In one of the more surprising passages in the Bible, Jesus is talking to Peter……..his lead apostle……the man upon whom he intends to found his church. Peter and Paul, after Jesus himself, will soon become the most important pillars in the foundation of the Christian faith.

Jesus calls Peter “Satan”.

This is shocking behavior for Jesus. With the exception of running the merchants out of the temple, I can think of no other episode where Jesus was angry and aggressive. No doubt Peter was shocked and probably deeply hurt. The essence of this statement is that Jesus is calling Peter……..an enemy. That Jesus would act this way to someone whom he clearly thought a lot of………someone he loved………indicates that this episode contains some very important teaching, not just for Peter……but for us. In fact, it is one of the most important lessons of the entire Bible. Jesus hits Peter with it……..right between the eyes.

And here it is:

There are two worlds……a temporal world which is ours to do with as we please……..and a spiritual world over which we have absolutely no control. One world in which we are at the top of the pyramid………one world in which we are at the bottom. Things of man……and things of God. These worlds are drastically different. They operate on different assumptions. They operate on different rules. They operate on radically different hierarchies. And we must choose…….just as Jesus demanded that Peter choose. We cannot operate by the rules of the temporal world and expect to fit into the spiritual world. Many of us try to force our temporal rules onto the spiritual world……..but this is futile…….not to mention dishonest……because we have no authority in the spiritual world. We can apply the rules of the spiritual world to improve the temporal world…….but the rules of the temporal world are not valid in the spiritual world.

The ministry and teaching of Jesus can be divided into two areas……..he explains the spiritual world and how it works…….he teaches us how to live in our temporal world by using the spiritual world as a guide.

Why is this teaching so important?

Because the spiritual world is more real…….more important than the temporal world. The spiritual world is eternal and is perfected…….as opposed to our temporal world which is constrained by time and is clearly imperfect. Jesus is so emphatic with Peter, because he wants Peter’s priorities to be correct. He wants Peter…..and you and me as well…….to align our actions, our thoughts, and our appetites with the permanent, perfected, eternal, spiritual world. If we strive toward that we will soon reach that spiritual world, and, as a side effect, we can improve our broken, temporary, temporal world.

But what if we fail? Relax……because we already have failed and will continue to fail. But, our failures are limited to the temporal world. At the cross, our failures are forgotten. The spiritual world is unaffected by what we have done here.

Jesus demands that Peter align his life with the spiritual world.

He demands no less of me…….and you.

But he (Jesus) 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.”

Jesus, ESV

he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

Paul, ESV

As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Paul, ESV

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Paul, ESV

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Jesus, ESV

Let’s say that you are a commited secular humanist…….a functional atheist. You believe in mankind and science. You believe that our physical world is all that we have. You believe that when you die……..the chemical reactions that run your brain end, the lights just go out, and there is nothing. Because this world is all that you have, you work tirelessly to save it…….and that is noble. We all owe you a debt of gratitude for your work…..especially on the environment.

The down side is that if you are wrong…….if the Bible is correct…….you will, at best, miss out on paradise. And the worst case scenario, for you, is pretty scary. But, that is your call. I disagree with you……..but I can respect your position. Right or wrong……..it is intellectually honest.

But what about your children? What are you teaching them? Children naturally follow their parents. There are a few rebels in every generation; but, for the most part, if you are liberal, your children will be liberal, if you are conservative, your children will be conservative. If you are a secular humanist/atheist, your children will probably follow you down that path.

And this is fine……..if you are right.

But, what if you are not right?

You may be teaching them an ideology that will not serve them……..in the long run.

I taught my children that the only path to the father……and paradise……..is Jesus. If my teaching was incorrect, they will try to follow his teaching…….to love God and man……and it will not take them to paradise. They will have wasted their time, their effort, and their love……if it is even possible to waste love. And, ultimately, they will end up in the same place as you and me……pushing up daisies.

But, if your teaching is incorrect, where is it leading your children?

I have always said that if my children do something wrong that is contrary to my teaching and example, that failure is on them. But, if they do something wrong by following my teaching and example………that failure is my fault.

I will be blunt.

If you teach your children to be secular humanists……..to deny God……….and if you are wrong……..if paradise and hell are real……..you are responsible for what their eternity turns out to be.

The greatest responsibility that we have as parents is to live our lives, by teaching and by example, in such a way that our children will wind up in a good place.

You may not believe………that is your call. But, please, expose your children to the teaching of Jesus……the teaching of love……..then let them decide.

“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus,ESV

Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Solomon,ESV

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Jesus, ESV

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

James, ESV

And all of those other rules.

