Close Enough
This message is meant to be a bridge between our pillars of community and culture.
Focus: The Christian community that you have should be close enough to sharpen you in the Lord.
That’s Close Enough!
Discipleship through Relationship
The Iron of the Cross
That’s Close Enough!
God desires to gift us people in life who will be close enough to encourage us when we need it and cross us when we don’t feel it.
Mark 8:27-38 ESV
“And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" And they told him, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets." And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ." And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, "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 and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
Many times, to maintain control in our lives (rather than submitting to the Lordship of Jesus), we keep people at arm’s length so they can not interfere with our personal plans, desires and ambitions.
Yet Jesus modeled for us a relationship with Peter and the other apostles that landed these disciples in the center of God’s will.
Peter was Jesus’ right hand man.
Peter would have thought that he had all of the good intentions in the world towards Jesus.
Jesus and Peter were side by side building a life together for the three plus years after Jesus entered his public ministry.
Together, they were doing so much good in the world.
Yet Jesus kept bringing up the cross.
Peter could have thought…
Why should Jesus go to the cross when he was doing so much good in the world - performing miracles, driving out demons, healing the sick and raising the dead?
Peter did not understand that Christ’s entire mission was about seeing the lost turn from their sin to be reconciled with God, and that this could not be done without Jesus going to the cross.
So at that moment, Peter did not have in mind the purposes of God, but the comforts of men.
Jesus said “Get behind me Satan” because Peter was, in that moment, giving the counsel of Satan, not God, trying, in a well meaning manner, to turn Jesus from the cross.
But Peter was wrong in that moment because he took his eyes off of God and his ultimate purposes which would lead to Jesus taking up the cross to save the world.
*This can happen when we neglect to seek God in anything - through the word, prayer or gospel-centered counsel.
Jesus and Peter were in close enough relationship for Peter to hear this rebuke and course-correct, as Peter would eventually be one of the greatest preachers of Christ’s cross after experiencing Jesus’ forgiveness and restoration (Matthew 26:30-35; John 21; Acts 3).
I want us to consider some questions today and allow God to help us better understand community within his purposes and how we make decisions.
Let’s begin with these questions with the above Scripture in mind:
How have you been in similar circumstances in your life?
When have you, like Jesus, been headed to a cross to fulfill God’s purposes and had someone try to convince you to do something easier?
When have you been like Peter, giving erroneous counsel to others?
Do you live with the things of God or the things of men in mind?
Where is the counsel that you are getting really coming from?
How does your community lead you to the cross or away from it?
Again, Jesus said:
"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 and the gospel's will save it.”
How do does your community lead you to save your life or lose it for Jesus and his gospel?
Jesus said to Peter:
"Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."
Are you in close enough relationship with God to hear this from him if necessary?
If the apostle Peter was ever in need of such a correction, who am I to think that I would never be?
Are you in close enough relationships with people in your church community to be known and hear this from others if you miss God speaking?
Who in your life is close enough to you, has walked closely enough with God and you that they would 1) be able to say this to you and 2) be a person from whom you would actually receive such a rebuke because you are walking together in such a covenant bond?
The Bible is filled with important covenant relationships between followers of Jesus that helped them fulfill the call of God together.
For example, King David and Jonathan’s covenant is a fantastic model of relationship which helped propel them both in the purposes of God (I Samuel 17-II Samuel 2).
It also acts as a warning as Jonathan was influenced too long by old relationships that were not going in God’s direction and caused Jonathan to suffer for it.
So how do we live in community in such a way that it propels us forward in the things of God?
Discipleship through Relationship
Following Jesus is not just about you and God.
We learn to be disciples of Jesus as we relate with God’s Word, develop a prayer life and interact with other believers.
Proverbs 27:17 ESV
“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”
We receive encouragement in the call, commands, comfort and purposes of God when we are in a devoted, shared life with one another.
Life in a vacuum leads to deception.
