Good morning and welcome. This is Sunday, August thirtieth, two thousand and twenty-six. You are tuned to the live broadcast of a worship service, which is coming to you from the Sanctuary of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Virginia. A live audio stream is available at the Grace Covenant website, which can be found at grace-covenant.org. Just select the radio button, then listen live.Oh, oh, oh.
Oh, oh, The. The. The. The. Oh, oh, This is the day that the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Good morning, and welcome to Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church. We greet all who are here, that are here to worship. Whether you're worshiping in person, whether you're watching live stream, or listening over the radio, we greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. At this time, I would like to turn your attention to the announcements.
You may follow along as I highlight a few. Let's cultivate worship leadership together by serving as liturgists. A few have signed up, but we need more. And if you are interested in serving as liturgist, contact the church office at info at gcpcrva dot org by next weekend, Labor Day weekend. Join us September thirteenth for our annual Discipleship Sunday potluck breakfast at nine forty-five a.m.
in the Fellowship Hall. This will be a time for fellowship and learning what discipleship means and how you can participate in God's community here at Grace Covenant. We certainly look forward to seeing you there on the thirteenth at nine forty-five a.m. Wednesday night supper returns September sixteenth. In the fellowship hall, dinner begins at 6 p.m., and our program begins at 6:30 p.m.
And at that time, we'll hear from Phyllis Baker and Becca Wynn from Strategies to Elevate People, also known as STEP. All are welcome to join us for this great night of food and fellowship. Finally, let's remember those on our prayer list. Remember to pray for one another, especially those on the congregational prayer list, because prayer changes things. And if you have a prayer that you would like to request, please use the card that's inserted in your bulletin.
You may write out your prayer and place it on the offering plate, or you may place it in the prayer box in the narthex.
Now let us prepare our hearts and minds to worship the Lord. If you are able, please stand and join me in the call to worship as printed in our bulletins. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into his presence with singing. Know that the Lord is God.
It is He who made us, and we are His. We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him. Bless his name.
Once again, welcome to the live broadcast of a service for the worship of God, which is coming to you from the Sanctuary of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church at 1627 Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia. This is the 103rd year of radio ministry at Grace Covenant, and today's broadcast is number 5,260. This morning's sermon, entitled. Losing your life to find it will be delivered by the Reverend Calvin H. Sidner.
Assisting in the service today are Bob Nichols, liturgist; Chris Martin, director of music and organist; Margaret Taylor Woods, soloist; the chancel choir; and the Reverend Joanna W. Sidner, co-pastor. Our opening hymn is "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," which is number one hundred and one in the Presbyterian Hymnal. O come, all ye faithful. O love, my This hymn writer responds to the gospel by pouring contempt on his pride and rejecting the vain things that charm him.
Let us do likewise in the prayer of confession together, as printed in our bulletin. Almighty and merciful God, we confess that we have not followed you with whole hearts. We choose what is easy over what is faithful. Speaking of discipleship, more than living it, our steps are hesitant, our attention divided, our courage small. We hold tightly to our own way and release only what feels comfortable.
We resist practices that shape obedience and neglect habits that form the heart. Forgive us for our cautious faith and our reluctance to walk deeply in your way. Grant us steadiness to follow where you lead. To let go of what we cannot keep, and to discover in you the life we cannot lose, Amen.
Now hear these words of assurance from Psalm thirty-two. Hear the good news: Happy are those whose transgression. Is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. Thanks be to God.
You may be seated. And at this time, children ages three through six are invited forward for children's chapel, and they will be ready for pickup immediately following worship at the back of the fellowship hall. Also invited forward are youth ages seven through twelve, and they will dismiss for youth chapel and return after the sermon. We also have childcare for children. Under three in room 101.
Praise God for our children. Let us pray. God, our Helper, by Your Holy Spirit, open our minds and lead us into Your truth. That we may grow in understanding your word, and in faith, for the sake of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Our Old Testament reading comes from Psalm one hundred and five, verses one through six.
Listen for the word of the Lord. O give thanks to the Lord. Call on His name. Make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him.
Sing praises to Him. Tell of all His wonderful works. Glory in His holy name. Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord in His strength.
Seek His presence continually. Remember the wonderful works He has done, His miracles and the judgments He uttered. O offspring of His servant Abraham, children of Jacob, His chosen ones. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Filled with messages from me, carried messages from me. Take my hand and take it out. It shall be no more. Take my hand, it is my will. It shall be no more.
