Your study notes this week were authored by Will Buschmann, Director of Student Ministries.
Welcome to Week 3 of the Life of Peter and to a defining moment in Peter’s life. We will see Peter answer a question Jesus asks confidently and correctly. We will also see Peter be rebuked by Jesus. Jesus will also begin to show the disciples what his true purpose is on this earth, that is to suffer and die, and he will reveal to them what following him looks like on this earth.
Index to Days 2 through 5
Day 1
Who Do You Say That I Am?
Observe
A.W. Tozer once said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” We begin this week by looking at Jesus asking his disciples two of the most important questions that can be asked to anyone on the planet.
{Matthew 16:13-15 ESV}
{13} Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” {14} And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” {15} He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Jesus, like he always does, is purposeful about when, where, and why he asks questions and this passage is no different. He asked the disciples this question purposefully in Caesarea Philippi, because of what was in the city. Caesarea Philippi was a city that had the Greeks, the Romans, and the Jews. It sat at a major crossroad north of the Sea of Galilee. As you travelled through the city you would have come to the side of a mountain that housed the religious area of the city. There in front of a grotto (that was believed at the time to be the entrance to the underworld) sat a temple dedicated to August. To the right of that temple sat the Court of Pan and the Nymphs. If that wasn’t enough to the right of that was the Temple of Zeus, then the Court of Nemesis, then the Tomb Temple of the Sacred Goats, and if that wasn’t enough you lastly came to the Temple of Pan and the Dancing Goats. (Check out the artist rendering below for a better understanding.) From one viewpoint you could see many of the pagan gods that were worshipped during this time. A place where pagan sacrifices and evil acts of worship were offered to the gods of the day. Idols sat in the cutouts of the rock face. It was here in front of the overwhelming picture of the false gods and idols of the day that Jesus asked the disciples, not just who do people say I am, but also who do you say that I am?
In this Painting of the First Century Sanctuary of Pan there is depicted from left to right:
- The Temple of Augustus Called the Augusteum (On the Left)
- The Grotto or Cave of the God Pan (Behind the Temple of Augustus)
- The Court of Pan and the Nymphs (To the Right of the Temple of Augustus)
- The Temple of Zeus (In the Middle)
- The Court of Nemesis (To the Right of the Temple of Zeus)
- The Tomb Temple of the Sacred Goats (Upper Right)
- The Temple of Pan and the Dancing Goats (Bottom Right)
- Jesus asks far better questions than I do so we will stick to his today. Who do people say that the Son of Man (Jesus) is? Seriously, if you asked your family, your coworkers, your classmates how would they answer?
- But who do you say that Jesus is?
Jesus,
I am constantly surrounded by the idols of the day vying not just for my attention, but my worship. Firstly, I confess that I am so often drawn to them over you. Forgive me for constantly seeking my God in the gods of the day. Lord, protect me from myself today. Keep me far from temptation and deliver me from evil. Let me see you today, Lord.
Amen
Day 2
The Boldness of Peter
Observe
We were left on a cliffhanger yesterday and spent time answering the questions of Jesus ourselves. Today, we see Peter quickly and confidently answer the question Jesus asked, which was, “But who do you say that I am?”
{Matthew 16:16-20 ESV}
{16} Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” {17} 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. {18} 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. {19} 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.” {20} Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
{Luke 11:52 ESV}
{52} Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”
{Revelation 1:18 ESV}
{18} and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
{Acts 2:14-41 ESV}
{14} But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. {15} For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. {16} But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: {17} “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; {18} even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. {19} And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; {20} the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. {21} And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ {22} “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know– {23} this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. {24} God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. {25} For David says concerning him, “‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; {26} therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. {27} For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. {28} You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’ {29} “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. {30} Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, {31} he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. {32} This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. {33} Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. {34} For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, {35} until I make your enemies your footstool.”‘ {36} Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” {37} Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” {38} And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. {39} For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” {40} And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” {41} So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
{Matthew 18:17-18 ESV}
{17} If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. {18} Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
There is a lot to work through in this section today. With that, I would encourage you to read this and hopefully gain a little bit better understanding of what is going on in this passage.
