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Pastor Scott L. Harris
Faith Bible Church, NY
February 13, 1994
Setting Your Interest on the Things of God
Matthew 16:21-28
I hope that you have spent some time this week praying and thinking about where you fit into the body of Christ. If you are a true Christian, then God has equipped you to serve him. If you are not doing so, you are either failing God or short circuiting yourself from the joy of living according to the meaning and purpose God has for your life and leaving the rest of the body of Christ, the church, crippled.
Recall that we explored the subject of the Body of Christ because of our study of Matthew 16:13-20 in which Jesus says to Simon, “. . . you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (See: The Church That Jesus Built ) Peter knew that he could serve the Lord, and also knew how to. However, in our study this morning we are going to find that Peter utterly and miserably fails at this so much so that Jesus even calls him “Satan.” It is not enough to know how God has gifted you and what you can do to serve Him. Your mind also has to be set correctly. Your mind must be on the things of God rather than the things of man. Let us look at Matthew 16:21.
God’s Plan for the Future (Matthew 16:21)
Jesus had just warned the disciples in verse 20 not to tell anyone else that He was the Christ. Jesus would announce that fact Himself in His own timing, but now was not the time or place. Jesus did not want the multitudes stirred up more than they already were. You may remember that some had already tried to force Jesus into being king. The disciples understood that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the Christ, but they did not understand what that meant for the immediate future. They, like the rest of the populace, were still thinking that the Messiah would set up a military/political kingdom like had existed under David and Solomon. But that was not the immediate plan of God. Jesus must accomplish something else first. The redemption of man from sin. We find in verse 21 that Jesus begins to tell the disciples about this.
“From that time Jesus Christ 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 be raised up on the third day.”
The phrase, “from that time,” marks a change in Jesus’ ministry. Jesus had alluded to His coming death before (Matthew 12:13; 16:4), but now Jesus speaks of it clearly, and He does not just tell the disciples once, but many times. Matthew records Jesus speaking of it here and four more times before Jesus even reaches Jerusalem (Matthew 17:12, 22-23; 20:18-19, 28). Jesus’ declaration of what the immediate future would bring has four parts. He must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things (at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes), killed, and raised from the dead on the third day.
Going to Jerusalem. Jesus has been doing extensive travel throughout the region of Galilee and even into the Gentile regions of Tyre and Sidon and in the Decapolis. Jesus is now in the far north in the region of Caesarea Philippi, but from this point on Jesus begins His journey south with his face set toward Jerusalem.
But why go to Jerusalem? Wasn’t that the source of most of Jesus’ opposition? Since Jesus’ public ministry began, every time He went there He came into conflict with the religious leaders. On the first Passover of His ministry, Jesus drove the money changers and merchants from the temple (John 2:13-16). On the second Passover, Jesus violated the Pharisees’ Sabbath traditions by healing people and they wanted to kill Him for it (John 5:16-18). Jesus did not go down during the third Passover, but when He arrived during the Feast of Booths (which immediately follows the Passover), they tried to arrest Him and have Him put to death (John 7:1-19, 44, 45). Even when Jesus was in Galilee, the religious leaders who traveled up from Jerusalem gave Jesus the greatest opposition (Matthew 15:1). To go to Jerusalem meant opposition and possibly even death. Why then go? That was a key question for the disciples. They could not understand how going there could possibly further God’s kingdom. They could only see how it would hinder and possibly destroy their hopes.
Jesus went to Jerusalem because it was in the divine plan that the Messiah should die there. It was the city in which the Lamb of God must be sacrificed. Jesus put it this way in Luke 13:33, “I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.”
Jesus must go to Jerusalem, and while there: “suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes.” The shock was already great on the disciples and Jesus does not give details about what He would suffer, but only that He would suffer “many things” at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes. Who were these leaders? The combination of all three made up the Sanhedrin, the political ruling body and tribunal of the Jews. The Sanhedrin was subject to Roman authority, but still held great power in the daily lives of the people.
The Elders were patterned after the ancient elders that were the heads of the various tribes and families of the Jewish nation. In time, most cities and towns had their own elders to lead them. When the Sanhedrin was formed, some of the more distinguished local elders became members of it along with the chief priests and scribes.
