Josh Short

Hey everyone, good to see you all here.

Good evening, I should say, actually.

I'm super excited to be here today.

Yes, because it is my now second sermon, because of this morning.

But more because I get to talk to you about God's word, from God's word.

And that's a very exciting thing.

So Sam gave me this passage a few weeks ago.

And it's a great passage.

And so I prepared eagerly.

So let's pray before we get into it, shall we?

So, Heavenly Father, we thank you for the great things that you've given us,

including your son, Jesus, Lord.

I ask that tonight you would open our ears so that we can hear your message, Lord,

and give us hearts that are willing to change for you.

Amen.

Amen.

I'm not sure if you've ever had that moment of clarity in your life,

where you realize that after this point in time or in this situation,

things have to change.

They can't be the same anymore.

There are some pretty famous examples of this,

such as getting married or having children.

But I haven't experienced either of those yet.

So I'll give you one that I do remember and that I have experienced.

I can tell you without any shame that I was an adorable child.

It's a fact.

And at year four, they presented us with an option of joining the music program at my school,

Trafalgar Elementary, or if you're in the French immersion class, Trafalgar Elementary.

And I desperately wanted to be a part of the music program.

I wasn't great at any or many courses at school.

And music just seemed like so much fun.

You could make noise.

It was joyous.

And so I wanted to be a part of it so bad.

And so I applied.

I auditioned, rather, and successfully became a part of the music program at my school.

And I was over the moon about it.

I was the only trombone player in the whole school.

How much fun is that?

But all my joy came to a sudden halt one day.

Let me set the scene for you.

We're in the gym.

You know, kind of the same wood paneling, actually, as we have in the church.

About 50 kids, all tiny, lots of dark-haired clarinet and flute players,

and one small blonde kid with freckles in the back of the room,

making a sound like a baby elephant being strangled to death, just loud as anything.

And I had no idea what I was doing was incorrect in any way.

I was happy to make noise.

But after class, my teacher came to me and said,

if I could play specific notes for her.

I had no idea that there were such things as notes,

or any idea how to play them.

I knew I either had to learn how to play notes, as she said,

or stop playing altogether.

Fortunately enough, I learned my instrument just well enough

to leave it behind when I came here.

But the reason for that story is that in the passage today,

we have the biggest kind of moment of clarity in all of history on display to us.

The greatest truth being revealed of all time.

And we need to get to the heart of that,

because it has an infinite amount of implications for us as followers of Jesus.

Now, like always, there are three questions that I have in my head

when I read the book of Mark, which I inherited from my older brother,

because he's very wise.

Again, who is Jesus?

What has he done?

And what does that mean for us?

So first, who is Jesus?

Again, the importance of this question cannot be stated enough.

It is central to the gospel of Mark.

It's so important that Jesus asks it himself, unprompted, in the passage today,

which is such a rare occurrence for Jesus to do.

And I think a little context would help us understand more.

Does anyone other than Tashi know the first sentence of the book of Mark?

Or Liz?

Anyone else?

It says,

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The first sentence in the book identifies Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah.

Lays it out plain.

But there isn't a clear occasion of anyone identifying him as that

until this point in the book.

It's a mystery.

So for a while now, Jesus and his disciples have been traveling around the area of ancient Palestine,

teaching, preaching, healing, exercising, and possibly exercising.

But this whole time, Jesus has been doing miraculous things,

with our expectation being that people would see him for who he really is.

But it hasn't happened.

People don't see it.

Earlier in this chapter, the disciples are worried about their lack of food,

specifically bread,

immediately after Jesus has just finished feeding a humongous group of people

for the second time in front of them.

And you can see by his reaction in verse 21 of chapter 8

that he expects them to see what's really going on,

and he's frustrated that they aren't.

So we come back to the question asked by Jesus himself in the chapter.

Who do people say that I am?

Meaning, what have the people put together

after seeing my miracles, or hearing my teaching,

or even just hearing about me?

What have they put together?

What is the fruit of my labors, Jesus is wondering?

And the answers the disciples give him,

that the people are saying, aren't bad answers.

They're in an appropriate direction.

But they're still wrong.

We have John the Baptist,

who died a few months ago before this story.

We have Elijah, who died a few hundred years ago before this story.

And we have generally the great prophets,

who are in the back half of the Old Testament,

none of whom have appeared to Israel for also another 800 years.

But these are all people that are great.

The heroes of Israel, the paragons of the nation,

the people who they think,

he must be great, he must be like one of these men.

The best they can think of.

But like I said, these answers are incorrect.

Jesus asks the question again,

but to his disciples this time,

specifically to them,

the people who he's taught the most.

He's handpicked them to follow him.

They have seen more and done more

than we could ever imagine from the Bible that we have.

