Re-orient
Kingdom Transformation - Part 3
Sunday, August 23, 2020
Matthew 16:13-20
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16:15-16
“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Such a simple statement of faith, at least from where we sit in our comfortable and often privatized religious world. How easy it is today to say Jesus is Lord and Messiah. How easy it is to say we believe.
For Peter, this may have been a declaration of faith, but it was far more. Likely standing within eyesight of the imperial cult sites of Cesarea Phillipi where Caesar alone was worshiped as the son of God, this declaration was nothing short of treason under the penalty of death.
I have to be honest. I have never seen the kind of absolute loyalty and worship of a political figure like they experienced in the Roman Empire or in countless other monarchies and dictatorships throughout ancient and modern history. In our democratic system, politicians fall in and out of favor like the latest style or the two year old smartphone that is already out of date. They have fans and they have haters, but they generally don’t have worshipers.
Well, at least not until recently. Absolute loyalty to a political party or leader in these past few years has become not only a defining marker of one’s patriotism, but in many cases, a litmus test for one’s faith. Until recently, it has always been understood that Christians hold varying political positions on a number of issues. Now it seems that a person who doesn’t vote a particular way cannot be a Christian at all. Some have gone as far as identifying their opposing political party as “Children of Satan.”
This is where we circle back to Peter’s treasonous declaration of faith. If Jesus is Messiah, Savior, and Son of the Living God, how is it that we Christians in America have become so utterly dependent on fallen human beings in positions of political power to “save our nation?” Do we even know what we think they will “save us from” or more importantly, what they will “save us for?” We give lip service to Christ as Savior, but we accuse others of denying Christ not because of their faith, their character, the presence of the fruit of the Spirit in their lives, or any other metric we might find in scripture. Instead we determine their salvation, or at the very least, their commitment to Christ based on their earthly political positions. Ceasar is still alive and well, and depending on who you talk to, he is riding either an elephant or a donkey straight to the throne of our hearts.
Peter was not praying a little private prayer of confession to make sure Jesus would forgive him and save him a seat in heaven. Peter was saying the Pledge of Allegiance…
Only his allegiance was not to a flag or even to the nation for which it stands. His allegiance was not even to the emperor who quite literally had the power over life and death for those who would challenge his divine status. No… Peter’s allegiance… the allegiance on which the very foundations of the Church are built, is an absolute, unwavering, unquestioned allegiance to Christ, Messiah, Lord and King, Son of the Living God.
For Peter there was no such thing as God AND Country…. There was only God… and his name is Jesus.
Listen to this week’s sermon here: