(Audio version; Music: "Touch The Sky" by: Hillsong and "Mended" by Matthew West)
Introduction
I have the opportunity
to talk to lots of people about Christ and I’ve discovered something very
interesting: I am encouraged by people who are committed followers of Christ
and I am challenged by those who are equally committed to their refusal to
believe in Christ. But there’s another group that I just can’t figure out what
to do with—I’ll call them “fence-sitters.” They’re not really into the whole
committed following thing but they believe in Christ. I met with someone like
that a while ago. For the sake of my story, I’ll call him Bob (not his real
name). The conversation began when Bob wanted to know what I did for a living.
I get this a lot and I really wish I had an easy answer. In short, I explained
that I’m a carpenter and a pastor. I usually get one of two reactions when
people find out I’m a pastor. Many people suddenly fear I may be contagious; a
kind of modern day leper. Others, however, suddenly feel free to share their
faith journey with me.
In the continued course of my conversation with Bob, he
began to share where he was in his faith walk. He told me he’s been to lots of
different churches and has finally settled on a very popular, local
mega-church. I knew the church he had settled on from personal experience and
some of the other ones he had visited as well so I asked him about his
selection criteria that led him to settle on the church he finally picked for
his church home. For the purpose of brevity, let me paraphrase what he told me:
I don’t want to go anywhere where they preach “fire and brimstone” (Translation:
Let me keep pretending God won’t judge sin). I don’t want to go somewhere where
the pastor is “too preachy” (Translation: Don’t confront me about my sin). I
don’t want to be “lectured to” (Translation: Don’t tell me what to do about my
sin). I don’t want to hear about “sin and hell” (Translation: Let me keep
hiding my sins). I want to go somewhere where I’m “not bored” (Translation: I
want to be entertained in order to avoid the painful truth of my sin). I want
to go to a church that makes me “feel good” (No translation necessary). So he
settled on this particular church because what they do and say makes him “feel
good” about himself and his life. He found what is now so popular in our
culture—a place that preaches The
Feel-Good Gospel.
I will confess that I have been accused of pretty much
all the things Bob doesn’t like about church. So, even though I’ve read the
Bible front to back countless times, I went looking for something I must have
missed somewhere. I want people to feel good and people want to feel good so
naturally, Jesus must have wanted people to feel good. I decided I would look
at the very heart of the Gospel message—I mean, if the Gospel message is coming
directly from Jesus, who is always so warm and fuzzy {read: sarcasm], doesn’t it make sense that it would be The Feel-Good Gospel?
Subject Text
Matthew
16:21-28
21From
that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to
Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of
the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he
must be killed and on the third day be raised to
life. 22Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
“Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23Jesus
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.” 24Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would
come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life will
lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26What
good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?
Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27For 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. 28I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will
not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Context
There is a progression
of thought in Chapter 16 that culminates in our Subject Text. At the beginning of the chapter, Jesus spars with the
religious leaders who wanted Him to perform some kind of miracle as proof of
who He claimed to be even though he had already performed countless miracles to
that point. Instead, Jesus makes a veiled reference to his death and then His resurrection
after three days when he tells them that the only sign he will give them is the
sign of Jonah. Remember, Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days
before the fish spit him out. I have no doubt the religious leaders were simply
left scratching their heads at this reference. Their image of the Messiah was
that of a conquering military and political leader who would liberate them from
Roman oppression and restore Israel to national prominence. Opposition to this
image of the Messiah held by the religious leaders and, most likely, the Jewish
community in general is probably what motivated Jesus to warn his disciples
about the teachings of the religious leaders in vv. 5-12. Therefore, in order
to set the stage for the disciples to begin to grasp the full impact of Jesus’
revelation in our Subject Text, it
would be important for the disciples to understand exactly who Jesus was, which
is established in vv. 13-20—Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. He
was the One they were waiting for; the One that would make all things right;
the One who would set them free. The only problem is that no matter how much
Jesus wanted to erase their false understanding of the Messiah, they clung to
the type of Messiah they thought Jesus should be; they wanted Jesus to be the
powerful, charismatic, conquering hero they had been waiting for. There is no
way they wanted the Gospel message in our Subject
Text. They wanted The Feel-Good
Gospel. But, as always, Jesus wasn’t going to give them what they wanted,
He was going to give them what they needed.
Text Analysis
21From
that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to
Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and
teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised
to life.
