Following Jesus is Difficult (Matthew 16:21-28)

 Alright, guys, this is a little scary, and difficult. Jesus is talking about suffering and death.

He says to his disciples that suffering and death are in his future.

And that’s scary for the disciples, those who have chosen to follow him, and fully align their lives with his.

And that’s scary for us, because we, too, have chosen to follow him, and fully align our lives with his.

We don’t do it for suffering or for death. We don’t come here seeking suffering or death.

We come for blessing and joy and hope and love. 

We come for life.

The disciples expected Jesus to be the one to restore Israel, to cast off Roman rule, and establish a kingdom of God on earth marked by shalom—Shalom being a state of peace and harmony and wellbeing; a society in which every person is free, has autonomy, and dignity, and is able to thrive, in a nation ruled with justice and compassion.

How could this possibly come about, if Jesus, their leader, teacher, rabbi, messiah, were to suffer and die?

Peter objected to this. And probably, if we were there, we would object to it as well. 

God forbid it!

Peter objected so forcefully, the scripture says he rebuked Jesus. He rebuked Jesus, as if Jesus was possessed by a demon that was making him say this. Peter wanted that spirit, that demon, out of Jesus.

But then Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! I’m not the one possessed by an unclean spirit! You are! You are a hindrance to me, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

And then Jesus explains to the disciples that “if any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

When I was in 7th grade—12 or 13 years old—my church put on a musical play that involved most of the youth group. 

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It was quite embarrassing, really. Our youth director wore this elaborate Psalty the Singing Songbook costume… (Do any of you remember Psalty the Singing Songbook? So cringeworthy.)

I and the rest of my youth group had to dance around on stage, except that I had to do it while wearing a cast on my left arm, on account of having broken my wrist a few weeks earlier. 

On top of that, my voice was changing, which was especially noticeable during my solo.

The whole thing—just all of it—was just an adolescent’s nightmare.

We did several performances, and after the last one, our director said to me: “I meant to tell you that you could sing that down an octave.”

Yeah, that would have been nice to know before the performance!!!

I still remember one of the songs we sang: “If any man come after me, let him deny himself. Pick up his cross and follow me, into life eternally…”

I think it was the first song we learned, and for that reason it has stuck with me. I don’t remember the other songs, or the dance moves… and even what I do remember, I’ve been trying very hard all these years to forget!

But every time this verse comes up, the one in today’s scripture… I remember.

And I remember wondering, even back then, in seventh grade, what it means to “deny oneself and take up one’s cross.” 

What was Jesus really expecting of his followers? What was Jesus expecting of me?

So I guess at least one good thing did come out of that terrible musical experience… it got me to think theologically.

****** And I’m still wondering what it means, in our context today, to deny oneself and take up one’s cross.

Does it mean that we, like Jesus, must be willing to die? Is that what we can expect?

Well, in one sense, we have already died. All of us who have been baptized, have been baptized into Christ’s death.

******That’s what the apostle Paul says in Romans 6 [v. 3-4]. “All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death. Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death…”

*******And, in Galatians 2:19, Paul writes: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.”

What this means is that we no longer live for ourselves. We no longer live to satisfy our own desires at the expense of others. And we no longer seek to lift ourselves up—to exalt ourselves—while pushing others down.

Instead, we look to Jesus, who was willing to deny himself, to lay aside his ego, to humble himself and to demonstrate his greatness by serving others.

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In the wilderness, Satan tempted Jesus with power and authority over all the kingdoms of the world. If Jesus had given in to that temptation, he could have forced his rule upon the world… which, honestly, is what some of the disciples were hoping he was going to do.

Just like many Christians today, who want power and authority so they can force their way of life on the rest of the world.

But Jesus resisted that temptation. He gave up power and authority in this world. He knew that implementing his will by force would make him no better than the Romans. 

So instead of domination, he chose humility and service.

And when I think about that, I start to wonder if maybe I’m still a long way from the kingdom of God.

I still have a hard time, sometimes, setting my ego aside. 

And I do long for power and authority… if not for me, than at least for those who are capable of bringing about the change I want to see in the world.

To humble myself as Jesus did… seems like a very difficult task.

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When Dick Hamm was our general minister, he talked about how we as a church need to learn this lesson: how we need to learn to humble ourselves, and even be willing to die, for the sake of God’s kingdom. 

His focus was on the verse that says: “those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for [Christ’s] sake will find it.”

How many congregations are willing to lose their life for Christ’s sake?

