Have In Mind The Things Of God - Matthew 16:21-26 - 9/3 Sermon

Have In Mind The Things Of God

Matthew 16:21-28

- 21) Let me tell you a couple scenarios. Scenario 1: You walk into the coffee shop. You order a Chai Tea Latte. Just before the server hands it to you, he spits in your cup. Scenario 2: You take your car into the shop to replace the wheels. The next day, the mechanic shows you the car: He painted it hot pink. Scenario 3: You wait all day to see the president of the U.S. The secret service comes out, they part, and out walks a donkey. That is the next president of the U.S.

- None of these scenarios make any sense, right? They would never happen.

- But that’s exactly how our Gospel reading opens for today. Jesus says something that makes no sense. Look at v. 21. He is the Christ, God’s chosen servant, the Son of God, all-powerful. Yet he will be betrayed, suffer, die on a cross, and be buried in a grave. Jesus’ words seem foolish to us. How can the all-powerful God suffer and die?

22) Peter agrees with you. The scene in verse 22 is kind of funny, in a sense. Peter, the disciple who runs his mouth, pulls Jesus aside, the perfect Son of God, and Peter chides Jesus. “Oh mercy, Lord, this suffering and death will never, never, happen to you! No way!”

23) Jesus turns around and just unloads on Peter. “Get behind me, Satan. You do not have in mind the things of God, but worldly things.”

- That is a hero to zero moment for Peter. In 16:16 Peter confesses one of the most beautiful verses in the Gospels. 8 verses later Jesus calls Peter Satan.

- Peter chiding Jesus is like a child giving financial advice to his parents. Why would Peter even attempt it? Peter was telling God what to do!

- Peter did not like the cross of Jesus. A God, a Savior, who will suffer, die, be ridiculed by everyone? God our Savior should come with glory, victory, and power. Peter did not want anything to do with such nonsense, with a Messiah, a Savior who would suffer and die.

- Our sinful nature also does not like the cross of Jesus. Now, we know about Jesus’ cross. We understand God promises us salvation as our hope. But we mess up in two ways. 1) We just forget how God works, or we don’t like it. If I pray enough, am good enough, live up to God’s standard, then I will be worthy in God’s eyes or God will bless me. 2) We just get tired. Year after year, God sends us suffering, pain, troubles, trials, and we just get blame tired or disheartened, so we complain.

- This happened to Jeremiah. He complained, “Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? You, God, are to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails.” Jeremiah compares God to a dried-up spring. Jeremiah’s complaints makes sense to my sinful nature! After 40 years of preaching, 40 years, he had nothing to show for his work. People mocked him, ignored him, attacked him, rejected his message, kidnapped him, finally probably killed him. Jeremiah was tired of how God chose to work. It didn’t make sense to Peter. We can think it’s foolish.

- We have in mind the things of this world. We want comfort and ease, we want to puff ourselves up, we want to see glory and might.  

- “Get behind me, Satan.” Jesus spoke this to Peter, to Jeremiah (he commanded Jeremiah to repent), and he says it to me, and you when we have in mind worldly things, and not the things of God.

- 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

- Have in mind the things of God. With these words, Jesus takes our whole world, and flips it upside down. The “things of God” are the complete opposite of the “things of this world.” Jesus encourages us today, have in mind the things of God. He tells us how.  

- First, deny yourself. When I was younger, I watched a Disney movie called “Don’t look under the Bed.” It’s kind of an infamous Disney movie, because many parents didn’t like it. It was scary. It was about the Boogeyman who appeared under the bed and pulled you under. For awhile after watching that movie, I was scared to stand by my bed at night. I actually would run and jump into my bed, so the Boogeyman wouldn’t grab my feet.

- As Christians we know there is no Boogeyman under our bed. In fact, the monsters are not even the people around us. We look in a mirror and we’re honest: we see the monster staring back, we see our own sin: We’re selfish, greedy, prideful, jealous, unwilling to sacrifice much of our personal time or comfort to help others.

