Morning Message Text: Matthew 16: 21-28
Jesus Predicts His Death
21 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.
22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
23 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.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
26 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?
27 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 they have done.
28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Morning Message:
As I started to look at what God was leading me to preach this week, I saw a very similar message to the one that I preached last week. At first, I thought that I should look for something else, but God kept bringing me back to this. I must assume that we need this to be reinforced in our lives. Maybe God will give me a different way to say it today, or maybe today our ears and hearts will be open to what God has for us. I have been reading John 12. I know this is hard to imagine for sophisticated folks like you and me, but people 2000 years ago were looking for a political leader, liberator, Rambo, great orator who could draw crowds and sway hearts and solve everyone’s economic, social, spiritual, cultural and healthcare problems by his sheer brilliance and magnetism. Yes, there once were people who thought like that. Today, no one would ever fall for that illusion, would they? It seems like we fall for it at least every four years.
Jesus seemed to check all the boxes as “the guy.” News of his raising Lazarus was everywhere. A man with the stench of death on him for four days comes walking out of a tomb like a living mummy. Jesus then rides into Jerusalem on Air Force 1 … whoops, I mean a donkey. The crowds go nuts. Imagine the chants, the frenzy. They are ready for the call to revolution to overthrow the status quo. The masses are all ears. Jesus has them in the palm of his hand. They are ready to do anything and everything that he instructs them to do. Kind of reminds me of our church services when all of you leave here ready to take on the world.
Jesus delivers the secret … that is, the battle plan. Are you ready? Try to contain your excitement when you hear this. “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” Huh? Double Huh? He says to live before you die, you have to die before you live. When a single grain of wheat is thrown in the ground it looks like death and disaster warmed over, but that is when the miracle takes place with multiple returns. For Jesus followers, the cross looked like the worst, but in the dying, the crucifixion turned into a coronation. We resist this thought. It seems unnatural to us, just as it did to Peter. We look back at Peter’s statement and we think, what a fool he was, but we have an advantage that he didn’t. We know the end result. Poor Peter had no idea that the death of his friend, his Lord, would result in salvation for all mankind. Even with the knowledge that we now possess, we still have a hard time following the very precise instructions that Jesus gave to us.
Let me break this text down for you and give you the three laws of discipleship and the three rewards of discipleship. I was reminded of the life insurance commercial on TV when I was preparing this message. Have you ever seen the commercial where they give the three P’s of buying life insurance? Okay, moving on. First the three L’s. They are the laws of discipleship. First, the Law of Self-Denial: If you want to be a disciple of Jesus you must deny yourself. This doesn’t mean that you have to suffer and do without things, it means that you have to deny the old person that you were before you came to Jesus. You have to deny your sinful nature and that is a daily commitment. When you know Jesus, you have the voice of the Holy Spirit guiding you into what is holy and right, but you also still have the voice of your sinful flesh drawing you to unholy places.
Second, the Law of Sacrifice: “Take up their cross.” This doesn’t mean that we should find a wooden cross and carry it around everywhere we go. It means that we should openly and boldly proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior, and tell everyone that we meet about what Jesus did on the cross for all of us. We are all guilty of this. We hide our faith from the world out of fear, or embarrassment, or self-pride. Remember Jesus said, “If you are ashamed of me in front of the world, I will also be ashamed of you before my heavenly Father.” This doesn’t just mean that we should go around proclaiming who Jesus is, but we should also live so that people see Jesus in us.
Third, the Law of Submission: Jesus says, “Follow me.” Do we follow where Jesus leads us? This speaks of our way of life. How do we structure our lives? We can make excuses and say, “I try to follow Jesus, but my life is not always conducive to going in that direction.” Then do you know what you need to do? Change your life. Jesus doesn’t say, “Try to follow me.” He doesn’t say, “Give it your best shot.”
Jesus laid down his life for you and when he says “Follow me,” he means exactly that. We must change our lives to match what Jesus calls us to instead of expecting Jesus to adjust to the life that we have created for ourselves. We spoke of this last week, but it bears repeating. Jesus should not be along for the ride, but instead be driving the bike. He says, “Follow me,” not, can I ride along.
I know that this is getting a little long but let me finish. Jesus qualifies these responsibilities by pointing out the rewards that belong to those who are disciples. The three P’s. First, Permanence of Discipleship: “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it,” meaning that joy and fulfillment are found when we exchange our lives for the life of Christ. Second, Price of Discipleship: “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” We all get only one chance to live by faith as believers. It is priceless. The cost of discipleship cannot compare to the rewards of living for Jesus. Third, the Prize of Discipleship: “He will reward each person according to what they have done.” Not only are we promised eternal life, but we are also told that there will be rewards waiting for us in heaven. We should consider the cost of discipleship, but if you truly weigh it out, the rewards far outweigh the cost.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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