“Religious ‘flesh’ always wants to work for God (rather than humbling itself to realize God must work for it in free grace). That is why our very lives hang on not working for God. Then shall we not serve Christ? It is commanded, ‘Serve the Lord!’ (Romans 12:11) Yes, we must serve Him. But we will beware of serving in a way that implies a deficiency on His part or exalts our indispensability.”
John Piper from his book Desiring God.
This rebuke to Peter directly from Jesus in Matthew 16 must have come as quite a shock to Peter. Moments before Jesus 1) praised Peter and 2) called him a rock and 3) said his words were inspired directly from God (Matthew 16:17-18). Now Jesus reverses those three compliments and rebukes Peters, calls him a stumbling block and says his words are inspired by Satan. The color must have drained from Peter’s face and his jaw must have dropped.
After all, Peter was only defending his beloved Master. For Jesus had just told Peter and the other disciples that the time had come to go to Jerusalem where Jesus must suffer, be killed and rise again on the third day (Matthew 16:21). Peter was selective in his hearing and only heard the words about suffering and dying, not about His resurrection. So Peter, perhaps cocky from the blessing of Jesus, leaped up and exclaimed, “God forbid it, Lord!” That is when Jesus brought the hammer down.
God’s will is set; Jesus’ decision to go to Jerusalem was not an “open” one. The Word of God says Jesus MUST go to Jerusalem and be killed (v. 19). However Jesus’ crucifixion is neither sadistic punishment nor because things spiraled out of God’s control. On the contrary. It is the Father’s loving will that Jesus is crucified and raised. It is no wonder Jesus rebuked Peter so forcefully.
Jesus’ rebuke serves as a warning at several levels. First, this warning speaks to those of us in Christian service. Second, this warning speaks to all people everywhere.
I think those of us in any sort of Christian service can learn from Jesus’ rebuke of Peter. Just as Peter was blessed by Jesus (Matthew 16:17), often times in our ministries we see the hand of His blessing. Then, if not checked, our pride can grow and we begin to think we know better than God what God’s will should be! To varying degrees, we are all guilty of this. But in its extreme, our ministry can become a cult of personality; a ministry or church becomes more about making an individual, a ministry or a church look good rather than making the Lord Jesus Christ look good.
Perhaps even more important is that Jesus’ rebuke of Peter is a warning to all men, everywhere. Peter, probably without realizing the full weight of his comment, was attempting to usurp the very will of God. Sin is the belief that God really doesn’t know what is best for us. We are all guilty of sin (Romans 3:23) and the penalty of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Our sin is the reason Jesus went to Jerusalem.
God’s will will be done. Will we futility fight against it? Or will we join Him in the battle? Evil’s best effort was to crucify Jesus. Yet what was meant for evil, God meant for good (Genesis 50:20). For by the crucifixion of Jesus, our sins were paid for! And three days later, just as Jesus promised, He was raised! Because Jesus went to Jerusalem, died on a cross and was raised, all of mankind has hope – hope that is stronger than death! And, most importantly, God receives the glory due Him! Hallelujah! Praise God!
Don’t fight against His will; rather trust in Him, rest in Him, glory in Him.
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