A Time of Challenge, Confusion & Clarification

In looking at our Lord's life on Wednesday evenings, we are in Matthew chapter 16. Still, we will not be there forever, I promise. We hopefully will finish up Matthew 16 tonight and move on to another story. But what we're finding in our Lord's life is that Jesus is pulling his disciples away from the crowds to give them a whole different reorientation as to where his ministry is heading. What he's doing, what their future is all about, everything they have thought up to this point is being challenged. And so this is a very, very difficult time for them. We're going to see that if we get that far even more tonight. It is a time of challenge for the disciples. It's a time of confusion for them. It's also a time of clarification, particularly when Jesus gets to the transfiguration. It's a time of clarifying for the disciples an issue that they were very troubled and concerned about. In Matthew chapter 16, last time we saw that Jesus was introducing a brand new concept to them and that is the church. He's talking about what he will do. He will build his church and that's a brand new concept for them. In Matthew chapter 16, this is Jesus' prophecy in verse 21. The prophecy of the cross, he prophesies, talks to them about the church, that he will build the church, and then he introduces another new concept and that is the concept of the cross. We saw last week that he had hinted at the cross. He had talked about his death, but in veiled terms, in terms of metaphor and picturesque language, but now in Matthew chapter 16, he comes right out and prophesies that he will die. Verse 21, from that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples, this is the beginning of a process of explanations for them. He began to explain to his disciples, and he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law that he must be killed on the third day be raised the life. All of this is so direct. It is really, at least in this form, this plane, this matter of fact, it is new information for them. And they're grappling with, trying to figure out what this is all about. So, Peter's response to Jesus is to rebuke him. Never Lord, he says in verse 22, this shall never happen to you. Again, remember the word rebuke is the word of a strong censure. He's using the new testimony, and willing to fight for something. So, I think Peter is saying, I'll stand in front of you and fight anyone off who tries to kill you. I will not let this happen. And Jesus rebuke, that we just introduced last time, is even stronger than Peter's rebuke and response. In verse 23, Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me Satan, you're a stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. And what Jesus does is look straight through Peter to the person that was influencing Peter. Satan himself, and Satan through Peter, another temptation of Christ, your stumbling block to me. Jesus says to Peter in the sense that Satan is now using even Peter to present to Jesus something that is totally the opposite of God's will. And so Jesus says, Satan has caused you to think the thoughts of men, not the things of God. And it's certainly as possible for Satan to do that. And temptation is in the arena of the mind. Spiritual warfare is in the arena of the mind. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10, that our warfare is not with physical weapons, it's with spiritual weapons. And it has to do with bringing into captivity every thought to Christ. And so spiritual warfare takes place in the mind. That's where Satan fights us. That's where the battle is either one or lost is in the mind. And so Satan will do everything he can to get us to think thoughts that are not the thoughts of God, but the thoughts of men or thoughts of this world, and to get us off target is what God wants. And that's what's happening here. Okay, just kind of wrap up what we talked about last week. Any question, comment there before we move on to Jesus called to discipleship. Yes? Yeah? Yeah, that is hard to understand except that there, you know, in case maybe you didn't some of you may not have heard the questions. A great question. Max was asking, how is it that Jesus can give them such point blank direct information about his death and yet up to the time of his death, they didn't get it. They just didn't, they were still shocked when it happened. And this indicates that Jesus is just beginning. He's going to drill this into them over and over and over again and they still don't get it. It's hard to understand and I don't really know the answer except to say that their minds were so reoriented in another direction, they just couldn't shake that. They were heavily influenced by the Messianic expectation of the Jewish nation of that day. That's what they had grown up with. That's what they had learned all their life. And that was that the Messiah would come and overthrow the Romans. The Messiah would be a king and he would set up his kingdom. And that's all they were thinking of is Christ and his kingdom and they could not grasp the suffering of Messiah. You couldn't get it and didn't fully understand it until after it happened and then Jesus took those 40 days between the resurrection and the ascension to explain all those things. Go