Sermon Aug 30, 2026

Title: Death is overcome in Christ!
Text: Matt 16:21-28

Facebook live: Death is overcome in Christ!

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Nobody likes bad news.

The business deal, you’ve been working on for the last 6 months, has been awarded to you competitor.
Your anniversary, and the meeting you need to attend, are on the same night.
The sale of your house fell through, but the purchase agreement of your new home has been approved, where will you find the money?
Your child is sick.
Your lifelong friend has passed away, unexpectedly.

At times, for we who have been blessed with the good news of eternal life, it is hard to live in the present and keep our eyes fixed on the prize; while the gifts of this temporal life seem to be slipping away.

In our Gospel today we read:

21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things  the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

The disciples are on a Roller Coaster too. Up one minute and down the next.

Just this month in our readings:

There are too many people here to feed, send them away.
A storm on the sea of Galilee brings fear, and Peter takes a sinking step.
There’s pleading from a mother for her daughter’s healing, which brings first silence.
The disciples are asked, “Who do the people say I am?”
Then, “Who do you say that I am?”

Concern, storms, pleading, questions, and each time the Lord Jesus brings comfort.

All were fed.
Peter was rescued, the sea was calmed, and Jesus entered the boat.
The woman’s faith received the gift of healing for her daughter.
God speaks and the people hear through his appointed messengers.
You are the Christ, the son of the living God, and this good News is revealed to all through God’s working.

But here Jesus speaks the reality of life in a broken world and the entire purpose for his coming, and still the sinful flesh can’t comprehend the good, the bad, and the ugly presented here.

So, we live like the disciples, day by day, up and down, in and out, good and bad, forgetting how blessed you are, and how blessed I am - now and then seeing today and tomorrow as the great joy that we hold to.

Weddings,
Baptisms,
Family reunions
Tigers, Lions, and Red Wings, oh my!
Hope, loss, falling short, and even waiting until next year.

To the words of Jesus, Peter has a hard reply:

22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”

To what Jesus revealed to the disciples, Peter says, no!

To this rock of a man that some would build their church upon, the Lord himself turns and counters the hope of the here and now, peace and tranquility that Peter rests in, saying:

23 … “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Do our lives ever blind us from the eternal perspective?
Do we live for the moment, thinking that we control our destiny?

Peter and the other disciples did, and we do as well.

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Taking up our cross in this life is not what we plan to do for today, or tomorrow, and certainly not on a holiday.

Life can blind you and me.

25 For whoever would save his life] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

When I was growing up, truth seemed much simpler.
Boys and girls, dads and moms, brothers and sisters, men and women, husbands and wives.

The trial and cross, was not so much who you struggle to be, but who are you going to ask on a date!

For me this being an especially difficult cross to bear when you consider, there was one centralized phone in the kitchen, and my dad was not spending hard earned money for an extension line - just so you had a little privacy during this most sensitive time in a young boy’s life - and the darn cord was too short to reach down the hallway into a near bedroom to talk privately!

Whatever I asked and whatever the answer; everyone knew!

Now, getting a date or not is not that big of a cross to bear, is it?

Well, what if in doing so, the person you date leads you into a life style that is contrary to God’s desire or design?
What if this relationship leads you away from Christ or in some way a life at odds with our Christian  view?
What if the person leads you to unbelief?

26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

The cost of following Jesus is a cross we all need to bear.

Peter was not the only one to miss the Lord’s intent and reason for his coming.

James and John were sure that sitting at Jesus’ right or left in his Kingdom were places of honor in an earthly world they desired and the cup they could drink. Mark 10:35-45

Nathaniel mused, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” John 1:46

Thomas needed proof in the hands and side of Jesus. John 20:24-25

Life and crosses can keep our eyes off Jesus.

My friend Paul, knows a cross I hope I never know, the loss of his child. His daughter Dianna was born prematurely but didn’t live two days.

After the birth of his second daughter Michelle, he wanted to write her a song of praise and he wrote Michelle’s Song which is sub-titled Keep your eyes upon Jesus.

Oh, my child, keep your eyes on Jesus and not on me.
If you keep your eyes on my I’ll only let you down.
But I’ll try to be consistent with the word I know is true.
But there’s so much more I need to say to you.

Keep your eyes upon Jesus
He’ll never let you down, oh no, he’ll never let you down
Keep your eyes upon, Jesus
He’ll never let you down, oh no, he’ll never let you down

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen