Sunday August 30th - Get Behind Me

This is an impossible sermon to preach this morning.

It really is.

It's an impossible sermon because unless God by his Holy Spirit helps you to understand what I'm saying and helps me to get it out in a way that makes sense, you're gonna leave here this morning scratching your head saying, What did that boy just say?

But this message, if you can understand it, if you'll listen, if I promise you, if you are scrolling through TikTok right now, you're gonna be as lost as a fart in a fan factory whenever I'm in the middle of this sermon.

You're gonna have no clue about anything that I'm saying.

But if you will open your heart and you will open your mind and you will pay attention for about the next 20 to 75 minutes, then I think that God has something to say to you.

The title of this morning's sermon is Get Behind Me.

And I think it's one of the most misunderstood passages in all of Scripture.

And it's gonna take you a moment.

This is one of those ones that builds slowly, but it's gonna take us some time.

But when we get there, I think if you can grasp this truth, it can actually transform your heart toward the Lord.

Put your hand on your heart and just pray with me.

Dear Lord Jesus, speak to my heart.

Change my life in your precious name.

Amen.

And listen to the good word of the Lord.

Matthew 16, 21 to 28.

From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, Far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you.

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

You're a hindrance to me, for you're not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

And Jesus told his disciples, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?

Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.

So this passage starts like right in the middle of a movie that's already happening.

It says, from that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he's got to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things.

So from that time, well, from from what time?

It's like saying, after these things, Jesus began to show his disciples he's got to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things.

What are the things from that time?

What is that time that he's referencing?

From that time is just a few moments earlier.

Peter had just received the revelation of Jesus' true identity.

Do you remember that?

Jesus gets his disciples together and says, Hey boys, who do people say I am?

And they're like, it's all over the map, honestly.

It's like John the Baptist.

Some say you're Elijah.

Most people think you're a kook.

They don't like the fact that you hang out with drunkards, tax collectors, sinners.

It's all over.

And Jesus says, Yeah, but who do you say that I am?

And then Simon Peter looks at him and says, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus says, bingo bango bongo.

No man has revealed this to you, but my father in heaven has revealed this to you.

So now if I'm Simon Peter, I stand up straight with my shoulders back, and Jesus says, upon this rock, I'm going to build my church.

Now, if you're Simon Peter, well, let me just say, if I'm Simon Peter, if I'm Simon Peter, and Jesus just is like, hey, I want to build my church on what you just said.

Simon, nobody revealed that to you.

God revealed that to you, son.

If I'm Simon Peter, I goes, boys, kiss the ring.

You're looking at the man.

Well, maybe Simon Peter is a little more humble than me.

Maybe he takes that moment and he says, This is so good.

I can't believe that Jesus is about to build his church.

But then Jesus does what Jesus so often does.

Just when you're feeling good about the Jesus movement, just when you're feeling like, man, he's really got it going.

We're about to make some headway.

We're going to take back our city from the Romans.

We're going to put the jack boot of the Jewish force on the neck of those wicked infidels.

Jesus is really going to do something.

And then Jesus leans in.

Just when Simon Peter's ego is really inflating.

Just when their expectations are really rising, he says, I'm going to die.

I'm going to Jerusalem.

And the religious leaders are going to persecute me.

And then I'm going to die.

And I can see Simon Peter.

This is how my Bible reads Simon Peter goes.

Look what it says he does.

The man who just had it all together.

The man who just moments ago said the most profound thing about Jesus.

In the Greek language, it shows us he physically takes hold of him.

He doesn't just take him aside.

He grabs Jesus.

I think he probably grabs him by the shoulders.

Eye to eye, face to face, mono in mano.

And it says that he rebukes Jesus.

It may sound like he's yelling at Jesus.

Like, have you ever been rebuked by somebody?

If you have a mother, you've been rebuked by somebody.

Getting rebuke doesn't feel very good when you get a rebuke.

But Simon Peter doesn't yell at Jesus.

It doesn't even say he disrespects him, it just says he rebukes him.

And in the language itself, because we get something in English, but here's what it is up underneath it.

It's almost like Simon Peter prays.

