Before we get to today’s article, I just want to mention that am writing from the perspective of a man that has experienced many of the challenges of which I write…. and those spiritual battles continue daily. The articles are implications of what it means to obey the commandment to raise your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. They require some reflection and are particularly for Christians who, as Peter would say, are diligently seeking to confirm their calling and are making every effort to supplement their faith. Said more succinctly, serious Christians. If you know other believers who desire to walk more faithfully with the Lord, please forward an article to them and tell them to sign up for future articles. Thanks so much!
This week, I am stepping away from sharing truth from J.C. Ryle’s wonderful book on holiness to discuss an aspect of the Christian life that impacted me in a strong sermon I heard this past Sunday. In the few minutes that I have in this venue, I am not going to try to expound the passage, but hopefully we can glean some critical points for our lives.
The passage is from Matthew 16:21-23, and it reads,
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. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 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.”
The disciples had just been told something that was incredibly hard for them to hear- no great military victory for Jesus and His people, not even a comfortable roll into power. No, the future for Jesus, and it is important to remember that it is the future for Jesus that Jesus desired, was to be killed.
In an ideal world (which we are not), Peter would have taken that information in and responded with loving support for his Master. Instead, Peter was repulsed by Jesus’ words and responded in a way that revealed that he did not have the mind of Christ. In essence, Peter thought that there was something better for Christ that was based on Peter’s view of the world. To Jesus, being fully man as well as being fully God, Peter’s response was a temptation to Jesus to disobey the will of the Father and Jesus retorted, “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.”
While we cannot compare the challenges of our Christian lives to be on the same scale as our Lord during His time here on earth, it is true that what we have been called to do is incredibly difficult. As Peter writes in 1 Peter 1, As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
It is possible to lead holy lives and to grow in holiness, but it is hard to do. Yes, we have been given a new nature and yes, we are being led by the Holy Spirit, but that rotten remaining flesh is warring against what we know we should do every day. The world around us is tempting us and our remaining sinful desires are begging us to partake in them. In addition, the devil and his minions are constantly looking for a chink in our armor to make us fall.
During my tenure as the leader of a Christian school, we always sought to understand the parents who were considering enrolling their kids in the school. We surveyed parents at our Open House times, phone inquiries, and tours of the school, always asking what they thought about the school. We wanted to know if there were things that we could improve so more parents would choose our school for Christian education. Now, I want to to say right up front that our school was far from what God would call holy. It was governed by sinners leading other sinners to carry out our mission. But we did try to be faithful to our mission to honor the Lord through the work we were doing at our school.
Based on feedback from parents over the years, we found that many Christian parents in our community thought that we were trying too much! We heard that we were too serious about being a Christian school, that there was too much Jesus, or we were too Christian. We were criticized for having excessive talk about the Bible, unreasonable expectations for accountability from the students, and extreme expectations for students to respect the teachers. Parents wanted a school that was a kind of hybrid- some Christian, some worldly school. We found ourselves outside of much of the Christian community and suffered significantly in our enrollment through the years. Sadly, this is the nature of many Christians and Christian churches today- a kind of Jesus overlay with a dominant foundation in things that are comfortably fitting into worldly desires.
Another common experience for the school was hearing from parents that were initially very interested in enrolling the in children, but after speaking with their friends, had a complete reversal on their view of enrolling in a Christian school. What happened? Why weren’t these friends, most of which were professing Christians, excited that this particular family’s kids would go to a school where they could learn about Christ every day and experience a wonderful book education as well as a Christian worldview? Why instead were they told by their friends that a Christian education was unneeded, that their public school had mostly Christian teachers, that this change would threaten the continuity of their interfamily play groups? Because they had the same mindset as Peter- a mind set on the world rather than the Kingdom of Christ. They were thinking and speaking like people who did not know Jesus.
And choosing the things of God has consequences. You see, if those critical parents agreed that Christian schooling was good for their friend’s children, they would be confronted with the question of why they weren’t choosing Christian education for their own children. And if they chose Christian schooling for their own children, that would mean tuition had to be paid, and that may mean something that is temporal and worldly in their lives would have to go.
Back to the parents that were initially excited about enrolling in the school, they also were facing otheropposition to their godly desire to raise their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. They were already being influenced by the worldly view of their Christian friends and now they were under spiritual attack from their own sinful desires to be pleasing to people. Would their friends think that they were extreme, arrogant, legalistic, or even judgmental? Would they lose those friendships or be ostracized in some way from the group? And then there was their own children. The 6th grader didn’t want to leave her school and her friends. She didn’t care about learning about Jesus, and she might pitch a fit when she finds out. Would the parents say as Joshua did, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord?
Most people don’t even see all of the work of the devil that’s going on around them, nor do they understand the power of their flesh that remains. You see, even their children can be used to work against them as they decide for more God honoring things such as Christian education.
Following the passage that I quoted above, God graciously provides an antidote to the kind of worldly thinking that Peter displayed. The Bible says in verses 24-26:
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?
That’s it, isn’t it? The loves of this life will cost you your soul. We have to make decisions daily and every one of them, even the seemingly small one, is a decision for Christ or against Him. It can be about the people you choose to hang with, the way you spend money, the way you spend time, the books, the movies, or the music you fill your mind with.
Relax, you say, what’s the big deal? Am I not a good enough Christian? If that is your view, you are on a slippery slope. Christians love God by obeying Him.
1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.
God, please help us to desire to live holy lives!
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Last modified: January 13, 2023
