apostleship as entering some kind of elite status , which , on one hand , it was ! But it was only elite in the sense that the twelve apostles Jesus chose were going to give eyewitness testimony to the authenticity of Christ ’ s divine nature through their own suffering .
Simon Peter answered , “ You are the Messiah , the Son of the living God .” Jesus responded , “ Blessed are you , Simon son of Jonah , because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you , but my Father in heaven . And I also say to you that you are Peter , and on this rock I will build my church , and the gates of Hades will not overpower it . I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven , and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven , and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven .”
If we stop right here , this feels like a triumphant message from Jesus , especially for Peter ! It ’ s like he received this giant promotion out of nowhere . Right answer , Peter ! And if I ’ m Peter , I ’ m feeling incredibly affirmed by Jesus . And if I ’ m Peter ( or Ronnie Martin ), my ego just made a grand entrance as well . I ’ m loving my new name , already generating some ideas for the future , and imagining what kind of churches God is going to build through me as newly appointed CEO of the New Covenant Church-Planting Network . But Peter ’ s vision of ministry was skewed because His vision of Christ ’ s mission was skewed . How he reacts when Jesus essentially lays out His churchbuilding prospectus to him is telling .
From then on Jesus began to point out to his disciples that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders , chief priests , and scribes , be killed , and be raised the third day . Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him , “ Oh no , Lord ! This will never happen to you .” Jesus turned and told Peter , “ Get behind me , Satan ! You are a hindrance to me because you ’ re not thinking about God ’ s concerns but human concerns .” ( Matt . 16:21 – 23 )
You can practically hear the newly acquired “ authority ” that emanates from Peter ’ s voice . Instead of asking Jesus to clarify what He means or why suffering is part of His mission , Peter immediately begins to rebuke the Creator of the universe . This will never happen to you . Peter reacts with such fear and force instead of concern and care for His Lord who just said He would suffer many things .
Like Peter , as small-town pastors , we can become easily blinded by our perceived sense of importance and relevance . Our towns may be small , but they can deceptively become the center of a universe , remaining happily detached from the larger world . The example I gave from the story above gives some evidence of that . Unlike those who pastor in more densely populated areas , smalltown pastors can achieve a level of fame , notoriety , and influence since they have far less ground to cover and diverging political obstacles to weave through . Like Peter , a small-town pastor can develop a skewed vision of ministry because Christ ’ s vision of mission has been blurred by an exaggerated sense of influence and self-importance . So , what is the way forward here ? How do we move from haughtiness to humility and make sure this is the culture our church is being
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