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Series A – Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost – Sunday, August 23, 2020 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:28	the holy gospel according to saint
0:30	matthew the 16th chapter
0:35	now when Jesus came into the district of
0:36	caesarea philippi he asked his disciples
0:39	who do people say the son of man is
0:41	and they said well some say john the
0:42	baptist others say elijah others
0:44	jeremiah or one of the prophets
0:46	he said to them but who do you say that
0:48	i am
0:50	simon peter replied you are the Christ
0:52	the son of the living god
0:53	and Jesus answered him blessed are you
0:55	simon barjona for flesh and blood has
0:58	not revealed this to you but my father
0:59	who is in heaven and i tell you that you
1:02	are peter and on this rock i will build
1:04	my
1:04	church and the gates of hell shall not
1:06	prevail against it
1:08	i will give you the keys of the kingdom
1:09	of heaven and whatever you bind on earth
1:11	shall be bound in heaven
1:12	whatever you loose on earth shall be
1:14	loosed in heaven then he strictly
1:15	charged the disciples to tell
1:17	no one that he was the Christ this is
1:19	the gospel of the lord
1:23	in the name of Jesus amen so Jesus
1:27	is now with his disciples in the
1:29	district of caesarea philippi
1:31	i mean really right planted firmly in
1:33	the middle of pagan territory
1:35	this is a wonderful religious uh tourist
1:38	site
1:38	to visit they have the temple of pan
1:41	they have the
1:42	gates of hades they have well in fact
1:44	the city itself
1:46	was founded by philip ii and he named it
1:49	after
1:50	caesar in fact they had a coin struck
1:53	with caesar’s image on it and of course
1:55	the jews were freaking out about that
1:57	thing
1:58	saying that it was idolatrous to even
2:00	use that coin
2:01	and they kind of had a point because
2:02	back in the day well the worship of
2:05	caesar was part of your civic duty as a
2:08	citizen of the roman empire and so you
2:10	were called to show
2:12	your allegiance your loyalty to caesar
2:15	through a religious ceremony where all
2:17	you had to do was offer a pinch of
2:18	incense
2:19	and say caesar is lord and so here’s
2:22	Jesus he’s not
2:22	in well judea he’s not in israel
2:26	and he asks the question who do people
2:29	say the son
2:30	of man is it’s a little bit of a vague
2:33	question i mean are we talking son of
2:35	man like ezekiel
2:36	which is seems to be a point something
2:39	pointing us to
2:40	god in human flesh or god himself or are
2:42	we talking about son of man like talking
2:44	about a mere mortal
2:45	it’s almost as if Jesus is saying all
2:47	right guys have you checked the latest
2:49	gallup polls
2:50	you know what do they show what are
2:52	people saying about me
2:54	and the answers come back the ones that
2:58	come back they’re really really weird
2:59	and
3:00	let me explain so some say john the
3:03	baptist
3:05	others say elijah others jeremiah or one
3:08	of the prophets
3:10	that’s a weird answer by the way and you
3:12	almost see Jesus stroking his beard
3:14	going
3:14	since when did we start believing in
3:16	reincarnation you know
3:18	this is a weird answer so rather than
3:21	comment on the answers given he looks
3:24	at them and he said to them but who do
3:28	you say that i am and you’re going to
3:32	note here this is one of those times in
3:34	scripture where the question
3:36	jumps out of the text and kind of
3:38	demands that we all
3:40	answer that question as well who do you
3:42	say Jesus is
3:44	and that’s kind of the point and we’ll
3:46	note that throughout
3:48	Christian history there have been all
3:50	kinds of interesting answers
3:52	given now let me digress for just a
3:55	minute have you all been following the
3:56	latest kerfuffle in american politics
4:00	did the democrats take out under god
4:03	in the pledge of allegiance now
4:07	as civic creeds go i mean i remember
