Matthew 16:21-28

So, turn with me to Mark chapter 16, and we're finishing off in verse 21 to 28.

Mark 16 · chapter mention

Let me explain what I mean. How we understand Jesus, and what it means to follow Jesus, will affect what it means to follow Jesus.

There's lots of different views out there as to who Jesus is. There's the inclusive Christ. He's the one that affirms everyone and everything.

And if we follow an inclusive Christ, we'll never have to stop doing anything. Anything that other Christians might say is wrong.

Because we're following an inclusive Christ. Then there's the therapeutic Christ. And the therapeutic Christ is about me and my needs.

And if we're following the therapeutic Christ, we'll basically hop from church to church until we find a church that massages my needs.

Then there's the prosperity Christ. And the prosperity Christ wants all his followers to live like kings and queens.

And if we follow a prosperity Christ, well there won't be room for any suffering in the Christian life.

And we'll use that Christ as a means to the end of prosperity. That's health or wealth.

A kind of genie in a bottle. So that he can produce what I want.

Maybe that's a husband, what I want. Maybe it's a new job or happiness.

What kind of Christ will we have shapes what kind of Christian we will be.

And there are many views of Christ out there.

But which is the real one?

And that's why this passage is so very helpful.

You'll remember last week that in chapter 16 and verse 16, Peter finally gets who Jesus is.

Look what it says. Look at verse 16.

Who do you say that I am?

Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the son of the living God.

But then as now, there were lots of different ideas about what kind of Christ this Jesus is.

And that's why in verse 20, Jesus strictly charges the disciples.

He says, don't tell anyone that he was a Christ.

Is that a surprise?

You would expect him, we would expect Jesus to do the exact opposite.

Tell everyone about him.

It's brilliant, Peter, you've worked it out.

Now go and tell who I am.

Not at all, says Jesus.

Jesus says, you need to be clear.

You need to be clear who I am and what it means for me to be the Christ.

Before you start telling anyone.

And so four times in Matthew, Jesus spells out what it means for him to be the Christ.

And what will happen to him as the Christ.

And this is the second time.

16, 21, 23.

And he makes it clear that he will be a crucified Christ.

So my first point is this.

You've got to notice that the Christ must die and then live.

That's the first point.

Christ must die and then live.

That's 21 to 23.

Look down at verse 21.

And notice how Jesus begins to fill that out for his disciples.

What kind of Christ he will be.

And just look how detailed it is.

He's predicting what will happen to him.

And maybe you're here this morning and you're not yet convinced of who Jesus is.

Well it's an extraordinary thing isn't it?

How precise he is in his predictions.

Verse 21, he will go to Jerusalem.

And there in that city he will suffer many things.

And he will suffer many things on the hands of the authorities.

And he will suffer so much that he will be killed.

But after three days he will be raised to life.

And not only will he be raised to life.

But he will be glorified.

Go on to verse 27.

And you will see that Jesus one day will return in glory.

In the glory of his father.

So Jesus couldn't be clearer, could he?

He's saying that he must die and then live.

And the order is crucially important.

Death leads to life and glory.

But without death.

There would be no life and no glory.

Put it another way.

No pain, no palm.

No thorns, no throne.

No gall, no glory.

No cross, no crown.

You see, Jesus is not primarily an inclusive Christ.

Or a therapeutic Christ.

Or a prosperity Christ.

Although when he's understood correctly.

There are elements of truth in those three things.

But he's primarily a crucified Christ.

But Peter, he won't accept that, will he?

Look what he tells in verse 22.

Peter took him aside.

And began to rebuke him.

Saying, far be it from you, Lord.

Never, Lord.

See the contradiction in those terms?

Never, Lord.

You can't say that, can you?

If you're calling him Lord.

You can't say never to him.

Because for Peter, the Christ was to be a success.

Not a sufferer.

For Peter, the Christ was to be a king in control.

Not a criminal on a cross.

So for Jesus to say that he would be killed in Jerusalem.

That's totally off message.

And that's not what people want to hear, Jesus.

But before Peter can go any further, Jesus turns on Peter.

Look at verse 23.

But he turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan.

