Let Go and Live: The Freedom of Following Jesus
Matthew 16:21-end
Matthew 16 is a great pivot moment in Matthew’s gospel. Up to now Jesus has been teaching his disciples about who he is. And they have got it. Last Sunday Peter confessed that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
But now Jesus teaches them about what he has come to do, and the way of God.
He teaches them what it means to call him the Son of God, to live as his followers
‘From that time on, Jesus began to show …’
And we see here a clash between human things and divine things, the ‘must’ of human necessity versus the ‘must’ of divine necessity.
Jesus tells his followers that ‘he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering, and be killed, and on the third day to be raised again’
And Peter says to him, ‘this must never happen to you’
It is the clash between divine things and human things.
Jesus challenges Peter and says, ‘No Peter. You are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things’.
To be a follower of the Lord Jesus is to ‘set your mind’ – it’s a great phrase: it is about focus and determination and persistence – ‘on divine things’.
And to do that is to walk the way of freedom, the way of obedience, the way of love and the way of glory.
1. It is to walk the way of freedom.
That might sound strange
Jesus has just said, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me’
It is one of the key verses in the Bible. It is a simple verse that we can learn, take it in, and think through how it applies to us.
And what I am saying now is just one aspect of what it means:
‘To deny yourself’ is paradoxically to live the way of freedom.
Jesus denied himself because he did not need to live for those things that our world tells us we must live for: power, human glory, status, physical satisfaction now, or even survival.
At the beginning of his ministry, Satan comes and tempts Jesus to use his power for himself, to do things his way – the way that would bring instant glory to him, or to seize dominion.
Now, as Peter listens to Jesus speak of how he will be rejected, suffer and be crucified, he says, ‘This must never happen to you’.
‘You are the Son of God. You can calm storms. You can make me walk on water. Angels worship you. How can you let them do that to you?’
It is the same voice that came to Jesus in the temptation. It was effectively saying, ‘Don’t go the way of the cross’. And Jesus rebukes Peter just as he rebuked Satan.
Obviously, Jesus did not want to die on the cross.
We know that. He prays that God will take this away from him.
But Jesus was, in the end, free from the human ‘musts’, the need to pursue the things that this world tells us to pursue: money, things, attractiveness, influence, status or comfort.
He was free from the need to prove to himself and to others that he was important, that he mattered.
He was free from the need to make sure that his life was safe and secure.
He was even free from the very human compulsion to do anything to avoid suffering, and to fight for survival.
He was free from our human ‘musts’, so that he could forget himself, deny himself (the human things) and live for God.
To walk the way of Jesus is to ‘set our minds’ on learning to live free from the ‘musts’ of this world.
There is an old story that the way to catch a monkey is to put a heavy jar filled with nuts with a thin neck. The monkey puts his fist into the jar to grab the nuts but finds he is unable to withdraw his fist holding the nuts. But he also cannot let go of the nuts. So he is stuck.
Even if that is not true of monkeys, it is true of us. We grab and hold, even though we know it holds us and will ultimately destroy us. But we cannot let go.
To walk the way of Jesus is to discover a Father who loves us so much that he provides us with what we need – and it means we can trust him and let go.
It is to discover a Father in heaven who loves us so much that we can be completely honest with him and know that we have nothing to prove.
It is to discover a Father who – even if we suffer and die – is far bigger than all of that, and can bring us through death to life.
2. To walk the way of Christ is to walk the way of obedience.
The Son of God had to go to the cross because it was his calling, his destiny. It was what he came to. It was what his Father called him to do.
For us, the call to deny ourselves is the call to be obedient.
Obedience is easy when Jesus commands us to do something that we want to do.
But it is so difficult when he commands us to do something that we do not want to do, that everything in us is fighting agains.
The command to forgive, to give and to give radically, to admit to someone that we have not been completely truthful, to say sorry, to do something that we don’t want to – because it will make us unpopular or take us out of our comfort zone - but is right, to put aside that time daily to pray.
The funny thing is, if we are listening right, and we are obedient, even though it is so difficult, when we deny ourselves and do what we know God is calling us to do – we discover such freedom.
