Chapter 66
DEATH OF SELF
Part I – The Example Set by Jesus
Matthew 16:21-23
Before we begin our study let us pray,
Dear Heavenly Father,
We come before You in the name of Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Father we ask You to please grant us the eyes to see, the ears to hear and the heart to comprehend and receive Your teaching and commands. As we read these next studies, please Lord help us to focus more and more upon You and the ways of Your Kingdom.
Amen
Since the subject of the death of self is quite lengthy it is partitioned into the following two parts.
Part I – The Example set by Jesus (Chapter 66).
Part II – Our Cross (Chapter 67).
With the above in mind let us now begin our study of the example set by Jesus. To do this let us read from,
Matthew 16:21-23
[21] 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. [22] Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” [23] 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.”
To help our understanding and appreciation of what is going on between Jesus and Peter we will,
1. Review some background material to see that Jesus never served Himself but always did what God the Father wanted Him to do.
2. Read in a bit more depth what occurred when Jesus started to prepare His disciples for His upcoming crucifixion.
3. Reflect upon the message of this study.
BACKGROUND
As we read and study the four Gospels we discover that even though Jesus Christ was and is the second Person of the Holy Trinity, which is the God Head, He was always in total obedience to the will of God the Father. To see this let us review the following four examples.
First of all the Bible reveals to us that,
JESUS DID NOTHING OF HIMSELF
To see this let us read what Jesus said with respect to this truth as it was recorded in,
John 5:19
[19] Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
In other words,
JESUS NEVER SOUGHT AFTER HIS OWN WILL BUT ONLY THE WILL OF GOD THE FATHER
Jesus tells us this truth after He reiterated the fact that He could not do anything of Himself. His statement is recorded for us in,
John 5:30
[30] I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
In the above verse Jesus tells us that His purpose was to do the will of God the Father. In fact, Jesus made it clear that this was the whole reason why He came to earth. He said this after He explained to the people He was the true Bread from Heaven. To see this let us read the following excerpt from what Jesus said as recorded in,
John 6:38
[38] For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
Our third example is the fact that,
JESUS ONLY SPOKE WHAT THE FATHER TOLD HIM TO SPEAK
To see this let us read what Jesus once said to those who rejected Him as the promised Messiah. The passage of interest is in,
John 12:48-50
[48] He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. [49] For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. [50] And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”
Let us notice the following verses,
49 … God the Father told Jesus what to say and what He should speak. In other words, Jesus did not speak or teach on His own authority or behalf. He was really speaking on behalf of God the Father.
50 … Jesus only spoke what God the Father told Him to.
For the fourth and last example for this study we find that,
JESUS CAME TO LAY DOWN HIS PHYSICAL/EARTHLY LIFE FOR US
Jesus reveals this to us when He compared Himself to the good shepherd. In this analogy Jesus teaches us that it is the good shepherd who truly cares for the flock of sheep who are under His care. To read what He said about laying down His life for the sheep, that are you and I, we go to,
John 10:17-18
[17] “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. [18] No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
Let us notice the following verses,
17 … One of the reasons God the Father loves Jesus is because He was willing to lay down His life so He may take it again. This taking up of His life was a hint of His upcoming resurrection. As we will later see in Matthew 16:21, Jesus told His disciples He will be raised on the third day.
18(a) … No one took Jesus’ life from Him. No, Jesus voluntarily laid down His own life.
18(b) … Jesus tells us that He had the power to lay down His life and had power to take it back up again. What is significant for this study is that Jesus also tells us that to do this was the command He received from God the Father.
This now brings us to the time when,
JESUS BEGAN TO PREPARE HIS DISCIPLES FOR HIS UPCOMING CRUCIFIXION
To read what occurred let us reread,
Matthew 16:21-23
[21] 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. [22] Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” [23] 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.”
Let us notice the following verses,
21 … In this verse we read that Jesus began to prepare His disciples for the ordeal He was about to endure in Jerusalem. More specifically, Jesus began to prepare His disciples for the scourging, humiliation and ultimate crucifixion He would be going through. Notice that Jesus also said He would be raised up.
22 … Upon hearing what Jesus said Peter could not receive it. Let us remember up until this time Peter had seen all the miracles Jesus performed. Some of the many, many things Peter witnessed were Jesus healing the sick (Matthew 4:23-25) and Jesus walking on water (Matthew 14:22-26). Peter even saw Jesus raise the dead to life (Matthew 9:18-26). After witnessing all of these kinds of miracles Peter just could not believe or accept what Jesus had just told him and the rest of His disciples. Thus, Peter rebuked Jesus.
