Just in case you want to get a jump on this Tuesday, the scripture is Matthew 16.
In this passage we'll see the Pharisees and Sadducees demanding a sign, the disciples being stupid, and other recurring themes of the gospels. Also, Peter will confess that Jesus is the Christ, Jesus will pronounce him keeper of the "keys of the kingdom", and will then rebuke him shortly thereafter saying, "Get behind me, Satan!" Finally, Jesus will predict His own death and tell his disciples that anyone who would come after Him must deny themselves and take up their cross. Answering, perhaps, the unspoken objection that Jesus' plan doesn't sound like much fun, He asks the pointed question, "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?"
I'm hoping to add some thoughts on this in the next couple of days. If you have any insights you'd like to add, just post them as comments. See you Tuesday!
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2 comments:
Hey,
It's Art, back from the dead. I've allways been a little confused by this passage, is this the law, taken to its highest extent, its truly unachievable end (the cross) and put before us to confound and eventually lead us to repentence and reliance upon His suffienciency and ability to work in our lives? Or, is this a direct command to do this outright? Yet we cannot. Are we to strive towards it, aware of our own innability to achieve such a goal, yet with the assurance that he will forgive when we inevitably fall short of the mark? Or are we to not exert effort of our own and look to His Spirit, to not walk in the flesh, and trust in His ability to have saved, to save, and to yet save (some sort of santification idea?). No small verse, no small topic.
See You Guys Soon,
Art
Matt 16:4- This verse concerns me because I know one reason that I’m so drawn to the idea of prophecy is that it constitutes a sort of sign of the Holy Spirit’s presence and of God’s reality. Yet I know that we are saved by faith, and that, in Luke 11:13, Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to those who ask. Because of this, I feel the need to continually examine my motives in desiring to see spiritual gifts manifested in the church.
6-12: A good reminder of how dangerous bad teaching is. In my experience, especially teaching high school, the harmful influence of just one individual among an entire group is painfully obvious. This becomes clear not only in that which is explicitly taught, but in what is taught by example, such as attitude and work ethic. Still, to pervert the message of God is especially egregious.
Just a thought about the strange juxtaposition of Jesus’ declarations about Peter: First Peter declares Jesus the Christ, Son of the living God, and Jesus praises him, telling him that he will be given the keys to the kingdom of Heaven--clearly a symbol of authority. In almost the next breath, Peter, out of what we can only assume is a desire to protect Jesus and to see him honored and victorious, rebukes Jesus for talking of his coming suffering and death. (Okay, never a good idea to rebuke the Son of God, but I think Peter had good intentions.) For this, Jesus calls Peter Satan and a stumbling block.
I think this interchange tells us something about the Christian life--that it is not static, and that even in the midst of divine revelation (as God had revealed Jesus’ divinity to Peter), we will harbor our own selfish desires and seek to impose them on God’s world in spite of His will. Perhaps this helps to understand what “take up your cross” means in this context. Every thought must be taken captive (2 Cor 10:5), at every moment we must lay down our own lives/desires/wills and instead choose the will of God. The cross was God’s will for Jesus, and He took it up willingly. None of us are called to the sort of suffering that Christ faced, but in choosing God’s will over our own, we do die to ourselves--so then, the cross of every Christian is God’s will for that particular Christian. Thus, if we “lose” our lives, what we will find is life everlasting thanks to…a cross.
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