Take my hand, my Lord, I will. That I face each challenge, so take myself and I will be, and only I will be, ever only one for. For thee, I will hold thee all for thee. Amen. And good morning to everyone.
The gospel reading comes from Matthew chapter 16, verses 21 through 26. Listen again for the word of the Lord. From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "God forbid, it, Lord! This must never happen to you." But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan!" You are a stumbling block to me, for you are setting your mind on divine things, not on divine things, but on human things.
Then Jesus told his disciples, "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 will find it." For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Let us pray. O God, open our hearts and minds by the power of Your Holy Spirit, so that as Your word is proclaimed, we may hear what You are saying to us today.
Now let the words of your servants' mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer, through Christ. Amen. The sermon title this morning is "Losing Your Life to Find It." This passage builds on Peter's divine revelation. And his confession that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, and points to Christ as the head of the church. It was a moment of holy clarity that could have only come from the Father.
However, Peter is not finished speaking, though it will be nothing so divine. Our passage also marks a turning point and beginning of the second half of the Gospel of Matthew, a journey. From Caesarea Philippi, a pagan territory, away from the religious authorities, to to go to Jerusalem, where he will candidly speak on the hard and holy truth about what awaits him—the scandal of the cross. In the first century context, the cross symbolized brutal Roman occupation and public systemic execution. It has been said that during Jesus' lifetime, thirty thousand Jews were crucified in Palestine.
Passerby's would have mocked and harassed people on the road to their execution, and so the hearers may have understood Jesus as willingly subjecting himself to a process that could be avoided. While also inviting the followers to embrace the possibility of the most shameful, agonizing death Rome could inflict, something they could witness any day along the road. Taking up the cross would have struck them at a gut level. To follow Jesus, the disciples were called to lose more than they expected to lose. In this pivotal passage, Jesus begins to reveal the necessity of his suffering and death as he teaches his disciples about the true cost of discipleship, emphasizing that those who wish to follow him must deny themselves and take up their crosses.
Here is the truth of this passage that presses into our lives: true fulfillment and discovery of life comes from. Willingly surrendering our lives to Christ, contrary to the world's expectations of self-serving pursuits. The question for us today might be: What are you holding on to that is keeping you from the life Christ wants to give you? As believers in union with Christ, we must first embrace God's purpose. Jesus reveals and accepts that the road ahead involves suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection.
For the disciples, this would have been contrary to everything they understood about the Messiah. They expected a warrior Messiah who would defeat the occupiers and restore David's dynasty to the authority over all of the nations. Not one who would be humiliated. And who would die on a cross? The shock of it all made them miss the fact that Jesus used this passive voice, saying "must be killed and must be raised," using again this passive voice that points to the fact that it is God's sovereign will and not of human action.
But because Peter had rightly identified Jesus as the Messiah, and Jesus had shared his words about his passion. Peter felt like he had an opinion that he must share with Jesus, so he pulls him to the side to help Jesus to avoid the horrors of the cross. If we think about it, even being raised from the dead on the third day for Peter and the disciples, that was no consolation. The disciples had already seen people being raised from the dead by Jesus, and yet Peter, in a way that only Peter could do, knows better for Jesus. I can imagine him saying, "Jesus, there is a better way.
As you are the Messiah, you have the power to fix it." So Peter says, "God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you." It turns out that not only is the cross scandalous, but the words of Peter are scandalous. Peter went. From the divine revelation to rejection in a matter of minutes, a rejection that is really a temptation, tempting Jesus away from his mission to suffer and die and to be raised in glory for the redemption of all humankind on the third day. Peter's temptation was no different if we think about it than Satan's final temptation in the wilderness in Matthew chapter four, verses eight through ten, where the devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him and promised him what he could have—the kingdoms and all the splendor therein.
And Jesus said to Satan, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God.'" And serve him only.
Well, in our text, we find that Jesus also rebukes Peter not by saying "Away from you, Satan," but saying, "Get behind me, Satan." He's calling Peter to a deeper discipleship. He's not talking about a mere location. He is talking about the posture of discipleship. In other words, if you're going to follow me in God's purpose fully, you have to get behind me. Many say they follow Jesus, but the moment the path diverges from their preferences, they may they may begin to seek their own way.
It's like a hiker. Who gets enthusiastic? They buy the boots, the trail map. They're ready to go into the woods to experience the fresh air, the scenic overlooks. Until they suddenly climb into a steep, rocky terrain, where the hiker then thinks to himself, "Surely this can't be the right way.
