Good Morning Friends,
In the Roman Catholic tradition, today is the day for honoring the martyred lives of the Apostles Peter and Paul. They are important characters in the Christian faith for Protestants and Jews too because they show us how very different people might work in the tension of relationships for a common objective. They had some miraculous experiences that mirrored each other, that may be of interest to you, and both their deaths though shrouded in some mystery, are traditionally thought to have been in Roman. Paul beheaded and Peter crucified upside-down. But instead, I thought I would summarize a few thoughts about their lives that prepared them to be reconciled with each other and in the end finish well. Their relationship teaches us something important. Friends, we all must choose how we live with our desires to assert ourselves, belong, reflect, and actively engage in the world but if we are ashamed of the Gospel, we will be short of the goal. With that in mind I ask you, Will Our Places Of Collective Worship Finish Well?
Scripture: About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword. After he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. (This was during the festival of Unleavened Bread.) When he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him. The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists. The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.” He did so. Then he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel’s help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. After they had passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
Acts 12:1-11 (NRSV)
As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing. But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18 (NRSV)
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 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.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 16:13-19 (NRSV)
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
Ephesians 5:25 (NRSV)
Message: It is possible that sometime in your life things will totally fall apart and you will feel that you have nothing left. But know this. God will never take away the Gospel and God will never take away the promise that Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us. It is not just enduring but persevering to the end. We are to stand firm. But we need to do more than stand. We need to move forward. Peter and Paul are amazing when they harmonize with the Gospel of Christ in moving forward. First Peter is the one that makes a great confession of faith that Jesus is the Messiah. It has got to be one of the most glorious moments in Peter’s life. He did want to get it right and be first to share it. He had a special relationship with Jesus and his name was always first on every list of apostles. Peter was at the Transfiguration. His mother-in-law was cured by Jesus. There is no doubt that Jesus blessed Peter but also allowed scripture to present him in an unflattering light as well for Peter is the one who denied Christ and was called Satan by Jesus. So, here is a person, warts, and all, with human weaknesses. Thankfully Peter shows us what it means to be forgiven. He walks on the water in faith but sinks in doubt. He refuses to let Jesus wash his feet, then wants his whole body cleansed. He swears at the Last Supper that he will never deny Jesus, and then swears to a servant maid that he has never known the man. He loyally resists the first attempt to arrest Jesus by cutting off the High Priest’s servant’s ear, but then, he runs away with the others. In the depth of his sorrow, Jesus looks on him and forgives him. Then the Risen Christ reconciles Peter so that he might return not to his nets along the Sea of Galilee but to become a fisher of men for God. Friends, if you wanted to talk to someone about the sins in your life you would probably want to talk to someone like Peter who kept moving forward in the faith. He was as we are, I pray, chosen by Jesus. And likewise, Paul’s experience of the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus was in a way the driving force that made him one of the most zealous, dynamic, and courageous ambassadors of Christ ever. He was a thinker. But persecution, humiliation, and weakness became his day-by-day carrying of the cross. The dying Christ was in him as well as the living Christ transforming him. Paul had been the most legalistic of Pharisees. Then he suddenly appears to the Jewish religious leaders after his conversion as heretical as he welcomes Gentiles. Paul’s central conviction was simple that only God can save humanity. And to be saved from itself Jews as well as all of humanity must open itself completely to the saving power of Jesus and be grafted on to the parent stock of God’s chosen people. Peter and Paul did not always agree on things, but they did agree on Jesus as Lord and Savior and they both finished well. The famous baseball player Yogi Berra once said with a bit more wisdom than most give him credit, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” Sobering though it is we cannot presume that even at our age and in our age, we will finish well nor the places we have collectively worshiped will finish well either.
And So, in some ways we never finish until the day we die. That is why all of us, young or old, need to heed the warning that comes to us from the examples of Peter and Paul. Over the last year I have given a lot of thought to how one finishes well and inspired more than retired. Although a number of things could be said, I have concluded that having a daily time to focus on a personal communion with God is essential. That is why I have continued to put together these devotionals. In like manner we need to daily commit to God to be living sacrifices with the firm belief in the sovereignty and love of God claiming the Gospel and the grace of God to fight the good fight and finish the race by keeping the faith. So, as we consider what are responsibilities are in the new normal, we need to realize that we are enabled to fulfill them only by the grace of God. And here the grace of God is more than kindness and benevolence but is dynamic as an action for our good to help us not just to endure and stand firm in life’s storms but to persevere. So, keep moving forward. Be resilient in the faith of Christ, the promise of the Gospel and the presence of Jesus in our lives. Today we have considered the foundations of the church as it relates to finishing well. And we explore a passage about the authority given by Christ to Peter and his successors and suddenly realize that this is not just a passage for Catholics, but one that has its foundations in the Old Testament and an application for everyone. You see, the church Jesus had in mind is built out of flesh and blood…our flesh and blood. And sometimes we have good judges and sometimes we have bad judges…sometimes we have good kings and sometimes we have bad ones…and sometimes we have good teachers and sometimes bad…and sometimes good religious leaders and sometimes we have bad ones. And friends, sometimes we have good laws and sometimes we have bad ones. But thankfully the church is also built out of Christ’s flesh and blood, for Jesus loves the church…the body of believers. The reality is that we need each other on this journey to help the next generation develop a relationship with Jesus too. Friends, the reality is that you might be a Christian without a church, however the next generation will not be Christian unless they get an introduction and as far as I am concerned, wherever and whenever the Gospel is affirmed and people are discipled in the faith and in love, that is the called-out assembly of God. For sometimes we need to do things collectively. So, here is the thing, at points in Holy History the church has served like Noah’s ark. And for those of us on board, if it were not for the storm outside, we could not stand the smell inside. We need to see with new eyes, but we also need to get cleaned up. Instead, we need to see that we have been given a purpose to help make things better in the world. We have a purpose to fulfill, and we cannot do it alone. Friends, Paul, and Peter never became close on a worldly level; they were however together in Christ. They both came to grow up in grace. They both repented and were transformed by Jesus. Despite their obvious differences, I think we each have a little of Paul and Peter in each of us. We might have some fights but, in the end, we are on the same team. And so, believe that nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from his love in Christ Jesus. Keep moving forward in the faith with the grace of God’s love.
Pray we be reconciled in our lives with people who are very different from us. Pray we be willing to offer forgiveness and be willing to change. Pray we are never ashamed of the Gospel. Pray we end well. Pray we stay in the stream of Holy History. Pray we end well and the places we worship as well.
Pray we have fellowship one with another. Pray for unity in the reality that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God but have also been forgiven. Pray we realize that Jesus loved the church so much that the relationship is described as a marriage that transforms. Pray we never tell Jesus we think His bride is ugly and a pain and frustrating to be around. Pray instead, when we look in the mirror, that we realize that God has chosen us and that the Holy Spirit changes us and that Jesus cleanses us to get things right. Pray when we think about church and society, we begin to see ourselves being transformed collectively into the Bride of Christ.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 