1 Corinthians 10:1-11: An OT Example Paul Thought Was Relevant for the NT Church

Introduction

In 1 Corinthians 10:1-11 we have an example of apostolic biblical theology. Systematic theology is when we take everything the Bible says about a given subject and synthesize and summarize that information under a doctrinal heading. That is a good, godly, necessary, and inevitable work if we believe the Bible is the inspired word of God. Biblical theology is a little different. It is the study of the progressive revelation of God and his will through the redemptive history and story of Scripture. Rather than synthesizing and summarizing facts which Christians are to believe, biblical theology examines doctrine as it is revealed through the Bible story. After all, God did not give us a systematic theology book, as helpful and proper as those volumes can be. He gave us a book which tells a story, a true story, an historical story, but a story, not a textbook. God makes himself known to us through that story. Neither biblical nor systematic theology are better or worse than the other. Either can be done faithfully and well or not. In fact, you can’t do systematic theology well without also practicing biblical theology, and visa versa. The two approaches are mutually reinforcing and necessary.

In our passage today Paul looks back at the OT story of the exodus and wandering in the wilderness and draws from it lessons the church in Corinth (and the rest of us) needed to learn. He saw an authoritative model in the Hebrew Bible, a story that was historical but was more than just historical; it was pedagogical, exemplary, and alarming. It was a story relevant to the experience of Christians living under the New Covenant, and though this passage is in everyone’s Bible, it uses the OT and views covenant theology in a way that many (Reformed) Christians do not.

Have you ever heard a parent say he was unwilling to discipline or correct a child because he had done the same things at his age? (I hope you’ve never done this yourself.) “I can’t tell my son not to smoke pot because I smoked some when I was his age. I can’t make firm rules about his dating habits because I sowed wild oats back in the day. I can’t tell him not to play Russian roulette with my pistol because who among us hasn’t done so!” One might hope the wicked absurdity of such an approach is self-evident. Parenting requires a certain use of the past, a particular view of history. It involves telling your children stories so that they learn what to do and what not to do. The lesson is not: “Dad smoked pot and slept around, and he turned out okay.” It is: “Don’t be an idiot like Dad was. Don’t presume upon and transgress against God’s grace.”

Paul is a good parent, and the saints in Corinth were his children. He wanted his kids to know their family history: good, bad, and ugly. He expected them to learn from their forebears what was appropriate, and what was not, for the people of God. If you think making moral lessons from examples in the OT is a type of legalistic moralizing, you might want to skip this sermon and section of verses. But since you already showed up for church today, I will try to be gentle as we examine how Paul takes a sledgehammer to the way some people think of interpreting the Bible.

Whose Fathers in the Wilderness?

It is unknown how many of the members of the church in Corinth had been rank pagans immediately prior to their conversion. A good case can be made that many (perhaps the majority?) were God-fearers, i.e. Gentile worshipers of Yahweh, prior to embracing Jesus as the Messiah. But whether that is so or not, no one (that I know of) disputes that the congregation in Corinth was mostly made up of non-Jews. Some of them had worshiped idols in the local temples before they came to faith in Christ, and even if some of them had worshiped Yahweh in the local synagogues, they came from families where their parents and grandparents had worshiped false gods.

If most of the Corinthian Christians were non-Jews, how can Paul say what he does in v.1: Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers [were in the wilderness]? Paul calls them brethren. No problem, you say, they are brethren in Christ. Fair enough. But then Paul says, all our fathers. All our fathers? Since when did the Israelites in the OT become fathers to the converted Greeks and former pagans in Corinth? Paul is not merely saying that he and they were brothers in the Lord; he is saying they are brothers from the same family.

