The Gospel According to Matthew - The Cost of Discipleship [June 21, 2026]

And we have a guest speaker today. So I'm going

to welcome our guest speaker. Thank you. I want

to make sure to send Greg a text afterwards just

to let him know that I really, just even this

far, we aren't that far into service. I love

it here. There's, I'm a feely person, you know,

and so when I walked in, you know, I was just

like, I wonder what the vibes gonna be, just

speaking of vibes, right, whoever was talking

about vibes this morning, you know, and, but

when I walked in, I felt the love that's in this

place. I felt welcomed, and I just feel the presence

of God, and so. That's all inside of you that

you put out in this place. And so I'm grateful

to be here this morning. And I'm definitely going

to tell Greg that I appreciate him inviting me.

So my name is Nina. I am one of the pastors at

Emerge Church in Bettendorf. And Greg asked,

I mean, months ago. if I would be able to come.

And so I'm happy to be here and share this time

with you guys. Thanks for the worship this morning.

Beautiful. With or without words, the presence

of God was felt. It's funny because we get so

caught up in it. When I'm in, I'm surprised I

haven't gotten a text this morning. The minute

that I'm not in church, everything goes to the

wayside. The words, the video, everything. And

they're like, I'm sorry to bother you. So I'm

not surprised. But that things happen like that,

but at the same time, it doesn't matter. It doesn't

matter at all. And from what I, am I being, I

am still being videoed or something, right? Recorded.

I won't cut up then, you know. I thought there

was no proof. So I'll be good, I'll be good.

I mean, which is not normal. So I always, I cut

up a little bit before I start getting videoed

at our. and I'm like you can start recording

now. But anyways, I'm gonna pray before we get

started. I just thank you God for who you are.

I'm thankful for this day to be here. I'm thankful

that I'm here on Father's Day because of you

are our great father. You've been my great father

and I love you so much. We all do. And I just

wanna pray for our dads and pray that you would

continue to strengthen them. give them wisdom

to lead their families, their children, Father

God. I pray for every father, every spiritual

father, every biological father, every adopted

father, stepfather, every father, Lord God, I

pray for them and I pray for our fathers who

may not be experiencing the greatest day because

of what it means for them, maybe. separation

from their children or something like that. So

I pray that this day that they feel your love

no matter what. And they also feel the love of

community and family. And I just ask that you

would go before me that every word that I speak

comes from your spirit that you would speak through

me that I just be a vessel and that you would

use me greatly this morning. Amen. My message

is from Matthew 16 21 28. They gave me the the

instructions that it would be on the screen and

that I didn't have to read it if I didn't want

to. But I guess I have to, so right? But before

we get into the message, I think it's important

that we know like right what was happening before

it. And right before it, Peter had just confessed

that Jesus was the son of the living God, that

he was the Messiah. And at that time was so many

questioning who he was and his authority. That

moment was important. He was asking his disciples,

who do you say I am? And Peter says, you are

the Messiah, the son of the living God. And I

think that's important for us as we start this

message because personally how I operate is the

minute that I find out a truth. The minute that

I find out some information, that I learned something,

that something is revealed to me, pick up some

type of knowledge, then immediately I feel accountable

to it, right? So I'm not sure I like it. I'm

really not sure, because I'll read something

I'm studying. I remember going through ministry

classes and I would be reading something and

God is revealing. himself to me and how I'm falling

short. And I would, my friend was going, how's

it going? And I'm going, I'm like, it sucks.

And she's like, why? And I was like, because

I'm learning so much and now everything I learned

I'm accountable to and I said, it kind of irks

me, you know? So when people are trying to show

me things or how to do something, you know, try

to try this, this is cool, you need to learn

how to do it. Or you know what, you're gifted

enough, you'd be able to do this. And I'm like,

don't want you to show me nothing, because the

minute you show me, then people will want me

to do it. And I don't want to know, so don't

tell me nothing. But I don't want to know things

that I have to be accountable to. But that's

what we're doing right now, right? So as believers,

we're all here. And we're going to stand on that

truth, accountable to the truth that our belief

that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is our

Lord and Savior, that He's our Messiah. But how

are we going to live that? Because that's the

truth now, right? we all know that we all believe

that we all hold it in our heart we're all here

for that purpose because we believe so how are

we going to stand on that truth how are we going

to be accountable to the fact that he is our

lord and savior and we believe that he's the

son of god we believe that so what does that

look like for us i'm gonna start with that verse

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. You do not have in mind

the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.

Now there are several things I want to point

out. You tell someone some news. You got a report

and you share that report. That something is

to come. And we as human beings respond like

human beings, don't we? In some cases we make

it worse, don't we? Not knowing exactly what

to say, so we say Anything doesn't make it better.