The real trail must be easier than this." We might wonder where our own words have become as scandalous as Peter's, where we let worldly thinking shape our responses, where fear of judgment pulls us away from God's purposes, or where we hesitate in today's political climate to oppose religious and political leaders for the sake of Christ because it might cost us approval, comfort. Or the things we've worked so hard to gain. The spiritual struggle we often face today is believing that if we control things, that we have safety. We are convinced in our hearts that if we can just manage everything, it will all be okay. In truth, our efforts to control God's plans put us at odds with God's will.
And in fact, it is the ultimate illusion that we can, or that we should even hold God's plans in our hands. True discipleship recognizes that sacrifice and suffering are not accidents, but a part of God's sanctifying work. Through the Holy Spirit's leading, we walk a path where yielding to God's plans becomes spiritual formation. And our lives are shaped into the likeness of Christ. Therefore, believers who are united to Christ and embrace God's purpose must also deny self-preservation.
Jesus lays the foundation plainly for us in the text: deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. First, to deny yourself reminds that. The disciple that Jesus must—that Jesus bought us at a price. If we look at First Corinthians chapter six, verses nineteen and twenty, it says, "You are not your own; you were bought with a price." As disciples, brothers and sisters, self-denial is not optional. It is a prerequisite for discipleship, as it fundamentally reorders our allegiances and priorities so that Christ's lordship.
Supersedes all competing claims on our lives. We tend to lean toward self-preservation. This often leads us down the path of least resistance, away from God's calling. Self-preservation is a God-given talent, so we don't want to take anything away from that. It can certainly protect us from reckless harm, or even provide us with some wisdom insight.
However, in our faith journey, it can become a form of sabotage when fear becomes the decision maker instead of trust. When comfort becomes the boundary instead of the calling. Or when avoidance captures our hearts instead of obedience, self-preservation is sabotage. Second, taking up your cross means taking action. It is not passive.
We've certainly, probably, all heard it said, or maybe we've said it ourselves. And difficult times—well, we all have a cross to bear. This is not what Jesus is talking about. Taking up your cross demands a lived participation in how we engage in the world. We bear the cross when we care for the sick.
We bear the cross when we provide comfort for the afflicted. We bear the cross when we give sacrificially to the poor or share the message with somebody who may reject it, even if they despise the messenger. There are times when we can unintentionally fail to bear the cross. Church members do this by inviting only believers to church, thereby privatizing discipleship rather than providing a costly witness to those outside the faith. Can also be seen in our failing to use our gifts that God has given to us in the service and community of the church.
Or even offering grace conditionally. Third, Jesus says, "Follow me, not follow me only when it's convenient or safe." As followers of Jesus, we do not have to perform heroics or play the savior. We are simply sharing in His life through our time, work. Speech, thoughts, prayers, and affections. Self-preservation can cause us to hold on to things so tightly that it keeps us from holding firm onto Him.
Recall a story several years ago about some boys who were walking on rocks on the edge of a river. One boy stepped on a wet rock and slipped into the water, and the current grabbed him. And it took him fast and swiftly downstream, but he eventually managed to grab onto a branch. Oh yes, he was holding on for dear life. And while his friends went to go run for help, the boy kept shouting for help, clinging again for dear life to this branch.
It was his lifeline. But once he was spotted by the rescuers, they threw him a rope. One went out there as far as they could. They waded into the water, and then they began to shout, "Let go! We're here.
We can pull you in." But the young boy cried out, "No! The branch is holding me." The boy refused to let go of the branch because he believed that if he did, it would lead to death. And even after all the pleading, Telling the boy that he would be safe, he was only rescued when the current was strong enough to pull the boy so hard that the branch broke. The truth is, the branch was never strong enough to save him. Brothers and sisters, we too cling to broken branches, old wounds, old habits, old defenses that make us feel secure.
It Christ is saying to each of us today, "Let go. I am here to rescue you." And even in our missteps, even when our humanity gets the best of us, God calls us back again and again into His love, and into the path of following Him. I'm reminded when I see someone wearing a cross what it really means. For some, we know it's an ornament, but in fact, it is a calling. It is a sign that discipleship is costly, and it should reflect a willingness to carry the cross—not as a burden we avoid for comfort's sake, but as the shape of a life yielded to Christ.
