A Life of Worship

12 Sunday After Pentecost

Today's readings: Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20

Grace and peace to you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Who do you say that Jesus is? Some said he was a wannabe Jewish king and they crucified him. Some even questioned if he was Beelzebub, a demon or the devil. Some have said that he was a false prophet, others have said he was the greatest prophet in all of history. Some have said that he was the Son of Yahweh. Some have said he was God incarnate – God in human flesh and bones. Some have called him by similar names – Son of the Living God, Son of Man, Son of David, Lord, Savior, King of Kings, Comforter, Deliverer, Prince of Peace, Holy One of God, Lamb of God, Messiah. Who do YOU say that Jesus is?

This morning we heard Peter’s testimony, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Peter experienced Jesus - experienced God first hand and proclaimed the truth revealed to him by God. He is rewarded of course, as Jesus here gives him the “keys of the kingdom” and doubles down on his nickname, Peter – meaning rock – saying, “on this rock I will build my church that not even death can conquer.” That’s a tall order! A blessing big enough that we might assume Peter is the greatest of all men! But wait.. we already know Peter doesn’t have the greatest track record for understanding or trusting God.. and in just a few more verses Jesus is going to rebuke Simon Peter saying, “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block for me!” and then again when Jesus is carrying his cross to Calvary, Peter will deny ever knowing Jesus - not once, but three times. Yet Jesus says, ‘on THIS rock I will build my church.’

I wonder why then Jesus would choose to build his Church “on Peter.” Isn’t the Church built on Christ alone? Isn’t Christ the great cornerstone? How does Peter fit into this narrative? And so I wonder, if it is not literally Peter whom Christ proclaims he will build his Church, but it is the confession, the proclamation, the revelation - that Christ says the Church will be built upon. Yes. The Church is built upon Christ, who is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. On this testimony, the Church is built.

Peter though is still significant. Peter is but A rock in the building of the unshakable temple of the Lord on earth. Jesus is the foundation and the cornerstone, but our Old Testament ancestors, all the saints and all the disciples since then make up the rest of God’s temple on earth. As we heard Paul say in Romans this morning, our bodies are living sacrifices for the Lord! YOUR body is not just a cog in the machine of this world, but a rock building up the body of Christ on this earth! Together we make up ONE body in Christ – one body with many members, all with our own place and our own gifts. In these gifts we glorify God our Creator.

But like Peter.. we are not perfect. One minute we can proclaim that Christ is Lord and the next we can

doubt and question and wonder.. One minute we can see Christ and feel Christ in our midst and the next we wonder if God has ever been present in the world at all. One Sunday we can shout our praise from the rooftops and another we can deny ever knowing Jesus at all. Yet God has chosen us, all of us, to be God’s Church - God’s presence, temple, beckon of light, and home here on earth.

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” How we live right now, today, in these human bodies is a living sacrifice to God, IS our worship! I don’t think many of us think this way day to day, moment to moment. I think we are far too often reminded of the ways in which are bodies are imperfect and NOT acceptable to God, rather than reminded that we are perfectly imperfect creations of God’s own hand. We get too caught up on defining what is holy and acceptable to God, rather than accepting the profound realization that how we live is a form of worshipping God! What if we woke up each morning asking ourselves, “How will I worship God today with my life?”

I’m not sure how we got so complacent with equating social norms to what God deems ‘holy and acceptable,’ but I’m confident in saying that God does NOT find tearing others down with guilt and shame - making people feel as though they are and never will be good enough - that IS the behavior which is NOT at all holy or acceptable. What is holy and acceptable to God is putting God’s will above our own.. is being in healthy and loving relationship with God and neighbor. Period. Everything else is adiaphora (matters not essential).

So often I hear Christians wondering why people no longer come to worship or want to be a part of the Church and the harsh and honest truth is because the Church has done a lot of harm. The Church has hurt a lot of people. Instead of loving freely, openly, and unconditionally as God does and reveals to us in Christ, the Church has turned people away by telling them they are not good enough, they do not meet the standards, they should be ashamed of who they are, etc. etc. The Church has too often put all it’s stock in adiaphora, non-essential things, and lost sight of God’s will - of God’s love, grace and mercy, of healthy and loving relationships.

Child of God, YOU are a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God just as you are! Your life is a form of worship! You don’t have to do anything but live fully and purely into who you are as God made you and in this way you will glorify and witness to Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, sharing with the world love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, liberation and salvation. This is what God asks of you. Lean into your God-given gifts. Learn the ways of God, not of the world, and follow the will of God.

What would happen if you woke up tomorrow feeling like you are enough, like you can conquer anything the world throws at you because you are a Child of the Living God and your life is a form of worship? What would happen if you let go of all the guilt and shame the world has heaved upon your head to tear you down and shape you into someone you are not? Perhaps you’d feel for the first time that your yoke is easy and your burden is light. I guarantee you’d be more willing to share yourself with the world, to spread the love you’ve received - better equip to engage others in healthy and loving relationships.

Who do you say Jesus is? Is Jesus the King of all Kings, the all-powerful one who calls you out on all your sins and makes you beg for mercy, threatening you with punishments if you do not look, act, think, or speak in an extremely particular way? Or is Jesus the Messiah, the Creator of the world, who lowered himself to human form and died for the salvation of the world? To which God do you witness? How has God been revealed to you?

I pray that you witness God in Christ here and now. That you experience the God who’s love is so vast, mercy so great, grace so abounding, that you can’t help but live into your God-given gifts, making your body a living sacrifice and worshiping with your very own life every single day you walk this earth.

For what does God ask of you?

To love God and to love your neighbor.

All else is adiaphora.

Seek to do God’s will and when you witness love, grace, and the things of God, testify that this is revelation of God in real time.

Spread the Good News that comes to us with no strings attached.

BE who God created you to be.

LIVE.

LOVE.

Worship.

Amen.