Some time ago a Presbyterian minister here in Brisbane took me to task for talking about sin in preaching the gospel. (To be fair to Presbyterians, this man is an embarrassment to many of his fellows.) He claimed there was no need to talk about sin, it only puts people off. In any case, even the word “gospel” (he claimed) simply means “convincing people that Jesus is Lord”.
In my last post Peter confessed that Jesus is Lord: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16).
Peter was right – as far as he went: Jesus is the Christ; He is the Son of the living God.
Peter would’ve happily joined in singing that children’s song:
“Jesus is the King, ruler over everything, Jesus is the One, promised One, the Son of God, Jesus is the Lord, He’s the One you can’t ignore…”
“He commanded the fishermen, ‘Hey, come follow me’. And they did”
Peter did !
Peter confessed Christ. He confessed Him for who He really is.
But then, Peter came unstuck.
He confessed Christ for who He really is.
But, not for ALL He really is.
1. CONFESS CHRIST FOR ALL WHO HE REALLY IS
Peter confessed Jesus as the promised Deliverer.
But, he had his own idea of what he wanted in a deliverer.
And, it wasn’t what Jesus had come for: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and must suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and must be killed…” verse 21
“…and must be raised the third day.”
But, I don’t think Peter heard that last bit. He is still reeling at the thought that the Christ, God’s Deliverer – who had come to deliver him – is looking to “suffer” and “be killed.”
“Whoa. Hang on there Jesus.”
Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Heaven forbid, Lord,” [in one translation] “This will never happen to you!”
“You’re the King, ruler over everything, You’re the One, promised One, the Son of God… “This is not my idea of ‘the promised One, the Son of God.’”
But, it is Jesus’ idea. It is God’s idea.
In fact, it is not just an “idea”; it is an absolute necessity.
Jesus says He “must go to Jerusalem, and must suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and must be killed… and must be raised the third day.”
This must be this way.
There is no other way to deliver; this is the only way to deliver.
Why?
Because of sin!
You and I are full of sin. You and I are born rebelling against God. You and I lie under God’s condemnation because of our sin. You and I deserve to die because of our sin: an eternal death, cut off from God forever.
Jesus came to deliver you and me from sin. To deliver us from that kind of enemy, Jesus had to suffer, and had to die. There is no other way to deliver; this is the only way to deliver.
Yes – Only one true God. Only one true Son of God. Only one Christ, one Deliverer.
But also – Only one way to be delivered: through the suffering and death of the only Deliverer.
Peter was with Jesus all the way – until that point: “Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.”
He had confessed Christ for who He really is.
But, he could not confess Him for ALL He really is – not when it comes to suffering and death.
How do you sell a Saviour, a Deliverer, like that?
That’s not how you make Christianity popular; that’s not how you make it easy to follow Jesus.
If you want to make Jesus popular you sing: “Jesus is the King, ruler over everything, Jesus is the One, promised One, the Son of God…”
“Let’s keep the gospel to convincing others ‘Jesus is Lord’.
“But, let’s leave it at that, Jesus. Any talk of suffering and death – because of sin – will just make it too difficult for people to believe in You.”
“But Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offence to Me…”
Wow! That was quick.
“You are an offence” – literally: “You are a stumbling stone to Me.”
One moment Peter is a rock, on which Jesus will build His church. The next moment, he is a stone that would cause Jesus to stumble.
That is how quickly things change when you go from confessing Christ for who He really is; to leaving out confessing Him for ALL that He is… just to stay popular.
Jesus further tells Peter: “You are mindful of the things of men.”
“You’re letting what others think, especially what others think of you, shape what you will confess about Me. You are thinking just like those you want to be popular with.”
Worse: “You are thinking like Satan Himself.”
“Get behind me, Satan.”
Satan Himself would have sung: “Jesus is the King…”
Satan was even ready to install Jesus as king. He tempted Jesus with that very thought when he took Jesus “to the peak of a very high mountain”, and “showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” (Matthew ch 4). He promised Jesus “I will give all this to you.”
“I’ll make you King. Everyone will bow down before you and serve you.”
“Only first, you must bow down and serve me.”
I’m not bagging the song, “Jesus is the King”.
I’m just saying that, if all you confess is that ‘Jesus is the King’, if that is all the message you share with others, you are saying no more than Satan himself was prepared to say.
Satan wouldn’t have minded if “all the kingdoms of the world” had served Jesus as King – just as long as he could’ve kept Jesus from doing what He came to do: i.e. by His suffering and death, to destroy the power of sin, and keep us from the gates of hell.
Satan wants you and me to serve him.
And we do serve him, even though we confess that Jesus is the “king, ruler over everything”, as long as we leave out Jesus’ suffering and death because of sin – which is why He came, which is why He had to come.
When we confess Jesus as we would like Him to be, or try and present Him in a more acceptable way so as to stay popular, we are thinking like men, not God.
We become the agents of Satan.
2. CONFESS CHRIST BY HOW YOU LIVE
To confess Christ for ALL He really is means to live out our confession.
Immediately after speaking about His cross, Jesus says: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Matthew 16:24
Jesus is saying: “I am identified with the cross. You confess Me, when you confess Me, not just with your mouth, but by your life, by how you live – which means you, too, must deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me.”
You and I confess Christ more by the way we live, than by what we say.
If Jesus denied Himself and took up His cross, we confess Him when we deny ourselves and take up the cross.
Sometimes this gets trivialised, eg. when someone talks about a random difficulty in their life and says: “That is the cross I just have to bear.”
But that’s not what Jesus is talking about here. I don’t mean to minimise the difficulties in your life. But Jesus is not talking about difficulties generally here.
To take up the cross means to share in Jesus’ rejection, shame, suffering, and death because you are a Christian, because you confess Christ.
But, why would we be prepared to confess Christ, by denying ourselves and suffering this way?
Jesus gives us three reasons, each prefaced by “for” or “because” in verses 25,26,27 of Matthew 16.
1) “…because whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
“Life” there refers to everything that makes up your way of life”: your family, your friends, your job, your possessions, your interests, hobbies, and obsessions, your holidays etc. Everything that makes your life meaningful.
Take everything that makes your life meaningful (it doesn’t have to be anything bad in itself)… but if that is all that your life is about, and you cling on to it, and you would refuse ever to give it up if called upon to do so – you will lose what your life is all about.
But, if what means most to you is Christ Himself, and you would be prepared to give up any, or all, of it for Christ, if called upon to do so – you will have all you want; and more.
2) “…because what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
The second reason Jesus gives for denying yourself, when called upon to do so is this: What’s the point, even if you were to gain everything you could possibly want in this world – but end up losing your soul?
Isn’t your soul’s welfare worth more than the whole world?
Why would that be such a loss, compared to the loss of your own soul.
3) “…because the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.”
The third reason for taking up one’s cross is the promise of a future reward when Jesus returns in glory, with His angels.
“To follow Jesus means conflict with ease and comfort. It involves following him in suffering and hardship. It involves following him in self-denial. It means taking on the forces of unbelief that refuse to accept Jesus as the Christ.
“This note of spiritual struggle is often absent from the contemporary church. Then, as now, the followers of Jesus have been very slow to accept the necessity of sacrifice and suffering. But it is a mark of authentic Christianity.” (Michael Green)
In confessing Christ, let us live out our confession: take up your cross; share in Christ’s rejection, shame, suffering, and (yes, if so be it) death.
But, at the end of it all lies the crown of victory. The cross will give way to the crown.
In confessing Christ for ALL He really is, we will also share in His glory.