You are a hindrance.

You are a stumbling block to me, initially.

For you're not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

I don't know if you've been rebuked recently.

But as rebukes go, as telling-offs go, this is right up there, isn't it?

It's one of the harshest.

I mean, isn't it a little bit over the top?

For Jesus to call his friend, his best friend, Peter, Satan.

Well, in this case, not at all, because Jesus has heard this voice before.

The voice that has come to him and said,

Jesus, you can have the crown without the cross.

You can have the palm without the pain.

You can have the glory without the gall.

Do you remember back in chapter 4 of Matthew?

Where's this voice that Jesus is here before?

It's the voice of the devil.

And do you remember how Satan had tempted Jesus,

and his whole plan was you can bypass the cross.

You don't need to go that route.

You don't need to be the crucified Christ.

You can get the glory without that.

And it's the same temptation, and it comes this time out of the lips of Peter.

And so Peter has gone from being a rock, verse 18,

to being verse 23.

Well, the ESV calls it a hindrance, but it's a stumbling block.

He goes from being a rock to a stumbling block.

There's a play on the words.

And you see what causes Peter to resist the idea of a crucified Christ.

It's there at the end of chapter 23.

Why is Peter so adamant this can't be?

It's because he sets his mind, not on the things of God,

but on the things of man, the things of human beings.

You see, thinking about glory and honour and myself and success,

that comes very naturally to me.

Success I crave.

Suffering I hate.

And as long as we set our minds and hearts on the things of men,

a crucified Christ will make no sense to us.

But when we see it from God's perspective, it makes complete sense.

So let's pause for a moment.

Let's think about and try and consider it from God's perspective,

that Christ must suffer and die.

It's not because God is some kind of cosmic masochist

who derives pleasure from pain.

It's not because God is into cosmic child abuse,

as is sometimes blasphemously said.

No, it is because God takes sin,

our rebellion,

our iniquity,

the bent that's within us towards wrong,

our transgression,

where we blatantly say to him,

I don't want you running my life,

I'm going to run my life my own way.

God takes that very seriously indeed.

And God says that my sin is so serious

that it deserves death,

but in his great kindness,

God the Father,

and God the Son,

and God the Holy Spirit,

make a plan in love.

That God the Son would

come to earth

and take on humanity.

And he would be called Jesus,

for he will save his people from their sins,

and he will be the Christ.

Jesus, the Christ.

And as we sang and as we confessed,

this morning,

Jesus, the Son of God,

in his humanity,

did suffer,

and was killed,

not for his own sin,

but for the sin of all who would trust him.

And he died,

and yet three days later,

the grave could not hold him.

And he is raised by the Father

to vindicate all that he has done on the cross.

The resurrection is the receipt

that the price has been paid.

And 40 days later,

he ascends to glory

where he remains today.

And so what about us?

How do you look at Jesus,

the Christ,

from man's perspective,

or from God's?

You see,

if we look at him from man's perspective,

his death is, well,

at best confusing,

and at worst,

totally irrelevant.

And maybe you're here this morning,

and Jesus seems very,

well,

little,

and insignificant to you.

And that's because you are looking at him

from a human perspective,

and your mind is set on the things of man.

And so let me plead with you

to change your mindset,

to set your mind on the things of God.

And when we do that,

what we discover is we love nothing more than Christ.

And we're not embarrassed by a crucified Saviour.

No,

we delight in it,

we glory in the fact

that God made man

died in our place.

And we love the fact

that even today,

as we gather to worship,

Jesus stands in glory,

and he has on his hands

and on his feet

scars.

Scars of the crucifixion.

And we'll see that this pattern

of death and then life

is one that

his followers have to follow.

And that brings us

to the second point.

Christians must die

and then live.

Christians must die

and then live

is verses 24-28.

And so Jesus has just

made very clear

what will happen to him

and now he makes

equally clear

what will happen

to all those

that follow him.

One of the many wonderful things

that I love about Jesus

is that he doesn't bury

the small print.

You know how advertisers

give the big sound

to you

and then on the bottom

there's the clauses

and sub-clauses

and the get-up clauses

particularly on radio,

isn't it?

