The Teachings of Jesus

Sermon Sixty-Seven

Matthew 16:21-28

by

Jim Bordwine, ThD

(Part 2)

Introduction

Last week we began study of a passage in which some remarks made by one of the disciples prompted Jesus to speak about the nature of true discipleship. You’ll remember that Jesus told His men that He would face a particularly painful ordeal in Jerusalem; He told them He would be put to death, although He would rise from the dead on the third day. At that moment, Matthew records Peter rebuked Jesus declaring that such things would never happen. Peter was suggesting that Jesus not submit Himself to capture and ill treatment. Due to his lack of comprehension, Peter did not realize what he was saying. Jesus was speaking of what He must do in order to achieve our salvation. Peter’s perspective was short-sighted and would never be acceptable to Jesus who came to save His people from their sin. For that to happen, the Savior had to travel the road He described for the disciples.

After strongly condemning Peter’s remarks, Jesus began describing the path to effective discipleship. In essence, that path is composed of imitating the Savior. Jesus provides a pattern that makes a true disciple; His words describe what genuine discipleship requires. By discipleship, we’re thinking of the concept of being available to serve Christ and His purposes as He sees fit. A disciple receives and carries out instructions given by another. In this case, a disciple of Christ is a man or woman who lives for His glory, who lives to do His will, and whose greatest desire is to reflect Christ in thought, word, and deed. Peter’s remarks revealed serious flaws in his thinking and, no doubt, the thinking of the other disciples.

I’ll read our passage once again.

The Text

Matthew 16:21 From that time Jesus began to show 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 up on the third day. 22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” 24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. 28 Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

The Teaching

As noted, after He responded to Peter’s rebuke, Jesus talks about what it means to follow after Him; He describes what a man or woman must do to prepare for discipleship; He further explains exactly what genuine discipleship looks like, so to speak. What is the perspective of a disciple? What does a disciple seek? How does a disciple view life? Peter said Jesus didn’t have to go the way of the cross; Jesus strongly condemned that thinking calling Peter’s viewpoint satanic and selfish. Then the Savior declared: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

After a few remarks about this statement, I asked you to take time this past week to think about this issue of self-denial. I did that for two primary reasons. First, Jesus begins His exhortation regarding discipleship with this issue—this issue of setting aside my desires and comfort for the sake of some other governing principle for life. Since this is the first step in discipleship, according to Jesus, it is necessary that we all clearly establish that fact in our minds before proceeding. Second, I asked you to spend time meditating and discussing this topic because it has to do with the most difficult aspect of being a Christian. Any attempt to live for someone or something else—that is something other than the pleasure of our fallen flesh—will meet with immediate and vigorous opposition. While we are born again, the flesh, which is that remnant of corruption that remains in us after regeneration, will consistently oppose the things of God, consistently oppose righteous principles and goals.

This first step in discipleship is critical. Without self-denial, there is no serving Christ by behaving as He behaved and desiring what He desired. This monumental obstacle stands in our path when we decide we would like to live for the glory of our Savior; it looms in front of us and makes it immediately and abundantly clear that being a disciple of Jesus Christ will be no easy task. Easy or not, self-denial is the first step; there is no getting around it. Denying yourself so that you can concentrate on a selfless existent lived for the sake of Jesus Christ is the most difficult task you will ever undertake. Again, that is why I wanted us to pause last week so we could have several days to think and pray about self-denial. I wanted us to continue our study of the Lord’s remarks with a realistic understanding of how hard such a life can be.

If you made an effort in the past few days to deny yourself in some manner—maybe you spent time helping someone instead of doing something you would have preferred to do, or chose to sit and talk with your family rather than be alone, or restrained your words rather than making sure your opinion received attention, then you know how difficult it is to say “no” to those attitudes and desires that are produced by our fallen natures. We are so used to approaching life from a selfish perspective that we don’t realize just how self-centered our lives have become—until we come face to face with an example of self-denial as we do in our Savior. Then, our lives stand out as expressions of self-indulgence rather than examples of humility in light of what Christ did for us.

