Where He Must Go
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Good morning, Gateway Chapel!
My name is Chris...
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Anybody do any hiking this week?
For the sake of my illustration let’s pretend you did. You went hiking this week. Cool? Great.
You went on a hike you’ve never done before and you went with a friend who knows the way.
She’s an expert. She knows the way to get to this beautiful mountain lake...
But, she tells you, the path is bumpy.
Going to be difficult...
She’s scouted this out and she’s convinced this is the right way.
Part of hiking is taking a difficult path because you’re going to have amazing views along the way.
There’s an easier path that you’re going to see, and while it looks better, it’s won’t lead you to where you want to go.
And there’s been bear sightings.
You have a choice…do you trust her? Do you take the hard road which will lead to the beautiful view at the top? Or do you go on your own path?
Something like this is going on as Jesus speaks with the disciples here in Matthew 16:21-28.
We’ve come to a turning point in our journey through Matthew.
Jesus knows the way he must go...
And he says if you want to follow me, I’ll let you know where you must go.
Very familiar phrases for us in Matthew 16:21-28...
Deny yourself. Take up your cross. How is that good news? Why would anyone want to accept this call from Jesus? What does it mean to deny yourself? What was Jesus asking his disciples to do? What is he asking of us?
In our passage we will see Jesus has his mind set on where he must go, and he tells his disciples where they must follow.
Matthew 16:21 (NASB95)
21 From that time...
We are over halfway through the gospel of Matthew in 2023.
Matthew is all about Jesus as King and what it means to live in his kingdom.
And way back in the early part of the year (before baby Simon and Poppy and Eleanor were even born) we talked about Matthew being in 3 chunks...
SHOW PICTURE
This Fall we’re going to be asking - How is Jesus different than what we expect? How is the Kingdom - life with him - different than what the world values?
And last Sunday do you remember the question we asked - Who do you say that I am?
It was the climax of the previous section of Matthew. Jesus gets personal with his disciples because he knows what’s coming and he wants them to see who he is so they can understand where he must go and where they must follow.
This morning in Matthew 16:21-28 Jesus and his disciples are in the same physical location - Caesarea Philippi.
Way out of the way…about 25 miles north of Jesus’ ministry HQ. It’s a place named after the Emperor of Rome and it’s the supposed birthplace of the pagan god Pan - who asked his followers to come to his birthplace every spring and perform terrible acts of sacrifice.
And it’s in this place - amidst the powers of the world and the darkness of evil
That Jesus asks - who do you say that I am? Even in the presence of these other powers, who do you say that I am?
And Peter responds with his famous confession of faith - You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And through this faith, Jesus blesses the pants off of Peter. Gives him a new name, a new family, a new mission.
And if it ended there we’d say wow, Peter is pretty impressive.
He got it right. He knows Jesus.
But that’s not where the story ends.
21 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.
22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.”
23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
Here we have a major plot twist.
Not for you and I we’re 2,000 years after this…Jesus’ crucifixion is the most well known event in human history.
But for his followers - namely Peter in this scenario - this is a massive paradigm shift.
Peter has just confessed that Jesus was the Christ.
And for the Jewish people this had major connotations of military power. God would send his Messiah - the Christ - the Savior to crush the pagan nations. Crush Rome! Crush Pan! How else do you win but through bloodshed? That’s what God asked Joshua to do back in the Hebrew Scriptures, why would this be any different?
But Jesus says - this is where I must go.
How does Jesus know this?
How does Jesus know what’s going to take place? Why does he have to suffer? Psalm 2 says the Anointed One will crush God’s enemies like a potters vessel and break them with a rod of iron. How does Jesus
First, I think Jesus knows because he is filled with the Holy Spirit and perfectly in tune with the Father’s will AND he knows his Bible even better than the scribes and Pharisees.
Namely, he knows Isaiah 53.
Isaiah 53 is a prophecy about God’s servant who would come to rescue his people. But Isaiah 53 describes this servant like this:
1 Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
3 He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
10 But the Lord was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
Jesus sees himself as fulfilling this prophecy.
And this servant is one who is rejected by people, but is pierced, crushed scourged so that he would be a sacrifice for sins and provide healing.
