THE KEYS

AUGUST 12, 2009 WEDNESDAY SCRIPTURE MATTHEW CHAPTER 16

TEXT http://net.bible.org/bible.php?search=Matthew%2016&book=matthew&chapter=16

MESSAGE The Pharisees and Saducees who are spiritually unfaithful and blind to the signs of their time where the blind, mute, and lame are being healed and the dead are being raised, demand that Jesus give them a sign of his divine authority from heaven. He responds by contrasting their ability to forecast the weather by the signs in the sky with their inability to recognize the sign of the times testifying that he is the Messiah and that the Kingdom of Heaven has come. He leaves after telling them the only sign they will be given is that of Jonah-a reference to his rising from the grave after three days like Jonah who was released from the belly of the fish after three days.

Being warned by Jesus to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Saducees as they cross the lake, the disciples take him literally because they forgot to bring bread with to eat. Realizing the disciples are worried about not having something to eat, Jesus rebukes them for not understanding what he was talking about and for their lack of faith of his ability to provide for them in light of the recent miraculous feedings of the 5000 and 4000 that included leftovers. In repeating his warning about yeast his disciples now understand that he is warning them about the corrupt teachings of the Pharisees and Saducees and how they can work their way into their lives like yeast in dough.

Given the Pharisees and Saducees blindness to who he is, Jesus asks his disciples who the people say he is and is told one of the Prophets from Scripture. In asking them who they say he is Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God-a revelation given him by God not a conclusion reached on his own. Called “Blessed” by Jesus for this, Jesus also tells him that His Church will be founded on his confession which will serve as the keys to opening the entrance to the Kingdom to others – a Kingdom which evil will never be able to overpower.

Jesus then tells his disciples about the difficult path that lies ahead for Him including his suffering death and resurrection, something Peter objects to and is rebuked by Jesus for because now instead of his confession serving as a foundation for His Church, his objection stands as Satantic opposition to the foundation of His Church in that he is viewing the path of the Messiah through the eyes of man rather than through the eyes of God. Jesus goes on to give Peter and the disciples God’s, rather than man’s, perspective on life stating that if anyone wants to follow him they must take up their own cross daily, if they try to save their life they will lose it & if they lose their life following him they will find it, and asking them how it will benefit them if they gain the whole world but lose their life and what will they give in exchange for their life? He tells them that this is how their lives will be evaluated at the end of times when he returns in glory with angels. He also tells them that some will not experience death before they see him coming in His Kingdom which is soon revealed in His transfigured state.

TEACHING Telling the signs of the time. What are the signs of the time today? And how do we interpret them? The Pharisees and Saducees, blind to all the miraculous signs of Jesus’ ministry during their day demanded that he perform some big cosmic event to prove he was the Messiah before they would believe. The disciples, despite witnessing the signs of Jesus miraculously feeding crowds of 5000 and 4000 with a few loaves of bread and a few fish misunderstood his warning about the yeast of the Pharisees and Saducees and instead worried about where their next meal would come from.

While the Pharisees and Saducees were blind to who he was and while the people thought he was a great prophet, Peter confessed his faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God – a confession that serves as the foundation of Christ’s Church and as the keys to opening the door to all who confess him as Christ to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. However, in the next breath, Peter stands in opposition to the foundational confession revealed to him by God, by being unable to accept the path Christ must follow as the Son of God because of slipping into a human understanding of who Christ is suppose to be.

Jesus helps Peter and the other disciples understand God’s perspective on following Him and how people’s lives will be evaluated when he returns in His glory at the end of time including: unselfishly sacrificing themselves for others on a daily basis, losing their life by being his follower if they really want to find their life and losing their life by gaining the whole world or by exchanging their life for something other than Him. Jesus also tells his disciples that some will not experience death before they see Him coming in His Kingdom-three of whom soon get a preview of this when they witness Jesus in his transfigured state.

HEALING Our Father in Heaven, Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Help us to be sure of our confession of Jesus as the Christ, Your Son, of You the Living God, who was seen in all his glory in a transfigured state by Peter, James and John shortly before his death and resurrection. Help us to witness who Your Son is to others so that the door to the Kingdom of Heaven will be opened to them by these keys of confession. Forgive us for our blindness in the past, our moments of blindness in the present and our holding tight to these keys rather than sharing them with others so that they too might enter in. Forgive us also when we worry about where we will get our daily bread, our daily meds, our counseling, and all of the other provisions we need to live and which you provide. We pray that we will beware of corrupt teachings that like yeast can enter our lives, expand and take over us so that we begin to view life from merely a human perspective rather than from that revealed in Scripture. Help us to live our lives as you instructed your disciples, lives that are unselfish and sacrificial, lives in which by following you we find ourselves rather than lose ourselves and lives in which we do not exchange our soul for anything in the world. We pray that we remain faithful to you in these ways and that our faith in You will lead to wholeness and healing in our lives in accordance with your will. In Jesus Name, Amen.

SONG 'Who Do You Say That I Am?' by The Highway Community @imeem http://x.imeem.com/gbnS5XOseM