The Call of A Disciple - Luke 9:18-27

I hope when you came in this morning, you have some kind of access to a Bible in front of you, and then you also grabbed the notes that were that were uh on the tables as you walked in.

If not, you can take your own notes.

I want to begin by asking uh a question here, or at least saying that when you're asked a question, there are many questions that you can get a wrong answer to and still be right, and still be okay at least.

Um maybe, for example, I'm a school teacher, and so if I ask my students to uh answer a question on a test, they may get it wrong, but Lord willing, there'll still be another test, or I might give you know extra credit, uh, or there might be other opportunities to kind of make right what was wrong.

Maybe this morning on your way into church, you went past the exit, and you had to take another exit, and you were able to kind of redo and kind of turn back around and recover.

You know, there are plenty of questions in life where getting the answer wrong might cost you something, but you can recover from it.

But there is one question you cannot afford to get wrong in life.

And that question is who is Jesus?

Who is he?

For the last several chapters of Luke, that question has been repeatedly posed.

The disciples have been thinking through it all through chapter 8 and all through chapter 9.

They've seen him command storms, rid people of their diseases, exercise demons, and feed thousands of people from just a little bit of food.

And you know what?

Everybody has an opinion about him.

But in our passage today, Jesus turns to his disciples and essentially says, I know what everybody else thinks, but what do you think?

And that's the most important question we could ever answer.

Who do we believe Jesus to be?

But what we're going to discover today is that getting Jesus' identity right is just the beginning.

Getting Jesus' identity right is only the beginning.

Because once Peter identifies who Jesus is, that he is the Christ, Jesus then goes on to tell him what kind of Christ he is, who the Christ really is, what he will do, and what it will mean for those who follow after him.

And what Jesus says is costly and better than the disciples could have ever imagined.

So as we walk through our passage, we're going to ask three questions.

First, who is Jesus?

Second, what did he come to accomplish?

And third, what does it actually mean to follow after him?

These are three essential things I believe you need to understand to be a disciple of Jesus.

So let's take them one at a time.

Number one, who Jesus is?

Who is Jesus?

Again, we see in verses 18 through 20 what I read and of course Chris read.

The disciples are with him.

He asks, What do people think about me?

They share, some people think you're John the Baptist, they share some people think that you're Elijah, some people think that you're another prophet that's come.

And then he poses the question to his disciples.

And this is a question they've been thinking on for quite some time.

Think about Luke chapter 8 and Luke chapter 9.

Luke 8 · chapter mention Luke 9 · chapter mention

In Luke chapter 8, Jesus shows that he has authority over nature, right?

Luke 8 · chapter mention

He calms the storm.

And then the disciples ask the question among themselves who is this that can calm even the winds and the waves?

And they obey him.

Who is this?

Luke chapter 8, following, verses 26 and 29.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

Jesus has authority over demons.

A lot of people get Jesus wrong.

The demons never do.

We know who you are, the Holy One of God.

Which causes people to bring questions.

And then later on in Luke chapter 8, Jesus has authority over diseases.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

A woman who has an issue of blood for 12 years comes up, touches his garment, and he says, I know power has gone out for me.

That poses a big question, doesn't it?

Oh, and then again, Luke chapter 8, 49 through 56.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

Jesus is called by Jairus.

Uh there's a little uh a little girl who is dead, and he raises her to life.

He says, Child, arise and her spirit return.

And the disciples are thinking, you should imagine that authority only belongs to God.

And then, of course, in Luke chapter 9, he makes bread come out of it seems like nowhere, just like manna from heaven, and then he proclaims, of course, of course, in John chapter 6 that he is the bread from heaven, the bread of life.

Luke 9 · chapter mention John 6 · chapter mention

All of this causes the crowds to question.

They've seen supernatural events they cannot explain.

Some of them say, maybe John the Baptist has come back from the dead.

Herod's killed him, but maybe this is like the spirit of John the Baptist, or maybe Elijah who was taken up to heaven.

Maybe, maybe this is one of the Old Testament prophets, or maybe just a new prophet.

The crowds knew Jesus was extraordinary.

They didn't yet understand he was the Christ.