Jesus, never one to pull
punches, especially with his disciples, drops a bombshell on them in v. 21. There is no way the disciples,
who had just confessed that Jesus was the Son of God, saw this coming from
Jesus. We take Jesus’ revelation for granted when we read it because we see
Jesus’ earthly life and ministry, in large part, as a completed story; a
significantly finished work of art. However, staying with the art metaphor, the
disciples are still looking at a significantly blank canvas. It would not be
until much later when more brush-strokes were added that they would be able to
see a clearer image of who Jesus really was. Consequently, their minds must
have been spinning as they tried to reconcile their image of the Messiah with
the image Jesus was painting for them. While the disciples (and the Jews in
general) were happy with the simple paint-by-numbers picture of the Messiah,
Jesus was painting a grand masterpiece of the true reality of God’s salvation
plan for humanity through Him. “The passion of Jesus was the working out not of
the will of Jesus’ enemies but of the will and purpose of God to bring benefit
to humanity…Matthew interprets the resurrection and ascension of Jesus as God’s
appointment of Jesus to the position of highest authority in the cosmos.”[1]
22Peter took him aside
and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to
you!”
Reality can be a tricky
thing. The revelation of what is true can have varying degrees of impact on
people. Most of the time, we have a sense of what is real and unreal; what is
true and what is false and often when what we believed was real or true is
corrected because we were wrong, it is a fairly benign event. For example, get
ready for this shocking revelation—Santa Claus is not real! For most of us,
making the transition to this reality was relatively innocuous (I hope I didn’t
just rock your world with that revelation about Santa Claus). There are,
however, some revelations that are far more difficult or painful to accept. For
example, the infidelity of a spouse or the diagnosis of a terminal illness or
the sudden death of someone close to us can leave us in a state of unbelief
even in the face of what is true and real. This is what we see in v. 22 and Peter’s response to Jesus’
revelation about His impending fate. Peter was prepared to confess that Jesus was
the Christ but this same Peter refuses to accept the reality of what it means to be the Christ. “Did Peter after
all call Jesus Christ in the true
sense? The answer must be: Yes, ethically.
He understood what kind of man was fit to be a Christ. But he did not yet
understand what kind of treatment such a man might expect from the world. A
noble, benignant, really righteous man Messiah might be, said Peter; but why a
man of sorrow he had yet to learn.”[2]
23Jesus 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.”
Peter has gone from
receiving divine revelation about Jesus’ identity in Mt. 16: 17 to being
inspired by Satan to impede Jesus’ mission in v. 23. Being unwilling to accept what is real and true leaves us
grasping at extremes as we desperately try to make the untrue true or the
unreal real. Peter had a vision of reality about Jesus in his mind and was not
yet willing to accept the true reality of who Jesus was and what He was sent to
do. But Jesus, in no uncertain terms, puts Peter in his place. Not only does
Peter not understand the reality of Jesus’ life and ministry, he fails to
understand the reality of what Jesus’ example means for him as a disciple. When
Jesus tells Peter that he is a “stumbling block,” it “shows that it is precisely
the suffering of discipleship that Peter does not understand, because he does
not comprehend the way of the Lord himself. The meaning of discipleship is that
Jesus goes on ahead and prescribes the way.”[3] There is an important
principle that Jesus is teaching here—Our reality is only true insofar as it
conforms to the reality revealed to us by God through Jesus Christ. All other
versions of reality, no matter how good or sound they seem to be, are not true.
24Then Jesus said to
his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up
his cross and follow me.
The reality of who Jesus
was and is doesn’t stop with His life and ministry. It has ramifications for
his disciples and by extension all of us who claim to believe in him as Lord
and Savior. When we get to v. 24,
Jesus dispels any illusions we may have about what it means to be a follower of
Christ. We want our lives to be a certain way—smooth, easy, and comfortable. We
want our lives to feel good. When we envision our lives as followers of Christ,
that vision usually doesn’t include a cross. But the reality is, according to
Jesus, that anyone who wants to follow Him must embrace a life where the cross
plays a significant role. “Following Jesus, therefore, meant identifying with
Jesus and his followers, facing social and political oppression and ostracism,
and not turning back. For some, taking up the cross might indeed mean death. To
‘follow’ Christ is also a moment-by-moment decision, requiring compassion and
service. Following Jesus doesn’t mean walking behind him, but taking the same
road of sacrifice and service he took.”[4]
25For whoever wants to
save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26What
good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?
Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
Until now, even though Jesus
tells his disciples that He would be killed, this is the first mention of the
cross. The disciples knew that the cross was Rome’s gruesome instrument for
execution, but they didn’t yet understand the literal and metaphorical meaning
of Jesus’ reference to the cross. Jesus, therefore, goes on to explain in vv. 25-26 the implications of failing
to accept the harsh reality of being a follower of Christ and clinging to some
false Gospel that paves the way to a feel-good life. Jesus tells us that
pursuing this kind of life, although it seems right, will actually cost us our
lives because we are pursuing a life that isn’t based in the reality revealed
to us by Jesus. Jesus’ claim in v. 25
is both literal and figurative. A time would come when almost all of them would
have to decide if they would deny the Truth and save their lives or stand up
for what they believed and be put to death. This is the literal image Jesus was
talking about. Some of you know exactly what this means because you have
experienced someone who has literally been crucified by Muslims for their faith
in Christ.