You know when you listen

to an advert on the radio?

And then it's, you know,

mortgage your host

home could be repossessed.

It's said very, very quickly.

But Jesus doesn't do that.

He's wonderfully clear to you.

He's totally straight with you.

He says to you this morning,

this is what it means

to follow me.

And what does it mean

to be a Christian?

Verse 24 is a great summary.

Verse 24.

If anyone would come after me,

let him deny himself

and take up his cross

and follow me.

Here's the deal.

You want to follow Christ?

You follow a Christ who died

and that means we too have to die.

That's what Jesus means

by taking up our cross.

We've tended to trivialise that,

haven't we?

We were saying in our culture

where we've all got our crosses to bear.

That may be a bad knee.

It may be an ingrown toenail.

It may be an arch

kind of coming to stay.

But put it this way.

If we were in the first century,

Palestine,

and I met you tomorrow

and you were carrying a cross,

I wouldn't see you again.

You wouldn't be carrying

that cross on Tuesday.

You'd be dead.

Because a man carrying his cross

was on a one-way journey to death.

A one-way ticket.

And that's the journey, isn't it,

that the Lord Jesus

took for my sake

and for yours.

And that is the journey

that you and I must take

if we want to follow Jesus.

Jesus.

For some people,

that has meant,

and it will mean,

a literal physical death.

There are brothers and sisters

of ours across the world

who this week,

this is what it's meant for them,

it's meant that they faced

physical death.

We know, don't we,

that more Christians

were martyred in the 20th century

than in the previous

19th centuries

combined before.

But even if it's not

physical death,

and it probably won't be for us,

it must be a daily

spiritual death.

That's what Jesus means.

He says that we must

deny ourselves.

Taking up our cross means

that we will put ourselves

to death.

So the one thing

that Jesus really hates,

the one thing Jesus really hates

is he hates people

living for themselves.

That's what sin is.

Sin is living to myself.

And Jesus came to die

for sin.

And he longs for us

not to live for self,

but to live for him

and for others.

He longs for us

to die daily

to self-interest,

to selfishness

and to safety.

510 years ago

this year,

one of the finest pastors

that this world

has ever seen

was born in northern France

in a little town

called Maillard.

His name was John,

John Calvin.

He's a pastor

who had a remarkable ministry.

He wrote many books,

didn't he?

His most famous is

The Institute of Christian Religions.

It's about 2,000 pages long.

It's one of the finest

Christian books ever written.

One of the finest books ever written.

And right in the middle

of that book

is

one sentence

that begins like this.

The sum of the Christian life

is

one of the finest

Christian pastors

who's written

some of the best books

ever written

telling us

that the sum of the Christian life

is something.

So I think it's a good idea

for you to listen.

Here's how the sentence goes.

I wonder what you'd say.

The sum of the Christian life

is

self-denial.

Self-denial.

Self-denial.

That's exactly what Jesus means here

when he says

we are to take up our cross

and to follow him.

Sin is love of myself

and my opinions

and my time

and my pleasure

and my rights

and my career

and my money

and my feelings

and myself.

Do you think

the spirit of our age

is captured brilliantly

isn't it

by our obsession

with taking selfies

of ourselves

on an iPhone.

Selfies

on an iPhone.

I don't take selfies

but I do have an iPhone.

But I'm still

very very selfish.

Selfish.

And following Jesus

means denying myself.

Denying

my self-interest.

So let me ask you

this morning

have you done that?

Have you denied yourself

and taken up your cross

and committed to following Jesus?

And can I say

if you've never done that

Jesus would say

to you this morning

you are not yet a Christian.

You're not yet a Christian.

Don't shoot me.

I am not saying

that you're not yet a Christian.

Jesus is saying

you are not a Christian.

And if you haven't done that

you're not a Christian.

And today would be

a wonderful day

wouldn't it?

A great day

to start doing verse 24.

But I guess

many of us

most of us

the vast majority of us

here have done that wonderfully

and we need to ask

this question

we need to ask

am I doing that?

Because this command

of verse 24

is not just a one-off decision

it's not just a decision

I made at camp

20 odd years ago

or a decision I made

at university.

