Are You Spirit, Flesh or Both?

Matthew 16:13-28

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”

20 Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

21 From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.

22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”

23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds. 28 And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”

You have to love Peter for his willingness to grasp who Jesus was and, within seconds of being praised by Jesus, his ability to be completely in the flesh and get reprimanded by Jesus. Peter is a great example of who I am. There are times in each day that I can sound like my life is in order, I am sounding like a spiritual giant, then something goes wrong and my flesh cries out in anger. It can be a huge swing sometimes. This is the unfortunate state we are in as long as we live in these flesh suits. We can greatly reduce these swings if we learn to follow the spirit more closely, but our spirits are willing and our flesh is weak.

In verse 16 Peter got the answer to the question right. Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus came to earth to save that which was lost when Adam sinned in the garden. Adam did not realize just how much like God he was. Satan's bait to Adam then is just like his bait to us now. He poses options to us that are laced with partial truths in order to get us to do or say something that would cause us to stumble. He then jumps on our back with condemnation to try and get us to give up.

I like how Jesus responded to Peter's faith response. Jesus said that Peter was blessed because the Father reavealed to him who Jesus was and he listened to that voice. No man told him who Jesus was. In verse 18 when Jesus said this, "upon this rock I will build my church," he was talking about the revelation that Peter had in regards to Jesus' identity and the source of where Peter got his revelation, not Peter himself. Jesus was not saying to Peter that the church was going to be built on a sinful man. He was talking about the source of and the revelation that Peter received about His identity. The church is to be built on the fact that Jesus IS the Messiah, the Son of the living God and that this revelation is to come to us from God the Father, through the Holy Spirit, and not by what any man will tell us. People can only come to this realization through the drawing of and testimony of the Holy Spirit. No words that I can say of my own can cause any person to believe these truths. The Holy Spirit is the revealer of truth and will draw people unto the love of God by revealing to them the identity of who Jesus is and what He did for them. This is why in verse 20 Jesus instructed the disciples not to say anything to anyone yet about who He was. They had not been empowered by the Holy Spirit yet and were not ready to defend their claims of Jesus' identity.

Jesus goes on to tell the disciples about the plan for His life on earth and where it was going to go and they did not like that plan. Peter shows a lot of guts here by reprimanding Jesus about what He just said. Peter was acting in the flesh when he did this. He was not listening to the witness of the Holy Spirit. If Jesus did not do what He was born to do, we would still be sacrificing animals to cover our sins and would be living under the law, which leads to condemnation. Thank God Jesus followed the plans for Him. I am now righteous because of what He did, not because of anything I do. I could never make myself righteous enough to approach God's throne, but through the blood of Jesus I can boldly come before the throne and talk to God. I can give Him praise and honor and glorify His name without having to go through an earthly high priest. Jesus is my High Priest, He is my advocate with the Father and He is my savior!

Verses 24-26 are really powerful. Through these verses the plan for each of our lives is spelled out. We are to turn from our selfish, sinful nature. The Amplified Bible gives us greater insight into these verses:

24Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also].

25For whoever is bent on saving his [temporal] life [his comfort and security here] shall lose it [eternal life]; and whoever loses his life [his comfort and security here] for My sake shall find it [life everlasting].

26For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life [his blessed life in the kingdom of God]? Or what would a man give as an exchange for his [blessed] life [in the kingdom of God]?

For those unfamiliar with the Amplified Bible the words in brackets [ ] are there for further clarification of what the message is trying to relay.

Take a look at verse 24 for a moment again. See that when Jesus says in order to be a disciple of His that we must deny our selves he is speaking of our flesh. Our flesh is concerned with itself. It is very selfish and does not care for the needs of others. It wants to be satisified and it wants it now. If we listen to our flesh we would never help anyone else out, except if we get praised for doing it. I really like the last statement here where it says that to follow Jesus we need to cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to His example in living and to die for Him if necessary. The word cleave is defined as, to adhere closely; stick; cling or to remain faithful. This is what we are supposed to do when we get married. We are to adhere closely to and remain faithful to our spouse. Another definition for the word cleave is to part or split or to penetrate or advance by or as if by cutting. This is also indicated in the words of Jesus. We are to part or split with our fleshly desires and ways and are to adhere closely to and remain faithful to the Holy Spirit and His direction for our lives.

Verse 25 puts into perspective what gets most people who never accept the promptings of the Holy Spirit. We must be willing to separate ourselves from the comfort and security of this temporal, sinfilled, flesh driven existence for the leading of the Holy Spirit and the way He instructs us to live.

For example, when I was growing up I always accepted the teachings of the bible and believed early on that Jesus was who He said He was and did what He said He did. I grew up in a small church and have always found it easy to talk in front of groups of people. Many in that church would tell me that I should be a pastor. I felt a calling to be a pastor, but only knew of one way in which to do that. When I told my new bride about this "calling" 13 years ago I did not get the reaction I was expecting. She did not want to be a pastor's wife. Mainly because of how she saw her pastor's wife and kids were treated and lived under the microscope of those in the church she grew up in. I listened to the leading of the Holy Spirit that revealed to me that if the Lord will call me to be a pastor then He would call my wife as well.

It took the Holy Spirit 8 years to re-define within me what it means to be a pastor. I feel that when Jesus called me to do the businesses that He has entrusted to me that I was to be a pastor to my clients and those I come into contact with on a daily basis. He also called my wife to join me and work beside me. Praise God! The call on our lives is no different than the call on Kenneth Copeland's life or Mac Hammond's life. God has instructed us how to operate our businesses and to be sowers into His Kingdom. We had to give up the comforts of a steady paycheck and regular hours in order to follow His leading. We have learned to trust entirely on His provision for us and our family and not to rely on anyone or anything else for that provision. Praise God that He is faithful to provide for our every need.

My prayer today is that I cleave more closely to Jesus and His direction and plan for me today that I did yesterday. May I continue to give up the comforts that the flesh seeks in order to follow the true comfort of following Jesus and living my life for Him. Thank You, Jesus, for saving me from my selfish desires and providing for me and my family all that I could ask or dream. Amen.