A Messiah on a Mission
Text: Matt. 16:21-28
Introduction
1. Illustration: “[Most people] act as if they were simply dropped down in creation and have to entertain [them] selves until [they] die. But we [Christians] were sent into the world by God, just as Jesus was. Each of us has a mission in life. Jesus prays to his Father for his followers, saying, “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” We seldom fully realize that we are sent to fulfill God-given tasks” (Henri J. N. Nouwen, Bread for the Journey, April 23 reading).
2. It should be the goal of all Christians to be like Jesus, and he was a Messiah on a Mission. Therefore, we ought to be a people on a mission.
3. To do so we have to:
a. Know the Mission
b. Focus on the Mission
c. Live the Mission
4. Read Matthew 16:21-28
Proposition: To be like Jesus we have to be completely dedicated to our mission.
Transition: First we must...
I. Know the Mission (21).
A. It Was Necessary For Him
1. As we read the gospels it is easy to see that Jesus was a Messiah on a mission.
a. From his adolescence to his public ministry he knew what his mission was and he never wavered from it.
b. Furthermore, he made it clear to his disciples the extent of his mission.
2. Matthew tells us, "From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem..."
a. This is the first time in Matthew that Jesus indicates that his mission was to suffer and die on the cross.
b. He knew that he had to die, why he had to die, and how he would die.
c. Tell his disciples plainly: make known the character or significance of something by visual, auditory, gestural, or linguistic means (Louw and Nidda, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Symantic Domains).
d. Notice that he says that it was necessary for him to die as a part of God's plan of salvation for the human race.
e. Necessary: to be that which must necessarily take place, often with the implication of inevitability (Louw and Nidda, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Symantic Domains).
f. The gospel message is incomplete without the cross.
g. The cross was the most scandalous form of criminal execution in Jesus' day.
h. Even the term sounded terrible to ancient readers, and we may not blame the disciples if they hoped he was speaking metaphorically(Keener).
3. Jesus also told them "that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law..."
a. The word suffer means more than dying, but it also included his persecution and rejection by the Jews.
b. The elders, priests, and teachers were the three groups of the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish legal authority during the Roman period (Horton, 349).
c. The significance of the rejection coming from the Sanhedrin is that they were responsible for the the spiritual life of Israel, which presents a paradox of the leadership rejecting its only hope (France, 631-632).
4. Not only was Jesus mission misunderstood by the religious leaders, but even his own disciples didn't get what his mission was all about.
5. He tells them that "He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead."
a. Instead of being a revolutionary liberator, Jesus will be a suffering Messiah, something that even his own disciples, let alone the crowds, have great difficulty fathoming.
b. By claiming the necessity of suffering death at the hands of the religious leadership of Jerusalem, Jesus begins to reveal the ultimate destiny and purpose for his life’s ministry.
c. Nothing must deter him from his mission (Wilkins, NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: Matthew, 569).
B. We Have A Mission
1. Illustration: I won’t give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me. And when He comes for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me…my banner will be clear!" (Dr. Robert Moorehead)
2. Our mission is summed up in the Great Commission.
a. Matthew 28:19-20 (NLT)
19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
b. Wait a minute Pastor, isn't that your mission?
c. Yes, but it is also the mission of everyone who calls themselves a Christian.
d. You don't have to have a Bible college degree to tell someone about Jesus.
e. You don't have to have a seminary degree to invite someone to church.
f. All you have to do is have a personal relationship with Jesus and a willing heart.
3. Our mission is necessary.
a. Romans 10:14 (NLT)
But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?
b. If we don't tell them they will not hear.
c. If we don't tell them they will not know.
d. If we don't tell them they will not come.
e. If we don't tell them they will go to hell.
4. Our mission carries with it responsibility.
a. Ezekiel 33:8-9 (NLT)
8 If I announce that some wicked people are sure to die and you fail to tell them to change their ways, then they will die in their sins, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths.
9 But if you warn them to repent and they don’t repent, they will die in their sins, but you will have saved yourself.
b. God's commands are not an option.
c. God's commands are not a choice.
d. He has commanded us to share the gospel with anyone who will listen.
