—Matthew
16:21–23
The
church is built on the redemptive suffering of the Messiah. It is not
an ethnic body, nor a political entity, nor a moralistic association,
but a fellowship of the redeemed.
Its lifestyle is correlated with Jesus’ identity as the “crucified
God,” a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks
(1 Cor. 1:23). And its vitality will be in the fellowship of the
risen Lord. Jesus followed the announcement that He will build His
own assembly, His church, with the prediction of His death at
Jerusalem and of His Resurrection. He had not shared this before, but
Matthew says emphatically “from that time on” He kept
interpreting it and preparing the disciples for His death and
Resurrection (v. 21).
Peter took
Jesus aside and rebuked Him. For Peter this prediction didn’t fit
his confession of Christ as God’s Son. How could God permit such a
thing to happen? Peter’s words, no doubt well meant, caused Jesus
to hear again the words of the tempter in the wilderness. His rebuke
of Peter was in that light, for He addressed him as Satan, saying,
“Get behind me, for you are an offense,” a rock out of place!
Peter was now a stumbling stone rather than a building stone. These
words of Peter’s were from human reasoning and not from God.
The faith is not a
set of rules it is a honoring of Jesus who died and rose for our
sins. We do not follow rules we adore.
24
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after
Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses
his life for My sake will find it. 26
For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses
his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
27
For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His
angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 28
Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not
taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
—Matthew
16:24–28
Jesus
calls His disciples to be suffering servants among men. The lifestyle
of the new people of God, the church, is to be correlated with Christ
in His suffering. The disciple is called to be a servant, to bear the
identity of the Cross in living for Christ and His kingdom. Peter
wrote later of our taking the “death route” saying, “He that
hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that he no longer
should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men,
but to the will of God” (1 Pet. 4:2, kjv).
And Paul writes of our break with the old man, a break as decisive as
death, and of the old man’s being replaced by a new man (Col.
3:9–10). This break from the old life he calls the crucifixion of
the old man. As we read in Romans 6:6, “Our old man is crucified by
identification with Him, so that the sin-nature may be devitalized”
(my translation). These references deal with the nature of the inner
transformation wrought by the grace of Christ. But in this passage
Jesus was expressing the nature of His calling to discipleship.
Discipleship,
in the sphere of conduct, means saying no to the sinful ego; it means
being prepared to suffer in the company of Christ; it means giving up
selfish ambition and, in so doing, finding one’s true self in the
fellowship of Christ (vv. 24–25).
Discipleship,
as in verse 24, can be expressed in three points: (1) making up one’s
mind; (2) giving up one’s autonomy; and (3) taking up one’s
identity. An outline for the whole section includes four elements for
discipleship: (1) partnership with Christ, v. 24; (2) priorities from
the Person of Christ, v. 25; (3) perspectives from the judgment of
Christ, v. 26; and (4) practices in the will of Christ, v. 27. Rather
than to say, “He is happiest who possesses most,” Jesus teaches
that “He is happiest who is himself possessed by Christ.”
This
section closes with Jesus’ assurance for His disciples. The kingdom
is sure, and some of those hearing Him would live to see the Son of
Man come in His kingdom. This reference may have been to the
disciples in anticipation of His Resurrection and the new age of His
kingdom—a statement excluding Judas. This is the more likely
interpretation rather than to see this as a reference to the
Parousia.
There is the suggestion that He is alluding to the Transfiguration,
in which the glory of His kingly identity was revealed, and that to
only three of the disciples. But whichever was meant, the word was a
deliberate note of assurance that His cause was not to end with the
predicted Passion, but to reach its goal in the Resurrection.2
JESUS
ANNOUNCES HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION
For
the first time the Lord Jesus announces to His disciples His death
and resurrection. The time was approximately six months before He was
actually crucified. Why did He wait so long to make such an important
announcement? Obviously, His disciples were not prepared for it, even
at this time, judging from their reaction. He repeated five times the
fact that He was going to Jerusalem to die (Matt. 17:12; 17:22–23;
20:18–19; 20:28). In spite of this intensive instruction, the
disciples failed to grasp the significance of it all until after His
resurrection.
From
that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he
must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and
chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the
third day [Matt. 16:21].
This
is what the Lord Jesus did for you and me. This is the gospel: that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried and
raised again. You must know who He is. You must know what He did for
you. If you know these two things, and by faith believe and receive
them, you are saved. This had never been revealed before except to
Nicodemus at the beginning of our Lord’s ministry in John 3:1–16.
Then
Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee,
Lord: this shall not be unto thee [Matt. 16:22].
In
essence Peter said, “You are the Messiah; You are the Son of God.
You must not, You cannot
go to the cross!” The cross was not in the thinking of the apostles
at all, as you can see.