It's like he says, May God be merciful to you, Lord.

This shall never happen to you.

It's like Peter is praying for Jesus and pleading with him and trying to straighten him out.

Like, Lord, you you've got to get you got to get your mind together.

You can't go to Jerusalem.

You have to turn away from Jerusalem.

But you can sympathize with Simon Peter.

Jesus had just told the guy, on this rock, and he changed his name to Peter, which means rock.

On this rock, I'm gonna build my church.

And now he's saying, I'm gonna die.

I could hear Peter exclaiming, Lord, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Die bad, succeed good.

Jerusalem bad.

Safe here, good Lord.

Stay with me.

Don't break eye contact.

Blink twice if you're okay.

Jesus, do not go to Jerusalem.

And this would sound like good advice.

Except for Jesus says it's demonic advice.

Verse 24, 23 rather says, Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me Satan.

Now listen, I've been called a lot of things in my life, but I've yet to be called Satan.

I've been called other things that start with S, like son of a gun and silly head and several other things besides.

And you probably have too, but Satan coming from your Lord, the Son of God, Jesus?

Get behind me, Satan?

More on that in just a minute.

And this sounds harsh.

And the reason it sounds harsh is because it is, but it's not mean, it's direct, it's honest, it's clear, it speaks to the heart of the matter.

It says what it means, and it means what it says.

So back to the scene.

Peter grabs Jesus.

The disciples are over here.

And I see Simon Peter right here.

And I see Jesus facing him right here.

And he grabs him.

He says, Lord, you shall not.

May God have mercy on you.

You're not going, this will never happen.

This will never happen.

Look at me.

This will never happen.

And then it says the strangest thing.

And the whole sermon turns on one word.

Watch this.

It says that Jesus turns, and in another gospel it says he turns toward the other disciples.

And this is key.

Jesus tells Peter, you have to repent.

Get behind me.

Peter, get behind.

Lord, you are not going.

Peter, get behind me.

And then what does Jesus do?

It says that Jesus turns.

And he puts Peter literally physically in the position of getting behind him.

Now why does that matter?

It's because Jesus has just called him to repent.

And rather than asking Peter to walk around him and get behind him, Jesus turns his back to Peter.

Peter, repent and follow me.

Why does that matter?

Because my whole life I have lived with the sense that if I sinned, God is going to turn his back on me.

If I fail, God is going to turn his back on me.

If I have a thought I shouldn't have, God is going to turn his back on me.

If I do the thing I said I'd never do again, God is going to turn his back on me.

And Jesus does, in fact, turn his back on Simon Peter, but not for the reason you think.

When you say, Jesus, you cannot do this, and he says, Get behind me, Satan, you are a stumbling block to me.

Whether you're the foundation stone or a stumbling stone, the invitation at the end is always the same as it was at the beginning.

Just follow me.

Just get behind me.

You don't have to get it together.

Just get behind me.

Your God is not saying to you, get away from me, even in your lowest moment when you feel like he's turning his back on you.

It's always an invitation to just get behind me one more time.

One more time.

It means that the life of the disciple is not measured by your high points.

It's not measured by your low points.

It's measured by your ability to follow Jesus when you feel like God's even turned his back on you.

He hasn't turned his back on you.

He's just inviting you to come a little closer and follow him.

But there is a word.

And he says, Satan, get behind me, Satan.

But Peter is no more Satan than he is a rock.

Just previously he said, get, he said, you are, Peter, on this rock, I'm going to build my church.

He's not saying, Peter, you are Satan any more than he's saying, Peter, you are a piece of rock.

In one moment, he has the mind of Christ, and on that mind, God can build his church.

And in the next moment, he has the mind of Satan.

And that mindset has to go.

Why?

Not because Jesus hates Peter, but because Jesus loves him and knows he cannot leave him in this mindset.

He has to have him follow him.

My whole life, I heard that repentance meant that I had to turn around.

And it does.

But my friends, I've never heard that in that turning around, it's just because I'm following where Jesus is going.

God is not turning his back on you because he's mad at you, he's turning around to get you to follow him.

Some of us, our whole life, we're afraid of God.

