Today, we will be concentrating on Matthew 16: 18 and looking at two aspects of Jesus’ reply to Peter’s confession of faith, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” I’m not sure there is another verse in the entire Bible that has more controversy attached to it than today’s verse. We touched upon the source of the controversy yesterday when we talked about Gregory I, the first real pope in the Roman Catholic Church. He used this verse to argue that the church should have a single leader instead of a lot of regional Bishops. To Gregory’s thinking, Peter had been given the authority to be head of Jesus’ church in this verse, then it would stand to reason that others would then assume that mantel of authority after Peter was executed by Rome.

Now if you have been reading this book for long, you know I don’t go heavily into the Greek language. That’s because it has never been my attempt to write this book for Biblical scholars. This book has always been about the everyday person sitting in the seats of the church. I feel I must at least brush upon the nuances in the Greek language in this case because of the confusion that surrounds the passage. Now there are a lot of people who understand that the Greek word for Peter is petros. Petros is the masculine gender of the word and is used in classic Greek literature either to describe a small stone or a large rock. When Jesus talks about the rock on which He will build His church, He uses the Greek word petras, which is in the feminine. If we look again at classic Greek literature, petras always describes a large rock. Some will argue that if Jesus was giving control of His church over to Peter, He would have used the same gender of the word so as to not confuse people. They argue that the change in gender must be for some definite purpose. In other words they believe one should translate this verse, “You are stone and upon the rock I will…”

I have always felt that Jesus called Peter the foundation on which His church would be built only in the sense that all of the Apostles would become the foundation for the church. After all, Peter often was seen acting as the spokesman for the group. I have always believed that the rock on which the church was to be built was on the confession, not the man. Throughout history the church has been built upon the backs of those who believed in their hearts that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. That foundation was the permanent base upon which the church would always rest and has always been strong enough to withstand all of the pressures that hell could ever muster against it.

The fourth aspect in the seven that I am dealing with in Jesus’ response to Peter’s statement is His reference to the church. This is Jesus’ first mention of a word that we use so commonly today. It is evident that in rejecting Jesus’ mission and His role as Messiah, Israel was being bypassed as a conduit for God’s work upon the earth. If the world was going to be reconciled back to its Creator, it needed to be done by a new organization referred to here as the church. Now this word in the Greek only means an assembly of people. Luke used the same word to describe a town meeting in Ephesus (Acts 19: 32). This “church” that Luke described in Acts 19 was called together to decide what to do with a trouble-maker named Paul. I also found an indication that the Jewish nation used the Hebrew equivalent of the word, church, to describe their religious unity, so the word, church, might have had a spiritual context within the minds of these men.

So what do you do with this verse? There is no evidence either in this verse or in looking at Peter in the Book of Acts, that he was ever the spiritual leader of this new church. The church has always been built upon those who profess Jesus as their Lord. Paul said to the Roman church, “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved (Romans 10: 10.) It is my belief that there is no more important decision this side of heaven that people are confronted with. That is the “main thing.” As a pastor of mine once said, “The main thing is that we keep the main thing, the main thing.”

Day 2 – The Keys to Binding and Loosing

As we finish out Jesus’ response to Peter’s confession of faith found in Matthew 16: 13-20, we come to a section where Jesus mentions two issues that have been widely misunderstood over the ages, that of binding and loosing and the keys to the Kingdom. I have heard a lot of theories about binding and loosing over the years. So I will attempt to give you what others have said and what I believe and allow you to choose what you think is right. In Jesus’ day, the rabbis used binding and loosing to determine what human behavior was allowed and what was not allowed. In other words, the Jewish leadership claimed to speak for God when it came to what behavior would be allowed in people’s lives. Of course the rabbis were criticized at the time for doing a lot of binding and not a lot of loosing. The keys were seen as giving the church the right to do much the same thing. They were seen as a means for the church to control entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven, and thereby control the people. Both ideas have been used as a means to exert power over people by convincing them their lives would be much worse if they didn’t toe the line.