But Peter, who is kind of the spokesperson for the twelve apostles, he often speaks up, sometimes when he shouldn't, but he kind of represents the thoughts a lot of times of the disciples.

He says, You are the Christ of God.

Peter is identifying Jesus here.

He is saying he is the Christ.

The word Christ is the Greek equivalent, Christos, the Greek equivalent of Moshe.

And Mesheah is the Hebrew word Messiah or anointed one, the promised one to come to restore Israel and bring about salvation.

So Christ isn't a name, it's a title.

Christ isn't a name, it's a title.

And Peter identifies Jesus as the Christ.

You are the one we have looked forward to.

And he does rightly.

I mean, this was an Old Testament expectation the people of Israel had that God would send a king to be Lord over his people forever.

Think of 2 Samuel chapter 7.

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

God promises David, a descendant, who would sit on his throne, and his throne would be established forever.

Think about Psalm 2, God's anointed one, his king who rules the nations.

Or what I read earlier, Daniel chapter 7, 13 and 14, the Son of Man ascending to the ancient days and given a kingdom of no end.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

The Old Testament, Old Covenant Israel longed for and looked forward to those days.

The prophet spoke about these days.

So everything the disciples have seen so far has been forcing them toward a conclusion about Jesus' identity.

And so Peter speaks up on behalf of the disciples and rightly identifies Jesus as the promised anointed king.

You are Him.

He's saying, You're not merely another prophet, you are the one the prophets spoke of.

Now, I went over my preaching time last week.

I have a caveat of a couple things that I want to cover, just to kind of take a short little rabbit trail because there's questions that come up here from Matthew.

And I'm going to take just a moment to address those questions, and I'd love to address them further with you if you have more questions before we move on to the second point.

In the Gospel of Matthew, we have a little more detail that Matthew gives us of this moment.

In this moment, there's two things that happen.

Jesus responds to Peter after he says you're the Christ of God in the Gospel of Matthew, who gives us a little bit more detail because Matthew, of course, would have been amongst the disciples.

Matthew said that Jesus replies, Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

How do we think about that?

In short, Peter will continue to misunderstand Jesus.

He does.

He prohibits Jesus.

He tries to prohibit Jesus from going to the cross.

And Jesus says to Peter, Get behind me, Satan.

He will deny Jesus three different times so that he doesn't associate with someone and become guilty of crime, or at least be hunted down.

Peter still gets some things wrong.

In fact, pretty soon he and some others start debating who's the greatest, and then who will sit at a great spot in heaven's glory.

And so Jesus says, You wouldn't have got here by logic.

My father revealed this to you.

How are we to think about that?

Well, let me say something here.

In the New Testament, uh, from the Old Testament, there's a promise that God would send his spirit.

And Jesus says according uh about his spirit in John 14 through 16 that his spirit will lead his people to truth, to righteousness, that his spirit will convict.

Peter denied Jesus three times.

Not much long later, after Peter sees the risen Christ, he's told to wait with all the other apostles in the upper room until Jesus sends his spirit.

They're not to go out and share the gospel yet.

God brings people from all over for a great harvest festival, great harvest festival for Pentecost.

And then the apostles are filled with the Holy Spirit, and Peter preaches one of the most detailed, Jesus-saturated Old Testament sermons.

And you're like, where did that come from?

God had sent his spirit, which opened Peter's eyes to understand things and see the Old Testament through the lens of what Jesus had accomplished.

And in this moment we have a preview of that.

God the Father opens Peter's eyes to see, you're the Christ.

And Jesus says, My Father showed that to you.

Second, then there is, of course, the question that comes up among many.

Jesus says something to the effect of, Peter, on this rock, I will build my church.

Now, we could talk about this a long time, but I would submit to you that Peter does not function there, is not called to function there in some sort of pope or father of the church.

Jesus is the cornerstone of the church, but rather Jesus is saying, on this rock, being the confession of Peter, I will build my church.

And that seems to be what happens in the New Testament.

As Peter preaches and the rest of the disciples preach, the church forms and they gather around first and foremost the apostles' teaching, the good news of Jesus Christ, that he is the Christ, that he is the savior, that he is Lord.

