I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” Matthew 16:21-23 NLT

Years ago, I was eating at a restaurant with a lady friend. The waitress politely showed the dessert tray to us, when my friend, trying to watch her own figure, put up her hand and said, “Get thee behind me Satan!” The waitress turned red in the face and walked away rather miffed. I did not blame her! I explained to my lady friend that the waitress thought she was calling her Satan. That was very rude, especially when she was only doing her job and being polite. My friend felt terrible and apologized to the waitress even though the waitress really did not want anything to do with her at this point. Regardless if the temptation to eat sweets was actually from Satan or not, the waitress was not Satan!

Jesus realized Peter was not Satan. Jesus was not calling Peter Satan. Jesus was just looking at Peter while He was talking to Satan. Maybe Jesus just wanted Peter to know where that idea that He should not have to die was coming from.

So why was Satan using Peter to sway Jesus from dying? By the way just because Satan temporarily used Peter, did not mean Peter was “demon possessed.” Let’s relax a little and give our Christian brothers and sisters some slack when they make bad decisions in the church. Even if a pastor or church leader does make an actual error, it does not mean they are demonic and part of an underworld conspiracy to destroy the church. It just means they are human like you and me. Even when Aaron made the golden calf, as stupid as that may have been, and we all agree 4,000 years later it was pretty stupid, neither God or Moses accused him of being demon possessed or intentionally trying to destroy God’s movement. Moses berated Aaron’s actions without ever berating his motives.

But I digress. So why was Satan using Peter to sway Jesus from dying? Because Satan knew that if Jesus died His power would be destroyed.

But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. 1John 3:8 NLT

Jesus destroyed Satan’s works of deception when Jesus showed God’s true character on the cross. If Jesus had an ego or love for self then Satan would have had power over Him, but Jesus had no ego and no love for self or self preservation, therefore Satan had no power over Him! In order for my phone charger to influence my phone with its electricity, my phone must have an outlet that will connect with my charger. In order for Satan to influence us, we too must have a little outlet where he can connect with us. Our ego and love of self is that outlet that lets Satan connect with us! As long as we are alive to self ego and self interest Satan will have a connection with us. The way to break  that connection is to die to self!

For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.Romans 6:7 NLT

Satan wants us to keep ourselves and our selfish ambitions alive, because by doing so he will always have a powerful influence over everything we do-even in the church! But if we die to self we are free from Satan’s power. Truly this is why Jesus said,

“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?Matthew 16:24-26 NLT

You may study this week’s SS lesson here.