‘Those who lose their life for my sake, will find it’
3. And this follows on. To walk the way of Christ is to walk the way of love.
The great command of Jesus is the command to love. To love God and to love neighbour.
The reason that the Son of God could go to the cross, that he could give up his life, was because he loved God, he always put God first and he spent time with his Father
And for us, that means if our minds are set on divine things, that our relationship with God is the absolute priority.
And as we spend time with God we will begin to see others as God sees them, and to work for their eternal best.
That will include comforting and challenging. It will include at times saying no and saying yes – but it will always mean seeking the other person’s eternal good, even when it means sacrificing ourselves for them.
And Jesus went to the cross not only because it was his destiny, his calling. He went to the cross in love.
Paul writes: ‘And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me’.
4. To walk the way of the cross is to walk the way of glory
Jesus speaks of that glory.
'For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father'.
He speaks of resurrection after crucifixion.
It is the great pattern of the Christian life.
The seed that has to die in order to come to life
The emptying before we can be filled
The breaking before we can be put together
The bringing down before we can be lifted up
The stripping before we can be clothed
The humbling before the exalting
And the losing of our life before we gain it.
Peter in this conversation doesn’t get it.
But it is the key to understanding the character of God.
To be the head is to be the servant.
To have the authority is to kneel down and wash the others’ feet.
It is only when Peter is absolutely broken, when he does what he said he would never do, when he denied Jesus, and then discovers the forgiving, healing love of God, that he begins to realise the truth – the truth of the love of God and the truth that the God who brings us down is the God who will lift us up.
There is resurrection and there is glory.
And in verse 28 there is the promise of recompense
‘He will repay everyone for what he has done’.
And in Matthew’s gospel that does not mean that he will reward people who say that they have lived a good life, but he will reward people who know we have not obeyed or loved as we are called to obey or love, but who are beginning to realise the astonishing truth of how much God loves us, and in the light of that have set our minds on divine things and are beginning to learn to deny ourselves, to put our trust in him and to walk the way of freedom.
Matthew 16 is a great pivot moment in Matthew’s gospel. Up to now Jesus has been teaching his disciples about who he is. And they have got it. Last Sunday Peter confessed that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
But now Jesus teaches them about what he has come to do, and the way of God.
He teaches them what it means to call him the Son of God, to live as his followers
‘From that time on, Jesus began to show …’
And we see here a clash between human things and divine things, the ‘must’ of human necessity versus the ‘must’ of divine necessity.
Jesus tells his followers that ‘he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering, and be killed, and on the third day to be raised again’
And Peter says to him, ‘this must never happen to you’
It is the clash between divine things and human things.
Jesus challenges Peter and says, ‘No Peter. You are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things’.
 |
Annibale Carracci, Christ appearing to Saint Peter on the Appian Way, c.1601–02, National Gallery, London. According to legend Peter flees from persecution in Rome and meets with Jesus who is going towards Rome with a cross. Jesus tells him he is going to Rome to be crucified again in place of Peter. Peter then returns to Rome where he is crucified. |
To be a follower of the Lord Jesus is to ‘set your mind’ – it’s a great phrase: it is about focus and determination and persistence – ‘on divine things’.
And to do that is to walk the way of freedom, the way of obedience, the way of love and the way of glory.
1. It is to walk the way of freedom.
That might sound strange
Jesus has just said, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me’
It is one of the key verses in the Bible. It is a simple verse that we can learn, take it in, and think through how it applies to us.
And what I am saying now is just one aspect of what it means:
‘To deny yourself’ is paradoxically to live the way of freedom.
Jesus denied himself because he did not need to live for those things that our world tells us we must live for: power, human glory, status, physical satisfaction now, or even survival.
At the beginning of his ministry, Satan comes and tempts Jesus to use his power for himself, to do things his way – the way that would bring instant glory to him, or to seize dominion.
Now, as Peter listens to Jesus speak of how he will be rejected, suffer and be crucified, he says, ‘This must never happen to you’.
‘You are the Son of God. You can calm storms. You can make me walk on water. Angels worship you. How can you let them do that to you?’
It is the same voice that came to Jesus in the temptation. It was effectively saying, ‘Don’t go the way of the cross’. And Jesus rebukes Peter just as he rebuked Satan.
