Posted on 05/05/2012 5:54:44 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles
And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels (Mark 8:34-38)
The context of these memorable words spoken by Jesus, is Peter’s attempted rebuke of Jesus, and Jesus’ harsh rebuttal to Peter. Peter was offended by Jesus’ suggestion that He, Jesus, would have to be hated. rejected, and crucified, before he would be glorified.
And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.(Mark 8:31-33)
What we have here is the constant and ongoing tension between God’s values and the things man esteems. Notice that Jesus rebuked Satan in Peter; not for being a Satanist, but for being a humanist! “You savor… the things that be of men…” What are these “things of men”? They all revolve around the Self; self Love, self-righteousness, self-preservation, self-gratification, self-justification, self-seeking, self-glorification, etc.
Peter couldn’t perceive any need for the Messiah to suffer, be rejected, humiliated and killed in order to perform his God-given mission. Such defeat ran so counter to the Jewish expectation of the Messiah. Peter could certainly relate to a Messiah that would crush Israel’s enemies, or who was destined to exalt Israel’s status in the earth. But a suffering Messiah? How could that be of God?
The cross is offensive. To this day, a major part of the problem people have with accepting the message of cross of Jesus, is that people can’t believe that they are really so lost, so corrupted and distorted by sin, that it took nothing less than the shameful death by crucifixion of the Son of God as a substitute, to bring us into a right relationship with a Holy God.
Jesus assembled the crowds who were attracted to Him, and warned them that they would not truly be able to follow Him, unless they were willing to deny self, in other words to say “no” to self once and for all, as well as on an ongoing basis.
We can’t even commence following Jesus unless we are brought to the point where we renounce our own righteousness, and admit that we are sinners before God, utterly impotent to save ourselves, in need of forgiveness and cleansing. So much for self-esteem!
Following Jesus means putting God’s interests above everything else. And when God’s values conflict with those interests which come naturally, the disciple is taught by the Lord to willingly deny his own self interests, to the glory of God. The supreme model for this is in the garden of Gethsemane, where our Lord prayed, “If there is any way to let this cup pass, Lord, but not my will but thine be done…” .
As a human being, Jesus wanted to find a way out of the un imaginable suffering that he anticipated; who wouldn’t? Of course Jesus loved himself and sought to preserve his life. But never at the expense of his highest value, which was that God’s name be hallowed.
Therefore he prayed,(to paraphrase)’Was there any way at all, in God’s will, to preserve his life? to avoid the suffering, humiliation and death? If there is a way to avoid it, that doesn’t deny God the glory due his name, please show me! I don’t want to go through this’!
“Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done…” .
Jesus is not imposing some kind of unnatural self loathing on his disciples, for we are to be grateful for the life God gave us, and it is assumed by God that all men ‘love themselves’, for it is written, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself…“.
The passage assumes that we love ourselves, and commands us to love our neighbors at least as much as we already love ourselves. I should care for my neighbor as I care for myself. This calls all of us to empathy, compassion, sympathy, and consideration in all of my dealings, it is the essence of the ‘golden rule’. It assumes self-love, and there is no conflict with it.
But the tendency of fallen mankind as a result of the fall, is to love one’s self supremely, to exalt one’s self above all that is “called God, or that is worshipped…”. To Paul, the last days are perilous indeed, almost unbearable, because “Men shall be lovers of themselves…lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God…”, and as a consequence they will become,
“…covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded…”( 2 Timothy 3:1-4)
In our nightmare age, the pseudo science of psychology has actually cultivated the supreme love of self as a virtue to be pursued, with disastrous results. People have cast off the normal restraints of modesty, and consideration, because psychology has led them deeper and deeper into the pursuit of self-love, self-healing and self-realization!
Ironically never have so many felt the need of prescription drugs and otherwise, to try to feel better about themselves. Happiness eludes the self-centered and self-absorbed.
Oh that troubled souls would listen to Jesus!
Happiness cannot be attained as an end in itself, it is only and ever a byproduct of being right with God. The self cannot be preserved, other than by saying no to it, and yes to God at every crossroads.
The core of all sin is self worship, for by sinning we are saying “I am my own master, I make my rules, I do what I want…”. There can only be one “Most High….” , therefore Jesus tells us first of all, in this teaching on the soul and it’s value, that we must be willing to deny self to be his disciple.
more on this passage, to come…
“This above all:
to thine own self be true,
and it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.” -William Shakespeare
Thank you brother Bill for another wonderful, dead-center, word from above......
Depart from Me for I never knew you. Sheep and goats.
Matthew 16:21-23
From that time Jesus began to shew to his disciples, that he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the ancients and scribes and chief priests, and be put to death, and the third day rise again. [22] AND PETER TAKING HIM, BEGAN TO REBUKE HIM, SAYING: LORD, BE IT FAR FROM THEE, THIS SHALL NOT BE UNTO THEE. [23] Who turning, said to Peter: Go behind me, Satan, thou art a scandal unto me: because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men.