One of the great examples of what I believe as a misuse of this verse is found in the issuance of indulgences in the 16^th century. To understand indulgences, you have to understand that Roman Catholicism still teaches that some sins that a person committed, though forgiven, still had to be dealt with by some act of penance in order for a person to be “ready” to enter heaven. If you didn’t get a chance to do the penance in this life, you would enter a place called purgatory where you would spend however long it took to get all of your past due penance taken care of. The Catholic Church taught that you could shave time off purgatory through doing religious acts which were called indulgences. It was Pope Leo X who added the idea that indulgences could be obtained by the giving of alms for a religious purpose. The purpose he had in mind was the rebuilding of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.

One of the men appointed to go out and sell the indulgences was an early day marketing genius by the name of Johann Tetzel, whose was sent by Pope Leo to the Germanic states. Mr. Tetzel has been quoted as saying, “As soon as the coins in the coffer ring the soul from purgatory springs.” It almost sounds like Madison Avenue doesn’t it? It was Mr. Tetzel’s aggressive marketing that caused another German by the name of Martin Luther to nail his 95 Theses to the door of the castle church at Wittenberg, starting the Protestant Reformation. Now that’s one view that you could have about binding and loosing.

The problem I see with that view is the idea that Jesus gave Peter or any of the Apostles this kind of absolute control over other believers. If you believe that these men influenced those who came after them, I would absolutely agree. If you said Jesus was referring to the fact that it would be up to the Apostle’s witnessing efforts at spreading the “good news” that would later influence those who heard and believed, I would also agree. One of the ways to determine exactly what was meant by any statement is to look at the actions of the original hearers of that remark. In other words, you can gain understanding of what Peter and the other Apostles understood from Jesus’ words by taking a look at their actions. Is there any evidence that the early church began by sitting down and writing a complicated set of rules? Can you find a single incident where an Apostle looked at someone and said, “I don’t like you, so you’re not in?” That’s why I just can’t buy the notion that Jesus gave the church some special power to control people’s lives and eternal future. To me, that’s always been a power that God would never delegate to a fallen creature like the human being. Rather the privilege of spreading the “good news” allows fallen people, just like you, to change the population of eternity. It allows you to participate in the activity of setting people free from the bondage of sin, loosing them to pursue a life of joy and meaning. To me that is what the Apostles spent the rest of their lives doing. That is what Christians needs to spend their lives doing.

As to the keys used to open the Kingdom of Heaven and allow people to enter, I have no problem with those keys being placed in Peter’s hands. For I read in the 2^nd chapter of Acts where Peter unlocked the kingdom for the Jews. I see in the 7^th chapter where he unlocked the kingdom for the Samaritans, which were the half-Jews. Finally I see in the 10^th chapter where he unlocked the kingdom for the Gentiles or the Non-Jews. To my mind, that takes care of everybody. There are Christians who have spent the last two millennia arguing about who has the keys. Since the doors are all open and unlocked, who cares who has possession of the keys? Why do we get so upset that when a new Pope comes on the scene and he takes possession of a set of keys? That one I just don’t understand.

Day 3 – Knowing Enough to Be Dangerous

Around my office I seem to be someone to whom people come to when their computers refuse to work. I’m not sure how or where I got this distinction. I suppose it came about when I fixed some minor computer problem and so the logical assumption was made that I can fix anything that goes wrong with a computer. In this case, the truth is a long way from the assumption. The reality is that I know enough about computers to be dangerous. I’ve learned through the mistakes that I have made to stay within my limitations when it comes to computers. For if I go tinkering around too much, I can really do some damage to a computer. The result of which will be an even more costly repair down the road.