But in this case, Peter says, hey, it's not going

to happen to you. And Jesus rebukes him. And

he says, and so I can imagine it went a little

something like this. He's like, Jesus, what are

you talking about? Stop talking crazy. Nothing's

going to happen to you. Right? Peter could have

been speaking from a place of disbelief, like

no way this is going to be happening. He could

have been speaking from a place of fear. or knowing

Peter, he may have been thinking, hey, if anything

goes down, I got you, right? Peter had just confessed

that he was the Messiah. And what they believed

about the Messiah and that culture was that he

was going to deliver them and restore them. He

was going to deliver them from Roman oppression.

And you can't be a dead king or a dead deliverer,

right, to them, to Peter. So either way and whatever

Peter's reason for saying what he was saying

it wasn't what Jesus wanted to hear he rebuked

him. He rebuked him harshly Get behind me Satan.

I Believe Jesus was saying you will not reduce

God's plan to your fears You will not reduce

God's plan to your lack of understanding or trust

You will not reduce God's plan to what you want

or what you want from me. Jesus is telling Peter,

look, I can't listen to you. I'm about to die

and go through the worst journey ever. He knew

the task was gonna be awful. And he couldn't

even let Peter's love get in the way of that,

to become a stumbling block. Jesus was being

accountable to what he knew was coming. But ultimately,

we all get Peter, right? No, Jesus, that's not

for you. Not my Lord, not my Savior, not the

Messiah. But practically speaking, like us just

regular folks, we're gonna put it in our living

room, we're gonna put it right here at our tables,

we're gonna put it in our jobs, we're gonna put

it in whatever place that you need while we're

talking about us. So this is our families, our

coworkers, just us, neighbors. How many times

in your life have you witnessed or experienced

where a person's actions out of love become a

stumbling block for someone else? Think about

it. How many times have you seen it? Ever gave

someone something that they didn't need because

you loved them so much that you couldn't say

no? Ever seen someone rescue someone from their

mistakes? Rescue them from themselves. Because

you couldn't bear to see them go through the

repercussions of what they did. Ever seen that?

I remember my grandmother. My grandmother raised

me. And so I was around for all of her raising

her 10 children for the most part. She had 11.

The 11th was my mother. My mother passed when

I was a baby. And she had two of her kids who

were bipolar schizophrenic. And once they were

diagnosed, I don't know if any of you have ever

dealt with family members that have had mental

illness. There was just so many things that followed,

right? So there was addiction. And I remember

my uncle always coming to my grandmother for

money, always, to the place of when she was in

tears, fighting herself to give him something

that she knew that if she gave it to him, it

would be to his detriment. But I can also tell

you how many times I've seen her do it. Because

she couldn't bear to say no. Or he kept at her

until she would break. And so you see it. Where

someone's love can become a stumbling block.

I'm sure there's people in this room. I mean,

I experienced it today. My grandmother passed.

And he still was in the situation that he was

in. And he went to stay with my aunt. And then

he did my aunt the same way that he did my grandmother.

And then my aunt passed. And then guess who deals

with their uncle now? And I'm learning. I've

had to put him in, I've had to block him and

unblock him and block him and unblock him. so

that I didn't let my heart do something that

is not going to help him to move forward or get

over the things that he needs to get over. And

so I wish at that time, you know, even for my

grandmother, I could have said, Grandma, he's

still gonna be the way that he is. There's nothing

that you can do. Your love can't save him. And

that's what I would have said to Peter. There's

nothing you can do. Your love can't save him.

This is what he had to go through, Jesus. So

people, even our love, good desires, and what

we think we know about a situation can become

a stumbling block when it comes to what God has

planned and purposed for someone's life. Verse

24, then Jesus said to his disciples, whoever

wants to be my disciple must deny themselves

and take up their cross and follow me. Jesus

is expressing that to follow him we must do the

same. We won't do it physically like Jesus, but

we will do it in how we live our lives. How we

live our lives for him. And often we read that

statement of taking up our cross and we think

that it's the weight of our decision to be Christians,

right? Like Christianity is this hardship or

this burden that we carry. But that's not all

it's saying. It says, take up your cross. The

cross was a symbol of death, not carrying a burden.

Jesus is saying, take up your death and follow

me. So this is what I felt was important for

all of us to understand what a crucifixion looked

like, the steps. And so I have them here. The

Roman crucifixion was a slow and agonizing public

execution designed for maximum humiliation and

deterrence. It was primarily reserved for slaves,

rebels, and the lowest classes. The process and

methods followed a brutal progression. Scourging

before execution, victims were severely whipped

using a multi -tailed leather whip embedded with

metal or bone. causing massive tissue damage

and blood loss. Carrying the cross beam, the

vertical post was usually permanently fixed in

the ground. The condemned prisoner was forced

to carry the heavy horizontal cross beam through

the streets to the execution site. The attachment,

the victim was tied or nailed to the cross beam

through the wrists or the palms or the forearms.

