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The Crucified Path to a Glorified Crown: The Divine Paradox of Discipleship (Matthew 16:24-28) · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reformed Thinking. Whether you are a seasoned
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  theologian looking to sharpen your doctrine or someone who is,
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  you know, simply hungry for a solid biblical truth, this
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  discussion is custom tailored for you.
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  Yeah, absolutely. You are stepping into a space
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  dedicated to looking closely at the scriptures alongside a
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  massive stack of theological research, historical
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  commentaries and confessional documents.
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  And we have a very specific mission for today's deep dive
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  into the source material. We're going to unpack the stark,
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  cross shaped reality of Christian discipleship found in
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  the Gospel of Matthew chapter 16, verses 24 through 28.
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  Right. And it is vital to note that
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  everything we discussed today is anchored firmly in the truths of
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  Scripture as summarized by the Westminster Confession of Faith.
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  OK, let's unpack this. We live in a world that is
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  completely obsessed with self-care.
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  The cultural the prevail. The prevailing cultural wind
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  tells you to curate your life, maximize your comfort, trust
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  your own instincts and basically follow your own heart.
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  All the messaging you receive from advertising, media and
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  modern psychology pushes you towards self preservation and
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  self esteem. Right.
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  I mean, that is the air we breathe.
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  But then we open the Gospel of Matthew and we read Christ's
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  startling demand to deny yourself, take up an instrument
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  of execution, and walk toward death.
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  It is a massive collision of worldviews.
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  Yeah, it really is. We're talking about the
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  difference between a modern spirituality that tries to
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  decorate the throne of the self and a true biblical faith that
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  demands you step off that throne entirely.
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  So to grasp the gravity of this, we need to set the historical
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  and literary stage. Definitely, and the commentaries
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  we are pulling from today paint a very vivid picture of where
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  this conversation takes place. Yeah, Jesus and his disciples
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  are at Caesarea Philippi, and Jesus asks this pointed
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  question. He asks who do you say that I
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  am? And Peter gives the definitive
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  confession, saying you are the Christ, the son of the living
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  dog. What's fascinating here is the
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  immediate pivot in the text. As soon as Peter confesses Jesus
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  as the Messiah, Jesus begins to teach that he must go to
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  Jerusalem to suffer and be killed.
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  The theological commentaries draw our attention to a specific
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  Greek word used here, which is day.
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  Translating to it is necessary, or he must.
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  Wow, so it is a divine necessity, not just an
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  unfortunate accident. Precisely.
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  The cross is not a sudden derailment of God's plan because
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  the political climate in Jerusalem got too hot.
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  It is the very reason the Son of God took on human flesh.
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  Right. But that paradigm shift brings
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  out a really visceral, almost violent reaction from Peter.
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  The text tells us Peter actually pulls Jesus aside and begins to
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  rebuke him, saying, far be it from you, Lord, this shall never
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  happen to you. Peter wants a crown without a
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  cross. He wants a savior without the
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  suffering. He really does.
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  And Jesus responds with the sharpest rebuke in the entire
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  chapter. He looks at Peter and says, get
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  behind me, Satan. That is such a heavy response.
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  It is heavy but necessary. The impulse to avoid the cross,
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  the desire to grasp glory without obedience, is exposed
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  right there as an ancient satanic temptation.
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  Christ refuses to let his disciples harbor a dangerously
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  half understood view of the Messiah.
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  Yeah, because desiring A crossless Christ is basically
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  desiring a Christ who cannot save you from your sins.
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  Yes, and the sources we are studying draw a strict Reformed
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  theological line right here. Before Jesus issues the commands
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  of discipleship, He establishes the gospel reality.
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  We cannot take up our cross until we look to the one who
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  took up His cross first to purchase our redemption.
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  The imperative of discipleship is always grounded in the
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  indicative of the Gospel. That is the bedrock we have to
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  keep our feet planted on as we move into verse 24 where Jesus
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  outlines the inescapable demands of discipleship.
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  The verse opens with the universal condition.
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  Jesus says if anyone wishes to come after me.
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  Right, and the commentaries note a fascinating detail in the
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  original Greek phrasing. There it uses Etis de la opismo
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  Elphine, which is a first class conditional clause.
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  And for those listening who don't read ancient Greek, that
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  essentially means, assuming you actually want to follow me, here
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  are the terms. It is not a call for an elite
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  group of super Christians. It is the baseline requirement
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  for anyone who claims to belong to Christ.
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  Yeah, it applies to every single person.
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  When we break down the first imperative Jesus issues, we see
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  the absolute severity of those terms.
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  The command is to deny himself translating the Greek compound
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  verb aparna way. In the Greco Roman legal
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  context, this meant the total disowning of a family member.