They gather in that.

And then Paul later says in Ephesians chapter two the church built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the rock.

The teaching of the apostles and prophets.

Jesus is the Christ, the Savior, the Lord.

I think that's helpful just to kind of put there for you as you look back to Matthew, as you walk through Matthew, maybe with Luke.

But the point of number one, and what I believe Luke wants us to see is the disciples understand who Jesus is.

But now Jesus is going to teach them what kind of Messiah he came to be.

And that is a Savior whose road to glory goes through suffering.

And it's somewhat perplexing.

Number two, a second question.

What did Jesus come to accomplish?

We'll spend a lot of time here.

Jesus, of course, implies you've seen me command storms and demons and diseases and death.

You've received authority from me to go actually out to preach and exercise demons yourself.

You've watched me feed thousands.

Everyone's asking who I am.

And Peter's finally got Jesus' identity right.

He's the Christ of God, but he does not yet understand Jesus' mission.

Jesus is indeed the Messiah, but he is the Messiah who, quote, must suffer, be killed, and rise again.

Jesus is essentially saying, Now let me tell you what kind of Christ I am.

The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

Okay, this is a big statement that Jesus gives his disciples about the future to come.

The future of my ministry is to be rejected by all of the religious leaders.

The chief priests, the scribes, the elders, they will hate me and reject me.

The future of my ministry will include conspiracy and suffering.

And it will culminate in death.

But I will be raised.

And you can only imagine the questions in the disciples' minds in this moment.

I mean, just imagine it, right?

Wait.

Gee Jeez, you're gonna die?

Hold on.

What will happen to us?

Will all our religious leaders hate us too?

Is this worth continuing?

Is that what's gonna happen?

Wait.

Did you say be raised?

What?

Of course, we're two thousand years removed from this moment.

And we have the fullness of God's revelation in our Bible.

And so we know some of the answers, being filled with God's Spirit and reading the scriptures of what happens, that some of the disciples were probably thinking on.

But we probably still have some questions that are answered by the scriptures that I can help us with.

Let's walk through them.

The first question: what must the disciples have thought Jesus meant?

Did they fully understand?

Well, even though Peter just confessed that Jesus is the Messiah, the coming Savior, I don't believe he fully understood what that meant.

Again, soon in the chapter, they're going to be discussing who can be the greatest in Jesus' kingdom, who will sit closest to him in glory.

It seems to be that they believe that the future of Jesus' ministry is domination and uh is deliverance and restoration and victory.

A Messiah who'd be rejected by Israel's leaders seems unexpected.

Mart tells us that Peter actually rebukes Jesus for saying that he must suffer and die.

Even later, Luke explicitly tells us in Luke 18, they understood none of these things concerning his death.

The saying was hidden from them, and they didn't grasp what was said.

They understood who Jesus claimed to be and who he really was, but did not yet understand how a crucified Messiah fit God's plan.

Only after the resurrection does Jesus teach them from the scriptures how it all worked together.

Luke says in Luke 24, he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.

So they understand Jesus is the Messiah before they understand what all he came to do.

Which of course brings another question.

But before we get to the question of why Jesus came to die, why does Jesus always refer to himself as the Son of Man?

Because that will help us a little bit.

He consistently refers to himself as the Son of Man, as he does in this passage, the Son of Man.

Speaking of himself, it was his favorite title of himself.

Now, this allows uh Jesus, it seems, to reveal his identity, but on his own biblical terms.

Rather than simply kind of adopting the word Messiah, because with the word Messiah would have probably come some political expectations, like in John 6, where they try to make him king by force.

Well, we find Son of Man, that title in Daniel chapter 7, what I read earlier today, where, and I quote, one like a son of man comes before the ancient of days, the Father, and receives an everlasting kingdom.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

It says, To him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, and his dominion is an everlasting dominion.

So Jesus saying, Son of man, is not Jesus saying, I'm merely a human or I'm a human like one of you.

Jesus saying, Son of man, well, Jesus is identifying himself as the one from Daniel 7 who will ascend to the Father to receive the kingdom of no end.