One commentator has observed that “we have a tendency to draw contrasts between the Old and New Testaments in the very places where the New Testament draws parallels” (Douglas Wilson, Partakers of Grace, 137-138). We think that we are being biblical when we draw radical distinctions between the people of God in the OT and NT. Dispensationalists—which means the majority of evangelicals—openly affirm that Israel and the Church are two different groups, two different people groups whom God saves and for whom he has different plans and distinct promises. Obviously there is a distinction between ethnic Israel considered in its hereditary and political sense and spiritual Israel, which Paul calls the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16). But this is where our passage begins to challenge our thinking, whether you are a dispensationalist or simply a modern covenant theologian. Paul affirms continuity between Israel in the OT and the Church in the NT, and that continuity includes many reprobates who died under God’s judgment in the wilderness and were damned.

Let me head off a question I am bound to be asked after this sermon. No, not every one of the Israelites who died in the wilderness were lost. As many as believed in God were saved. There may have been many, maybe even the majority, who recognized their sin of unbelief and repented but who nevertheless died under the judgment God decreed. Dying in the wilderness did not mean they all went to Hell. Remember that Moses was forbidden to enter the Promised Land too, and yet he was saved. But lest some infer from this that all of them were saved or that those Paul has in mind here might have been, let’s pay close attention to the language. The apostle is referring to those with whom God was not well pleased, who lusted after evil things, who tempted Christ, and who were destroyed by the destroyer. These are not descriptions of saved persons who fell into sin and were chastised for it. They didn’t just lose a jewel in their crown. This is a description of those who were false professors, hypocrites, reprobates, destined for hell, and even though not everyone in that wilderness generation belonged to that category, everyone from that generation who was in that category was first a member of the visible Church and once partook, in some way, of Christ.

The Spiritual Advantages They Shared (with Us)

This is the very point over which many modern Presbyterians will stumble, so we need to write some of this in our minds with a boldface font and make liberal use of underlining. The Jews Paul is describing here were reprobates who died under God’s judgment and were members of the Church in the OT who actually partook of Christ. What does Paul say? All our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. Ahem. It appears someone needs to sit down and have a gentle but firm chat with Paul about his covenant theology. He doesn’t appear to realize that only those who are saved partake of Christ and all of those who do so can never be lost.

I should say immediately that neither this passage nor any of those dozens of others in your Bible that make the same point indicate that Paul is an Arminian. Paul was a very good Calvinist, or we might better say, Calvin was a good Paulinist. (Not that either of them would appreciate my saying so. They both would insist they were simply following Christ and tell me to stop talking like a sectarian.) What I mean to say is that nothing taught in this passage contradicts the theology we confess and love in the Westminster Confession. It does, however, contradict what some claim the Westminster Confession says.

Specifically, the Bible says those who belong to the visible Church, those who have been baptized and welcomed to the Table, truly partake of Christ without ever truly possessing the grace of Christ. They have a real connection, a covenantal one, but it is to their condemnation rather than salvation. They belong to the consecrated community, but because they do not believe, they are set apart for judgment rather than for joy. If we wanted to illustrate this, we might describe them as branches connected to the Vine of Christ but which do not bear fruit and are, therefore, cut off and burned. Or we might say they are like bad fish caught in a net, drawn out of the sea of humanity, but then removed and cast aside in the final sorting. We could describe them as branches cut off from an olive tree, actually connected at one time, but ultimately dead and destined to be pruned. We could use any of these analogies, and many others, because they are analogies Scripture uses.

Their passage through the Red Sea is interpreted by Paul as a baptism. The manna they ate is described as spiritual food, i.e. food of the Spirit. The Rock from which they drank is identified as Christ. This is Paul saying these things. He is relating their experience to ours. They were part of the Church. They were connected to Jesus. They enjoyed a covenantal access to him.

The Mosaic economy was an administration of the Covenant of Grace, not the Covenant of Works. So says our Westminster Confession of Faith (7.5), and for good reason. It’s what the Bible teaches. It was gracious in its origin, in its operation, and in its outcome. Those who believed in God under the Law were saved by Christ whose blood flows forward and backward in time (Heb. 9:15). The Law was not given to Israel as a covenant of works so as to justify or condemn them. It had the same purpose for them as it does for us: to serve as a rule of life, a guide to faith, and a path of gratitude.