The same thing is true about the twelve men who are a large part of our story. We’ve spent the last few days looking at the great confession of Peter as he proclaims Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the Living God. The natural course that one would expect after receiving such a glowing affirmation of who lead their group, would have been that Jesus would have promoted the idea that this great truth should be shouted from the rooftops. Instead in Matthew 16: 20, Jesus tells His disciples not to tell anyone that He is the Christ. I’m sure that this idea must have brought great puzzlement to the minds of these followers. Why wouldn’t the Master allow them the privilege of proclaiming this great truth to a world that was thirsty for some truly great news? In the title of today’s reading you will find the answer to that question. At this stage in their spiritual development, the disciples knew enough to be dangerous. They are at that stage where they could do more harm to the great spiritual movement that Jesus had begun than they could to promote it.

Almost as if Matthew was trying to illustrate this point, he tells us that Jesus began to talk about the immediate future. Matthew says, “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.” Now Jesus had alluded to His sacrificial death on numerous occasions before. In the early days on their first visit to Jerusalem, He had talked about raising the temple in three days. To Nicodemus He had told about the Son of Man being lifted up in the same manner as Moses raised the bronze statue of the serpent in the wilderness. More recently in the Bread of Life Sermon, He had said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6: 51.) What Matthew means here is that it was at this point that Jesus began to speak of His death plainly, without all of the figures of speech.

What we see in Matthew is a very simple and direct message; that Jesus was going to suffer at the hands of the Jewish leadership, that He was going to be killed as a result of that suffering, but that He would be resurrected from the dead after three days. How unprepared for this message Peter must have been. Peter had a completely opposite view of what his future was going to be. What we see in verse 22 is the intense love of an intense man. Now to Peter’s credit, he did take Jesus aside to rebuke Him. I suppose it was nice of Peter not to do it publicly and openly, but Peter obviously felt that it was his job to straighten out the Master.

We find Jesus’ response to Peter’s love to be almost harsh. It almost seems to be a contradiction of the person we see Jesus as being. Yet Jesus was making a strong impression to rid His chosen group of a stumbling block that could derail the ministry. Peter was giving Jesus the exact same message that Satan had done in the wilderness. Both Satan and Peter wanted Jesus to take the easy road, the one that involved less pain and the one that would leave man in his lost state. Such thoughts must be put to death with finality so that they do not become a future stumbling block.

So many of us fail to share what Jesus has done in our lives because we feel that we will become that stumbling block that gets in the way of someone entering the Kingdom. We feel we know enough about salvation to be dangerous. We feel that way because we keep coming back to the idea that we are doing the saving. Over and over Jesus says that when the time comes to defend our faith, He will give us the words. When did Jesus ever lie to us? Is there a single time when Jesus ever failed to do what He promised? Why do you think that He will fail you when it comes to the most important decision anyone will ever make?

Day 4 – The Cross of Obedience

As we come to Matthew 16: 24, what comes to my mind is all of the times I have heard this verse used in a wrong sense. For example, someone has failed to find “Prince Charming” and refers to her spouse as “my cross to bear.” Another example would be someone who is suffering from some chronic illness referring to it as “their cross to bear.” I’m sure if you think back in your life you will also remember times when you have heard this term. This is one of those phrases that sounds like it might be Biblical, but you can’t quite put your finger on where it appears or in what context. Well here is the verse and we have been talking about its context. Lately we’ve been picking on Peter quite a bit. I suppose it’s because of all the twelve, he was the most vocal. Peter has gone from a spiritual high point where he is proclaiming the deity of Christ down to being called in instrument of Satan, just in the last 8 verses of Matthew.

The other eleven men would have been on much the same spiritual journey as Peter. Each of them could have told you exactly who Jesus was and what they believed He was ultimately going to do on earth. Yet the path that Jesus walked to the cross is not the path the twelve knew, much less understood. At this point in their spiritual journey, it is vital that these men who had been following Jesus all this time understand exactly what it means to be a disciple and what it means to follow Jesus. So let’s get started as we take a look at this verse in its context and see if we can gain some understanding as to what Jesus meant by it.

