Matthew 2024

We're going to, have our reading from god's word now.

So if you would like to turn to Matthew chapter 16, and we're gonna read from verse 13 to 28. Matthew 16 verse 13 to 28. And this is the word of god to us this evening. When Jesus came to the region of Caesaria Philip. He asked his disciples, who do people say the son of man is?

They replied, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others Jeremiah on 1 of the prophets. But what about you, he asked? Who do you say I am? Simon Peter answered you're the Messiah, the son of the living god. Jesus replied, blessed are you Simon son of Jonah.

For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter. And on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the messiah. From 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, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed. And on the third day, be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Never, lord, he said.

This shall never happen to you. Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me satan. You are a stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind the concerns of god, but merely human concerns. Then Jesus said to his disciples, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world? Yet forfeit their soul. Or what can anyone give? In exchange for their soul.

For the son of man, he's going to come in his father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. Truly, I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the son of man coming in his kingdom. Tom. Good evening. Welcome.

It is a joy and privilege just to be open of gods where to us do, keep that passage open. And just before we begin, just to underline what Tom was saying about guests who's coming to lunch, that is such a fantastic occasion. To get to know people that you don't already know. So do sign up to be a host or be hosted. Some of, our best relationships that we have in the church have come from guests who's coming to lunch.

So please do that. And we're looking this evening at, versus 21 to 28, but that context is so helpful for us to understand it. And as we do come to it, let's pray. Let's come to our father. Our father in heaven how wonderful it is that you bring a poor vile sinner into your house of wine.

Thank you for the gospel of the lord Jesus that you would give us Christ to purchase a people for yourself. You would send him. You would send your spirit. We thank you lord for your word for revealing yourself to us. Thank you that it is your word, and you speak through it to us today.

To your people. So help us to understand it, help us to receive it with humility and grace. Free us from distracting lord, help us to see Christ, to behold him, to want to be like him, to love him. For we asking his name, our men? Well, in wartime leadership, the role of the general is to ask his men to face death with courage How is that possible?

How is it possible for a leader to inspire their followers to face death with courage? 1 of the most obvious examples of a leader who has been able to do that effectively is of course Alexander the great, the most successful military commander of all time. How did he inspire his men to devote themselves to him on a scale that has rarely been seen since? To follow him across thousands of miles to face potential death and yet achieve a perfect record in battle. He was relentlessly ambitious He was fearless theatrical, been reading about him recently very theatrical, but above all, he was heroic.

He lived from the front. And and he often placed himself in extreme danger. Fought side by side with his troops, a warrior among warriors, a, and he really embodied what it means to be a heroic leader. And he gained extraordinary military and political authority, a warrior king, king of the Macedonians, pharaoh of Egypt, ruler of the former Persian empire. He was a leader, his followers, were willing to die for.

And I think as we come to this passage in Matthew 16, the disciples think that before them is if I can say it, a heroic wartime leader like Alexander the Great. I think they think they've hit the jackpot. They've been, as we heard last week, waiting, waiting, waiting for the Messiah. The powerful figure who would liberate Israel. That is the people of god Israel from Roman rule.

Someone with military and political authority, a warrior king anointed by god from the line of David who would restore Israel. That's what they were expecting. And just to refresh your memory as being as we read, we're in Caesar reapply here in Matthews's Gospel, the great Pagan city that housed a massive marble temple to the emperor that there was the center of the worship of the Syrian god bale, and it had these these coves, these pagan worship coves where the Greek god pan was worshipped. So we had this center of world religion and it is there with the backdrop of temples and shrines and coves that Jesus asses, disciples, who the you say I am. And Peter in verse 16 says, you're the Messiah.

The son of god. You're the anointed 1. You're not just another prophet. You're not bail? You're not pan?

You're not the emperor? You're the Christ. You're the king. And Jesus responds, doesn't he with these wonderful words. Upon this rock, upon this foundation, this confession that I am the Christ, I will build my church, my Aquleisure, the gathered assembly of the people of God.

I am the great master builder. And I have a great building project to build my church into something so glorious that the gates of Hades cannot overcome it. Jesus is the king of an indestructible kingdom. Just imagine for a moment the emotions of the disciples. It's hard for us really to get in their minds, but imagine anticipating this messiah All your life.

All you've known is this intense, political unrest as you've lived on the Roman occupation, and you want the people of god to be restored You want them to be delivered and you feel, if you're honest, you feel insignificance. You're longing for this messiah to come. And the picture of this person Jesus has started to build. And suddenly the penny drops because before your eyes, right before your eyes is the Messiah in all of history, what are the chances? And he said, that the gates of hell will not overcome the people of god.