Christ was the Savior of the Israelites in the OT. He was the Rock from which they drank. Their covenant with God was a covenant of grace. They were baptized just as we are; they ate the bread of heaven just as we do. The forms and symbols may have been different, but the underlying reality was the same. As Calvin explains it in his commentary:

“For that people was a figure of the Christian Church, in such a manner as to be at the same time a true Church. Their condition represented ours in such a manner that there was at the same time, even then, a proper condition of a Church. The promises given to them shadowed forth the gospel in such a way, that they had it included in them. Their sacraments served to prefigure ours in such a way, that they were nevertheless, even for that period, true sacraments, having a present efficacy. In fine, those who at that time made a right use, both of doctrine, and of signs, were endowed with the same spirit of faith as we are.” –s.v. 10:11

Yet… They Fell

But… they fell. A generation was sentenced to death in the wilderness. Why? The writer of Hebrews tells us: We see that they could not enter in because of unbelief (Heb. 3:19). They did not believe in God, and so their covenant proximity and privileges were all for nothing. Their baptism and sacramental bread was a true ministry of Christ, but it could not save them apart from faith. The terms of their covenant were the same as ours: faith in God, trusting the Savior with a living faith, faith that bears the fruit of obedience. None of them were saved by works. No one could be, then or now. God didn’t require that of them. What he required was belief. He required it of them, and he requires it of us. We know that faith is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9; Php. 1:29), but it is still a command of God. This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent (John 6:29). They did not fall because their works were inadequate. They were rejected because they did not believe. They disobeyed the Lord because they did not love and trust him.

I want to be very clear. None of those chosen by God for salvation from the foundation of the world were lost. No one who was justified by faith later lost their faith and, consequently, their justified status. We do not only believe the Lord irresistibly draws his elect to Christ; we believe he irresistibly and inevitably preserves them through faith for life everlasting. When we say that those who fell under (eternal) condemnation in the wilderness were once partakers of Christ, we do not mean they ever partook of the saving benefits of Christ. They were covenantally connected, but not savingly so. They were part of the (OT) Church and, therefore, were sanctified by circumcision and baptism, but they never received the true atoning benefits of Christ’s blood. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us (1Jn. 2:19).

But the fact that they were not truly “of us” in one sense, does not mean they were never truly “with us” in another sense. The NT, not the OT, the NT Scriptures written to the Church after the death and resurrection of Christ warn Christians of the danger of falling from grace.

Gal. 5:4: You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

Peter says false teachers in the Church deny the Lord who bought them.

2Pet. 2:1: But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.

In what sense were they bought? Not savingly, obviously. But it was not pretend either. They did not merely appear to be bought. They were bought, but then denied the relation by their error. Peter goes on to describe Christians who are misled by such men.

2Pet. 2:20-22: For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

How does the writer of Hebrews describe those who fall away?

Heb. 6:4-6: For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. (cf. Heb. 10:26-31)

Evangelical commentaries notwithstanding, this is not a “hypothetical category.” These are real people who were enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, partook of the Holy Spirit, but were lost! They were never saved, but they were connected to Christ, not savingly, not everlastingly, but truly. They trampled the Son of God underfoot and counted the blood of the covenant by which [they were] sanctified a common thing (Heb. 10:29). They were like many of these Israelites. The closing verses of Jude make no sense if covenantal apostasy is not possible in the New Covenant.

Jude 20-25: But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.

It is God who keeps us from stumbling. It is Christ who saves his people to the uttermost. But that salvation is not an insurance policy purchased and then put into a drawer. We have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved, but only by Christ and only if we continue to trust in him.