back through the Old Testament and show how to all fit together. I think that's when they got it. But it is hard. For us looking back on it especially, it's hard for us to understand because we haven't grown up like they did with all the teaching they had and the rabbinical schools and everything. It's hard for us to really grasp. Jesus is telling you why don't you get it. I mean it's really hard to understand. I think it has to do with their background. Okay. That's a great question because it's so plain here, so plain what he's telling you. Other questions, comments? Yes, Philip? Yeah, I mean, I'm sure that factored into it. Nobody likes for someone to be talking about their own death. So there's a very human element there. I'm sure on their part. And then tie that in with the fact that everything up to this point appears to be building toward a kingdom, an earthly kingdom. All these huge crowds and everybody is excited about and he's performing all these miracles to show that he is the Messiah and it all seems to be pointed in that direction and all of a sudden now everything's taken a different direction. It's just that very human element you don't want anyone to be talking about their death. They were discouraging that and then coupled that with everything that has led up to this, all of their background and training, I think all that kind of fits together. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So true, good point, Jean. And that is that we put ourselves in the same shoes. I mean, we have the completed revelation and all of the, what, you know, two millennia of thinking and writing and preaching and teaching on the scriptures and still we don't live up to what we know. So yeah, very true. You ever kind of kick yourself because you know better? I know the scriptures better than that and here the way I'm reacting, the way I'm living, the way I'm thinking. Yeah. Sure. Okay. Anything else here? All right. Let's look at Jesus call to discipleship in verse 24. Then Jesus said to his disciples, okay, remember he's had this one-on-one conversation with Peter for the last two or three verses where, you know, Peter has answered his question about who do you say that I am? And Jesus has said, you know, great answer. God revealed that to you. I'm going to build my church, give you the keys of the kingdom. That was addressed to Peter. And then he talks about his death and Peter rebukes him and Jesus rebukes Peter. But now he addresses all of his disciples and actually Luke's gospel, excuse me, Mark's gospel in Mark 8 verse 34. He tells us that he also pulled in the crowd. There is evidently a crowd of people that has gathered and so he's also telling them the same thing. So there's a broader audience for this description of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Now, this is a gripping passage. Jesus puts the standards very high as to what it means to be his follower, what it means to be a disciple, a follower, a learner of Christ. Three things, he says, the terms of discipleship, the first one in verse 24 is deny yourself. Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. So the first one is deny himself. Deny yourself. That's the first term of discipleship to be a follower of Christ. You got to deny yourself. He's not saying there that you have to say no to things that are necessary. There have been many through the centuries that have taken this to an extreme, it's called asceticism, where people deny themselves what is needed to exist in life, to function in life, thinking they're fulfilling this. In other words, they deny themselves of food or drink or interaction with other human beings or clothing or any physical comfort, even to the point that they would inflict punishment upon themselves so that they could deny themselves even more. That's not what Jesus is talking about. Jesus is not talking about some kind of physical self-denial that really punishes the body and that kind of thing. What he's saying is saying no to yourself, no to you, your ambitions, your plans, your rights and to recognize his Lordship over all of those things. It's not me that charts my own path in life. I give into Christ's Lordship willingly and joyfully for that. I don't demand my own rights. I let Christ use whatever He will to conform me to His image. I don't demand that I must have good health and plenty of money and things go well in life for me, no difficulties and tragedies. I don't demand that. If God wants to use difficulty to conform me to His image, that's His choice. Denying yourself basically is saying, He's the Lord, not me. It's not my plans or ambitions. It is His call in my life. It is His will in my life. He is Lord. That's what it means to deny yourself. And then He says, the second term is take up your cross. Anyone does not deny himself and take up his cross. What do you think that means? Maybe it means to take up your cross. Carry on His teachings. Okay? It certainly would be involved. Okay? Whatever difficulty, whatever as God will, plays out in our lives, whatever that may demand of us, whatever I could use the word sacrifice, max, and whatever that may call on from us. Be willing to bear that. Yes, Walton. Yeah, persecution would be involved. That could be a part of what Max is talking about and