Through grace, we are called to deny self-preservation and to bear our cross willingly, not as isolated sufferers, but as members of God's covenant family. Brothers and sisters, we are invited to share in Christ's redemptive work—a work that renews us and enables us more and more to die to sin and to live unto righteousness. And so, as self-denying, cross-bearing disciples, we are called to live in the paradox of life. Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. And Jesus says, "For my sake," he's making it clear that he is that we are really giving up very little.
In order to gain everything, and that giving one's life is a commitment to Jesus as the Messiah and to His mission. In other words, when we give up something to gain something, not protecting our own interests, security, or agenda, when we lose our life, we will surrender to Christ, and we will discover what true living really is. The world we live in preaches a competing gospel. It says that life is found through accumulation, what we achieve, what you protect, and what you can control. It affirms that the higher we climb, the more secure we are.
It claims that our value lies in what we earned and what is measured.
However, Jesus. Says those things cannot ultimately give life. If we could gain the entire world, it would represent but a hollow victory. As one scholar said, the kingdom's economy exposes the bankruptcy of worldly exchange. The real victory is where the soul's health matters most, and this is where we find true happiness.
And comfort in Christ. Paul says in Philippians chapter three, verses eight. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. If any of you have been like me, I remember a season when I pushed so hard to reach my goals in life. That I missed important dates, I missed important times with my family, weekends for football games and basketball games and soccer.
And then one day, it hit me. I realized that I was saving the wrong life. I realized that I was saving my career while also losing joy, losing pieces of my family, and losing parts of myself. If you've been through that, when you finally stepped back, like me, you probably discovered that in letting go, you begin to find God's purpose in your life. When we surrender what we thought we could not live without, we often discover the life we were meant for.
Beloved, true fulfillment and discovery of real life are found not in chasing self-preserving pursuits, but in willingly surrendering our lives to Christ, trusting that what the world calls loss. Is actually the doorway to life, with all the world has to offer. Jesus stands before us with a different invitation, with a life-giving invitation. He says, "If you try to save your life, you'll lose it. But if you lose your life for my sake, you'll find it." For when you are united to Christ by the Spirit, the old self is crucified, and it is no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you.
Your surrender becomes participation in His redemptive work. The self you lose, the self you lose, is found again, transformed, liberated, and hidden with Christ in God, waiting to be revealed in glory. This is the reversal of all earthly logic. In dying, you live; in losing, you find; in surrendering, you are made free. In this, we bear witness as his disciples that the way of the cross is the way of life.
Amen. If you're able, please stand as we sing hymn 422 in the Blue Hymnal, "God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending." You are listening to the live broadcast of a worship service at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church. You have just heard this morning's sermon entitled "Losing Your Life to Find It," which was delivered by the Reverend Calvin H. Sidner. The congregation will now join in singing "God Whose Giving Knows No Ending," which is number four hundred and twenty-two in the Presbyterian hymnal.
My father's eyes are like the sea. I am the light. Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have heard the word and responded with song. Let us now respond by stating what we believe using the Apostles' Creed as printed in the bulletin. I believe in God the Father Almighty.
Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day, He arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven. And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen. Please be seated. Let us go to the Lord in prayer.
O gracious and almighty God, we are grateful to you for once again giving us the chance to come before you at the foot of the cross to give thanks and praise and intercession based on your love, your glory, and your power. Lord, it is because of your mercy that we have come. It is become because of your grace that we have come. It is because of your spirit that has led us that we come, so that burdens may be taken away, hearts renewed, and life transformed. We are grateful, O God, that you have sent your Son, Jesus Christ, so that we may know him personally.
O God, that we might cry out in prayers, knowing that he hears. Our prayers. We thank you, O God, for the many and the small manifestations of your faithfulness in our world, for the miracles of life and all the blessings in our lives. God, our Redeemer, we pray for the world that has yet to see your glory, for those who have seen pain but not the assurance of your promises, for those who Know only the difficult realities of life, and not the revelation of your glory. We ask for and pray for all nations and peoples.
We pray, O God, that they may see one another as we do here in the image of God. That they may lose suspicions and mistrust which exists between them. That that might be removed, O God. That walls. Of fear and pride and misunderstanding would be broken and come completely down.
Lord God, we pray this morning for all the victims of war and those injured in spirit from war. You know the wounds that cannot be seen. You know the grief that cannot be spoken. And oh God, you know the trauma that remains long after the fighting stops. Make us instruments of your peace, and let your healing rise beyond words.