So they must have the right answer.

Yeah?

Well, thankfully, Peter,

who's known for putting his foot in his mouth

at every opportunity,

actually gets it right in verse 29.

It's an amazing moment.

It's as simple as an answer can be to that question

while also being as truthful

as any possible response that could be given.

You are the Christ, he says.

And there we have it.

That moment of clarity,

that thing that changes everything.

It changes everything.

Jesus isn't like John the Baptist

or Elijah or the prophets.

He's on an entirely different playing field.

He is astronomically more powerful and important

than any of those men are.

They aren't good enough to be like him.

They aren't anywhere near who Jesus is.

Jesus is the Christ.

It's not just another title of his.

It has weight.

It has meaning.

And it shouldn't be a mystery to us

how important this title is.

It conveys the entirety of God's plan

throughout time and history.

You know, promises to Adam and Eve

in Genesis chapter 3

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

or to Abraham in Genesis 12

or to Moses and the people of Israel

in Exodus 19

or to David in 2 Samuel 7.

The list keeps on going.

It goes on and on and on.

And each one builds upon the idea

of who this Christ is,

how important he is,

how powerful he is.

They just add weight to the person of Jesus.

When Peter says to him,

you are the Christ,

all the things go boom.

This is who he is.

It means all of these things.

I love how amazing this part of Mark actually is.

Something I learned a while ago

and was reminded in class this term

is the structure of Mark chapter 8.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

Jesus has just finished healing a blind man

of his physical blindness.

It's kind of a weird story.

He spits in his face

and the guy kind of sees trees

and then sees people again.

It's kind of strange.

But then he moves down

and he heals the disciples and us

of our spiritual blindness.

The answers that the disciples give

about the people when he asks them

shows that they can't see who he really is.

They haven't put it together.

And it wouldn't be possible

without his teaching and miracles

and allowing us to see who he really is.

It's a miracle.

Jesus' display of himself to us.

And he's chosen this part

in chapter 8 of the book of Mark

to change that,

to reveal it to us.

And so who he is

directly affects what he has come to do.

in verse 31.

That is what the Christ has come to do.

Take a look at it.

The all-powerful promised one of God

who has come to save the world

comes to do it through pain,

through suffering,

through rejection,

and through death.

And I think this idea

has lost a bit of its impact on us.

We take the concept

that Jesus can actually die

on face value.

But it's a miracle.

It's a miracle of God.

It's a tragic one.

It's a sad one.

But it is,

nonetheless,

miraculous.

Mark has just spent

the first half of the gospel

showing how powerful

Jesus actually is.

If you read chapter 5,

you see that Jesus has the power

to exercise demons,

to heal the sick in masses,

and to raise a little girl

back from the dead.

So how can a man

who has the power over death

actually die?

It doesn't make sense.

It just doesn't.

And that's what Peter is thinking.

Jesus talks about himself dying,

and Peter says,

that's not how the plan works.

The Savior is not supposed to die.

He sees it as like a misfortune

or tragedy that needs to be avoided.

He's saying,

you're talking smack, Jesus.

That's not how it works.

The idea that Christ has to die

is so contrary

to the human way of thinking.

You can see it in our culture

all over the place,

you know,

in our movies,

in our books,

our TV.

Our heroes are,

you know,

majestic and strong people.

They succeed in their acts

of heroism

by not needing to die

because dying equals failure.

Right?

As a teenager,

I was a massive fan

of comic books.

I still kind of am,

only I don't have the money

to spend them anymore.

But in particular,

I love the stories

that were engaging.

You have a hero

who has a struggle

he has to overcome.

And he has to use

his powers at his disposal

or his tools or whatever.

And he overcomes them.

But there was

an interesting phenomenon

in the comic book world

that I eventually

got kind of jaded with,

which is the idea

that comic book heroes

never really die.

It's a thing called retconning,

which means

retroactive continuity,

where they come back to life

in various ways.

But I think it's because

that human idea of

he can't be a hero

if he ever dies.

That negates

all the work

that they have done

because it's a failure

as a character of theirs.

It's that human idea

that death is just

a defeat of heroism.

Thankfully, God doesn't think

the same way we do.

Very thankfully.

The work that Jesus has to do

is perfectly in line

with God's way of thinking

because it's God's plan.

And it's so different

from how we would ever

even imagine

being saved by somebody.

Which is also why

the completion of his work

is still utterly bewildering to us.

Not only does the guy

who has control over death

have to die,

he also comes back to life.

It's even more impossible

than the guy

who has control over death

dying in the first place.

It's amazing.

So who Jesus is

as the Christ

affects what he has to do

and will do.

And both of these

bear tremendous importance

for us.

