Why Easter? Week 2

Introduction

Thanks worship team.

Hi everybody, I am so glad that you are joining us whether it’s at one of our LBC@Home sites or even if you’re just watching from home.

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Preston - I am a part of the LBC team. Typically, I’m behind the camera or on the computer putting each week’s video together. This week, however, its my joy to be able to share God’s Word with all of you.

Now, last week, Rob kicked off our new series entitled ‘Why Easter?’ - Why is Easter a thing? Why did it have to happen? And he looked at Jesus’ cleansing of the temple where Jesus, filled with righteous anger, drove out the corruption that was going on inside the temple. And we found that true worship must go through Jesus. For us today, that means getting rid of all other ways to God. The only way to worship God, the only way to be in right relationship with Him is through Jesus. So when we asked the question, ‘Why Easter?’ last week - we found the answer to be that there is no sacrifice that we can come up with that will reconcile us to God. No matter amount of money, or good intentions, or cleverness will lead to our salvation. It has to go through Jesus.

This week, we are going to continue this series by asking the question again - ‘Why Easter?’ and, like last week, we’re going to hone in on a specific part of Jesus’ mission, or ministry, that helps us understand why. So, today we’ll be in Matthew 16. Now, the book of Matthew is the first Gospel - the first book of the New Testament. There are four Gospels in all; Matthew, Mark (which we were in last week), Luke and John. Each of these Gospels are named after their writer. I don’t know about you, but for a long time I naturally assumed that the Bible, since it was the Word of God, was just given to us by God Himself. At some point a long long time ago, it just descended from the sky and boom, we have the Bible. This never actually happened. God supernaturally inspired human writers to record His Word. So, the Bible we have today was written by human hands while still remaining the perfect Word of God.

Why am I telling you this? Well, because if the Bible had been given to us without the human middle man then why do we have four Gospels? Couldn’t have God just done one really well written Gospel…? You see, each of the Gospels is written by a different person for a different audience in a different setting. The Bible is grounded in history. So each one is telling the same story but in slightly different ways so that the readers might fully grasp whatever the author wants them to understand.

Its kind of like when you explain how you’re day went. Depending on the person and the context you might share how your day went a little differently. If Sandra and I are having dinner together and she asks me how my day is, I might give her a full recount of the day. I’ll update her on things that have been going on that week or that month. She’ll get the full unabridged version because she knows me well and we have that history that we can draw on. But if someone asks me how my day is at the check out line of Safeway, I’m probably going to just say “its been a little busy, but good”. I’m essentially saying the same thing but in very different ways because of a different context and different audience.

In the case of Matthew, which is where we will be today - and this is very important, Matthew is focusing on the Kingship of Christ. He’s essentially saying to his readers, ‘This whole thing *hold up OT*, thousands of years of stories of waiting and hoping, points to Jesus Christ as the Messiah and King’. That’s the context him and his audience are in and that’s what his audience needs to hear. Keep that in mind as we read Matthew 16:13-17.

Matthew 16:13-17

Matthew 16:13–17 ESV

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

At this point in His ministry, Jesus has received a lot of public attention. He’s been healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, restoring people’s physical bodies, he’s fed thousands with only a few loaves of bread and some fish, he’s cast demons out of people with just a word. He frequently forgives and encourages the down trodden and abused in society. On top of all that, he regularly preaches, telling people the good news that the Kingdom of God is here. He constantly challenges the thinking and authority of the Jewish elite who had used their faulty and twisted knowledge of Scripture to gain corrupt power over others - some of this corruption we saw last week in Mark 11. Suffice to say, Jesus is the talk of the town. He’s made some enemies, some friends, and a whole lot of ‘fans’.

And so as they enter Caesarea Philippi, without prompting, Jesus asks His Disciples, his closest friends and followers, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”. That’s a fancy way of saying, ‘Who do people think I am?’ or, ‘Why do people think I’m here?’