Lord, we pray also for the poor and the afflicted. Teach us to see Christ in those who struggle and suffer, and to respond to respond not with avoidance or excuses, but with generosity, courage, and love. Make us A faithful community that practices what we preach, because we serve a Savior who, in our pain, stepped in right away and saved us. Oh God, God of mercy, we need your presence right now, Lord. We need your peace as we lift up the people of Nepal, Lord, for the tragic.
Devastating event that occurred several days ago. Comfort all, Lord Jesus, who have lost all hope. Comfort all who have lost family and friends and homes and businesses. Wrap your arms around the family and friends who are praying that loved ones will be found. We pray for those.
O God, who are afraid around the world, who sees such a devastating event, be close to us, Lord. Fill our hearts with your love and mercy, Lord. Help this nation and the global community rise not only in prayer and sympathy, but in action, so that we might bear one another's burdens. Lord, this day we pray for all who mourn, where tears fall freely, where loneliness presses in so hard on broken hearts, and where hope seems lost. Remind us again that sorrow never has the last word.
Give resurrection hope to those hurting hearts, that they may know that you are with them, and that you will carry them through. Lord, we lift up our sick today. The sick before us, Lord. The sick in our family. Those who we know who are in hospitals.
Those who are struggling. Those who we have put on our prayer lists, O God. You know our pain. You know our fear. You know our exhaustion, and you know the long road we've walked.
Strengthen us, O God. Renew our bodies, give us peace. Let it settle over us, O God, that will cover us, that we might know that we are never alone. Lord God, we pray for this this church, this faith community, for the people gathered here, for the ministries that flow from Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, and for the witness you call us to bear in Richmond and beyond. By your Spirit, over a hundred years ago, you planted this church in this place.
Make this a refuge for the weary, a home for the hopeful, and a family for all who seek your grace, Lord. Give us boldness. Let your Spirit move in marvelous healing and restorative and life-changing ways, Lord. We pray for all of our seniors. Especially our centurions, Buddy Harvey and Will Madden, and others around the world.
O God, who've reached at least a hundred, surround them with your protection, and let them feel the assurance that you are there with them, Lord, during their difficult days. Lord, we pray for our children, for those who are in school, for those who are too young to be in school. Lord, hold them all close. As they grow and learn and explore and discover the world around them, as you guard them with your mighty hand, help them to grow, O God, in wisdom, in kindness, and in faith. We ask blessings upon parents, babysitters, grandparents, child development centers.
O God, all teachers and administrators, and those who shape our children's lives. Lord, give us this day hearts ready to lose what we cannot truly live, so that we may receive what only you can offer. Let your Spirit loosen our grip on the life the world tells us to chase, and open our hands to the life you died to give us. Graciously, send your Holy Spirit. Send your spirit's blessings to your children present here.
Keep our hearts and thoughts in Jesus Christ, your Son, our Savior, who taught us to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. With thankfulness we give, with gratitude and joy.
With prayerfulness we give in sacrifice, in love. With hopefulness we give in commitment to God. As recipients of abundant life in Christ, we now offer our gifts to God. As the ushers pass the place, please place your attendance cards, any prayer requests, and your offering on them. For those worshiping at home, we encourage you to continue your financial ministry by sending your offering through the mail.
Through your banker online at www.grace-covenant.org/give-online. Please give as the Spirit leads. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Oh, oh, Oh, oh, Oh, oh, Merciful Father, we offer with joy and thanksgiving what you have. First given to us, ourselves, our time, and our possessions—signs of your gracious love. Receive them for the sake of Him who offered Himself for us, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. As we continue to stand, let us sing hymn 371 in the Blue Hymnal: Lift high the cross.
O holy night. O holy night. O holy night. O holy night. O holy night.
O holy night. O holy night. O holy night. O holy night. Oh, oh, O love, O We invite each of you to join us in the social room for a time of fellowship and refreshments.
And my charge to you today is that as you leave this place. Lose what you cannot live, so that you may receive what only Christ can offer. Take hold of faith, and follow the one who gives life fuller, deeper, and more alive than before.
Now hear these words of blessing.
Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God. And the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. The. The.
For the past hour, you have been listening to the worship service at Grace. Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Virginia. Please join us again next Sunday through our radio ministry or in our sanctuary at sixteen twenty-seven Monument Avenue. Your announcer today has been Colin Barnes, and the audio technicians were Steve Kemp and Ethan Reevley. This service streams live and can be accessed through the Grace Covenant website, which is grace-covenant.org.
We now return you to the Truth Network on WLES five ninety AM and ninety seven point seven FM.