The Chief Priests were usually Sadducees. They were theologically liberal and very pragmatic politicians. They would compromise on almost anything to get what they wanted.
The Scribes were usually Pharisees. They were the conservative traditionalists that paid more attention to the customs of men th an following God’s Word.
Suffering: These three groups represented what should have been the best in Israel. They were the leaders of the nation both religiously and politically. They should have been the ones welcoming Jesus and proclaiming Him as the Messiah and leading in the worship of Him. Instead, because of their own sinful rejection of Him, they would cause Him to suffer humiliation, dishonor, mockery, painful physical injury, and finally death.
Be Killed: The word for “be killed” here is not the word for a lawful execution, but the word for murder. Jesus would not be legally tried or proved guilty of any sin. Instead He would be sentenced to die on the basis of false charges, false witnesses, and a governor more interested in political expediency than in the truth. Pilate knew the truth, but He was not controlled by it. It was the plan of God that the Messiah would be murdered at the hands of godless men (Acts 2:23). This revelation must have shocked the disciples so much that they did not pay attention to the last thing Jesus said must occur when they reached Jerusalem.
Be Raised up on the Third Day: This truth should have made the others bearable even if they were confused by it all. They should have understood that death was not going to be an impediment to the kingdom. Jesus had just told them that the “gates of Hades,” meaning “death,” would not overpower it. Jesus would die, but He would not stay dead. He would be raised on the third day. He must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things, be murdered, and rise again.
In Matthew 16:22 it becomes clear that Peter did not understand Jesus’ last point, for in it we find he actually rebukes Jesus.
Peter Rebukes Jesus (Matthew 16:22)
“And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.'”
A Close Friendship: Now before we criticize Peter too much here, we must recognize something else this rebuke signifies. That is the close personal relationship that Peter had with Jesus. This is a testimony to Jesus’ humanity. If Jesus had been the mystical authoritarian ruler they expected the Messiah to be, Peter would never have done this. We must recognize that in the midst of the closeness of their relationship, Peter forgot whom he was really talking to. We do the same very often; every time we want to complain about our suffering and trials and ask, “Why me, Lord?”
The Rebuke sprang out of Peter’s love, his friendship, his confusion, and his pride. It simply did not make sense to him that Jesus would have to suffer and die. If Peter could have any say in the matter, he would see to it that it would not happen. Peter takes Jesus aside (the proper way to rebuke someone is in private) and begins to rebuke Jesus. Rebuke carries the idea of authoritative judgment. The first part of his rebuke was: “God forbid it, Lord.” It is the translation of a Hebrew colloquialism meaning, “gracious or merciful to you” or “may God in His mercy spare you this.” In context here it is translated with its full negative force of “God forbid it.” Peter’s addition of “Lord” rings hollow since in saying this he was putting his own will above Jesus’ divine will.
He strengthens what he says by adding, “this shall never happen to you.” Peter could not understand how what Jesus was saying could possibly be necessary. He then promoted his own wisdom over that of God. Peter’s mind was on the interests of men, not those of God, and Peter was rebuked for it.
Jesus Rebukes Peter (Matthew 16:23)
“But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.'”
Peter, You Are an Instrument of Satan: Jesus accuses Peter of being the very mouthpiece of His adversary, Satan. Peter had just received that name and was called the “rock” on which Jesus would build His church. Now, only a few moments later, this same Peter is being rebuked in the strongest of terms as an instrument of Satan. If that could happen to Peter, it can happen to any of us. When a person follows His own wisdom instead of that of the Holy Spirit they can believe they are on the side of God, but are actually taking the side of Satan.
Peter, You Are a Stumbling Block: Because Peter was being used by Satan he had become a stumbling block to Jesus. How so? “Stumbling block” comes from a word that originally was used for an animal trap, and in particular, the bait and trip of that trap. Satan was using Peter to set a trap for Jesus, to try to lure Him away from the cross. This was a real temptation for Jesus because Jesus knew that going to Jerusalem meant personal suffering as He endured not only the physical pain and death, but also the agony of taking upon himself man’s sin. If there was another way Jesus would have taken it, for that is how He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before His death. But Jesus put God’s interests first and wanted His will to be done. However, that was not yet the case for Peter.