Saint Paul the Moralizer

So what does St. Paul have to say about all of this history in the OT? It turns out what he says isn’t nearly as gospel-centered or Christocentric as some experts think it ought to be. What he says could be summarized by saying: “Do you see what happened to those Israelites with all of their Presbyterian privilege and advance copies of the Westminster Confession of Faith? They took it all for granted and fell into unbelief and disobedience and died. Don’t do that!”

I have been reliably informed that using OT characters and stories to draw moral lessons for NT believers is bad, a species of moralizing legalism. But we must pardon Paul for doing such things. He went to a Jewish seminary, not a Reformed one, so we can’t really expect him to know how to handle the biblical text in the proper way. Love covers a multitude of sins.

While “heaping scorn on an inexcusably silly idea,” in this case, about preaching, I do want to register my objection to reductionistic moralism. The OT isn’t about the diligence of Noah, the faithfulness of Abraham, the holiness of Joseph, the perseverance of Moses, the courage of David, or the loyalty of Daniel.The OT is, from start to finish, inside and out, every line in every book, about Christ. The Hebrew Bible must not be treated like Aesop’s Fables, and anyone who thinks the OT is simply to teach him how to be a better Boy Scout will eventually find himself equipped to build campfires in Hell. But if you think you can read the OT and not observe, be convicted by, learn from, and aspire to imitate the faith and faithfulness of these men and women, then you’re not reading the Bible the way Jesus and the apostles did.

The Hebrew Scriptures are a revelation of God, not a manual for a better life. They prepare our hearts for the gospel, not provide a self-help program for saving ourselves by the law. Every hero in the Bible is a flawed character, all but one, the Lord Jesus. The Lord gave his life to atone for the sin of ungodly men like Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, and Daniel, and also for Reformed seminary professors who seem to have little to say about the third use of the Law. But the OT not only prepares us for the gospel, it reveals to us its fruit. It shows us examples of faith that we might be faithful. It recounts stories of obedience that we might be diligent. It also shows us examples of apostasy and the pain of unbelief. All these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. God gave this to us as an example for our good. It would not only be a shame not to learn from it. It would be sin.

Pastoral Application

Paul gives us the application he intends for these verses: Do not trust in covenant proximity and privileges, but receive God’s covenant grace by faith, and be faithful. As Charles Hodge says in his commentary on the passage:

“It is not enough, therefore, to be recipients of extraordinary favors; it is not enough to begin well. It is only by constant self-denial and vigilance, that the promised reward can be obtained. This is the lesson the apostle intends to inculcate.” –Hodge, 1 Corinthians, 171

To be an Israelite is not enough. It is not enough to participate in the exodus, pass through baptism in the Red Sea, eat spiritual food from heaven every morning, and drink flowing water from the Rock of Christ. All of these things are wonderful. Praise God for every one of his precious gifts! But these things cannot save you. It is not enough to be in the Church, part of the covenant, and to receive and enjoy the blessings of proximity and privilege which your membership provides. You must trust in Christ, and in him alone.

If you asked these Israelites if they believed in Yahweh, every one of them would have said yes. But the Bible says they fell from grace through unbelief. Their unbelief was seen in lusting after evil things, idolatry, sexual immorality, tempting Christ, and complaining. They claimed they believed, but God said they didn’t. They only had a dead faith, which is not true faith at all. We are not saved by works, but faith without works is dead. The faith that receives God’s grace unto everlasting life is a living faith, a faithful faith, an obedient one.

Living faith is imperfect, just like everything in our lives. I need Christ’s righteousness to atone for my imperfect faith, my imperfect repentance, and my imperfect religion, just as much as for my lust, idolatry, immorality, and complaints. But there is a definitive difference between living faith, true faith, and that which is not faith but often claims to be. Jesus said: Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven (Matt. 7:21).

