Transcript

A Cross For Christ(ians as Well)-Part One

Matthew 16:21-28
Sunday, January 28, 2010
Pastor Randy Smith

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I really enjoy reading the Puritans. They didn't always get it right, but few eras have surpassed them in their great devotion to God and ability to articulate their beliefs in a profound way.

Recently I read a quote from J.A. James where he in the traditional puritanical way stated: "Can it be, that the chief object of existence is to sing, and play, and dress and dance? Do not these things, when we reflect upon them, look more like the pursuits of butterflies and grasshoppers, and canary birds - than of rational creatures? Is it not melancholy to see beings with never-dying souls, sinking to the amusements of children; and employing time as if it were given them for nothing but mirth; and using the world as if it were created by God only to be a sort of playground for its inhabitants? (The Great End of Life, 1825).

It makes you think. For the Christian what is the proper place for comfort? Is God opposed to pleasure? Is recreation a sin? Is it OK to laugh? Is God honored by a life intentionally subjected to hardship? Are all forms of enjoyment acceptable? Is pain ever part of God's plan? Does God want us to be prosperous? What does it mean to be prosperous? What does it mean to deny ourselves? How do we do that? I can keep going…

Salvation is full submission to God. It is acknowledging Him as Lord of your life, which means allowing Him to redefine your entire worldview.

If we do not accept that truth, the sermons over the next two weeks will come as a surprise. We naturally gravitate to ease, pleasure and comfort. And while each of these is not always necessarily evil, they are also not the only direction our Lord desires us to pursue and not always the pursuit that happens to be in our best interest. These passages will make that very clear. These passages will reveal the cross that both Jesus and His followers are required to bear.

1. A CROSS FOR JESUS

Next week we will look at the second point: A Cross for Christians. Today we'll examine the first point: A Cross for Jesus.

Last week we learned about Peter's confession of Christ. While others were unsure of Jesus' identity, Peter hit the nail on the head when he exclaimed: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mt. 16:16). With those profound words, Peter acknowledged that Jesus was indeed the long awaited Messiah to redeem His people.

It was a wonderful moment! Jesus immediately pronounces a blessing on the apostle and declares the authority and invincibility of His church. This was the news that these men had been waiting for! They breathed the air of theologically-charged and surprisingly detailed Messianic expectations. This was the promised One that would overthrow Israel's enemies and triumphantly bring God's kingdom to earth in all glory. The veiled glory of Jesus had no doubt surprised them up to this point. Were they even following the right guy? (We learned that John the Baptist has his doubts - Mt. 11:3). Peter sticks his neck on the line, makes his confession, and Jesus confirms everything these men wanted to hear. The time they dreamed of had finally arrived!

Immediately their world is rocked. Verse 21, "From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day." What? Let's break these apparently untimely words apart.

The verse begins, "From that time." At this point our Lord makes a major shift in His focus. Jesus begins to concentrate on His departure. From working with the general population, the majority of His time will now be devoted to preparing His disciples for His departure. He will be leaving them and shortly fulfilling the primary purpose for which He came. The plan of God set in motion from eternity past was now reaching its climatic fulfillment.

As verse 21 indicates, Jesus "must go to Jerusalem." Not to tour the temple mount, not to swim in the Sea of Galilee and not to visit the Mount of Olives. Jesus was on a divine mandate. He must go to Jerusalem, for Jerusalem is the place where He would perform His sacrifice to make atonement for sin. What waited for Jesus in Jerusalem, the city that "kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her" (Mt. 23:37), the city where blood sacrifices were accomplished, was a cross on a hill called Calvary. Based on a divine decree from the Father and the willing heart from the Son, the time to fulfill the prophecy had dawned.

"Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed" (Isa. 53:4-5).

Jesus had already alluded to His death (Mt. 9:15; 10:38; 12:40), but this is the first of three times He discusses the situation as openly (Mt. 17:22-23; 20:17-19). "[I must, says Jesus,] Suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day."