He's identifying himself as that individual.

But he does something surprising with that title.

He basically says, before the Son of Man ascends to the Father and is glorified, he will suffer.

What he's teaching them.

He is putting together for them the promises of Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 and 14.

Daniel 7:13

A future promised king with a prophecy in Isaiah 53 of a lamb that'll be slaughtered.

He's putting both together for them.

He is essentially saying the sovereign lord is the slaughtered lamb.

The son of man is the king promised a kingdom.

But Jesus is saying the road to the throne will go through a cross.

Which brings us to the question, why?

He says the Son of Man must die.

Must die.

Let me be clear.

Jesus' death is not an accident or the unfortunate result of human opposition.

He was taking it to the man who was, you know, an unrighteous overlord, and they had him killed for it.

That's not the story.

Jesus' death is part of God's redemptive plan revealed beforehand in Scripture.

Luke consistently makes this clear all throughout his gospel.

Luke 18, 31 through 33, Jesus says, What was written by the prophets must be accomplished by the Son of Man.

And that is, Luke 24, 25 and 27, that it would be necessary that Christ should suffer and enter into his glory.

Or in Luke 24, 44 and 47, the law of the prophets and the Psalms anticipated and taught about the suffering to come for the Messiah.

Or Acts 2 23, where Paul says, sorry, Peter says, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, killed by the hands of lawless men.

In fact, listen to this the plan of God to send a substitute in the place of sinners is found all throughout the Old Testament.

But let me show you in two prominent places.

First, a picture.

And then in a prophecy.

Many places you can look, but let me show you in a picture and a prophecy.

One of my favorite pictures in the Old Testament, Genesis chapter 22, God calls upon Abraham to take his son, his only son.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

The hope for the promise in Genesis 15.

A family of faith relies on bearing a son.

And God has caused a son.

Abraham had Isaac.

And then God calls Abraham to take Isaac, his son, his only son.

He repeats that three times in Genesis 22.

He tells him to go and sacrifice him on a mountain.

Abraham obeys.

Abraham takes his son, his only son, and at the base of the mountain, he looks at other servants who were there and he says, We will return in three days.

He takes his son, his only son, up to the mountain.

He lays him down on wood.

And then right before he strikes, he's stopped.

And there is a ram caught in a thicket, like a crown of thorns around his head, to take the place so that the boy can go home with his father.

Three days.

And you know what?

That place was known all throughout the Old Test Testament as the place the Lord will provide.

You know what place it was?

Calvary.

A picture.

One of many, by the way.

What about a prophecy?

Isaiah 53, where one uh or where a man will look like a common man, but he will be sent by God to bear upon himself the punishment of sin, bear upon himself the iniquity of us all, like a lamb led to the slaughter.

So he will not open his mouth, but will be crucified, will be killed, slaughtered in the place of sinners.

John the Baptist.

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

A picture and a prophecy.

So why did Jesus have to die?

You should know how to answer this question.

Why did Jesus have to die?

You should know how to answer that question and give a little more clarity than because we sinned.

Because the Bible does give more clarity.

Let me give you five things.

Number one, Scripture tells us that God is holy and just.

Sin is rebellion against him and deserves judgment.

Romans chapter 3, verse 23.

Romans 3:23

Scripture tells us not only that God is holy and just, but a good God cannot simply pretend sin doesn't matter.

So God doesn't overlook the consequences of sin.

He meets the consequences of sin by sending a substitute.

A righteous judge cannot call evil good and overlook consequences.

Proverbs 17, 15.

God's forgiveness must be consistent with God's justice.

Scripture tells us God is holy and just.

Scripture tells us a good God cannot simply pretend sin doesn't matter.

Scripture tells us we cannot pay our debt and rescue ourselves.

No amount of obedience can undo our guilt before God.

Romans 3, 19 and 20.

Scripture tells us God is holy and just.

Scripture tells us a good God cannot simply pretend sin doesn't matter, that we cannot pay our debt and rescue ourselves, and Scripture tells us that Jesus willingly then becomes our substitute.

Like the ram.

He was sinless, yet bore the judgment that sinners deserved.

