Identity Crisis

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Jesus declares that His Church is built upon a confession like Peter's: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Lord and Savior. This is our foundation, who we are, and nothing will triumph over His church: not death, not crisis, not the devil, not the Corona. Jesus is coming. Glory is coming... in the meantime we pick up our cross.

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Lord Reverend Dustin Mackintosh

For Valentine’s Day, Karen bought me a plot of land in Scotland, just north of Glasgow. In Scotland, the seller can decide to extend the official royal title along with any sale of land. So these brilliant people are selling off 1x1 foot plots of land to raise money to rebuild their castle… and I just became “Lord Dustin Mackintosh” thanks to “Lady Karen Mackintosh”.
It’s official. No, no, no, you don’t have to bow.
There is another part of my title, a truer part. In 2013 I stood before this church family and presented all the things I believe about who God is and how He calls to live.
And on August 4th, 2013, right here you laid hands on me and ordained me as a pastor of this church.
Both of these are true. One is a deep and meaningful affirmation of who I am. Lord of the Laird. (Just kidding). The other is fun, and the best Valentine’s Day present ever, but it is window dressing.

Next Step Christian Church

Who are we? Who are we now?
We were already somewhat in the process of rediscovering and redefining that with the PULSE team.
Church, our identity has shifted.
It isn’t just that we aren’t meeting together in this building right now… but let’s be honest, that is a huge part of it.
But doing life together, how do we do it? How do we worship together, fellowship together, serve together even. It isn’t that there aren’t answers… it is that all of the answers have changed and all our old patterns of behavior don’t work.
And we don’t how long that is for… but I will tell you this. When stay-at-home orders are lifted, life doesn’t go back to “normal”. These are events that shape a generation, this is a landmark in our lifetimes, and this leaves an indelible mark upon our lives, our families, our kids will remember this.
This is reshaping what it looks like to be Christian. To be a Church. Who the heck are we in such a time as this?
So I want to take time to look at our roots. And in the traditional church calendar, this all lines up well with what is coming.
What is at the center of who we are? We are “Christian” so let’s say “Christ”. Jesus. What about Jesus? Jesus Christ, Son of God, crucified and risen from the dead. Spoiler: that is the center of who we are.
And in two weeks and one day we celebrate Easter, Resurrection Sunday. There are many reasons we are Sabbath keepers, we believe God created the seventh day, blessed it, made it holy… because that’s what God said He did… but they certainly found that tomb empty on Sunday morning and that is a powerful reason to celebrate and worship then too.
And so we are going to hear this morning one of the first defining moments in the Christian church. The first time that word, in fact, is used in Scripture. In the weeks before the crucifixion, maybe just a couple weeks out like we are today.

Who are we?

Matthew 16:13 ESV
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
Jesus has been kind of incognito up to this point. He’s been keeping it all quiet. And people had guesses:
Matthew 16:14 ESV
And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
Matthew 16:15 ESV
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Matthew 16:16 ESV
Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
You are the Messiah. You are the one we have been waiting for, predicted in prophecy… and the Son of God, God himself, the only begotten. Peter probably didn’t yet understand all of that, he certainly did it, but what he did understand was SPOT on. He gets a lot wrong but he gets this so very right.
You are the MESSIAH. Son of the “living God”, Yahweh...
And Jesus says “YES!”
Matthew 16:17 ESV
And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 16:18 ESV
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Peter. He calls him the rock. He has some word play going on.
Now some take Jesus’ play on words here to mean that Jesus is “building his church” on the “rock” of Peter. As in Peter personally, and Peter then becomes a leader in the church, and some church traditions has him becoming bishop in Rome, which is the argument for the primacy of the bishop of Rome… also known as the Pope. It comes from this right here. And the Pope sits in Chair of St. Peter
However, I do not think this is the best understanding of this verse. Petros and petra (which Jesus uses for “rock”) both mean rock, Petros being a little movable stone, petra being a large immovable stone. The wordplay, I think, and the change from “you” to “this” points, not to Peter himself, but back to the confession of verse 16.
It is not upon Peter himself, but the divinely inspired confession that just came out of Peter’s mouth. Peter just confessed that Jesus was Christ, the Son of God. And upon that confession, that fundamental truth, that is the foundation of all His church, the defining thing.
And that fits well with what “church” means. Ekklesia. Called out ones. Assembly. Those who have been summoned together for a purpose.
Who calls us out? Our Father in heaven. What are we called by? The name of Jesus.
So who are we as “the church”? We are those who called by His name, and those who call Him, Jesus, Lord and Savior, Messiah and Son of God.
And against those people… hell is going to tremble.
In Caesarea Philippi there is a place associated with the worship of the God Pan. God of wildness, God of debauchery. They believed this was a gateway to actual hell, to Hades. Association with the God “Pan” is, by the way, why the devil is often depicted with goat feet and horns. Jesus is not saying that the cave there is an actual gateway to hell, but draws upon the local legend to say “nothing will stand against my church.”
Not hell itself. Either the reality of it or your conception of it.
No adversary, no opponent, no place of power or threat of invasion, or persecution or adversity…
Matthew 16:19 ESV
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
That is who we are. We are the Church. Jesus’ church.
So what do we do?

