Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a God who has spoken in the past and that you continue to speak today through the pages of the Bible.
Please strengthen us today by your Holy Spirit and help us to put these words into practice in our own lives.
And we ask it for Jesus' sake. Amen.
Well, advertising is one of Australia's most successful industries.
Just think of the adverts that you come across every day on the television, on the radio, on billboards, newspapers, magazines, the internet.
Companies spend millions of dollars to promote their products and their services in the hope that we will buy them, that we will spend money on these products.
Christians are into advertising as well.
We want to promote Jesus as the only Saviour and Lord at every opportunity.
Our message is about a unique product, not just another option on the supermarket shelf of religions and ideologies.
Your mission month that you're having at this time reminds us that this great task and privilege of proclaiming salvation in Jesus Christ alone
is not just the job of the professionals.
It's not just the job of people like Chris Jones and Steve Jeffrey and Brian Tung and Sam and whoever else is on the staff here at St. Paul's.
It's not just the professionals.
It belongs to every person who claims to be a Christian.
We are involved in ministry and we are to be involved in ministry locally, in outback Australia and overseas.
Isn't it interesting the way that the globe is coming back to South America?
I don't know whether that means God wants to send you all to South America or not, but I'm facing Australia right now.
So we're still there.
So all around the world, that is our privilege.
So let's look at our passage from Matthew's Gospel, page 950, if you like to open the Bible that may be in front of you there,
to see what light God shines on this great task of making the Gospel known, of making Jesus Christ known.
The first thing that we notice as we look at the passage is that Jesus' true identity is recognised.
Advertisers, going back to that idea,
advertisers need to be sure that they have the correct product and that they market it accurately.
I never cease to be amazed at the news reports about surveys that are being held.
You know, I'm 64 and a half and the only time I have ever been asked for an opinion was about whether the police do a good job once when we were living in Western Australia.
Who are all these people whose opinions direct our government and direct our media and all sorts of things?
I don't know who they are, but advertisers, I'm told, conduct surveys.
They might interview 1,200 people and make amazing statements on the basis of 1,200 people.
Labour has gone down and the coalition has gone up.
1,200 people say so.
I don't know whether you were asked.
But anyway, the advertisers need to be sure that they have the correct product and market it accurately.
Well, Jesus was conducting a survey in this passage, wasn't he, in Matthew chapter 16.
And he asked two questions in order to clarify who he was.
The first question is in verse 13, which he was really asking,
what views are held about me in general?
And then in verse 15, who do you disciples, who do you followers say that I am?
And as we look at the answers to these questions, we can note that the, first of all, that there are three suggestions identifying Jesus as a figure from the past rather than seeing him as unique.
Look at verse 14.
The crowd here.
They replied, some say that you are John the Baptist.
Others say Elijah.
And others say Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
These answers contained dangerous half-truths.
For Jesus did have some qualities in common with these great people from God's servants from the past.
But Jesus transcends all of them.
He is unique and not simply to be identified as somebody from the past.
And then we notice that Peter's answer was spot on.
Peter answered on behalf of the disciples in verse 16.
You are the Christ, the son of the living God.
Now do you notice what Jesus says about his answer?
In verse 17.
He says, Peter, you didn't work this out for yourselves, for yourself.
God has revealed this to you.
He has opened your eyes to see who I am.
God has opened your eyes to see who I am.
And then we notice in verses 18 and 19 that the faith that was expressed by Peter was the rock, the foundation upon which Jesus would build his church.
And in which Peter would have a unique part to play in the early critical years.
And I tell you that you are Peter.
And on this rock I will build my church.
This rock, this statement of faith that you've made.
And the gates of Hades or the gates of hell will not overcome it.
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.
And whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
There are many different sorts of Jesus who are proclaimed in the world today.
These people who proclaim a different Jesus either discard the Bible's account of the true Jesus or they misinterpret what they read.
To tell others about the Lord Jesus Christ.
We need to know who he is.
We need to be certain of our product.
We need to know who he is.
Whom God has made known.
Now this doesn't come by osmosis.
It comes by regularly, prayerfully reading the Bible.
And it sometimes comes from somebody else telling us, telling us the news.
I was 17 when I had been hearing.
I'd been going to Sunday school.
I'd been going to Christian youth camps.
But it wasn't until I was 17 when somebody preached about Jesus in such a way that God opened my eyes.
To understand who Jesus was and what he had done for me.
It took somebody else to share the truth about Jesus.
Exactly the task that all Christians have.
And so Jesus' true identity is recognised.
The second thing that we notice here in verses 21 to 23 is that Jesus' death and resurrection are absolutely central to biblical Christianity.
There's confusion today about Jesus' purpose in coming to earth.
Some see him as a good moral teacher.