And then somehow in verse 10 it’s like he is alive again…he will see his offspring, prolong his days…so this servant will be crushed but then not be crushed...
I would argue Jesus goes even further back to God’s promise to Adam and Eve that he would send a seed of the woman to crush the evil snake...
But that seed - while crushing the snake - would also be crushed in return. A snake crusher who is severely wounded.
Jesus knows his path. I’m the suffering servant. I’m the snake crusher. I’m the Christ, but that means I must suffer and die on my path to new life and restoring the Garden of Eden - the kingdom to the world.
Jesus knows where he must go.
And Peter pipes up…you can’t!
It says Peter took him aside and gave him a talking to. You ever gotten a talking to? A come to Jesus meeting, but this time with Jesus.
Do you wonder what Jesus felt when Peter said that? Jesus knew where he must go, but did he know that Peter would respond so strongly?
Jesus knew he would suffer many things from the Scribes and Pharisees, but did he know Peter - who so strongly supported him sentences before - would stand in his way?
Have you ever had your mind set on something and then been directly opposed by someone?
How about when you need to get out the door in five minutes, you know you need to do XYZ but your kids take forever? You get mad!
Or what if you were set on marrying someone - and your best friend said “Hey, I think this is a horrible idea.” You’d be offended!
I wonder what Jesus is feeling. What he sounds like.
He says “Get behind me, Satan!” It’s the same phrase he used to talk to Satan back in Matthew 4. Be gone!
You are a stumbling block for me.
What is a stumbling block? We get this phrase from William Tyndale’s translation of the Bible in the 1500’s. It’s the phrase - to stumble at the block - or literally to trip over a tree stump. That’s actually a common occurrence walking around Sumner because tree stumps make the concrete sidewalks bulge up a few inches and it nabs 3 year olds all the time and makes it hard to walk with strollers.
I don’t know if Jesus had tree stumps in mind but back in his day roads were stone at best but unpaved and I bet even more uneven footing than even today’s worst sidewalks.
Peter - you’re like that. This is the way I must go, and you’re trying to trip me up.
One of his closest friends. Satan will stop at nothing to see that Jesus not make it to the cross and save humanity from sin and death. He will even use Jesus’ own followers.
Jesus says you think you’re setting your mind on God’s interest
Peter says God forbid it! God forbid that Jesus die!
But in reality, Peter, you are setting your mind on things of man.
What does that mean?
Imagine being a disciple of Jesus. Called to follow the true Messiah. And growing up you’ve heard that the Messiah would one day come and restore power and glory to Israel. And you are right next to him. Your mind is filled with glory! Victory! Holy war that will give honor to you and your family for generations.
And Jesus crushes that image by saying actually, I am going to suffer and die.
Who do you say that I am?
Peter you say I’m the Christ, and I am. But I’m the Crucified Christ.
Last week I said Jesus is my Gracious King and Wise Teacher. Reflecting on that I realized at no point is my picture of Jesus with nails through his feet. His face disfigured from beating. His forehead soaked in blood from the crown of thorns. Fully naked on display in mockery because he knew that was what needed to happen to save you and I.
If you’ve ever felt like you don’t understand faith, you are not alone.
Matthew is primarily about Jesus - what he’s like and what we’re supposed to think about him. And Matthew also shows us that more often than not, we don’t fully understand him. But as we spend time with him, hear what he says, watch what he does, we come to know and love him as the one who didn’t get tripped up but faithfully went where he knew he must go.
Jesus knew where he must go, and he tells his disciples where they must follow.
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.
28 “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Jesus wants to share authority with his disciples, but to do that he needs to trust that they know who he is and what it’s like to follow him.
Peter misunderstood, and likely the others did as well. So Jesus uses this as a teaching moment to let his disciples know what it means to follow him.
If you want to follow me, you must deny yourself
To deny is to disavow or to disown. Peter denies he even knows Jesus later in Matthew. Jesus says you must deny yourself. Following me means giving up your right to life as you know it.
You must take up your cross.
Jesus is not using the cross here as an image for reading your Bible and praying every day even though you’re tired. He’s not talking about spiritual disciples, he’s talking about death. Real physical death.