However, all of the disciples would have to decide if
they would cling to the life they wanted or give up that illusion and lay hold
of the life; the true reality, of being a faithful follower of Christ
regardless of the cost. This is the metaphorical image Jesus is talking about.
When Jesus gets to his question in v. 26,
the disciples, and by extension all of us, run headlong into the true reality
of life. If we are unwilling to accept the Truth about what it means to live as
faithful followers of Christ that includes our own cross, then life has no real
purpose; no real meaning. It is only when we embrace a life of obedience, selfless
service, and sacrifice that we will find the true life God intended us to live.
“The person who tries to hang on to his own will and reject what God desires
for him ultimately loses eternally all that he is attempting to protect in this
life. Paradoxically he might go to the most extreme lengths to preserve
physical existence or to try to discover the essence of his existence, but in
the end, apart from being in the center of God’s will, there is nothing for him
but death for his soul. On the other hand, the person who lets loose of her own
self-centered desires and accepts God’s will for her discovers true
life—salvation and righteousness and the fulfillment that she gains as she
receives the reality of life in the kingdom of heaven.”[5]
27For 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.
One of my favorite
movies of all time is Field of Dreams.
In the movie, the main character plows a portion of his cornfield under in
order to build a baseball field because he heard a mysterious voice say “If you
build it, he will come.” He took this to mean that he should build a baseball
field in the middle of his cornfield. Once completed, long-dead, iconic,
baseball players began to appear from the surrounding cornfield to play
baseball on the newly constructed field. At the end of each day, the players
would walk into the cornfield and magically disappear until the next day when
they would return. The farmer endured ridicule from the surrounding community
and financial hardship because a significant portion of his farm no longer
produced a crop. Only the people with the courage to believe in the miracle of
the baseball field could see the players magically materialize each day from
the surrounding cornfield. On one particular day, the baseball players invited
a visiting writer, who was able to see them, into the cornfield. The farmer was
a bit incensed because he was not invited. He endured the scorn of his family, friends,
and neighbors and overcame a litany of obstacles and struggles including
crushing financial hardship because he constructed the ball field and yet never
asked how it would benefit him. Now, however, he wanted to know: “What’s in it
for me?”
When Jesus
explains to His disciples what it means to be His followers and the struggles
that await them, it’s not really unreasonable for them to wonder how it would
benefit them. I don’t know for sure if that’s what the disciples were thinking but
it appears that Jesus might be trying to calm their concerns in v. 27 when He assures them that all
those who are faithful followers when He returns at the end of time will
receive a reward according to their faithfulness. “Jesus goes on to remind us
that glory indeed awaits ahead but only after suffering. Christ will compensate
and exalt all believers (and judge unbelievers) when he returns in his glory, which exactly represents the
radiance of God the Father (Heb 1:3). High Christology again appears here since
Jesus functions precisely as the God of Old Testament prophecy (see Zech 14:5).
‘What he has done’ is more literally his
practice (a singular noun) and refers
to an individual life viewed in its entirety. Did one commit oneself to Jesus,
or did one serve only oneself (recall [Mt.] 10:32-33)?”[6]
28I tell you the
truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son
of Man coming in his kingdom.”
It is difficult to
understand Jesus’ meaning in v. 28 and
it has been variously interpreted over the centuries. Was Jesus referring to
the days immediately following His resurrection? Was He referring to the day
when He would return in His glory as
referred to in v. 27? Or was Jesus
referring to something else altogether? Since all those who heard Him speaking
have died without seeing Jesus return in His glory according to the second coming of Christ at the end of this
age, Jesus must have been referring to something else. More likely, Jesus was
referring to either to His transfiguration, which you can read about in chapter
17, or he was referring to Pentecost and the beginning of the Church. In either
case, some of the disciples were witnesses to one or both of those events. “With
no other hint in the passage, the immediate context suggests that the event
Jesus intends as signaling his coming as the Son of Man in his kingdom is the
Transfiguration, which immediately follows. It may seem strange to speak of
‘some who are standing here will not taste death’ to refer to three disciples
who will witness the transfiguration in a mere six days. But we must remember
that Jesus is continuing to call for an urgent response to his kingdom mission
that is now headed to the cross.”[7]
Application
Because the image of the
cross has become so common, we tend to forget what it represents. Let me try
and paint a picture for you in case you are unaware or have forgotten.
