We come now in our series to the sixteenth chapter with this great story that involves the confession of Jesus Christ by the Apostle Peter. I think what we need to see as we begin to look at this section is that it stresses from beginning to end that this faith to which we are called is a personal thing, not something that we can push off on someone else, or an experience of someone else by which we are able to live the Christian life. It involves ourselves and personal discipleship.
The seventh is rejoice. At the very end of verse ten we read, “Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.” How does that differ from glorying? Well, glory has to do with God’s attributes. When you glorify God you magnify his name. You remember who he is, and you praise him for those attributes. You praise him for his wisdom and his holiness and his omniscience and his sovereignty and all of those things. The word rejoice is more concerned with our attitudes, the way we feel and the way we respond.
If we have things to thank God for, we should get in the habit of doing that all the time. If you haven’t been in the habit of doing it, let me suggest that Thanksgiving is the best of all possible days. When you’re sitting around the Thanksgiving table and you’re enjoying the meal, talk about the goodness of God, and the things that he’s done for you for which you’re thankful. That’s what the day is all about.
Verse nine introduces a new idea. It tells us that the fourth way to give thanks is to sing praises to God. I wonder if you’ve ever reflected how it is a characteristic of Judaism and Christianity that we worship God by singing to him. It’s not true of all the world’s religions. In fact, it is really only true in the most profound sense of Judaism and Christianity. It’s because the other world religions are not religions of joy.
The second thing he says is also in verse eight: “Call on his name.” Now this is simple, too, but our problem is we don’t do it either. What this is saying is that we should pray. And yet that’s also hard, isn’t it? We find it easy to do all sorts of things. It’s far more easy for us to get active for God and do something, such as teach a class or serve on a committee than it is to pray.
