THE THINGS OF GOD

THE THINGS OF GOD Matthew 16:21-28 March 5, 2006 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet’s mother tries to console her grieving son after the death of his father by reminding him “all that lives must die.” He is looking dejectedly at the ground as if in search of his father’s corpse. Gertrude says to her son: Do not for ever with they vailed lids Seek for thy noble father in the dust: Thou know’st ‘tis common; all that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity. Hamlet: Aye, Madam, it is common. Gertrude: If it be, Why sems it so particular with thee? Death is particular. Last Monday, Jan Claus and her sisters could have conversed with you in eloquence about the philosophy of death, the biblical teachings concerning it and how it is a natural part of life. But today, three days after their brother Dan’s sudden death, they will speak differently with you about death. Now it’s not a topic, but a living reality. Death has become particular for them. Jesus clearly warned His followers: The world hated me—it will hate my followers; if they persecuted me, they will persecute you as well. (John 15:18-20) But they signed on anyway. Let me ask you—was this part of the appeal you heard when someone invited you to accept Christ? Had they mentioned these verses would you have? Spiritually speaking, there is a death that is voluntary. Each of us who has come to Christ has died to sin, and to the law of sin and death. That’s a general, biblical truth. But to each of us disciples of Christ there comes an opportunity, a calling, a choice—to die a particular death—a death to ourselves in order to live more deeply devoted to Christ. Let’s read our text from Matthew 16:21-28. There obviously a lot in this passage—a lot of juicy questions with which we could occupy ourselves, a lot of very “preachable” material and a lot of theological discussion fodder. Verse 24, for example, is a very attractive text to preach: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Familiar, straight to the point, and three points! But it, and the other surrounding verses are subordinate to the main idea. The Main Issue I want to focus on what I believe to be the main issue—Jesus’ correction of Peter. Peter was wrong in his thinking. Verse 23 is the dramatic centerpiece of the passage: Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Out of my sight, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Peter, had just finished heroically reciting the “good confession” in verse 16, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. With that statement He had garnered the highest praise from Jesus: Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah… (verse 17). Then after Jesus tells the disciples straightforwardly of His impending suffering, death and resurrection, Peter defiantly opposes Jesus’ plan. So stunned by the prospect of Jesus dying and so stuck in his own perspective on how things would play out Peter hears himself actually bring a rebuke to the Son of God. Peter presumed to correct the Lord by telling Him this would never happen as long and HE was around! Partly because of Peter’s impetuous presumption, and partly to make an important point in front of the disciples, but mostly because Peter was dead wrong, Jesus confronts him with a strong language he never even used against the Pharisees: Get out of my sight, Satan! We are thinking at this point, Poor Peter! You know how you feel when you suddenly realize that what you just did or said was 100%, certifiably and embarrassingly wrong? Maybe then vice-president Al Gore realized how outrageous his comments were immediately after he spoke them: "As many of you know, I was very instrumental in the founding of the Internet" "The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history. I mean in this century's history. But we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century." "I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future." "I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.” President Bush has had a few noteworthy ones as well (Bushisms)… On May 2, 2003, he stood on the deck of the USS Lincoln and told the sailors that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended." “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” “As you notice, when there's a hole in the ground and a person is able to crawl into it in a country the size of California, it means we're on a scavenger hunt for terror, and find these terrorists who hide in holes is to get people coming forth to describe the location of the hole, is to give clues and data. And we're on it.” But what Peter said turns out to be more than a malapropism or some off-the-cuff snafu. He adamantly opposed the plans of the Son of God to fulfill His central mission. Of course Jesus needed to make an example of our favorite foot-in-mouth disciple. In his defense, what Peter was intending was to reassure Jesus that he was there to defend Him against harm, and no one was going to harm Jesus except over his dead body! But what slipped out in his hasty words was more than I got your back, Jesus! What Jesus heard in his comment was at least a confession that Peter misunderstood His entire mission, and at worst that he would actually give his life to sabotage such a plan. Peter wanted to be Christ’s hero, but his simple statement betrayed the reality that he was actually His enemy! Often what masquerades as faithful devotion to the Lord turns out to be something much less. How many Christians