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  It was a complete legal repudiation.
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  So it is way more than just giving up a bad habit.
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  Oh, absolutely. And if we tie this directly to
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  the doctrine of total depravity as outlined in the Westminster
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  Confession of Faith Chapter 6, the picture becomes crystal
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  clear. To deny oneself is to agree with
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  the biblical verdict that there is nothing in our natural fallen
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  self worth preserving. Yeah, it is the complete
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  repudiation of personal autonomy which strikes a direct blow
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  against the modern secular idol of self-expression.
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  Exactly right. And then Jesus moves to the
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  second imperative, he says, and take up his cross, which
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  translates Erit and Stan. Here's where it gets really
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  interesting. We have to strip away the
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  centuries of modern sentimentalism from that word.
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  A cross was not a piece of jewelry or a metaphor for a bad
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  day at the office. It was an instrument of state
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  terror, unimaginable shame and public execution.
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  Yes, it was designed to maximize humiliation, and the Greek
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  grammar here adds another intense layer of meaning.
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  The command to take up the cross uses an arist verbal aspect.
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  This indicates A definitive, decisive break with the world
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  system. It means intentionally embracing
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  reproach and hostility for the sake of the Gospel.
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  You are willingly stepping into the path of suffering which
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  leads right into the third imperative.
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  And follow me, the Greek word is a coluthus.
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  Unlike the first two decisive actions, this is a present
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  imperative denoting continuous ongoing action.
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  That is such a vital point. The commentaries we are
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  consulting connect this continuous following to the
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  reformed understanding of the third use of the law.
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  We do not just die once. We walk in the bloody footprints
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  of the Savior. Daily sanctification is an
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  ongoing progressive work. But we need to put up a
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  guardrail against legalism here, right?
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  We absolutely do. Our sources provide a massive,
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  unyielding guardrail against legalism.
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  We do not take up the cross to earn our salvation.
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  As the Westminster Confession, chapter 13 on sanctification
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  makes clear, our obedience is fueled entirely by our union
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  with Christ. It is Christ's virtue,
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  communicated to us by the Holy Spirit, that broke the dominion
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  of sin in us. So the strength to follow comes
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  entirely from the one we are following.
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  Precisely. And that ongoing reliance on
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  Christ leads us right into verse 25, where Jesus explains the
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  divine paradox of saving versus losing the soul.
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  Yet notice the word for translated from the Greek gar
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  bridging verse 24 to verse 25. Jesus is providing the eternal
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  ironclad rationale for His hard commands.
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  He says For whoever would save his life will lose it, but
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  whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
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  The word for life there is sucha in the Greek.
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  It means far more than biological survival.
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  It is the inner self, the soul, the eternal identity of the
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  person. Which highlights the futility of
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  self preservation. The instinct of the fallen heart
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  is to save itself. We want to maximize earthly
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  comfort, protect our reputation, and keep all our options open.
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  But Jesus issues a staggering eschatological warning against
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  that strategy. Attempting to preserve this
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  temporal, autonomous self results in ultimate eternal
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  destruction. A person clinging to their own
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  autonomy remains under the righteous wrath and curse of
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  God. He is guaranteed failure.
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  It is, but if we connect this to the bigger picture of the Gospel
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  narrative, we see the gospel remedy in the phrase for my
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  sake. The loss Jesus demands is not
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  purposeless nihilism. It is a conscious act of
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  repentance and faith, losing our old life for the glory of
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  Christ, which results in eternal preservation.
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  It is an exchange. You surrender the counterfeit
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  life of self rule, and you receive the true life of
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  communion with God. And that idea of exchange brings
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  us right to the divine mathematics.
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  In verse 26, Jesus asked 2 rhetorical questions,
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  essentially stepping into the realm of commerce and economics
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  to corner the conscience of the listener.
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  Yes, the vocabulary Jesus uses here is incredibly specific.
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  He contrasts profit, translating the Greek awful A with forfeit
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  translating Zumio. The term awful A refers to an
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  advantage in trade, while zumio means suffering a severe loss or
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  being cast in a suit by a judge. Jesus is setting up a courtroom
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  Ledger. And he gives us the ultimate
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  hypothetical scenario. Imagine a person gaining the
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  whole world, all the wealth, influence and pleasure
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  imaginable. Even if this impossible goal
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  were achieved, if the soul is forfeited, the man is entirely
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  bankrupt. The math simply does not work
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  out, which leads to the second question.
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  Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
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  This highlights the irreversible loss of a soul under divine
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  judgement. Once forfeited, no currency in
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  the universe can buy the soul back.
