Matthew 6.21-23 Mark 8.31-33 Luke 9.22-25

Matthew 16:21-23
21 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. 22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
Mark 8:31-33
31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
Luke 9:22-25
22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”
“You win some you lose some.”  In yesterday’s text Peter had a major “win” when he confesses that Jesus was “the Christ the Son of the living God.”  Jesus praised Peter’s confession and announced that His kingdom would be built on that truth.  Today, not so much.  Recognizing the identity of Jesus was a major step in the disciples’ development.  However, it was now time for them to understand the mission to which they had been called.  This disconnect between the identity of Messiah and His mission continues to be true in the lives of many disciples today.  They understand that Jesus is the Son of God but do not become engaged in the Mission He is accomplishing in the world today.

JESUS REVEALS HIS MISSION: The idea that the disciples and most everyone alive at the time Jesus walked the earth, was that Messiah would come and overthrow the Roman domination of Israel and establish an independent and free Israel.  The disciples were hoping to hear about the plans for leading Israel into liberty.  Instead, Jesus starts talking about His death and resurrection.  This was the mission on which Jesus was sent.  God sent His Son to pay the price for our sin by dying on the cross and to set the nations free from sin through His resurrection from the dead.  Before reigning in Israel Jesus needed to redeem all that nations.  Jesus wanted to prepare His disciples for these events and prepare them to face what was ahead.  They were very slow to understand.  Ruling and reigning from the comfort of a throne is always much more attractive than redeeming and reconciling by suffering on the cross.  We too are much more attracted to receiving the blessings of the Gospel than our responsibility to proclaim the Gospel in all the nations no matter what the cost.

PETER REFUSES THE MESSAGE: Peter, once again, is the first to open his mouth and tells Jesus that His death should not take place.  The thought of Messiah being killed by religious leaders was not something that he had considered.  The Old Testament presents two visions of Messiah: the suffering Savior and the reigning Ruler.  This was hard for them to reconcile or understand so the tendency was to simply ignore the suffering part and anticipate the reigning part.  It is easy for us to be critical of Peter for saying the wrong things and being impetuous.  However, I appreciate Peter’s willingness to say what everyone else was thinking but too afraid to say.  His authenticity and willingness to say what was on his mind are qualities that the Spirit of God would mold into one the greatest ministers and evangelists the church has ever seen.     

JESUS REBUKES PETER’S MOTIVES: In the space of just a few minutes Peter receives great praise and harsh rebuke for the things that he said.  The confession Peter made about the deity of Christ was credited with having been revealed by the Spirit of God.  The complaint Peter made about the death of Christ was said to have been inspired by Satan.  Jesus warns Peter that this kind of thinking was coming from a desire for the comfort and blessings of this world and not the will of God.  Satan is very good at distracting us from the mission to which God has called us.  Peter was being used by Satan to try to distract Jesus from the mission the Father had given Him.  Satan continues to distract the followers of Jesus today.  It is so easy for us to get caught up in the pursuit of comfort on this earth instead of rewards in heaven.  God has called us to the task of advancing the Gospel no matter what the cost.  We must not allow our fascinations with this world to take us away from the mission of the Gospel.


APPLICATION: Recognize the mission of Jesus is to save mankind from sin is the priority by which we all must live our lives.  Be genuine with the Lord and tell Him what is in our hearts so that we can be dealt with properly.  Don’t allow the cares of this world to become more important to us than the mission of the Gospel.

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