Keys to the Kingdom (Week 2)
Keys to the Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted
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Alright, let’s get back into our sermon series that we began last week, Keys to the Kingdom. Last week, we asked a few common questions around this topic. We discussed:
What is the Kingdom of God/Heaven?
Why does Jesus talk about it so much more than any of the other NT authors?
Then we spent some time looking at the foundations to the Kingdom, a revelation of the King. Knowing Christ’s identity is pivotal to understanding, demonstrating, and establishing the Kingdom of God.
The Keys of the Kingdom we will continue to discuss will be principles we see in Scripture that will guide our understanding, fuel our purpose, and hopefully the way we live our lives.
But before we get into today’s passage, would you pray with me?
PRAY
Today, we will look at the passage that follows the great revelation of who Jesus is in Matthew 16. Turn with me now and let’s look at:
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
27 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 they have done.
28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
vs. 21
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
This is a verse of pivot. The words apo tote (“from that time”) mark a major turning point in the Gospel. It is a shift from everything that has proceeded it to what will follow.
What we have read up to this point has been teachings and miracles pointing to who affirming who Jesus is as the Son of Man, the Son of God.
Upon the revelation of His Divine nature and calling, a shift, a pivot in not only the Gospel writings but in history occur. A gathering of people will assembly with this revelation in common: You are the Messiah (the Christ, the Anointed One, King Jesus), Son of the Living God. The gates of Hades will not be able to overcome the revelation or the people build upon it. Keys are giving to a people forming around Christ, who will bring alignment between Heaven’s throne and Earth’s footstool.
A new order is being established, or should we say the original order is being restored?
Jesus began to explain to them how this kingdom would reign and rule. It wasn’t like any other kingdom they had known. Its principles were starkly different than what they were used to and were expecting.
You see, demonstrating the Kingdom was the fun part. Now, Jesus is on His way to establishing the Kingdom, and it comes at a price. There is a city where this next phase must take place. We are headed to Jerusalem, and Jesus MUST (the Greek word implies a character of necessity or compulsion) suffer many things.
The things Jesus is about to suffer will be at the hands of the religious officials of His day, but He will suffer these in fulfillment of what was prophesied centuries before His coming.
I have to wonder if Jesus’ disciples really understood what Isaiah was predicting about the Messiah. Did they believe that key chapters referencing the Christ were speaking of the literal suffering of the Messiah? Did they somehow understand the verses were speaking of the Coming One, but didn’t see Him as the Suffering Servant? Or had they come to hear his references to such a fate as nonliteral?
Either way, the disciples, of which Peter steps forwards as the spokesperson for, did not like hearing Jesus explain the many things He was going to suffer.
MUST go to Jerusalem and suffer many things
MUST be killed and on the third day be raised to life
QUESTIONS: Have you ever felt like the Lord was going to do something specific in your life, but you never imagined the way it would happen or play out? I know I have.
Promises of God (to be transformed into His image, walk in healthy and healing, walk in blessing, be the head and not the tail, full of peace, patience, the fruit of the Spirit, etc.) (but get there through trial, test, and tribulation)
Plans and Purpose of God (hear a plan but interpret the path)
I know I have interpreted the way God would do things. He may have told me what but not how or when.
So, Jesus is explaining to His disciples HOW we will bring about His Kingdom. Next thing we see is Peter’s response to the HOW.
vs. 22
22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
Jesus we want these things to happen, but not this way.
Jesus we want our country to experience revival, see the miracles and gifts in operation, see demonstrations of the Kingdom, but we don’t want it to mean that you remove all of our natural securities to get us to depend upon You (and You only). God we want to see you confirm your Word through healing, but who want to see anyone get sick and go through the difficulties of living out their faith in the face of devastating and debilitating illness?
Peter pulls Jesus aside. He doesn’t rebuke Jesus in front of all the others or in a big crowd. I don’t know if this was Jesus’ sake or for Peter’s (in case he was wrong). Peter gets Jesus aside and begins to rebuke Jesus. Even the word begins implies that Jesus cut him off before he could finish. Peter says, “Never Lord! This shall never happen to you!”
“Jesus this isn’t how you establish a kingdom. You are suppose to remove the Romans from their current authority, put yourself at the top, maybe give us a little authority, and make our lives better.”
Death is not the way to victory.
Sacrifice is not the way to assert your authority.
Really, serving is leading?