23(a) … Instead of comforting Peter, Jesus rebuked him in the most serious of terms. Why? What did Peter do to deserve Jesus’ rebuke? To find out we now go
23(b) … In other words, as we read in John 10:17-18 it was God the Father’s will for Jesus to go through all these horrors. This was God’s plan to save you and I from the ultimate penalty for our sins and to bring to us the power to overcome our sinful ways. On the other hand, it was Satan’s goal for Jesus to not obey God’s will. If Satan had accomplished his goal all of us would be forever doomed with him in the Lake of Fire (see Revelation 20:7-10). Unfortunately, at this point in time, Peter must have been overcome with such emotion about the prospect of Jesus being killed that he could not see God’s purpose or even Jesus’ resurrection. Peter could not see the bigger picture. Peter’s mind was still focused upon earthly things, which are the things of man. This gave Satan the opportunity to move Peter to try and prevent Jesus from the ordeal required to save us from our sins; hence, Jesus’ rebuke.
We now come to
THE MESSAGE OF THIS STUDY
To lay down a foundation or background for the message of this study, let us first explore the answer to the following question; “What are the things God is concerned about in contrast to the things man is concerned about?”
Our Lord Jesus Christ has pretty much summarized the answer to this question in His Sermon on the Mountain Top. For this study let us just read the portion of the sermon where Jesus teaches us that we cannot serve two masters. To do this let us prayerfully read from,
Matthew 6:24-33
[24] “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. [25] “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? [26] Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? [27] Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? [28] “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; [29] and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [30] Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? [31] “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ [32] For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. [33] But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
The key point for this study and our Christian life is in verse 33. Thus, let us read it one more time.
Matthew 6:33
[33] But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
To see this command from a different perspective let us now read what the Holy Spirit wrote through the pen of the Apostle John. To do this we go to,
1 John 2:15-17
[15] Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. [16] For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. [17] And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
With the above in mind let us now address
THE MESSAGE FOR US
As we look for the message to us we begin by considering, once again, why Peter tried to stop Jesus from the agonies He was to suffer in Jerusalem. Recall all the glorious miracles Jesus performed in the presence of Peter. In addition to the healing of the sick, the walking on water and the raising of the dead, there was also the calming of the storm (Matthew 8:23-27), the casting out demons from the possessed (Matthew 12:22-23) and the feeding of the 4,000 (Matthew 15:29-38) and 5,000 (Matthew 10:13-21) men. In addition, Peter also listened to all the teaching and instructions He gave the people.
Let us also remember that this conversation occurred right after Jesus said He was going to build His church and that even the gates of Hades would not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). Jesus also just told His disciples that they would have the keys to the Kingdom of God (Matthew 16:19). Considering all that Peter had seen and heard did Peter realize, when Jesus was talking about the church, He was talking about spiritual things or earthly things? Before we answer let us consider the prophecy in the Old Testament that foretold Jesus’ ultimate reign upon earth. To refresh our memories let us read from,
Psalm 2:7-12
[7] “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. [8] Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. [9] You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’” [10] Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth. [11] Serve the Lord with fear, And rejoice with trembling. [12] Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.
I believe it is reasonable to assume that Peter, as many others, was well aware of the above prophecy. Let us remember that after Jesus fed the 5,000 men they had it in their minds to make Jesus king. To see this let us go to,
John 6:14-15
[14] Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” [15] Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.
Since Peter only had just received the revelation that Jesus was/is the only begotten Son of God but had not yet received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, I believe Peter was focused upon Jesus’ earthly life and His reign on earth. As we read earlier, this focus gave Satan the opportunity to move Peter to try and prevent Jesus from obeying God the Father’s will to save us from our sins; hence, Peter’s rebuke to Jesus.
This now brings us to the following questions. “What about us, the true believers in Jesus Christ who have God the Holy Spirit living and dwelling within us? Are we primarily focused on what Jesus can provide for us and/or others in this life on earth? In other words, are we more focused upon the so called “Good Life”, which is fame, fortune and self gratification, rather than focusing our minds on Jesus and His will for our lives?
If so, please prayerfully consider the following rebuke from,
1 Corinthians 15:19
[15] If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
(Or)
Are we, as Jesus was and is, more concerned about the salvation and eternal destiny of our souls and the souls of others?
If so, then let us remember the example set by Jesus and prayerfully consider the following exhortation.
Philippians 2:1-8
[1] Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, [2] fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. [3] Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. [4] Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. [5] Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, [6] who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, [7] but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. [8] And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Shall We Pray?