Matthew 16:22-23..Ready

Matthew 16:22-23..Ready

16:22 Peter took him aside (Possibly pulling Jesus by the arm-(New)) 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 things of God, but the things of men.” (For Complete Expository See Book)

Extended Sermon 

“Warns how oftentimes the greatest temptation in resisting God’s work and will comes from the people we love the most.” ⇒  You might have someone in your family or in your life, who try to keep you from the work of God. They don’t want you to go to church. It annoys them when you read the bible. It makes them uncomfortable when you speak about God. Or when you tell them how Jesus died on the cross for their sins and raised to life three days later. In fact they’ll think their protecting you. They’ll confront us with appeals as; “Surely God doesn’t want you to go through this” or “Spare yourself all the trouble & pain”. Or they’ll say why are you spending all this time in bible study, why are you giving all this money to the church. “Don’t you know the Pastor’s using it for himself”. Why are you going to this far out of the way place to serve.  You can do what your doing right here at home. Or they’ll  try to convince us that this is not what the Lord will have us do at this time. They won’t be so brazen as to say throw away your bible, turn your back on God, stop all this church stuff. But they will say you need to take more responsibility towards your family, your job, your prior commitments. Or they’ll say you can’t take the bible literally. God doesn’t expect you to go to church every week, He knows you got other obligations. God doesn’t expect you to tithe every week, He knows you got bills and other expenses. God doesn’t expect you to give all of your time to Him, or to turn away from personal pleasure and happiness.

“Warns if not careful we can start to think we know how things should operate and run better than Jesus.” →We often question God’s plans for our lives, especially when His plans don’t align with our expectations in what we though it would be. Have you ever had that moment when you thought this it not how I thought it would turn out. We come to Jesus with these preconceived notions of what it’s like to follow Him. Often times these thoughts are feed by bad theology, by consumerism. We think if we go to church and give some money to God that He’ll bless our lives with comforts, with promotions, with a family. And then when life hits us with a tone of bricks we start to think well this is isn’t the Jesus I signed up for. That’s why it’s so important that we have a realistic expectation of what life looks like with Jesus and understand the call of Jesus, so we don’t get mad at Him by holding Him responsible to a promise that He never made in the first place.  Do you think you know better than the One who made us. How often do we say, “I love Jesus” but we reject or ignore Your method of operation. Or we say, “God you are all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful, and perfectly holy and wise. You are awesome and I love you. However, let me tell you what you need to do and how to do it. I’ve got a great plan on how You should accomplish Your mission.” When we approach God like this, we become a hindrance and obstacle to the plan of God. Let’s declare Who He is without dictating what He must do. 

“Warns how we can miss what God is doing when it conflicts with our plans and interests.” ⇒ Have we lost sight of God’s plan for our life, even confusing our plan for God’s plan? Like Peter, God’s plan may be the farthest thing from our mind. Our “Never Lord!” could actually be God’s plan for us. And do we demand that God’s plan makes sense before we follow it? God can work in ways that don’t make sense to us. He can use surprising people and circumstances to bring his will to pass. Things may even appear out of control from our human perspective, but may actually be moving along according to God’s perfect plan. Rather than trying to get God to go along with our little plans, We should ask God; what are you doing and how do you want me to join in with that?’ When we’re thinking about moving to a new city for a higher paying job are we looking to the benefits for ourselves or are we asking, ‘Lord, is this what you want me to do?’. When we’re choosing someone to marry are we asking God’s opinion or do we just want him to rubber-stamp our plans.

“Warns how we can offer another way without the cross, that if we just do good and try harder we can make it to heaven.” ⇒ Peter offered Jesus the end result without taking the path to get there. The same thing Stan offered Jesus-(Matt. 4:3-10) We often want immediate glory without all the pain and hard work to get there. We avoid dealing with difficult emotions, personal challenges, or past traumas. We want the path of least resistance. Glory is coming, but we can’t short circuit the way there.  We are to follow in the footsteps of our Savior. Enduring the cross was Jesus’ path to glory. Jesus humbled himself. He came from the splendors of heaven to serve humanity.

Additional Notes & Applications.

Warns how if not carful we can unwittingly become a mouth piece for the enemy in diverting people away from God.

Warns how Satan often tempts us through the unsuspecting hands of those closest and nearest to us

Displays how even the strongest, must spiritual filled, honest confessing Christian can get it wrong in what Salvation and success looks like.

Teaches how sometimes we focus too much on the negative and forget the positive. Jesus said He would die and be raised, but Simon Peter only heard about the suffering and death, missing the resurrection part entirely.

Warns if not careful just like Peter we can speak out against our own Salvation……(To be Continued)

Teaches how our thoughts are often self-centered & self-serving, while the things of God are other-centered & self-giving.

Teaches how instead of listening to those who tell it like it is, we want to silence them anyway we can. Often times the truth hurts, especially when were called out on a sin or doing something wrong.

Calls for seeing blessing in rebuke. The  sharp rebuke of the Lord can be an expression of love in turning us from the self-destructive path were going down.

When Peter makes this bold statement that he’s not going to let anything happen to Jesus we see how that worked out. Later while trying to keep Jesus from being arrested Peter misses with his sword and cuts the high Priest’s servant ear of instead. And even after Jesus’ arrest Peter denied knowing Jesus on three different occasion.

It’s tempting to knock Peter for saying such a thing. We can be hard and critical on Peter because we know on this side of the cross the Redemptive story and the necessity of the cross. We know the need of Jesus’ substitutionary atonement for sin, We know Jesus’ need to go to cross if our sins are going to be paid for and forgiven. We know the ascension and outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But from Peter’s vantage point he didn’t have that. He didn’t have a full understanding of Jesus’ mission and work. Because Peter had no concept of a suffering Savior he has an excuse. But for us, who are living on this side of the crucifixion and resurrection do not have that excuse. We will not be able to say on the day of judgment; “Lord we just didn’t know enough.” Or “We just didn’t have enough tools, You didn’t give us enough information to go on.” When in fact we have not only have the written accounts of the Gospels, but the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our hearts as well.

Many are shocked by Peter in the way he openly rebuked Jesus. Even going so far as saying that he would never allow them to do such a thing. Yet how can you be sure that your entire life isn’t a rebuke to Jesus. Maybe your preoccupied with worldly things. Your mindful of the things of men but ignorant of the things of God. Year after year you put your own interests first in instead of Kingdom interests. Your job comes first, your family comes first, going out with your friends comes first.