I used to listen to a talk show…….Dr.Laura. The topic one day was the ten commandments. A caller was objecting to them……she said, “they are so narrow minded”. The caller hated the way that they restricted her freedom……..and they do. They restrict our ability to lie, steal, murder, envy, engage in recreational sex, dishonor our parents, work all of the time, and most of all……..they require us to love…….to give to others. In essence, the caller said that the ten commandments were proof……..that God is a cosmic killjoy.

I grew up in an America that was different from the country that we know today. There was an understanding that there were ideas and institutions that were bigger than me……..God, country, family. It was a given that my place was to serve these institutions……..even when I didn’t understand…….even when I objected. My identity was an American and I was expected to serve.

That America is gone.

America today is a country of entitlement. We focus on what we can get…….from the country and from others…….social security, medicare, food stamps, reparations, whatever is in the nearest convenience store. Everyone is identified as a member of some subgroup……..wasp, black, boomer, millineal, democrat, republican, gay, trans, etc. Our identity group is entitled……..so we add our group’s entitlements to our own.

The failure of America as a nation……..is the failure of the American people.

John Kennedy was talking about the death of the America that I grew up in when he said,

“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,”

We chafe against the commandments………because they run contrary to our sense of entitlement. The commandments demand that we give……..when our current culture tells us that we should take……..that we deserve it.

“Get what you deserve”………an ubiquitous Medicare ad.

There is a fence at the back of my yard. My dog sits by the fence and stares out. He sees and smells all manner of great stuff beyond the fence…….and he wants it all. I’m sure that he sees the fence as an impediment to his freedom……..the freedom to chase down what he wants…..what he deserves. But, in addition to the rabbits, there are packs of coyotes and javelinas. There are rattlesnakes out there. As it turns out, the fence was put there by someone a lot smarter than my dog. The fence was put there to protect him…….not to ruin his fun. His world is a better place…….his life is a better life…….because of the fence.

The commandments are just like the fence. They were put there by someone a whole lot smarter than you and me. They are designed to protect us……to improve our lives.

Take a good hard look at America today. Can you honestly say that we are better off for having torn down the fence?

Can you honestly say that we are better off for having discarded the commandments………for having discarded God?

I don’t think so.

Love God
Love your fellow man
Don’t lie
Don’t steal
Don’t murder
Sex is for husbands and wives
Honor your parents
Don’t covet
Rest on Sunday

The ten commandments, abridged…….by me

“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

Jesus, ESV

For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus, ESV

If you take a sheet of paper and make two columns, one labeled “right” and the other labeled “wrong”……..then ask 100 people to make two lists, one for each column. You will find a shocking degree of agreement. In a world where we disagree about so many things, we typically agree on what is right and what is wrong.

Why?

I think that we agree……..because the ideas of right and wrong are hard wired into our hearts. The Darwinist will say that this is so because these ideas are “Positively Adaptive”. But, that requires some substantial logical contortion. It is hard to find the adaptive benefit for the guy who runs into a burning building……to save a stranger. And yet it happens frequently. I believe that there is a different explanation. I believe that the lists of right and wrong that we share were put there…….at our creation…….by our creator…….because we need them. If you go to a remote island and meet someone with whom you have nothing in common……culture, language, dress, diet, etc. You will find that their list of right and wrong is essentially the same a your list. This shared, innate understanding of right and wrong is possibly the best evidence that we have for a common creator.

So…….how does this fit with our intense political disagreements.

Abortion for one.

Half of us say that it is wrong to kill an innocent child. Half of us say that it is wrong to force a woman to complete an unwanted pregnancy.

It turns out that both of these “wrongs”……….are true.

Furthermore…….both of these “wrongs” are inseparable.

So……we have to choose which “wrong”……… is wronger.

Enter appetites.

In our current culture, we typically base our decision……..on which “wrong” is wronger……….on our appetites. In other words, we sort between right and wrong………based on what we want. And this is a slippery slope. When we make this decision based on our appetites, we are open to rationalization, justification, and self serving logic.

And there is the rub.

Decision making based on appetite………served by rationalization, justification, and self-serving logic…….has become the hallmark of our world.

This applies to our biggest conflicts………abortion, gun control, climate change, immigration reform, the war in Ukraine, and many more.

When you boil it down, appetite based decision making is destroying our culture……..and quite possibly our world and even our species.

What to do?

When we make a decision…….when we shop, when we turn on the TV, when we vote, we need to have a hard look at our appetites and at our innate sense of right and wrong. We need to consciously choose which of these two mutually exclusive decision making methods we are going to pursue. Right…….or appetite.

The Bible offers us some useful guidance:

Love God
Love your neighbor

Did you notice that “Love yourself”……….was not on the list?

Did you notice that “Pursue your appetites” was not on the list?

It is quite possible that our creator…..who made all of this………has given us a better tool for how to run a planet than our appetites.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Jesus, ESV

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Jesus, ESV

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

Solomon, ESV

They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

Paul, ESV