Matthew 16

Notes for BSF

SEEK GOD, NOT MIRACULOUS SIGNS (Matthew 16:1-12; Mark 8:10-21)

The religious leaders wanted Jesus to prove Himself to be God
When asking Jesus to "show them a sign from the heavens," the religious leaders had no real interest in forming a relationship with Jesus or to get to know Him better. Instead, they asked the question only to put Jesus on the spot, to force His hand.

Jesus rebukes the religious leaders for their manipulative intentions
Instead of being trapped by the request of the religious leaders, Jesus saw right through their motive and rebuked them for their cunning thoughts. If their heart truly belonged to the Lord, then they should already be very familiar with the prophecies that would be fulfilled by the coming Messiah -- the prophecies that Jesus did fulfill.

Daniel studied the Scriptures and knew down to the day of when the 70 years of desolation prophesied by Jeremiah would come to an end (Daniel 9:2). Rather than pridefully approach the Lord and demanding that He prove Himself to us, we ought to be diligent students of God's Word, as exemplified by Daniel.

Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

God has revealed Himself through His creations. If we are lazy and haughty enough to ignore all that He has provided, to choose to remain blind, who are we to demand the Creator of the universe to answer to our every whim? For this very reason, Jesus rebuked the religious leaders.

Matthew 16:3-4
You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

Jesus expects us to discern the signs of the times, just as we can tell autumn is coming by the changing colors of the leaves or that a storm is brewing by the building of ominous clouds. He expects us to discern the signs of the times because the Word of God teaches us how to discern the signs! 

The Sign of Jonah
Jonah was swallowed by a great fish, and he remained in the fish for 3 days before he was released. This is a foreshadow of the death and resurrection of the Messiah. Jesus was killed and remained in his tomb for 3 days. And on the 3rd day, he was resurrected from death by God the Father. Jesus is the only man in history who has fulfilled this prophecy.

The underlying theme of this passage is for us to seek God with our heart. We should not be relying on miracles and signs as proof of God's existence or work. Why? Satan can perform miracles, too. When Moses performed miracles through the God, the magicians of Egypt mimicked the miracles through the power of Satan (Exodus 7:14-25 is just one example). Therefore, if we only seek miracles and signs as proof of God, if we do not seek God with our heart, we can easily end up following false prophets and idols instead.

Jesus warns us against false prophets, the sins of their heart, and their false teaching

Matthew 16:6
Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

When used in bread, leaven or yeast makes bread puff up. In the Bible, leaven is used to represent sin, sin of pride. What do we call prideful people? "Puffed up with pride." Here, Jesus relates the doctrine of the religious leaders, the sins of the religious leaders as leaven. The religious leaders claim to be the holiest of all peoples, yet the traditions they created were not created to devote themselves to God or to glorify God. Instead, the practices they follow aim to show people how much holier they are than the rest, to elevate themselves above others -- in essence, to glorify themselves. Jesus warns His disciples, including us, against prideful sin.

Jesus teaches us to think beyond lusts of the flesh and focus on our eternal destiny
As we learn from the disciples, maturing in Christ is not achieved instantaneously. At this moment in time, the disciples still had not yet grasped the concept of the eternal fate and thus continued to focus their thoughts on materialistic things, such as food. Jesus thus continued to teach and encourage them to shift their view of the world to His coming eternal kingdom, such as eternal life in God. The disciples didn't always get the point immediately, but under the patient guidance of Jesus, they eventually come to understanding.

