Mark 8:31-39

If you've been here with us throughout this study of Mark, you know that we've been looking at this gospel really with the goal of seeing all the ways that the people around Jesus, whether it was the crowds or the disciples, whoever the ways that they were astonished at the things that Jesus was saying and doing, but one of the things that were begin going to begin to notice from here on out in the gospel of mark is a transition that we see taking place, which in a lot of ways eliminates some of

this amazement and astonishment for a very specific purpose. And so that's what we're going to look at this morning. But read with me if you will. Mark Eight 31 through 39 it says, and he being Jesus 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 anyone 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 Gospel's will save it for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul for what can man give in return for his soul, for 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 and he said to them, truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the

Kingdom of God after it has come with power. Father, we thank you for this morning and we pray that as we open your word that you would teach us follow we do is we do not come here this morning for no reason, but we come. Father Today we may get a clearer picture of you and your love for us and so far would you teach us this morning what looks like to embrace Jesus's call and to live our lives in obedience?

If all we thank you knowing that you will speak to us this morning and we pray all of these things in your name. Amen. Well, in order to set up our passage for this morning, we'll give you a little bit of a background.

So if you were here last week, then you saw Dan walked through the scene where Jesus in route to Cesarea Phillip high asks his disciples, who do people say that the son of man is and if you remember, they responded with, well, some say Elijah, some say John The baptist, others one of the profits, but then he turns the question to them and he asks, who do you say that I am? And Peter Responds, you are the Kristoss. That is the the Greek word for the Hebrew word, mushy.

Jaak meaning anointed one or Messiah, the one that had been presented in the Old Testament as the one who was going to come and redeem Israel. Here you see Peter Acknowledging you are the Kristoss, you are the Christ. But immediately after that moment, what you see is a transition in the writing of the gospel of mark. The first half of mark is devoted to Jesus, really explaining who he is, explaining his identity, that he is king, that he is Messiah.

And the second half of mark is really devoted to explaining what it is that he has come to do. It's all devoted towards explaining that he has got to go to the cross, but the cross is going to accomplish something for us. And so here it's this passage that we have this morning that is our turning point where we see that Jesus begins to teach these disciples that he is not a messiah and the way that they have been thinking of a messiah.

And so pay close attention this morning as we dig into these versus recognizing that everything that Jesus is saying to these disciples is totally counter cultural for them. Even growing up, having read the Old Testament, having held on so tightly to the pictures of the Messiah that was presented in the Old Testament, what they find Jesus talking about here is something totally different from the way that they had conceived of the Messiah. And so that's what we're going to look at today.

So we'll begin reading in verse 31 it says, and he being Jesus 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 killed and three days rise again. And so you know that from the beginning of the gospel of Mark, we've seen that Jesus has come proclaiming this gospel of the Kingdom of God.

It's now that Jesus really turns on explaining what it is that the Kingdom of God is going to look like and what exactly has to take place in order to usher in this Kingdom of God. Trouble is, it looks a little different from what they thought it was going to look like. First, you see four things that he begins to teach them. It says that Jesus began to teach them that he must suffer.

And in Isaiah 53 you get this glimpse of what is known as the suffering servant, a glimpse of the redeemer that was gonna come in an Isaiah 53 three we read, he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.

But now despite the old testament's depiction of what this messiah was going to look like, despite the fact that the old testament says time and time again that the Messiah is going to have to suffer and endure hardship. Peter, along with the rest of these disciples, they really kind of breezed past those depictions of the Messiah. Really thinking of him as one who was going to come and establish his earthly reign. One Who is going to rule over Palestine, ridding them of Roman rule.

And of course, if you've got that sort of mindset behind what it's gonna look like for someone to come in and conquer, those who are ruling you, that person's suffering, shame and death, those don't factor into the equation. So even though the disciples grew up with, with this understanding of who it was that was going to come, they don't quite get the point. I think for me, and for a lot of us in here this morning, I think the same could be said.

We read the things that are written in the old and New Testament. We know what it means to be a Christian, but I think at the end of the day we have kind of brushed aside some of the things that had been written, seeking to conceive of Jesus differently than he is. Maybe because it means we won't have to do as many hard things. That is my conviction. But as we're going to see this morning, Jesus calls these disciples to some hard, hard things. But first, before we get into that, let's continue.

So first he teaches that they must suffer. Next he teaches that they must be rejected. And one of the disciples who is probably standing here as he is telling them this, that the son of man must be rejected was John. And we see after Jesus's death, John Writing this takes place in John one 11 where he recounts everything that took place and it says that he being Jesus came to his own and his own people did not receive him. I want you to think about that picture for just a moment.

The fact that Jesus had come leaving his father's side and heaven coming to take on an earthly body with all of the hardship that that brings coming to take on his cross to which he was going for you and for I. He was doing all of this for us in order to redeem us in order to redeem them. Yet what happened? He came to his own and his own people rejected him. Yet what did he do? He continued regardless of what their response was like. Man, that is powerful.