No, this is the pattern

of daily discipleship

of daily following.

And for different people

it's going to apply

differently isn't it

this morning?

for some people

it's going to mean

making a stand

where you've not

made a stand.

For some people

it's going to mean

not getting drunk.

For others

it's going to mean

not entering

into a relationship

or breaking off

a relationship

with someone

who is not a Christian.

who's that boyfriend

and girlfriend?

So maybe for some

it's going to mean

radical action

about what you look at

on your computer.

For others

it's going to mean

stopping being

over-sensitive

to what other people

think of me.

So I'm living

in a state

of wounded pride

I think this probably

is where it kicks in

for me.

Always wanting to know

what other people

think

what is other

people's opinion

of me

but it doesn't

matter.

It really does

not matter.

For others

it's going to mean

forgiving someone

who has hurt us

very differently.

For some of us

it's going to be

very deliberately

humbling ourselves

before God

and saying

I haven't got it

all together

when I'm desperate

to show everyone

I have.

The sum of the

Christian life

is self-denial.

Maybe you think

it's really

hardcore

it's pretty

gloomy

it's pretty

negative

and it's

certainly not

what psychologists

tell you to do

and yet this is

the way to life

because just as

death led to

life to Christ

so too death

leads to life

for Christians.

So let me show you

the 7th verse

of 25, 26 and 27

and they all

begin with the

same word

or at least

they should.

They all begin

with the word

for

and Jesus

is giving us

three reasons

why it makes

sense for you

this morning

to die yourself

and follow him.

So the first

reason is in

verse 25

where it says

for whoever

would save his

life will lose it

but whoever

loses his life

for my sake

will find it.

And so you

know how to

catch a monkey

don't you?

How do people

catch a monkey?

Hunters, they

hollow out a

coconut and they

put peanuts

inside the

coconut.

And the monkey

comes along

and he puts

his hand

into the

coconut shell.

And as he

does that

he makes a

fist to grab

hold of the

peanuts.

And at that

point the

monkey is

trapped.

Because he

loves the

peanuts so much

that he will

not let go

of them.

And the

hunter at the

other end

can pull the

monkey in.

just like that

with our

lives.

As long as

you grab

hold of

life,

you're

trapped.

We're so

excited,

aren't we,

by peanuts,

by the

things of

this world,

by repetition,

by money,

by all sorts

of things.

We're so

trapped by

them.

We're so

glad we've

got them,

we just

will not

let them

go.

But it's

when we

do let

go,

then we're

free.

We find

our lives

by giving

them away.

Here's the

paradox.

If we try

to save our

lives,

we'll lose

it.

But if we

lose our

lives for

Jesus and

for others,

if we die

to ourselves,

then we

find them.

Find them.

you see,

pouring out

our lives

for others

is what

we were

made for.

We weren't

made to

live for

ourselves,

we were

made to

live for

God and

for others.

Our lives

are not

for holding

on to,

they're

for giving

away.

And when we

do that,

yes, it will

be painful,

I know that,

and it may

involve suffering

and sacrifice,

but it will

come back to

us a hundred

forward.

And what

if it's not

just peanuts

that are

on offer?

What if it

is serious

money?

What if it

is fantastic

sex?

What if it

is worldwide

fame?

What if it

is what

you dream

of?

Well, look

at the

second reason

Jesus gives

in verse

26.

For what

will it

profit a

man or

a woman

or a boy

or a girl

if you

gain the

whole world

and you

forfeit,

you lose

your own

soul?

Or what

shall a

man or

a woman

or a boy

or a girl

give in

return?

For their

soul.

So Jesus

says to

this morning,

he says,

get the

wane scales

out,

you know,

the old

wane scales,

and put

on one

side of

the wane

scales,

put the

whole world

on the

wane scales,

clearly in

exaggeration.

Not even

the richest

men,

not even

the Simon

Cowell's

or the

Sultan

of Brunei's,

not even

them have

got the

whole world,

have they?

They've

got a lot,

but they

haven't

got the

whole

world.