So you're ready to go into battle with him. And we'll see this shortly when the disciples are saying who's gonna be the greatest in this earthly kingdom and then later they they they get they'll get the swords ready because they wanna fight. But before we get there in Matthew's gospel, we get a hint here that things aren't all as they seem. In verse 20, did you notice that in the reading? What is the newly recognized leader?

What is his first executive order going to be? What's he gonna be? What's he gonna say? What's he gonna tell us? Here's the order.

Don't tell anyone. What? Why would the king of an untouchable kingdom order his followers not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah? Why does the talents keep quiet? Well, my first point this evening, verse 21, the Messiah must suffer.

From that time on, she has began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed, and on the third day be raised to life. Our passage begins with these words from that time on in verse 21, from that time on. This is the second time in Matthew's gospel. We see though that that phrase. The first time was right at the beginning in Matthew 4 where it said from that time on, same phrase, jesus began to preach, saying repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near, and that marked the first half if you like of Matthew's gospel from that time on jesus began to preach.

And that first half of the gospel is, sorry, this side. That's the first half of you, isn't it? That first half of the gospel is centered around the coming of the kingdom of heaven. It's been an an announced in Jesus's preaching. It's being explained in his parables.

It's being demonstrated in his miracles. So when Jesus healed, when Jesus cast out demons, when he forgave sins, these are signs that the king has come. That's the first half of Matthews's gospel, and it concludes with this high point where he is announced as the Messiana King. From that time on, first 21. For the rest of the gospel, we will go back down the mountain as it were.

We're gonna go south to Jerusalem. We're gonna go down because Jesus clarifies what he's going to do, and his mission becomes submission. Gias began teaching to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law. He must go to the capital, to the city of god, where Israel's unified leadership. Did you see that?

The the elders, the chief priests, the teachers of law, where Israel's unified leadership will cause him to suffer. The very people who should before justice will cause a great injustice. And although he himself had had hinted that this was coming as did the Old Testament, this is the first time he clearly says it must happen. It must happen. This word must is 1 of the most significant words in the Bible.

In god's plan, we have a nonnegotiable, an absolute necessity that the Christ has to die. It's not a cane to die, a cane, and I'm willing to die. It's that I must die. In fact, I must be killed. There's a difference.

This is what the anointed 1 has come for. 1 commentator, commentator I read said this and I just love it. Jesus must go to Jerusalem, the place where millions of sacrifices were made for the sins of the people. And become a once for all sacrifice for the sins of millions of people. Heavy on the Jewish mind was this idea of the forgiveness of sins through the shedding of blood.

Again, hard for us to get our heads around, but this was just so normal in their everyday life. Forgiveness of sin must come through shedding of blood. And the term blood in the Bible means a life given before its natural end the most extreme gift that could ever be given a life given before its natural end. On the 20 sixth of December 2003, a large earthquake shook the BAM district in southeastern Iran. 80 percent of the buildings there totally collapsed.

Villages were destroyed. 45000 people more than actually more than 45 5000 people were killed. And 1 of them was a mother who was crushed beneath the rocks and rubble of her own home. She had a 6 month old daughter. As the earthquake shook, she protected her baby with her body.

The mother died, but the baby lived, a life given before its natural end for another. What an extraordinary gift. Only by giving her life could another live only by giving his life. Can we live? But after he is being killed, He says on the third day he will be raised to life.

Death will not be the end for Israel's King because the lord will raise him. He will come back to life. We've been singing about that haven't we? Where a grave is your victory? Where is your thing?

Because he lives or fear is gone. So here we have Jesus' clear statements of his death and resurrection setting out for what the rest of Matthew's gospel is going to be. The son of god has come to suffer, die, and be raised, and that's essential for god's plan of salvation. We've had this kingdom up to this point, the coming of the kingdom, and now on the focus will be on his death. And resurrection, dude says, I'm the king, I'm the king that's going to a cross.

Not Christ conquering, not Christ the conquer, conqueror, but Christ the crucified. She tells the disciples not to tell anyone that he's Messiah because the Messiah must suffer. The old him says, on a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain. The Messiah must suffer.

Let's move on verse 22 and 23 and see the cross must happen. Here we see clearly why Jesus didn't want his disciples telling anyone that he was the messiah because the rock quickly crumbles and Peter says what we probably would have said. In verse 22, Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Never lord, he said. This shall never happen to you.

Peter says the cross will never never happen. Notice the repeat. We don't know the full conversation, but you can imagine it going something like this. Look, right? Ron's there something here, Jesus.

We're gonna be on top again. Really. Don't talk like that. You're the messiah on you. Remember who you are.

