"Take Up Your Cross" Matthew 16b Sep 29 2024
God With Us - Discovering the Gospel of Matthew • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 2 viewsLet us lose our life for His sake
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Good morning
Today, we will finish Matt 16
We will look at two main sections that complete this chapter:
Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus
These two sections are rich in Bible lessons for us
They are rich in revealing who Jesus is and how we should respond to him
Before we get into this, let’s pray
(Pray…)
Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
Let’s look at this first section starting in verse 21 of Matt 16
Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
V.21 sets a new tone - the mood is more solemn.
The verse begins as “From that time...”
“From that time - Jesus will change his focus to the cross”
“From that time - Jesus begins a new teaching”
“From that time - Jesus begins teaching the real reason he came to Earth”
This turns the corner of the ministry of Jesus.
This is the first time he tells his disciples that he will suffer “many things” and that he will be killed, and be raised on the third day.
From this point in Matthew, Jesus is looking toward Jerusalem and Calvary.
Look at Chapter 16, starting in 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 on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
This is one of those hard-to-understand Bible verses is here in V.23 where Jesus calls Peter, “Satan”
It’s hard for us to wrap our minds around this one
Last week: Jesus calls Peter, “blessed” for correctly proclaiming his belief in Jesus as the Messiah - and then he refers to that type of faith as a “rock” on which he will build his church
I don’t know about you, but if Jesus called me “Satan,” I would want to crawl under a rock
I want you to notice that in v.21, Jesus is very specific in his prediction
We don’t have a direct quote here, but it says that he began to teach his disciples these certain things:
1.) he must go to Jerusalem
2.) he must suffer many things (from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes)
3.) he will be killed
4.) and on the third day, be raised
He doesn’t seem to really explain it all - he just begins to teach them these things
But I want you to notice that whenever Jesus predicts his own death - with one exception later (that I found) in Matt - he always includes his Resurrection
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”
saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”
As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.
Jesus told the disciples over and over what was going to happen - they were blind to the fact that he would be raised from the dead
They couldn’t see the full picture until after Jesus came back to life
Jesus always preached the full story - he always included his Resurrection
In other words - the essential truth of the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ: that Jesus died on a cross and was raised on the third day
When Jesus told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan,” was because Peter was essentially going against the gospel
This is his new teaching to his disciples
And Peter said, “[No Lord] - this shall never happen to you.”
Peter’s words were essentially going against God’s entire plan of redemption for mankind
Peter didn’t know that at that time, but:
You cannot express the Gospel without including his Resurrection
You can’t have a Resurrection without first suffering and the cross
But the cross is meaningless unless you have the Resurrection
You have to have all of these elements in order to have the Gospel - the Good News
Think for a moment from the perspective of the disciples
All this teaching about the “sign of Jonah,” and, “on this rock I will build my church,” and all this talk about suffering and dying and being raised
Imagine being one of the twelve disciples - and how they processed all of this
At the time, they didn’t have the full picture, like we do
Matthew 16 is all about true belief in the true Messiah
It was a turning point for the disciples and a turning point for us
Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus
Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus
And then, Jesus wraps it all up:
Continuing in verse 24 -
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Last week we looked at, in the book of Matthew, how people came to Jesus - in a close, personal way:
The leper who came and knelt before Jesus
The woman who had been bleeding for years came to Jesus to touch the hem of his garment
The two blind men who came to Jesus for healing
The disciples who repeatedly came to Jesus
The Canaanite woman who came out to Jesus and begged him to heal her daughter
And over and over, the crowds that came to Jesus in their need
And in my sermon last week, I taught that we need to come to Jesus in:
Reverence - of who he is
Remembrance - of what he’s done for us
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Rest - that we rest in him - all who labor and are heavy laden
And now, in verse 24, Jesus instructs us how to come to him - his teaching is the ultimate way we come to him
He begins by saying, “If anyone would come after me...”
Most translations use that phrase “come after me”
In the Greek, what’s conveyed is something intensely intimate
There is a closeness that we come after Jesus
There is a closeness to Jesus that his true disciples experience
That if anyone would come after him, there are three requirements:
1.) Deny ourselves
2.) Take up our cross
3.) Follow him
What does it mean to deny ourselves and take up our cross?