Peter, Your Interests Are Not on the Things of God: Jesus had just informed the disciples about God’s plan. If Peter’s mind had been attuned to the things of God, he would have understood it and would have tried to encourage Jesus in it. But that is not where Peter’s mind was at.
Peter, Your Interests Are on the Things of Man: Peter responded according to his emotions, according to his own desires, according to his own wisdom, and in so doing, became the adversary of God’s plan. We are subject to the same failure when we allow our emotions and desires to control us. Our wisdom is very limited. We must humbly trust in the Lord, not ourselves. We must commit our ways to Him, not our own abilities. We must seek His kingdom and righteousness, not our own. We must set our minds on His interests, not on our own. But how can we do that? Jesus gives the answer in verse 24
Following God’s Interests (Matthew 16:24)
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If any man wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.'”
Allowing Man a Choice: Several ideas come out of this verse. The first is that God gives man a choice. God did not make us as robots and He does not coerce us into following His plan for our lives. He lovingly sets out the reason why we should follow Him and patiently draws us to Himself. But God is not a good salesman by the standard of modern marketing technique because He tells people what it will cost up front, and it will cost to choose to follow Jesus.
The Cost of Following Jesus:
Self-denial is the first cost. This is from a word that means “to completely disown, to utterly separate oneself from someone, something.” This word was used to describe Peter’s denial of Christ when he swore that he did not know Jesus. This is the kind of separation every believer is to have in regard to his or her natural, sinf ul, rebellious self. This self-denial is to agree with Paul that “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh” (Romans 8:23).
This is the first step of salvation and the mark of every true believer. It is being “poor in spirit” as we read in Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3). Knowing, agreeing, and living according to the fact that you are spiritually destitute and have no means by which to gain spiritual favor with God, except to beg for His mercy. Self-denial requires humility, a heart broken over its sin, and a hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Self-denial is opposite of man’s natural, sinful nature. Man is proud and desires to be self-reliant. Man sees himself as good enough and makes excuses for his sin rather than confessing it and asking for forgiveness. He wants to earn his own righteousness rather than be obligated to a gracious God.
Taking up Your Cross is the second cost. People so often incorrectly talk about the “cross” they are bearing. Taking up your cross is not the common trials and hardships of life regardless of whether they are physical, medical, financial, or emotional. It is not having a difficult relationship with some relative. It is not some means by which to move to mystical levels of a selfless “deeper spiritual life.” The people hearing Jesus knew exactly what Jesus was talking about. Taking up a cross was the act of a condemned man bearing upon his back the wooden beams upon which he would soon hang and die on. You look at the cross behind me and think of a nice decoration. It is not. It is a reminder of what Jesus suffered on our behalf, an agonizing death. It is a reminder of what you should do on his behalf which is count ourselves dead to ourselves and alive only for His sake.
That is what Paul meant in Romans 12:1 where he calls upon every believer to be a “living sacrifice.” It is what he meant in Colossians 3:5 where he tells us to “consider the members of our earthly body as dead [KJV – mortify your flesh] to impurity, passion, evil, desire, and greed . . .” It is what Paul meant in Galatians 2:20 that “I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.”
Self-denial and taking up your cross is what it means to be a follower of Jesus, and following Jesus is not an option for those who would be saved, but what salvation is all about. Salvation is not fire insurance from Hell. That is only a wonderful side benefit. It is salvation from sin to righteousness, from yourself unto Christ. It requires obedience, which is why Paul even speaks of salvation as the “obedience of faith” in Romans 1:5 & 16:26. Peter said in Acts 5:32 that the Holy Spirit was only given to those who obey God. This is not saying that believers will not sin and disobey, for that would contradict other scriptures, but it is saying that the pattern of life of a truly saved person is a desire, willingness, and a striving to be obedient to Christ. They have denied themselves which means that fulfilling their fleshy desires no longer ranks as a priority in their life. They have taken up their cross which means they have counted themselves as already dead to this life. They are following Jesus which is being obedient and living according to His will instead of their own. This is really only logical because it is foolish to pursue after man’s interests instead of God’s.
