Having the Right Vision

One of the big questions that ha bothered Catholics and Protestants since the time of Martin Luther has been the question of Peter. Referring to the 16th Chapter of Matt. We Find that Christ made the statement: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.” Now the traditional Catholic answer is that Christ is here establishing Peter as the first pope. The traditional Protestant answer is that Christ is saying “Upon this rock I will build my church” meant that the rock should not mean Peter, but Peter’s previous statement: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” In other words, Christ is saying that the church would be founded on Christ and not Peter.

These two answers are convincing to many, but the answer I like best is one by Elton Trueblood which has been discussed in some of our Bible classes. This answer goes to the effect that Christ is here saying that he will establish his church on men like Peter. And what type of man was Peter: As we all know he was impulsive. He would talk before he would think. He blurted out that he would never deny Christ, and then you all remember he denied Christ 3 times. Other examples of Peter’s impulsive nature are such things as the time he tried to walk on the sea and began to sink. Peter, it seems was very human. He seemed to also be quick to temper. He is usually pictured as a rather rough sort of man who probably even had a vile tongue before he met Christ. Peter was no pansy. He seemed to be a man who had been around. Peter was very human with all of the shortcomings and virtues of most of us. The answer Trueblood gives to the 16th chapter of Matthew is that Christ meant to establish his church not on Peter alone, but on men like Peter, men of impulsive action, men of shortcomings, men who sin, men who make mistakes. In other words, Christ meant he was going to establish his church on men like you and me. It is out of the poor human stuff like you and I that Christ means to build huis church and do His work. You and I and all true Christians constitute the church. If you remember the catechism, the church is the Communion of Saints or true believers. Building don’t make a church. It is believers, Christians, who make a church. Empty buildings can do nothing, it is only people that can act and accomplish things.

Thus, if we are the church, the responsibility for doing the work of Christ rests on our shoulders. In our text for today we again read about Peter and Christ three times asks Peter if Peter loves him? This is just before the ascension of Christ, and we have here one of Christ’s lost commands to Christians. Christ faces Peter and he says: “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Peter’s answer is, “Yes, Lord. You know that I love you.” And Christ’s answer is “Feed my lambs.”

Again, Peter is asked if he loves his Lord, and Peter gives the same answer. Christ’s words this time are “tend my sheep.” Finally, a third time Peter is asked if he loves His Lord, and Peter is grieved this time, and he says, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” And Jesus commands him, “Feed my sheep.”

Now it seems strange that Christ asked Peter the same question three times, “Do you love me? Maybe the reason for the three times is to remind Peter of his threefold denial of Christ, and Christ is now letting Peter know that Peter is forgiven, and Peter’s job is to feed men the word of life and to show love and concern to all men. But I do not think that Christ is just talking to Peter here in our text. I believe he is talking to all of us, and He is telling all of us to feed men the Word of Life and to show Christian love and concern to men. Christ seems to be saying to all of us, remember your primary calling in life. Keep your vision clear. Have the right vision – remember “You are your brother’s keeper.

“You must be about your father’s business.”

One of the problems of life is that our visions can get clouded. We can get so much smog in our spiritual eyes that we don’t see the essentials of life. Sometimes we get to be split personalities. We want to be Christians and yet we want to please everyone and go along with what everybody else does. Jesus said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” and sometimes we become divided houses. William James said, “A man has as many different selves as there are distinct groups of persons about whose opinion he cares.” Maybe you’re trying to please Christ but then maybe you are also trying to please the local cocktail club, or the gang at work who boast about their evilness, or relatives who say, “Don’t get too excited about this religion business.”

Often, we hear church people say, “Well now if we really try to live the Christian life the way it says in the Bible, we just won’t belong. If you don’t go along with the gang who tell dirty stories, or who booze it up, or who are not honest in business, you just won’t belong. And who says you have to belong? I find no place in the Bible that says we have to belong. The only thing that I find Christ says regarding this is we have to be “Faithful to him.” We have to take up our cross and follow Him.” And part of our cross may be to not belong with the gang at work, or the gang at school or any other groups. This is not to say that we should remain aloof from men. No, Christ associated with all men, but when we do associate we should at all times remain Christian.

