If anyone would come after me

Matthew 16:13-28

Key Verse 24

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me,

he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

In Shep Mark Moran's message we learned about Jesus' invitation, "Follow me". His message had to do with happy initiation into the life together with Jesus. Now, in this passage, Jesus talks about what comes after this initiation time -- about what the life of following him really involves. It involves self-denial and taking up our cross -- but don't get the wrong impression. What he offers us, in the life of following him, is eternal happiness. And Jesus wants us to get interested and get serious about his offer here of eternal life and happiness. He wants us to let go of any and all low grade versions of "life" we might be holding. May the Lord bless us, as we listen to his words in this passage, to be persuaded by his appeal and make a serious decision to follow Jesus and grab the blessed life he offers. 

Part I: You are the Christ (13-20)

This passage takes place late in Jesus' ministry. Jesus traveled far north to the region of Caesarea Philippi. There, in a private setting, Jesus asked his disciples what people thought of him. Their reply, in verse 14, was as follows: "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." This shows that Jesus was popular. He was, indeed, popular because he loved and served many. People thought he was a great prophet, yet their opinion fell far short of Jesus' true greatness. Yet, this is no surprise: They did not devote themselves to following Jesus and humbly learning from him as did the disciples. So they did not give the Father a chance to reveal his Son to them. So, having failed to grasp Jesus' true greatness, these same people would later be persuaded to have Jesus crucified.

Jesus then asked his disciples a personal question. "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" In verse 16, Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Peter called Jesus the 'Christ' or Messiah. By this, he meant that Jesus is the long awaited "Anointed One", the one whom God appointed and empowered to save us, and the One whom God promised to send long ago through his prophets in the Scriptures to deliver us from sin. Simon Peter said Jesus is the son of the ‘living’ God for he witnessed firsthand Jesus’ life-giving work, which came by none other than the living God who gives life to men. Essentially, Peter saw Jesus as his great king – as his cherished treasure, the one worthy of his life's devotion. This was quite a discovery. Jesus' reply in verse 17a was, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah...". Here, Jesus said that Simon was blessed because the knowledge of Jesus as the Christ is “blessed” in nature, making people truly happy.

How then do we come to know Jesus? Let's look at Peter. Peter came to know Jesus after having followed him and lived with him thus far. He saw Jesus in private and in public. He heard Jesus' sermons. He saw Jesus' miracles. He felt Jesus' love. But Peter's realization was not the product of his zeal, effort, or wisdom. In verse 17b, Jesus said, "...for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven." When God reveals Jesus, that revelation leads us to accept Jesus as the object of our worship and life's devotion. But, without this divine revelation, we can shout, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!" and yet our confession will be hollow, bringing about no change inside of us. God was pleased to give this divine revelation to Peter, rather than the crowds, on account of Peter's commitment to Jesus. The general principle being taught here is that commitment prepares the way for revelation. God will reveal Jesus to us when we dedicate ourselves to obeying the word of God – even one small word of it – in our daily life. For example, in the case of Simon, revelation came when he obeyed Jesus’ request to use his boat for a while, and then his command to go out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch. In this way, we can receive revelation concerning Jesus, and then we can say with conviction, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God! -- I pledge my life to you." While we must rely on God to give us this revelation, we should not sit and wait for it to happen.

Part II: The Work of the Christ (21-23)

Peter’s confession was the turning point in Jesus’ discipleship training. Now that Peter had confessed Jesus to be the Christ, Peter and the other disciples needed to learn what he must do to fulfill his mission as the Christ. So, Jesus began to explain to them the gospel message about his sufferings, death, and resurrection. Verse 21 reads, "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, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life". All this terrible stuff was necessary so that Jesus might save us from sin. The fundamental problem of man is not the economy or the political leadership. It is not our lack of money or a spouse. Our real problem is sin. We simply cannot underestimate the seriousness of sin. If we don't see our sin as a big problem – if we see ourselves as okay – then that is a REAL problem. That is what prevents us from having effective interest in Jesus and what renders us incapable of taking a right view of him. 

