God’s Plan…..My Plan

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