Cost of Discipleship Pt 29 - Continuing

Chapter 4- Discipleship and the Cross (continued)

First, before I jump back into the book I have to say in rereading the last message on this study of the book 'The Cost of Discipleship', this verse JUMPED out at me.

'Mar 8:33  But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. '

JESUS told one of His DISCIPLES, one of His CHOSEN - 'GET THEE BEHIND ME, SATAN.'

He called him SATAN.

If someone is being called Satan isn't that the worst thing you could EVER call someone? Seriously, doesn't Satan depict the worst of the worst ever, the father of all things evil. Being called Satan is calling someone the worst of the worst. You are calling that person evil through and through. You want NOTHING to do with evil if you want to do what is good, what is right, what is love, what is of God.

Get thee behind me Satan.

Imagine the SHOCK of being called Satan by the Lord Himself!

The Lord didn't leave Peter or any other to wonder why He'd just called Him Satan.  Jesus continued-- 'For thou savourest NOT the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.'

And this is really it isn't it? This is what we all war against- the things of this world, the things of men.

We are SATURATED with the things of men.

We surround ourselves with the things of men.

We tell ourselves we cannot live without the things of men.

We are among men, we are part of men, and we put more stock in the things of men, the things of our own making than we do about God's things.

Do you SAVOUR the things of God?

Mat 16:23  But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Who else did Jesus tell to get behind Him?

Luk 4:8  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Satan himself.

Worshiping the Lord our God ONLY.

Savoring the things of God ONLY.

We cannot savor the things of man, because then we fall into the dangerous ground of worshiping man, not God.

What things do you worship?

What things occupy most of your time, most of your life, outside of the work you do to earn a living?

Do you let work become an obsession for you, worshiping it for the things of men it can buy for you?

We need to examine ourselves because we will hear the same words- 'Get thee behind me Satan' if we do NOT savor the things of GOD!

We'll continue with 'The Cost of Discipleship'  tomorrow. For a refresher I'm going to copy paste the last study on it we did on March 14.

Chapter 4- Discipleship and the Cross

Mar 8:31  And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Mar 8:32  And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.

Mar 8:33  But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.

Mar 8:34  And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Mar 8:35  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.

Mar 8:36  For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Mar 8:37  Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Mar 8:38  Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Bonhoeffer- 'Jesus must therefore make it clear beyond all doubt that the "must" of suffering applies to his disciples no less than to himself. Just as Christ is Christ only in virtue of his suffering and rejection, so the disciple is a disciple only in so far as he shares his Lord's suffering and rejections and crucifixion. Discipleship means adherence to the person of Jesus, and therefor submission to the law of Christ which is the law of the cross.

Surprisingly enough, when Jesus begins to unfold this inescapable truth to his disciples, he once more sets them free to choose or reject him. "If any man would come after me," he says. For it is not a matter of course, not even among the disciples. Nobody can be forced, nobody can even be expected to come. He says rather "If any man" is prepared to spurn all other offers which come his way in order to follow him. Once again, everything is left for the individual to decide.'

My thoughts-  So why are we taught that to suffer is to be avoided at all costs? Why are we 'programmed' to believe suffering is something awful? We are taught this. As babies and little children we are being taught to shun all suffering. We are instead taught to indulge all our desires and whims so we don't even begin to take on the tiniest of sufferings.  It's not this way all over the world. There are 'third world' countries where people are raised in a culture of nothing but suffering and children learn very young that this is their lot in life and they learn to make the best of it all.

Jesus taught the disciples that he would suffer, he would be rebuked, he would be put to death and the reaction… Peter began to rebuke Jesus.  The disciples could not imagine their beloved Messiah being caused to suffer, being rebuked, being rejected and ultimately being put to death!  No way! They didn’t want that to happen! But Jesus turned around and REBUKED Peter- calling Peter, Satan.  Telling Peter that he didn't want the things of God, but the things of men.  Isn't that the case for ALL of us?! Jesus continued and told them - 'Whosoever will come AFTER me- le him DENY HIMSELF, take up his CROSS, and FOLLOW me.  Whosoever will SAVE his life SHALL LOSE IT; but whosoever shall LOSE his life for my sake and the gospel's the same shall SAVE it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the WHOLE WORLD, and lose his own soul?'

What do we make of this? Seriously, what do we make of those words of our SAVIOR'S?

Are we, like Peter wanting to tell Jesus He is wrong? Do we want to tell Jesus, NO, You shouldn't suffer Jesus, and NO, we shouldn't suffer either, Jesus. No one should suffer, and surely no one who believes you, no one who follows you the Messiah, should be put to death!

IF we act like Peter, if we believe like Peter, then we are acting under the power of SATAN! And Jesus will say to us, just like He said to Peter, 'Get thee behind me, Satan.' 

We can follow the corrupt ways of mankind and especially of the materialistic views of our day and age and we will be disciples of Satan. Or we can follow Christ, but we have to DENY ourselves, we have to PICK UP our CROSS!

We aren't forced, never forced, we must choose our path. We must choose who we will follow.

If we imagine that we can get by in this world without following either God or Satan, think again. When you choose to look to yourself you are not looking to your Creator and most certainly not your Savior.  And when we do not look to God there is only one other place to look- Satan.  Satan loves when you choose to follow your own path because he know that by your rejecting God you are accepting him.

More tomorrow by the GRACE of GOD! Please LORD, help us to LEARN the truth of DISCIPLESHIP and in learning, believe and follow as YOU want us to follow YOU.

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All by the love of our SAVIOR.