Sermon Tone Analysis

So many opinions; So many views about Jesus from family, friends and foes.

Clear thinking about who is Jesus seemed to be hidden from anyone who came into contact with Him.

A secret was about to be revealed; a secret we have had inside knowledge on from the very first verse of Mark but those in the text were completely oblivious to.

There has been a air of suspense as we approached the central verses of Mark, which also happens to be the centre point of Mark’s gospel.

Finally one of the disciples wakes up to the reality that right in the midst of them was one who had long been promised.

You are in front of a load of kids and you are teaching them, doesn’t matter what subject but say you are teaching multiplication tables and you ask what is 12 times 12 and you get a show of hands ‘me, me, me!’

You know this routine because it happens every day in your classroom.

You also know it is the same hands that go up every time.

You know which ones are simply seeking attention, you know the ones who barely know the answer; you know the ones who think that they know the answer to everything, and on some occasions you get a surprise hand go up from one of the quieter pupils who will give you the right answer every time.

Peter was always one to offer his opinion, he was the ‘me, me, me’ pupil, never shy in thinking that he is right.

What was surprising was that in answer to the question primed by Jesus to get them thinking about who He was, first by asking what others say of Him, but then, more crucially; ‘who do you say I am?’

It was Peter with the right answer.

That’s right!

Jesus IS the Messiah.

Finally one of them had cottoned on.

Mark declared it in the first verse of his gospel: Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Bravo, Peter!

Peter must have been brimming with pride – in Matthew 16 we find Jesus praising him for getting it right for it had been revealed to Peter by God himself.

Did Peter suddenly get filled with pride?

Is that what happened?

Did he now think himself to be the fount of all knowledge?

It must be the case because no sooner had he got it right he got it so disastrously wrong!

How is it possible for a man to have something revealed to him by God then be used as a tool of the devil?

It just doesn’t seem plausible.

I think the key is in what we do with praise.

We can receive praise and respond in different ways.

We can receive praise and want nothing to do with it thereby making it like it had never been said.

We can receive praise and say thank you and then try to deflect it to the one who gave us the ability which almost always strikes me as a little disingenuous for it tries to make you seem good and therefore worthy of more praise - the heart may be right but it does not seem possible to practically do.

When we receive praise, I have found the best way to deal with it is to simply say; thank you.

But then we can receive praise and get puffed up like a peacock and of the different responses this is the most vulnerable.

We suddenly think we know it all and are ready to exercise our right to speak into every situation.

People who can speak godly things one moment can speak devilish things the next.

Probably very true of ministers.

Satan inhabited Peter for that moment of madness because pride is of the devil.

It is the thing that led to his downfall and it is the root problem in our lives.

Poor Peter!

One moment he has great success and in the next such a dismal failure.

Pride does not leave room for others or for true knowledge or wisdom.

It is says ‘I know best, I know what I’m talking about, I have nothing to learn from you’.

I, I, I. p.r.I.d.e..

We are so puny compared to God.

The knowledge that we have is miniscule.

What we think we know we actually do not REALLY know at all.

God knows everything.

We know nothing at all.

He has perfect knowledge and the wisdom.

God must laugh from Heaven at the ridiculousness of humans.

That is why Paul came to the conclusion that true knowledge is in knowing Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Everything else is vanity – everything else is worthless.

Let us be careful to not find ourselves in opposition to God because God opposes the proud (James 5.6, 1 Pet 5.5) but gives grace to the humble.

You think you are called by God to great things – wonder at amazement about it but do not think for one second it is because you are worthy.

Are you blessed with spiritual gifts?

Are you blessed materially?

Do you think God gives you these things as a reward?

No, it is not true.

How do we account for those Christians who are far more spiritual than us in Africa and Asia, who put their lives on the line for Christ yet are in poverty?

God does not give you things to crown you with glory before people.

If you have anything at all it is for the glory of God and the building up of the body of Christ so be thankful for what you have.

Worthiness comes from being accepted in the beloved.

He loves us.

Now we are worthy because the ultimate price has been paid for us.

Peter got it wrong because he had imperfect knowledge.

He thought that the Messiah was going to come with political power and put down the Roman occupying forces and then King Jesus will reign.

He could not cope with a suffering Messiah – No! It cannot be!

No Jesus!

Not realising that if Jesus is the Messiah like he thought and said he was then He would actually know best but now Peter was acting as his royal adviser!

On the one hand Peter gets it right but pride and wrong doctrine makes him get it wrong.

And we have to be careful not to fall into this trap; there is right doctrine and wrong and false doctrine…we are only human so not one of us has got perfect doctrine.

Let’s make sure pride is not a reason for not correcting our thinking.

But Peter’s declaration of Jesus as the Christ is

the turning point of the Gospel and from it all events move toward Jerusalem, the betrayal, the whipping post, and the bloody Cross.

Jesus laid it out in plain language.

A Messiah who is rejected, suffers and dies is not the kind of Messiah Peter had signed up to following.

Not only that but Jesus used that word ‘must’; Jesus must suffer.

It is necessary for Jesus to suffer.

How can anyone stomach that?

There is a move which used to be only among liberals but now among so-called evangelicals, including many prominent baptists, to say that Jesus was just an example of love and sacrifice.

But do we really think that Jesus suffering in such a way was just to show us what love is? Surely He could have done this by healing people and preaching a message of love, oh, wait, He did this already!

No, the cross was absolutely necessary to atone for our sin.

Jesus was the lamb sacrificed for us.

Horrendous as that sounds if there had been some other way to save us it would have been taken.

That’s why the cross is offensive to people even today.

But Jesus would not go through what He went through just to show us love.

But, it is, of course, the greatest demonstration of love ever shown.

And through the candid language of Jesus Peter still missed the bit about rising from the dead in 3 days.

Knowledge is seemingly hidden from the disciples though it was as plain as it could be.

This is often the case when someone is entrenched in a wrong doctrine and just cannot see what seems obvious, especially to us, the reader.

Then Jesus goes on to say what the cost of following Him is.

Is there anything that it could cost us that it did not cost Jesus more?

Jesus made himself of no reputation; He made no room for pride and He calls us to the same ‘no reputation’, to lay down one’s life to follow Jesus.

What good is life if this life is all there is, and if the biggest thing you can gain is the world by working day and night?

What is the size of the world in comparison to the universe that is held in God’s hand as an insignificant speck of dust?

Is there a point in working to gain material things in this life that have to be replaced or repaired in a few years time?

I was watching Inspector Morse in the week and there was a Citroen 2CV on it which were all the rage when I was young.

How ridiculous it seems looking back on it.

People work hard to gain things.

And those things that are new now will appear to be outdated in ten plus years if not less.

Is there a point in gaining what is in your own little world only to die in a few years time?

What we gain in this world is so ludicrously small and yet we work a lifetime gaining things that will not be of any use to us when we die or for those to whom we leave them.

There has to be a better way.