Mark 8:27-38 "The Cost of Discipleship" Kevin Rine

Good morning.

It is a joy to be gathered here at Proclamation Church.

It's so special to come back and visit with you all.

Some I get to see more than others and talk to more than others.

It's great to see new people in the church that I haven't met.

So from those I know and those I don't know, please can come say hi to me and my family as we eat together later on.

But for those that I don't get to see or talk to, know that you're in prayer.

And so with that, let us pray together.

Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Will your Holy Spirit guide us in the Word this morning?

Guide our hearts to think only of you and you alone, to focus our minds on you and what Christ has done for us.

That the distraction of the world and everything that is outside of here that can weigh us down would be we'd leave it at the door and come to you.

And we pray for those that are in Christ, that they'd be edified by your word, and those who don't know you, that they would believe in faith.

And so with that, we pray for Mark 8, and that we can clearly hear your word and take it into our hearts.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

As you know, information in our society is at the click of a button.

It's probably in my back pocket right now.

I can research just about anything.

If I want to make a purchase, I can look it up, know all about it, get the reviews.

If I want to uh learn a new hobby, I have the opportunity of going and seeing how everybody else does it.

Maybe someone does it different than another, get some reviews, take that in, whether it's a new career, going to school, learning a new subject, learn what to do and what not to do.

In our home right now, the word is bread.

Jess recently, by the encouragement of some of the ladies in the church here and at Grace, has taken up bread making.

And so with that comes the uh you know, picking out what grain you want to use and what grinder you want to use and what material on the grinder to use and so on.

And and then if once you get that figured out and and work through the the bumpy road of bread making, then it goes on to uh the is it sourdough?

Sourdough bread?

Sourdough bread, which I thoroughly enjoy and we get to enjoy together.

Um and I'm sure that all of you could stand up here and tell us of the things that you're the hobbies you've learned, the things you enjoy, and tell us the details and in the out ins and outs of all of it.

But as believers in Christ, have you ever sat down and considered what it looks like to follow Jesus Christ?

Have you taken this time to sit and search through the scriptures and say, what does Jesus require of me as I confess him as my Lord and Savior?

Now, I'm not saying what must we do for salvation.

We know that salvation is by grace through faith.

I'm not talking about a works-based salvation.

I'm talking about what is the cost of following Jesus?

And that is our focus for today's text.

And this is what Jesus is teaching the disciples in Mark chapter 8, the cost of following Jesus.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

So if you would, please open your Bibles to Mark chapter 8.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

Um, we're gonna be reading verses 27 through 38.

And before we read, let me give a quick overview of Mark 8.

So in the beginning of the chapter, we have Jesus feeding 4,000 people with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish.

It'd be great right now with the price of groceries to enjoy that meal at his expense.

Um then afterwards, he warns the Pharisees about the leaven of the he warned he warns the disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees.

And it's something that they still don't understand.

They didn't understand him feeding the 5,000 with the loaves of bread, and they don't understand the leaven of the Pharisees.

And then right before our text today, Jesus restores the sight of a blind man.

So we have thousands of people, the crowds and the disciples, witnessing these miracles.

And Jesus has a purpose in all this.

His purpose is in performing these miracles to show his deity.

His divine nature is God.

He's doing this to show the disciples and us that he is God, and that brings us to our text this morning.

Mark 8, 27 through 38.

And Jesus Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.

And on the way he asked his disciples, Who do people say that I am?

And they told him, John the Baptist, and others say, Elijah, and others one of the prophets.

And he asked them, But who do you say that I am?

Peter answered him, You are the Christ, and he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

And he said this plainly.

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, If any one would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it.

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

For what can a man give in return for his soul?

For whom whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

So we can see here in verse 27 that Jesus is traveling with the disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.

And as Jesus is traveling with the disciples to these villages, he finds it an ideal time to dig a little deeper into the hearts of the disciples.

This brings us to our first point this morning.

Followers of Jesus give a true confession.

He asked them, Who do people say that I am?

And we see in their response that the crowds found Jesus to be someone of importance.

They said, John the Baptist, Elijah, the prophets.

In those confessions, you can see that they even believe he is someone of importance.

But they believe him to be someone from the dead as well, brought back to life.

But in no way can they see Jesus to be the Savior of the world, because he doesn't fit into the mold that the kings and rulers of their day showed.

In this question, the disciples, uh, in this question to the disciples about the crowd, he's bringing out the profession of the crowds, uh, the confession, so the disciples can see and learn from the false beliefs.