We see Peter courageously and correctly answer about who Jesus is. He speaks first and is the only one to answer and Jesus blesses him in this. The blessing is two fold.
- Jesus calls Peter (Petros in Greek) the rock (petra in Greek, some word play on his part) on which he will build his church. This verse and this idea of Peter being the foundation of the Church has been controversial for Protestants throughout history and due to that we (Protestants) often try to work around the fact that Jesus claimed Peter as the foundational rock. This passage historically has been abused by the Roman Catholic Church by over inserting what Jesus is saying. If not for that there would be no doubt that Jesus is clearly calling Peter the foundational rock of the church. Peter in this passage is the first and representative apostle whose confession has been given to him by the Father, thereby Jesus calling him the foundation. Peter will later call all believers “living stones” (1 Peter 2:4-8) by their confession and association with Christ, with the apostles as the foundation.
- Secondly, Jesus gives Peter “the keys to the kingdom of heaven.” What does that mean? A key in the New Testament implies as Wayne Grudem says, “the authority to open a door and give entrance to a place or realm.” Luke 11:52 and Revelation 1:18 show us that in the verses above. The keys to the kingdom then are two-fold. The first is that now Peter has the authority to preach the gospel of Christ and that then opens the door of the kingdom of heaven and allows people to enter. We see this clearly through Peter’s preaching in the Book of Acts, specifically chapter 2 in his sermon at Pentecost. That day about 3,000 souls entered the kingdom of Heaven through his preaching. The second authority that is given to Peter by being given “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” is the authority inside of the Church. We see the same phrasing of binding and loosing (Not losing) in Matthew 18, when referring to Church discipline. These same authorities are later in Scripture given to all who make the same confession as Peter did, that Jesus is the Christ. Peter was the first, therefore he is the foundation that we are now built upon.
- Do you believe, even with the state of our current world, that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church? What doubts do you have about that?
- What are you doing to bind on earth what will be bound in heaven? AKA What are you doing to help lead people into confessing that Jesus is the Christ? Who’s on your Alpha list right now?
Jesus,
Teach my heart to confess like Peter. Give me boldness in the face of the world to confess that you are the Christ. Not only that, but let me with your authority invite others into that same confession. Let me continue to build on top of the foundation that is Peter, multitudes coming to faith in you and you alone. Give me confidence to say out loud that you are the Christ in every place I enter into!
Amen
Day 3
Suffering to Glory
Observe
Peter in one moment confesses Jesus as the Christ and the next he is hearing from Jesus, “Get behind me, Satan!”
{Matthew 16:21-23 ESV}
{21} 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. {22} And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” {23} 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.”
{Isaiah 53:1-12 ESV}
{1} Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? {2} For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. {3} He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. {4} Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. {5} But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. {6} All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–every one–to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. {7} He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. {8} By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? {9} And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. {10} Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. {11} Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. {12} Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Peter’s brazen nature is on full display as he pulls Jesus aside and rebukes him for what he is saying. Peter goes from the rock to a stumbling block. To Peter’s credit though, he is thinking like everyone else at the time would have. There’s no way that the Messiah would come to suffer and die. The Messiah is here to free the people from the tyranny of Rome through sword and battle, not through sacrifice and death. Yet, Jesus came in suffering to save the people from a much greater tyrant, that of sin and death. Peter doesn’t understand the biblical theme of suffering that leads to glory. That the goal of this life is not to avoid suffering, because suffering is inevitable due to the fallen nature of this world and the fallen nature of man. As Paul says in Romans, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). That Jesus’ suffering through his death on the cross is doing something, that it is not worthless. It is paying the penalty of our sin through the blood that he sheds. The only solution to sin is the perfect Son of God taking on flesh and sacrificing himself on our behalf. Likewise, the suffering that we go through on this earth is not worthless, but it is doing something in us. That our sufferings are leading us to an eternal weight of glory, as we walk the same path that our Savior walked for us. Our sufferings thankfully (as hard as that word is in this sentence) teach us that this world and its sufferings do not have the final word. That this place is not our home, but our sufferings bring us back to the Savior that suffered for us, and our eyes are fixed on him.