4:10	saying the pledge of allegiance when i
4:12	was a young lad every single
4:14	time we had something at my school we
4:17	would
4:17	say the pledge of allegiance every time
4:19	we got together as the cub scouts
4:21	both as a cub scout yes i was a cub
4:23	scout but i quit before we got to
4:24	weeblos
4:25	i was a cub scout and and but then later
4:28	in life i was a cub scout leader i was a
4:30	pack leader and every time we would get
4:32	together as cub scouts
4:33	there you have all your cub scouts in
4:35	uniform and we would say the pledge of
4:36	allegiance
4:38	and so here’s the question you know
4:41	that’s kind of before us right now as
4:42	americans can we renegotiate what it
4:44	means to be
4:45	an american because it seems to be that
4:48	there are people who are renegotiating
4:50	that
4:50	right now and uh without any input
4:54	from the rest of the country this is why
4:56	this is a discussion going on
4:58	right now now whether you believe trump
5:00	was right or wrong i do think the topic
5:02	at hand is kind of fascinating
5:04	but you’re going to note that in well in
5:06	our day and age and even before our day
5:08	and age
5:09	the people have been trying to
5:10	renegotiate
5:12	what jude calls the faith
5:15	once delivered or once and for all
5:19	delivered to the saints keep this in
5:22	mind unlike the us constitution
5:24	Christianity was not something where
5:26	some guys got together
5:28	and said you know let’s put together a
5:30	better religion
5:31	you know one that is that gets rid of
5:34	some of the
5:35	this crazy stuff that goes on in these
5:37	other religions
5:38	and let’s let’s see if we concoct a
5:40	religion that
5:41	is is more expansive that has wide
5:44	appeal
5:45	we appeal to people all over the earth
5:47	and so maybe what we should do is we
5:49	should
5:49	talk about this fellow named Jesus and
5:52	me we can make him be a miracle worker
5:54	we can make him god in human flesh
5:56	and everyone said that sounds like a
5:57	great idea and then sat down and banged
6:00	out maybe the
6:00	the nicean creed and then they sent it
6:02	out for ratification among all the
6:04	different
6:05	regions that’s not how that worked is it
6:08	no you see Christianity is a
6:11	faith a trust
6:14	a creed even if you would that has been
6:18	delivered delivered by whom well in our
6:21	text
6:22	it says here by god the father
6:26	so if you would think of it this way
6:28	this text of ours today
6:31	is kind of the first rough draft of
6:34	maybe the apostles creed
6:36	or the nicene creed and in this
6:39	confession of faith that peter gives
6:42	in this confession of faith he
6:45	is saying the words that were given to
6:48	him that were delivered
6:50	to him the insight that was given to him
6:52	by none other than god the father
6:54	Christianity is of faith once for all
6:57	delivered to the saints and so you’ll
7:00	note but
7:01	i i in my lifetime i got to see if you
7:04	would the changing of the guard
7:06	because if you’ve been on the planet
7:08	long enough you all remember
7:10	those those modernist liberals in the
7:13	churches who were saying that miracles
7:14	were not possible you remember
7:16	those guys okay they kind of culminated
7:19	it their final act before
7:21	they fell out of vogue was that thing
7:23	called the Jesus seminar
7:25	where john dominic cross and a bunch of
7:27	liberal and i’m going to say
7:28	bible scholars got together
7:31	and voted on which parts of the gospels
7:35	were historic and which parts were myth
7:39	all right all the miracles out they
7:42	voted them out
7:43	you know sermon on the mount stays
7:45	anything moralistic
7:47	and all of this is really kind of the
7:48	culmination of the
7:50	work that was began by albert schweitzer
7:52	in his in his attempt to demythologize
7:55	Jesus
7:56	and figure out who the historic Jesus is
7:59	as opposed
7:59	to the Jesus of faith as if the two are
8:03	different
8:03	altogether and in this way of thinking