So what is the will of the Father in heaven? It is to believe in the One whom he sent. It is to look away from ourselves and our sin and to look to Christ. The Israelites fell because they took for granted what God had done for them and continued to look at themselves and to themselves for the satisfaction of their lusts. They lived for their own pleasure, in pride and selfishness, not in faith and humility and gratitude. They were without reverence, even though the pillar of cloud and fire was visible from any place within the camp all the time. After a while you simply get used to it. It’s not enough that we eat heavenly bread every morning. After all, it’s always the same flavor. So we look for something more.

The Hebrews writer, again—it’s almost as if the same author wrote this passage and that book, isn’t it?---the Hebrews writer admonishes us: Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God (Heb. 3:12). Maybe we can’t imagine such a thing happening to us. But what does Paul say in v.12 of our passage? Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

The point in all of this is not to undermine assurance, but to find it in the right place! “I was born in the Reformed Church. I memorized the Heidelberg Catechism in my youth, in German, and then I memorized the Westminster Larger Catechism as well… after I translated it into Latin. I was baptized by a former Moderator of the General Assembly. My profession of faith is regarded as the one the top 10 professions made in the 20th century. I always attend church both Sunday morning and evening, and no one reads their Bible as often as I think about doing so. If you think that is something, just ask me about my humility!” In terms of religious experiences, none of us can compare with any one of those Israelites who saw the ten plagues, were led out of Egypt by God’s mighty hand, and passed through the waters of the sea on dry land. Every one of them had a story to tell, but very few of them believed God when it came time to enter Canaan, and many of them proved to be unbelievers and reprobates and are now in Hell. If we stand, it is only by grace.

You must not trust in your religiousness, in your heritage, in your good works, in whatever you think commends you among the brethren. All I have is Christ. Lord, keep me. The waters of baptism through which you passed were a covenantal cleansing and consecration to Jesus. Live like you belong to him, because you do. The bread you receive at the Lord’s Table is spiritual food. Eat it with gratitude, as if it were bread from heaven to sustain your soul, because it is. The water you drink, the living water that flows in your heart, the Holy Spirit, flows out of the Rock who is Christ. Trust him that he will sustain you in this wilderness. Rely on him, and not on yourself. Cultivate reverence for him and beware of indifference. Be obedient to him, not out of guilt or fear but out of faith and love and gratitude for his grace. Let us not tempt Christ as they also tempted and were destroyed by serpents. Rather let us trust Christ, the One who destroys the serpent’s seed and who will crush Satan under our feet. Amen. --JME

Following Jesus Through Death to Life

 John 21:18-19: Peter’s Challenge

The Challenge That Lay Before Peter

Put yourself in Peter’s sandals for a moment. What has your life been like over the last three and half years? Peter was already married when Jesus bade him follow. He had a wife to support and a mother-in-law as well. Andrew appears to have lived in the same house with them, and there was a fishing boat to maintain and a business to operate if the family was to survive. Yet when Jesus called, Peter knew where his first duty lay. He had followed the teaching of John the Baptizer, and he knew One was coming whose greatness would demand an allegiance like no other. John had identified that man as Jesus, and Peter’s brother, Andrew, had spent the better part of a day with this Teacher and coming home had assured Peter: “This is the Christ” (1:41). So Peter had left his fishing boat and the nets and trusting only in the providence of God and the generosity of Jesus’ supporters, he began a new life as a disciple.

During Jesus’ ministry Peter saw many amazing things. In the same synagogue Peter had attended every week, the disciple saw a demon-possessed man identify Jesus as “the Holy One of God,” and he saw Jesus silence the demon with a word and then rip the evil spirit out of the man’s body with only the power of his voice. Peter had heard of exorcists before, but he’d never seen anyone like this! When Peter returned home that same day, he discovered his wife’s mother gravely ill, incapacitated in bed with a high fever. Jesus came to the bed and took her hand, and suddenly she was completely well! Over the next year Peter saw Jesus heal hundreds of sick people and cast out many demons. Lame men were made to walk, the deaf to hear, the blind to see. Lepers were cleansed, and the oppressed were set free.

