Tues.’s Devo - The Rock of Christ

Read: Matthew 16: Mark 8; Luke 9:18-27
The Pharisees came to Jesus asking for a sign from heaven. Wasn’t healing, deliverance, miracles enough signs for them? Apparently not. It wearied Jesus so he told them the only sign they were going to get was the sign of Jonas the prophet. They would have studied Jonah extensively and have known that Jonah was sent to a heathen people with one message - “Repent”. Jesus was referring the spiritual leaders to the city of Nineveh and telling them they needed to repent. One thing is for certain: Jesus was not afraid of the Pharisees.
Next, we see the Jesus with his disciples going to the other side of the sea of Galilee. Jesus tells them to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and they immediately go to condemnation. They think they have done something wrong and forgotten the bread. They are still seeing out of carnal eyes and Jesus is trying to teach them to have spiritual eyes. He was not talking about physical bread but the yeast or wrong doctrine of the Pharisee. He wasn’t saying that bread with yeast was wrong but the yeast had to be right. They ate unleavened bread in their feasts before Jesus came but once he rose from the dead they were to eat bread with yeast in the last four feasts - The feast of pentecost, trumpets, yom kipper and tabernacles. The feasts are in order for a reason. They follow time. The first three feasts all occurred during the week of the feast of unleavened bread. Once Jesus was risen they had the yeast of God that they could eat.
When Jesus asked his disciples who they thought he was, I love Matthews account the best because it says that Peter answered: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus blessed Peter for saying this and told him that he understood that not with his head but with his spirit. Then he told him the most misunderstood line. He said, “upon this rock I will build my church.” Most people believe that because Peter means “rock” that they were saying upon Peter he would build his church. How absurd is that since in the next few verses he is rebuking Peter and calling him Satan. He was talking about the rock of truth that Peter had. Peter understood that Jesus was the son of God and the Messiah. That is the rock that we build our church upon. That is the rock we stand on.
Lord, upon the rock of your teaching, your leaven, we stand!