Transition: May must not only know our mission, but we must also...
II. Focus On the Mission (22-23).
A. A Dangerous Trap
1. Sometimes the devil uses those closest to us to derail us from our mission, and Jesus was no exception.
2. Matthew tells us that "Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. 'Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!'”
a. Jesus had previously called Peter the rock, but here he becomes the stumbling stone for Jesus.
b. The idea of rebuke here doesn't indicate anger, but is a serious expression of warning.
c. What Peter is saying is, "by the grace of God may he stop this from happening to you."
d. He felt a genuine concern for Jesus' safety and his counsel came out of a loving, sincere heart.
e. However, being loving and sincere is not always enough unless you couple it with understanding (Horton, 349).
f. Peter is not speaking only for himself but for all the disciples.
g. To them Jesus mission was not a goal to be fulfilled but a disaster to be avoided.
h. The strong negative, "Heaven forbid," coveys that this is not only undesirable but unthinkable (France, 634).
3. However, Jesus was not going to lose focus or be derailed from his mission.
4. He tells Peter, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
a. Peter's revelation of Jesus came from the Father, but his rebuke of Jesus came from his own mind.
b. In the eternal purpose of God the cross had to come before the crown.
c. Therefore, the rebuke that Peter receives from Jesus is immediate and scorching.
d. Peter had not become Satan but "a Satan," because he was trying to hinder the plan of God and becomes an offense to Jesus.
e. Here Peter is not speaking as Satan, but for Satan.
f. He is trying to divert Jesus attention from his mission in much the same way that Satan did in chp. 4 (France, 635).
g. But as one commentator notes, "Jesus recognizes here His old enemy in a new and even more dangerous form.
h. For none are more formidable instruments of temptation than well-meaning friends, who care more for our comfort than for our character" (Wilkins, 571).
i. It was an earthly humanistic way of looking at things that proved he was thinking about the ways of man and not the things of God.
j. Much of the hindrance to the church today comes from Christians who confess Christ but think like the world (Horton, 351).
k. We cannot allow anyone, no matter who it is, to distract us from our mission.
B. Staying Focused
1. Illustration: On the morning of September 11, Jeannie Braca switched on the television to check the weather report, only to hear that a plane had just hit the World Trade Center.Jeannie’s husband, Al, worked as a corporate bond trader for Cantor Fitzgerald. His office was on the 105th floor of Tower One. Al had survived the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 and had even helped a woman with asthma escape from the building. Jeannie knew that Al would do the same thing this time, “I knew he would stop to help and minister to people,” she said, “but I never thought for a minute that he wouldn’t be coming home!” A week later, like so many others who were in that building, Al’s body was found in the rubble. Al’s wife, Jeannie, and his son Christopher were devastated!
Then the reports began to trickle in from friends and acquaintances. Some people on the 105th floor had made a last call or sent a final e-mail to loved ones saying that a man was leading people in prayer. A few referred to Al by name. Al’s family learned that Al had indeed been ministering to people during the attack! When Al realized that they were all trapped in the building and would not be able to escape, Al shared the gospel with a group of 50 co-workers and led them in prayer.
2. We stay focused by keeping our eyes on Jesus.
a. Hebrews 12:2 (NLT)
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
b. We shouldn't look to the world.
c. We shouldn't look to our friends.
d. We shouldn't look to our family.
e. We need to look to Jesus!
3. We stay focused by our faith.
a. 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NLT)
For we live by believing and not by seeing.
b. We must focus not on what we see.
c. We must focus not on what we feel.
d. We must focus on what we know is true.
e. We must focus on Jesus and the mission he has given us.
4. We stay focused by the Word.
a. 2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT)
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
b. We stay focused by reading the Word.
c. We stay focused by meditating on the Word.
d. We stay focused by living by the Word.
Transition: However, we cannot just know our mission and focus on our mission, but we must...