We who have read the Bible and live on this side of the cross can elaborate on those details. We know how Jesus stood before the Sanhedrin as these men conjured up false allegations and condemned an innocent man out of pure hatred. Yes, He suffered "many things" indeed: beaten, mocked, flogged, a crown of thorns pressed upon His head, crucifixion, death - emotional agony, physical agony beyond words, social agony as He faced denial and betrayal and spiritual agony as He was forsaken by the Father. This was all part of the plan. And this is what the disciples with all their long-standing notions about the Messiah could not accept. Though clearly prophesized in the Old Testament (Isa. 53; Psm. 22), they had no place in their theology for a suffering Messiah, how much less a suffering Messiah on a cross. They knew Deuteronomy 21:23: "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree" (cf. Gal. 3:13). First Corinthians tells us "For the word of the cross is foolishness …to the Jews a stumbling block" (1 Cor. 1:18; 23). For a moment they must have been speechless. For a moment…

Leave it to Peter. The man never had a problem in voicing his opinion, and now over-confident with just receiving our Lord's commendation (Mt. 16:17) took little time to open his mouth.

Verse 22 says, "Peter took Him aside." He treated Jesus similar to a wise father who needs to set straight a foolish son. "And [Peter] began to rebuke Him," the verse says. Peter felt compelled to specifically point out the error of His remarks. Amazing! The man who just confessed that Jesus was indeed the Christ now felt it incumbent upon himself to speak as if he knew God's will better than the Messiah Himself. Though his heart meant well, his arrogance was the product of pure ignorance.

Yet before we come down too hard on Peter, how many times have we felt that our plans are wiser than God's? How many times has the creature sought to instruct the Creator? How many times have we called Jesus "Lord" (like Peter - Mt. 16:22) and refused to submit to His will?

Peter did not mince his words. Voiced with emphasis and strong repudiation in verse 22: "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You."

"You see Jesus, You've got this whole thing wrong. Our plan for the Messiah is not mixed with the ingredients of pain and suffering. We can't let you do it. It's a mistake. Messiah's bring vengeance on God's enemies. Messiah's don't leave their friends like this. Messiah's don't die."

Yet what did Jesus say in Mark 10:45? "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Little did Peter and the disciples understand that in God's economy there is often pain before triumph and opposition before majesty and a cross before a crown. I think Peter was so set in his false notions that he didn't even hear the comment ending verse 21 that Jesus would "be raised up on the third day." Glory would come…but only after a period of suffering.

Peter crafted a Messiah in his own image. As one author said, "We want gain without pain; we want the resurrection without going through the grave; we want life without experiencing death; we want a crown without going by way of the Cross" (Nancy Leigh DeMoss). Peter expected Jesus to abide by those rules.

That familiar response is spoken in verse 23. Have stronger words ever fallen from our Lord's mouth? "But [Jesus] turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's.'"

A sub theme running through the life of Jesus has been His spiritual battle with the forces of darkness. He had already demonstrated His power over demons (Mt. 12:28), but ongoing was the relentless battle with the prince of demons, Satan himself. The conflict is best typified in Matthew 4. We have already studied those three temptations and noted that all of them sought to pull Jesus away from doing the Father's will. "Turn these stones into bread. Jesus, take control of this situation Yourself!" "Jump off the temple. Jesus, draw attention to Yourself!" "Take possession of the world's kingdoms. Jesus, have glory for Yourself now!" The story line of temptations was a broken record (2 Cor. 2:11). "Do it your own way. Avoid suffering. Take glory now for yourself." With that as a backdrop, you can see how Peter's words touched a nerve.

"Get behind Me, Satan," Jesus said to His beloved apostle. Six verses earlier Jesus called Peter, "Blessed" (Mt. 16:17). Now He calls him the Prince of Darkness. Seven verses earlier Peter had just spoken words from God (Mt. 16:16). Now he finds himself serving as a mouthpiece for Satan. Little did Peter know that any attempt to divert Jesus from the cross was birthed in the pit of hell. Wave after wave to circumvent the cross - our Lord endured them all - this time spoken through one of His very own.

We should not be surprised that Satan waged an all out war to keep Jesus from the cross. How much he knew is debatable, but the first Messianic prophecy stated all the way back in Genesis 3 declared that God would one day crush his head (Gen 3:15). Through the cross Jesus would "[bind] the strongman…and carry off his property" (Mt. 12:29). He would "[disarm] the rulers and authorities, [by making] a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him" (Col. 2:15). Through the cross we would be "rescued from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of [God's] beloved Son" (Col. 1:13). The cross would enable us by grace to "turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God" (Ac. 26:18). The cross brought the end to spiritual death. "That through death [Jesus] might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb. 2:14). The defeat of Satan. The loss of his kingdom. The release of his captives. The inevitable banishment into the lake of fire. Satan, my friends, had a lot to lose!

