Get Behind Me

Introduction

Do you ever just say the wrong thing? Maybe it just came out wrong. You didn’t mean to insult someone or hurt someone’s feelings. It just came out poorly. Maybe you meant to say something mean. Are you maybe the type that seems more often than not you say the wrong thing? And you’re always having to backtrack and to apologize. And even when you say the right thing and you score a win, and you should stop right there. You can’t help yourself. And you follow that up with the wrong thing. I could say this morning, Greg, you look good this morning. Last Sunday?

If you ever do that kind of thing, you can relate to the apostle Peter, can’t you? Whether intentional or coincidental, the heroes of our faith are often very relatable. If you’re the type that seems to say the wrong thing at the wrong time, you can relate to Peter, can’t you? Many times Peter seemed to have a foot shaped mouth. He was always the one that wanted to speak up first, and there are times that he just should have not said anything. Then there’s times when he would say the right thing, and then follow it up by the wrong thing. One such instance is in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16. We’re familiar with Matthew chapter 16 because it records what we sometimes call Peter’s great confession.

Remember, Jesus with his disciples had come to the region of Caesarea Philippi, and he asked those apostles, who do men say that I am? And they dutifully gave the response. Some say you’re Jeremiah, some Elijah, some John the Baptist, some some of the one of the prophets. But Jesus pressed them further because he wasn’t preparing reporters. He was grooming disciples. And so he said, But who do you say that I am? And on this occasion, Peter blurted out not just the right answer, but the best answer he could have given. You remember Peter’s response? Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus, have you opened your Bibles there in Matthew chapter 16? Jesus answered him in verse 17 and said, Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

Jesus said, Peter, you are absolutely right. You are thinking the things of God, not the things of man. We don’t know how much time transpired.

But the next account in Mark’s or Matthew’s gospel says in Matthew chapter 16, verse 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 from the dead on the third day. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, Far be it from you, Lord, this shall not happen to you. You ever felt like Peter? I should have quit while I was ahead. Peter so correctly said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, showing that at least some of the teaching, some of the miracles that Jesus had performed had had their intended impact. Peter understood clearly the person of Jesus Christ.

But his next comment shows that he had no idea about the mission of Jesus Christ. Because Peter says, absolutely not, Lord. Maybe as a precursor, Peter may have even been thinking, even if I have to draw a sword in front of a mob, that will not happen to you. And what a contrast between verse 17 when Jesus said in reply to that great confession, Blessed are you, Simon Barjonah. Now notice Jesus’ reply, his rebuke in verse 23. He turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. For you’re not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men. Complete opposite stories, aren’t they? Peter, in saying the right thing about the person of Christ, Jesus said, Heaven has revealed this to you. My Father has revealed this to you, not flesh and blood.

1. Even Believers Can Become Adversaries

Now, in getting the mission wrong, Peter is rebuked, get behind me, Satan. You’re not mindful of the things of God, you’re mindful of the things of men. Get behind me, Satan. Let’s draw some lessons from this rebuke of Peter and see what we can learn from this principle. First of all, we understand that even believers can become adversaries.

Absolutely. Did he recognize him to be the Son of God, the Messiah, the fulfillment of at least some of the Old Testament prophecies in regard to the Messiah? Absolutely, he did. But this strong rebuke shows that even though Peter had some of it right, he did not fully comprehend nor appreciate what Jesus had to do. Get behind me, Satan. It’s a strong rebuke, isn’t it? A strong rebuke from one of his closest apostles. Now, this rebuke may be, I’m not sure about this, but it may be softened a little bit. The word Satan. You know, many times, even what we term as names are simply descriptions. And the word Satan means adversary. And so it is possible that what Jesus is saying to Peter is get behind me, you adversary.

That’s a little bit softer of rebuke than calling someone Satan. But it’s still a strong rebuke. That you are my adversary. You are opposed to me, for that’s what Satan really is. You are opposed to me. You are standing in my way. You are standing in the way of my mission, my work, the entire point of all that heaven has been doing with creation and man up unto this point. Here you are standing in the way of it. Is that me? You might say, well, no, I believe in Jesus Christ. I recognize him as the Son of God. I’ve made that same confession. I’ve been baptized for the remission of my sins. I go to church. I do all of these things. But can I be standing in the way?

2. We Cannot Accept Part of Jesus

If not of the person, then of the mission of Jesus Christ. Another lesson that we see from this is Peter had to learn the hard way that we cannot accept part of Jesus without accepting everything He is and all that He demands of us. Even the most casual reading of the New Testament, particularly the statements of Jesus about those who would potentially or had become his followers would lead even the casual reader to the conclusion that Jesus, that God Himself demands all. Can we agree on that? Whether we’ve made that commitment, can we agree that that’s the commitment that Jesus Christ Himself demanded? That it’s not enough to simply say, yes, I’ll accept that part of Jesus, I’ll accept even that part of your mission, I’ll accept this part of your demands, but that that is completely incompatible and inconsistent with Jesus’ call to be his disciple.

