Three Nevers

Living right begins with right thinking. Thinking on this earth is horizontal or human thinking—right thinking is vertical, which is God’s thinking. We need help to think like God. Isaiah says God’s thoughts differ greatly from ours (Isaiah 55:8-9).

God does things contrary to our thinking. Jonah never thought that getting on a ship bound for Tarsus would mean taking a ride inside a whale’s belly. Goliath never imagined a teenager coming at him with a slingshot would be the last thing he saw on earth. The mother who prepared her little boy’s lunch never imagined it would feed five thousand. When Balaam packed his donkey for the Journey to Moab, could he have ever imagined that his donkey would talk to him? When the Philistine king received the report of 1000 dead soldiers, he could never have imagined that they all died by one man. The widow woman could never have imagined that a few drops of olive oil would fill enough containers to pay off all her debts.

God’s thinking is upside down to man’s ideas. The Sermon on the Mount exemplifies that those who thirst, mourn, and are persecuted are blessed. The first shall be last and the last first. The least is the greatest. Jesus came to serve, not to be served. To save one’s life, one must first lose it. Jesus will one day come in glory but must first suffer and die. None of these things made sense to the disciples, and they still don’t to us. I want to give you three Nevers to help us understand the difference between horizontal and vertical thinking.

The First is Never Allow Impulse to Blind You. Peter answered  Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” with, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). It was the correct answer, and Jesus praised Peter for getting it right. But when Jesus went on to predict his death, Peter could not comprehend that Christ should be crucified.

As Peter stated in his confession, the disciples had seen enough to know that Jesus was the Christ—the Son of God. They had seen bread multiplied to feed thousands, Jesus walking on water, and the dead raised to life. They had listened to him spellbound as he taught them truths they had never heard. Was there anything that Jesus couldn’t do? So what was next? Would Jesus strike the Romans down? Surely he would, but when would he do it, and how? But what was this talk of dying at the hands of the chief priests in Jerusalem? Jesus dying--this can’t be!

The Second is Never Think That You Can’t Be Wrong. Peter was impulsive! He showed here more than any other time in the gospels how much he could stick his foot in his mouth. Can you imagine the audacity of rebuking Jesus? Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” (Matt 16:22).

Jesus doesn’t mince words. Peter has drifted far away from what he should have been thinking and seeing. But Jesus turned and said to Peter, `Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me (Matt 16:23). You think like a carnal man, not a man of God. Peter had gone from being the smartest in the class to the dumbest in only a few minutes.

The Third is Never Think that Being a Follower Can Happen Without Self-Denial. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).

This is where the rubber meets the road as Jesus tells us what is required to be his disciple. The pattern is the same as his—cross before the crown. It’s not our happiness but our obedience. The most important part of this command is the (follow me). We get to thinking that we shouldn’t suffer and should go through trials, but Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me!”