That is a powerful love that I hope all of us in here this morning can really grasp. Next, it says that he must be killed and again, you get this picture in first Peter three 18 of a disciple who was there, and as we're going to see in a minute, even more intimately involved in this conversation, Peter was there.

As Jesus is giving this command, he was there as Jesus died and was resurrected and here he is after his death and resurrection, talking about this death that Jesus had to die saying for Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. He must be killed.

Next we see that he will rise again in acts two this is Peter Again speaking acts two verses 22 through 24 he says, men of Israel hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves know this, Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

God raised him up, loosening the pains of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. Amen. He must be, he must suffer. He must be rejected and he must be killed, but he will ultimately rise again.

That is what Jesus begins to teach these disciples as he moves into this explanation of what the cross is and what exactly it's going to accomplish for these men, but as we said already, their conception of who the Messiah was going to be did not entail any of this and that is the reason for Peter's response. Very next verse. It says, and he said this plainly and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him first.

It's interesting to note that Jesus said this plainly, if you know anything about his style of teaching, typically what did he do? He took stories, stories that the disciples or anyone that he was around was familiar with and he explained whatever truth it was. He was trying to communicate through these stories. Yet here we do not see him doing that. All along these disciples had been saying, would you please stop talking in parables? Tell us plainly what you mean.

But he never would until this moment where we see that. And he said this plainly, Jesus did not want to leave any room for misinterpretation. He wanted them to know exactly what it was that he had come to do, but more over he wanted them to know exactly what it was that they were ascribing to as they choose to follow after him. He didn't want any surprises. He didn't want any, uh, lackadaisical followers.

He wanted people who knew what was entailed with following Jesus and who were committed to him. Yet Peter did not like these words, right? So it says that Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. It is evident that Peter is not thinking of the Messiah in the same terms that Jesus is, and so intense upon correcting his wrong thinking. Peter takes him aside and tried to, tries to guide them in the direction that Peter would have him go.

First with Jesus rebuking the disciples and their continued disbelief as they, they've got the small loaf of bread in there wondering immediately after he'd just multiplied the bread. Oh, well what are we going to do? There's tons of us here to eat and we only got this tiny bread. He rebukes them trying to remind them to believe in him and his power. But then you see upon beginning to talk about his suffering and his imminent death, Peter Rebukes Jesus and now we see Jesus rebuking Peter.

This should kind of within your understanding of this passage, elevate the tension level. You see the tension rising in this passage, as Jesus begins to speak about his death, it's almost as if they begin to boil over. They don't know what to do with this information, so they just pick it and re rebuking one another. This is a tense scene and then referring to Peter as a messenger of Satan. Jesus says, get behind me. This is militaristic language.

So this is the sort of language that a general would use to tell his soldier to get back in line, get back into your rank. Remember that you are behind me, fall, back in line. He is telling Peter, remember who you are and remember who I am, get behind me. But also implicit within this command is the reminder that Satan ranks behind Jesus and anyone associated with Satan ranks behind Jesus. He is in total control of everything.

Jesus tells Peter, get behind me, Satan and then he gives the reason for the rebuke which is for you are setting your mind on the things of man rather than on the things of God. And my question for myself this morning and my question for you is how often do you find this to be the case that you are setting your mind on the things of man rather than on the things of God?

I know that if I were to answer that question honestly, I would not like to admit the amount of times that I find myself trusting in the things of man, setting my eyes on the things of man rather than on the things of God. Well this is our reminder this morning, our encouragement this morning and I think it comes through this silly picture of Peter Rebuking Jesus as he is on the way to the cross. What is the cross meant to do?

The Cross has meant to redeem Peter, Forgive Peter, wipe feeder clean of his sins, present him holy and blameless before the father reconciling Peter and the father and what do you see Peter doing trying to do anything that he can to prevent Jesus from going to the cross? How silly is that? But I think in a lot of ways when we set our minds on the things of man rather than on the things of God, that is the sort of thing that we are doing.

As the Lord is seeking to work out our salvation, Peter is blocking him. I wonder what it is that we this morning are blocking or trying to block the Lord from doing by setting our eyes on the things of man rather than on the things of God. Let this be the learning point this morning. We need to set our minds on the things of God rather than on the things of man. Hard things may come hard, things will come and just like Peter Thought note for you to be Messiah, does it mean you die?

It means you set up your earthly reign. He didn't see what had to take place in order to truly make that happen. I think in a lot of ways the Lord is at work and our lives and we are constantly trying to block him from doing what it is that he's trying to work out. And so this morning, set your eyes on the things of God rather than the things of man. Regardless of what that means, trusting that he has got a plan and he knows what he is doing.

Trust him this morning, even when it doesn't seem to make sense. If we move on immediately after this moment where Jesus is rebuking Peter, it says, Jesus calls the crowd to him with his disciples. And he said to them, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. So immediately you see that while Peter Takes Jesus aside, and it's almost as if he is trying to have this conversation in private with Jesus. What does Jesus do?