Divided selves are dangerous. Have you ever had one foot on the dock and one foot in the boat, and then have to begin to move out? Well, if this happens to you, you had better decide where you want to belong. You can either jump to the dock, or to the boat. If you don’t you are going to get awfully wet. You know at happens to divided selves, mentally. They have to have medical help. I don’t know what this all involves, but some have to have insulin or shock treatments, or lobotomies, or some other type of treatment. People that have divided selves mentally, just cannot function well in normal life. And people that are divided selves spiritually cannot function well in daily life. Divided selves can lead to family arguments; divided selves can lead to broken homes; divided selves can lead to neglected children; divided selves can lead to mental weariness where you wonder what life really does amount to. Divided selves can lead to feelings of guilt and self-accusations because we know that we are not obeying the only one worth obeying, God. It is divided selves that finally lead to payola. It is divided selves that have lost the government millions each year in income tax fraud. Divided selves don’t work! To be divided self is to be a sickly, anemic, pale Christian who may soon lose Christ or many divided selves may have already lost Christ. When do you feel good physically? You feel good physically when you are in shape, when your body has no aches and pains, when your heart, stomach, and everything work well. This is when you feel good Physically. But its no fun to have arthritis, or heart trouble, T.B., or any other illness. And we only feel good physically and mentally when we are well spiritually, when we are following Christ as He wants us to follow Him.

Many thins can demand our Attention and cloud our spiritual visions rendering us ineffective spiritually. In order avoid this, we have to place our attention in the right place, on Christ and His will. And then our vision will not be divided, we must have one mind to please Christ. Take some of the great Schweitzer honored as he is today? It is because Schweitzer has his mind and heart set on one thing. He wanted to serve God by helping the downtrodden and needy people of the Congo. And this is what he did. With singleness of purpose, he set his mind to become a doctor in his late 30’s, and then when he was almost 40, he began his work in Africa. He had singleness of purpose and today, some 40 years later, he still is laboring in the steaming jungle of Africa. Mohit M. Ghandi, in his youth was not particularly impressive, but then he got the vision of devoting his life to his people, and today, some 10 years after his death, Ghandi is revered as one of the greatest men of this or any other century. He had always a singleness of purpose. Martin Luther was always a serious boy and a good student, but then with singleness of purpose he saw that man must live by faith alone, and because of his convictions he defied the whole Roman empire. Men that amount to something, whether in business or any other realm, are men who devout their lives to what they feel is important. They set their minds on one thing. They have a clear vision as to what they want to do. They avoid being divided selves.

Now if you are spiritually divided, the way for cure is to read a few more books or hear a few more sermons. Cures come when you repent and yield your life to Christ. It is only people that love Christ that can feed his sheep, and you only love Christ when you accept Him as your Lord and Savior. It is then that you get the right vision, for to accept Christ as Savior is to make him Lord and master of your life. You then begin to get singleness of purpose.

Accepting Christ as Savior is something like joining the Army. It is far more radical than joining a club. You can join a bridge club, or a hiking club, or a great book club, but you don’t have to alter your entire life to do this. But if you join the army, your whole life changes. The army tells you what to eat, where to sleep, when to get up, where to live, what to wear, that work you will do, and million other thins When the Sergeant says, “Hit the deck!” he means get up now, even if it is three in the morning. You don’t say, “Aw, I feel like staying in bed a while longer.” Being a Christian also demands things of us. The Bible is full of such statements as “Present your bodies a living sacrifice unto God.”