By its very definition, a disciple is a follower. In fact, a disciple is a learner and a follower. And in this instance, Peter had failed to be a disciple. He had failed to be a follower. And we can too. Even believers. Some are willing to accept the turning over the tables, Jesus, and not willing to accept the come unto me, all ye who are heavy laden, Jesus. Some want to accept the Jesus who said, suffer the little children to come unto me. But are unwilling to accept the not everyone who says unto me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of the heaven. Jesus. Peter learned the hard way with this stark rebuke that followed on the heels of the glowing praise that Jesus gave him. Peter learned the hard way that we can’t have a one-dimensional view of Jesus.

We can’t have a one-dimensional Christianity. What we might call a shallow faith. Now I know we’re in the middle of football season. But I want to use a baseball analogy. And I know some of you may not be sports fans, but please indulge me. In baseball, you talk about the rare creature, the rare baseball player who is what they call a five tool player. That means he can do it all. A five tool player in baseball is someone who can hit for power. He can hit home runs when he needs to, and even when he doesn’t need to. But he also can hit for average. That he’s a consistent hitter. Of someone who is good at fielding the ball. If the ball’s hit to him, he’s like a vacuum cleaner.

He’s going to catch it, and it’s not going by him. That he’s good at throwing the ball. He wants one thing to throw it, catch it, and if you can’t throw it to first base, then. And he’s good at running the bases. That means he’s he does it all. And they call that a five-tool or a five-skill player in baseball. That he’s well-rounded, multidimensional. He’s not just good at one thing and then kind of lousy at everything else. What if we were subjectively and arbitrarily to make up a list of what’s a five-tool Christian? What’s a five-skill Christian?

What attributes or qualities or skills would a Christian need to have to be well rounded? We might say he needs to have Bible knowledge. He needs to know the word of God. He has to study that and know what God expects of him, of God’s plan, really from beginning to end.

We would have to surely include moral purity. That there are certain things, certain sins that he or she will not participate in. In fact, they’ll take a strong stand against those. We might have to add in that there’s just an act of goodwill. Not only do they not do harm by committing these sins, but they’ve made the decision to actually do good unto their fellow man. Could we round out that list to talk about just godly reverence of someone who truly worships God, who praises him? Maybe you could come up with five other things that you could say, here’s just a good, well-rounded Christian. And I guess the question, whatever we put in that list, whether it’s five or six or ten or twenty, the question is, does that describe me?

Or am I like Peter that I’m good in this area, but in this other aspect of life, Jesus is saying, get behind me. You are my adversary. You’re actually impeding the progress of what I have come to do. Look in Matthew chapter 23, Jesus. Favorite target was Pharisees, and with good cause. That here were the Pharisees, were they believers in God? Yes. Were they well-rounded believers in God? No, I don’t think we could say they were. And could you argue? Well, let me rephrase that rhetorical question is so silly. You could easily argue that they’d become the adversaries of God. And so to these Pharisees, look what he says, Matthew 23, verse 23. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anis and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law.

Justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. Here are some believers who did not understand the concept of accepting God in everything He demands of us. They had specialized. Not only were they doing this, they were specializing in, and man were they good at it. Sometimes the best illustrations are not illustrations that are spoken, but they’re visualized. And so this afternoon, after lunch, go to your spice rack and get out. Randomly pick a spice and pour it out on the dining room table. And if you’re over the age of 40, get a pair of real strong reading glasses so that you can see and count out those spices. Don’t miss any. Get some tweezers and an exacto knife because a couple of them may want to stick together, and you’ll need to separate them and count them individually.

And then go back and do the math and figure out 10% of those spices. Because as a Pharisee, under the old law, you need to tithe that 10% of even the spices that were in your bottle. Now that’s being good at something, isn’t it? That’s being exacting at that. But Jesus said, here’s this elephant, elephant’s plural in the room that you’ve just completely ignored. Is that me? Is there some aspect of Christianity that I just excel at? And if I’m not careful, it’s an aspect of Christianity that I excel at just because it comes natural to me. And it’s easier than the other aspects of Christianity. But there are absolute overweight elephants in the room that I’m just ignoring. Look at the solution to this in 2 Peter chapter 1.

Second Peter chapter 1, you’re familiar with this passage of Scripture. It says in the beginning in verse 5, 2 Peter 1, verse 5, but for also for this very reason. Giving all diligence. Add to your faith virtue. And to virtue, knowledge. And to knowledge, self-control, to self-control, perseverance, to perseverance, godliness. To godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness. For he’s forgetting that he’s purged from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things you will never stumble, for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly in the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We won’t take the time this morning to analyze each individual element that was to be added. Suffice it for our point this morning that Peter was saying, two times he says, diligence. Diligence is just a big biblical word for hard work. You work hard at this. You add to your faith. You keep adding these things. And notice that he rounds that out even more by not only saying you need to add these different aspects, these different layers and dimensions to your Christianity, but he goes on to say, if these are yours and they abound. There’s two tasks being given the Christian. Number one, add these layers, and then expand upon those layers. Abound in those things. Do you see the point that Peter, who was at one point a one-dimensional follower of Jesus, that this Peter is encouraging us to be well rounded.

To do it all.

