Welcome (Romans 4:13-25)

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.  If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations") --in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become "the father of many nations," according to what was said, "So numerous shall your descendants be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith "was reckoned to him as righteousness."

Preparation: The Lord's my shepherd

Call to Worship (Psalm 22:23-31}

You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!  For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him. From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him.

The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD. May your hearts live forever!  All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. For dominion belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.

To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him.

Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.

Hymn: Praise, i will praise

Prayer

O God,
Your love is everlasting. Your love is all embracing. Your love calls us to be your people in this dark world.

Now we return to you this day with our love placed in your hand. Be pleased. Come to us. Fill us with your Spirit. Make this worship, the very human event in which our worship is made acceptable to you. Receive this worship as our expression of love for you.

In your Son’s name we pray. Amen.

Scripture: Mark 8:31-38

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

Sermon

What will you do when you know you will die soon? How do you prepare for death? I heard some Canadians saying to each other that they wanted to travel around the world before they die soon after they were told that they had cancer or incurable disease. There was a family with young children in the Ottawa Region who embarked on getting around the world on a boat when their mother was diagnosed with cancer. They sold everything and bought a large enough boat to travel around the world, took the children out of school and left town.

Jesus, too, was preparing. In his case, he was not only preparing himself, but also his disciples. He began telling them how he was going to die. He got a similar reaction from Peter as I usually see in many hospital rooms. I was with a family who were called in by the doctor. In a solemn voice, the doctor told them that the grandmother who had been under the treatment for three months had no more than a week to live. A big silence fell on the entire family when the doctor said that at best the patient had no more than a week to live. No one spoke for a long while until a daughter said, “Don’t worry, Ma. We will fight it together! You won’t die, right?”

“You can’t die!” “We will fight it!” “You have beaten it before. You will do it again!” People try to bring out enthusiasm for life as best as they can and assure one another that everyone will live awhile and that time for death is not yet. Peter was no different. He did not want Jesus to die. What will happen to their movement if he died? If Jesus were to die what was the purpose of following him at all? Why waste so much effort and energy going from a town to a town, a village to a village, a house to a house? Peter, like all people today, knew that hope was always there if you did your best to be optimistic and think positive. Even if death was inevitable, why talk about when to die?

Hope, indeed, springs eternal if we do our best to live. The trouble is, simply being positive and optimistic does not make hope the true hope. Instead, hope can easily be false hope that misleads people to death. Like a promise by a charlatan salesperson whose purpose is simply to get our money without giving us what he promised, this is why so many faith healers give the preachers a bad name. They falsely promise healing in Jesus’ name in exchange for money, wealth and fame. By giving desperate people false hope they enrich themselves. They lead all who come to them to death.

True hope does not mislead one to death. True hope leads to life, eternal life no less. But true hope is not easy to get. Paul taught us in Romans 5 saying, “And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Yes, you heard it right. True hope that does not disappoint begins, not with a positive mindset or optimistic encouragement, but with suffering.

Jesus knew what Paul later articulated so well regarding hope. He knew in hope that on the third day of his death, he would rise from the dead. Peter could not know because his hope was placed in Jesus’ messiahship here the way he envisioned it as the coming conquering hero entering Jerusalem just like a Roman emperor returning to Rome after a triumphal battle. Peter did not want to see Jesus as the suffering servant. He did not want to be part of Jesus as the one who would die the death of a criminal. He protested against this idea of Jesus’ death so strongly that Jesus had to set him straight.

“Get behind me, Satan!” roared Jesus. Two things are interestings here. The first is that Jesus addressed not Peter, but Satan. The second is that Jesus did not banish Satan, but told him to get out of his way and to stop preventing him from the way to the cross. Of course, we could simply take what Jesus told Peter as a rebuke against Peter’s foolishness or blindness. However, like everything else, when it involves Jesus, things reveal far more than we usually take for granted.

Jesus addressed Satan even though it was Peter who tried to tell Jesus to stop sharing how he would die on the cross. Jesus was helping us to see that Peter was being used as a tool to get to Jesus. Peter, the main disciple, did everything as best as he could. Yet, his devotion and commitment did not prevent him from being usurped by the cosmic battle for the control of people’s hearts. The power behind humanity driving actions of people to commit horrifying sins is something that is always present in humanity, continually popping out into various forms in many moments of history. This evil that lurks at the door can easily subsume humanity to destroy one another. Throughout history we have witnessed how usually wonderful human beings full of compassion unleash evil and vile acts upon the powerless, the weak and the poor.

Jesus knew the power of death prowled in human hearts. Later Christians would name it the seven deadly sins. Today our world calls it inhumane acts that destroy the innocent. Christians name it “sin.” Sin, the power of death, is this power that vies to control our hearts in ways we do not understand. Yes, today, many intellectuals and wise people dismiss sin as something that can be controlled and be used for good. In reality, however, sin as the power of death has been waging wars against Christ the living Lord by continually destroying our communion in Christ Jesus, scattering and pitting us to fulfil our individual will, desire, comfort and benefit against God’s will that unites us as one in God’s love demonstrated through Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. Jesus railed against this power of death that was manifested through Peter’s well intended speech.