Most congregations are focused on keeping their life, keeping their congregation alive. Too many—according to Dick Hamm—are so obsessed with the survival of their congregation, that it is preventing them from doing any real ministry.

Instead of serving others, instead of seeking ways to love their neighbors in real, concrete ways, they spend all their energy on figuring out how to keep the lights on and the doors open.

And in that sense, those congregations are already dead.

The congregation, like the individual, must be willing to lose its life. It must be willing to deny itself. It must be willing to humble itself, and to exercise its power not through domination, or power, or control, but through service and sacrifice.

There is some discomfort in hearing that, isn’t there?

None of us want our congregation to die… not that I expect that to happen anytime soon… but still…

The fact that Jesus calls us to die, to be willing to die, to be willing to lose our life for his sake, is one part of following him that is very difficult and challenging.

But the amazing thing is that, as Dick Hamm learned: those congregations that do make a decision that risks death, often end up finding new life.

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An example: a congregation sees its dwindling resources, and can decide one of two things: either it holds on as tightly as it can to what it has, or it lets go, and continues serving its community generously, meeting the needs of neighbors near and far, figuring: “If we’re going to die, we might as well go out with a bang.”

And instead of pulling back on their missionary and ReachOut efforts, they renew their focus on such things, going hard until they can go no longer.

In essence, those congregations said: “whether this congregation lives or dies isn’t what’s most important; what’s most important is that we serve the needs of those around us for as long as we can.”

But remarkably, their efforts to reach out and serve their neighbors in a sacrificial way, despite their dwindling size and resources, often ends up drawing attention; and new life begins to flow into the congregation.

That congregation faced death willingly, and then experienced the power of resurrection.

So what am I, as pastor, supposed to do? Do I push our congregation to give even more, even if it means it’s that much harder to meet our own needs, pay our own bills? Even if it means there is less money to pay the pastor, and I end up putting my own future in jeopardy?

These are very difficult questions.

On the other hand, I think our New Beginnings process is helping us understand a little more the questions, if not find our way to some answers.

As you know, 2026 has been a challenging year for us financially, and we probably have more challenging years ahead. We could cut back on our ReachOut efforts, saying we just can’t afford it, we have our own bills to pay.

And yet in recent months we have done the opposite. There is so much renewed energy surrounding our Helping Shelf, for example. So many more have gotten involved, taken on leadership, and helped us take greater ownership of this ministry that has grown beyond anything anyone expected when it first started.

And in other ways, we are looking for new ways to do ministry, new opportunities to share God’s love both with people who are a part of this congregation, as well as those who aren’t.

Tonight we begin “Something Different,” a wholly new type of worship experience, with leadership provided by a number of different people, with the hope that it might be something that helps meet the spiritual needs of many, including those for whom our 9am Sunday morning worship isn’t connecting with them.

It doesn’t make sense that a congregation facing financial challenges is starting so many new things, devoting so much energy into new ministry efforts, working so hard to reach beyond itself.

And yet… we have this hope, this assurance, that resurrection and new life will come to those who are willing to risk it all for Christ’s sake. 

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I am not a risk-taker. Far from it. When I was a kid and played capture the flag, I almost never ventured over into the other team’s territory. To venture into the other team’s territory was to risk getting caught, and I just didn’t want to take that risk. I was too concerned with my own survival.

But the thing is, it’s impossible to win capture the flag without taking that risk. 

In the same way, it’s impossible to experience all the hope and joy and blessing and love and life that God offers to us in the kingdom of God, if we aren’t willing to risk it all for the sake of that kingdom, and for the sake of Jesus Christ… the one who risked it all, and gave it all, for our sake.

In the kingdom of God, it is through such sacrifice of love that life appears in abundance. That’s the power of the resurrection.

It’s not that God demands suffering or death; a loving God would never do that. Yet God works through suffering and death to bring about new life. 

And those who mourn will be blessed, and those who are persecuted will be blessed, and those who give freely of themselves will be blessed, and those who suffer for what is right will be blessed…

And they will experience the kingdom of God, the kingdom of life.

No Creed but Christ (Matthew 16:13-20)

 OK everyone. The kids are back in school, and I know the rest of you are feeling left out. So: Listen up! Class is in session! Spit your gum out! Eyes on me! And get ready for today’s lesson, which is about our Disciples of Christ history and beliefs.

Because Peter’s declaration—You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God—is a central (perhaps the central) affirmation for we who are a part of the denomination known as the CC(DoC).

Over 200 years ago, the founders of our movement decided that all who wish to join our movement should affirm this one statement.