The Disciples respond, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets’. Now, if you’re confused about why the Disciples have just started naming off names - that’s okay. Because, remember - the Bible is grounded in history. So, the Disciples are not just pulling names out of thin air - there’s familiarity with them. It’s kind of like when we try a new food and someone asks how it is and we say, “it tastes like chicken”. We capitalize on the fact that nearly everybody has eaten chicken at some point and so we’re using what we know to explain what we don’t. There’s something very similar going on here. Nearly everybody in the Jewish community understood who John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or just the prophets in general were. While there were perhaps some who legitimately believed that Jesus was actually those people - many thought that Jesus was like or a type of those people. Different person, but same characteristics and overall mission.

So, the Disciples are acknowledging the fact that there are a lot of different views of Jesus out there. They can’t give Jesus one, definitive answer so they give Him their top four. Some say Jesus was John the Baptist. In Matthew 3, Matthew writes, “Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all the region about the Jordan were going to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan,”. John the Baptist had captivated many people with his powerful teaching - he was a great teacher.

Others thought that Jesus was Elijah. Elijah was an Old Testament prophet who had a very dynamic ministry in the book of 1 Kings. We could think of him as a sort of miracle worker. None of it was done in his own power, but God used him to perform several miracles; including raising a widow’s son from the dead, which can be found in 1 Kings 17:17-24.

Still others thought that Jesus was Jeremiah. Jeremiah, like Elijah, was also a prophet in the Old Testament. He was a real fire and brimstone type of prophet - he didn’t mince words, because God had called him to proclaim coming judgment on the nation of Israel.

And, finally, some thought that Jesus was some other prophet. That’s as if to say they weren’t really sure who Jesus was, but they were confident that He was a prophet of God.

So we see that if you were to poll the masses of Jesus’ ‘fans’ - those who really liked what he was doing but didn’t necessarily want to follow Him, you would find four camps. Some gravitated towards His great teachings and message which reminded them of John the Baptist. Others focused on the fact that He was a miracle worker, kind of like Elijah. Some had even noticed some of Jesus’ harder sayings directed at the Pharisees and religious elite who were not truly obeying God (again, think of the cleansing of the temple we talked about last week), which bared some similarities to Jeremiah. If we were to put a nice bow on the Disciples’ answer, we would say that people generally thought that Jesus was a prophet - that’s what all of these guys have in common.

For many of us, the term prophet is a little unfamiliar. We might think of an oracle or mystic that can divine the future. But, in the Bible, prophets are people that are called by God to speak or act on His behalf. At best, Jesus was a prophet, a chosen instrument, of God - but we’ll soon see that their sights were set too low.

Its worth noting that we do the exact same thing today. You could ask 100 people what they think about Jesus and you’ll get many different answers. Some will naturally gravitate towards Jesus’ teaching and find that they offer hope and peace. Some admire how loving and tender Jesus was with the people he healed. Others may gravitate towards the hard sayings of Jesus and have a sense of shame or guilt because of it.

While we may not in modern language call Jesus a prophet, we do put him in the same class. Hear me, when we isolate one aspect of Jesus’ life or ministry and make that his primary mission, we equate him to all of the other Biblical characters and prophets before him. He becomes just one part of the Bible - one part of our lives. Many of us today are just like the masses - we’ve set our sights far too low. And as we continue in Matthew 16, we’re about to see who Jesus really is and what is, perhaps, the greatest plot twist in all of Scripture.

So, Jesus continues and he responds with another question, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter jumps right in and replies, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Powerful. The consensus from everyone else is that Jesus is a prophet. Worth listening to? Sure. Worth losing everything to follow him? Eh, not quite. After all, Jesus is great - but, in the eyes of many, he’s still just a man. And how many of us would give up our lives just to follow another person? But Peter nails it on the head! Jesus is the Christ - the Messiah, the ‘anointed one’, the Son of the living God. Jesus is not just a human representative, but is God Himself. He isn’t John the Baptist, or Elijah, or Jeremiah, or any of the other prophets - because all of those guys ultimately point to Jesus. How the Bible does not record all of the Disciples’ minds being blown is beyond me. Because Jesus just went from a great teacher and miracle worker, a man that you might carve out a small portion of your life for to the one who has ultimately given you life. He is God. And, He is the Christ - the messiah.

