Cultivation of the King's Disciples - Revelation in View of Rejection
Notes
Transcript
Series; Matthew’s View of THE KING (Mt 16:13-17:13)
This account from Matthew can also be found in Mark 8 to 9 and Luke 9
Scene 1/ To really know anything or anyone takes time and closeness.
It is said that you never really know anyone or anything.
And while I think that outlook is somewhat pessamistic there is truth to it.
It takes time to know something really well and it takes time to really know someone.
You can know about a subject, but to know that subject requires dedicating yourself to its study and mastering the skills required to carry out that task.
Take glass blowing for example.
Most of us can give some explination that it invovles heating glass till it is in a semi molten or plastic state and then using a long tube to blow air into the ball of glass to expand it and then by means of careful manipulation shaping it into the desired shape.
But I can guarantee that none of us know how hot that glass has to be.
What mixture of glass is required.
How hard you have to blow in the tube.
And none of us would have the skills to know how to manipulate the glass to make a desirable shape.
In fact I expect that given the opportunity, without expert supervision, most of us would be quite dangerous with a ball of molten glass.
We don’t really know much about it because we have not been close, and we have not had time to develop the understanding of what it means to blow glass into a useful shape.
It is much the same when it comes to people.
You might have the gift of discernment and be able to gain a sense of wether a person is dangerous or not when you first meet them.
And that can be a valuable thing.
Most of us intuitively understand that molten glass is dangerous.
But we still manage to burn ourselves on glass that is hot out of the oven, even though it has not been heated enough to melt.
You have to be close to hot glass from the oven to feel it is hot before you just reach out and grab it.
It is the same with people.
You have to take the time and get close to really know them.
Under pressure do they warm up, do they need a bit of support to help them cool down, but are safe to handle.
Or do they heat up to the point where they can cause you pain and it is best to set some boundaries.
Handle with care and good thick oven mittens.
Or do they turn into a molten mess which will cause you serious injury without proper boundaries.
Is it a case of stand back and call in the professionals?
Or have they been through the refining fire.
They are safe and beautiful and the more you spend time with them the more you see another rich layer of beauty.
The light shines through them and lights up the room.
You move around them and you discover a new pattern, a new colour that you hadn’t seen before.
The more time you have with them the more valuable and inspiring they are.
Scene 2/ It is the same in our relationship with Christ, especially when it comes to understanding the implications of his Kingdom for us.
There are layers upon layers of beauty in Christ that we will never fully understand until we meet with him in glory.
Each and every day there can be a fresh discovery.
A new richness to the relationship.
A new understanding that deepens who we are.
Peter and the disciples are examples to us, even though they were with Jesus they still didn’t fully get it until his resurrection.
Have a look at Matthew 16:21-23
21 From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. 22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
There are a whole heap of warnings for us here.
Peter had already been with Jesus for maybe 2 full years.
Peter thought he had Jesus all worked out.
But he was wrong.
Jesus clearly tells Peter he is seeing things from a human viewpoint not God’s.
Peter saw a ruling Messiah who would restore Israel to a golden age.
He saw an earthly kingdom.
Jesus had come to do something greater, but there was first going to be a greater cost that he would personally have to pay.
Peter got the talk about death, but he didn’t get the implications of that death.
He didn’t know Jesus as closly as he thought he did.
Perhaps he thought Jesus was discouraged by the rejections he had received from the people of his home town of Nazareth and from the religious rulers.
Perhaps he thought that Jesus was despairing that his dream of bringing in a new kingdom might not work out and he thought he was going to die.
But that wasn’t the problem at all.
The problem was that Peter hadn’t really understood the nature of Jesus mission and the Kingdom he was going to bring about.
It wasn’t about throwing out the Roman occupiers.
It wasn’t about some golden age of Israel.
Jesus and his kingdom is about relationship with God.
It is about dealing with our sin.
It is about utter dependance on Christ for our eternity.
It is about completly giving over our lives to his service.
Peter’s understanding was incomplete.
Not only was the nature of the Kingdom that Jesus was going to bring different from what Peter expected, so to where the implications of what it means tobe part of that kingdom.
Scene 3/ One implication of Jesus actual mission and Kingdom is sacrificial service
Jesus made this very clear in Matthew 16:24-28
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds. 28 And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”
Jesus is very clear here.
If you follow him and want to be in his kingdom there is going to be a cost in this life.
Followed by an incredible reward in the next.
It is natural to want to avoid pain, discomfort, loneliness and loss.
Is there anyone here who really enjoys discomfort?
Is there anyone here who actually likes pain?
But here’s the point Jesus is making, the more you hang on the more you lose.
