Who’s Using You?
Scripture Reading: Matthew 16:13-23
13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who
do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the
prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to 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 also say to you that
you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not
prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever
you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in
heaven.”
20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.
21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer
many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third
day.
22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this
shall not happen to You!”
23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you
are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
This is such a crucial instance that is being written of here. It’s actually
documented here and also in Mark chapter 8. I’m sure Jesus knew there would be
those who would question who He was. He takes the time here to lay it all out for
us. Put all the cards on the table, so to speak.
First He asks who men say He is. So they throw out some inconsequential
possibilities. John the Baptist, Jeremiah, Elijah etc. Then He puts them on the
spot by asking them directly who they say that He is. Now here comes fearless
Simon. The one who had the courage to get out of the boat and actually walked
on water as we spoke about last week. He puts it all out there. Any question of
who He is should be gone. He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. God was
able to use Simon because he was willing to be used..
Now, Jesus renames him Peter but not because he was big and strong. And not
because he was supposed to be Christ’s earthly replacement as some believe. It
was because of this information that came through him. This information is the
rock the church is to be built upon. The knowledge of Jesus as Christ, Messiah,
Son of God.
After this He begins telling them what He’ll have to go through; the suffering, the
death. And here comes Simon Peter again, to rebuke the Master. He’s willing to
be used again but by whom is he used. Jesus says, “Get behind Me, Satan.”
Peter is being used again but this time it’s by the enemy. Just a few paragraphs
ago he was being used by God.
I was checking the Christian message board yesterday and saw a post titled, Fear
vs. Love. The guy made some valid points. We’ve all heard that the enemy uses
fear to influence us while God is a God of love. This guy who wrote the post was
like, either you’re being used by God or you’re being used by the enemy, period. I
agreed with the spirit of his comment but felt that it could be a constantly changing
thing as we see in this passage with Peter. It’s not an absolute science. You’re
not either all good or all bad. Someone who is not saved can have an urge to do
something good and do it. Someone who is saved can let themselves get angry or
offended and be used by the enemy.
This is why we have to be extra careful. At any time we are susceptible to be used
by the enemy against the kingdom. We have to put on the full armor to protect
ourselves. Romans 9:21-23 speaks of a potter and clay. The lump of clay can be
made into a vessel of honor or a vessel of dishonor. The clay is obviously us.
Just as Simon Peter was used for honor and again for dishonor, we have to stay
on our toes not to allow the enemy a foothold. We are ambassadors fro Christ and
as such would dishonor Him if we allow ourselves to be used for dishonor.
Revelation 12:11 says, They overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of
their testimony. Do you know what it means to overcome? I’ve watched my son
and my brother play video games. There are times when they’ll get to a
particularly difficult level. I can remember Cameron saying that he couldn’t beat
this one bad guy to get to the next level. Then invariably he’ll come back to me
some time later and say, “I did it. I got to the next level.” At which point he goes
into the details that leave me clueless. The point is that he overcame. He
overcame the level, the challenge. The verse says they overcame. The they, is
the believers, those whose names are in the Lambs book of life. So, they
overcame by the blood of the Lamb, the blood of Jesus. Okay, we know of the
importance of the blood of Christ but look at what comes next; and the word of
their testimony. Our testimony is put on the same level as the blood of Jesus.
Our testimony is that important to the kingdom. How do you think it affects our
testimony when we allow ourselves to be used by the enemy? Make no mistake,
unbelievers are watching you. We must learn to recognize the tricks of the enemy
so we can resist his attempts to use us. This week be aware of the things that are
influencing you so you can learn to control those things.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: February 26, 2006