Matthew 16:23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men
We all speak for someone. Most of us have probably had the experience of hearing someone say something and thinking, “Ah, I know where they got that!” Maybe someone tells you, “You sound just like your dad.” Maybe your dad says, “I can tell you have been talking to Uncle Merv again.” Someone at work might say, “You’ve been reading so and so. I can tell you listen to such and such a podcast.” That may feel unfair at times, but the truth is that we all speak for someone. More often than we realize someone else is speaking through us. You see, what you say reveals whom you heed, listen to, imbibe. That is just the way life is.
This is graphically illustrated for us in Matthew 16 in two consecutive stories. They are both regarding Peter and what He believed about Jesus and God’s plan, and they are both about what Peter said. Peter was very quick to speak and he spoke here. In Matthew 16 Jesus asks His disciples, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” Jesus was beginning to create quite a stir. People were somewhat confused about Him. Some said He was John the Baptist. Some said He was Elijah. Some said He was Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
Then Jesus asked the poignant question, “But whom say ye that I am?” That is all that matters today. Who is Jesus and what do you say? Your life and eternity hinge on that, not on what someone else has said.
Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This was forcefully delivered. Jesus replied by saying, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” In other words, Peter was speaking for God. What he was saying was God-informed. He knew what others did not know because he paid attention and listened. “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
That’s a wonderful story, but the very next story tells us that Jesus began to show His disciples how He “must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.” On one hand, it seems like the disciples just didn’t get this. On the other hand, Peter got enough of this to know it was ominous, negative. So, Peter rebuked Jesus saying, “Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.” Famously, Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” Talk about a day. You start by speaking for God and Jesus says as much, then later you almost sound like you are evil incarnate and Jesus says as much. What is happening here?
What is happening is that in neither case was Peter speaking for himself. He was speaking for someone else and of someone else. The same is true of us today. What you say reveals who you heed. First, it reveals what you believe about Jesus. It is easy to hear other people and be burned by people who invoke God but are not honest but are selfish and wicked. Then we attribute all that we believe about Jesus to what we have seen from people who invoke God but don’t live for God. So, what do you believe about Jesus? What you say about Jesus should reveal what you believe about Him.
What you say reveals what you believe about God’s plan. What Peter was objecting to was God’s plan to send His Son to die for the sins of the whole world, including us and Peter. But Peter was smart enough to know that if Jesus suffered, the servant is not greater than his lord. Indeed, most of these disciples suffered and died for Christ. Peter himself, tradition tells us, was crucified like Christ, but he was crucified upside down because he objected to being martyred in the same way that Jesus gave His life as a sacrifice for us. So, what you say reveals what you believe about God’s plan.
What do you believe about God’s plan for you? Do you believe that God is good? Do you believe that money is the only metric? God has given us richly all things to enjoy. I can be thankful for money and the simple pleasure of life, but there is more to life than those things and what I say sometimes reveal what I may not myself know consciously. It is very hard for us to hear ourselves and to know what we are saying, but it would be wise to take heed to what we are saying. What we say comes from what we think, and what we think comes from what we hear.
May God help us today to be deliberate about what comes into our eyes, ears, and mind because what you say reveals whom you hear.