One day a synagogue ruler came to Jesus for help. His daughter was very sick, near the point of death, and Jesus agreed to come and heal her. But they were delayed on the way. The Lord stopped to help a woman who had been sick and unclean for many years. Jesus even took the time to stand in the street and listen to her story. It was an amazing work, but in the meantime, a servant came from the ruler’s house to announce that his daughter had died. If only Jesus had not wasted so much time with the woman! Maybe the girl might have survived. But Jesus seemed to take little notice of what the servant said. He went on to the house with the grieving father, and Peter was one of only three disciples he allowed to accompany them. When they got to the house, Jesus told the crowd of mourners not to cry because the girl wasn’t dead, just sleeping. They mocked his foolishness. It must have been very awkward and embarrassing. But Jesus seemed unfazed. He put all of them outside the house, took Peter, the other two disciples, and the girl’s parents into the room where her body was laid out. It was obvious she was dead. Peter didn’t know what Jesus was thinking to say otherwise. It seemed callous and ridiculous, not the kind of thing a holy man ought to say. But then Peter watched as Jesus walked over to the body, grasped the dead girl’s hand, spoke to her gently, and then the girl’s eyes opened… and she sat up. That wasn’t the last time Peter would see Jesus raise someone from the dead, but he never got used to it.

Peter heard parables by the sea and explanations in the house. He watched Jesus feed large crowds in the wilderness with just a few loaves of bread and fish… twice. He saw Jesus instantly stop a storm on the sea by speaking to the wind. On another night he saw Jesus walk on top of the water, and when Peter called out to the Lord--what was he thinking that night?!--Jesus told him to step out of the boat, and Peter did.

Peter knew Jesus had enemies, and he observed many confrontations between Jesus and them as well. He suspected they wanted to kill him, and a couple of times he saw angry crowds try. But Peter was prepared for the possibility. He kept his sword close and was ready at a moment’s notice to fight and die so that Jesus could escape and survive. As Passover once again drew near, Jesus seemed increasingly somber. He had been talking a lot about his death. He seemed to think it was certain, even when Peter assured him it was not. Peter tried to help Jesus see that these morbid predictions were unnecessary and liable to discourage the other disciples, but Jesus simply didn’t understand. Peter tried to be patient with him and encourage him whenever he could.

The night of the Passover, Peter was with Jesus and the other disciples in the Upper Room eating the meal. The Lord had been acting strange all night. He washed the disciples’ feet after supper, something he never should have done as Peter tried to point out. Peter wanted to help Jesus understand the proper decorum for a future King, but the Teacher could be rather stubborn and unwilling to receive wise correction and suggestions. But then Jesus began talking about how all of the disciples were going to abandon him. This was beyond a morose or depressing moment; this was completely inappropriate and wrong! Peter had to speak up. “Not so, Lord! That’s not going to happen. Don’t talk that way. We will stand by you.” But Jesus doubled down. “Really, Peter? Before this night is over you will deny me three times” “No way!” Now Peter was upset. It was too bad Jesus was feeling discouraged, but Peter wasn’t about to let this kind of slander go uncorrected. “Even if all the rest of these guys leave you, I never will! Even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you!”

You know what happened after that. Peter went to the garden with Jesus, and that traitor Judas showed up with a group of armed men. Peter drew his sword and swung for the closest man’s head. He just needed to buy Jesus enough time to slip away in the dark, and if he was lucky, perhaps Peter’s sword would reach Judas before the rest of the men took him out. Peter was ready to sign his promise with blood that night. He did not expect to leave that garden alive. But then Jesus spoke in the dim flickering torchlight. “Stop, Peter. Put away your sword. I don’t need your help. You can’t save me.” Peter did as he was commanded, albeit in a daze. And as he watched, Jesus was arrested and led away by his enemies, and Peter’s whole world collapsed.

Jesus was alive again, and evidently, for reasons Peter would never understand, Jesus had forgiven him and still loved him and still wanted to use him as a shepherd for his flock. Peter was still trying to wrap his mind around it when Jesus spoke again on the beach that morning.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.”