Isaiah 53, 2 Corinthians 5, 21, 1 Peter 2, 24.

Scripture tells us that God is holy and just.

A good God cannot simply pretend sin does not matter.

We cannot pay our debt and rescue ourselves.

Jesus willingly becomes our substitute.

And Scripture tells us that at the cross, God demonstrates both his mercy and his justice perfectly.

Romans 3, 25 and 26, God, the just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus.

Jesus took upon himself the right wrath of God in the place of sinners, so that God remains both just for punishing sin by punishing Jesus in our place and justifies all who would turn in faith to his son.

Hear me.

So on the cross, Jesus willingly hangs, stood in the place of sinners, and bore our judgment for our sins, so that God might justly forgive and reconcile everyone who trusts in his son.

Jesus received what our sin deserved, so that in him we might receive what he deserves.

Amen.

One more thing.

Jesus predicts not only his death, but his resurrection.

The cross in the scriptures is never presented as plan B or the plan of God going wrong.

Jesus says the Son of Man must suffer, die, and be raised.

Death is necessary, but death is not the end.

Jesus is the promised Son and the Messiah, but he has not come first to conquer Rome, as many hoped for.

Jesus came first and foremost to conquer sin and death.

He came against a greater enemy that plagued Rome, every nation before it, every nation after it, and everyone within it.

Their sin.

And he will do it and accomplished it by suffering, dying in the place of sinners, and rising again to life.

Number three.

So what does that mean about following Jesus?

Next, Jesus sets up what we now see as a pattern in God's redemptive plan.

And the pattern is suffering comes before glory.

In our passage, verses 18 through 27, Jesus is not just explaining what will happen to him.

He is preparing his disciples for what it will mean if they follow after him.

Verse 23.

And he said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

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

So here is the question now answered.

If Jesus the Messiah goes to the cross, what does that mean to be his disciple?

Now notice Jesus moves from speaking to the twelve in verses twenty-one and twenty two to now all in verse twenty-three, if anyone would come after me.

So he is dispelling any myth that there is like a higher class of Christianity, or he is dispelling any myth that he's calling his disciples uniquely to a sacrificial life.

Jesus is giving here a basic description of discipleship in Luke 9, 23.

If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Let's just take those phrases one by one briefly and then walk through them.

Deny himself.

This does not mean just giving something up.

This means renouncing yourself as the ultimate authority over your own life.

Taking up your cross daily.

You know, some people will call inconveniences a cross we bear.

But Jesus' disciples would have understood what a cross was.

It was a barbaric torture device, and if you carried one, you were carrying one to your death daily.

Discipleship is a daily death to self-rule and a daily submission to Christ.

So Jesus, in one way or another, is saying, Do you want to be my disciple?

Do you want to die?

That's the question.

Following Jesus means surrendering my right to be the final authority over me.

Christianity is more than identifying Jesus correctly, then.

Peter's done that in verse 20, and Jesus immediately begins what he will accomplish and what it means for his followers.

So a person can affirm orthodox statements about Jesus and still submit to refuse to submit their life to Jesus.

Think about that.

Of course, a right belief in Jesus matters, but Jesus does not separate public confession from personal discipleship.

He doesn't separate the two.

Luke 9.23 blows that up.

Jesus does not say, discover your truest self and follow it.

Jesus says, deny yourself and follow me.

So when Jesus confronts my sexual desires, my definition of marriage, my use of money, my ambitions, my hatred toward others, my relationships, my priorities, the way I look at others, Christianity does not say, okay, what feels more authentic to you?

Christianity says, follow Jesus' commands.

What is Christ commanded?

Now, there are major denominations in recent years who have revised biblical teaching and historical theological consensus concerning same-sex relationships and marriage.

To fit what their people feel is best in order to affirm what they believe is their most true self.

But Jesus says what?

To all of us, deny yourself.

To all of us.

We all want a Jesus to save us without contradicting us, right?

Every single one of us.

You do.

I do.

But the Jesus who saves is the Lord who commands.

You cannot both say that you want to seek after Jesus to be savior of your soul and reject Jesus as Lord of your life.