Sin that dwells in us causes our continual inclination toward evil. It makes us do what we hate and not do the good we ought to do. It burdens our conscience with a load of distress. It separates us from God who is absolutely holy and provokes his wrath and condemnation. We cannot rescue ourselves from the iron grip of sin. But, thanks be to God, in verse 21 we read of how Jesus had come to rescue us by paying the dreadful price for our sin. On the cross, he would be killed to take away both the punishment and power of sin. He would rise, victorious over the grave, to raise us up to a new life in which we become new persons who live according to the Spirit's desire. It is, indeed, a precious gift that Jesus offers us here.

Verse 21 says "from that time on". This suggests that there were some days or hours that passed by and that there was also a setting change. In the events that follow, Jesus was no longer alone with his disciples, but was surrounded by a crowd (Mk 8:34). Then, as Jesus was teaching about his sufferings and death, Peter objected. Verse 22a says, "Peter took him aside...". Peter did not take Jesus aside forcefully. Rather, he took Jesus by the hand in a gentle manner and led him aside as a friend would do to speak with a friend. Then came the surprise. Peter rebuked him vehemently: ""Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"" Wooow, what a shock! Peter seemed so concerned and zealous to protect his beloved master. He was kind of saying, "Stop talking like that, man; over my dead body will any of that bad stuff happen you". But, of course, his intentions and motives here were not so noble, as we will see. 

When Peter's mouth spewed out this rebuke, verse 22 says that he only "began" to rebuke him. Before he could say more, Jesus cut him off and rebuked him back. Verse 23a reads, "Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me"" Here, Jesus called Peter "Satan". His beloved disciple, Peter, was unknowingly being used as Satan's tool to attack him. From Jesus' temptation in the desert until the very last minute on the cross, Satan was working hard to derail Jesus from accomplishing his mission of becoming spiritual King and Savior; he was continually tempting Jesus to save himself from suffering and death. But this time, Satan used Peter, the person nearest Jesus, to deter him. We need to watch ourselves. Though it is difficult, we must not block those who are dear to us from suffering to do the work of God. Rather, we must practice godly love by supporting them. For example, while I was struggling at my computer late one night to prepare this message, my wife Lydia could have said comforting words like "Oh, poor James. Take it easy and get some rest". But instead, she massaged my shoulders and cheered me up, and then lightheartedly threatened that, if she found me napping, she would take my pillow and wake me up. 

This same concept is built into Jesus' rebuke. He did not tell Peter, "Away from me, Satan!," which means, "Get lost, buddy". Rather, he told Peter, "Get behind me, Satan!", which means, "Get in back of me, buddy". Like a commanding officer, Jesus was figuratively ordering his subordinate, Peter, to get back in the ranks and get back to fighting in support his cause. Jesus added, "You are a stumbling block to me". Peter, whose name means "rock", had ironically become a stumbling stone in Jesus' way, deterring him from going to the cross.

Then Jesus uncovered Peter's hidden agenda and motives. He said in verse 23b, "you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." Here, Jesus saw into Peter's mind and discovered that he was entertaining human ideas. Up to now, Peter knew who Jesus was, not what he would do. So maybe Peter had been relishing for a long time the thought that Jesus was going up to Jerusalem to make himself king and that Peter would become prime minister – but we don’t know for sure. We do know, however, that Peter was very upset to hear what Jesus had in mind, saying, “This shall never happen to you!” Peter assessed that what Jesus had in mind was a really bad idea, inferior to what he had in mind. And so he was hostile to what Jesus had in mind. Sadly, many have a negative, hostile view of Jesus’ way of the cross. They think that their idea is smarter and that their way is easier and better and they get militant about defending what they have in mind. Yet, Jesus insists here that what he has in mind is the higher things of God – that his thoughts and his way are far superior to ours.

So what, then, did Jesus have in mind? What is his way? He wants us to have joy, peace, comfort, etc, just like we do, except that he does not want to work on securing it the way we might prefer. While we might prefer, like Peter, to have Jesus work on changing the political system, the job market, stock market, quality of living, social problems, and so forth, Jesus wants to work on our inner healing and work on changing our inner person first. What good does it do to improve a man's external environment – even to put that person in the paradise of heaven – if the sin problem has not been taken care of? Still that person will be unhappy. So what Jesus works on first is putting heaven inside of us. The way he accomplished this is by the way of the cross. This way is the only the way of eternal happiness and the only way of salvation.