+ + +
Ah, Peter’s one statement, not wanting Our Lord to die, it’s so human, he didn’t realize.
Peter had answered Our Lord like no other in the earlier verse, Matthew 16:16.
“Thou art Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
Peter was leader of the Apostles and Our Lord’s choice to lead His Church on earth. Peter, the “rock.” A man most special, his very name changed by God, he was once Simon.
Here’s a marvelous verse about Peter.
Acts 5:15
Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that when Peter came, his shadow at the least, might overshadow any of them, and they might be delivered from their infirmities.
Reading 2 1 Jn 3:18-24
Children, let us love not in word or speech
but in deed and truth.
Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth
and reassure our hearts before him
in whatever our hearts condemn,
for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence in God
and receive from him whatever we ask,
because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
And his commandment is this:
we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another just as he commanded us.
Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them,
and the way we know that he remains in us
is from the Spirit he gave us.
Gospel Jn 15:1-8
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.
He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit,
and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.
You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.
Remain in me, as I remain in you.
Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own
unless it remains on the vine,
so neither can you unless you remain in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,
because without me you can do nothing.
Anyone who does not remain in me
will be thrown out like a branch and wither;
people will gather them and throw them into a fire
and they will be burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.
By this is my Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”
hello,
Peter should be defended not put down, don’t you think?
The wording in Matthew shares Peter’s words, so we know
what happened. How he loved Our Lord.
How did I put Peter down? Are we not to expound on the Gospel Texts? The Wording of Matthew,Mark,Kuje,John, and the Epistles of Peter share Peter’s words. I don’t understand what you are trying to say my friend.
pastorbill:
“The context of these memorable words spoken by Jesus, is Peter’s attempted rebuke of Jesus, and Jesus’ harsh rebuttal to Peter. Peter was offended by Jesus’ suggestion that He, Jesus, would have to be hated. rejected, and crucified, before he would be glorified.
And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.(Mark 8:31-33)
What we have here is the constant and ongoing tension between God’s values and the things man esteems. Notice that Jesus rebuked Satan in Peter; not for being a Satanist, but for being a humanist! “You savor… the things that be of men…” What are these “things of men”? They all revolve around the Self; self Love, self-righteousness, self-preservation, self-gratification, self-justification, self-seeking, self-glorification, etc.
Peter couldn’t perceive any need for the Messiah to suffer, be rejected, humiliated and killed in order to perform his God-given mission. Such defeat ran so counter to the Jewish expectation of the Messiah. Peter could certainly relate to a Messiah that would crush Israel’s enemies, or who was destined to exalt Israel’s status in the earth. But a suffering Messiah? How could that be of God?”
~ ~ ~
You comment on the verses in the book of Mark, the context of Our Lord’s words, well, what of Peters’ words?
You don’t find Peter’s words in Mark. They are there in Matthew, verse 16:22.
Matt 16:22
And Peter taking him, began to rebuke him, saying: Lord, be it far from thee, this shall not be unto thee.
Satan wasn’t “in” Peter. All the things you say about Peter are negative. With the benefit of history, we know the entire story. It wasn’t “self love” as you wrote. Peter didn’t understand YET on hearing Our Lord’s words, Peter simply did not want Our Lord to die, He loved Him so.
I wanted to share the extraordinary about Peter. Peter’s proclaiming who Christ is and Scripture reference to the healings by Peter, just by his walking in the room!
Another, Peter felt so unworthy, he died, martyred upside
down.
God bless you,
Peter wasn’t impressive in his beginnings, but Peter grew.
Peter is sort of symbolic of all of us.
“Peter wasn’t impressive in his beginnings, but Peter grew.”
~ ~ ~
Yes, Peter did. The “get behind me Satan” to attack
Peter. Go read Matthew 16:22. Peter said those words
out of love. You read what Peter says, it isn’t stated
in all accounts.
And, Peter walked in the room and people were healed by his shadow!
God helps those who follow Him. God would of helped
Santorum. The same for any godly candidate.
It’ isn’t over yet.
In Hebrew and Aramaic satan merely means adversary, not the devil or Lucifer or the evil one. While Satan, as the devil has come to be called in English, is indeed an adversary, not all adversaries are Satan. Jesus was telling Peter that his wishes were counter to Gods will.
Hey, my remark about Santorum, oops, wrong thread.
I’ve been replying on the Santorum endorses Romney thread.
Why do people not understand, God blesses those who follow
Him, why our country is in such a mess.
see you,
StPIo, I am not just being “nagative on Peter” I am only commenting on the text. Peter is our Lord’s apostle, I nourish my very soul on the words of Peter,Paul and John, I Love Peter also! But Peter is very honest about himself. Scholars believe that the Gospel of Mark is actually the preaching of Peter,for Mark was his assistant for quite some time. Peter was negative on Peter, telling the truth about who he was before God’s grace got ahold of him. I share your appreciation for Peter, but also am willing to go where Peter went, in his frankness about his own shortcomings, that God’s grace might be magnified.
What?
Santo Rino endorses Super RINO?
I’m shocked!
.
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