Let's

just say

you've

got the

whole

world,

and you

put it

on one

side of

the wane

scales,

and then

on the

other

side,

you put

your soul,

your never

dying soul,

your life.

life.

And Jesus

says your

soul is

that

valuable.

Your

soul,

your life

is so

precious,

so vulnerable,

but whatever

you gain,

if the

price is

your soul,

then it's

too high.

I want

you to

realise this

morning your

value.

Some of you

don't think

you're very

valuable at

all, do

you?

But realise

your value.

and realise

that the

way for

you to

live,

really live,

is by

forfeiting

the world,

not by

forfeiting

your soul.

Grasp

with me

just how

valuable

is one

human

soul,

your

soul,

your

children's

soul,

the souls

of the

people that

you're at

school with

tomorrow,

the souls

of the

people you

are at

work with

tomorrow.

And so

the way

to live

now is

to die

now.

And that

life which

starts now

goes on

forever,

and we

see that in

the third

reason that

Jesus gives

the following

him in

verse 27.

Verse 27,

the son of

man is

going to

come with

all his

angels in

the glory of

his father,

and then he

will repay

each person

according to

what he's

done.

If that

wasn't the

case, if that

wasn't true,

it wouldn't

really matter

what we

decide to

do with

Jesus.

First

school makes

very little

sense with

exams, but

it would

make no

sense without

exams,

would it?

If there's

no assessment

at the end

of it.

But there

will be an

exam at

the end.

And deep

down we

know that,

don't we?

You know

that.

One day

the Christ

who died

and was

raised will

come back,

and this

time he

will not

come again

in humility

as a baby

that no one

knows about.

The shepherds

have to hunt

for,

and wise

men have

to hunt

for.

No, when

he comes he

will come

as a king

in glory.

And when

he does he

will repay

each person

according to

what they've

done.

Now don't

miss the

encouragement.

Don't miss

the encouragement

for those of

you who are

seeking to

die to

self, and

I know

some of

you are,

to follow

Jesus

now.

You can

look back

in your

life and

you can

see decisions

that have

been costly

for you.

Maybe it's a

relationship that

you didn't

go down

because you

knew to

follow Christ

you had to

go another

way.

Well, Jesus

knows that.

He knows the

decisions you've

made.

He knows the

hard decisions

you're making.

Jesus knows the

money that you

are giving away

sacrificially.

Jesus knows the

way that you

are serving

sometimes when

you really wish

you didn't have

to.

And maybe this

is why you're

feeling weary

or be

encouraged.

Look what it

says.

Then at 27,

one day he

will repay

you for

those things.

The greeting

wrote,

Sunday morning,

I just need

another half

an hour in

bed.

You drag

yourself into

the shell

and you get

out of the

house and

you get

here and

you greet

people with

a broad

smile.

Well, Jesus

knows that

because he

rewards that.

the missionary

martyr, Jim

Elliot, he

put it so

well that it

turns out he

actually stole

it from Matthew

Henry.

But the

famous line,

he is no

fool to

give up what

you cannot

keep, to

gain what

you cannot

lose.

He is no

fool to

give up what

you cannot

keep, to

gain what

you cannot

lose.

Do you get

it?

And the

world will

call you a

fool, won't

they?

They will

call you

a fool.

Some of

them think

you are

a fool.

But on

that day

when Jesus

comes back,

it will be

clear that

you have

not been

foolish to

follow him.

And you have

not been

foolish to

give your

life away

for others.

But for

those who

have not

followed him,

and that

may be some

of you,

the regret,

the reality

will be very

different.

There will

only be

regret and

anguish.

As people

realise in

their thousands

the foolish

bargain that

they made,

trying to

save their

lives only

on that

day to

lose them

totally.

Trying to

gain the

world or

at least a

tiny part

of it,

only to

forfeit

their own

never dying

soul.

What kind

of Christ

we have

will shape

what kind

of Christian

we will

be.

And only

when we

have a

crucified

Christ

will we

live

crucified

lives.

But please,

please don't

forget

what that

death led

to for

Jesus.

And what

that death

will lead

to for us.

Led to

life.

Life now,

life forever.

let's pray.