And those lists of good attributes, the fruits of the Spirit, and those other things that we’re to do. What Paul was trying to get us to see is that a Christian must do both. That our Christianity is not simply defined by what we don’t do. I’m a good Christian because I don’t A, B, C, or D. The Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul would have you to know if that’s the definition of your Christianity, you’re just half a Christian. Because Christian must also be defined by what he or she does. And how they grow in these attributes and abound in them. Peter had to learn a lesson we should learn.

3. We Must Remember Our Place

And that is we must remember our place. I don’t want to get too much into the mind of Peter. But maybe it went to Peter’s head that he had finally said something right. And Jesus praised him. Blessed are you, Simon Barjona. And Peter, maybe in that boldness, stepped out there and said, No, Jesus, you cannot die. We won’t let that happen. And notice literally what Jesus said to Peter. And calling him either Satan himself, or at least saying, you are my adversary. He says both boldly and simply to Peter, Peter, get behind me. Get behind me, Peter. Peter had stepped out in front, hadn’t he? In this bold declaration, he had stepped out in front and said, Jesus, I got to stop you there. And I don’t know whether Peter had actually literally turned around and gotten in front of Jesus and dug the hand gestures and said, Jesus, I got to stop you there.

No, never will that happen to me. Whether he had literally done that, he had done that. And so Jesus says, Peter, get behind me. Go back to Matthew chapter 16. And let’s notice the context. We’ve seen the context leading up to this condemnation. Peter saying the right thing and then following it up with the wrong thing. But notice the context that follows it. In Matthew chapter 16, after having said in verse 23, get behind me, Satan, you’re an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but mindful of the things of men. Then, notice what it says, verse 24. Then Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone desires to come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me.

Lost sometimes in our English translations. The word behind in verse 23, get behind me, Satan. The word behind in verse 23 is the same word as after me in verse 24. If anyone would come after me. If anyone would come behind me, let him take up his cross and follow me. Get behind me, Jesus is to say.

Not out front, leading and deciding. But our place is behind Jesus. Following. Obeying. In fact, the language used here behind, come after, and follow me are all words of submission and obedience. The strong implication is Jesus is saying, I’m leading this, Peter. I’m the one who’s deciding what will happen. You get behind me. In fact, you come after me and follow me. Jesus had told Peter that there could be no crossless Christ. That in order to fulfill his mission, Jesus not only would but had to die upon that cross. There can be no crossless Christ, Peter. And then to expand upon that, he turns to his disciples and says, There can be no crossless disciples. If you would come after me, you not only have to accept the fact that I’m going to die, but you have to take up your own cross and follow after me.

Sometimes we’ve softened that. We have an adage today where we all have our cross to bear. Talking about some inconvenience, some difficulty that we have to experience in life. But to the first century year, the word cross would have meant one thing. Death.

I grew up as, I may not have mentioned this before, I grew up in Alabama. And in my growing up years, the means of execution was not a cross in the state of Alabama. We had an electric chair. We were so serious about it in Alabama, we nicknamed it. It was called Yellow Mama. It was painted a bright, ugly yellow. And anytime we would execute someone in the state of Alabama, they would be strapped into the electric chair.

And they were electrocuted to death. And so anybody.

None of us would have misunderstood that analogy, would we? We wouldn’t think, well, Jesus means that we’re going to have to sit down every once in a while and we’re going to have to make some sacrifice. No. We would have known exactly what he was saying. You’re going to have to die. Now, did he mean that literally to Peter and some of those disciples? Certainly he did. But maybe more to the point, he meant that metaphorically, that they were going to have to die in the sense that they were going to have to give up every aspect of their selfish will.

Conclusion

Deny yourself. He’s already said and will say again in this context, deny yourself and come after me. Now he’s speaking this to the disciples at whole, but Peter is the one who prompted this discussion when he Peter said, No, Lord, that won’t happen. And he says, get behind me, Peter, you’re my adversary. Get behind me, follow me. Take up your own cross and follow me. Are you a well-rounded Christian? Are you willing to be a follower? Whatever Jesus asks of you. Don’t make the blasphemous, because that’s really what it is when we get out in front of Jesus and we try to lead, we are guilty of blasphemy. Don’t make the blasphemous statement, well, my God wouldn’t ask me to hold on right there.

Can do whatever he pleases. Your God and my God can demand of you whatever he chooses. And my place is to get behind him and follow him. When it comes to what I need to do in order to be saved, when it comes to how we would order the local church and both our organization, our leadership, in our worship, in my everyday life, what I do, way I talk, everything is from a position of following. To take up my cross, to deny myself, and to follow him. To do anything else is to be his adversary. Let us pray.

We humble ourselves. Fall down before you, begging your mercy. So sorry of the times, Father, that we’ve tried to lead, that we’ve forgotten our place. And we’ve tried to decide what was best for us, and even heaven forbid, Father, try to decide what was best for you. Forgive us of our insolent attitudes. Forgive us of our rebellion. We love you.

Teach us to deny ourselves. Teach us to put ourselves and our selfish will to death upon that cross that we might truly be followers of yours.

Lead us, Father, and let us follow. It’s in your Son’s name. In your Son’s name that we do pray. Amen. We’ll now be dismissed to our classes.