Right off the bat, Jesus grabs our attention by His words, “If anyone would come after me.” If I were one of the twelve, I would have been thinking to myself, “What do you think I have been doing all of this time?” Yet Jesus is talking about something totally different. The idea here is for one to make a personal, deliberate choice in the direction one takes in life. Remember in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talked about seeking out the narrow door and taking that route instead of the superhighway that leads to spiritual death? It’s the same idea here. You have a choice how you live your life. If you choose the path that Jesus walks, there are three things this verse says you must do.

The first would be to deny your self. The Greek word for deny, according to W. E. Vine, means to disregard ones own interests. It is not simply the act of getting out of bed on Sunday mornings to go to church when you would rather read the paper and drink coffee. What Jesus is talking about here involves the complete direction of your life. Who directs what you will do in the next few moments? Who directs how you will spend the remainder of your day? The disciple is one who lives a life with Jesus in the driver’s seat.

The second thing Jesus directs the disciple to do would be to take up a cross. The men following Jesus knew about crosses. They saw them all over the place. The instrument was used whenever Rome wanted to make a point about the difference between good and bad behavior. Yet Jesus was about to give that instrument of death a whole new meaning as He willingly carried it to Calvary. We are to have the mind of Christ as Paul talked about in Philippians 2: 5-8, to become obedient even if it means our giving the ultimate sacrifice. The true disciple follows Jesus no matter what the cost.

Finally if we are to walk on Jesus’ path, we are to follow Him. Following, in the sense that Jesus uses, is not merely tagging along because there is nothing better to do. The word has an active sense to it in that we have to desire it with every fiber in our being. Following takes energy. It takes courage. It takes commitment to a cause greater than anything we can ever imagine.

We’re going to be talking a lot about the difference between believing in Jesus and being a disciple of Jesus. From here on this topic is going to be addressed repeatedly by Jesus as He has set His direction towards the cross. This would be a great time for each of us to take a long hard look at how we have been living lately. Is Jesus really in control, or are we just playing our roles? Is Jesus the center of our lives or just another thing to occupy our time? Those are questions that only you and Jesus can answer.

Day 5 – Put On Eternal Glasses

I really love to fly. There is just something about seeing things from a different perspective than those who are earth bound. I love to look at clouds from above them, and to fly over some of the great natural wonders that are found in our country. The funny thing is that I am also really afraid of heights. Just to stand on a second story balcony can make me a bit queasy. Yesterday, I was staying in a great hotel in downtown Los Angeles where I was given a room on the twentieth floor. Unfortunately the only way to get to my room was to board a glass elevator that climbed on the outside of the building. Now I don’t know who came up with the bright idea that glass elevators are somehow a good thing. I just know that the only way I could get to my room was to keep my eyes firmly glued to the elevator door and not look at what was happening behind me.

There are a lot of contradictions in life. My fear of heights and my love of airplanes is just one of them. Our scripture today is another of those contradictions in life. On the surface, what Jesus has to say just doesn’t make any sense. The problem we have with this part of the Bible is that we don’t look at things the way He looked at things. We are still in Matthew 16 and will be taking a look at verses 25 and 26. Why not take a moment to read these verses in the context of what Jesus had to say? That means you will have to go back to verse 24 and read to verse 28. Remember that we are still talking about Peter’s confession and then his attempt to take Jesus away from His original purpose in coming to earth. Jesus needs to bring the disciples to a point where they understood what it meant to follow Him. He just gave them the extreme challenge of denying themselves and taking up the cross of obedience. Now He lets them know why they would want to take such a step.

On first glance, Jesus idea of saving your life by losing it makes no sense. That’s because on first glance we miss out on two very important words in the New International Version. Those words are “for me.” Also if you read these verses carefully, you will notice He is not talking about someone who jumps on a grenade to save someone else. He is still talking about living a life that does not involve just pleasing your own wants and needs, but living an even better life through pleasing Him. Jesus, in verse 25, just restated the point He made in the previous verse. Everyone has a choice in who controls their life.