What do we do?

As to your internal life, you are what you pay attention to. What will we turn our attention to? Jesus, the Messiah, Son of God.
As to your external life, you are what you do. What your actions are. And what does Jesus say that’s going to look like?
Jesus set the model:
Matthew 16:21 ESV
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
From that time… Good Friday is coming, Easter is coming, and now Jesus pulls back the curtain and starts to reveal all the things. What’s going to happen.
And Peter tried to talk him out of it, and Jesus rebukes him saying “Get behind me, Satan!” Peter didn’t last long as the golden child.
And then Jesus says, your actions are going to look like my actions. Here is what your activity as a Christ follower are going to look like:
Matthew 16:24–25 ESV
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What is it going to look like? It is going to look like picking up a cross and following Jesus.
Glory is coming. Easter is coming. Resurrection is coming, and more than that, verse 27
Matthew 16:27 ESV
For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
All of that is coming… but what does today look like? For the follower of Christ and for the church of Christ?
Matthew 16:24–25 ESV
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Let’s Find a Cross

Church, how are we going to do this?
Church with a large C, we have an incredible opportunity to discover this anew. God has cleared the game-board. What did those twelve disciples know about “doing church” when Jesus was teaching this. Nothing! They had some models from synagogue and temple… and they made the rest up. As best they knew how, appropriate and adapting to their circumstances, guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
They made it up. That is what our series in Acts has shown us. It is the Holy Spirit working and acting in them… but their experience is figuring it out as they go along.
But with sure confidence in the invincibility of the Church… and willing to suffer and give to the absolute utmost.
Let’s be the Church. Jesus’ church, his “called out ones”, built upon the unshakable bedrock of the true confession in Jesus Christ. That He is who He is.
We have a gift… we get to do that all over again. I know there will be a new normal. We are already finding new patterns of behavior. There will be a release from home-arrest, aka shelter-in-place, aka quarantine.
But may God use this time to remind us who we are and what we do.
We aren’t a people who meet in this building Saturday mornings and do these things. How small is that?
We are His invincible called out ones, those who see Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, and find a cross to pick up and follow him to the absolute utmost.
The cross isn’t pointless self-sacrifice. It is sacrificial service, appointed by God at the right time and place. That is to say, this isn’t a call to foolishly throw our life away, go find every person with Corona you can and lick their face for Jesus.
How are we going to love radically? Sacrificially? And for some, that is going to mean putting their physical health, their life at risk. Health care workers are doing it daily, not foolishly, but with all possible wisdom and precaution doing what it takes to help people, to serve them, to heal them.
Church, how are we going to do this?
Creatively. Victoriously. Unafraid. At Peace. With absolute confidence that neither the gates of hell, or disease, or any other thing can prevail against Jesus’ church.
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