Part III. Come After Me (vs. 24-28)

In this next part, Jesus, having told us where he is going and the meaning behind it, lays down the requirements we must meet in order to come after him. Verse 24 reads, "Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."" Can we read this verse together? Here, Jesus calls us and challenges us to come after him. But his words sound kind of repelling: We go, "What, a lifetime of suffering?!" But no. He is inviting us to a lifetime of blessing – a full life of love to him. There are three components to this way of life: (1) deny himself, (2) take up his cross, and (3) follow Jesus. Let’s look at each part.

(1) deny himself: What does it mean to deny ourselves? It means to renounce ourselves (our idea, our pride, our dream -- our very self!) and to simply quit living for ourselves. He is not telling us to just quit a bad habit or two. He is requiring that we surrender the control of our life entirely to him and do his will all the time, not ours, no matter how painful it may be. Sounds difficult, right? Yes, indeed, this is simply too difficult for us to do on our own. That’s why self-denial begins with denying our self-sufficiency and humbly depending on Jesus. And even this is not easy. Sometimes we have to go through a long painful process of being defeated by our sinful desire so that our ego might be stripped down until we finally see our complete helplessness, fall to our knees, and then get the victory by his grace. So, again, true self-denial has nothing to do with willpower. I mean, when we hear the word "self-denial" we easily think that we must develop iron will and determination – that we need to take a martial arts class and build up our self-discipline and strength of mind. No, self-denial has nothing to do with this. Instead, it has to do with choosing to admit our weakness and not remain in it but to come to Jesus who wants to help us.

Well, we know where self-denial begins, but where does it end? Must we deny, deny, deny forever? Yes, we must do so forever; we're in a lifetime battle against "self". But in some sense, this battle against "self" does end. It ends with us acquiring a new self and it ends when our new self gains the control. You see, when we deny ourselves, yeilding ourselves to his control, we do not remain the same person. Mysteriously, Jesus enters and changes us inside; he frees us from the tyranny of our "self" by making us into a new person with new will and desire to please him and by giving us happiness in doing so. In this way, he leads us to be united with him and filled with him so that his will becomes our will and his delight our delight. 

(2) take up his cross: What does it mean to take up our cross? The disciples and the crowds knew what it meant literally for they saw hundreds who were crucified. The Romans forced condemned criminals to carry the beam of their cross to the place of execution. It was a difficult and shameful ordeal. But for Jesus, taking up the cross had spiritual meaning. It was the glorious way he bore his mission to die for the sin of the world. For us, cross-taking means taking his mission – the mission of world salvation – and making it our mission. You see, when Jesus saved us, he did not intend for us to be jobless, standing around and doing nothing (cf. Mat 20:6-7). For the sake of our own happiness, he appointed us specific work to do in his harvest field-- to save the souls for whom he died. As Jesus took responsibility for others' eternal salvation, and as Jesus served and loved others with the direction of making them disciples, so must we. This mission is blessed. In Genesis we learn that man was made for mission (Gen 1:26-28; 2:15). Our life becomes meaningful and happy and glorious when we work for this mission. Another benefit is that it is the practical way in which we can know Jesus better. (I myself have come to know Jesus better through struggling to help others know him and follow him.) Finally, cross-taking is the way in which we can offer ourselves to Jesus in love in return for his mercy upon us. 

I need to stop and clarify here that "taking up our cross" and "carrying our cross" are really two different things. To carry, by definition, means to hold something while moving it. But to take up means to lift up. There is no horizontal motion involved in lifting, just vertical. So when Jesus tells us here to take up our cross, he is not telling us to go anywhere just yet. Instead, what he asks is for us to stoop over and reach down and embrace our cross and pick it up off the ground and lift it onto our shoulders. That's not easy. Naturally we are repelled by the sufferings of the cross of mission; our initial feeling is to run from it rather than embrace it. But he challenges us to do as he did for us.