- Where are you suffering right now?
- Will you bring that suffering today, to the Savior who understands what what you are going through, feel his gracious presence in the midst of it, and trust that suffering will not have the final word?
Lord,
I am surrounded by suffering in this life due to the fallen state of this world and the fallen nature of man. Some of it I bring upon myself, but others I have no idea why I have to walk the road I walk. Jesus, be near to me as I suffer. Let me feel your presence in the midst of this suffering in a way that I have never felt before. You are near to the broken hearted and today I am broken hearted. Let me finish this race that you have set before me no matter how difficult the road is. Give my heart the trust that you are good and you love me. Let the suffering lead me to an eternal weight of glory that cannot be matched by the likes of this world.
Amen
Day 4
Do I want to follow Jesus?
Observe
Jesus tells the disciples of the path they will walk if they want to follow him, one not of luxury and comfort, but one of denial and suffering.
{Matthew 16:24-28 ESV}
{24} Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. {25} For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. {26} 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? {27} 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. {28} 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.”
We will meditate on these verses over the course of the next two days. Today we sit in verse 24. Jesus tells the disciples of what it will take to follow him. The first is denial. Not denying sin. Not denying the bad in their lives, but literally denying themselves. We are sinful beings that seek to put ourselves above all others including Jesus. Jesus knows that we, ourselves, must be denied first before anything else. That we are not the king of our own life anymore if we seek to follow Jesus. Then Jesus, which would have been utterly shocking, tells the disciples they must pick up their cross. This is Jesus’ first mention of a cross. We look at the cross in reverence due to what Jesus did. They would have looked at it in horror. The cross was the execution device of the worst of the worst criminals, now they need to take that up themselves, willingly? Jesus is saying we must die to our comfort. We must die to our selfishness. We must die to our pride that puts us above others. That following Jesus is a life of death to ourselves.
- Is following Jesus worth all of that to you?
- What do you need to deny about yourself in order to follow Jesus today?
- What does it look like to take up a cross in your life?
Jesus,
Your call scares me a little if I’m honest. I love me and like the comforts of this life. I know I love this earth and things in it far too much. I put myself above everything else most, all of the time. Most days my only thought is about me. I am the end all be all of me. Forgive me and change me. I love you and want to follow you. I need your Holy Spirit to help me though. Teach my heart what it means to deny myself and pick up my cross. Give me the strength and the grace to follow you and you alone. Create in me a love for you that far exceeds anything else I could ever find on this earth.
Day 5
Consumerism vs. Christianity
Observe
Our culture comes to us and says consume, collect, and hoard in order to find life. Jesus flips the script on that today.
I was going to give you the classic Give Me Jesus by Fernando Ortega, but decided to give you the song that helped middle school Will understand what this verse was saying. Enjoy!
{Matthew 16:24-28 ESV}
{24} Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. {25} For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. {26} 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? {27} 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. {28} 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.”
Jesus says the culture may promise the world, but has no ability to fulfill that promise. That this life has an end date for all of us. We can’t take it when we go. What matters is what happens to our soul at the end of this life. Jesus makes it clear you can have everything that this world has to offer. You can have money, power, success, popularity, and in the end none of that can make a payment for your soul. That the only things that matter are what we looked at this week. It doesn’t matter if you gain the whole world, yet lose your soul because you don’t confess Jesus as the Christ, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him. That’s what matters. That is what rings throughout eternity.
- What parts of this world are alluring to you?
- What does it look like in your life to lose your life for Jesus’ sake?
Lord,
I love this world. If I’m honest I want to consume, collect, and hoard everything that this world has to offer me. Forgive me for natural inclination to build my little kingdom on this earth. A kingdom that has no eternal value. Teach me the things worth chasing. Give me your eyes to see what matters and what doesn’t.
Amen