Crucifixion was actually invented by the Persians in the 4th century
BC. However, it was perfected by the Romans in the 1st century AD.
Crucifixion is where we get the word “excruciating.” Death can come within
hours or after days depending on the health of the victim and the patience of
the executioners. Jesus’ feet were nailed to the cross with His knees bent at a
45-degree angle. Jesus’ hands were nailed to the cross at the wrist directly
through the main nerve leading to the hand. Within minutes of being raised on
the cross, Jesus’ shoulders, elbows and wrists became dislocated. As a result
of this position, Jesus’ rib cage was in a position where He was unable to
exhale. Therefore, since all the joints in his arms were dislocated, He had to
push up on the nail in His feet in order to exhale. As you can imagine, someone
who was nearly beaten to death prior to being crucified, as Jesus was, didn’t
last long on the cross. Crucifixion was an anatomical and medical catastrophe!
So why am I telling you this, because Jesus says we are
to pick up our cross and follow him. Let me know when this Gospel message
starts to feel good. Hopefully the image of the cross and what it represented
is clear in your mind because I’m not done. If that didn’t make you feel good
then maybe this will—Jesus endured all that because of you and me. How does
that make you feel? You see, Jesus paid the price for our sin on our behalf so
we wouldn’t have to pay it. That’s the reality of the cross; that’s the message
of the Gospel. Speaking for God, Larry Crabb writes,
“Understand this: when
spiritual leaders nudge the cross of My Son into the outskirts of their
thinking, when they stubbornly fail to realize that only through the cross are
they both forgiven for their arrogant self-obsession and empowered to love
sacrificially, then painful wounds will be seen as a greater problem than
selfish relating. When that happens, relating in a way that protects you from
further wounding and enhances a sense of personal well-being seems not only
necessary but moral…False teachers dismiss the promise of My Son’s return as if
it were fiction, a promise with no implications for how they should live now.
This…leads to a greater concern for making life work well than for personal
holiness. The hope for a better life now determines how they choose to live. It
justifies self-centered choices. The hope for a better life later—the only hope
that has the power to sustain My followers in claiming the unique opportunity
that suffering in this life brings to reveal My radically other-centered nature
to a watching world—is largely ignored, treated with contempt.”[8]
Let me try and make this
simple for you, the true Gospel of Jesus Christ is not for people who are
looking for the easy way; the wide road; the smooth path. True followers of
Jesus Christ are less interested in feeling good and more interested in,
service, sacrifice, and being holy. True followers of Jesus Christ are prepared
to lay down what they think is most important and take up what God thinks is
most important. True followers of Jesus Christ are prepared to offer their
lives for the benefit of others. There is only one true Gospel and it is a
bumpy, narrow path with countless obstacles and hazards. It’s hard, it’s
painful, and it will mean letting go of everything you value above Christ. What
the true Gospel gives us in this life is hope and strength to remain faithful
to our calling as followers of Jesus Christ. Are you prepared to take up your
cross and follow Christ? Are you prepared to relinquish the life you want for
the life that Jesus wants for you? Or are you looking for a different Gospel; a
Gospel filled with butterflies, unicorns and rainbows; a Gospel where
everyone’s beliefs about God are equally valid; a Gospel were everyone is
happy, no one gets hurt, no one gets sick and no one dies; a Gospel where God
is never judgmental and accepts all our behavior as acceptable because we’ve
wrapped ourselves in a Jesus-loves-me banner? Are you looking for a Gospel
where we all live happily ever after before we get to heaven? Are you looking
for The Feel-Good Gospel? If so,
don’t bother looking for it in the Bible, it’s not there—I checked.
[1]
David A. deSilva, An Introduction to the
New Testament: Contexts, Methods & Ministry Formation, (Downers Grove,
IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004), p. 283.
[2] W.
Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor’s
Greek Testament, Vol. 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983),
p. 226.
[3]
Colin Brown, gen. ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology,
Vol. 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), p. 493.
[4]
Bruce Barton, Philip Comfort, Grant Osborne, Linda K. Taylor, and Dave Veerman,
Life Application New Testament Commentary,
(Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), p. 77.
[5]
Michael J. Wilkins, Matthew—The NIV
Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004), p. 572.
[6]
Craig L. Blomberg, Matthew—The New
American Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1992), p. 261.
[7]
Wilkins, Matthew, pp. 574-575.
[8]
Dr. Larry Crabb, 66 Love Letters—A
Conversation With God That Invites You Into His Story, (Nashville, TN:
Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2009), pp. 337-338.
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