The ways of God vs. the ways of man

He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels." (Mark 8:31-38)

It is always shocking to hear Jesus rebuke Peter in this passage of Scripture. Peter had been with Jesus for three years by this point, learning from the Lord’s own lips about sin, God’s mercy, and the promise of eternal grace. Peter had been among those sent out by Jesus to preach the coming of the kingdom, and had been granted the authority to work miracles during that tour of preaching. Peter had even been given wisdom by the Holy Spirit to recognize that Jesus was truly the Christ, the One anointed by God to save men from their sins. How shocking, then, to see this man rebuke Jesus for speaking of going to the cross to die; how shocking to hear Jesus reply, "Get behind me, Satan! ...You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Jesus’ stern response should provoke us to think: what are the things of God? What are the things of men? And how are these two sets of priorities different?

First we should be clear in our minds—there are only two ways to live your life. Either you accept God’s priorities as your own, or you accept Satan’s. There is no third choice. When Jesus said "Get behind me, Satan! ...You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men", He clearly identifies human priorities with the satanic. This is because anyone who rejects our Lord Jesus is by default a follower of the devil. Jesus said, He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters (Matthew 12:30). Any method used to make decisions about life that is not based on our Savior’s teachings is a method of Satan's that supports his goals.

So let us contrast "the things of men" with "the things of God." One teaching of men is that power is good. A line from a famous play goes, "It’s good to be the king!" It’s good to be on the varsity team; it’s better to be the quarterback. It’s good to be a congressman; it’s better to be the President. People enjoy being in positions of authority because it means that your opinions are listened to, your wishes are carried out. Few are the people who are content to work their entire lives in an entry-level position of a company.

The disciples were no different. They had been taught growing up that the Messiah would bring freedom to those in captivity. At the time of Jesus, Israel had been occupied by the Romans for several decades; the Jews very much felt as if they were captives of the Empire. So the disciples, like any Jew, believed that the Messiah was going to raise up an army, kick Rome out of the Holy Land, and set up an earthly kingdom even greater than David and Solomon’s. This was very appealing to the disciples, because as Jesus’ closest followers they would have positions of influence within this new kingdom.

But the ways of God are different than earthly ways. Jesus did come to set the captives free, but political liberation and earthly rule were not on Jesus’ agenda. Jesus came to free men from their captivity to sin. At the beginning of His earthly ministry, Jesus said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor (Luke 4:18-19). The poor are oppressed by poverty. The blind are oppressed by their faulty eyes. Captives are oppressed by the need of powerful men to control the lives of others. The uniting theme of Jesus’ ministry is freedom from oppression. But the only oppression common to all men is the oppression of sin. It is because of the curse of sin that resources are not distributed equally and some are poor. It is because of sin that death and disease stalk the world, bringing crippling problems like blindness. It is because of sin that people cannot get along with each other, and some end up imprisoned or politically oppressed. Sin is the great oppressor, and Jesus came to break its power and set its captives free. Men seek to oppress; Jesus seeks to free.

Another difference between the "things of men" and the "things of God" is the attitude towards time. People tend to focus on the here and now, or at best, on the near future. How many teenagers, while exploring their sexual urges, take time to wonder what life could be like ten years in the future, infected with AIDS? How many young adults save for a retirement that is 40 years away? How many middle-aged parents take the time to prepare for their children’s future by making out a last will and testament? Credit cards were invented because our unwillingness to plan for the future instead of living in the moment.

The disciples were focused on the near future. Even after Jesus rose from the dead, one of their questions remained: Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6). Earlier, Peter had said, We have left everything to follow you! (Mark 10:28). Although he did not come right out and say it, Peter was basically asking: "we’ve given up everything for you, Lord—when will we be rewarded?" The disciples were looking for Jesus to give them a comfortable life in the near future.

But Jesus’ focus is on the long-term. Jesus lives eternally, and His first priority is what will happen to us eternally. For mortal man, 80 or 90 years of life are only the brief beginning of the soul’s eternal existence, like the brief pregnancy that comes before a long human life. What is truly important is our eternal situation: unending misery alone in the dark, unloved and forgotten? Or unending peace and love in the warmth of God’s light with all our Christian friends and relatives? This is why Jesus came to end our captivity to sin—so that we could be spared eternal darkness and live in eternal light.

This is not to say that Jesus is unconcerned with our happiness here and now. Jesus is very concerned that we be content. But in a world made distorted by sin, we cannot expect continual happiness or pleasure; in Philippians 4:12-13, Paul reflected on the ups and downs of his life when he wrote: I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Jesus warned, the poor you will always have with you (Matthew 26:11). Our Lord told the disciples, Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes (Luke 12:23). We can be happy in the here and now, regardless of our circumstances, when we let Jesus focus our attention on the things that are both now and eternal—forgiveness and living in relationships of love. Men focus on the immediate things that do not last; Jesus focuses on the things that are eternal.

The final way that the "things of men" differ from the "things of God" is in the area of love. Men tend to love irresponsibly—their attitude towards love is that it must, first and foremost, fulfill my needs. This attitude leads to many divorces, because one spouse decides that the love in the marriage no longer fulfills him or her. This attitude leads many couples to live together before marriage, trying to assess whether the love that they share can "go the distance" and fulfill both of them for all the years that lie ahead. This selfish understanding of love is based on the human saying, "you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours."

The disciples were guilty of such an irresponsible love. When Jesus told them that He was going to suffer and die, their immediate reaction, voiced by Peter, was selfish. They might just as well have said: "How can you think of putting us through such a thing? Don’t you care about our needs, our feelings?" The disciples were not up to the challenge of staying in a committed relationship of love with Jesus through the dark, fear-filled hours of Good Friday. The disciples all fell asleep when Jesus requested their support in prayer. The disciples all fled from Gethsemane at Jesus’ arrest, and when Peter was later accused of association with Jesus, he went so far as to deny on oath that he even knew who Jesus was.

But Jesus’ love is an unselfish love. Jesus’ focus was not on what He got out of loving us, but on what we would get because of His love for us. Jesus suffered all the dark despair of loveless hell in our place on the cross, so that we could be spared that awful conclusion to our earthly lives. Jesus suffered such darkness that the sun itself was dimmed for the final three hours that our Lord hung bloodied upon the accursed tree. Jesus experienced the worst that hell could offer when He cried out My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Mark 15:34). And our Savior endured all this willingly, out of love for us—did it even though we were lost in our sins and could have cared less about being saved from their oppression. Paul writes, God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

Jesus’ love was a responsible love. Jesus’ love looked at us in all of our ugliest moments, and loved us in spite of them. Jesus knew what was needed to save us from the disaster that a sin-filled life results in, and because He loved us He took whatever steps were needed to rescue us from that grim end. Those steps required His death. Jesus said, Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). That is the definition of true, responsible love—it is a love that holds nothing back, that fears no sacrifice, so long as the one who is loved is benefited. The love of men is focused on personal benefit; the love of Christ is focused on caring for the needs of others, no matter the personal cost.

The disciples did not want Jesus to go to the cross—that journey would end their hopes for power in an earthly kingdom during their lifetimes, and it would put each of them through a soul-wrenching personal ordeal. These objections played right into Satan’s hands, because if Jesus could be persuaded to avoid the cross, no sacrifice for sins would be made and everyone would remain oppressed by their sins. This is what Satan wants, because those who die in their sins are rejected by God and join Satan in hell forever. But Jesus is so committed to us in love that no personal sacrifice was too great to keep Him from rescuing us from our sins, so that we can have contentment in life and eternal joy in heaven. This is the difference between "the things of men" and "the things of God."