Which is why, when people come forward to join our church, they are asked: “Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Lord and Savior of the world?”

BTW, “Christ” and “messiah” are interchangeable words. “Christ” is the Greek version, and “messiah” is the Hebrew version.

“Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ [or, messiah], the Son of the living God, Lord and Savior of the world?”

It’s an echo of the statement of faith Peter made when Jesus asked: “Who do you say I am?”

We don’t ask you anything else! There is no other list of beliefs that we require you to agree with or abide by. We don’t even have a formal list of beliefs on our church website.

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If you go to our church website, and click where it says “Beliefs,” you’ll get some general statements about what “most Christians believe,” and a list of a few “beliefs and practices,” but there aren’t a whole lot of specifics, and most of the statements that do appear are just rephrasing Peter’s confession, often with a caveat that each person has freedom, and that not all Disciples agree with or practice things the same way.

Many other churches, if you go to their website, you’ll find a section titled “What we believe.” And it will have a much more formal list of specific beliefs. There will likely be subsections under that… “What we believe about God… What we believe about Jesus… What we believe about the Holy Spirit… What we believe about the Bible… What we believe about salvation… 

We don’t have that.

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What we do have, from the early days of our movement, are mottos. And some of these mottos explain why we don’t have a more formal list of beliefs that all members are expected to adhere to…

One of those early mottos is “No creed but Christ.” 

Ancient Christians developed creeds: statements of faith that define the beliefs of a “true believer.” You may have heard of the Apostles' Creed, or the Nicene Creed…

[If you’re a visual person and you want to see these creeds, grab a hymnal and open it up to pages 358 & 359, and you’ll find them printed there…  although the editors who put the hymnal together titled them “affirmations of faith” rather than creeds. Perhaps by the end of this sermon you’ll know why.]

So, early Christian leaders developed these creeds in ancient times; and they usually did so in response to ideas that they considered heretical.

For example, one thing early Christians argued about was the nature of Jesus. Some said that he was in a sort-of second place to God, while others said no, he was equal to God. 

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And so the Nicene Creed spends a lot of time explaining how Jesus was and is

“Eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father…”

And yes, this was written specifically to exclude those who didn’t agree, who had other ideas about Jesus’ nature. It was written to keep those who thought differently—those who had the “wrong ideas”—out of the church.

Well, the founders of our movement didn’t like how creeds had been used in this way, to exclude people. So they decided that, for us, there would be no creeds. No creed but Christ. Creeds, they felt, only divided Christians from one another… and their goal was to unite Christians.

“Unity is our polar star.” (That’s another one of our early mottos.)

So they said that we Disciples won’t recite creeds in worship the way other Christian movements do, and we won’t use creeds as a test of fellowship.

No; the only test of fellowship for us would be whether or not one confesses that Jesus is the messiah, the Son of the living God… (... and “Lord and Savior,” we did add that part.)

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One of our early founders, Alexander Campbell, was once asked who he considered to be a true Christian. How could you tell a true Christian, if you didn’t have a creed or list of beliefs they had to agree to?

Campbell’s response can be found at #338 in your hymnal. 

“Who is a Christian? I answer, every one that believes in one’s heart that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of God; repents of one’s sins, and obeys him in all things according to one’s measure of knowledge of his will.”

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But what about when there are differences of opinions? What if, for example, we don’t agree on what exactly it means to call Jesus “messiah” or “Christ?” 

In this, our early leaders encouraged believers to study the scriptures, and to engage in conversation with one another, respecting each other’s differences, yet working together for a greater understanding.

And believe me, those early leaders had lots of conversations… and debates… which often took place on the pages of different journals they published. There, they would often debate various theological points with each other, making points and counterpoints and rebuttals, arguing passionately for one theological interpretation or another…

Yet, generally speaking, they remained in fellowship with one another, defending each other’s right to be a part of the church…

After all, they all agreed on one thing: that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Every couple of years, our denomination gets together for a General Assembly, where resolutions are presented, debated, and voted on. I remember one year, arguments for and against a certain resolution were made passionately, until the time for debate was up, and we voted. 

And what I remember most—what I will never forget—is that, afterward, as people were leaving, I saw just outside the door to the main hall, two people who had spoken during the debate. One had spoken passionately in favor, and one had spoken passionately against. 

Yet there they were, shaking hands, with smiles of friendship on their faces, thanking each other for their passionate contributions to the debate, and assuring each other of their common commitment to the church…and when they were done, before they parted, they embraced each other with a hug.

And I think that, more than anything, shows who we are as Disciples.