But, as mentioned, we have that wonderful example Jesus provided for us. And that is why Peter’s remarks were so insulting and outrageous. Jesus was in the process of a complete denial of self for our sakes, yet one who professed to be His disciple, namely Peter, said such actions were unnecessary. Peter did not realize then what Jesus was doing, and the sad truth is that Peter’s attitude is common among sinners. We want good, but we don’t want to have to suffer for it. We want to achieve that which is worthy of commendation, but we don’t want to have to pay a price. We want to be thought of as Christ-like, but we don’t want to live as He lived.

The example of our Savior shows us that when it comes to that which is truly good and truly valuable and truly worth having, personal interests and comfort and desires must become secondary. This doesn’t mean we never do anything to please ourselves; it means we are not guided only by that which pleases us. That’s what Jesus did because that was the only way we could be saved. And now we are called to imitate His example as we live out the years assigned to us by God.

I don’t know, of course, if you made any real progress in the matter of self-denial as you thought about it this past week. In the very least, we should all know beyond doubt that we will never achieve the status of effective discipleship without setting our personal desires aside. Now, we need to continue as we consider what else Jesus had to say about following after Him. Thinking about self-denial is a real challenge, and hearing what else the Savior has to say will challenge us even further.

The next thing to notice is the image Jesus uses to explain more precisely what He means by denying self. I pointed out last week that He refers to “taking up a cross” as an image that conveys the basic thought behind self-denial—“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”. The Lord’s own conduct will soon make His meaning clear to these disciples. Jesus is going to be required to carry a cross out of town to a spot on a hillside and there He will be nailed to that cross and surrender His life. That cross will represent what He had to do in order to save us; it will represent the burden of sins that belong to others. That cross will represent the wrath He will endure in our place. The cross will forever be a symbol of Christ’s sacrifice of Himself so that His people might be set free. Practically every time we see a cross, we remember, at least briefly, the sacrifice of our Savior.

The cross has the same fundamental meaning, therefore, when it is referred to in a context like this. It represents a duty, mission, a requirement. Remember, Peter thought Jesus could do the good necessary by avoiding the cross; i.e., by avoiding the sacrifice the cross would require. That is what prompted Jesus to explain the centrality of the cross concept for His followers. For me to “take up my cross,” as the Savior says, is to take to myself the responsibility for giving myself sacrificially for the benefit of others, just like Jesus. For Him to use the cross in this exhortation is significant. Jesus is comparing our responsibility as His followers to what was required of Him to gain our redemption. And what was required of Him was an unqualified interest in our good above and beyond His own.

Few of us may have this profound view of what it means to follow Christ, but imagine the outcome if we did implement this teaching of Jesus in our lives; imagine the impact on our children if we could get them to capture this vision of living for Christ so that they grow up wanting to be distinguished by faithful service in His name. I’ve said many times that we all live for something; something influences us and leads us to make the decisions we make. How wonderful would it be to have our love for Christ be that motivator! What would the world see if we looked first to the example of Christ on that cross before making any significant decision?

Discipleship, therefore, begins with a commitment to self-denial—that makes room for what else must come; when we make that transition in our hearts from focusing on self to focusing on Christ, then we are ready for that second required step, which is taking to ourselves the duty of being a servant to those in need. Self-interest and self-promotion must be set aside before I can become a servant and that is what Jesus calls us to be. I cannot serve myself and others. That’s impossible. I cannot carry my cross but live free of the implications.

I should emphasize that my cross is not a cross of redemption; I’m not seeking to do what Jesus commands in order to win salvation. My cross is a cross of thankfulness. Because Christ loves me—and demonstrated that love by dying on the cross—I am to respond by loving others in His name. That is the burden that belongs to me as one of His followers. It does not come naturally because of that corruption that remains in me this side of heaven. Nevertheless, I am to go forth in life and be Christ, in a sense, to all those I encounter. I am to exhibit the kindness, patience, and concern we see manifested perfectly in our Savior. All of this is implied when Jesus says I am to take up my cross and follow Him. I can only follow Him if I walk that path He walked.

My life on this earth should be a demonstration of what Jesus would say and do. If I am living rightly, those who spend time with me should be better informed about my Savior as a result. They should better understand what He was willing to do for us, how far He was willing to go to rescue us. If I’m thinking and living like a Christian, I will be glorifying the Savior who gave Himself for me. That is my goal—or should be. This truth, of course, emphasizes how awful it is when a Christian lives in a manner that causes others to have a wrong opinion of the Savior. Understand how serious that thought is. It’s a challenge to represent Christ acceptably, to be sure. But it is a terrible sin to misrepresent Him by giving wrong impressions to others by our speech and conduct.