For Jesus to say that the Christ must suffer was so inexplicable to Peter and the disciples. Whatever happened to the messiah's work in military and political ruling. Death isn't an option for Israel's king, for the coming David king, who were judging righteousness, and get rid of those political powers and the religious authorities. But after Peter, sternly rebuked Jesus. We get a counter rebuke from Jesus to Peter, and my goodness, it is shocking.

Get behind me Satan. How can a disciple be called Satan? You are a stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind the concerns of god, but merely human concerns. If verse 22 has some of the most significant words of the Bible, that word must suffer.

Then verse 23 are some of the most shocking words in the Bible. Peter. Remember we heard last week his name means Little Stone, who is just being called the Foundation Stone for calling Jesus Christ, the son of god, is now called a stumbling stone. It's called a friend of the devil. He act worse.

He's called the devil. He's called Satan. Peter's saying the cross will never happen is satanic because it opposes the will of god that said it was right for Jesus to die. And we've seen something like this in Matthew's gospel before where Jesus is called son of god and he's given an opportunity to avoid the cross. Remember it?

That's what happens when Jesus tempted in the wilderness, and Satan says, look what you could have instead instead of going to the cross. It is satanic when we avoid the cross of Christ. When we side with the world rather than the word. How subtle is it to side with Satan? Have you thought about that?

And we know those situations where we have avoided the cross of Christ, and where where we've had verse 23 merely human concerns rather than the concerns of god. Swighty's disordered his disciples not to tell anyone because they didn't understand what the Messiah had come to do. And what struck me as I was preparing this was that tears said get behind me get behind me. Get out my way, Pete, Peter. The concern of god is that I go to a Roman cross for you, that I die for you, not because I need you, but because I love you.

Unconditionally, I don't depend on what you do. In fact, it's because of what you do that I must do this. I, the king of glory, the darling of heaven, the world sustaining 1, the universe, making 1, have left behind my glorious throne to empty myself and be killed and be cursed for you because I see you, Peter, I see you before a holy god and you are so unclean, you stand beneath a death you could never afford, and this, me going to the cross is the only way to bring you back to god. I must do this. That's the concern of god.

It was the will of god to crush him. What beauty? Heaven's prize would give himself for you and for me. The hymn, goes on in that old rugged cross stained with blood so divine, a wondrous beauty I see. For it was on that cross, Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify me.

So we've had the Messiah must suffer. We've had the cross must happen and now versus 24 to the end, the disciple must die. Now we know the concern of god is that the Messiah must die. Well, what do we do with it? Before us, we have the essence of the Christian life.

And it's simple. We over complicate life, don't we? But it's actually quite simple. And Calvin said that we have a basic motive and a basic principle. The basic motive, the motivation is that god sent his son to save us by grace and adapt us into his family.

The Messiah must die, the cross must happen. That's the basic motive. The basic principle then is that because we belong to Jesus, the 1 who suffered in our place, we stop putting ourselves first and instead give ourselves Holy to him. Body and soul. In life and death, we are not our own.

We were bought with a price. Paul says, doesn't he? I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ he lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me. The son of god who loved me and gave himself for me.

There's the motive. The son of man must suffer and must be killed. Here's the principal. First 24. Then Jesus said to his disciples, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

I was telling a few of the young adult at lunch today. The Collins Dictionary word of the year for 20 24. Every year, they evaluate, words that have gained prominence in the last year, reflecting usage statistics and changes in language and changes in society. Last year, does anyone know it? It's apart from people that's old.

Brat. Brat. Not in the traditional sense of a naughty child, a misbehaving child. No. Not not in the the noun.

You're a brat, but in the adjective, which is characterized by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude. That was the word of the year last year. That is our world. Came from a pop stars pit album that sparked a cultural movement. Be Brad.

It's Brad Summer. I'm doing what I want. She's given full brat energy, confident, unbolored, independent. I joke, but that's our wealth, isn't it? Self love, self care, self help, self esteem, be confident in yourself, be independent, be hedonistic, glorify yourself and enjoy yourself forever.

Do you says deny yourself? Take up your cross. Follow me. Deny yourself, say no to everything that you believe is yours and will make you happy. Take up your cross, die to yourself, including your works, and thinking that they will save you.

Follow me. Not the world. What a challenge. How counter cultural is this? How against the grain of our culture is this for the disciples then and for us today, the theologian Bonhoeffer summarizes this statement from Jesus by saying, when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.

Come. Give up your rights to yourself. Come. Give up your rights to be brat. Come and die.

Last year, Safran's family bought us a fiddle leaf fig tree. It's a beautiful indoor plant with big glossy green leaves and we we really enjoyed it. Earlier this year, however, we started noticing some signs of decay. Some little black spots started to grow on the leaves and those little black spots started to spread to other leaves and no matter how much we wiped it, it wouldn't move. It was diseased.