This is a teaching moment for the disciples.

Jesus knows, already knows what the crowd thinks of him, and he acknowledges it, so the disciples will learn this as well.

It goes the same for our day.

Jesus' name is talked about and mentioned in many churches.

The word gospel is preached and referenced, but few people understand who he is or the truth of the gospel.

They love the miracles he performed, he's a healer, he's a provider, but they don't understand Jesus to be the one and only God, the great I am, the Lord of their lives.

And if you don't know who Jesus is, then you don't know who God is.

Then Jesus asks them, but who do you say that I am?

In which Peter responds, You are the Christ, which in Hebrew means Messiah, or uh meaning the one anointed, the anointed one, God's appointed one.

They saw his miracles, they saw his works, they listens to his teachings, and Peter confesses, Jesus, you are the Christ.

This was a bold statement to make, especially with the oppositions toward Jesus at this time.

Peter and the disciples were going against the opinions of thousands of other people, especially the opinions of the religious leaders.

This confession was going against all they knew and were taught by the elders and priests.

How could they confess this lowly, meek man to be the chosen one?

He wasn't professing health and wealth.

Come to me, all and all will be rich.

Sure, the disciples had seen the miracles, they had listened to Jesus' teachings, they had experienced his ministry to the outcast and lowly people in the world, but to this point no one had confessed his deity.

So where did this confession come from?

Matthew explains this confession in a little more detail.

In Matthew 16, after Peter confesses Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

Peter's confession was revealed to him by God.

In God's grace, God revealed to Peter who Jesus was by revelation.

Leading up to this moment, the disciples didn't get it.

They weren't understanding what all this meant.

They experienced Jesus feeding 4,000 and 5,000 people, Jesus calming the waves of the sea, Jesus forgiving sins, he healed people, he cast out demons.

They were there the entire time.

But it was God, by his Holy Spirit, who revealed to Peter what the teachings and miracles were pointed to: that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, the anointed one of God.

So even though Peter's confession is true, because it was given by God, he and the disciples didn't know or understand the depths of this confession and what it meant for their immediate future.

Which is why Jesus in verse 30 here strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

They still had more to learn.

So let's see what Jesus does with this confession in verses 31 through 33.

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priest and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.

And he said this plainly.

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

This brings up our second point.

With privilege comes responsibility.

The privilege of knowing Jesus comes with responsibility to learn from him and follow his ways.

Knowing that Jesus knows their belief, now that Jesus knows their belief, he can teach them of deeper truths.

He says, I'm going to suffer, be killed, and rise again.

He didn't use a parable or metaphors here, but as we read in verse 32, as we read in verse 32, he said this plainly.

Being this is the first time that the disciples had heard these things, it would have been a shock and alarming.

This was the opposite of what they were thinking.

And then Peter, knowing what's best, pulls Jesus to the side and speaks sternly to him, disapproving of these things.

This is typical of Peter.

He wears his emotions on his sleeve.

His zeal and enthusiasm for Jesus' lordship is all in, but not directed in the right place at this time.

Peter may be thinking, Jesus, you're not going to be rejected and die because of the elders, chief priests, and scribes.

You're going to save them from the Roman rule.

You're going to bring us out of bond from the Roman Empire and make us a prosperous nation and be our king.

He may be thinking of the passage in Isaiah 9, where Isaiah says, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, of the increase of his government, and of peace there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it, to uphold it with justice and with righteousness, from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

But Peter isn't thinking of this scripture from Isaiah from an eternal heavenly perspective.

He's looking at it from a fleshly perspective.

The throne, the government, the kingdom he is thinking of is not eternal.

It's literally his present day that he's thinking of.

To bring them out of harsh treatment from the Roman government.

Like all of us would, Peter is thinking selfishly.

Isn't this what we can tend to think and wish for?

We want Jesus to come and rule our nation.

We have two presidential candidates to choose from, and we're trying to figure out which one aligns more with God.

But Jesus wants to be the king of our heart, not this nation.

This nation will perish, and he will be your king for eternity.

Jesus acknowledges this thinking, this fleshly thinking, and these thoughts with his own rebuke to Peter and to the disciples.

He says, Get behind me, Satan.

He's saying, These are the thoughts and wishes and the ways of the world.

This is not why I came.

Don't you remember the prophet Isaiah?

What he said about me?

Later on in Isaiah 53, not Isaiah 9, he says, He was despised, despised, and rejected by man, oppressed and afflicted.

Peter may be thinking, like most of us, suffering and rejection, to be killed, these are not things we're about.