But he
turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an
offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God,
but those that be of men [Matt. 16:23].
It
is satanic for anyone to deny the facts of the gospel which are that
Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and rose again from
the dead. It is satanic when a man in the pulpit will deny these
truths. The substitutionary death of Christ is the only thing that
can save us, my friend. Later on Peter wrote this: “Who his own
self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead
to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were
healed” (1 Pet. 2:24). My, what a transformation had taken place in
the mind of Peter!
Our Lord
said to Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” Imagine this: Here is
Peter by whom the Spirit of God could say that Jesus was the Son of
God, and yet he could in the next moment let Satan deceive him!
Then
said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him
deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me [Matt. 16:24].
Many
people interpret this verse, “Let him deny himself ice cream” or
“Let him deny himself some luxury down here.” What this verse
says is “Let him deny himself!”
You already know that the hardest person in the world to deny is
yourself. To deny myself dessert is hard enough, but to deny myself
is difficult indeed. To deny myself is to put self out of the picture
and to put Christ in the place of self.
“And take
up his cross, and follow me.” We are not to take up Christ’s
Cross but our own cross. There is a cross for you and a cross for
me—that is, if we are going to follow
Him.
For
whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose
his life for my sake shall find it.
For what
is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own
soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
For the
Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and
then he shall reward every man according to his works [Matt.
16:25–27].
The
person who will not assume the risks involved in becoming a disciple
of the Lord Jesus Christ will, in the long run, lose his life
eternally. The opposite is also true. At Christ’s second coming all
accounts will be settled and everyone will receive his proper
rewards.
Verily I
say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of
death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom [Matt.
16:28].
This
verse belongs with chapter 17 because the account of the
transfiguration of Jesus explains what He meant when He made this
statement3
Serving
Faith—Following Christ (Matt. 16:21–28)
Having
declared His person, Jesus now declared His work; for the two must go
together. He would go to Jerusalem, suffer and die, and be raised
from the dead. This was His first clear statement of His death,
though He had hinted at this before (Matt. 12:39–40; 16:4; John
2:19; 3:14; 6:51). “And He was stating the matter plainly” (Mark
8:32, nasb).
Peter’s
response to this shocking statement certainly represented the
feelings of the rest of the disciples: “Pity Thyself, Lord! This
shall never happen to Thee!” Jesus turned His back on Peter and
said, “Get behind Me, adversary! You are a stumbling block to Me!”
(literal translation) Peter the “stone” who had just been blessed
(Matt. 16:18) became Peter the stumbling block who was not a blessing
to Jesus!
What was
Peter’s mistake? He was thinking like a man, for most men want to
escape suffering and death. He did not have God’s mind in the
matter. Where do we find the mind of God? In the Word of God. Until
Peter was filled with the Spirit, he had a tendency to argue with
God’s Word. Peter had enough faith to confess that Jesus is the Son
of God, but he did not have the faith to believe that it was right
for Jesus to suffer and die. Of course, Satan agreed with Peter’s
words, for he used the same approach to tempt Jesus in the wilderness
(Matt. 4:8–10).
Today the
cross is an accepted symbol of love and sacrifice. But in that day
the cross was a horrible means of capital punishment. The Romans
would not mention the cross in polite society. In fact, no Roman
citizen could be crucified; this terrible death was reserved for
their enemies. Jesus had not yet specifically stated that He would be
crucified (He did this in Matt. 20:17–19). But His words that
follow emphasize the cross.
He
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 and share in His shame and death. Paul described this in
Romans 12:1–2 and Philippians 3:7–10, as well as in Galatians
2:20. To take up a cross does not mean to carry burdens or have
problems. (I once met a lady who told me her asthma was the cross she
had to bear!) To take up the cross means to identify with Christ in
His rejection, shame, suffering, and death.
But
suffering always leads to glory. This is why Jesus ended this short
sermon with a reference to His glorious kingdom (Matt. 16:28). This
statement would be fulfilled within a week on the Mount of
Transfiguration, described in the next chapter
Jesus sums
up this series of instructions by saying, ‘For
whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his
life for me will find it’ (16:25). This is not an invitation to
literal martyrdom, but a statement that the only way to find life in
its fulness is to lose it and give it away to God. The principle is
that as we give our lives away to Jesus Christ, he gives his life
away to us. Paul wrote, ‘We always carry around in our body the
death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our
body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for
Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body’
(2 Cor. 4:10–11). It is our willingness to die that gives place to
real life. Until we have learned to die we do not have the resources
to live. The phrase has been coined, ‘The secret of a changed life
is in discovering it is an exchanged
life.’ The Christian life is something far more profound than Jesus
Christ changing us, it is Jesus Christ replacing
us with himself, so that, ‘I no longer live, but Christ lives in
me’ (Gal. 2:20). We can never know the fulness of his life in us
without the corresponding losing of our own lives to him.