Now, in just a moment, we’ll continue on into Matthew 16:21-23 but before we do, we have to set the stage. Even though the Disciples have just had this game-changing realization - an insight that could have only been given to them by God Himself because their human minds could not fathom it - there is still some misaligned thinking. They declare Jesus as Messiah without fully understanding what the Messiah has come to do.

Its important to understand that at this point in history (remember, the Bible is grounded in history) for the Disciples the title “Messiah” is closely associated with words like victory, glory, deliverance, etc. In short, the Messiah was to be the hero for Israel. Keep in mind as well that Matthew has put a unique emphasis on Jesus’ Kingship. So there’s this idea of a glorious king who would subdue any opposition and restore Israel, God’s chosen people.

If we were the Disciples in this moment, we would be looking at Jesus’ ministry and thinking, ‘This is only a taste, a sneak peak’. We’d be waiting for the moment where Jesus says, “I’m warmed up, now you can see me in my glory”. If it were a Hollywood movie, we’d be the underdogs up against an enemy who is larger than life and in the final moments before certain defeat the music would change and in would walk Jesus - adorned with a glorious suit of armor, glowing from His power and might. Some of us would laugh and cheer and others would cry tears of happiness as Jesus conquers the enemy. This is precisely why Matthew 16 has what is, perhaps, the greatest contrast, the greatest plot twist, in all of Scripture. One second, the Disciples are filled with eager expectation as they confidently recognize Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God who is going to conquer their enemy and save the day. And in only just a few short verses, Jesus is explaining to them “not quite”. The Disciples are not totally off the mark though. Victory is coming, yes - but Jesus did not come as a glorious conqueror but as a lowly sacrifice.

Now, let’s look at Matthew 16, beginning in verse 21.

Matthew 16:21-23

Matthew 16:21–23 ESV

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.”

Could you imagine being Peter in this moment? Only a few verses earlier, Jesus says “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah!” Now Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan!”. There’s a flip. In the section before, Peter is affirmed for having received his insight from God. In this section, however, Peter is rebuked for setting his mind on the things of man - he’s even called Satan! Why? Because he believed in the messiah, the savior, that he wanted to believe in. His faith in the messiah was not rooted in God’s understanding, but in his own.

There are many Old Testament passages that prophesy or speak to the victorious nature of Christ. There are equally many that speak of his suffering. Not to mention that the entire Old Testament sacrificial system (that system which Rob spoke of last week) collectively declares sin demands sacrifice. For generations, the need for a savior was right there in front of their faces!

Every sin demanded a sacrifice - it demanded blood. God is the God of forgiveness and mercy but not without blood. Nobody was ever “let off the hook” for some sin because he asked nicely. God is far too holy and too just for that. So, why did Jesus rebuke Peter? Because, there is no messiah without the cross. Without Jesus’ death, without His blood shed on the cross - there is no payment for sin, there is no forgiveness. The Disciples wanted Christ without the cross. They wanted a Savior without the suffering. They wanted forgiveness without the sacrifice. But God is too holy and righteous and good for that.

Now, we today might look at Peter and scoff. We might think to ourselves, “I would’ve known better”. There is an indwelling arrogance in all of us (okay, maybe just most of us). How many us, when we talk about the need for a sacrifice for our sins think to ourselves, ‘That seems a bit extreme...’ Or how many of us try to barter with God? If I do _______ then will you do ______. Or how many of us focus only on the pleasures of Christianity. We love the hope and we love the peace and we love the friends, but so help me if some Debbie Downer even talks about how sinful we all actually are - I’m out! Why? Because maybe, just maybe, Jesus is still a prophet to us. Great teacher, had a lot of nice things to say, really lived for God and offers an example for us to follow - but still easily ignored and manipulated. Our eyes and hearts are set too low.

When we recognize the fact that Jesus is the messiah and the Son of God - we don’t dare question His mission! We don’t say to the one that has put the breath in our lungs... ‘But Jesus - that’s not what I want you to do.’ We may want the glorious conquerer, the victorious King, the great teacher that gives us hope when we want it - but something about Jesus’ death makes us sweat. Something about Christ’s death causes us to cry out, like Peter, “Far be it from you, Lord!”. On the surface, this sounds like worship. “You’re too great to die, Jesus!” But if we listen carefully, we see that we’ve missed the mark. We’ve set our minds on the things of man, not on the things of God. That is to say, we’ve relied on our human understanding and not on God’s.