We're all about saving our lives.

What Peter and the disciples aren't understanding is the why.

Why does Jesus have to go through this?

Why the torture?

Why the pain?

And in verse 31, Jesus says, must.

I must suffer many things.

I must do these things, because this is the only way to save the world.

I must atone for the sins of the world.

And I am and must be your only way of salvation.

In Isaiah 53, he also says, He was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities.

By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Just because Peter and his disciples confess Jesus to be the Christ, doesn't mean they fully understand what it means to be his disciple and follow him.

And that's why Jesus is teaching them right now.

Of course, Peter looks like a clumsy follower at this time.

In one breath, he's boldly proclaiming Jesus to be the Christ, and in the next breath, he's rebuking Jesus' teaching.

He remembered the good news, but he forgot the hard truth.

But Peter is doing this all out of love, a zealous love for the Lord.

And this is a good reminder for us today.

Those whom we come alongside and walk with this walk with in this body of the church are going to make mistakes.

They're going to slip up.

It's not going to be perfect.

Believe me, I've put my foot in my mouth more times than I'd like to admit.

But I've asked for grace and mercy and forgiveness from brothers and sisters, and I've learned from these monuments, and they have too.

We must be quick to forgive because we're all learning how to follow Jesus just like Peter.

In response to Peter's rebuke and the disciples' current way of thinking, Jesus responds in verses thirty-four through thirty eight.

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, If any one would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake in the gospels will save it.

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

For what can a man give in return for his soul?

For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

This brings us to our third point.

Following Jesus will cost you everything.

Jesus pulls the crowd in, along with the disciples.

He's not hesitant to bring in the truth to friend or foe.

All need to hear it.

First, he says, if you want to come after me, you must deny yourself.

To be his disciple, his follower, the spiritual discipline of self-denial is required.

You might ask, what does it mean?

What does it look like to deny yourself?

It means to give up all your rights, possessions, status, wants, needs, and desires to the will of God.

You are no longer yours, you are a possession of Jesus Christ.

Paul says in Colossians 3, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Now, of course, you still have your personality and gifts and character traits, how God made you and designed you, but your life is his.

You no longer have the right to live how you want and desire.

You now live your life for Christ.

I know it sounds extreme and unpopular in our world, but this is what Jesus is calling the disciples to and all of us here today.

And just like in Jesus' day, it's the same for our day.

This command goes in direct opposition to the world.

Our world is full of you do you, do what makes you happy, don't worry about what other people think or what they want.

You've worked hard, you deserve it.

Selfishness, our selfishness and self-will, is such a tricky characteristic to pick up on.

Because from the day we were born, we think and act and feel all about ourselves.

It's not something we have to learn or be taught.

It's at the core of our prideful sin nature, to think of ourselves more than we should.

But denying yourself, as Jesus is commanding here, is an essential part of the Christian life.

This is what Jesus is telling the disciples too, to do, to deny their earthly status, to deny the flesh.

And who better to command you to deny yourself than the one who did it perfectly?

We can learn from Jesus here.

In Matthew 4, Jesus was tempted over and over again, and he resisted the devil every time.

This is one way we are called to deny ourselves, to resist sin.

We are prone to sinful desires on a daily basis.

Paul talks about it often, this battle of the flesh and the spirit.

As believers, we have the power of the Holy Spirit to help us battle our fleshly nature and turn away from sin.

Listen to what Paul tells us in Colossians 3.

If you would, Colossians 3.

I already said it once, but Colossians 3, verses 3 through 5.

Colossians 3:3–5

It's after Ephesians.

Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians.

Colossians 3, 3 through 5.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetedness, which is idolatry.

So we must put to death what is earthly in you.

Why?

Because you're in Christ.

I personally have found this battle between the flesh and the spirit to be almost tangible.

The very nature of our sin is hard to hard to cope to physically overcome.

Just think about how hard it is to refrain from saying something you shouldn't say.

Or to look at something you shouldn't look at.

It's a real battle of the wills: your will, your flesh versus God's will and the spirit.

But we must deny our flesh, our sinful desires.

And then one of the most significant ways that we can practice self-denial is how we love others, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Let's read about Jesus' example and how he did this in Philippians 2, verses 4 through 8.

Philippians 2:4–8

So back to the epistles here.

Philippians 2.

4 through 8.

It reads, Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interest of others.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus denied himself.

He didn't say, How dare I come here and be born in the flesh of a helpless baby?

He didn't count equality with God, a thing to be grasped.

