Worship Helps for Pentecost 17

Title: Who Do People Say I Am?

 

Worship Theme: There are two kinds of preachers.  One pushes worldly glory.  The other pushes the ugly cross where Christ was crucified for us, alone in the darkness.  The former touts worldly success.  The latter knows that those who speak God’s truth will always make enemies.  “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” the Bible says.  So men who preach God’s full truth are bound to experience failure and disappointment.  Following our suffering Savior, though, Christians even sing, “Go, then earthly fame and treasure.  Come disaster, scorn and pain.”  We even pray to God, “In your service, pain is pleasure.  In your favor, loss is gain.”

 

Old Testament: Jeremiah 38:1-3 Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said, ² "This is what the LORD says: 'Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians will live. He will escape with his life; he will live.' ³ And this is what the LORD says: 'This city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.'" ⁴ Then the officials said to the king, "This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin." ⁵ "He is in your hands," King Zedekiah answered. "The king can do nothing to oppose you." ⁶ So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king's son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud. ⁷ But Ebed-Melech, a Cushite, an official in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, ⁸ Ebed-Melech went out of the palace and said to him, ⁹ "My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern, where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city." ¹⁰ Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Cushite, "Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies." ¹¹ So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went to a room under the treasury in the palace. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. ¹² Ebed-Melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, "Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes." Jeremiah did so, ¹³ and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

 

1. What bad thing happened to Jeremiah? (See especially 38:6)

 

2. Why did King Zedekiah allow this to happen?

 

Epistle: 1 Peter 4:12-19 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴ If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. ¹⁵ If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. ¹⁶ However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. ¹⁷ For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? ¹⁸ And, "If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?" ¹⁹ So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

 

3. In one word, how does Peter say you should think of yourself if others insult you because of the name of Jesus? (See 4:14)

 

4. What does Peter mean in 4:17, when he says that it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God, so even worse things are coming for the godless?

 

Gospel: Mark 8:27-35 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?" ²⁸ They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." ²⁹ "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ." ³⁰ Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. ³¹ He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. ³² He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³ But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." ³⁴ Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.

 

5. Why was Peter rebuked for not wanting Jesus to suffer and die?

 

6. What is meant by taking up the cross? 

 

 

Answers:

1. Jeremiah was lowered into a cistern, in which he sank down into the mud.

 

2. King Zedekiah let Jeremiah be lowered into the cistern because four officials had told him that Jeremiah was discouraging people in Jerusalem.  Jeremiah was telling them that those who stayed in the city during the Babylonian siege would die in terrible ways.

 

3. If others insult you because of the name of Jesus, you are blessed.

 

4. In short, Peter means Judgment Day will be hopeless for unbelievers.  Paul Kretzmann answers our question by first quoting Augustine’s analogy: “’’If the sons are being chastised, what will happen to the slaves?’ What will be the fate of the unrighteous, if God does not even spare the righteous, his intention being to instruct and train them?  The believers are hardly, but certainly saved; those, however, that have refused to be obedient to the Gospel, that were unbelievers from choice, will miss the salvation of Christ, will go away into everlasting destruction ….  That is what the apostle calls out in impressive warning: If the righteous is hardly saved, where will the godless and the sinner appear?”

 

5. Jesus rebuked Peter, we could say, for not understanding what the name “Christ” really meant.  Peter and the other disciples were looking for an earthly king.  Jesus rejected Peter’s well-meant but ill-conceived rebuke.  Without Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection, we would still be in our sins and lost forever.

 

6. Taking up one’s cross means denying oneself. It means to follow the One who carried his cross to Golotha by refusing to make oneself the sole object in one’s life but making God and his will the center one’s life.  That will always involve sacrifices, avoiding everything that might come between us and our Savior (Mark 7:20-23), even being ready to suffer shame and death to remain faithful to him.

  

A reading from the Book of Concord for the 17^th Sunday after Pentecost

            Catechism study is a most effective help against the devil, the world, the flesh, and all evil thoughts.  It helps to be occupied with God’s Word, to speak it, and meditate on it, just as the first Psalm declares people blessed who meditate on God’s Law day and night.  Certainly you will not release a stronger incense or other repellant against the devil than to be engaged by God’s commandments and words, and speak, sing, or think them.  For this is indeed the true “holy water” and “holy sign” from which the devil runs and by which he may be driven away [James 4:7].

            For this reason alone you ought gladly to read, speak, think, and use these things, even if you had no other profit and fruit from them than driving away the devil and evil thoughts by doing so.  For he cannot hear or endure God’s Word.  God’s Word is not like some other silly babbling… St. Paul says in Romans 1:16, it is “the power of God.”  Yes, it is the power of God that gives the devil burning pain and strengthens, comforts, and helps us beyond measure.

            What need is there for more words?  If I were to list all the profit and fruit God’s Word produces, where would I get enough paper and time?  The devil is called the master of a thousand arts.  But what shall we call God’s Word, which drives away and brings to nothing this master of a thousand arts with all his power?  The Word must be the master of more than a hundred thousand arts. – Large Catechism, Longer Preface, paragraphs 10-12