Some see him as a champion for the poor and the disadvantaged.
Some see him as a great healer.
Jesus was in no doubt as to why he came and the purpose for his life.
It's partly spelled out for us in verses 21 and 22.
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem
and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law.
And that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
Never, Lord, he said.
This shall never happen to you.
Jesus came to die for our sins.
He came to die on the cross and pay the punishment that our sins deserve.
That we might be forgiven by God.
That we might become God's friends and enjoy him forever.
Peter didn't understand this at first.
And he was actually rebuked by the Lord.
Jesus turned and said to Peter,
Get behind me, Satan.
You are a stumbling block to me.
You do not have in mind the things of God,
but the things of men.
You see, the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus is absolutely central to true Christianity.
Any presentation of Christianity which fails to centre on this historical event is a fake
and needs to be recognised as such.
To tell others about Jesus,
we need to know the truth.
I wonder what you are doing at the moment
to be better equipped in knowing God's truth
so that you can better live it out and better share it with others.
Perhaps there's a course that you could be doing
that maybe this church offers right now.
Perhaps there's a Christian book that you could be reading
or that somebody else,
you might give to somebody else
to help them be better acquainted with God's truth.
Being part of a regular Bible study group.
Regularly being here
or whatever church it might be that you regularly go to.
Regularly sitting under the teaching
of able Bible teachers
as we've already heard from folk this morning
that you have here at St Paul's.
Jesus' death and resurrection
are absolutely central to biblical Christianity
and we need to know the truth ourselves.
The third thing that we notice from this passage
is that Jesus calls for total commitment.
Total commitment.
Companies which spend millions of dollars on advertising
don't do this half-heartedly.
Can you imagine in a boardroom
with a board sitting around a nice large table
saying, well, what will we do with all these millions?
Let's throw a bit at advertising.
Every dollar is accounted for.
Every dollar is spent
in the hope,
in the plan,
with the strategy
that it will achieve something
in selling the product
or selling the service.
They don't spend
these sorts of amounts of money
half-heartedly.
They invest time,
energy
and lots of money.
They're accountable to their shareholders.
They're totally committed
to selling their product
and making a profit.
A Ford car salesman
who drives a Holden
is not totally committed.
Becoming a Christian
is actually a death sentence.
That's what Jesus says.
Death to self.
Let me read from verse 24 to 26 again.
Then Jesus said to his disciples,
If anyone would come after me,
he must deny himself
and take up his cross
and follow me.
For whoever wants to save his life
will lose it.
But whoever loses his life for me
will find it.
What good will it be for a man
if he gains the whole world
yet forfeits his soul?
Or what can a man give
in exchange for his soul?
Death to self.
Death to my ambitions.
My goals in life.
My happiness.
My financial security.
My popularity.
Christianity is not about me.
It's about Jesus
and his plans.
His interests.
His global mission.
We, like the company
that spends money on advertising,
we will be held accountable.
We're not held accountable
to the shareholders.
We're held accountable
to the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We will be held accountable
for our service
for the Lord
and what we hold back
and how we compromise.
Verse 27,
For the Son of Man
is going to come
in his Father's glory
with his angels
and then he will reward
each person
according to what he has done.
to tell others
about Jesus.
We need to be
uncompromising
in our own faith.
The way we live it out
and the commitment
that we call others to.
We're not calling others
to an easy road.
To a half-hearted allegiance.
We're calling others
to a total commitment
to Jesus Christ.
So let me ask you this morning,
are we serious
about being Christians?
Are we serious
about making Jesus Christ known?
And what evidence
is there
for our opinion
of the answer
to this question?
How would other people
regard your answer
about yourself?
Are we distinctive Christians
or are we,
as Richard Cochan says
in his wonderful little book,
A Few Good Men,
are we suffering
from a chameleon syndrome?
You know,
a chameleon is
often an animal,
a lizard or something
that takes on
the colours
and the design
and the atmosphere
where it is
so that predators
won't be able to get it.
Are we guilty
of suffering
from such peer
group pressure
that we become
like a chameleon
and no longer
be distinctive
as a Christian?
There's a danger.
Well,
we've seen today
that what we believe
about Jesus
matters.
How we live
matters.
How we represent
him
matters.
And how we
proclaim him
matters.
May God help
each of us
to encourage
one another,
to pray for each
other
and to be
serious
about serving
and proclaiming
salvation
in the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Christ.
Let's pray.
Our Heavenly
Father,
we thank you
for this wonderful
passage from the
Gospel of Matthew
and we pray
that you might
help us
this week
to be
distinctive
Christians
and
to represent
you
faithfully
and to
continue
to learn
your truth,
to listen
to your
voice
so that we
might proclaim
your truth
accurately
and we ask
it for Jesus'
sake.
Amen.