The cross was Rome’s single greatest deturrent against revolt. Crucifixion was proceeded by scourging. The victim was affixed to the cross, stripped, and mocked. It was physical torture and public shaming. After the victim died the body was usually left to decay and be eaten by scavengers, a public sign that this is what happens to enemies of Rome.
Matthew is writing this gospel when Christians are being martryred for their faith. He is writing to say, “Do you wonder why these Christians are so adament that they’d rather choose death than renounce their faith? This is the way of Jesus.”
Jesus lets his disciples know - if you want to follow me, this is what it’s going to be like.
Give up your right to life for me.
And for many of them, that is true. Church tradition says every one of the disciples - outside of maybe John - was killed for their faith.
Why would anyone do that? LONG PAUSE
Your hiking guide said - here’s the way, it’s going to be hard. And it would make sense if you go, Yeah I’ll pass.
Jesus gives two reasons
This is the way to true life.
This is the way to true life.
25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Jesus is talking about one kind of life and another kind of life.
He’s telling his disciples there are two realities - an earthly reality and a heavenly one. And the heavenly one is invading earth because I’m here. So to follow me means to let go of this earthly reality and step into this heavenly one and that may mean you die.
For whoever wishes to save his life, your own kingdom - you’ll lose it. Everyone dies. You cannot avoid death. And you can’t take what you get in this life with you.
But, if you give up your right to your own kingdom and for my sake take hold of the kingdom of heaven - life with me - you’ll find true life.
I don’t know why the translators switch from life to soul.
It’s the same Greek word. You can just say ‘soul’ or all of a person.
Jim Elliot quote
Judgment is coming.
Judgment is coming.
27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.
28 “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Jesus calls himself the Son of Man - his favorite phrase for himself
And he says I will come in glory. Glory of the Father and all his heavenly servants and I will repay everyone according to their deeds.
Now this isn’t works righteousness like he’s going to weigh your goodness on the scales, but it’s a picture of did you choose to follow me. Did you follow me down a path of death to this life but life in the kingdom?
Who you choose to follow matters.
And some of his disciples would not die until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.
Now, if Jesus means ‘Some of you will not die until you see me return and make all things new’ then he is lying. So I don’t think he’s talking about his second coming, I think he might be talking about his crucifixion and resurrection. That is his kingdom coming and his disciples would see that and believe and follow him.
Jesus knows where he must go - death to life - and he tells his disciples where they must follow - from death to life.
What does this mean for you and I today?
Sometimes on Sundays we can do application and it’s almost whiplash, it feels like 5 minutes ago last Sunday I asked you to ponder “Who do you say that I am?” and now here I come with another application and it’s really hard to keep track you’ve got enough on your plate.
And so this fall I want us to consider just a couple questions each Sunday because I think Matthew wants us to see Jesus as the Victorious King, but he’s not the king expect.
And the Kingdom of Heaven is true life! But it’s not what we expect. It’s polar opposite and “upside down” from the values of our world.
So first, how does this passage shed light on Jesus in a way we do not expect?
Jesus is a Crucified King.
Jesus is a Crucified King.
Jesus’ path to victory meant losing.
This went against everything Peter believed and as we often believe as Americans.
The gospel writers want us to see the cross as Jesus’ victory. The nails, the blood, the shame, the torture, the death at the hands of a corrupt government and a religious system that killed an innocent man as Jesus’ enthronement as King.
Huh?
All throughout history, how do you achieve power? Watch a mafia movie. You kill people! You defeat your enemies physically, violently, and you leave a message to others - don’t mess with me.
And Jesus says that is not how I’m going to win. Because my battle is not with powers of this world, but with powers of darkness in the unseen realm. And in a way that you cannot see, my suffering and death at the hands of the elders, scribes, and Pharisees is actually true victory because I’m defeating the powers of darkness that have enslaved this world since the beginning.
And I’m not going to stay dead, I’m going to raise to new life and all who follow me will take this same path from death to life!
Peter lived in day when the Christ was said to come as a conqueror, like Alexander the great.
In our day, Jesus is often said to come as someone who fulfills our desires as consumers. Jesus will pay off your credit card debt! He’ll heal your anxiety! He’ll make you rich! He’ll make you happy! He’ll give you a bigger house!
