Get Behind Me (Mark 8:31-33)
At International Bible College (IBC), we students were required to participate in two hours of Christian service each week. The college wished to give us practical, hands-on training before graduation. Students could choose from several different ministries: Bible class teaching, preaching, prison ministry, hospital visitation, and the like. But to graduate, you absolutely had to do a semester of door knocking. Once a month, you turned in a sheet to the administration showing what activity you did that month and the amount of time you spent on it.
Most students were older than I, and there was a married couple to whom I was extremely close. Aubrey asked if I would do my semester of door knocking with him, and I was thrilled to do that.
For the first few weeks of that semester, Aubrey and I door knocked a couple hours each week. Then, about halfway through the semester, Aubrey asked me if I felt comfortable simply filling out our sheets without actually going door knocking. Yes, Justin agreed. Two or three times Aubrey and I turned in sheets showing we had door knocked when we really hadn’t.
You might also have had a friend urge you to sin. Perhaps a friend convinced you to lie. Maybe a family member implored you to miss worship. Maybe in your younger days a friend urged you to get drunk or a serious love interest urged you to engage in sexual immorality. A friend might have compelled you to do something which violated your conscience.
Peter attempted to convince Jesus to sin in our text. Peter had just made his famous confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus then began to explain to his disciples what that really meant—he would go to Jerusalem, be killed, and then be raised again. Peter wasn’t about to have a Messiah who was martyred, and he told Jesus so. Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!”
Jesus’s rebuke of Peter teaches an important lesson: “You either think like Satan or you think like God.”
Scripture (Mark 8:31-33)
verse 31:
Jesus began to teach that the Son of Man would suffer, be rejected by the Jewish aristocracy, be killed, and be raised. Notice that the text says, “He began to teach.” Jesus didn’t say this once, but he repeatedly taught his disciples what being the Messiah really meant.
We do find Jesus’s teaching the disciples about his Messiahship immediately after Peter confessed that he was the Christ. The disciples seems to have had very little, if any, idea of what Jesus’s being the Christ really meant; therefore, Jesus explained his Messiahship to them.
You and I understand that Jesus came to this world to die for man’s sins; why didn’t the disciples get that? Well, the Jews held a wide range of ideas about the Messiah. Yet, almost all of the Jews expected a king from the House of David. This king would need a huge army to overthrow the Roman oppressors. After overthrowing Rome, the Messiah would establish an earthly kingdom. No one expected the Messiah to be martyred.
verse 32:
Jesus taught his disciples “plainly.” The Greek term means to speak frankly and openly. Jesus was so clear that the disciples could not misunderstand him.
But none of this computed with Peter, thus Peter “took him aside and began to rebuke him.” Again, notice the “began to rebuke.” Peter repeatedly rebuked Jesus for saying he would suffer, die and be raised.
verse 33:
Jesus turned. Disciples walked behind their teacher, so Peter and the others would have literally been behind Jesus.
Jesus saw his disciples. The fact that Mark mentioned that Jesus saw all his disciples likely indicates that Peter was speaking for the Twelve. Peter, in other words, was the one disciple with the courage to speak what everyone was thinking.
Jesus rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan!” Jesus’s referring to Peter as Satan, the ultimate tempter, showed his disciples just how serious this business was. Telling Peter to get behind him likely meant for Peter to get back in his place of subservience to his Teacher.
Peter’s mind was set on the things of man, not the things of God. In calling Peter “Satan,” Jesus seems to have been saying that Peter was thinking just like Satan, instead of God.
Application
“You either think like Satan or you think like God.” In this passage, Peter was thinking just like Satan. He had heard the truth straight from Jesus, but he looked at that word from a human perspective and rejected that word.
When we lived in sin, each of us thought like Satan. Yet, none of us wishes to think like the Adversary today. How can you keep from thinking like Satan?
One: See
You must See Scripture for what it is—the truth of God. Think about this: Peter had heard the truth straight from Jesus’s mouth, but that truth didn’t compute with Peter’s truth. Therefore, Peter rejected Jesus’s truth for his own truth, which was really Satan’s truth.
How often do we hear folks today say that you should choose your own truth? If someone is struggling with a sin and goes to a therapist, he might hear that his problem isn’t the sin, but the problem is really that he refuses to embrace who he really is. I see on Facebook all the time posts about embracing yourself and your own truth and being happy.
The word of God isn’t always what I wish it were; the word of God often says that I have sinned and instead of embracing that sin, I need to repent and get rid of it.
I want you to See that Scripture is truth. Peter refused to do that; you cannot refuse to do that, for Scripture is truth. “All his precepts are trustworthy; they are established forever and ever” (Ps 111:7-8). “Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens” (Ps 119:89); there’s no changing God’s word to suit your whims. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Lk 21:33).
See the truthfulness of Scripture.
Two: Set
Peter had his mind Set on the things of men; you need to Set your mind on the things of God.
Scripture commands you to Set your mind on the things of God. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom 12:2). “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col 3:1-2).
Do you know how to Set your mind on things above? Think about what’s important in your life—your family, your career, your home, your heirlooms, your 401K, your pets, your hobbies, and everything else. View each of those valuable gifts from eternity. How important will your family be in eternity? How important will your career be in eternity? How important will your hobbies be or your pets or your home or anything else be in eternity?
This life is temporary; your next life is eternal. What are the most important things on which you have Set your mind? Where is your mind this morning?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.