Jean to follow the teachings of Christ to the point that you would not deny Him regardless of what it costs you. And I think that is really what Jesus is talking about here. That to follow Him means that I will go with Him no matter what it costs me, no matter what it means, I will follow Him. No matter where it takes me. I think we have all heard bearing our cross or taking up our cross trivialized. We've heard people speak, well, this is my cross to bear and what they're talking about is a cranky mother-in-law or an end-going toenail. We've all heard the cross bearing your cross trivialized. That would never have come to the apostles' minds. That would never have come to the disciples' minds. Put yourself back in their shoes. Jesus is not talking about a nagging spouse or a chronic disease or something like that. That would not occur to the minds of the disciples. Think about what they would think of when Jesus said, take up your cross. What would they think of in their culture, in their time? They would think of a Roman cross, the most extreme form of humiliation to begin with, and punishment and torture that you can imagine. They would see them alongside the roads. Rome crucified criminals in very public places at major intersections and on main highways to serve as examples to everybody else. When he says, take up your cross, they wouldn't even be thinking about Jesus' cross yet. They don't even have a glimpse of understanding of that. They don't understand that at all yet. Jesus is just introduced to the fact that he's going to die and they don't get it. They haven't caught it yet. They wouldn't be thinking, oh, I know Lord, you're going to the cross. I'm willing to go with you. They wouldn't be thinking of that. All they would be thinking of is this gruesome form of torture and death. Jesus evidently is saying is if you're not willing to follow me, even if that's where it leads, no matter what it calls upon you to sacrifice, and it involves all of what you three men said. But if you're not willing to follow me, no matter what sacrifice it means, no matter where that devotion leads you, then you're not really my disciple. That's a depth of devotion that I'm afraid we know very little about. But that's what Jesus is saying is required of those who would follow him. This is the cost. These are the terms. I'm telling you, if you follow me, this is where it may lead. It may lead to persecution. It may lead to very difficult trials and problems in your life. It may lead to humiliation. It may lead to death. You willing to go there? That's what he's saying. I think of people in the world today who are willing to say yes to that. I think of the kind of men that John Altiser trains in Egypt who know if they are discovered or if they promote the gospel openly, their lives could easily be taken. They say yes. If that's what it means, I'm willing to follow. In our ease and our culture, we know very little of that kind of following. The third term is simply follow Christ. Then I myself think of His cross and follow me. In other words, don't think necessarily just in physical terms here walking behind Jesus. Think in terms of patterning your life and conduct after Him. Think in terms of understanding, and I know this phrase has been used so flippantly, what would Jesus do? But think of understanding as the revelation of God, if Jesus would respond in a certain way, isn't that the way I should respond if I'm pattering my character and conduct after Him? If Jesus would have this kind of concern and compassion, isn't that what I should have? If I'm going to pattern my character and conduct after Him, it's that kind of following of Christ, I think that He's talking about. This is the direction of life for a follower of Christ. It's been a huge debate about Lordship's salvation in our country. I think both sides have it wrong. I think both sides have overstated their case to the honest. I think Jesus is saying, if you're going to be my follower, these are the terms. I don't think we understand all of that the moment we get saved. I don't think we have to consciously grasp all of that and make a commitment to that the moment we get saved. But if you are a true follower of Christ, when you're presented with that, then you're willing to say, yes, and that's the direction of your life. It's not like when you're presented with this, you say, that's absolutely crazy. You don't want to have anything to do with that. Forget that and walk the other direction. You're not a disciple. I don't think you're a follower of Christ. If that's where your heart is, you see, it's the inclination of the heart. We all understand more, grow more, learn more of the demands of Jesus and what that means for us as we grow in the faith. We don't grasp all of this at the moment of salvation. But it's like John says in the first epistle of John chapter 5, one of the tests of whether or not your true beliefs are believers if you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, if He's deity. Well, I didn't understand that the moment I got saved, but when I was presented with that truth as a believer, I readily accepted that. I didn't deny it. And I think a true believer would accept that. So I think that's the concept here. And Jesus is going to really press that