Which brings us

to the last section

of the passage,

verses 34

to chapter 9, verse 1.

It's also worth noticing

that these words

are not spoken

to his 12 disciples anymore,

but to the gathering

of people who are

following him.

And so they also

apply to us

if we seek to follow him.

We have the third

subtle miracle

of this passage.

In that we can actually

be saved.

There is hope for us.

It's a miracle.

What Jesus' death

and resurrection

mean for us

is our salvation.

And with that,

the expectation

that we follow him

as the Lord

who has saved us.

They go hand in hand together.

The invitation

for salvation

for us

isn't just a simple

contract to sign, though.

There is fine print,

only that it's not fine,

but bold,

double underlined,

highlighted,

and in a gigantic font.

It's big.

It's there.

What is expected

of us as followers

is an enormous amount,

and Jesus holds

no punches back.

Take another look

at those verses.

There are about

three things

that are expected

of us as followers

that are all

equally as daunting

to attempt.

Let's see.

There is deny yourself,

take up your cross

and follow him,

and lose your life

for the sake of Jesus

and the gospel.

All of these are,

again, reversals,

contrary to

how we humans

think our lives

should be.

It's just

a flipped up world.

It's not the way

we think like.

It's just the same

as before.

Our way of thinking

isn't the same

as God's way of thinking

or the way God

plans things,

but it's only through

God's plan

and God's way of thinking

that we can actually

be saved.

So if we're going to do this,

what is expected of us?

Because the examples

given by Jesus

are kind of puzzling,

but they're not very clear

exactly.

So first,

the idea of denying yourself,

taking up your cross

and following him,

it's not talking about

living a life

of austerity,

of being poor,

that whole Buddhist notion

of self-denial,

so the material items

in your life

don't bring you happiness

so you have to deny them

and reject them.

It's not talking about that.

What it is talking about

is a life of humble submission,

a life example

off of what

Jesus himself has done.

There is no greater

denial of self

in the history of time

than the creator

and owner of the universe

coming down

and being born as a human,

living a life of suffering,

and then dying for us.

There's no greater

example of it.

And that is the image

that we are to follow

in our taking up our cross

and following him

in our life.

We are to put down

those things

that reach up

and towards us

from following Jesus

and doing it

them instead.

It's a path of rejection

of the world

and the people

and this is why

Jesus brings up

the idea of being

ashamed of him.

It's such a temptation,

isn't it?

When you're at work

and you just want

to get things done

and somebody comes

and asks you

what you did

with your Sunday.

or when you're at uni

and there's that kind

of air of mutual views

and sharing them

and everyone kind

of appreciates each other

until the topic goes

to something like

gay marriage,

even regular marriage

nowadays,

and you realize that

their views

don't really extend

to you.

They don't really

accept you

as being valid anymore.

or you're in school

and your friends

ask you why you

haven't partied

with them on the weekend,

why you're not

getting drunk with them.

And these questions

come up and you just

kind of shrink inside.

You don't want

to talk about them,

you just want to

kind of shrink away

and avoid the question.

That human reaction,

that natural reaction

that we have,

I am a massive culprit

of those many points

of my life.

But the point

of this passage

isn't to despair,

but to have hope

in who Jesus is instead.

Because who Jesus is

and what he has done

for us

is more than enough

for us to endure

a temporary amount

of discomfort.

It even says

in John chapter 15

John 15 · chapter mention

that if the world

hates us,

it's because it

hated him first.

And the moment

of clarity I deal

of talking about

is here,

it's right here

in this passage.

It's the truth

that is ultimately

more valuable

than anything

Uriah could ever

be worth.

As it says

in verse 37,

what can we offer

in exchange for our soul?

What are our lives worth?

You could have

everything in the entire earth

and your life

would be nothing

compared to the work

of Jesus and his life

and a life

following him.

This passage in Mark

is so humongous.

It just changes everything.

It's like that street

outside from which

we can reach

every corner of Sydney.

We can go

north, south, east, and west.

This passage

kind of spreads

over every corner

of our lives

and affects

every area.

It reaches those places

and demands

that we follow him.

you see the truth

of Jesus

on display

as him being

the Christ

and it demands

that you be changed

for him.

It demands

that we live

a life

of humble submission

like he did

in order to be saved.

and it gets rid

of those

dark corners

of our mind

that kind of

distract us

in those situations

and helps us

to keep walking

on that path

Jesus has already

trodden out for us.

And so the truth

of Jesus

being the Christ

here in Mark

Mark 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8

and the work

he has done

of coming,

suffering,

and dying

for us

means an infinite

amount to us

and it is awesome

enough for us

to follow him

in every area

of our lives

and change for him

and suffer for him

so that we can be

saved by him.

Amen.