REBUKING JESUS

Matthew 16:21-23

Sometimes God wants to share bad news with us. At least, it seems bad initially. The bad news tat Jesus presented in this text is that life is not always a bed of roses. Jesus was very specific about this fact in his teaching. Life on earth WILL be filled with trouble for the believer. We are "aliens" and "strangers" here. We are fish swimming against the current. We are light penetrating darkness. These stark contrasts demand some friction.

This text does, however, offer good news to the believer as well. The good news is that God will prepare us or difficulty, and the good news is also that God knows the future. In fact, He is already in the future. There are no "surprises" with God. I find great comfort personally in this truth.

Most of us are like Peter - we do things that are way out of God's plan while believing all along that we are doing the right thing. You may say, "Yes, but I could never rebuke Jesus like Peter did." The truth is, however, that we rebuke Jesus all the time. We rebuke Jesus each time we express to God that our way is better than His way. We rebuke Jesus when we rebel against what God tells us to do because we "feel" or "think" that our plan is a better plan. In these cases WE are the ones in need of rebuke. In fact, as revealed in this text, a lot of us need rebuked for our selfish world view.

Many Christians want to adopt a "prosperity gospel" that decrees "the closer one gets to God the more prosperous his life will become." This is certainly true spiritually but not necessarily physically. In fact, if we are seeking this physical prosperity as our goal then we will never receive true spiritual prosperity because we haven't been willing to "deny ourselves." This text teaches us that the call of Christ is to self-denial not self-indulgence. Jesus taught that true living comes from dying, and prosperity comes from giving. Jesus taught us these lessons with His words and with His very life. This is the Gospel of Christ.