This He spoke, signifying by what death [Peter] would glorify God.

And when He had spoken this, [Jesus] said to him, “Follow Me.” (vv.18-19)

There it was. Peter had been ready to die in the garden that night, but that proved not to be God’s will. But now Jesus told him in no uncertain terms, “If you choose to follow Me on this next journey, it will end in your death. You won’t survive the next part of this story. Now, Peter, follow Me.” There was no question what following Jesus would cost. Peter had been ready to be a martyr, and now he knew for certain that if he followed Jesus, one day he would be.

Scripture does not record the circumstances of Peter’s death, but since ancient times the fathers of the Church have spoken with one voice that he died in Rome during the reign of Nero. Tradition says that he was crucified upside down, which is historically plausible though in Peter’s case the evidence for this manner of death comes later. In the end Peter’s promise was signed with blood, but not in the way it would have been in the garden that night. There Peter hoped to die as a warrior, laying down his life in order to spare Jesus from shedding his blood. In the end Peter died as a martyr, a witness, a preacher of righteousness, laying down his life in service to the One who had first shed his blood for Peter and by doing so redeemed him from sin, pride, and foolishness.

When Jesus Calls a Man, He Bids Him Follow Through Death into Life

Jesus’ prediction of Peter’s death is extraordinary. Few disciples ever know conclusively that they will be martyrs when they begin their ministry. There is a particular way in which this admonition and exhortation applies to those whom Christ calls as pastors of the flock. Though not all will be martyred as Peter was, nevertheless those ordained to feed and tend Christ’s sheep are called to “spend and be spent” (2Cor. 12:15) and to “die daily” (1Cor. 15:31) in that service. Many of us who are pastors should be ashamed at how little we give, how quick we are to complain, and how weak is our commitment in the same office of service where so many men gave their lives.

This is not a sermon for pastors, so what does our Lord’s words to Peter have to say to the rest of Christ’s sheep? Is this only a personal word from the Lord, one that has little relevance for the rest of us? It is personal, and we should not twist it into a command for all people. But it is valuable as an illustration of the nature of discipleship. When Jesus calls a man to follow, he bids him to follow through death into life.

We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, but what does the life of a justified person look like? What does discipleship demand of us? Jesus said, “If any man desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross every day, and follow Me” (Lk. 9:23). To follow Jesus means to love him alone, not merely more than our family, our fishing business, or even our own lives (cf. Lk. 14:26, 33). Forsaking all others, we give ourselves wholly to him. Paul states it this way in Romans 14:7-8: “For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” How does the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism explain it?

That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has delivered me from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, also assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

The disciple knows that “in the midst of life we are in death” (1662 BCP). As Paul would say in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me,” or again in 2 Corinthians 5:15: “He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”

You may not be called to die as a martyr, but you have been called to live as one. Your life does not belong to you. You belong to Jesus Christ. He bought you with his blood. You don’t find time to make for him, he gives you time to work for his glory. Prayer and worship is not secondary but primary. All of life is now a vehicle for and exercise of Christian service. Whether reading your Bible, washing the dishes, rocking the baby, loving your spouse, reading fairy tales to your kids, or sharing a meal with your brothers: “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1Cor. 10:31). Because soon you will stand before him, and then it won’t matter so much how far you advanced in your education or career. No one will care about your grade point average on Judgment Day. We won’t be comparing annual salaries, stock portfolios, or the various cars we owned and drove during our lives in this world. None of these things are evil, by the way. In fact, being a disciple of Jesus transforms every one of them. But your motivation in each pursuit has now changed. You no longer seek to excel for your glory and self-advancement. You pursue excellence because you seek to bring glory and honor to him.