The Holy Spirit had the author of Proverbs offer this warning:
Proverbs 14:12 ESV
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”
*Discipleship is ultimately about learning how to follow Jesus in the things that he cares about, learning how he thinks and finding our place in his unfolding story.
Relating with Jesus is the foundation of being a disciple but there is more.
Once we spend time with God, he points us right back to interaction with people - flesh and blood in our homes, our church and our community.
This is where the rubber meets the road so that what God has whispered to you in the prayer closet, he now expects to be put into action and to be shouted from the rooftops (preaching his gospel).
Matthew 10:26-27 ESV
“So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.”
God develops us in Christ through the consistency of godly relationships.
Yet many do not wait on God’s timing or take the time to be developed anymore.
Many are not sharpened by others as iron sharpens iron because they have more interaction with people online who don’t know or see their real lives, than people who are actually able to do so in person.
This is exacerbated by the fact that if you don’t like the discomfort of being sharpened, you can distance yourself, cancel, unfriend, and escape people because you feel erroneously that you have all of the interaction that you need in the palm of your hand.
But are you hitting the mark of God’s high calling in Christ (Philippians 3)?
We need to overcome certain pressures to come into a healthy, godly community.
Have you felt these ways?
*There can be a false pressure to figure everything out by yourself.
This generation suffers from the pressure that because every piece of information is at your fingertips, you should have all the answers.
God did not design us to live life this way.
Though AI can share information, it does not have the anointing of God, or the motivation to see you set apart to Christ.
*I don’t want to be a burden with my issues - I feel shame having the questions that I do or about things with which I am struggling.
I entertain the lie that I need to get myself together before I press into the community.
I know what I am doing is wrong and I keep doing it - I want to stop but it can be vulnerable and scary to be sharpened.
I don’t want to disappoint others.
These can all be real feelings, yet when you know that God and the church community that he gives you are for you and not looking to condemn you, then you can come into the light to break free from bondage.
The old song "Locked Away” asks the question in all of our hearts - “Would You Still Love Me the Same?”
*Relationships are not designed by God to be disposable, so stick in there when the temperature gets hot!
“In friendship...we think we have chosen our peers. In reality a few years' difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another...the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting--any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you," can truly say to every group of Christian friends, "Ye have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another." The friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each of us the beauties of others.”
-C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves
It is the proximity and frequency of committed church relationships that sharpen you unto God’s life, freedom and Kingdom purposes.
The Iron of the Cross
The Lord uses Christian community to help us find our way to the cross.
Just because you receive counsel, doesn’t mean it is from the Lord.
“Get behind me Satan…”
What does it mean for you to lose your life for the gospel?
It means that you make decisions in the Lord with this criteria:
The word of God is the foundation (plumb line) - it tells you that on which God is focused
Prayer is the illumination of your specific, practical direction from the Lord (Proverbs 3) - God tells you how to participate in what he is doing
Godly counsel from the church community in your life with whom you are walking is the confirmation - it should help you keep your eyes fixed on the things of God rather than just the things of men
Godly counsel should lead you to Calvary.
The cross is not only what Jesus bore for us to reconcile us with God as we repent of our sins and put our faith in him, but the cross is what Jesus calls us to carry as his disciple (Luke 9:57-62).
The cross is the specific decisions that you have to make as God calls you to deny yourself individually and as a family to follow him (Luke 14:25-33).
It will not be identical for you and someone else (John 21), but no disciple escapes their personal cross to carry as they follow Jesus through the word of God, prayer and community (Luke 3:10-14).
So the question is:
How has Christ carried the cross for you?
What is your cross by which you will glorify God and advance his Kingdom?
How have you tried to save your life?
How have you seen elements of people actually losing their lives when they tried to save it?
Who has tried to convince you not to carry your cross?
Who has encouraged you to carry your cross?
How will you now respond?
2 Timothy 2:19-22 ESV
“But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity." Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