That's not a thing.

That's not a thing.

Jesus says losing your life for me is actually how you save it.

For whoever would save his life will lose it.

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

That seems like a paradox.

If you try to preserve your life and keep it on your own terms, you'll ultimately lose it.

But if you give your life away to me, you'll save it.

He continues for what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

What could Jesus mean for a moment?

What could Jesus mean by gaining the whole world?

Well, think for a moment of your wildest dreams.

We'll say, before you are converted.

And imagine getting all of it.

All the money you want, all the people you want, all the looks you want, all the fame you want, all the followers you want, all the experiences you want.

And then you stand before God without Christ.

Jesus says, What will you have?

And the answer is simply nothing.

Nothing.

You will lose it.

And you will lose your life.

That's what he's saying.

The things chased were not worth the time.

Hear me, please, then.

Christianity is not under any circumstance, then anti-joy.

Christianity is an acceptance of Jesus and his words, and a pursuit of following Jesus and his words.

Joyfully recognizing that the things you once pursued deceived you into thinking you could find joy in them and they couldn't.

Fool's gold.

But Christ is my portion and my satisfaction forever.

In his presence there is fullness of joy.

My heart is satisfied.

I leave my water jug on the well, and I run and tell everybody about the joy that I found.

I have treasure.

It's mine.

Yes, the cost of following Jesus is high, but the cost of not following his infinitely higher, not only in eternity, but now and not only now, but in eternity, self-denial, hear me, is not self-destruction.

It's abandoning deceiving pleasures to receive the joy your heart longs for.

Don't be misled.

Satisfaction.

Then Jesus says, Whoever is ashamed of me in my words of him, the Son of Man will be ashamed.

In short, all response to Jesus now matters for eternity.

Notice also that he says, Whoever is ashamed of me and my words.

So you can't separate loyalty to Jesus from loyalty to what Jesus teaches.

You get that?

You can't have the moral Jesus without his lordship over your life, his command over your future.

Obedience, gladly, empowered by his spirit, that you couldn't do without his spirit.

One cannot say, I love Jesus, I just don't agree with what he says about blank, because that's incoherent with his definition of discipleship.

I love Jesus, I just don't like what he says here.

Well, whose ever is ashamed of me in my words?

Deny yourself.

Take it to the cross daily and follow me.

And right now, Jesus says that might bring shame from the world.

But it brings pleasure to the Father.

When the Son of Man returns in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels, he will not be ashamed.

So the question, as I conclude for all of us, is simply this.

Whose approval matters most to you?

And who has your allegiance?

Do you bow at the whim of your own pleasure?

Who has your allegiance?

You.

You're your own God.

Who has your allegiance?

Is it Jesus?

Then live for his approval.

His approval is the only one that matters.

As many people have said before me and continue to say after me, you live for an audience of one.

Your life is hidden with Christ and God, and your life will be following God until the day that you die and he comes back for you.

Proval that matters most to me, and the proval that matters most to you should be not the people surrounding you today, but the king who before you before whom you will stand.

One of the most important questions, hear me, church, that you can answer is who is Jesus?

But let's be clear.

Christianity is more than correctly identifying Jesus.

Christianity is following Jesus.

And because our King traveled to glory through suffering, our path to our Christ will be one of suffering.

And hopefully we will rejoice together on the other side saying, it was all worth it.

I love the pictures that are in the book of Revelation.

I think sometimes we can try to interpret them like a code book, and we interpret them wrong.

One of the best pictures in Revelation is Revelation chapter 14.

Revelation 14 · chapter mention

People in white robes are standing on Mount Zion.

I would argue it's representing all of the redeemed people.

People argue otherwise it's fine.

They're the people who did not drink of the cup of the abominations of the harlot.

They're the redeemed.

They're standing with Christ.

Here's how they're described.

Are you ready?

They follow the Lamb wherever he goes.

Many of them probably died doing so.

But they follow the Lamb wherever he goes.

Oh, may it be said of us.

Will you follow Jesus wherever he goes?

May it be said of you in the last day.

They follow the Lamb wherever he goes.

That's the call of discipleship.

Let's pray.