8:05	the general idea goes something like
8:07	this
8:08	the historic Jesus well you know he was
8:10	a
8:11	he was a pretty bold and courageous
8:14	rabbi
8:14	itinerant preacher uh you know in right
8:17	traipsing around judea and he had some
8:19	things that he said and he
8:21	challenged the authorities and wouldn’t
8:23	you know what poor Jesus went and got
8:25	himself killed
8:26	all right but he serves as an example of
8:28	what it means to stand up to the caesar
8:31	man and so we hold him
8:32	in high esteem but the Jesus of faith
8:35	well that’s the concoction of the
8:37	apostles
8:38	you know because the historic Jesus
8:40	didn’t walk on water the historic Jesus
8:42	didn’t rise from the dead the historic
8:44	Jesus didn’t heal the sick and all that
8:46	kind of stuff because that’s miracles
8:47	those are miracles and those aren’t even
8:48	possible because they would be a
8:50	breaking
8:51	of the laws of nature this is how they
8:54	argue right
8:55	and and so this
8:58	Jesus of faith this Jesus of faith
9:02	is just a man-made invention a legend if
9:05	you would
9:05	like the legend of paul bunyan or
9:08	something like that
9:11	and these are people who were operating
9:12	within the visible church but here’s the
9:14	thing
9:16	that way of thinking that it’s not
9:19	really theologizing is it
9:20	it’s philosophizing if you would it’s
9:23	yeah because
9:23	theology you need a biblical text you
9:26	see they deny what the biblical text
9:27	says
9:28	this way of philosophizing has fallen
9:31	out of vogue
9:32	what happened what happened what what
9:34	caused them to no longer
9:36	have the best seats in the theological
9:38	seminaries the answer is this
9:41	a television show that you all may have
9:43	seen
9:44	goes back more than a decade ghost
9:46	hunters
9:47	you guys remember ghost hunters i think
9:49	the world changed with ghost hunters and
9:51	the reason why
9:52	is because there on the sci-fi channel
9:54	there were guys in the dark with
9:56	infrared cameras
9:57	running around haunted houses haunted
9:59	places and using
10:01	scientific equipment to prove the
10:04	existence of the paranormal
10:06	and the supernatural and all of a sudden
10:08	the whole world
10:09	changed science has now proven the
10:11	existence of the paranormal
10:13	and now things are different everybody
10:17	believes in miracles nowadays
10:18	everybody believes in them right except
10:20	for like the artifacts like
10:22	you know the 80 year old guys who were
10:23	trained the old way
10:25	you know they’re dinosaurs they’ve
10:26	fallen out of vogue but here’s the thing
10:28	don’t think for a second that just
10:29	because everybody believes that
10:31	that miracles are possible that that
10:33	means that they have a correct view of
10:35	Jesus
10:36	they don’t we’ll talk about this in our
10:39	sunday school today
10:41	it’s a whole bunch of people running
10:42	around now in the charismatic and
10:43	pentecostal churches who are
10:46	overtly saying that Jesus did not come
10:50	as god he only came as man
10:53	that is a quote that Jesus did the
10:56	things that he did as a man
10:58	not as god and so they are
11:01	downplaying the deity of Christ or even
11:03	worse saying that Jesus laid aside his
11:06	divinity all together
11:09	and as a result of that Jesus is now the
11:12	ultimate example
11:13	of what you can do the miracles you can
11:16	perform
11:18	as a Christian and dwell by the holy
11:20	spirit
11:22	it’s a big threat big change that’s
11:24	happened in our lifetimes
11:26	but i digress so coming back then to
11:29	peter’s confession
11:31	remember Christ asked the question who
11:33	do you say that i am peter replied you
11:34	are the Christ
11:36	you could even say messiah yeah because
11:38	Christos
11:40	and mashiach are synonymous
11:43	words means the anointed one you are the
11:45	anointed one
11:46	you are the son of the living god
11:51	and if you remember our texts when Jesus
11:54	was walking on the water