there are who are willing to “do great things for God,” but are unwilling to simply live a morally pure life. Some claim they would gladly die a martyr’s death, but they won’t die to sin. Some boast they would testify before kings, but their neighbors don’t even know they’re Christians. Many of us who love the Lord while the sun shines will curse Him in the midst of the storm. We serve Him gladly as long as His blessings flow, but our devotion dries up instantly when life gets difficult. Basically, a lot of Christians are glad to call Christ Lord as long as they get what they want. And some will go on to build a theology from selected scriptures that in essence says that health and wealth is the birthright of every Christian. What did Peter want? Beneath his fiery devotion for Jesus, Peter just wanted the Lord to do what he wanted Him to do. It looks on the surface like Peter is simply concerned for Jesus when he reacts so strongly to the prospect of Jesus’ suffering and death. In actuality, though, were Jesus to suffer and die, what would become of Peter’s ambitions? How would they conquer Rome? Who would stand up to the Pharisees and Sadducees if Jesus was gone? Peter focused on the things of men, not the things of God. Why are we, like Peter, so prone to miss the purposes of God? Could it be because we are not yet sold out to Him? Could it be our inability to grow past spiritual childhood? Listen—I’ll tell you a secret about Peter: Though he repeatedly told Jesus he was willing to die for Him, He really wasn’t willing to die for Jesus—not yet. Had he been willing to die for Jesus, he would have first died to himself. He would have died to His own ambitions. He would then be able to truly say what Jesus prayed, Not my will, but yours, be done. Peter had a lot of ambition and, to be fair, he was ambitious for what he thought was God’s will. But, blinded by his own carnal desire for power or prestige or position, he could not see the real will of God—even when Jesus made it plain. Had he been dead to his own carnal desires, even though still mistaken about God’s will for Jesus, his reaction to Jesus’ ominous prophecy of suffering and death would have been different. Had he been willing to die the little deaths that prove real devotion, when Jesus said this, he would not have thought, That’s preposterous; that can’t be; I’ll never let such a thing happen! He would have said, Though I am surprised by this idea as it is vastly different from my expectations, I will trust the Lord. This is not what I expected, but I will bend my expectations to His will, and not try to bend the Lord’s will to mine. Dead men don’t resist God’s ways, even when they seem irrational in their own human wisdom. Do you know why? Because dead men hear better! Unpreoccupied by, and no longer committed to, my way of doing God’s will (which is my will and not God’s), those who have died to themselves can understand God’s ways much better. They are no longer carnal or casual about the kingdom of God, no longer self-centered and superficial in their desires. Dead people—and here I mean the spiritually surrendered—are totally committed to God’s will, even when that will surprises or disappoints them. That’s the essence of the powerful teaching in verses 24-25: Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” Here’s the part of the call to follow Christ you might have missed. Those who would genuinely follow Him must and do commit themselves to whatever suffering and difficulty will come their way in the course of living for Him. And it will come. They are the hard core disciples He is looking for—the ones who take up their crosses. Those who are willing to serve Him when it’s tough—because it will be tough for His true followers. But the difficulties will be no match for the power and life of God’s Spirit living in them. These are the tried and true of the kingdom—those who are praying in their closets about the deep struggle it is to resist personal temptation and overcome the awful trials they face and no one else but God knows about. They are those who out of pure love for Christ pray, fast and give privately where only God sees. These saints need no approval from men—they’ve moved past such kindergarten levels of faith. They love and give and serve and forgive and encourage others when there is no obvious earthly reward. They are committed only to serving Christ. When mistreated for their piety and purity by the world’s people, who cannot understand them, they pray for their accusers, asking God to not count their sins against them, and blessing them in the name of the Lord. When reviled they do not retaliate. This is no namby-pamby religion. This is raw, smack-down, dedicated-to-the-max, fully devoted love and devotion to Christ. This is the real thing, tough, sold-out discipleship, living only for Jesus. This is how dead people live! Do you need to die again, Christian? Is it time for you to renew your renunciation of the things of men—things worldly carnal and worldly cozy? Here’s how you’ll know if you’ve slipped from the things of God to the things of men: 1. If you suddenly discover you are OPPOSING the will of God or the Word of God, instead of OBEYING it When your personal behavior or opinion on a matter of spiritual importance is in serious conflict with the clear teaching of scripture, it’s time to change. If you find that your personal perspective on an issue of life or doctrine is seriously deviant from other Christians whom you believe are genuinely trying