We are united in our belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. 

We are committed to following and obeying Jesus in all things according to the measure of our knowledge of his will…

And we are committed to each other, to engaging in conversation and even debate, trusting in God to use such experiences to move us forward in understanding, and not letting our differences divide us or deny anyone a place at Christ’s table.

Some years back, I remember a Catholic bishop made news when he announced that he would not serve communion to a certain politician because of that politician’s views on a certain issue.

To a Disciple like me, that was shocking. Because we don’t believe that any person has any right to say to someone: “You aren’t welcome at Christ’s table.” 

It doesn’t matter if we disagree on certain issues. This isn’t our table. It doesn’t belong to me or anyone else. It belongs to Jesus. And all those who look to Jesus as the Christ, the son of the living God, are welcome here.

And I’ve seen this here at First Christian Church. 

I remember a conversation I had with one member who is now deceased, who told me that he didn’t agree with a decision that the congregation had made, and that he still didn’t agree with that decision, but (he said), that’s who we are as Disciples. We don’t always agree. Yet we do gather for worship and gather at the Lord’s Table and work together for the ministry of the church, because we DO agree that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and we are committed to learning what that means and engaging in conversation, and even debate, with one another and being the best followers of Christ we can be. Together.

Which is why, when I preach, I don’t expect you to blindly agree with everything I say. Some pastors do have that attitude, but not me, and not most of the Disciples pastors I know. 

My word is not the final word on anything. Rather, I think of my preaching as the first word, a word meant to inspire your own thinking, and perhaps start a conversation. 

I remember one time in California, I attended an event sponsored by Chapman University, which is a Disciples-related school just like Eureka College. The speaker was Amy-Jill Levine, who is a practicing Jew, but who is also a biblical scholar focused on the New Testament. This gives her the unique ability to remind us Christians of the Jewish background of Jesus and the early church.

Anyway, the evening of the event, she was guest preaching at a local Jewish place of worship, and all of us who heard her speak during the day were invited.

So there we were that evening, a bunch of Christians attending the Jewish shabbat service. And while Amy-Jill Levine was preaching, several of the Christians—hearing something they liked—would shout “Amen!”

This made Amy-Jill Levine laugh. She said: “I love hearing all the ‘amens’ from the Christians. But I gotta tell you, Jews don’t usually shout ‘amen’ during the sermon. What Jews do is that they will come up to the preacher afterward and say, ‘So that’s how you see things, huh? Well, let me tell you how I see things…”

And a conversation would begin.

I like that. The sermon is the first word. Not the last word. It starts the conversation or moves the conversation along. It doesn’t end the conversation.

Getting back to my main point, and today’s scripture: We Disciples are united in our belief that Jesus is the Christ (the messiah), the Son of the living God, Lord and Savior of the world. 

And we work together to understand what that means, and to follow and obey Jesus in our lives. 

And even though we aren’t always successful, we do try to stay united despite our differences of theological understanding.

And since creeds have historically been used to divide and exclude people from the church, we do not recite creeds in worship.

So why are they in our hymnal?

Well, many churches who recite creeds today do not do so with the intention of dividing or excluding.

And many see in the creeds statements of faith that are still beautiful and inspiring.

But because of how creeds have been used, the editors of the hymnal chose to call them affirmations of faith rather than creeds. They wanted to make sure that if any congregation did use these creeds, that they didn’t use them in a way that would divide or exclude.

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And we Disciples have our own affirmation of faith. A statement that isn’t meant to exclude anyone, but provides a summary of what most Disciples believe.

And you’ll find our Disciples statement in the hymnal on page 355.

Every once in a while you will find a Disciples congregation that recites this statement during worship, perhaps on a special occasion, though most are reluctant to include in worship anything that even looks like or resembles a creed.

I’d like for us to recite it today. The first sentence of the affirmation should sound very familiar to you.

As for the rest…

Well, think of it not as a final word on anything, but as a first word. These are things most Disciples believe or practice, but let’s talk about what it all means, and how well we do follow what it says. 

Our General Minister and President Terri Hord Owens keeps reminding us to be the church we say we are. 

This affirmation is a statement of who we say we are as a denomination. It is a document meant to unite, not divide, and to encourage conversation and reflection.

So with that in mind, let’s recite it together…

As members of the Christian Church,

We confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and proclaim him Lord and Savior of the world.

In Christ’s name and by his grace we accept our mission of witness and service to all people.

We rejoice in God, maker of heaven and earth, and in God’s covenant of love which binds us to God and to one another.