life Dogfood (pic).
But just what is the Great Life? The Great Life is a life given to the glory of God.
Let me explain what I mean. The word glory (Hebrew, kabod): heaviness; honor. In the N.T. glory (Greek, doxa): brightness and beauty. The glory of God has to do with the brightness, the beauty, the importance and the fame of God.
All of creation was created with one purpose: to glorify God. The Bible says the stars (magnificent pic of star cluster) sing to the glory and fame of God. The Bible says that the trees clap their hands (pic of aspens blowing in the wind) to glory and fame of God. The Bible says the mountains (beautiful pic of mountains) tremble at the glory and fame of God.
And the one creature who has the most capacity to glorify God is the creature who bears the image of God. That would be you and me. God says in Genesis, “Let us make humans in our image.”
So listen, if the purpose for which you were created is to glorify God, is there any higher life than that? Absolutely not. Having sex is not. Getting married is not. Raising children is not. Worldly pleasures are not. There is no greater life than to glorify our Creator.
Most of us don’t have great lives because they don’t pursue a transcendent purpose. We try to fill our lives with ordinary human stuff: houses, careers, schools, cars, even family. But if the main thing is not the main thing, they won’t bring much fulfillment and tey won’t make for a great life.
Matt Papa, in His book, “Look and Live” says, ““We were created by God and for God, and until we understand that, we are restless, brokenhearted glory chasers, always seeking something more. Only God, the highest and greatest good, the infinite holy One, is finally enough.” Matt Papa, Look and Live Until Jesus is enough for you, nothing will be enough for you.
Now think with me how we glorify Jesus. 1 Corinthians 10:31 “Whether you eat, drink or whatever you do, do to God’s glory.” So living a life that seeks God’s importance in your life, living a life that enhances God’s importance in the world, His fame and beauty, that’s how we glorify Him and that is the Great Life.
Now stick with me. There is one enterprise in the universe that Jesus established to promote the glory of Jesus. What is it? The church. Ephesians 3:21 “To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.”
The New Testament calls the church the Bride of Christ. We are the Bride of Christ. Individually and collectively as a church we are to live in a way that reflects the importance of Jesus in our lives and brings honor and fame to Him.
So church, I want us to examine a well-known passage of Scripture this morning that will get us focused on God’s glory in the church.
Turn to Matthew 16:13-18 We continue our series called the Higher Path. And the higher path is a path of humble service and love for God and for people.
I happen to believe deeply in something I heard years ago from Pastor Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Community church in Chicago: “The local church is the hope of the world.” Bill Hybels
The Great Life is a life that is spent in the pursuit of the glory of God. And the one enterprise established for that is the local church. Let’s look at what Jesus said about the church.
Matthew 16:13-18 (on screen)
Just got back from Israel. When you go to Israel, you have the opportunity to go to Caesarea Philippi. Herod the Great, who tried to kill Jesus 33 years earlier, had 2 sons, one of them was Herod Phillip, who named this region after Caesar and after himself; Caesarea Philippi. It is at the foot of Mt. Herman and at the source waters of the Jordan River. (map with location). It is ? miles from Jesus’ ministry base of Capernaum, that was a fishing village on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Would take ? days to get there but it was a nice retreat from the busy hustle and bustle of His public ministry.
Jesus asks them 2 questions, right? The first one was what? “Who do people say that I am?” They answer with what they’d heard people say. Where they right or wrong? Wrong.
People today have a crazy, skewed understanding of who Jesus is. Some see Him as a nice guy; a great moral teacher and example—but that’s all. Others see Him as someone who has no real moral standards; someone who just approves whatever we want to do.
There are churches like that…filled with people who gather on Sunday to talk about Jesus the Man; who talk about how embracing Jesus is of the brokenness of our world—somehow believing that Jesus has no absolute moral standards and gives us the right and power to decide for ourselves.
So then Jesus asks another question, right? What was it? “Who do YOU say that I am?” That’s the ultimate question, isn’t it? Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter what the person next to you thinks. God holds us accountable for what we think.
So what did Peter answer? “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” Way to go Peter! Peter had flashes of inspiration, didn’t he?
When each of comes to the end of this life and we stand before Jesus, our answer to this question will determine whether or not we spend eternity with Him or without Him.
Jesus affirms what Peter said. “Your correct Simon. I’m going to name you Peter (petros) and on this rock (petra) I will build my church.”
Jesus uses a play on words here. And what a great location. When you visit Caesarea Philippi, you see this huge outcrop of rock (pic). That would be petra. At bottom of the outrcrop would be shards or parts of the petra that had broken off, that would be petros. After Peter makes this great confession of who Jesus is, Jesus says, “I’m going to name you Peter (petros/shard) and on this rock (petra/boulder) I will build my church.”
On what did Jesus say He would build His church? The truth that He is the Messiah and that He is the Son of the Living God. This is not biblical evidence for papal succession or authority. It is the declaration of Jesus that He was going to build something on the bedrock truth that He was the Messiah and the Son of the Living God. And that something was going to be the church(ecclesia): the called out ones
A couple of take-aways this morning:
1. We need to maintain a biblical perception of Jesus
The church is built on the confession of the gospel. When churches forget this, all things fall apart.
Story of church : We preach Christ crucified..Christ…preach Gone was the power…
2. We need to continue to align our purpose with the purpose of Jesus.
We need to understand what Jesus is about. The church is a powerful declaration of God’s glory. Hades won’t overcome it. When you see the church breathed into existence in Acts 2, you see that the purposes of the church were worship, spiritual maturity, community, witnessing, service, and generosity. Here at Rush Creek, everything we do revolves around those purposes.
3. We need to understand to beautify the church brings glory to Jesus.
When someone brags on Sue, I glory in that. When someone blesses Sue, that blesses me. When I look and see how beautiful she is, that brings me pleasure. So any effort to beutify and build the Bride of Jesus is pleasing and glorifying to Him. The church is a beautiful picture of God’s grace/mercy. A proper/correct attitude about the church. Rev. d
So let’s build the church. Let’s beautify the church. I’m not talking about building/beautifying a building. I’m talking about building/beautifying the called out ones. This is the Great Life: a life lived building up and beautifying the bride of Christ.
And how do we do that? We serve. We give. We sacrifice time, talent, and treasure.
Closing Illustration