Then, as a human, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the boy of death, even death on a cross.

Denying yourself means to seek the good of others before looking out for yourself.

And Jesus exemplified this by taking up the cross, which is what he next commands the disciples to do.

And I must admit, I've always struggled with this command.

I've always had a hard time wrapping my head around what it means to take up your cross.

This is what it doesn't mean.

It is not a bad relationship, a physical illness, or it's not a coworker who types exceptionally loud.

I know that from personal experience.

That is not what Jesus is talking about here.

The cross is one of the most brutal forms of punishment ever invented by man.

In Jesus' day, to take up your cross was not a daily annoyance that you had to deal with.

To take up your cross meant one thing: death by crucifixion.

In our day, Christians look at the cross as a cherished symbol of atonement, forgiveness, grace, and love.

But in Jesus' day, the cross represented a torturous death.

The Romans forced convicted criminals to carry their own cross to the place of crucifixion.

When someone was taking up their cross, they weren't coming back.

They were being put to death.

This command by Jesus to take up your cross is a call to self-sacrifice.

One must be willing to die in order to follow.

Dying to self is an absolute surrender to God.

Dietrich Bonhoffer said, When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.

That is why Paul says in Romans 12:1, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.

Romans 12:1

Some of you might say, How can I achieve this?

This seems impossible.

And I agree, but we don't do it in our own power.

By God's grace and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we have the ability to die to self, to fight sin, to live for Christ, to put others first, to serve the body.

It's by God's grace that we can't help but do these things, because we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Second Corinthians, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, verses 14 and 15, he says, For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died.

2 Corinthians 5:14

And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their who for their sake died and was raised.

The love of Christ controls us.

We no longer live for ourselves, but for Christ who died for us and was raised to life.

By God's grace, we can't help but live for Christ and to take up the cross that God prepared for us.

As believers, our citizenship is no longer earthly.

We are citizens of heaven.

We are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.

Our lives represent a life lived for God, not the world, and people should notice the difference in us.

They should see Christ in how we act, how we speak, and all we do.

But why?

Why is it so important for Peter and the disciples and us to learn to deny yourself and to take up your cross in order to follow Jesus?

He answers this in verse 35.

For whoever would save his life will lose it.

But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it.

For the crowds here to deny Christ, to deny his deity as God, and to live their lives as they see fit, to live by the will of man and disobedience to God, Jesus says they will lose their life.

Puritan J.C.

Ryle said, Any man may lose his own soul.

He cannot save it.

Christ alone can do that.

But he can lose it, and this in many different ways.

He may murder it by loving sin and cleaving to the world.

He may poison it by choosing a religion of lies and believing man-made superstitions.

He may starve it by neglecting all means of grace and refusing to receive into his heart the gospel.

Many are the ways that lead to the pit.

Whatever way a man takes, he and he alone is accountable for it.

The love of the world and the pursuit of everything in it is what leads a man to destruction.

Jesus is saying, Your soul is worth more than anything here on earth.

If you turn a couple chapters over to Mark ten, we'll look at the rich young man, and we'll see what happened with him here and his beliefs.

So Mark 10, verses 17 through 22.

Mark 10:17–22

This is a good example.

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good?

No one is good except God alone.

You know the commandments do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.

And he said to him, Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.

And Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, You lack one thing.

Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.

Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

This man trusted in his possessions more than he trusted in Jesus.

It takes full surrender.

When pressed to give up this world, his commitment was self-hearted, half-hearted too.

Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing your friends, your family, your job, your reputation, even your life?

For those who believe in Jesus and repent of their sin and call on Jesus as their Lord and Savior, those who live in obedience to God's word and lose their life by denying self and taking up their cross, they will save their life.

They are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.

Nothing in this world can buy your soul, your possessions, your status, your intellect.

In the end, it all comes down to your belief in Jesus.

Because Jesus says in verse 38 here, For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Better a thousand times to confess Christ now and be despised by man than to be disowned by Christ before his father in the day of judgment.

To summarize our text for today, followers of Jesus give a true confession.

With privilege comes responsibility.

Following Jesus will cost you everything.

This is a weighty passage and one that we could should consider often.

But it's also of great encouragement.

Jesus denied himself and took up his cross, and in him we have and can do the same thing.

We have Jesus' example to live by, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can follow Christ when tempted by sin, when tempted to please man and live for the opinion of the world.

When our faith is challenged, when we're laughed at, mocked, treated harshly, or for some persecuted for their faith in Christ, we may remember the reward.

Whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospels will save it.

Let us pray.