If your life is about hanging on to you then you can’t grab hold of what Christ has for you.
To look at it from a natural point of view it is impossible to pick something up if both your hands are already full to overflowing.
We have all been there haven’t we.
Arms loaded up with stuff, both hands full.
Even holding something with your teeth and you just don’t have any way of opening the door without dropping everything.
The point is you need to let go of everything that is living for youself to open the door to the immense joy of living for Christ.
The reason for our existance is to live in and for Christ.
It is the same with wealth, in verse 26 Jesus speaks of gaining the whole world.
He is talking about that never ending quest for more.
It doesn’t matter how much you have, the desire for more is ever present.
Even if you gained the entire riches of the whole world, which is a ridiculous idea, you would still in reality have nothing.
In this life you would be consumed by the business of riches but in death destitute in eternity.
Jesus is telling us that we are here for something bigger than self.
We are here for something bigger than wealth.
Jesus is telling us we are here for the interests of his kingdom.
That is an eternity worth working for and if we miss it we miss everything.
The Bible Exposition Commentary (Chapter Thirteen: The King’s Surprise (Matthew 16) puts it this way
Jesus presented to the disciples two approaches to life:
deny yourself
live for yourself
take up your cross
ignore the cross
follow Christ
follow the world
lose your life for His sake
save your life for your own sake
forsake the world
gain the world
keep your soul
lose your soul
share His reward and glory
lose His reward and glory
To deny self does not mean to deny things.
It means to give yourself wholly to Christ
Scene 4/ Another implication of Jesus actual Mission and Kingdom is being in the very presence of God to worship him as he truly is
If we look at Matthew 16:28 we see a very strange thing.
Jesus tells the dsiciples that some of them will see him in his Kingdom’s glory before they die.
But we know the disciples who walked with Jesus on this earth are all dead.
And Jesus hasn’t returned yet.
This could be really problamatic if we didn’t understand that the chapters and verse numbers weren’t in the original text.
Matthew 16:28 goes with Matthew 17:1-8
Six days later Peter, James and John did see Jesus in his Kingdom
1 Six days later Jesus took Peter and the two brothers, James and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone. 2 As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light. 3 Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. 4 Peter exclaimed, “Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here! If you want, I’ll make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5 But even as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.” 6 The disciples were terrified and fell face down on the ground. 7 Then Jesus came over and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 And when they looked up, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus.
That which the disciples saw on the Mount of Transfiguration will be our experience when Jesus returns.
But it is also our experience now.
We may not physically see Jesus as he now is, although some of us here have had that priviledge.
Toni has shared about how in the midst of a time of great dispair Jesus appreared to her to offer comfort.
We may not have that physical experience yet but we can spiritually enter into his presence now.
We can experience his presence and his glory as we worship, and as we pray, and as he gives us dreams and visions of what we will one day experience.
Scene 5/ But even in those situations we can not fully understand the full implications of who Jesus is and what being in his kingdom entails Matthew 17:4, 7, 10-13
One day we will but for now we need to accept that we are still limited in our understanding.
The disciples Peter, James and John were face to face with Jesus in his glory.
And they still had questions.
They were still seeing things from a human perspective.
Sometimes it is better to keep quite and ponder things.
But they wre young men and very passionate.
Especially Peter.
So we find in Matthew 17:4 that Peter says
4 Peter exclaimed, “Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here! If you want, I’ll make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
Listen, here is a hint when Jesus appears to you here on earth.
Be quiet, be amazed.
Be still, bow down and LISTEN.
The Father had to intervene so that Peter would shut up. Matthew 17:5
5 But even as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.”
Now of course it would be natural to be afraid at the supernatural appearance of Christ.
You should be, he is after all ruler of the universe and we are sinners.
But he doesn’t want us to be afraid of his presence.
Instead he wants us to enter into his presence and experience his love.
Because while we do not and can not understand all that he is and all that his kingdom entails, he has a greater part in it for us and he wants to share that with us.
And as the dsiciples had questions so will we.
Have a look at Matthew 17:10-13
There is a right time to ask Jesus questions.
It is after you have come to him in worship and adoration.
Once you have been stillbefore him and experienced his presence then if there are questions by all means ask.
becuase you will be asking from a place of relationship, not from aplace of trying to impress as Peter had done earlier when he wanted to build shelters.
Jesus wants us to come before him in worship and dependance.
He wants us to be in relationship with him.
That is the place where we discover not just who he is in a deeper more meaningful way.
It is also the place where we discover the next step.
The key is time and closeness, It was only as the disciples reflected on all that they had experienced and the Holy Spirit filled them that they saw more clearly.
So draw close to Christ