Obviously, Jesus did not want to die on the cross.
We know that. He prays that God will take this away from him.
But Jesus was, in the end, free from the human ‘musts’, the need to pursue the things that this world tells us to pursue: money, things, attractiveness, influence, status or comfort.
He was free from the need to prove to himself and to others that he was important, that he mattered.
He was free from the need to make sure that his life was safe and secure.
He was even free from the very human compulsion to do anything to avoid suffering, and to fight for survival.
He was free from our human ‘musts’, so that he could forget himself, deny himself (the human things) and live for God.
To walk the way of Jesus is to ‘set our minds’ on learning to live free from the ‘musts’ of this world.
There is an old story that the way to catch a monkey is to put a heavy jar filled with nuts with a thin neck. The monkey puts his fist into the jar to grab the nuts but finds he is unable to withdraw his fist holding the nuts. But he also cannot let go of the nuts. So he is stuck.
Even if that is not true of monkeys, it is true of us. We grab and hold, even though we know it holds us and will ultimately destroy us. But we cannot let go.
To walk the way of Jesus is to discover a Father who loves us so much that he provides us with what we need – and it means we can trust him and let go.
It is to discover a Father in heaven who loves us so much that we can be completely honest with him and know that we have nothing to prove.
It is to discover a Father who – even if we suffer and die – is far bigger than all of that, and can bring us through death to life.
2. To walk the way of Christ is to walk the way of obedience.
The Son of God had to go to the cross because it was his calling, his destiny. It was what he came to. It was what his Father called him to do.
For us, the call to deny ourselves is the call to be obedient.
Obedience is easy when Jesus commands us to do something that we want to do.
But it is so difficult when he commands us to do something that we do not want to do, that everything in us is fighting agains.
The command to forgive, to give and to give radically, to admit to someone that we have not been completely truthful, to say sorry, to do something that we don’t want to – because it will make us unpopular or take us out of our comfort zone - but is right, to put aside that time daily to pray.
The funny thing is, if we are listening right, and we are obedient, even though it is so difficult, when we deny ourselves and do what we know God is calling us to do – we discover such freedom.
‘Those who lose their life for my sake, will find it’
3. And this follows on. To walk the way of Christ is to walk the way of love.
The great command of Jesus is the command to love. To love God and to love neighbour.
The reason that the Son of God could go to the cross, that he could give up his life, was because he loved God, he always put God first and he spent time with his Father
And for us, that means if our minds are set on divine things, that our relationship with God is the absolute priority.
And as we spend time with God we will begin to see others as God sees them, and to work for their eternal best.
That will include comforting and challenging. It will include at times saying no and saying yes – but it will always mean seeking the other person’s eternal good, even when it means sacrificing ourselves for them.
And Jesus went to the cross not only because it was his destiny, his calling. He went to the cross in love.
Paul writes: ‘And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me’.
4. To walk the way of the cross is to walk the way of glory
Jesus speaks of that glory.
'For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father'.
He speaks of resurrection after crucifixion.
It is the great pattern of the Christian life.
The seed that has to die in order to come to life
The emptying before we can be filled
The breaking before we can be put together
The bringing down before we can be lifted up
The stripping before we can be clothed
The humbling before the exalting
And the losing of our life before we gain it.
Peter in this conversation doesn’t get it.
But it is the key to understanding the character of God.
To be the head is to be the servant.
To have the authority is to kneel down and wash the others’ feet.
It is only when Peter is absolutely broken, when he does what he said he would never do, when he denied Jesus, and then discovers the forgiving, healing love of God, that he begins to realise the truth – the truth of the love of God and the truth that the God who brings us down is the God who will lift us up.
There is resurrection and there is glory.
And in verse 28 there is the promise of recompense
‘He will repay everyone for what he has done’.
And in Matthew’s gospel that does not mean that he will reward people who say that they have lived a good life, but he will reward people who know we have not obeyed or loved as we are called to obey or love, but who are beginning to realise the astonishing truth of how much God loves us, and in the light of that have set our minds on divine things and are beginning to learn to deny ourselves, to put our trust in him and to walk the way of freedom.
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