11:56	and they were freaked out he said take
11:59	heart
12:00	egg owe me i am do not be afraid and at
12:03	the end of that text
12:05	it says the disciples were worshiping
12:07	Jesus
12:09	Jesus is god he is the son of the living
12:12	god and peter’s confession of faith
12:14	is well quite the confession
12:17	that Jesus is the son of the living god
12:19	is to say that
12:20	Jesus is god in the gospel of john
12:24	you have Jesus calling god the father
12:27	his father and by doing so the jews got
12:29	really upset
12:30	because they accused him of making
12:33	himself equal with god by that language
12:36	and so here this language of peter you
12:38	are the son of the living god is a
12:39	confession that Jesus
12:40	is the god of the old testament in human
12:42	flesh he is the promised messiah
12:45	and that’s the full stop that’s the
12:47	kernel that’s the nugget
12:48	and you’re going to note then that this
12:51	confession
12:52	of peter’s is the central foundational
12:55	doctrine the foundation stone itself of
12:59	the Christian faith not
13:00	peter but this confession
13:04	so Jesus answered him blessed are you
13:06	simon bar jonah and listen to the words
13:08	flesh and blood has not revealed this to
13:10	you
13:10	but my father who is in heaven now it’s
13:13	absolutely true
13:14	that here Jesus takes cephas’s name
13:18	and and changes it to peter
13:22	it’s absolutely true that’s
13:25	that’s not a problem for us and you’ll
13:28	know that
13:28	uh i think a good way to think about it
13:31	that when he says that you are peter and
13:33	on this rock i will build my
13:35	church and not that we need to pay
13:37	attention to the details but simon
13:39	barjona you are peter
13:41	and on this rock i will build my church
13:43	simon barjona
13:44	Jesus changes his name to peter and bar
13:46	jonah i mean you can kind of translate
13:48	that or transliterate that as
13:50	son of john that would not be a bad way
13:53	to
13:53	say it i had one pastor who i i will
13:57	never forget the point that he made
13:59	at this point he said Jesus changed
14:01	peter’s name
14:02	to rocky johnson
14:07	i think it’s brilliant it’s great rocky
14:10	johnson rocky the son of john now
14:13	if we were to kind of do a 21st century
14:16	version of that you know
14:17	right now rather than saying Jesus
14:19	changed his name to rocky johnson i
14:21	think it would be better to say he
14:22	changed his name to stoney johnson
14:24	doesn’t sound like a great name like
14:26	like on apple music if you saw a new
14:28	artist who was being
14:29	you know being premiered you know and
14:31	his name was stoney johnson i mean
14:33	you can almost picture with a name like
14:35	that he’s got really cool jazz vibe to
14:37	him you know
14:38	the kind of easy anyway just look for
14:41	him on apple music you’ll find him
14:45	i look like you guys look like you’re in
14:46	pain
14:50	okay all right but here’s the text says
14:54	i tell you you are patras you are peter
14:59	and you are peter and on this patra
15:04	feminine on this petra i will build my
15:07	church
15:08	you see Jesus here is not making peter
15:11	the first pope that’s not what’s going
15:14	on here
15:15	but what is happening is that we are
15:17	seeing
15:18	that the faith once delivered to the
15:21	saints the light bulb has gone on
15:23	and in a way Jesus is making peter
15:26	kind of like the first prototypical
15:28	apostle
15:30	and you’ll note that with his confession
15:31	of faith which by the way because he
15:33	says you are patros and on this patra
15:36	i will build my church on this rock the
15:38	rock was not peter
15:39	the rock was his confession that Jesus
15:42	is the Christ the son of the living god
15:44	this is the rock that the church is
15:46	built on
15:47	and the gates of hell shall not prevail
15:49	against it
15:50	and so he then he goes on to say i will
15:52	give you the keys of the kingdom of
15:53	heaven
15:54	whatever you bind on earth will be bound
