Today, my Bible Study is really affecting me. I was reading Matthew 16 (see below). It’s such a whirlwind of activity, but so vital. It begins with the Pharisees demanding a sign, and Jesus foreshadowing His own death, burial and resurrection. Jesus then warns His disciples of the leaven of the Pharisees (beware the yeast of adding to the Word of God!), challenges His disciples by directly asking “who do you say that I am?,” Peter confesses Jesus as Messiah, and then is quickly rebuked as Satan for telling Jesus that He will NOT go and die (as He said He would), and ending with Jesus challenging those who hear that if anyone should follow Him they should first deny themselves, take up their crosses. In other words, Jesus is warning us about satanic influence in Holy Places, and that we need to die to ourselves that we may walk in His Spirit.
It always blows my mind that in the same chapter Jesus is praising Peter, and then so rapidly saying “Get behind me Satan.” Just as the Pharisees were telling God who He should be by adding traditions which trumped Scripture, so, too was Peter telling Jesus who He should be by saying that He would not allow Jesus to suffer and die, as Jesus said He was destined to do. How often do we tell God who He should be and what He should do? Is that not a greater rebellion than living in Sin? That is why we should die to ourselves. When we truly come to Christ, we die to our traditions, to our values, to our desires, wants and wishes. We crucify ourselves along with Christ, that He may come in and transform us in to who we were designed to be.
Too often, we think carnally. We live for today instead of eternity. So why try and gain the world, but forfeit your soul? We can’t take a single thing with us. So what do we do? We stop leavening our walk with Christ. A little leaven, as it is said in scripture, leavens the whole batch. Let us then shake off and remove the hinderances, traditions and tolerations that hinder our walk with Christ, and seek Him by the Holy Spirit He gave us and His word. Let us depend on Jesus, and not our own proclivities and traditions. Let us remember that we have died to ourselves and are new creations in Christ. Because He died, was buried and rose again, we are new creations in Him. The Old is gone, the New Has come, so let us live in His newness!Matthew 16
And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.
When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
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 on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
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