Would you follow Jesus if you knew for certain that doing so would end in your death? Because as a matter of fact, unless Jesus returns first, it will. You may not be crucified or stoned or shot by a firing squad. But you will die in the service of Christ, because that is the only way that a disciple ever leaves this world. Death is the doorway into the presence of Christ, and since every breath that we take and everything that we do we do as disciples through faith in Christ and for God’s glory, then you will die in the same way. It may be in a car crash or from a heart attack or from cancer or simply old age. But whenever and however it happens, you will die in faith and hope and for God’s glory. You can be sure of that. You won’t finish this next part of the journey alive. You must walk through the valley of the shadow of death to reach Mount Zion on the other side. But Jesus will walk there with you. He knows the way, because he walked it before. And now he says to you, “Follow Me.”

Pastoral Application: Are You Prepared to Die Daily with Christ?

We are weak, complaining, selfish, and easily discouraged people. I say we because that is easier than saying me. But it’s just as true of me as any of you, and it is considerably more true of me than some of you. One of the ways the stories of the martyrs in both Scripture and Christian history helps us is in admonishing us to stop acting like spoiled, selfish, whiny children. Jesus calls us to be child-like, not child-ish. Calvin develops the point in this way:

“In Peter we have a striking mirror of our ordinary condition. Many have an easy and agreeable life before Christ calls them; but as soon as they have made profession of his name, and have been received as his disciples, or, at least, some time afterwards, they are led to distressing struggles, to a troublesome life, to great dangers, and sometimes to death itself. This condition, though hard, must be patiently endured. Yet the Lord moderates the cross by which he is pleased to try his servants, so that he spares them a little while, until their strength has come to maturity; for he knows well their weakness, and beyond the measure of it he does not press them. Thus he forbore with Peter, so long as he saw him to be as yet tender and weak. Let us therefore learn to devote ourselves to him to the latest breath, provided that he supply us with strength.

“In this respect, we behold in many persons base ingratitude; for the more gently the Lord deals with us, the more thoroughly do we habituate ourselves to softness and effeminacy. Thus we scarcely find one person in a hundred who does not murmur if, after having experienced long forbearance, he be treated with some measure of severity. But we ought rather to consider the goodness of God in sparing us for a time. Thus Christ says that, so long as he dwelt on earth, he conversed cheerfully with his disciples, as if he had been present at a marriage, but that fasting and tears afterwards awaited them, (Matthew 9:15.)”

--John Calvin, Commentary on the Gospel of John

I have no doubt many of you would be glad to die with Christ if called upon to do so. But how many of us are joyfully living for Christ right now? Will we gladly die daily? We may not be martyred in a dramatic moment, but we are called to live as martyrs every day. Will you lay down your life for Jesus: when the dishes need to be washed, the clothes need to be folded, the kids need to be comforted, the bills need to be paid? Will you lay down your life when the TV beckons but the Scripture has remained unopened? Will you lay down your life when your body craves rest, but your soul is parched for lack of prayer? Will you lay down your life when you are weary and discouraged and when it feels as though there is no point in going on? Will you lay down your life by living it for God’s glory, and keep pressing forward because you know he calls you home?

Conclusion

Our word martyr comes from the Greek word for witness. The martyrs bore witness of Christ and sealed their testimony with their own blood. Without minimizing the magnitude of their sacrifice, do you see that it is only a particular manifestation of the kind of dedication every disciple is called unto? Live for Christ, die, and be received into glory. That is the pattern, the plan, the path that we are called to walk in this valley of shadow. We are men and women, boys and girls, who live eternally, but we live and walk among the dead while we are here. Let our lives bear witness to God’s glory. Let our love for one another--for saints and spouses, children and co-workers, neighbors and enemies--be a testimony of God’s grace and power which has transformed us. Let that testimony be sealed in how we die, as we face the moment of death as those who have been delivered from the fear of it, who welcome it, embrace it, and enter into it knowing we will live with Christ on the other side. If you follow Jesus, you must die. Now Jesus beckons you, “Follow Me.” Amen.