We are tempted by many things, groups opinions, indifference, the desire to please people, the desire to get along with other, and have peace. But according to the Bible there is something more important than being a good fellow, minding our business, being in the group, or even peace – and that is being faithful to Christ. If you are on the police force and find graft among your fellow officers, you may have to offend these people. If the neighbors are going to have a booze party, you may have to offend by saying, sorry I don’t drink anymore. If your company wants you to charge unfair prices, you may have to decide where you want to work. IF your friends swear a blue streak, you may have to offend them by trying to get them to change. As Christians our highest calling is to be faithful not to our boss at work, or the neighbors, but Jesus Christ. It is then that we can be whole selves with clear visions. And have singleness of purpose.

I began by saying that Christ is Matt. 16 seems to be saying that His church is founded no on Peter, but people like you and I. People who make mistakes, people who sin, and people who lack love. Buy yet, wear as we are, it is the poor stuff of human nature such as you and I who constitute church. And what is our task? Our task is to feed Christ’s sheep. Now the true sheep of God are those who have accepted Christ as Savior and we are to feed, or in other words help each other. But there are other sheep which have not yet accepted Christ, and these people we are also supposed to help or minister to. You have heard much about race riots in South Africa. You have heard about the apartheid problem. In South Africa 3 million whites’ control in virtual slavery 9,000,000 colored people. These people can’t unionize; they can’t hold mass meetings; they must travel without a passbook; in the big cities. Here are people we can feed by our prayers and by our gifts as we help support medical missionaries like Dr. Hall who ministered to these people on a non-apartheid basis. We have similar problems in our own country, and where they exist, we are to fight for good wages and decent living conditions. We have a big dope problem in Los Angeles. Possibly we can help here by fighting for good laws.

And then maybe your neighbor has a drinking problem. Perhaps you can help hm get into AA. Or maybe your neighbor doesn’t care about the church. Have you ever told this neighbor about Christ or invited him to church? If all Christians really went about feeding people with love and the word of God, you can be certain that things would change. It doesn’t take much yeast to affect a whole loaf.

To follow the will of Christ, we have to be in the right relationship with Christ. But sometimes we forget our calling as Christians. I wrote in the church paper about pied pipers and how some piper seemed to bring people to church on Easter Sunday. But the week after East only about half as many people were here as on Easter day. If we call ourselves Christians, and if we are Christians, we certainly will want to do at least the very minimum and that is to obey the 3rd commandment. “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” And as far as I am able to understand it, keeping the Sabbath Holy means at the very minimum worship every Sunday. You know this and I know it. Shakespeare’s Hamlet said, “Something smells in Denmark,” and I wonder if there is not something a little wrong in the hearts of people who think they only have to go to church on Easter or even once or twice a month.

Now about feeding sheep, about helping others and feeding sheep. You may say “Well, what can I do. I am only a one talent man.” Most of us are on talent men. We can’t all be Schweitzer’s or Ghandi or Peter Marshall. That isn’t to say we can’t accomplish things. Millions of good one talent American boys beat the Germans and the Japanese in WW2, and one talent men also conquered Rome for Christ. Floods often are caused by millions of rain drops. We may be one talent people, but you know God wants us to use that talent. The servant who buried his talents was severely judged. You may be a one talent person, but you have a tongue, and with that tongue you can tell others about Christ. Or you may be able to teach Sunday school or sing in the choir or help with Boy Scouts. God can use you someplace, if only you will let Him. I am certain that throughout history millions of souls have been won for Christ through the work of one talent men.

Long ago Christ said to Peter, “Do you love me more than these?” We do not know what Christ meant by more than these. Perhaps he was referring to the fishing equipment in the boat and was asking Peter if he were willing to forsake his material possessions to follow his Lord. We don’t know for certain.

But today Christ looks at us and He says, “Mary, or John, or Dick, or Bill, or Ruth, do you love me more than friends or family, or worldly possessions, or fame, or public opinion? Are you willing to feed my sheep> Are you willing to bring my love and my saving Gospel to men?

The concern of Christ is that we be men who have the right vision Men who are not divided selves. The church is made up of people life you and I and Peter. People who make mistakes, and yet people whom God uses if we yield our lives to him.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.