Mark 8:34-38
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Whoever Desires to come after ME...
Whoever Desires to come after ME...
Does Christ have priority in your life?
Does He have pre-eminence in all areas?
As we discussed last week and will continue this week Christ doesn’t make His followers ignorant of His call to those who follow Him. For many of us it may come by surprised that it is not a message backed by televangelists and many mega church pastors. This was a call that caused people to leave Jesus rather than follow. Jesus just laid out the terms and conditions and many could not reconcile them in their lives. Rather they loved their darkness and so called life rather than walking in the light and life of Christ.
If your desire was to build a large church this is not the message you would want to proclaim.
Mark 8:34-38.
Context
Who do men say that I am?
Who do you say that I am?
Peter pipes up and testifies, “YOU ARE THE CHRIST.”
Ater this confession and unveiling of their eyes we see Jesus beginning to teach about His future death and resurrection.
How He was going to soon suffer at the hands of the religious leaders, be rejected, be killed and after 3 days rise again.
Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked Jesus. Far be it from you Lord.
Jesus Then rebuked Peter, and replied, “You are not mindful of the things of God but rather the things of men.”
This Jesus didn’t fit in their idea of what the messiah was to accomplish.
Instead of a soon death they assumed for sure deliverance was going to come for the Israelites from Rome. After the passage does say the government will be upon His shoulders.
They had seen the miracles and testified of the Christ-ship of Jesus and knew because of what He had performed before He could refrain from the cross if He so chose.
He calmed the sea
He made the blind to see
He cast out demons from those who couldn’t even be bound with chains
Jesus’ concerns were much greater than the temporal deliverance from Rome for the Jews, but rather the eternal deliverance from sin for all the world.
Not work that man ended short by murdering Him but rather that God accomplished through His death.
So as Jesus unveils the unfavorable future of His life ending with death He unveils the same future for all those who would come after Him.
Jesus was not naive of the Cost of HIs mission and calls us to nothing short of what He Himself had lived.
So as Peter rebukes Jesus for the path in which He is heading as the Son of Man, Jesus turns to the crowd to educate them a little bit.
Understand what Jesus is about to say was not just instruction for the disciples and that was it, but Jesus in this moment calls the people to Himself and begins to speak.
This is not just for the missionaries, the preachers, the deacons but for all.
Whoever desires to come after me.
We may first ask if we missed last week what is so great about Jesus and that we should even desire to follow Him?
Jesus just revealed He was the Christ.
God in flesh.
The king is in Rags
He is creator of man and all we see.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians
Jesus was much more than a mere man but was Jesus Christ the Lord, who has been exalted and given a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.
In essence this is saying:
He who desires to come after God
He who desires to come the way of God
He who desires to come after me is going to have…
Let him:
Deny Himself
Pick up His cross and follow Me.
Nothing shy of what He Himself had walked in.
The call is clear. The cost is everything.
How ignorant we have become on the cost of following Jesus.
We have turned Him into a Genie in a bottle to accomodate our dreams and desires.
There have been to many that have walked an Isle chewing bumble gum not broken and repeated a prayer. Saying yeah ill take that. IT sounds good.
Really it we are no better than the greek culture of Athens. Those who worshiped many Gods and were willing to hear of new ones if it was to accommodate their lifestyle.
IF Jesus can help me get the promotion, get my marriage back, pay my bills, make my kids mind, make it rain, or make it stop raining then I am in.
But these motives are ignorant of the call to those who follow Christ. He is not another accommodation to our lifestyles but rather becomes our life.
He is our greatest Joy. He is our greatest Desire
He must have priority.
We must Love God above all else.
.
If they called Him beelzebub how much more will they call those of His household. We are not above our master.
We are not to fear men but rather God.
Do not think that I came to bring peace upon the earth but rather a sword. He came to divide.
This may bring confusion to one who would take this passage and elevate it alone without the rest of scripture.
What happened to the Bible and telling wives to submit unto husbands and husbands to love their wives.
What happened to submit to one another in love
What happened to children honor thy father and mother in the Lord for this is right.
Fathers do not provoke your children to wrath.
This seems contrary to all of that.
This is a passage that begins to bring into light what our Desire for God should be above all else.
Jesus being the light of the world understood how much we love our darkness and the sin that we walk it, and what we are willing to through in order that we may not have it exposed.
But friends let me tell you Jesus is in the business of exposing sin.
And if you think this wouldn’t divide you couldn’t be more wrong.
This passage only makes sense if you have been at the suffering end for following Christ.
If you were a child that became ostracized by your parents because of Christ you understand.
I can remember my grandpa telling me that there was no money in ministry
If my love for my grandpa was more than God it would have detered me from God was leading me.
My buddies saying that i can be a christian and still partake in the sinful and youthful passions of our day.
If my love for my buddies is greater than God then i would bend my convictions
If I or my children were called to the mission field...
If my love for my family was greater than God then it would hinder me from following him.
Many good christians have fallen to the god of family
We have bowed our convictions to accomodate a childs lifestyle rather than standing for truth.
Or we have lacked to follow where God was leading for fear of what may happen to our children.
Solid concern but wrong when it hinders obedience.
Jesus knew how much we love our sin and self made gods of money, possessions, pleasure and family. He knew that His call of discipleship was not going to unite many families but rather divide.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
And so find favor and high esteem
In the sight of God and man.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
We cannot use reason when it comes to Gods ways but rather He calls us to trust, for it will not always make sense. It will not always seem probable. But He calls us to trust.
Listen our Desires can lead us astray.
The one who laid down His life sacrificially that I may have life and life more abundantly. He is the good God who left HIs throne and took my place bearing my sin and the wrath that was due my name. How could I not give my all back to Him?
He should be the heart and soul of our Desires.
Our Flesh born Desires can lead us astray. This is why we must trust in what calls us contrary to the societal norm and fleshly wants.
The Dividend.
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
Mark 8:35
This is the profound reality in this call to Follow Christ.
That what we desire to bring life we didn’t and couldn’t obtain and rather lost, but what little we did have by losing we gained what we always wanted.
If you this morning are desiring the way of God, consider it the grace of God shining in your life, but do not be naieve of what He is calling you to. You must first repent or you will likewise perish.
For it is in the loss of all the things you have known you realize that what you lost was nothing and what was gained is far greater.
Does Christ have priority in your life?
The bible calls us to re
Does He have pre-eminence?
Is He as the seat of your DESIRES.
ADVERTISEMENT