- To “deny ourselves” means to cry out to God and confess, “I cannot save myself. I am the worst sinner in my life. My own thoughts, attitudes, actions are turned away from God. I am a monster worse than any horror movie.” 

- We have in mind the things of God: we are sinners, monsters, selfish and greedy and jealous, there is nothing good that lives in us.

- Second, Jesus says, Pick up your cross, The cross was an instrument of torture and execution for the Roman empire. The Romans even made people carry their own cross. That’s where this phrase comes from. Imagine having to build your own electric chair. It meant suffering and death.

- The cross is offensive to us. We by nature want nothing to do with suffering and death; we want glory and majesty. But that is not how God chooses to work. Why? Another favorite of mine, 1 Cor 1, “God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

- We have in mind the things of God: If that’s how God chooses to work, through foolishness, through the suffering cross of Jesus, through sending us sufferings and death, we simply “pick up our cross”, we suffer and leave everything in God’s hands.

- What exactly is our cross? It’s simply. Anything that causes us to doubt or question God. Maybe it’s persecution. Cancer. Pain. Worry. Depression. Whatever it is, whatever suffering God sends into our life, we “pick up our cross” we suffer, and leave everything in God’s hands.  

- Third, Jesus says follow me. Jesus does not call us to live a really, really holy life. “Follow me” simply means to believe in Jesus. Trust him. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Jesus gives us life.  

- Many of you grow gardens. It’s exciting, isn’t it, to pick, to eat the first fruits of your garden? This strawberry, tomato, or cucumber will be just like all the ones that grow afterwards.

- Scripture calls Jesus our “first fruits” to explain what he gives us. Jesus came to this earth as a human, lived under the law, suffered much at the hands of men, shed his blood for our sins, died in our place, destroyed death and rose to life, and now lives forever.

- Jesus is our first fruit. What happens to him will happen to us who believe in his name, who follow him. We go through suffering just like Jesus did. We will die, like Jesus. We will rise and live forever, just like Jesus. Our hope, our strength, is found in Jesus alone. Where he stands, our first fruit, we will stand too.  

Do you see the power of Jesus’ cross? We don’t rely on or trust in ourselves as if we can save ourselves or solve the problems of this world.

We suffer through whatever God sends, with our eyes fixed on Jesus.

His suffering, his death, his resurrection from the grave means that we have forgiveness for all our sin, that monster that stares back at us in the mirror is washed away with Jesus’ blood. The joy we will have in heaven will far surpass all the suffering we went through in this world.

The next two verses, 25-26, help to illustrate and build on what verse 24 says.

25) For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. Jesus says, “There are only two paths. You can go your own way. Run after wealth, possessions, ‘me-time,’ the things of this world. Imagine that you don’t need Jesus. Where does that path lead? Eternity in hell. Or deny ourselves, we despair and reject our own works and worthiness, we rejects the thing of this world, we suffer whatever God sends our way. We believe that Jesus alone forgives our sins and gives us a life that will be far better than anything in this world. Where does that path end? Paradise.

26) For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his life? Or what can a man give in exchange for his life? Let’s make a deal. For one day you can enjoy life as a billionaire. I’ll give you a credit card with no limit. But for the rest of your life, every cent you or your family make will be taken, and you’ll be homeless. Would you accept that deal? Of course not! What can this world really offer us? 70-80 years, at most? Jesus promises you eternal life; he forgives our sin.

Jeremiah struggled with how God worked. Why does the church, why do Christians, why do I have so much suffering, failure, ridicule, death? God gave Jeremiah this wonderful promise, “I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze. They will fight against you, but will not overcome you.” We have in mind the things of God. God makes you a wall of bronze: strong and unshakeable. God does that through the cross, the suffering, the death of Jesus Christ. No matter what cross, suffering, or death come into your life, we stand on the promises of God given through Jesus: forgiveness, eternal life, salvation. That makes us a wall of bronze, strong and unshakeable in Jesus Christ.