JESUS: His Timeless Principles                      4-9-06

“You Are A Stumbling Block To Me”     Audio

Matthew 16:21-27 (23)

Have you ever put your foot in your mouth and said something you later really regretted?  I’ve done it, even to my wife.  Years ago, when we were facing a very uncertain time in our life, one night we were lying in bed and Mary Ann began to say: “I just wish I knew what was going to happen.”  And in my compassion I said: “That’s really stupid to lay there and wish you knew what is going to happen.  We can’t know what’s going to happen.”  And almost immediately I knew that wasn’t the best thing to have said. 

And likely you also have put your foot in your mouth a time or two, maybe even both feet.  But the Apostle Peter, there’s a guy who knew how to do it big time.

And here in our passage from the Bible for this morning we find Peter saying something he almost immediately regretted.  Let’s read (21-22).

Jesus’ suffering did not take Him by surprise.  It was not that His plan had somehow gone terribly wrong and they killed Him when He was expecting them to make Him King.  All along He knew what would happen to Him and how His life would end.

Revelation 13:8 speaks of the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.  It was part of the plan from the very beginning.  Even before Jesus came to earth, He knew why He was coming.  He was coming to suffer, and to die for the sins of all mankind.  And He begins to explain all this to His inner circle of followers.

Peter opens his mouth, inserts his foot, and begins to rebuke Jesus: “Never, Lord.  This shall never happen to you.”  Peter not only has a big mouth, he has a short memory.  Look back in v.13 (read 13-17).

“You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One of God, the Son of the living God.”  Yet two minutes later Peter is rebuking this One Whom he has just acknowledged as the Son of God.  Is he forgetful, or foolhardy, or just plain stupid?  You don’t rebuke the Son of God.

Jesus’ reply is quick, a bit puzzling, and instructive for us (read v.23).

Jesus turned and said to Peter: “Get behind me Satan.”

The Greek word is “satanás” and literally means adversary (one who opposes another in purpose or act).  Peter, in his misguided love for Jesus had actually become His adversary.  To understand what’s going on here we need to go back up to v.20 (read). 

Peter had just acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God.  So why does Jesus warn them not to tell anyone Who He was?  Because they had a warped understanding of Messiah.  The current idea was that the Messiah would be a political leader Who would free them from the Romans.  He would lead a rebellion that would liberate the Jews from this hated occupying presence.

If these disciples had gone around spreading the news that Jesus was the Messiah before they understood why the Messiah had come, they could have incited riots & rebellion & the iron fist of Rome would have been unleashed.  That’s why they were forbidden to speak about this.

And that’s why Peter reacted as he did to Jesus announcement of His impending suffering.  The Messiah was not to suffer; He was to lead the nation in a grand liberation from their oppressors.  “No suffering for You, Jesus; You must lead the charge!”

But there’s something else here.  In Luke chapter 4, Satan came to Jesus and tempted Him to take shortcuts and avoid the suffering.  The temptations were real.  Though Jesus knew why He had come, still there was a part of Him that did not want to suffer.  And at the end of that time of temptation, Luke 4:13 says When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

The tempter was back.  “No suffering Jesus.  Never!  This must never happen to you.”  And Jesus dealt quickly with the temptation.

His words to Peter were: “Get behind me, adversary.”  Your place is not in front of Me, to protect Me, to tell Me what to do.  You place is behind Me.  You are My follower not My leader.”

And then come the words that I want us to concentrate on this morning.  They are words to Peter, but words that have application to us as well: You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.

“You are a stumbling block to Me.”  Think about that for a minute.  Jesus is God; He is God wrapped up in human flesh, but still fully God.  And Peter was a stumbling block to Him.  I find that incredible.  And I began to wonder: “If Peter could be a stumbling block to Jesus, could I also be a stumbling block to Him?”

The word that is used here originally was the name of the part of a trap to which the bait was attached.  In the N.T. the word is always used metaphorically of something that is a hindrance to others, or causes them to fall by the way.

How might I be a hindrance to Jesus?  Obviously I cannot cause Him to fall by the way, but I might hinder Him.  How could I do that? How could you be a hindrance to Jesus? 

Jesus Himself gives us the answer right here in verse 23: You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.  That is where we become a hindrance to Jesus. 