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  Which really highlights our desperation.
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  It does. If we anchor this in the
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  Westminster Standards, specifically chapters 3 and 5,
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  we see a clear picture of man's total inability to ransom
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  himself. The soul is so valuable that
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  only the sovereign decree of God and the precious blood of Christ
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  can provide the sufficient exchange.
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  We are completely bankrupt without the Redeemer.
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  And that reality of future judgement transitions the text
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  from the present cost of following Jesus to the future
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  certainty of His return. In verses 27 and 28, Jesus says
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  the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of
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  his Father. There was a fixed, unavoidable
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  appointment with judgement. Yes, and Jesus identifies
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  himself as that Danielic Son of Man.
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  This raises an important question, particularly for those
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  of us reading this text through the lens of Reformed theology.
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  How do we reconcile repaying every man according to his deeds
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  with justification by faith alone?
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  That is something a lot of people struggle with.
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  They do, but if we look to the Westminster Confession,
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  specifically chapters 11 and 33, we find systematic clarity.
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  We are justified by grace alone through faith alone.
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  However, our deeds function as the public vindicating evidence
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  of our union with Christ. The final judgement will tear
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  away the mask of hypocrisy and publicly honor the true fruit of
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  the Spirit and the believers life.
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  That makes the reality of the coming judgement a source of
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  immense comfort for the believer.
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  But Jesus doesn't just leave them looking far off into the
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  distant future. In verse 28 He gives them a near
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  term preview saying there are some standing there who will not
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  taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his
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  Kingdom. And our theological sources
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  argue forcefully that this is not a failed prophecy.
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  It finds its immediate narrative fulfillment just six days later
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  at the Transfiguration in Matthew chapter 17.
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  Where they literally see the Son of Man in his Kingdom glory.
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  Yes, and think about the pastoral function of this event.
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  It is a visible word. It is a down payment of future
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  glory meant to strengthen the disciples.
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  God mercifully shows them the blinding glory of the crown, so
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  they have the spiritual strength to carry the heavy burden of the
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  cross. It proves that the path of
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  suffering actually leads to an eternal Kingdom.
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  So as we step back and look at this entire passage, the sources
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  we were relying on today argue this text lands like a hammer
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  blow on modern Christianity. First of all, it absolutely
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  rebukes the culture of self. It completely dismantles the
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  modern catechism of be true to yourself and curate your brand.
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  Jesus demands that your personal ambitions be nailed to the
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  cross. And it forces us to confront the
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  pragmatic methodology in the Church today.
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  Oh, without a doubt, the commentaries dismantle the
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  secret sensitive movement and the prosperity gospel.
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  Marketing Christianity as a consumer product designed to
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  reduce discomfort is a complete betrayal of the text.
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  A church that will not preach self denial cannot produce
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  disciples who actually deny themselves.
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  It is attempting to save the institution at the expense of
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  the truth. So we really have to apply this
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  to our head, our heart and our hands, starting with the head.
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  Our sources insist we must reject liberal theology.
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  We must hold firmly to the confessional truth that union
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  with Christ is our only strength.
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  And moving to the heart, this text forces a serious internal
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  examination. We have to ask ourselves what we
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  love more than Christ. We need to expose the subtle sin
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  of self idolatry. But at the same time, this
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  offers tremendous encouragement to the weary St. because their
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  cross is a mark of true discipleship.
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  And finally, applying this to our hands, meaning our concrete
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  daily actions, the authors call for real obedience in the home,
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  in the workplace, and in the church.
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  It means fathers leading their families with sacrifice.
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  It means office bearers acting with a pastoral spirit.
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  And it means believers choosing integrity over the fear of man.
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  So what does this all mean? Summarizing our deep dive today,
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  it means we must repent of the bargains we make with the world.
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  We must turn away from secret sin and reputation management
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  and simply trust the King whose judgement is certain.
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  As we conclude, it is beautiful to see how the Westminster
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  divines and our Reformed commentators tie this directly
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  back to the life of the Church and the sacraments.
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  If you were to approach the Lord's Table, you should view
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  the bread and the wine as the visible reminder that Christ's
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  body was broken and his blood was shed to purchase the very
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  soul we are so often tempted to trade for the world.
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  We commune with the one who lost his life so that we could find
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  ours. That is a staggering reality to
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  hold in your mind. Before we sign off, I want to
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  leave you with one final thought.
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  Consider this. When you stand before the Son of
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  Man in that final blazing courtroom and the Ledger of your
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  life is laid completely open, will the things you sacrifice
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  your integrity for today even be remembered?
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  Or will they burn up like chaff in the presence of true glory?
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  Thank you for joining this deep dive on reformed thinking.