home in these next few verses when He talks about the triumph of discipleship. This is a very high standard. It's a very high standard. And so He's going to make clear that it's worth it. Is it worth it to follow Christ? If it does mean going all the way to death, and He's going to make it clear that the triumph of discipleship is worth it. The benefits of discipleship are worth it. Three things He says will come about for those who follow Him. First is an eternal purpose. In verse 25, for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. Does it mean to save your life and to lose your life? What kind of terminology do you think Jesus is using there? Come again. You're sold. Okay. That's going to be tied in in the next couple of verses. So giving your soul to Him or trying to keep it for yourself, if that's involved, anything else? Come to mind. There's a sense in which I think Jesus is following up on what Peter has done. Peter is at least trying to save Jesus' life and keep Him from going to the cross. And Jesus is saying, that's not the way of my disciples to guard your own life, to make sure everything goes well for you. And I think it goes even deeper than that. I think it covers any even more territory than that. I think Jesus is saying anyone who hangs on to his or her life who is unwilling to give it away to Christ, who thinks that's foolish. I'm going to get all I can get out of this life. You only go around once. I'm going to get everything I can get for myself. I want to please myself. I want to do what I want to do. That's the evidence of a self-willed life that has not given the life to Christ, has not lost it in the sense that I'm no longer in control. I'm no longer the Lord. He is. I think that's part of what's involved here. What Jesus says is, if you live that way, if you have that mindset, you want to save your life, then you'll lose it. And I think he's talking about even in this life, you will end up wrecked, destroyed. The very things you think will make you happy and fulfilled will turn out to leave you empty. And he'll talk in a moment about beyond that. You lose yourself. But even as far as finding real purpose and fulfillment and meaning and direction in life, you cannot find that. You cannot have that if you try to save your own life. The risk of electrocuting myself. I don't think I'm hooked up tight here. Don't take that too literally. Honey, don't you comment at all. Okay. I think I may be shorting out here. I'm not sure it's in the speaker or either the mic, maybe in the speaker. Eternal purpose. Look on, well, he gives the corollary to that at the end of verse 25. But whoever loses his life for me will find it. Now, the idea of finding it is now in this life, discovering, discovering what life really is all about. You see, the person who says, I'm going to live for myself and I'm going to really discover what life is about. It ends up wrecking everything and destroying his life for her life. And the person who says, I will give it all to Jesus Christ, even if it means following him to death. That's the person who really finds what life is all about. I'll never forget. And you won't either if you've ever read it or heard it. Jim Elliott's. And sometimes I have to read it as I probably will now to make sure I get the wording right. Jim Elliott's great quote, you know, Jim Elliott was one of the five missionaries with Wycliffe that died in Ecuador in 1956. The hands of the Acha Indians and they were young men in their 20s, young families. And they'd given up everything very, very talented, very brilliant young men, given up everything. And when they died, the world said, what a waste. What a waste of life and potential. I mean, that was the way the world looked at it, but they had not read Jim Elliott's diary. Because Jim Elliott had written in his diary these famous words, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Now, the world thinks of that as foolish, but you see, Jim Elliott knew that no, a person is not a fool. If he gives up what he cannot keep anyway, temporary, earthly, material things in order to gain what he can't lose, eternal things. See, that's, that's, that's person's not a fool. That person's the real wise person. And what the world was talking about are the people who lose their life. And what Jim Elliott was talking about was the people who find the life. And find what the real meaning and purpose is in life. And that is to glorify God and to have an eternal impact. That's what life is really all about. So there's eternal purpose. Then Jesus talks about eternal life in verse 26. What good, one of the benefits of being a follower of Christ. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world yet orfits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? The word here is the word for both life and soul. Luke translates it as self. It's the person. It's who you are. It's your soul. It's your whole life. Okay. So what he's talking about here is a business transaction in which a person exchanges his or her life soul for the attractions of this world. It's a worse deal you can ever make. It's the worst transaction you can ever make and yet people do it by the millions. What a foolish deal to sacrifice the eternal on the altar of the immediate. To give up what will be seen to be is the only thing worthwhile in heaven for temporary little trinkets that burn up and actually that end up leaving you empty and ruined life. What a terrible deal. Like Esau, the soul of his birthright for a bowl of soup. Come on. The soup is gone in ten minutes. And he's the soul of his future and the blessing of God for that. That's the way a lot of people live. And so, Jesus says you want to be a follower of mine, one of the benefits of that, one of the blessings of that is not only finding real purpose in your life here, but also eternal life. Recognizing that you do not lose your soul. And then verse 27, eternal reward 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 he has done. This present life is not the real time of reward for a follower of Christ. Really the time of reward, when you may get some praise for accomplishments here, but the real time of reward is in heaven when you hear the father who knows how to evaluate all things correctly when he will reward you. When he knows what other people don't know, when he knows the secret hidden things, when he knows the motives, when he knows and sees things that nobody ever knew about, that's where reward really comes. And the person who invests his or her life in eternal things and following Christ will find one of the benefits to be an eternal reward in heaven. So what a blessing that is, what a great benefit that is. I have that. Okay, so those are the terms of discipleship and the triumph of discipleship. Comments or questions about what Jesus has defined as a disciple here, follower of his. Yeah. Exactly. It's a great point. It really versus 25 and 26 are an expansion on what it means to deny yourself. To lose your life for Christ, to lose control of it, to give it over to him, to say, I'm no longer the Lord. I'm denying my ambitions or plans for life, they're his. I want his. That really is an expansion of what he means to deny yourself. Okay. Herb is asking, what about the rewards? If you fail on some of that, do you lose all of your rewards? Would you even stand to lose your salvation? And I understand the nature of your question. I think we all in here would would agree that it's not a matter of losing your salvation. We believe that once you're saved, that's an eternal gift of God. You never lose that, but you can lose reward. Now, I don't. The issue of reward and Herb has raised a very good question. The issue of rewards is a whole study in itself. I'm not convinced that, for instance, one failure robs a believer of all of his rewards. I think God looks at the whole life. I think there is reward. Obviously, if because of one failure or mess up in our lives, we lose all of our rewards, then none of us are going to get any rewards in heaven, right? So God looks at the whole life and He rewards that which was done for Him. There are certain rewards specifically mentioned in Scripture five of them. And, you know, in those particular areas where those rewards are given, I think a person can forfeit that reward with a lack of faithfulness in that area as a pattern of lifestyle. But I think God looks at the whole life, rewards believers according to what they've done over the course of the life. Okay, that's a whole study in and of itself is the rewards heaven. All right, anything else? All right, I do want to just introduce our next topic, and that is the Transfiguration of Christ. And Matthew 16 verse 28 and going on to the 17 is one of those passages, but I want us to look at Mark's account. So let's flip over to Mark and we'll just introduce this, give you the context of glory here. Jesus is going to the Transfiguration, meaning Jesus is going to display his glory to the disciples. And we'll talk about that word later. But I want to give you the context of this first because following through step by step in our Lord's life, one of the great benefits of that is being able to understand the context of these things, to be able to kind of feel what just happened last and how does that impact what's happening now. And there really is a flow to the gospels into the life of Christ, just like there would be to our lives, that we so often miss when we just pick out a story and study it, and we don't place it in its context. And so I want to make sure that we understand the Transfiguration is not an isolated incident. It comes in the midst of all of this stretching of the disciples that Jesus is doing, reorienting them, taking them into new territory that really is quite confusing to them. In Mark chapter 9, and we won't skip verse 1, we'll get back to verse 1 next week, but I just want you to notice in verse 2 that it says, after six days, if you follow the chronology of the gospels closely, and that's what we're doing, it's step by step, this is the next event after what happened in Cessaria, Philippi with Jesus saying, I'll build my church, I'm going to go die, Peter says no, and Jesus gives the terms for discipleship. The very next event recorded in the gospels, anywhere in the gospels, is the Transfiguration. There are six silent days here. Now it's not like every day of our Lord's life has mentioned anyway, but given what's just happened, think about those six days. You've got, in a sense, a strained relationship here between Christ and the disciples. I