The Foolishness of Following Man’s Interests (Matthew 16:25, 26)
“For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Saving and Losing Versus Losing and Saving (vs. 25): If you try to make something worthwhile out of your own life by doing it your own way, the end result will be the emptiness and vanity Solomon talks about in Ecclesiastes. When you get to the end of your life and stand on the threshold of eternity, you will find that your life was a waste. In addition, you will then enter into an eternity of endless torment separated from God. Mahatma Gandhi wrote just before he died, “My days are numbered, I am not likely to live very long – perhaps a year or a little more. For the first time in fifty years I find myself in the slough of despond. All about me is darkness; I am praying for light.” But since he had consistently rejected the light of Jesus Christ, he never found what he was looking for.
On the other hand, if you count your own life here as nothing and instead strive to live for God alone, you will find your life has meaning for both now and eternity. David Brainerd, a missionary to the Indians in the mid-1700’s, told Jonathan Edwards just before he died, “I do not go to heaven to be advanced, but to give honor to God. It is no matter where I shall be stationed in heaven, whether I have a high or low seat there, but to live and please and glorify God . . . My heaven is to please God and glorify Him, and give all to Him, and to be wholly devoted to His glory.”
If you save your life for yourself, you will lose it for eternity. If you lose your life for yourself, you will gain it now and in eternity. Or to look at it from another angle –
What Is the Value of Your Soul? (Vs. 26): There is nothing this world has to offer that compares to the value of your soul. If you get for yourself everything you ever dreamed of and then some more, it would be nothing compared to the value of your soul. What you own is only temporary. Your soul is forever. You do not own anything, you only borrow it while you are alive. What will you say when your soul is about to depart this life? Will you be like Gandhi or like Brainerd? Will you be like the infidel Sir Francis Newport who lived his life for himself, but at his death bed described his soul as slipping into hell and crying out “I know I am lost forever”? Or will you face death like D.L. Moody who said as he died, “This is my triumph; this is my coronation day! It is glorious!”
What does it mean to live this way? To deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus means your life is lived for Christ instead of yourself. Your money, your time, and your energy is dedicated and spent in serving Him. You are seeking His kingdom and His righteousness first. You are obedient to His commands and willing to do anything He may ask, even dying for the cause of His kingdom.
Many of you have heard the story of Jim Elliot, but for some of you this may be new because the events took place more than 38 years ago. Jim Elliot was saved when he was fairly young and he committed himself to Bible Training. While in college, he was well-known and well-liked as a good student, school champion wrestler, member of the student council, and president of the Foreign Missions Fellowship. Jim Elliot could have fit into a pastorate anywhere in America, but God put a different burden on Jim’s heart. There were those even then that thought it somewhat foolish to serve God in such a radical manner. Jim thought differently. In his diary he wrote, “‘He makes His ministers a flame of fire.’ Am I ignitable? God deliver me from the dread asbestos of ‘other things.’ Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be a flame. But flame is transient, of ten short-lived. Canst thou bear this, my soul – short life? In me there dwells the Spirit of the Great Short-Lived, whose zeal for God’s house consumed Him. ‘Make me Thy Fuel, Flame of God’.” In another place he wrote these famous words: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose” – Jim Elliot.
God used Jim Elliot in this manner. Jim was no fool. He gave up what he could not keep to gain what he could not lose. Jim put off marriage for a few years as he started his work as a missionary. Later he did marry, and he brought his wife Elizabeth down to Ecuador to the work that was going on with the Quichia Indians. But Jim wanted to reach another tribe which the gospel had not yet reached. It was a fierce and dangerous tribe known as the Auca’s. Jim, along with four other men, prayed and planned and finally began the work. There was initial success. They seemed to welcome the gifts dropped to them from a plane. More prayer, more planning, more gifts, and finally they were ready to try to make contact. A base was set up on a sand bar on the bank of the river close to where the Auca village was located. After a couple of days, three Auca’s, two women and one man, ventured to meet them, and they responded positively. But could the missionaries contact the whole village? After more prayer and more planning, finally one morning, after the plane flew over the village to try to encourage them to come to the camp on the sand bar, a group of ten men were seen going toward the missionary camp. Pilot Pete Fleming radioed the base station, “Looks like they’ll be here for the early afternoon service. Pray for us. This is the Day! Will contact you next at 4:30.”