15:55	in heaven whatever you loose on earth
15:57	shall be loosed in heaven
15:58	and don’t miss this part that what
16:01	happens is
16:02	that with this confession of faith with
16:04	the foundation of the very church itself
16:07	it’s not good news in and of itself
16:10	to say that Jesus is the Christ the son
16:13	of the living god
16:15	that’s not good news in and of itself
16:17	because to say that Jesus
16:19	is the son of the living god for some
16:21	that revelation
16:22	is something that will result in their
16:24	judgment
16:25	not their salvation and so to the church
16:28	then Christ gives the keys of the
16:31	kingdom of heaven
16:32	so that sins may be forgiven
16:35	it is wrong for the for the roman
16:38	church to take the keys here
16:42	that are given and turn it into the logo
16:44	for the papacy
16:45	that’s trademark infringement the keys
16:47	in john chapter 20 are given to the
16:49	entire church
16:50	and so you’ll note here that with this
16:53	proclamation that Jesus is the Christ
16:55	the thing that is important is that
16:57	there is the forgiveness
16:58	of sins for all who repent and all who
17:01	believe
17:02	and whoever persists in sin and unbelief
17:04	well
17:05	their sins are bound to them but those
17:07	who believe their sins
17:08	are forgiven and so that is a good way
17:11	to look
17:12	at this text now since we’ve talked
17:14	about different ways in which people
17:17	are trying to renegotiate Christianity
17:19	the
17:20	modernist liberals of the past who’ve
17:22	fallen out of vogue the charismatics
17:24	today who are denying the deity of
17:26	Christ
17:27	keep in mind that it is never a safe
17:30	idea to merely talk about the different
17:32	popular ways in which it is to deny
17:34	Christ
17:35	to confess is to say the same thing as
17:37	crypt as scripture
17:39	and to confess then here that Christ is
17:42	that Jesus is the Christ the son of the
17:44	living god also requires us to consider
17:47	the ways in which
17:48	we as individuals even if we
17:51	are never bought into the modernist
17:53	liberal notions that
17:55	miracles were not possible or even if
17:56	we’re not modern-day charismatics
17:58	denying that Jesus is
18:00	Jesus had access to his divine nature
18:03	there are ways in which we deny Christ
18:05	in our thoughts our words our deeds
18:07	so we deny that Jesus is the Christ the
18:11	son of the living god
18:13	every time we try to justify ourselves
18:17	by our own good works by our own piety
18:21	all the ways in which we want to
18:23	negotiate
18:24	with god so when we do that
18:29	what we end up doing is we become a
18:32	Christ
18:33	for ourselves we become our savior we be
18:36	we become our messiah and by doing so we
18:40	are denying that Christ is the messiah
18:43	we also do this in all the different
18:45	ways in which we live
18:46	where we basically act as if god doesn’t
18:50	matter
18:51	and as as if other people have not
18:53	mattered and in fact worse
18:56	all the ways in which we think that we
18:57	matter the most we deny that Jesus is
19:00	the son of god
19:02	because when we think that we are the
19:04	ones who matter the most
19:06	we are confessing with our actions that
19:08	we think that we are the son of god
19:12	that we have the preeminence that we’re
19:13	the foundation
19:16	we seek to deny we deny Christ when we
19:18	seek to atone for our sins with our own
19:20	blood
19:22	and this is kind of an interesting way
19:24	of thinking about it and by our own
19:26	blood we can even talk about by
19:28	being a living sacrifice kind of a
19:30	twisting of our epistle
19:31	text but in our day and age there’s
19:34	there’s a
19:35	an alarmingly large number of
19:39	teenage girls who engage in cutting
19:42	themselves
19:44	it’s a fascinating phenomenon and with
19:47	that there is
19:48	oftentimes a feeling in the girl in the
19:51	girls that do this
19:52	that by doing so they are
19:56	well making themselves to suffer for
19:59	their wrong