mean, after all, Jesus has introduced new truth. They can't grasp it, so Peter says no, no, Lord, this will never happen to you. In fact, I'll fight anyone who tries to take your life, and Jesus says get behind me Satan, and Peter's like, what's that all about? Where's that coming from? They don't understand what he means by the church, I'm going to build my church, they don't understand that yet. They don't have any clue what he means by, he's got to go die. They are really confused, and I can just imagine in this six days, if you would really try to put yourself in their setting, there's a sense of distance and astrangement from Jesus here. I really believe that's going on here, because it really sets up what Jesus does next. I think the disciples are puzzled. I think they're probably afraid to ask him any more questions. I mean, wouldn't you, if all of this has happened, and you're still scratching your head trying to figure out, he said something about building a church, what is that? What's that about? He's going to die, I don't understand. I thought he was coming to set up his kingdom. We preached the gospel of the kingdom in the three tours of Galilee. Now he says he's going to die. They are very puzzled, and maybe afraid to approach Jesus. I can just imagine the air is so tense, you could cut it with a knife. I think there is a sense of what they expected of Jesus, what their vision was of what Jesus had come to do, has gotten real blurry. And now they're saying, wait a second, everything we were putting our hopes in, I mean, the reason we gave up our nets is not even going to happen now. Can you imagine what's at stake for the disciples right now, what they're thinking? Everything is like it's been thrown up in the air, and it's all mixed up now. I really think that's the setting for what happens with the transfiguration. Sometimes in the gospels, we just so neatly and cleanly move from one event to the next, and it's all like it's packaged and it's all so clean, and the disciples are just right in line with everything, and all, okay, the next is the transfiguration. Okay, let's go up here and do the transfiguration. No, this was real life, and these guys have heard stuff that's mind-blowing to them, and re-orient their whole perspective on the fact they thought Jesus was setting up a kingdom. That's what they've been preaching, and they're talking about dying. And so there's a lot of tension and misunderstanding here, I believe, on the part of the disciples. And so what Jesus does next is he takes a step to clear up some of the confusion. At least with the three leaders of the disciples, and he chooses the three leaders who are going to be really responsible for leading this group of men when Jesus is gone. He takes them, and what he's going to do in a nutshell, we'll get into the details next week. What he's going to do in a nutshell is he's going to prove to them, okay, guys, I know you're really troubled right now. You're puzzled, you're confused, you're afraid to even talk to me right now. So I'm going to just remind you, I really still am the king. I really still am God. I'm still in control. I know what I'm doing, and what he's going to do is let him get a glimpse of his glory. And there is such power in that, because that's exactly what I need sometimes when I get confused. And I get to wondering why is God doing this, why is he allowing this, why are these things happening, why aren't things easier in life? And sometimes the Lord knows that I get confused enough and puzzled enough and maybe a little distance between him and me. And he says, okay, it's time for a God-siding, it's time for you to see a little bit of my glory. And do you ever do that with you? No, he does. I know he does. We don't always recognize those things, but when God shows up, when he answers a prayer, when his presence is almost as though we can touch him, and he's just reaffirming the fact, I know it's a difficult time right now for you, but I'm still here. And I am God, and I am in control. Here's my glory, just a little glimpse of it. I'm glad he does that sometimes. And we're going to get into the details of it next time and see how he affirmed with those three men who he really was, so that all this talk about his death would be balanced a little bit now with, really, I can't still God, I'm still, I'm still who I said I was, I don't want you to lose sight of that. And it's so gracious of God to do that. That's the context there. Okay, let's close with prayer. Father, thank you for the beauty of our Lord. Thank you, Father, that when so many things in life are puzzled, you are taking us purposefully by your design step by step along the path you want us to go. And when you see that you're stretching of us has caused us to get to a point where we're kind of puzzled and confused and we're not sure what to say or what to do, then you pause for a moment and show us your glory. Thank you for that. Whether it's a very quiet moment, whether it's on a mountain top with our Lord as we're praying or if it's in a worship service or if it's just in the busyness of life, the ways in which you suddenly crash in upon our confusion and show us who you are never cease to amaze us. And we are so grateful to you for them. Thank you, Jesus, me. Amen.