I have a friend who, at one point in his life, had a job working with a number of non-Christians who delighted in pestering him about his faith. He, however, remained calm and continued to speak of Christ whenever he got the opportunity. While the others gave him a hard time, they could not accuse him of hypocrisy—not until he made one big mistake. My friend, on only one occasion, joined in some sinful behavior with a co-worker and soon, everyone knew about it. It wasn’t long before my friend went to work one day and had a fellow employee who knew what he had done come up to him and say: “Now tell me about your Jesus.” All the effort my friend had made to point others to the Savior became worthless at that moment. He ruined his credibility and could never again speak to those people without having his failure hanging over his head.

When we take the name of Christ in salvation, we take the responsibility for honoring that name. And we honor it not only by refraining from evil, but also by engaging in holy living. If you’ll recall, in the last sermon I emphasized this notion. I mentioned how much the Bible speaks of our call to personal holiness. That is another way to make the point Jesus is making. The cross we are to take up is the call to live as He lived, to care as He cared, and to serve as He served. Holy living consists of those ideas and others—but all are related to the behavior of Jesus.

Do you realize that for many people in this world, you are the only “Christ” they will encounter? If we are rightly executing the duty we have to live like Christ, those people will have a good idea of what a wonderful Savior God has given to the world. If we are not executing our duty—that of bearing a cross, as Jesus puts it—then those people are going to develop an erroneous opinion of the Savior and the gospel may very well end up meaning little to them.

Notice that according to the Lord’s remarks here, there is no such thing as following Him without bearing a cross. He isn’t presenting one option of many for those who want to be His disciples. To be His disciple requires that you carry a cross, as it were. It requires, in other words, that you pattern your life after His. I would say that every truly born-again Christian is doing just that, to one degree or another. The problem is that most of us don’t understand the depth to which this duty of living for Christ is to penetrate our lives. If you look at any congregation, you’ll find people who vary in the matter of how thoroughly their lives reflect Christ.

The point is that we need to understand that our lives are, by definition, a reflection of our Savior and that we should, therefore, genuinely desire to be as perfect in that reflection as possible. Rather than settle for a mediocre Christian testimony, why not strive with God’s help to have an extraordinary testimony, the kind that causes other people to wonder why we think and act as we do. If you are walking down the street with a cross on your shoulder, you’re going to stand out. In fact, there’s no way to conceal a cross so that others don’t take notice!

As you can discern, there is plenty to be said in explaining what it means to take up our cross and follow Jesus. I want to move ahead now and look at the incredible promise Jesus makes to those who heed His words: “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (v. 25) Here is yet another way to understand the Savior’s call to take up your cross. It means you will “lose” your life. It means, as I’ve been saying, that you will live for the benefit of others and for the glory of Christ who left the perfect example for us. Refusing to take up our cross is the same, according to the Lord’s reasoning, as seeking to save our lives; but taking up our cross and trying to live as Christ lived is the same as finding our lives.

This clearly tells us that we must either for self and refuse to bear our cross or set aside our personal interests and take up that cross. And notice Jesus says “for My sake.” That is the key to understanding this lesson. What He is commending is living for Him and for His glory. That is true life, Jesus states. Life lived for our own comfort and according to our own judgments is not life at all, He implies.

You might gain the whole world, Jesus says, and have nothing. That is, you may live according to the desires of the flesh and come to experience and posses everything this fallen system has to offer. In the end, however, you have nothing of true worth and you will have lost your soul. No matter how great your earthly treasure, it will never be sufficient to redeem your soul. Seek all the world offers to you—all the pleasures, all the possessions, all the prestige, all the importance, all the influence—seek and gain it all, Jesus declares, and you will still have nothing of genuine worth. That’s because that which constitutes life at its fullest and life in its most noble form is sacrifice, not selfishness; it is being like Christ. Once again, we have to recognize that the Savior exemplified this truth perfectly while He walked the earth.

