Sermons1

Text Box: “Jesus began to teach them that it was necessary for the Son of Man to suffer much, and to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and the scribes and to be killed and after three days to rise.” (8:31) That did not sound good to Peter. Jesus was His master. He loved Jesus. Jesus should not be rejected and killed. Peter wanted to hold on to Jesus. Peter missed the great thing Jesus was telling them, the very end of what Jesus said: “after three days He would rise!” The greatest news ever, that Jesus would die for us, and rise again, and Peter objected.
That’s pretty common for us. We want to hold on to what is ours. We want to hold onto our money. What would become of us if we didn’t? We need money to live. We want to hold on to possessions. We want to keep what we have. That’s why we have locks. We want to hold on to our children. It’s hard to say good bye to a child the first day of school. One parent told me how hard it was to take their child to preschool. They were concerned the child would be afraid to be left there. But the child not only had no problem when the parent left. But when the parent returned, the child was unhappy, wanting to stay in preschool. So a child wants to hold on to something, to hold on to the fun of preschool. It’s hard for parents to let go of a child whether it’s time for the child to marry, or move away for a job, or go to college. That’s one I’ll be staring down this Fall. Does she have to go all the way to Nebraska? It’s hard. We want to hold on to the things and to the people we love.
Peter wanted to hold on to Jesus. He didn’t want Him to die. He didn’t want to let go of Jesus, even for three days. But if they would give up Jesus, they would receive Him back, and more. If they let Jesus go to the cross (not that they had any choice) but if they let Jesus go to the cross, on the third day they’d receive Him back with interest... and what interest! They’d receive not only Jesus, but forgiveness, life with God now and forever. It was very much worth it to let Jesus go. That’s the way God thought. Because then we could have Jesus forever in a perfect relationship. The way Peter thought, and the way we too often think, is that we have to hold on to things the way they are now. He didn’t want to let Jesus go. That’s human thinking. Jesus encouraged Peter and us to think the way God thinks. God thinks that it is good to let go. We think it is better to hold on to what we have. We want to hold on to the world, and all the things in it. Jesus says what good does it do you to have all the things of the world, but lose your soul? (36) We want to hold on to our lives. Huge sums are paid in medical fees, so that we can hold on to our lives. But Jesus says whoever wants to come after Him must give up his life for Jesus and for the sake of the Good News. When Jesus says He wants us to give up our lives, He adds a promise. “Whoever gives up his life for me and for the Good News will save it.” (35b) By holding on to things, we lose them. By giving up our tight grip on our things to give them to Jesus, we are blessed even more. That was a hard lesson for Peter to learn. But he learned it well when he saw Jesus standing alive before him. Giving up to Jesus is hard for us to learn, too. But when we do so, we are so blessed.
God gives us specific guidelines on giving in 2 Corinthians. First we’re told “whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.” (6) Can you imagine a farmer looking at his grain and saying, “I sure want to hold on to this grain. It’s good grain. Why should I throw it all away by planting in the ground? I’ll just hold on to it.” That would obviously be foolish. Also foolish would be the farmer who decided to plant just a little bit of seed, because he wanted to keep the rest for himself. He’s not going to have much of a harvest. God makes His point very clearly. Don’t sow sparingly. Don’t be stingy. Don’t try to hold on to things. He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly. Give generously. You’ll be blessed generously. He who sows generously will reap generously.
The next guideline on giving that God teaches is that no one should be forced to give. “Each person should give what he has determined in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (7) No one should be under compulsion, rather whatever a person decides in their own thought processes. Notice: God loves a cheerful giver. There are two parts to that. First to be cheerful. We give out of thanks to God for all that He has done for us. We give out of thanks to Him who gave us His life. We give cheerfully, joyfully. God loves the lighthearted, joyous, happy giver. The second half of “God loves a cheerful giver” is “giver.” Once again, we are to give up our death hold on whatever we’re grasping, and joyfully, generously give. If we loosen our grip, we’ll have open hands to receive the blessings God wants to give us.
We will be blessed. We’re able to give because God gives us so much. “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (8) God will surely take care of you. Here’s a final promise from God: “Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, which will work in us thanksgiving to God.” (10, 11) To which I will simply add, “Amen!”

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