Being fully man as well as fully God, there is no doubt that Jesus felt the weight of Satan's assaults. Standing firm until the end, we feel His pain as He prayed in Gethsemane on the eve of His crucifixion: "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will" (Mt. 26:39).

A diet accountability partner shoving an ice cream sundae in front of your face. A trusted AA counselor offering an alcoholic a drink. A wife suggesting her husband view pornography. A close friend offering another friend drugs. Yet these earthly illustrations fall an eternity short of how Peter's comments must have impacted our Lord. Working so hard to keep the right focus and then an attempt to be pulled off course by a companion who adamantly, yet erroneously, thinks he knows what is best. Little did Peter know the diabolic intent behind his words.

In verse 18 Jesus called Peter the Rock (Petros). Now in verse 23 He called him another kind of rock, "a stumbling block." A skandalon in the Greek, translated a trap, a snare, a cause for spiritual stumbling. Putting something in someone's way that would cause them to trip or fall.

If you ever wondered how intent Jesus is to do the Father's will or how passionate He is to pursue righteousness or how much He wishes to serve the best interests of the church, let this verse burn into your hearts. Even at the expense of his best friend's feelings, compromise was not an option.

How many times have we been angry with God? Such an attitude is the result of believing that we know what is best for our own lives. God has dealt us a bad hand and it can be chalked up to His mistake and our loss. Such was the attitude of Peter. He rebuked the Lord for not acting in His own and Peter's best interest. Little did the finite man know that had Jesus obeyed Peter, none of us would presently be enjoying the promise of eternal life. No doubt Peter was stunned by the rebuke, but such words were actually for Peter's greatest good. And despite the doubts from His leading apostle, God proved that He knew what He was doing, right? Faith is believing that God has a good plan for His children even when we don't have the present evidence or wisdom to perceive its intended goodness.

Peter made the mistake that we make too often ourselves. He took his eyes off the Lord. He was evaluating life merely from a human perspective from his own intuition. As Jesus said at the end of verse 23, "for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."

What a reminder for us about the battle to fulfill Colossians 3:2. "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth." Peter could be speaking heavenly words and then in the span of minutes spewing comments that brought our Lord's strongest rebuke. It is so easy to be in the Spirit and then immediately shift to the flesh. It doesn't take long from the time we take our minds off the Lord to begin processing in a way contrary to God. James called it the "wisdom…not…from above, but [wisdom that] is earthly, natural, demonic" (Jas. 3:15). Paul called it "[setting our] minds on earthly things" (Phil. 3:19). Jesus here called it "man's…interests."

As Peter showed us, man in his best reasoning apart from the Spirit cannot please God (Rom. 8:8). Often man's best interests are not God's interests. Proverbs 14:12 tells us, "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." It is this natural spirit that deemed it best to crucify Jesus. And it is this natural spirit that deems it impossible to see any purpose in God-ordained pain. How many times have we cried to be delivered from the pain rather than learn during our times of trial, persevere even when our wishes are crossed and prayers apparently unanswered and praise God for His sufficient grace? On the other hand, how many times have we seen how God has refined our character best during times of distress (Rom. 5:3-5).

It was a painful lesson for Peter, but a lesson about pain that he eventually learned. As he wrote to those churches in Asia Minor in 1 Peter he said, "For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed" (1 Peter 2:21-24). And, "After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you" (1 Pet. 5:10).

Man judges man in ignorance.
He sees but in part.
Our trust is in our Maker,
God who searches every heart.

And every wrong and every woe
when put beneath our feet,
as stepping stones may help us on
to His high mercy seat.

Then teach us still to smile, O Lord,
though sharp those stones may be,
remembering that they bring us near
to Thee, dear Lord, to Thee.

God's ways are not our ways.
His thoughts are not as ours.
He wounds us sore with cruel thorns
where we have stooped for flowers.

But, O, this from the oft pierced heart
those precious drops distill,
that many a life else all unblessed
with healing balm shall fill.

Then give, o give the flower
to those who pray it so may be,
but I would choose to have the thorns
with Thee, dear Lord, with Thee.

Author Unknown

We know how the story ends. Jesus overcame His temptations and as predicted marched toward Jerusalem. He went to the cross. He subjected Himself to the torments of men and accepted the wrath of the Father for guilty sinners. He made forgiveness possible. He proclaims salvation to all who trust in His work, evidenced by their desire to now live for the things above.

There was a cross for Jesus. As the Lord permits, next week we'll see there is a cross for His followers as well.