Here is what Jesus is saying to Peter, and to us: “I have a plan for this world; I have a plan for your life.  My plan is best, but you can get in the way.  Having in mind the things of men you will hinder Me.  Having in mind the things of God will allow Me to do what I know is best for you and for this world.”

This takes away a fatalistic view of life, where “whatever is going to happen will happen and there is nothing I can do to change it”.  I can hinder God and I can help God.  What happens is not only up to Him; it’s also up to me.

Peter’s actions in v.22 when he rebuked Jesus were the result of having the things of men in his mind rather than the things of God in his mind.  And as Jesus continues this conversation beginning in v.24, He is further illustrating the contrast between man’s thinking and God’s thinking; He is telling them the things of God that they need to have in their minds so that they will not be a stumbling block, a hindrance to Him in what He is wanting to do. (Read v.24-27).

“Deny yourself” – another translation says “give up your selfish ways”.  Selfishness and self-centeredness are man’s thinking.  Selflessness is Godly thinking.  This is not primarily denying yourself things – going away to a monastery and becoming a monk and living a life of poverty. It is putting God at the center and putting the interests of His Kingdom first and foremost in your life. 

That is dying to self, and Jesus says that is the way we find real life –  the life of usefulness to Him that He desires for us.

Let me tell you three stories from the Bible that illustrate what Jesus is talking about here: having in mind the things of God or having in mind the things of men.

The first is the story of Jesus’ visit to Mary and Martha’s house in Luke 10:38-42.

In Luke 10 Jesus had sent out 72 others in ministry.  They were to go and to preach about the Kingdom of God, and they were to heal the sick.  He said to them as they went: the harvest is truly plentiful, but the laborers are few.

Several days later the 72 returned with joy and they said: “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”  They had not only preached about the kingdom of God and healed the sick, they had also cast out demons.  And that ministry brought joy to them.

Jesus’ response to them is another timeless principle that I hope to deal with in one of these messages: I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy.  “I have given you authority to overcome all the power of the enemy.”  I can hardly wait to talk to you about that.

Then Jesus interacts with an expert in the Jewish Law who asks what he must do to have eternal life, and Jesus tells him the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Evening is drawing near, and Jesus and the 12 arrive at Mary and Martha’s home.  These are the two ladies who are sisters to Lazarus, whom Jesus later raises from the dead.  13 hungry men, and Martha begins to prepare dinner.  They don’t appear to be a wealthy family, for there are no servants to do the preparing.  Martha is all by herself in the kitchen.

Where’s Mary?  Why isn’t she out there helping cut up potatoes, or mix up the biscuits, or chop the vegetables for the stew?  That’s what Martha is wondering as well, and she is getting more and more frustrated by the moment.

Finally she’s had enough, and in her frustration she heads for the One Who is causing the problem.  There is an edge to her voice as she says: “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 

Jesus could have said: “Don’t you use that tone of voice with Me, woman.  Remember Who it is that you are talking to.  Go outside, cool off and calm down a bit, then come talk to Me.”  But that’s not how Jesus handled the situation.

Instead He acknowledged what Martha was feeling and dealt gently with her: “Martha, Martha…you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

“There is something better than preparing dinner.  There is something better than eating your wonderful cooking.  There is something better than taking care of physical needs.  What you are doing is not wrong, but your priorities are wrong.  You have in mind the things of men rather than the things of God.”

Please, ladies, don’t take that to mean you should no longer prepare meals for your family.  But if we are not making time for Jesus in our lives, we become a hindrance to Him rather than a help to Him, since our focus is on the things of man rather than the things of God.  I’m sure they eventually ate dinner that night, and Mary may have even gone into the kitchen and helped.  But she had focused on Jesus first.

The second story is the story of Daniel.  Daniel was just a teenager when Iraqis, who were then known as the Babylonians, invaded Israel and conquered it.  They carried off as captives many of the sons and daughters of upper class families, and Daniel was one of them.  He ends up in the city of Babylon.

Evidently these captives were tested to see which might be qualified to be servants to governmental leaders.  And because of their wisdom, knowledge, character, and handsome appearance, Daniel and three of his friends were selected for further training – to learn the language and the literature of the Babylonians.  The names of the three were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah – we know them by the Babylonian names they were given: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 

Here they were in a foreign country, with very different customs than they were used to as Jews.  The Jewish Temple, with its sacrificial system for worshipping God was left behind.  Now everything is new and these young men had to make a choice: would they fit in with the culture around them, or would they continue to worship and serve the God of their ancestors?