Take note of how Jesus concludes this exhortation. He refers to His coming again “in the glory of His Father with His angels.” (v. 27) He is telling the disciples that though He completely surrendered His interests to save us and even though He gave His life in exchange for ours, He did not lose anything. Jesus still will be the glorified Savior of our race; He will still be honored with a name that is above every name and with authority unmatched in all the universe. This will be the outcome of Him surrendering self for the sake of others. This will be His reward for paying for sin not His own and for receiving punishment that belonged to others. In the Savior’s case, the way of service will result in manifold glory for Him.

One day, Jesus promises, He will return and all men will then be held accountable for their lives. On that day, the wisdom of serving self will be apparent. That way of life will be shown in all its shame as the One who gave Himself for mankind stands as Judge over those who condemned His way as naïve and unfulfilling. With that warning given, Jesus makes a final statement that will lead to some speculation among His disciples (cf. v. 28); and we will take up that matter later.

Application

In closing, I’ll mention a few thoughts to take with you. First, I hope you will take seriously the exhortation from Jesus regarding self-denial. This step is not just beneficial for us as His people, it really is mandatory if we are, in fact, born again. That spiritual awakening results in a change in our disposition. Apart from Christ, we seek to please ourselves most of the time in most things. Once we have encountered the Savior, however, our new disposition tends toward more concern for other people and less concern for self. Therefore, this issue of denying yourself is fundamentally connected to the new birth. It is part of what results when a person is born again.

Look for this characteristic in your life and nurture it. Pay attention to those charitable impulses that you experience; that is the principle of self-denial making its presence known in your heart; that is evidence of being born again. When you have opportunity, choose to do good for another rather than ignore a need. Remember what Jesus did for you, then go out and show your gratefulness by ministering to others in His name.

Second, there is a simple, but helpful principle to take from this passage. Whenever you are thinking about your duties as a Christian, the first place you should look is toward Jesus. You will always find in Him an inspiring and informative example. So it is with the issue of self-denial. You certainly will struggle with setting aside your concerns so you can concentrate on helping others, but that is precisely the time to turn your eyes toward the Savior and remind yourself of His beautiful example. As I noted previously, our weaknesses—those areas that need attention—show up quickly when we measure ourselves by the Savior’s life. His standard is one by which flaws are quickly identified. Keeping the Lord’s sacrifice in mind will be of much help through each and every day.

Another way to say this is by referring to the cross. We should meditate on the cross from time to time. That symbol has so much to say about the mission of the Savior and about the nature of our response to being saved by Him. Remember what Paul had to say in this regard: “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” (Gal. 2:20) That is a wonderful way of describing my relationship with the Savior. My life is His because He gave Himself for me. The cross, then, is an ever-present sign of how we are supposed to think and live.

Third, I noted that this passage is a reminder that our manner of living is influential in what others think about the Savior. We can do great harm if we misrepresent Christ by claiming to be His followers, but then not living as His example would require. As you continue thinking about this passage in the days to come, ask yourself if there is any relationship in your life where you have misrepresented Christ. Is there someone in your life who has been given a false impression of Christ and His gospel by your behavior? If so, consider fixing that situation.

Fourth and finally, remember how Jesus described this pursuit of discipleship; it is like losing or finding your life. It is difficult for us to live in this world without being caught up in it. It is difficult for us to be here, yet not be controlled by this fallen environment. Remember what is at stake, however. Ultimately, we are seeking to live with eternal values and goals that have meaning in the life to come. Let’s not surrender what Christ has given us by allowing ourselves to be corrupted. Rather, commit yourself to living life in and for Christ. By serving Him, by seeking to make Him known to others by your conduct and compassion, you will experience true life, Jesus promises. You will live a life that leads to bliss in the world to come. 

Let’s pray…

Communion hymn

Conclusion

Every week we are reminded of how Jesus lived His life. That’s because each week we conclude our worship by coming to the Lord’s Table where we have elements representing His wonderful sacrifice for us. We find bread, which He said was His life given for us; and we find wine, which He said was the blood He would shed for our sakes. It is good to have this weekly reminder; it is good because the reminder comes with the Savior’s promise to be with us forever and to keep us by His Spirit and to bless us as we seek show others the love of Christ.

We read of the establishment of this sacrament in Matt. 26:

28 While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” 27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”