Like the disciples, we often worry about how we will feed ourselves, where we will be living, how we will find jobs, etc. We are human. It is basic instincts to worry about these things. These are important concerns, but if we cannot see beyond these concerns, then we will miss the bigger lessons God may have for us, as illustrated by this passage here. For example, we can be tested to see if we can rely on our FAITH to survive through difficulties. However, if we see the problems ahead, and all we can think about is food and shelter, and how the problems are too big for us to handle, instead of how God could be guiding us to something greater, or how God can help us through the problem, then 1) we would never personally experience the greatness of God, and 2) we would never develop the greatness of our faith in God. When we allow lusts of the flesh to overwhelm us, when we do not reach out in faith to God and allow His hand to comfort and guide us, we lose out on our chance to strengthen our personal relationship with God. Think of these opportunities like bonding with our dads over football games or camping trips. But way awesomer ;)


JESUS WANTS TO KNOW, WHO DO YOU SAY THAT HE IS? (Matthew 16:13-20)

We can stand on the sidelines and follow the game...
At the time, there were plenty of rumors floating around, with people claiming Jesus to be John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the Old Testament prophets.

With ready access to the Internet these days, it is very easy to stumble across opinion pieces that could either be rumors or truth. It's increasingly becoming more and more difficult to discern between truths and lies because information -- falsified or not -- is disseminated at such a fast pace, people are less inclined to take the time to validate any source of information.

Our society has many labels for Jesus, just as the society back then. Yet, Jesus focus on the individual. He knows the labels each society has for Him -- But He wants each of us as an individual to give an answer:

Matthew 16:15
But who do you say that I am?

Or, we can get into the game and take a stand
Will we be like those who stay blended in the crowd, afraid to take a stance, or will we be like Peter, who embraced the truth based on knowledge that he had accumulated through personal interactions with Christ?

Matthew 16:16
Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God."

Jesus is the Christ, our messiah, the Son of the Living God. Knowing this has greatly changed my life. Knowing God is real, knowing Jesus is real, this has allowed me to put my trust in something that is all powerful. This has allowed me to know that my eternity is protected. Even more, I know what the future holds for me, and I certainly look forward to Jesus’ return to earth, where I can reign with Him as a king and priest.

Galatians 1:10
For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bond servant of Christ.

Jesus promises those in Him great rewards
Jesus builds His kingdom on those who stand strong in Him, as shown through Peter.

Matthew 16:18-19
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

In Greek, Peter’s name also means rock. Here, Jesus is using a pun. He is calling Peter a rock, on whom Jesus will also build His church. Indeed, when the church started, Peter was the church leader.

Today, the Church continues to build on shoulders of those who abide in Jesus, our foundation, our living Rock.

Satan and his demons may try to cripple us, but as long as we remain steadfast in Jesus, we can have the confidence that "the gates of Hades will not prevail."


JESUS TEACHES HIS DISCIPLES ABOUT HIS COMING SUFFERING (Matthew 16:21-28)

Peter did not fully comprehend Jesus' mission
After Peter’s great step of faith above, we see that he was admonished greatly by Jesus for speaking of things he did not understand.

Jesus had been teaching and showing His disciples who He was and what He had come to fulfill. The significance of His death is the salvation He had come to give to the world, for He had come as the sacrificial Lamb of God, and only one being had tried to prevent Him from achieving this: Satan, during Jesus' 40 days and nights in the wilderness (Matthew 4:-11). Hence, when Peter dared to rebuke Jesus for predicting His death, Jesus harshly admonished Peter and referred his rebuking spirit as that of Satan.

Matthew 16:23
But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."

Peter may have spoken with innocence, as someone who simply does not want a loved one to die. However, if Peter, because of his selfish love, were to have successfully prevented Jesus from His prophesied death, he would have blocked the will of God -- a spirit true of Satan.

We need to be very careful the condition of our heart. When we love an object -- be that money, fame, power, or even family -- more than we love God, we have in fact idolized that object. That means, when it comes time to choose between God and that object, we will abandon God to pursue our idol. For this very reason, Peter needed to be immediately corrected and be reminded that when we pursue things of men, we lose sight of God and eternal life.

"For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" (Matthew 16:26)
Jesus teaches us that we must die in our sins so that we may receive eternal life.

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

Those who lose their lives to sin will find eternal life in Christ.

Romans 6:6-13
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin... Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

Note: 
Matthew 16:28 is a difficult passage to understand. This is an article by Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church that discusses this passage at length:
http://aletheia-seekers.blogspot.com/2012/02/matthew-1628.html