And we, like Peter, have to be reminded that while Jesus is king, he is the Crucified King who’s path to victory is not what we expect.
Second, how does this passage shed light on life in the kingdom in a way we do not expect?
To follow Jesus means to be willing to suffer.
To follow Jesus means to be willing to suffer.
There is a major disconnect between our life experience and the disciples.
Many of the disciples who heard this from Jesus, and the people who read Matthew in the first century AD, literally died for Jesus.
When Jesus says - deny yourself and take up your cross - he is asking them to forfeit their life in this reality in order to abtain true life in the kingdom. He’s telling them, expect to be tortured for my sake.
And there are millions of Christians around the world today who can hear Matthew 16:21-28 and have it directly apply to their lives.
Men and women are imprisoned for their faith. Mothers, fathers, and children are killed for confessing Jesus is the Christ to this day.
As American Christians, we can cry PERSECUTION at the drop of a hat. We were not suffering for Jesus when we couldn’t gather because of COVID - mosques had to do the same thing! We are not suffering for Jesus when the 10 commandments gets taken out of a courtroom. Jesus is talking about REAL persecution, we often are upset about our preferences or presumptions.
And so I ask myself - have I ever truly suffered for Jesus?
When I left my sales job to be a pastor, that could have been a moment where I suffered…in the sense of maybe someone making fun of me or being upset with me…and that’s not even true persecution. Instead, I was applauded! So even my ‘I have decided to follow Jesus’ moment was not suffering.
Maybe you have truly suffered for Jesus.
Maybe you’ve lost something because you decided to follow Jesus rather than take the easy road. But I’m going to bet that most of us haven’t experienced true persecution at the level Matthew 16 is talking about. Maybe some of us lost our jobs for confessing Jesus, or you’ve been kicked out of a friend group because of your love for Jesus, or you’ve been denied a promotion because of confessing Jesus - maybe! I don’t know. I doubt that’s common. Many of us are friend groups ARE Christians so we don’t suffer for Jesus, if anything we’d suffer more if we denied Jesus and walked away from church because we’d lose our support and friends.
Now, many of us have suffered.
I’ve suffered. We’ve lost two kids. I’ve lost friends. You’ve suffered catastrophic loss. You may be dealing with grief right now or internal pain that nobody knows. But it wasn’t suffering for Jesus…those things happen in our world. And that kind of suffering can actually point us to Jesus because we realize like Jim Elliot said - we can’t protect ourselves from death! Jesus offers true life because nothing is able to beat death - except him.
So…all that said, do we just scrap this passage and say it doesn’t apply to us?
No, I think the question becomes, if I believed in my heart that Jesus was asking me to follow him in such a way that I lost security, that I lost money, that I had to experience true suffering…would I be willing to follow?
Am I willing to give up this reality for Jesus’ kingdom?
And I think if I’m honest, the answer is no. Morgan and I joke that we just never ever ever want to move. And moving for Jesus is not persecution! But I want to be willing. I want to see that Jesus’ life is true life. I want to believe that there is more than what I see and taste and touch and there is true life in him and if he said, “Chris, it’s time to follow me, and it will hurt.” I want to say, “Yes, my gracious king and wise teacher. You are the crucified king and I want to follow you, even if it costs me. I’m not that person, but I want to be.
And so I think we pray each day, “Your kingdom come and your will be done” and slowly over time we mean it.
We rode the light rail this week…which I never do and I don’t know that I recommend it.
And I was thinking about the sermon going, “How is this passage good news to people on the light rail? A lot of people here have good lives. They’ve got jobs. Homes to ride to. Family. Hobbies. They live in the puget sound…what more do they want? How is this good news to Gateway Chapel? Come suffer and die for Jesus!”
I think it’s good news as we see that Jesus’ life - life with him - is better than anything this world has to offer. The story of humanity is king after king who stumbled over sin and used power to push down others…person after person who stumbled over sin and chose comfort and security over loving God and others…but along came Jesus who died in our place to pay for our sin, and who was raised to new life and now offers us his own eternal life through the Spirit to all who trust him and turn from their sin to the best life!
That’s the good news. The call is come and die YES but it’s die to a life that you can’t keep and come and taste a life that will never die.
Are you willing to follow Jesus?