Secondly, Jesus did not destroy, banish or ignore Satan as a non-entity. Rather, Jesus demanded Satan to know its own place in the world. Satan was not greater than he. Satan was not worthy of marching before Jesus leading people to death that never would bring resurrection for all who would die. Rather, Satan offered this false hope leading God’s people to death that was so permanent that there would be no eternal life. In Jesus’ rebuke we discover that Satan, though an enemy, had a place in the world. It was that Satan’s place was not in front but behind Jesus. With the lower rank, Satan ought not lead this life of sacrifice to follow Jesus into death without eternal life. It was Jesus’ task to lead God’s people through suffering, death and resurrection if God’s people were to be redeemed to be made free fully so that they may enjoy eternal life.

The entire passage points to the life of following Christ. We follow him in his suffering. We follow him to the cross that brings death to him and we follow him into death to be raised on the third day. This is what Mark meant by following Christ by denying ourselves, taking up our crosses and following Jesus all the way. We are not to lead Jesus by standing in front of him, leading everyone to death without the possibility of being raised into eternal life. So many people who purport to be Christians or Christian leaders have been insisting that we follow them rather than follow Christ.

These self proclaimed messiahs lead the parade. Their leadings do indeed lead to our suffering and often to our deaths, but they lead us to death without the resurrection. In doing so they benefit from our deaths. They demand that we give our money and loyalty to them so that they may live prosperously. Sometimes they, too, may die martyrs' death, but this death only brings tragedy, not the flourishing of life. We die with the false promise that we would live in paradise with them, but the trouble is, again, our death with them does not lead to the resurrection life. We have seen countless messiahs who led people to death without ever bringing their followers into everlasting life.

In this rebuke, “Get behind me, Satan!” we see how easily we may fall to the power of death. The leaders in churches and societies are far more susceptible to this temptation. They get to be puffed up to lead and be messiahs, therefore, falling into the trap set by the power of death. The sweet talk of those who bring well meaning thoughts to Jesus and his living body who are ready to walk the road of suffering, death on the cross, and resurrection with Christ by lovingly advising us there are better ways than suffering and death are trying to lead both Jesus and us astray from God’s way so that we may be on the road with false hope. This is why along with Jesus we say out loud, “Get behind me, Satan!” and refuse to follow these well intentioned messiahs and leaders of our world.

Prayer

O God,
Without fail, you fill us with hope. In the world with little or no hope, the hope that you have given us in Christ Jesus guards and protects us always. We come in confidence of faith focusing our eyes on this hope you filled us with.

Continue to sustain this hope in us each time we find ourselves in despair. We know that when we are confronted with the power of death in Gaza, West Bank, Ukraine, Yemen, on our streets and in our neighbours we shrink away from this world. We fall into situations where we feel powerless. Remind us that you are our only hope and that you are there with everyone who is facing death or has been suffering under the power of death. Strengthen us to witness you in those places of death. Make us your companions in these places where death reigns so that your life may root because of your love that brings us to these places of death.

Continue to sustain this hope in us each time we find ourselves in despair. We know that when our own family members suffer incurable diseases, weaknesses of the body without knowing why and unending suffering due to mental illnesses we easily lose hope. Open our eyes to see that in you is true life. With you as our life-giver and life-sustainer we have your Spirit to flourish together in love beyond pains and anguishes that our loved ones face. Open our ears to hear their sufferings and words to bring your love to them.

Continue to sustain this hope in our church community each time we find ourselves in despair. With many changes that are taking place, it is very difficult for us to see what your will is as you change us day to day, month to month and year to year. Fill our minds and hearts with your Spirit to have love and ability to discern your will together. Send the Holy Spirit and guide us to your way so that we may deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow you each step of this way through the suffering, death and resurrection.

Continue to sustain this hope in each of us as we try to serve you and our neighbours. With worries of our own personal future, whether we seek jobs, belonging, acceptance, peaceful life and reunion with our loved ones, it is so difficult to figure out what we ought to do. Be present with those of us who have lost our loved ones to death, with those of us who are grieving the loss of our family members, friends and our communities, with those of us who gave up all that we had in order to find new life in you in a new place, and with those who are struggling with loss of their abilities to live dignified life. Keep them in our care. Keep us to minister to all who seek restoration in life.

Today we lift up a five year old child who is in the Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto with a brain tumour. We are told that she does not have much to live. Be with her. Be with her family as they struggle and try to find ways of hope. May you bring your healing hand upon her and her family. Through doctors, nurses, and caregivers fill this little child with your love. Give her life. Give her your presence. May you fill her with your Spirit.

We also pray for Dick. Sadly his son Greg died the other day. Be with Dick as he tries to cope. Be with Dick, Sue, Sylvie as they help each other to grieve and share love.

Continue to sustain this hope in us as we pray with the words your Son taught us as the prayers that are in our hearts. Our father…

Offering

Offering Prayer

Announcements

Next Sunday is our 222nd Anniversary Sunday. Please pray for our church. Ask God to bless us in order to carry out Christ’s ministry here for many years to come.

This time, we will have our communion on Palm Sunday, March 24. Please prepare your hearts.

Please remember that our Lent Devotion is continuing every Wednesday at 10 am. Mark the date and time. Come and join us.

We have sign up sheets ready for March. Those who are willing to be ushers/greeters, refreshments preparers and cleanup, please sign up after the service of worship.

We are continuing to work on various volunteer programs. You will notice that our church hall is being painted. We are hoping that painting of the hall will be finished this week.

Those who signed up for Decorations are asked to come on Wednesday.

Hymn: Lord Jesus, you shall be my song 

Benediction