Jim Eliot,
martyred in his late twenties with four colleagues as they attempted
contact with a remote tribe in the Ecuadorian jungle, wrote in his
diary, ‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he
cannot lose.’ We cannot keep our lives anyway. Jesus went on to
say, ‘What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world,
yet forfeits his life? Or what can a man give in exchange for his
life?’ (16:26). Our inability to keep and control our lives is one
of the indisputable facts of life, and there is therefore little more
sensible and sane than to recognise this fact, deny ourselves, take
up our cross, follow him, and lose the life we can never keep, in an
unqualified surrender to Christ. The great thing is that in reality
this is not losing life at all, it is finding life. When we are fully
available to him, he is fully available to us, and we are equipped to
live in the strength of his indwelling fulness.
If Peter
was to go on living his life, his way, with his agenda, he was free
to do so. God would not twist his arm, hold a gun to his head and
force true discipleship. The Lord Jesus Christ is a shepherd not a
sheep dog. We are not hemmed in and driven, but follow out of love
and implicit trust in him. If Peter chose to go down his own path
there may be all kinds of measured successes as far as he is
concerned, but he would end with empty hands. Having kept his life he
would lose it, and everything else with it. But if he would lose his
life, jettison his own agenda and give himself away to Jesus Christ,
this life might deal him some rough blows, he might even die on a
Roman cross as is traditionally believed, but he will have found life
in its true fulness, not only filled with God himself, but one that
will never end. This is some exchange! It is the terms of true
discipleship, and the grounds on which all that is truly of value is
determined.4
Jesus
quickly showed Peter the seriousness of his error by rebuking him:
But
He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an
offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the
things of men”
(v. 23). I want to look closely at several points in this sharp
rebuke.
First,
Jesus said, “Get behind Me.” He was saying, in essence: “Get
out of My way! Don’t stand in front of Me to resist Me!” Jesus
was a Man on a mission and did not want to be hindered. It is
interesting that when we are called to do a duty that may put us in
harm’s way or expose us to affliction or suffering, those who are
strongest in their urging for us not to do it very often are the
people who love us the most. Our loved ones and best friends often
counsel us to be careful and to look out for our own skins. That can
make it very difficult to be obedient to the call of God on our
lives. At this point, Jesus was no different. When He announced that
it was His destiny to go to Jerusalem to die, it was His closest
friends who wanted to stand in His way. But Jesus refused to hear
their entreaties.
Second,
Jesus called Peter “Satan.” The one Jesus had so recently called
“the rock” He now equated with the Evil One. Why did He choose
this epithet? I believe we find the answer when we recall Jesus’
temptation in the wilderness, when Jesus came under the unrestrained
assault of the devil day after day. The main temptation of Satan’s
attack on Him during that time was to be a Savior without suffering.
Satan suggested that Jesus should go the triumphal route. He dared
Jesus to turn stones into bread. He tempted Him to throw Himself down
from the temple so angels would catch Him. He offered Jesus all the
kingdoms of the world without an ounce of pain if He would only bow
down and worship the prince of darkness. Satan was willing to give
Jesus anything—as long as He did not take the way of suffering that
led to the cross. Jesus, however, refused all Satan’s offers.
Finally, Satan departed from Him “until an opportune time” (Luke
4:13b). That time came when Peter stood up to oppose Jesus’ plan to
go to Jerusalem, suggesting, just as Satan had in the wilderness,
that Jesus should avoid pain and suffering. Peter was opposing Jesus’
divine mission just as the devil had. It is little wonder, then, that
Jesus called Peter “Satan.”
Third,
Jesus said Peter was “an offense.” The Greek word used here is
skandalon.
Originally, this word referred to a part of a trap to which bait was
attached, but in the New Testament it typically carries a broader
meaning, referring metaphorically to something that causes a
hindrance. Jesus was rebuking Peter for being a hindrance to His
mission, for offering Him a tantalizing way out of His deadly mission
that would prove to be a trap.
Fourth,
Jesus said, “you are not mindful of the things of God, but the
things of men.” Peter was looking at things from a human
perspective, assuming that a living Jesus was better than a suffering
and dying Jesus. There is a world of difference between the things of
God and the things of men. It is our nature, our habit, to focus our
attention on the things of this world and give little thought to the
things of God. That ought not to be. Christians, of all people,
should know better. Our calling is to bring our thoughts into
alignment with God’s, to think His thoughts after Him (Rom.
12:1–2).5
.
3
McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru
the Bible commentary: The Gospels (Matthew 14-28)
(electronic ed., Vol. 35, pp. 49–52). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
4
Price, C. (1998). Matthew:
Can Anything Good Come Out of Nazareth? (pp.
218–219). Fearn, Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications.
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