Would they eat the foods the Jewish Law had forbidden them to eat? Would they worship gods the Jewish Law had forbidden them to worship?  Would they keep in mind the things of God so that He could use them to accomplish His purposes, or would they let their minds be filled with the things of men and become a stumbling block, a hindrance to God and His purposes?

Here is what 1:8 says: But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.  Daniel led the way, and the others followed.  People wanting to do right often need someone who will lead the way, and they will follow.  Daniel was that leader.

Time after time throughout the book that bears his name we find him making critical choices, choices that were influenced by this early one – not to defile himself but to do what God required of him.  He had in mind the things of God, and God used him greatly.  If he had had in mind the things of men rather than the things of God, he would have been useless to God.  But he chose instead to have in mind the things of God.

The third story is about a man named Demas.  And Demas’ story is a story of failure.  His name appears only 3 times in the N.T.  He was a traveling companion with the Apostle Paul in some of his journeys.  Paul calls him “my fellow worker”. He sends greetings in Paul’s letter to the Colossians but something happened to him.

Paul experience persecution many times, and likely his traveling companions did as well.  Maybe it was the persecution.  Maybe it was the hardships they faced: Paul said he had been shipwrecked 3 times, beaten, stoned, in danger from thieves, gone without sleep and without food.  Ministry wasn’t easy, and those traveling with Paul went through these hardships as well.

And here is what Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:9 Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.

To me, it’s one of the saddest verses in the Bible – a man who had heard the preaching and had seen the miracles turned his back and walked away from God.  He loved this world rather than loving the things of God.

I’ve seen it happen too many times.  People come into the church; they get involved; they experience God; they hear the preaching; they see the changed lives.  But then they go back to the world because living for Jesus is too hard.  What they don’t remember is that living without Jesus is hard too.  And they become useless to God, even a stumbling block, a hindrance to Him.  They love the world.

You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men, Jesus said.

Let me give you a couple of examples from life today.

I’ve been reading this interesting book: “True For You But Not For Me.”   It deals with relativism, that there are no absolutes.  And it’s intriguing to me that people believe in relativism don’t apply it to their belief in relativism.  They are absolutely sure there are no absolutes.

Believing there are no absolutes is having in mind the things of men rather than the things of God, and makes us useless to God, a hindrance to Him. 

But it’s what so many in our culture today believe, and it even creeps into some Christian’s thinking.  “It’s my personal, subjective judgment that determines right and wrong, truth and error.  I have this autonomous self within me, and that is what determines what is right or wrong, for me.”

The Bible says there are moral absolutes.  We are not just talking about opinions here.  Some things are wrong no matter what the circumstances.  Stealing is wrong, whether it’s stealing your money or stealing your wife.  Sex outside of marriage is wrong, whether you are 16 or 60.  Lying is not ok for you because you believe in lying and not ok for me because I don’t believe in lying.  Lying is wrong.  Child abuse is never right.  It will never be right for me to murder you no matter what you do to me.

If you want to be useful to God, you need to find out what His absolutes are and keep them in your mind.  Otherwise you will be a hindrance to Him and to what He is wanting to do in the world around you.

Here’s one more: All religions are equally valid.  Religious pluralism – “no religion can be considered superior to another. For you to claim that your religion is the only one God accepts is arrogant and intolerant.”

American culture is not growing less religious; it’s only growing less Christian.  And even many who call themselves Christian believe that they are on one of many paths to God, that all religions lead to the same God, we just call him by different names.  That’s having in mind the things of man rather than the things of God.

The Bible says: For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  Jesus is unique; He is the only Son of God.  He alone came to this earth to die for our sins, to go to the cross in our place so that we could put our faith in Him and be saved. 

As I have said many times before: there is only one Savior, and His name is Jesus.  And when you believe that, you have in mind the things of God rather than the things of man.  When you believe that, you become useful to God rather than a hindrance to Him.

Those who believe that tell others about Jesus.  Those who believe that everyone is on their own path to God have no reason to tell others about Jesus, since to them He is just one of the ways to God.  People like that are a stumbling block, a hindrance to God’s plan for all the world to hear of Jesus love for them and of His death on the cross for them.

Are you a stumbling block to Jesus?  A hindrance to what He wants to do in the world around you?  Do you have in mind the things of men, or the things of God?