20:00	doing they’re letting their out their
20:02	own blood
20:03	out for the purpose of atoning for
20:06	whatever
20:06	standard they have not achieved but we
20:10	cannot atone for our own blood and so i
20:12	would
20:13	kindly remind those who are tempted
20:16	along those lines
20:17	that Jesus was cut for us so that we
20:19	would not have to cut ourselves
20:21	because we cannot atone for our own sins
20:23	with our own blood
20:26	the other ways we deny Christ is when we
20:29	try to bargain
20:30	with god you ever done that it’s like
20:33	god if you just get me out of this
20:35	circumstance i will
20:36	i will pray at least once a day
20:41	or okay once a week right we try to
20:44	bargain with god
20:46	that you can’t do that you’re denying
20:48	that Jesus is the Christ the son of the
20:50	living god
20:52	and that there is forgiveness offered
20:54	through him
20:56	when you try to bargain in these ways
21:00	we deny Christ when we refuse to sing
21:04	his praise
21:06	when we refuse to confess his name
21:10	when we do not pray we do not praise
21:14	we do not give thanks for what he has
21:16	won for us
21:18	when we sit in stony silence and we
21:21	refuse
21:21	to confess and yet claiming to believe
21:24	as though
21:25	heart and mouth can somehow be
21:26	disconnected
21:29	we deny Christ when we make his word to
21:31	be nothing but a human opinion
21:34	we deny Christ
21:37	when we turn his sacraments into nothing
21:39	more than a religious ceremony
21:42	we deny his presence among us in the
21:44	word and in the bread and the cup
21:46	when we do that we are denying the very
21:48	word of Christ that is intended to bring
21:50	us
21:51	life and salvation so you’ll note
21:54	this confession of peter’s is the
21:57	confession
21:58	and it is wise for us to consider all of
22:00	the
22:01	ways in which we deny this confession
22:06	where our own lives our own worship fall
22:10	so far short that
22:13	it’s clear that our sinful nature is
22:17	very very active in denying
22:20	this confession of peter’s but i would
22:23	remind you
22:25	that in john 20 the keys the sins you
22:28	forgive
22:29	y’all forgive are forgiven the sins you
22:31	retain
22:32	are already retained Jesus gave the keys
22:34	to the whole church to all of his
22:36	apostles
22:36	to everybody who believes and so you’ll
22:39	note then here today you heard
22:42	that your sins were forgiven and indeed
22:44	they were because the same Jesus is
22:46	going to go to the cross in fact next
22:48	week
22:49	if you’re tempted to really think that
22:50	peter got it right
22:52	you’re going to note that in the
22:53	sentences that immediately follow this
22:56	Jesus is going to turn right around and
22:58	tell peter that he’s from satan
23:00	that he is acting as the devil and the
23:02	reason why is because from this time
23:04	forward Jesus
23:05	will begin to tell his disciples that he
23:07	has to go to jerusalem that he’s going
23:09	to suffer
23:10	at the hands of the scribes and the
23:11	religious leaders and that he will die
23:14	and that he will rise again and so this
23:16	same
23:17	Jesus the one who is the Christ the son
23:19	of the living god
23:20	he goes to the cross and he bleeds for
23:23	all of the ways in which you have denied
23:25	him
23:26	to be what peter confessed him to be all
23:29	the ways in which you have exalted
23:30	yourself and made yourself the son of
23:32	god and made yourself the Christ
23:34	made yourself your own savior Christ has
23:36	even bled and died for all of that
23:38	idolatry
23:40	and so today you again heard that your
23:42	sins were forgiven
23:44	so i would say this Jesus said to peter
23:48	blessed are you simon barjona for flesh
23:51	and blood has not revealed this to you
23:54	and so blessed are you dear saints
23:56	blessed are you
23:58	because you believe this and your sins
24:01:00	are forgiven like his
24:02:00	in the name of Jesus amen

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