We're like, I want to know for sure that I'm going to get to heaven.

Because I'm afraid.

I don't know if I'm going to get to heaven.

You know what the Bible says?

The Bible says God loves the world so much that he gave his only begotten Son.

And whoever puts their full faith in him, whoever leads their whole life on him, whoever believes in him, it's not going to perish.

It's going to have everlasting life.

Not in the future, but now.

And if I fall behind Jesus now, do you think that he's going to deny me then?

He's not going to deny you then.

Some of us are so afraid of death.

It's like death is standing at the end of our life, holding a clock, and that clock is ticking down until you're going to breathe your last breath.

But you know what the Bible tells me?

It says that Jesus said, I'm going into Jerusalem and I will suffer and I will be killed.

But it also says, and on the third day, I will be raised to life.

So that death that used to have the clock that's ticking down to your last breath that hangs over you like the sword of Damocles, like a threat over your life, every day of your life, and fearing what happens when you die.

Jesus, through his life and death and resurrection, he puts death on the clock.

He takes death by the knack of the neck, and he says, Your time is limited.

So when you breathe your last breath on this side of eternity, I think you're going to see him face to face on the next side.

And you know what I think he's going to do?

As standing at the pearly gates, I think he's going to look at you.

And I think he's going to turn his back.

Not because he's denying you, but because he says, Hey, come on in, follow me.

If you feel like God has turned his back on you, I just say it's an invitation to say, God, I love you again today.

How many times will God forgive you?

Was it Simon Peter?

I forget.

How many times do I have to forgive?

He says, 70 times seven?

It's just, it's a, it's, it's an absurd number of times.

Why is it an absurd number of times?

Because the mercy of God is so freaking absurd.

It blows your mind.

You're like, God, I've blown it again.

And he's like, get behind me.

I've blown it again.

Get behind me.

I've blown it.

Get behind me.

The invitation now in your worst moment is the same invitation as it was in your first moment.

And when Jesus says, get behind me, he's never going to ask you to do something he's not willing to help you to do.

He knows that you're feeble.

He knows that you're frail.

He knows that you have addictions.

He knows that your mind doesn't work the way that it should sometimes.

He knows that you war against your sinful nature of the flesh.

He knows all of that.

And yet he says to you, even when you're thinking like the daggum devil himself, he says, get behind me.

And yes, you've got to change your mind.

And yes, you've got to repent.

And yes, you've got to turn, but realize that he does the thing with you, through you, in you, for you that he's asking you to do.

He commands him to turn and then he fulfills the command himself.

You don't save your own soul.

Jesus saves you.

You don't earn your forgiveness.

Jesus forgives you.

The breath that's in your lungs.

We sang that song, it's your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise.

At the beginning of time, Adam was a lifeless being in a garden.

And not until God breathed the breath of life into his nostrils did he become a living soul.

And then the rest of his life, he gives back to God the breath that God gave him as praise.

All you're asked to do is even in your worst moment, and even in your best moment, even in the times you feel like God's turned his back, in those moments, you hear the voice of Jesus once again saying to you, just get behind me and you give back to him your allegiance and your heart and your love.

Would you stand all over this room this morning?

Would you close your eyes all over this room this morning?

Amen.

I just want to pray for you this morning.

Some of you walk with so much shame and so much guilt.

You're so worried about what happens on the other side.

Listen, just fall in love with Jesus today and know he's never gonna fall out of love with you.

And when he says, follow me and get behind me, realize that that is an invitation, that even his correction is mercy.

That he loves you more than you love yourself.

And that you should not give up on yourself because he's not giving up on you.

But you should give everything to him because he says if anyone would follow me, he's gotta take up his cross and deny himself and follow me.

And when you do, my friends, you find the greatest joy that you've ever known.

Your life does not consist of your wealth or your power.

Your life does not consist of your fame and your friends.

Neither does your life consist of your faults and your foibles, your sin and your shortcoming.

Your life consists in the one who looks at you and says, just get behind me one more day, one more time, and I am going to lead you to the place that you need to go, whether you like it or not.

I know what's best for you.

We hope you enjoyed today's sermon.

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