III. Live the Mission (24-28).
A. Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me
1. Just as Jesus refused to avoid his cross, so he declares that we cannot avoid our cross either.
2. He tells his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me."
a. The cross is not optional for us. It is impossible for us to follow Jesus without taking up the cross.
b. The natural thinking of our human nature is to exalt ourselves and take the easy way out.
c. We must die to ourselves and consider that part of us as dead (Horton, 351).
d. This verse has been traditionally translated "deny."
e. The word means to dissociate oneself from a statement or a person.
f. Here it means to dissociate oneself from one's own interests. It means putting loyalty before self-preservation (France, 638).
g. Thus the NLT appropriately translates it "turn from your selfish ways."
h. "Taking up one's cross" in antiquity hardly meant simply putting up with an annoying roommate or having to live with ingrown toenails.
i. It meant marching on the way to one's execution, shamefully carrying the heavy horizontal beam of one's own death-instrument through a jeering mob (Keener).
j. Although the image is often understood by modern society as bearing up under some personal hardship or life’s cruel fate, as used here by Jesus the cross has a much more profound significance: One must die to his or her own will and take up God’s will (Wilkins, 571).
3. Jesus then tells us why taking up our cross is so important. He says, "If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it."
a. Losing our life is to give up a lesser existence for a better one.
b. From the world's way of thinking the cross is merely a form of capital punishment, but for Christ and his followers it is the means to eternal life through death.
c. Our life is won by giving it to Christ; it is lost by selfishly trying to save it.
d. For us taking up the cross means not making it the object that saves our life or the things that make it up - our ambitions, desires, and pleasures.
e. The cross is a place of death, and we must put to death our old life (Horton, 351-353).
f. Although genuine Christians may fall short on their commitment at times, those who wish to follow Christ should understand from the start that they are surrendering their lives to Christ (Keener).
g. Losing one’s life to Jesus means giving over one’s own will to follow him alone in discovering God’s will as the central, driving force for one’s life (Wilkins, 572-573).
4. Jesus tells us that taking up our cross only makes good sense. He says, "And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?"
a. The heart of this passage is losing one's life.
b. Everyone not willing to lose his life for the sake of Christ will lose it when Jesus comes to judge the world because of its sin (Horton, 353).
c. Those who do not acknowledge Jesus as Lord-as having the right to demand of them anything, including their lives-have yet to be truly converted.
d. We must decide whether we "want" to come after Jesus or "want" to save our lives; we cannot have it both ways. The cross means death, and nothing less (Keener).
e. We come into this life with empty hands, and we will go out just as empty.
f. Gaining all the world has to offer cannot match the blessed riches of finding true life through obeying God’s will in following Jesus.
g. At the end of this life we are each measured by the health of our souls, not the wealth of our estates (Wilkins, 573).
B. Living For Jesus
1. Illustration: There are no crown-wearers in heaven who were not cross- bearers here below (Charles Haddon Spurgeon).
2. If we want to be a follower of Jesus taking up the cross is essential.
a. Luke 14:27 (NLT)
And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.
b. A cross-less Christian is a contradiction in terms.
c. You cannot be a Christian and not take up your cross.
d. You cannot be a Christian and live by your own will.
e. You cannot be a Christian and not change your way of life.
3. Taking up the cross means surrendering to God's will.
a. Philippians 2:5, 8 (NLT)
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had...he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
b. Not my will but God's will.
c. Not my way but God's way.
d. Not my desires but God's desires.
4. By taking up the cross you will experience resurrection power.
a. Philippians 3:10-11 (NLT)
10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death,
11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
b. The only way to experience resurrection power is through the power of the cross.
c. The only way know resurrection power is to learn the power of surrender.
d. If you want to live first you have to die!
Transition: Dietrich Bonheoffer once said, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."
Conclusion
1. Jesus is a Messiah on a mission.
a. He knew his mission
b. He focused on his mission
c. He lived his mission
2. Wait a minute, Pastor, this is the Christmas season! Why are we talking about the cross instead of the manger?
a. Without the cross the manger is pointless!
b. Jesus didn't come for the manger he came for the cross.
c. Jesus didn't come to be born he came to die.
3. Are you ready to pick up the cross?
4. Are you focused on our mission?
5. Do you want to be one of his disciples?