The beam was then hoisted up and secured at the

top of the vertical post, forming a T -shape

or similar structure. The feet were then nailed

or tied to the post. The seat, often a small

wooden peg or ledge, was placed halfway up the

post to bear a fraction of the weight, prolonging

the suffering. The cause of death. would be hanging,

suspended by the arms, paralyzed the victim's

chest, muscles, and diaphragm. Breathing in required

lifting the body by the feet, but the pain forced

them to slump back down, eventually leading to

asphyxiation, shock, and organ failure. Hastening

death. To clear the execution site, guards would

sometimes break the victim's legs with an iron

club to prevent them from pushing up to breathe,

accelerating the death. That's the cross. What

a drastic, awful, horrible comparison of how

we have to live our lives taking up the cross

like Jesus. Everybody watch the passion. It was

awful. It was awful. And we're supposed to take

up our cross like Jesus. Think about the description

of how someone was crucified. Now how many of

us are taking up our cross? Can we? Second Corinthians

517 says, therefore if any man be in Christ,

he is a new creature, old things are passed away.

Behold, all things are new. We're not supposed

to be the same. We can't be the same though.

The old you is gone You must become a new creation

we must die to self Think about it for a minute

just because you are a follower of Christ None

of us can pick up our cross and the immediate

result is that we don't look like Jesus today

or tomorrow, right? You will constantly be picking

up your cross You will constantly wrestle with

the old man inside of you, constantly. The reason

why we will not be able to take up the cross

like Jesus, or we need to be thankful that Jesus

did, is because we can't. That's why he had to

do it. A perfect sacrifice had to do it, because

we can't. But we're called to do it. Now Peter

watched crucifixions. He knew Jesus. He walked

with Jesus. He's seen crucifixions new they look

like and he still denied him three times So if

Peter couldn't take up his cross and he had seen

it and he walked with Jesus We won't either right

that's why Jesus had to come But that's what

we're supposed to be working towards that's what

we're supposed to wrestle with dying to ourself

Verse 25 it says for whoever wants to save their

life will lose it But whoever loses their life

for me will find it Let's simplify it Even though

it's pretty simple already Whatever you hold

on to is what you will have period You hold on

to the world the world is what you will gain

period You hold on to destructive habits and

the sins that keep you from moving forward. That

and the repercussions of those things is what

you gain. But if we lose our lives for Christ,

we find life in Christ. A more abundant life.

A life free of the burden of sin. A life filled

with the promises and the hope that Jesus gives

as he walks beside us. A life lived journeying

towards our greatest gift and that promise of

spending an eternity with our Lord and Savior.

And the next part of the scripture, Jesus expresses

it a little bit differently. I think that when

you have a lot of people around you, sometimes

you gotta say it a few different ways so that

everybody gets it, right? So as he says it in

this way, what good will it be for you? For 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 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. What

good is it to have all the monetary rewards that

this world can give you? What good is it to have

all the momentary? I say momentary because whatever

the world gives you, how long is it gonna last?

So I'm not talking just about eternity. I'm saying

that no matter what you have, you cannot take

it with you. What good is it to gain a limited

world when we are eternal creatures? What good

is it to gain a world that your inner man desires?

when as believers we should be living with the

power and strength of the Holy Spirit, when we

will be rewarded according to that, according

to what we have done, what we have gave up despite

ourselves, the daily decisions, when we choose

us and we choose our fleshly desires over what

the Spirit of God is telling us to do. In verse

28 it says, truly I tell you, some who are standing

here will not taste death before they see the

Son of Man coming in his kingdom. I'm gonna read

it again. Truly I tell you, some who are standing

here will not taste death before they see the

Son of Man coming in his kingdom. And people

debate over what that means. You know, if we

will be taken up and all of those things. And

I think it means this simply. Some of you standing

here will never taste death because you will

always put yourself first. You will always resort

to your first response, your fleshly response.

You will never give up what you should. You will

never wrestle to win. You will never taste death

before he comes again. Because you don't struggle

with yourself. We don't try and die to self.

But I don't want to be one of them, do you? No.

And I want to conclude this with what Matthew

Henry says about these verses. Matthew Henry

says, thousands lose their souls for the most

trifling game or the most worthless indulgence,

nay, often for mere sloth and negligence. Whatever

is the object for which men forsake Christ, that

is the price at which Satan buys their souls.

Yet one soul is worth more than all the world.

This is Christ's judgment upon the matter. He

knew the price of souls for he redeemed them,

nor would he underrate the world for he made

it. The dying transgressor cannot purchase one

hour's respite to seek mercy for his perishing

soul. Let us then learn rightly to value our

souls and Christ as the only savior of them.

We will always wrestle. We should always wrestle.

Taking up our cross will be a daily, daily journey.

We will never be able to take up our cross like

Jesus did. And that's why he did it. And we should

be grateful that our father, happy Father's Day,

that he sent his son to do something that we

never could. Amen? Amen. Thank you for having

me.