Notes of Faith February 13, 2024
Matthew 16, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for My sake, will find it.’” Paul wrote, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that,” he said, “but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces…” What? “Perseverance. And perseverance…” What? “Character. And character…” What? “Hope.”
How are you? Good, thank you. Yeah, the joy of the Lord is not your strength. Of all people, we should be the most hopeful people. We should be the people with the peace that surpasses all understanding. Just so you know, all your unbelieving neighbors and friends and family, everyone is watching you right now. All of them. And they want to see what is it that you’re promoting right now? Is your faith the thing that matters or what? What fills your day? What fills your profile on social media? Who are you more into? Fauci or Jesus when you are writing stuff? No, no, listen, there are more Christians that over the last six months said Fauci more than Jesus.
Amir Tsarfati: Is The Joy of the Lord Your Strength?
The conversation recorded in Matthew 16 took place in Caesarea Philippi under the shadow of a pagan temple where Jesus asked the disciples who are people saying that He is? This question is followed by both a high point and then a low point in Peter’s years of traveling with Jesus during His earthly ministry.
Matthew 16:14-18
So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
The very next thing we read in Matthew 16 is this:
Matthew 16:21-23
From that time Jesus began to show to 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 the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
From Peter being told He had a revelation from the Father to being called Satan by the Son of God, all in a single conversation. That would certainly have been a humbling moment for Peter.
Jesus then turns to the whole group and tells them that if you want to come after Me then you have to take up your cross and deny yourself in order to do so. If we read this in the context of the last thing the Lord said to Peter, about being mindful of the things of men and not the things of God, we can understand the meaning of this more clearly.
Jesus was telling His disciples, which would include His disciples today, that in order to follow Him there is a cost to count and sacrifices to be made. The things or thinking of this world cannot be top priority, and we are to be constantly mindful of the things of God. This is consistent with what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 6:33
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
The “these things” Jesus mentioned relate to “what shall we eat, drink, and wear”, as we see in the previous verses of Matthew 6. This does not mean that all Christians are to live in poverty, or not work hard to provide for their families. It means that we need to make sure we maintain the proper balance in life as good stewards of what the Lord has given us, spiritually and materially.
Today we live in a world that offers many escape hatches from this kind of thinking, and we need to be careful of falling into them. Many things in our world demand our attention: caring for our families, doing good for others, and being a part of a church family are all good and godly things. There are also multitudes of “joy killers” in our world that we must beware of getting lured into.
Sadly there remains a significant amount of division in the church today over the pandemic positions individual churches took. Masks or no masks, church doors open or closed, social distancing or not. Some acted like one’s salvation depended on what their decision was on these matters, and Satan was hugely successful in sidetracking much of the church from its mission, which is preaching Christ and Him crucified.
John 13:35
“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
What do the people on Instagram or Facebook know about us? That we are Jesus disciples? Or that we are pro- or anti-vaxxers and this is what we think of certain political candidates. It is not that some of the things that have distracted and divided the church are unimportant. They just cannot be allowed to take the place of sharing the gospel and loving each other as Christ loved the church. Whether you are from Israel or the United States, or any country that has free and legitimate election processes, the Christian voice needs to be heard. But again, these important areas still fall a distant second to the saving of the human soul.
There is an acronym that has floated around for years that we would do well to live by in these perilous times: JOY – Jesus Others You. If we put the Lord first, reaching others second, and ourselves last, the end result will be a life filled with joy. The proof? Jesus!
Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus,
Life truly is “All About Jesus” and has been a theme of our church for over 30 years. Priorities and focus need to be addressed in most if not all of our lives, having God/Jesus/Holy Spirit, in the number one position of all thought and action. All other things will follow behind in their proper place. This is not easy, as the distractions of Satan and the world are always seeking to take us away from communing with God. May we persevere in truth and follow the Lord Jesus closely, worshipping, serving, and loving those He has placed around us that we might bring them to His throne of grace!
Pastor Dale