Another point is that when we take up our cross, we are not exempt from bearing the mundane burdens that non-Christians have. We still have to support ourselves, study hard, manage our personal affairs, and so forth. To do all this is not easy, so we need to rely on the Lord Jesus for strength. We need to get plugged into him by having a close, intimate relationship with him. Then our cross will not be burdensome; in fact, the sweetest moments of our life will be in serving our mission. 

(3) Follow me: What does it mean to follow Jesus? It means to let him lead us and to walk closely behind him, not ahead of him. It means that we seek to do what he would do, as he would do it, in everything we do. So whether we are eating, studying, working, driving, or whatever, we are doing these things seeking to learn of him, regarding these tasks as opportunities to know him and grow.

But, there's a lot more stuff involved in following him, too. For example, we must follow Jesus first, rather than chasing after a career first. We must follow Jesus only, not Jesus and our dream at the same time. We must follow Jesus by faith, trusting him regarding our future security, our marriage matter, and so forth, rather trying to control these matters ourselves. We must follow Jesus before his eyes, not before the eyes of others. And especially we must not take spiritual vacations, but remain loyal and steady in following Jesus and learning of him. And there's much more. But the point is that we need to be careful to check our spiritual direction regularly and remain prayerful and alert: We have a strong proclivity to go astray. I mean, we can go wild, going in twenty different directions all at the same time, thinking that we're following Jesus. We can get involved in multiple church functions, in multiple ministries, involved in all kinds of community services, and then burn out. We need to follow one direction – his direction – putting our priority, our resources, our mind, our heart, and commitment in that direction, letting him lead us (cf. Lk 4:43). We must follow Jesus, our Good Shepherd, properly for he knows the paths of righteousness and the way to green pastures and quiet waters.

Again, verse 24 reads, "Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."". There are three fundamental spiritual requirements here, and, if any one of them is missing, then we are not truly coming after Jesus and our effort is in vain. This sounds very challenging – so challenging that many think that these words apply only to elite disciples, rather than general Christians. And it is easy to get confused on this point because it says, "Then Jesus said to his disciples..." It sounds as though Jesus was speaking strictly to his disciples – but not so. This same verse in Mark's gospel reads, "Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said..." (Mk 8:34). Plus, Jesus says, "If anyone would come after me". So, without a doubt, Jesus is speaking to everybody universally; no one is exempt from these requirements.

Look at verse 25. It reads, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." Notice the little word "for". This word "for" connects this verse with the previous one, verse 24. So, joining the two verses together, we get: "If anyone would come after me, he must... for [because] whoever wants to save his life will lose it...". So what Jesus is doing in verse 25 is explaining why we must obey verse 24 –deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow him. Why must we do so? Because verse 25 tells us that this is the only way of salvation period. 

Again, verse 25 reads, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." There are two senses of the word "life" here: The low-level, physical, temporal life in this world and the high-level, spiritual, eternal life. Jesus says here that we can have one or the other, but not both; we must lose our life in this world before we can gain the eternal life. Losing our life may look impossible to do, yet Jesus has power to break the hold of this world on us and save us. The only thing is that we have a responsibility to fulfill first: We must, of our own volition, surrender ourselves to Jesus Christ, asking for his help. This is because he never uses his power to violate our free will, but allows everyone to make a free choice to accept him or reject him.

Verse 26 says, "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" Jesus asks us to weigh the costs and benefits of what we are chasing after in view of eternity. So many are turned away from following Jesus by their fear about their future security or by their attraction to the glittery stuff of this world. But by doing this, they are foolishly forfeiting their precious soul for all eternity. This is a terrible price to pay. 

Jesus helps us to visualize what the day of his glorious return will be like. Verse 27 reads, "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 he has done." Here, Jesus says that he will return, and he most certainly will; we can depend on it. But he will not come riding in a limo, wearing dark sunglasses. No, he will come down from heaven, riding on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. The dead will rise and we will receive the reward for our sacrifices and sufferings for Christ. Jesus discloses this to us in the hope of attracting us to go for this vision. With the vision of this in our hearts, we can willingly and joyfully let go of the pleasures of this world, triumph over many hardships, and follow Jesus to the end.

In conclusion, Jesus has told us what following him really means. He invites us to come after him and experience a high-grade blessed life and eternal life. Now the decision is up to us to follow or not to follow. 

One Word: Come after Jesus.

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