to live for the Lord, it may be time for you to wake up and assess where you are. There was a time early in the history of this church when we perceived a drift toward a dangerous extremism in the area of personal prophecy. Once we realized it, there was repentance, reorientation to biblical standards, and a deliberate move in terms of correction of teaching and in a couple of cases, rebuke of some teachers. Why would we deal so ruthlessly with error? Because wrong thinking, whether doctrinal or practical, leads to a place of loving the things of men rather than the things of God. Romans 12:1-2 challenges: Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. If you are at a place where you recognize you are deliberately thinking wrong thoughts and choosing wrong behavior, come back to Him in now faith and repentance. Start fresh in Him. 2. If you suddenly discover you are very concerned about your COMFORT, and not concerned about your COMMITMENT. The second law of thermodynamics teaches that things will continue to run downhill unless affected by outside help. This is called entropy. It is the same in the spiritual realm. The longer we go in our spiritual walk with Christ the higher the potential spiritual “drag”—the likelihood we will eventually give in to our carnal natures and relax our grip on the Holy Spirit’s help. As long as we remain strong in the Spirit, continue to be filled with Him and to serve the Lord with zeal. But there are a lot of competing factors that can cause us drift into spiritual lethargy. With the weakness of our sinful natures which we are still dragging around with us in this life, and the devil always at hand to tempt us away from God, we can soon settle in to a comfortable position of reduced zeal for God and His kingdom. Staying sharp in the Word and the Spirit, as well as faithfully joining other Christians in worship, prayer, service and study can keep us resilient to these tendencies to reduced zeal. Carnal comfort competes with spiritual zeal and often wins. When we slip into that state it is important to realize it and recommit ourselves to the Lord and His purposes in and through us. Another verse in Romans 12 is instructive here. Verse 11 reads: Never be lacking in zeal. But keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Listen, it is the clear, undisputed will of God that we NOT place our carnal comfort above our spiritual fervor. Turn to His Spirit within you and ask for the verve it will take for personal revival. Ask Him to fill you anew and, as David prayed in Psalm 51, Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. [Webmasters note: Psalm 51:12] There is another indication of a need to die to self and come alive to the Lord again. And that has to do with who you really want to please. In item #2, “comfort instead of commitment,” the disciple has fallen into wanting to please self more than pleasing Christ. In this final item the disciple falls into a situation where he is more interested in pleasing others around him than in pleasing God. 3. When you discover you are very concerned about the way you appear to others and less concerned about how you appear to God Very simply, this concept reminds us to check ourselves periodically to see if other people’s opinion of us has become more important to us than God’s opinion of us. Again, it is easy to slip into what some theologians call men-pleasing, but it is not pleasing to God, nor is it helpful to us in our Christian walk. Bottom line, we are always better off trying to please God and not men. Proverbs 29:25 - Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” Isaiah 51:12 says, I, even I am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass. Conclusion As long as I am afraid to look like a fool or a religious fanatic or even a moral man in the eyes of others I am unable to live a life pleasing to the Lord. So we need to continually check our score on this chart. Who is the one we want to please? The Lord will not settle for a bronze or silver medal in this competition. He deserves the gold. Anything less means I simply have not died to myself and my insecure need to look good to others. How can I avoid this compromise of the flesh? How can I begin living on a plane that overcomes the temptation to be a men-pleaser or a self-pleaser? How can I die to myself and live to Him? Surrender. Surrender to Him. Have you ever stood at the side of a swimming pool with cool water on a day that is probably too chilly for swimming and hesitated about getting in? You see the others in the pool enjoying themselves, and there you stand cold and undecided. They urge you to get in, the water’s fine, but you’re not so sure. You dip your toes in and it feels frigid. You bend over and splash with you hand, but it’s like ice. A little wind blows and you shiver. You toy with the idea of splashing some of the water on your arms and chest and that just makes you shiver more. Finally, you just want to swim badly enough and you just jump in, and you are overwhelmed by the water. Then you are glad you jumped, because in the pool it’s not so. It is the same with every faith step you make in the Lord. “Testing the water” gets you nowhere—it just keeps you cold and miserable, and you’re certainly not enjoying the swimming experience. Just jump in and get used to it. That’s the way you die to yourself—you trust Him. And when you do, the Lord promises His precious reward to you. For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. (Matthew 16:27)   [Back to Top]