‘Why Easter?’ Because our sin demanded blood. Someone had to pay the price. Seems extreme? Good! Then you’re on the right track to understanding the love for which God has loved you. God is a God of righteousness, holiness, and justice - He will not turn a blind eye. He sees everything - even the depths of our hearts, the corners of which we don’t even want to peer into. He sees it all. And by Jesus’ death on the cross, we are forgiven - restoration is here, but it won’t happen apart from the cross.

Questions/Closing

And so, hopefully now we can see how Matthew 16 is perhaps the greatest plot twist in all of Scripture. Jesus Christ, the Son of God - far above any other prophet or man; choosing to die a shameful, sinners death in our place. Its unheard of.

Maybe you’ve been a church goer all your life and you’ve heard the story of Easter a thousand times. Maybe you’ve never set foot in a church and this is all new to you. Either way, my hope for you is the same - that you would know the depth and magnitude of the love that God has for you. I only read a couple of passages of Scripture today - I barely scratched the surface. So, if there’s anything confusing or you just want to learn more - please, talk to someone at one of our LBC@Home sites; or, if you’re watching virtually, head over to our website (lbctucson.com) and contact us. At LBC, importance to us that we meet you where you are, and so if we can help you understand more of what God has communicated to us, we’d love that opportunity.

Now, I’d like to provide a couple of questions that can be used either for discussion or for your own personal consideration. For those of you at an LBC@Home site, there’s no pressure to share beyond what you’re comfortable with. Its just, here at LBC, we believe in the value of community. Yes, we enjoy spending time with one another - eating and talking about our weeks; but we also believe that true community goes beyond that and wades into deeper waters. That’s why we ask these questions and offer discussion time. With that being said, here are the questions.

Who is Jesus to you? Is he a prophet? Another character from the Bible? Someone who you can appreciate but maybe not fully devote yourself too? Or is He the Son of God, worthy to be obeyed and followed?

What’s holding you back from a deeper relationship with Jesus? This one is a hard question to answer. I like to say heart work is hard work. You don’t have to share the deep recesses of your heart with those around you - but I encourage you to at least take seriously the question. What’s holding you back from a deeper relationship with Jesus? Is it because you’ve never fully understood who He is? Is it because of fear or shame? Is there something that you just can’t give up that’s preventing you from fully giving yourself to Christ? There’s any number of things that might keep us from growing in a deeper relationship with Christ - I encourage you to take baby steps in finding out what that thing is and maybe, just maybe, ask others who love and care for you to help clear a way.

Before the worship team leads us in one final song, I’d like to close with two final passages of Scripture that help capture the bearing that the Cross has for us today. In Matthew 16:24-26, we read Jesus words immediately after rebuking Peter. We could call this a teachable moment for all of the Disciples. It says,

Matthew 16:24–26 ESV

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?

And finally in Romans 6, we read

Romans 6:4–5 ESV

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

‘Why Easter?’ Because, it is at the Cross that Jesus died and paid for our Sin. We have been invited to die with Him? What does that mean? Why is that even encouraged? Because to die with Christ is, essentially, to surrender yourself to Him. Its to say, ‘God, I am dead to my old ways’. It is in this death that we find new life, hope and a deep relationship with Christ. These are not easy things to grasp. I wouldn’t expect any of us to take them lightly. But, I want to invite you to consider - what would it mean for you to surrender all to Christ? This question is just as pertinent to the person who has never even set foot in a church as to the person who has been walking with Christ for decades. What would it mean for you to surrender all to Christ? Is there a part of you that you haven’t surrendered? As we continue in this series, ‘Why Easter?’ - I encourage you to just take those questions and tuck them in the back of your mind. You don’t have to answer them right now, but I also encourage you to not just ignore them. There’s real benefit in wrestling with the tough things of life.

Thank you again for joining us this week. Let us sing together for one final song.