Now I have always thought that this life has a lot of great things to offer. If you were honest with yourself and had unlimited time and unlimited resources, you could probably keep yourself fairly well occupied pursuing the things this world has to offer. What Jesus is doing is challenging you to expand your mind beyond the few years you will spend on earth and to begin to look at things from an eternal perspective. What Jesus is doing is getting you to take a look at what is really important. That is the point Jesus is trying to make when He said, “What can a man give in exchange for his soul?” Humans tend to live in the here and now. We tend to not want to think or even believe that there is something on the other side of this life. That’s why we do most of the things that we do.

Jesus’ point is that everyone, no matter where you will spend your eternity, needs to put on a pair of “eternal” glasses. Then you will begin to view reality the way Jesus views it; from an eternal perspective. Eternal viewing definitely changes things. When you’re viewing eternally, your priorities in life will change. When you’re viewing eternally, you will look at people differently. When you’re viewing eternally, things like joy and happiness will take on a whole new meaning. So what kind of glasses are you currently wearing? My challenge to you today is to take a look at things in light of the endless expanse of time. Keep using the phrase, “When I am heaven 10,000 years from now, how important is this going to be?” Use this phrase about everything that you encounter today. It is my prayer that you will begin to view your world the way Jesus views your world. So put on those eternal glasses and see things from a whole new perspective.

Day 6 – An Even Greater Reward

I can still remember early in my childhood being given a lesson in the value of saving. We weren’t a wealthy family by any stretch of the imagination. If I had my eye on some new toy, my parents couldn’t just run out and buy if for me. I had an allowance and I could always earn more by doing chores around the house, so I was encouraged to put off going to the drugstore and loading up on candy in order to save for something I really wanted. I have always valued that lesson and have even passed it on to my children because I believe so strongly in the value of saving for a rainy day. That is exactly what Jesus is talking about in Matthew 16: 27, 28. Why not take a moment to take a look at these verses and we’ll get started.

For the last several days, we have been looking at what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. It is a lot more than just mouthing words that we believe that Jesus wants to hear. Peter tried that and in this section of scripture, Jesus is teaching that He wants more out of us than just good words. He wants our life. That’s what He said in verse 24. He then gives us two reasons why a reasonably sane person would want to give everything to Him. The first reason we talked about yesterday when we talked about looking at things eternally. When we do that, it becomes obvious why we would choose to follow Him completely. The second reason for being a disciple involves future rewards.

Jesus says, in language that we cannot help but understand, that the disciple of Jesus who gives up everything to follow Him will be rewarded at some future point in time. He describes that point in time as being when He returns to this earth with a completely different agenda than His first visit. There is a lot of difference between self-sacrifice and self-indulgence. If you think about it, these two lifestyles are on complete opposite ends of the spectrum. What Jesus says in verse 27 is that living a life for Jesus will not go unrewarded. In fact, I can imagine a room piled high with rewards and I still don’t think I have even a fraction of the picture Jesus is trying to paint here. The question that I have to ask is, “Am I willing to put off gratifying my desires today for something even greater than I can imagine in the future?”

Jesus then tells us that there were people standing in His midst at that point in time who would not die until they had witnessed that He spoke the truth. That’s one heck of a statement to make. In fact, there is a lot of controversy over exactly what Jesus meant by that statement. There are some who believe that Jesus was referring to what was about to happen on the Mount of Transfiguration. They say when Jesus transfigured before Peter, James and John, it symbolized the coming kingdom. Others say that Jesus was referring to the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down to permanently reside in man. They reason that since the kingdom of God is really God’s rule in a man’s heart, then the Holy Spirit coming down to permanently guide us is exactly what Jesus was talking about here. Still others think that Jesus was referring to Peter and John who both wrote about the end times with such descriptions that it could have only come by a revelation from God. At some point in your life, read the Book of Revelation and see if John didn’t see the coming Kingdom as Jesus describes in Matthew 16: 28.

Whatever view you take on verse 28, the end result is still the same. Are you willing to put off present gain for a much greater reward in the future? The men who walked with Jesus, who called themselves disciples, did exactly that. They lived a life that Jesus wanted them to live.