Jesus gives us a hint in verse 25: “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
I am unimportant - he is glorified and supremely important
Notice, that when we lose our life, it’s for “his sake” - in other words, there is nothing to be gained to simply lose our life
We need to lose our life, so to speak, for his sake
One scholar [John Oswalt], put it this way:
“Make ourselves everything and we make ourselves nothing. Make Him everything and He makes us everything along with Him.”
Our service to the Lord must be driven by our love for him
There is a close relationship between me and my wife
That I come after her - not just about our marriage license - it is more like our marriage license represents a close, committed relationship
My motivation is key in my marriage to my wife
Let’s say I do things for her out of obligation
I go down a list and do a bunch of things for her - I’m not really close to her - but it doesn’t matter because I’m busy finishing my list
I do my own thing in life - we don’t really talk with each other or spend time together
But how can she complain - at least I’m doing things for her
Now imagine that everything I do for her is not based on a list, but because I love her so much
I’m excited to do things for her - not just to complete a list, but to express how much I love her
I put my relationship with her as #1
As our relationship deepens, my serving her becomes more significant because my love for her increases
Let me ask - in which way does God desire us to serve him?
Does he just want us to serve him by going down a list?
Is he happy with me merely doing things for him
Or is he happy for our relationship to deepen?
Is it possible that he wants me to serve him out of my love for him
Years ago - I used to think that to do things for God = legalism
I really struggled with: What are good works all about?
May I say this - it’s never, ever legalistic if you do things for God because you love him
Remember? Motivation is the key
The only time it’s legalism is when you do things for God because you feel an obligation -
And when you do things for him at the expense of your relationship with him
By the way, this is what repentance is all about
True repentance is not a promise to stop sinning and doing good things
True repentance is a denial of oneself and turning to God
A person can come to a place in life where they are tired of all the partying, all the drinking, and all that life
They can “repent” of that lifestyle - but if they don’t turn to God along with that decision, they’re still without God
True repentance means we agree with God and turn to him instead of ourselves
It’s how we enter a relationship with the Lord
Repentance is agreeing with God - you agree with God that your sinful life is an affront to him...and that it’s hurting you
To agree with God means you agree that you need him
To never repent really means that you continually defend your sinful way of life
To never repent means it’s all about you
It means you continually reject the reality that you need Jesus
It means that you’ve decided you will do life on your own terms
I met a pastor who taught, in his opinion, that hell is living with you for all eternity
I think I partially agree with his idea of hell
But, it’s true in a way - it’s you defending your way of life all those years - now you get to live with yourself forever - with no hope of calling out to God
Forever and ever and ever - absolutely no hope of coming to Jesus
The point is this:
Come to him now - come as you are
I want to point out my favorite word in Matt 16 - it’s in v.24: “anyone”
“If anyone would come after me...”
Some versions say:
any man
whoever
any of you
“Anyone” is the sweetest word
“If anyone would come after me...”
Mark & Luke use the same word
Did you know there is a theme of “anyone” and “whoever” in the NT?
John 6:51
English Standard Version Chapter 6
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.
John 7:37-38
English Standard Version Chapter 7
If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’
John 8:51
English Standard Version Chapter 8
Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.
John 12:26
English Standard Version Chapter 12
26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
2 Cor 5:17
English Standard Version Chapter 5
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
1 Cor 8:3
English Standard Version Chapter 8
3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God
Closing
Closing
I could go on and on - in my opinion, it’s the sweetest word in this chapter
Anyone can come to him - and when we come to him, we come as we are
Now, I firmly believe that God chooses us
But the plea is that anyone can come to him
In other words, you don’t need special, religious credentials to come to Jesus
You don’t have to be special, or famous - you don’t have to clean up all the sin in your life -
Jesus will do that for you
There is no work we need to do before coming to him
There is no sin so great that we cannot come to him
Just come to him
But here’s a sobering reminder:
It says, “if anyone would come after” him
It doesn’t say, “Everyone comes after” him
My prayer is that you are the “anyone” who comes after Jesus
(Pray…)
Communion
Communion
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.