Lutheran Church in Lancaster PA
Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Lancaster PA gathered this week to consider St. Peter and St. Paul are two of the shining lights of the apostolic era. Ministering to both Jew and Gentile, their writings comprise half of the New Testament. In this great feast, we remember Jesus, and His love for Peter and Paul, despite their weakness. This love, seen in the cross, gave them the willingness to die under Nero’s sword together and witness to Christ’s life by their death.
The service bulletin can be found here.
The sermon text can be read below:
Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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 then] he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! ..,And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Before any other vocation, your greatest calling is your call, to follow Jesus. Before your call to love others and to serve others in your callings, comes the call of Christ to lay down those things where we are following other things, other gods, seeking those things that cannot satisfy, to begin the life of following Jesus and receiving life from Him. Further that is not a one-time call, but a continuous one, a call that, when we fail, falter, and fall, especially in those other callings, the call of Jesus rings forth to call us ever again back to Himself and then outward to our neighbor. In Peter’s case, Peter’s call to discipleship comes long before His call to apostleship. Greater than Jesus desiring Peter as an apostle, is Jesus’ desire for Peter to follow Him.
The greatest call I have is not the call to be a pastor. That call can be revoked. Many a pastor has ruined his call on the ship of failure. He has broken the vows he made to God and the people. He has allowed himself to be taken by moral failure. The vows for ordination are less than the vows of church membership, in this respect, one of them can be revoked, the other can always be recalled. Any pastor who may be leading the helm of the ship and must be removed from office because of failure in life, doctrine, or physical ableness to complete the task, can join the other passengers in the boat. He may not be allowed to be a pastor any longer, but on that account, he does not have to despair of all help and hope. He can rejoice to be nothing more than to be one of the passengers on the ship. His greatest call is to follow Jesus, to be renewed by that Gospel. And more than Jesus desiring to get something out of the man, to get that man to win souls for Him, or build the church, Jesus cares about the man individually, his soul. Before Jesus cares about Peter the apostle, he cares about Peter the man. And further, before a man can ever be used by God, he must first Himself have a ministry that is founded upon that need for Christ. Said another way, the pastor who serves best must first himself be served by the word that he gives.
It may be repeating myself to say it, but it is also true for you. All of your other callings are subsidiary to this call to follow Jesus. You falter in those other callings and daily fail. You have shipwrecked some of them. Some of them have been broken because of death, trouble, or moral failings on your part. Some situations you have been fired, and asked to leave and not come back, but the call to follow Jesus remains. On the shipwreck of your failure, Christ bids you live by faith. More than getting all He can out of Peter, Paul, or you He cares about you as a person, as one who is called to live by faith receiving Him. The call to be a follower of Jesus is the greatest calling.
Peter was in the boat with Jesus. The crowds were getting large, and the people were pressing on Him. The boat kept Jesus in safety, protecting Him from being assaulted by the people. Further that boat out from the shore, served as a perfect auditorium so that everyone on the hillside could hear. And so Peter rowed and was helpful. But more than Peter doing something for Jesus, Jesus was showing him and leading him, and when Peter would later that day cast down the nets by the Lord’s command and catch a large number of fish, the Lord was teaching Peter many things about his future call in life as an apostle. It was not by his works that many would come and believe. It was not because of his greatness that he would catch many souls. It was by God’s word and work. We serve in our callings and we work, but it is God who does the work through them. It may not make any sense what we are asked to do or how we serve or that we don’t know what we are doing, but we cast the nets and the Lord who is with us in the boat who will do things through us. When we have successes, we should not boast any more than Peter should credit himself for the big haul of fish and say what a good fisherman am I. Neither should we despair when the Lord allows us many lonely nights when no good is procured. He is with us in the boat and carries us through our callings. But we should also consider Peter’s response to the catch of fish.
When he sees the catch of fish he asks Jesus to leave because he is a sinful man. Such is often the response of all apostles when they are called by Jesus. Moses is convinced that God has got the wrong man to be his spokesman because he mumbles. Jeremiah is sure he can’t be of any help because he is too young. Isaiah is sure that God must leave because his lips are too sinful, because too often he has spoken wrong things, done the wrong things or said curses and lies rather than praises and truth. Jonah thinks God should leave because he doesn’t love the people enough whom the Lord has sent him to serve, that his lack of love for the people means he is unfit for his job. In similar ways we are convinced that God must leave for the reasons very real that we see in ourselves, that He cannot go with us, or that we are unqualified and disqualified from any holy involvement with a holy Lord. But this Is not the case. Jesus loves Peter and loved being in the boat with Him. Jesus is delighted that he could, for Peter, give His life. Our callings are such not that our sins disqualify us, but that we live in faith to Jesus as we go on our way and that He works in and through us. His desire is that we draw nearer to Him in our sin and death for help, that we turn to Him in love as He loves us, and that we cast all of our troubles upon Him. Our success is not based on our person, but that our strength comes from the Lord who goes with us sinners in the boat. And so the strength of Peter’s ministry is God’s grace and love for sinners, a love He demonstrated on the cross.
Paul too was going to learn something of God’s grace. He killed Christians. Some of us may be convinced that our sins are too great, yet still the Lord called Paul. We may have defiled ourselves or others by actions so heinous that it causes pain of thought. But Christ bids us to come near. He calls us to find our hope in Him even as He called Paul on that Damascus road. Not a day went by that Paul did not think of what he did when in anger he had Stephen killed, that he thought he was doing what was right, but came far too late to regret all he had done and been. In 1 Timothy 1 Paul said to this young pastor, I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent… and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 1 Timothy 1
In other words, if God did it for me, believe also He can do it for you. These men existed to bring this mercy to the world, as you do in your callings, and yet you serve best, not as you operate by your strength, but as you serve in your weakness, not as you tout yourself, but as in humility you extend to others the grace you have received. We love because He first loved us.
Today was the day that Peter and Paul together found themselves in Nero’s prison, a deranged leader who punished Christians for his own failures and in order to get the heat off his own problems which he had created. We know that Peter did not like suffering, and on many occasions ran from it and did not want Jesus’ life to be one of the cross. And yet what an amazing thing that the Peter who many times said no to the cross in his life, at the end bore witness with his yes.
And Paul who had killed a Christian, the Lord gave him the opportunity to die in the same way, to love his persecutors, and to admit that they did not know what they were doing. To turn his heart from the hatred he had felt, to love.
God’s Word works, and as He patiently worked in Peter and Paul’s life, so He will work with you in your life. Jesus who died for you and loves you is in the boat with you. More than getting something out of you, his aim is that you first are a recipient of his grace. Your success in life is not in turning millions to Him, but first in receiving His grace and mercy to you. You serve best not when you serve from your own resources, but like Paul and Peter, on the shipwreck of your own failures you give the people in your life, not more you, but more of the greatest thing ever, Christ. Faith is to believe that God right now, even through this situation and crosses, is doing just that.
As today’s color is red and we hear of Peter and Paul’s death. We see how God made their lives to be a glorious witness to Him. It was not immediate in their lives or ours, but we see and believe that God is doing the same thing in us.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The peace of God which passes all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds through faith in Jesus Christ.