A towel and not a sword is the weapon for Your Kingdom.
I am talking about a Kingdom that is not of this world. A kingdom whose principles don’t look, smell, act, or think like those of the culture and world around us.
BOOK: Upside Down Kingdom by Donald Kraybill
“Jesus wins by serving and triumphs by losing. Today, God's way still looks upside-down as it breaks into diverse cultures around the world. According to Kraybill, worldly authorities seek power and prestige, but Jesus counter-cultural message is a clear call to turn the social ladder upside-down. Jesus demonstrates radical opposition to the dominant culture by making friends with social outcasts and rebelling against authorities.”
“Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!”
Doesn’t this remind you of what Peter would also say at the table? One of you here will betray me. Surely not I, Lord. Peter was notorious for this type of thinking and responding.
vs. 23
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
Jesus turned, and I believe face Peter to confront him face to face. Listen to what Jesus says implicitly in contrast to what He had just said to him.
Get behind me, Satan! Satanas is a word formed in the Greek here with a borrowing from the Hebrew and Aramaic meaning ‘adversary’. Jesus calls Peter an adversary. What he is thinking and now saying is in contradiction to God’s plan. What was just revealed to you by my Father in Heaven, you spoke with revelation. But now, you are speaking with a fleshly mind, misunderstanding the plans and purpose of God. You are aligned with a way that is adversely opposed to what God is about to do. Where you were once a small stone and upon which larger rock formation, bedrock, God is going to establish His church, you are now stumbling block, a rock to trip along a path. You are a different kind of rock, skandalon, a stumbling block because you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.
Peter went from thinking heavenly thoughts to earthly thoughts, possibly in a matter of moments. It is hard to determine if these events happen sequentially close together.
Jesus tells Peter and the record is for all of us, that having your mind set of earthly things leads to death. But when our mind is set on things of the Spirit it leads to life.
6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
vs. 24
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
Back to whoever wants to be my disciple. From vs. 21 where Jesus tells his disciples what He must suffer to vs. 24 where He tells His disciples what they MUST do to indeed, truly be His disciples.
deny yourself
take up your cross
follow me
I am reminded of a quote from AW Tozer:
“Either God is Lord of all or He is not Lord at all.” -A W Tozer
Essentially, Christ reminds His disciples that the servants are not above their master, and the way predicted for Jesus is (yes) fulfillment of prophecies for what was necessary to make atonement and redemption for all mankind. The servants of this master would also experience the cost of following Jesus, the cost of being His disciple.
True discipleship must entail a readiness to accept a path of self-denial and even martyrdom.
BOOK: The Cost of Discipleship (Cheap Grace)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
Later he would go on to write...
Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: 'Ye were bought at a price', and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.
What it means to be a disciple and follow of Christ
It will mean denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following Him.
25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
Saving will mean losing
Losing will mean finding
Upside Down Kingdom
These are the things I dwell on, I am consumed with, I wrestle with day in and day out. When I see other ways inside of me, I forcefully work to get my flesh on that cross to see the ways of the Kingdom manifest in and through me instead. I don’t stand in condemnation, but I also don’t allow the flesh to have victory in areas that I need to submit more fully to the Spirit of God for my life.
PIANO
SIDEBAR: Some of you listening right now, here in this room, online, or even later on through this podcast, will relate to the call of Christ for you to fully follow Him. He is coming back for a Bride that is pure and spotless, dressed in white. He is asking us to walk in covenant with Him.
For some of us, this means we need to break up with the things of this world that still have a hold on the affections of our heart. Those may be materials, relationships, substances, you name it. But God isn’t going to allow us to walk in intimate relationship with Him until we break up with our girlfriend/boyfriend. We have to end things with this world that will continue to drag us back into old habits, old ways of thinking, unredeemed ways of living.
One foot in each world isn’t going to work. If this pandemic has shown me anything, it is that God is drawing a deeper line in the sand of our hearts as to who we will really worship, surrender lordship to, and allow to direct and guide our lives.
Jesus’ question to His disciples comes to us today:
What good will it be...
26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
I will return, and when I do it will be to reward each one of you according to what you have done. The crown of glory that you will receive will be based on how you have lived in Heaven’s perspective, bringing His Kingdom to earth versus living in an earthly mentality, forfeiting the true value of an eternal kingdom to be experienced here.
His Kingdom is coming. His Kingdom has come. His Kingdom will only day come forever.
PRAY