What do you do when you realize your fiddle leaf fig tree is deceased? Well, we add 2 options. Either we do nothing. Be enjoy it for what it is. Know that the disease is going to grow.

It's gonna spread to its roots and it's going to rot and it's going to die. Or we do something about it, which means killing it. With the private of its own soil, we chop away its leaves, the diseased lungs, and the undesized ones. Until it becomes unrecognizable, and that's what Saf did. And 1 day it came home to a unimpressive stick in a plant pot.

But then something amazing happened. As spring came, it started to bud. The dead tree showed signs of life and leaves started to grow, leaves that are green and glossy and beautiful and glorious. And healthy and spotless. In order for it to live, it had to die.

Only by completely doing away with the old could it be made new? Had to die to its own systems and ways, its own roots and its soil, and all its former glory. That's what Jesus has called us to do. To die to our own systems and ways. Everything that we're used to.

Everything that we think will make us happy. Not make tweaks in your life here and there, but die to it. Some of the leaves in our lives Some areas of our lives may look diseased and we're not proud of them and we're quite happy to die to them. Other leaves in our lives don't look diseased. In fact, we're quite proud of them.

We quite like our lives. We quite like comfort and convenience. Jesus is saying there is a whole new way. And that means saying no to what we hold on to to satisfy us. That means saying no to what we think is going to save us or make us happy.

That might be possessions. What do we daydream about or hope for? She just said life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. My mean power, we go to extreme lengths. Don't mean to get respect from people around us or likes or approval or attention.

Do you set those who exalt themselves or be humble? Those who humble themselves will be exalted. People, friends and family are wonderful gifts from the lord, but Jesus said if you love them more than me, you're not worthy of me. The king didn't come for his disciples to gain the whole world now. He came to give himself for them so that they could have him forever.

It's now avoiding how radical this is. I've wrestled with this this last week. Jesus He he he's already actually said this command in Matthew's gospel. He's already said, take up your cross and follow me. But how helpful is it to have it in the context of what he's come to do?

He's given himself for us so we give ourselves for him. And other accounts or the gospel accounts say that Jesus says take me across daily because Jesus knows the hearts, doesn't he? Know's our rebellious hearts? He knows life for disciples. We want the kingdom without the king.

And so he spells out to approaches to life. Verse 24, deny yourself or live for yourself. Take up your cross or ignore the cross. Follow me or follow the world. Best 25, lose your life and find it, or save your life and lose it.

Best 26, forfeit the world and gain your soul or gain the whole world and forfeit your soul. Best 27, share my reward or lose my reward. If we gain, that is We get everything that we could ever want in life. If we gain all that the world has to offer, Jesus says, you can't keep it, and you will forfeit your soul. And that is a bad deal.

What you're going to get is not worth what you're going to give because Jesus paid. Well, he put a price rather on your soul. He put a price on your soul. And it's so high. It's so steep that it could only be purchased with royal blood.

Cycles didn't understand the implications of Jesus being the Messiah. That the messiah must happen that the messiah must suffer and the cross must happen that they too must take up their cross and die to themselves. Jameliot said He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Their lovely words aren't we? We like those words.

Do we live by them? He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep his life. To gain what he cannot lose eternal life. When his wife, Elizabeth Elliott, heard the news that her husband was missing after attempting to reach a remote and isolated indigenous people group, in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador, people known for, at the time, for being violently resistant to outsiders. And she heard that 5 days later, Her husband was confirmed dead.

She suddenly became a widow after only 27 months of marriage with a 10 month old daughter. But she said this. We trust the savior. He died for us. He can be trusted.

He died for us. He can be trusted. So how does a wartime leader inspire their followers to face death with courage? Jeez shows us it's by dying for them. By dying for them, the battle against life's greatest enemy is sin and death.

Has been won. The war is over. The Messiah must die. The cross must happen. He can be trusted.

Only when we realized how loved we are, will we be able to love Jesus more than we love ourselves? That's the motive. Only when we are convinced by the gift of salvation will we accept this call? To follow him and die. That him I quoted earlier, the chorus goes like this.

So I'll cherish the old drug across till my trophy is at last I laid down. I will clean to the old drug across and exchange it someday for a crown. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. We thank you for the steps that you were willing to go to.

To purchase the people for yourself by giving your only son for us who came to die. And we pray that we would be so and enthralled and and and in in love with who he is and his love for us. We pray that we would delight in the love of the savior, and so we would want to live for him. We pray that we'd be willing to sacrifice to show that you are glorious and that you are worth it and our life's choices would display the gospel. Father, this is so radical for us and we cannot respond to it without the help of your spirits.

We pray that you would give us your spirit and that you would show us Christ in his name, amen.