That contact never came. Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, and Ed McCully had set their mind on the things of God, not on the things of men, and on that Sunday afternoon, January 8, 1956 they gave up what they could not keep to gain what they could not lose. Five days later, a rescue party found their bodies in the river with Auca spears in them. They gave their lives in their efforts to reach those ignorant people with the Gospel.
The world would say that their actions were foolish, and maybe you would too. God allowed five men to die, allowed five women to be widowed, and allowed their children to be orphaned. One child was born a few weeks after her father’s death. But Jim Elliot’s words are still true, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Jim Elliot also said, “When it comes time to die – make sure that all you have to do is die.”
The world says this is foolish, but God used the death of these men to call other people to the mission field, and in less than three years contact was again made with this same tribe, and the widow of Jim Elliot, Elisabeth, along with their baby daughter, Valerie, were living in the Auca village. They had even become friends with the men who had killed Jim. “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” – 1 Corinthians 1:25.
They denied themselves, took up their crosses, and followed Christ. Jesus is asking you to do the same. He may not be asking you to die as a martyr in some foreign land as these men did, but He is asking you to live as a martyr; as someone who daily dies to self and lives for Christ. Are you willing to do it? It begins with commitment. Are you committed to serving Christ?
Most people who call themselves Christians are willing to serve Christ as long as it is convenient, but few are committed to serving Him when there is a cost involved. Listen to the following scenarios and then examine your own heart about whether you are a Christian or a follower of Christ and then consider what needs to change.
A “Christian” comes to church when the weather is nice and nothing else interferes. A follower of Jesus Christ meets with the other saints consistently except when it is too dangerous, and when that happens, they spend that time in Bible Study and worship and call one another to be an encouragement.
A “Christian” throws a few dollars in the collection when they have some “extra change” that will not affect their lifestyle. A follower of Jesus Christ purposes in his heart what he will give and does so from his first fruits in a sacrificial manner.
A “Christian” thinks about God on Sunday and may even thank God for their food when they are at home. A follower of Jesus Christ thinks about and talks to God all the time, they study the Scriptures daily, and they will tell others about Jesus anytime and anyplace.
A “Christian” will be involved in a local church, but they will not commit themselves to it. They want the freedom to be able to go somewhere else when they want. A follower of Jesus Christ commits himself to a local assembly, becomes part of it, and sticks with it through thick and thin and will only reluctantly leave if it becomes Biblically unsound. They are part of the body willing and wanting to serve the rest of the body. They are not just an attendee of an organization’s meetings.
Jesus calls on each of us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. How do you expect to do that if you are unwilling to do even the basic steps mentioned above? Jesus paid it all to redeem you from sin and the only reasonable response is to give all of yourself to Him in response. How do you see yourself doing that? Are you living as just a “Christian” or as a follower of Jesus Christ?
Jesus concludes His instruction to the disciples by telling them that:
God’s Plan Is Still on Track (Matthew 16:27, 28)
“For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds. Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
The Son of Man Coming in Glory & Judgment (vs. 27)
Jesus explained to His disciples that He had come to suffer and die in Jerusalem. That was God’s plan to redeem man from his sin. But Jesus would rise again and would come again according to the expectations that they had. He would return as a glorious king, a conquering ruler, and the the righteous judge of all the earth. Are you ready for that? To stand before Him and be judged according to your deeds?
The Certainty of the Prediction (vs. 28)
Jesus’ statement is so certain that in verse 28 that He tells them that some of them would see Him in His glory before they would die. Are you willing to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus? The way you live your life will declare to everyone your decision and your dedication to do so. And some day you will stand before Him and give an account of your life. I pray you will hear, “well done, thou good and faithful servant,” and not, “depart from me, accursed one.”
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