He, he rebukes Peter and then calls the crowd's not even just the disciples who were around at first because the crowds around him to begin to teach them the same thing that he must suffer, be rejected, be killed, but then also rise again, calling the crowds to them. He said to them, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself. That's what he first says. This is a relinquishing of any claims that you may have on your life for these disciples.

For these men, this is a relinquishing of any claims that they have on their lives. As our t France says, what Jesus calls for here is a radical abandonment of one's own identity and self determination. Such self-denial is on a different level altogether from giving up chocolates for lent. It is not the denial of something to the self, but the denial of the self itself.

Paul gives us a great picture of this in Romans nine where he rhetorically asks, has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump, one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use. The main thrust of what he is saying is give yourself up and complete trust to the Lord. Next, he says, take up his cross and think of what the cross meant for these men.

At this moment it was a tool by which the Romans would kill those who had committed felonies against them and their law for these men taking up a cross him. It meant to embrace fear, embrace opposition, embrace shame, embrace suffering, and even embrace death.

I can't, I mean I think we can kind of get the picture of why it is that these disciples falter at this moment when they hear his words taking a step back like, oh, we did not know that this is, that is exactly what you meant when you called us to follow you. US In this room, we may be in the same boat. I did not know that. Being a Christian meant that sometimes we might have to be called to do some hard things. He tells them, deny yourself.

Take up your cross, even if it means embracing fear, opposition, shame, suffering, and death. And finally he says, follow me now. I want you to imagine what it was like for Peter to hear these words. When Jesus Calls Peter at the very beginning of his ministry, first to come and see, to experience life with Jesus. Listen to the things that he said. Watch the things that he did. Eventually he called him to, okay, now that you've seen and you've heard, drop your net and follow me.

And at that Peter, along with his brother Andrew and James and John dropped their nets and followed after Jesus. I can only imagine that as Jesus utters these words follow me. This is a reminder where in Peter's mind, he is hearkening back to when Jesus first called him to come and follow being reminded. Peter, you've got to drop your net. You've got to drop your way of life. Come and follow me.

This is a reminder for Peter and the rest to give their lives over to the mission of the Gospel, and I think that's the very same for us this morning as well. And I want to give you a scriptural portrait of what this looks like in someone's life this morning. So in Luke 22 you get this picture of Jesus as he is in the garden of Gethsemane money. He is moments away from being led to his death.

He is sweating blood, he is praying and in Luke 22 verses 41 through 42 he utters these words, father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. That is what it looks like for someone to deny themselves, take up their cross and to follow in hot pursuit of the father. That's what it looks like. I also want to give you a historical portrait. Then I think for us can can really help us understand what this looks like.

Then for us, how do we apply this truth to our lives? Some of you may be familiar with the story of Elizabeth Elliot. Can I see hands just in case anybody know that name? Okay, so Elizabeth Elliott was the wife of a man named Jim Elliot.

So there were five men and their families who had uprooted their lives from all around the world and moved to Ecuador country in South America, and their goal was to reach the unreached wall, Ronnie people, and they call this mission of theirs Operation Ahca, because the Guarani were also called the Ahca people. These people were a violent people who were known to kill those who trespass on their territory.

In fact, years before Jim Elliot and the rest of those guys had gone to reach them Shell, the oil company began to exploit the raw Guarani territory land trying to find oil and the wall run. You'd killed eight of their employees. Now this is just one instance out of many that happened numerous times to many different people. They were scared of people who were trespassing on their land, seeking to exploit them, and so the, they reacted in fear.

Now these missionaries knew that yet still, what did they do? They went to this people group desperately seeking to bring to them the gospel. The good news of the grace of Jesus. And this was back in the fifties 1956 where this group of men had made contact with this group of Wall Ronnie people as they pass by and their little single engine plane dropping gifts, trying to tell them, hey, we mean you no harm. We come with bringing your gifts.

So finally they built up the nerve to land on a beach of the cure I river and the Amazon rain forest and try to make first initial contact with his people. But as soon as they made contact with these people, they were speared to death on that beach immediately. And now you've got these men dead as they are seeking to bring the gospel to these people and their families who are just a little bit away in their towns and villages mourning their loss.

But what I want to do for you this morning is put Elizabeth Elliot in front of you, the wife of Jim Elliot, who stayed in Ecuador, still desperately seeking to reach these people for two years praying that the Lord would open up an opportunity for her in after two years, two years after his death, she returned to the very same place where her husband and his partners had just been killed, returned to go take the gospel to this people and she was accepted by them and consequently virtually the

entire tribe then converted, gave their life to Christ as a result of witnessing within this lady what it looked like for someone to give them their utmost forgiveness.

And this guy responded, we are as safe as Jesus wants us to be. I want you to think of those words that is a perfect embodiment of what it means to embrace this call, to live out the mission of the Gospel with a desperate intention of seeing people come to know Jesus immediately after making this call, telling them that they must give their lives over mark records, Jesus giving for motivations for why they should do this. So why should you deny yourself? Why should you take up your cross?

Why should you follow Jesus? Motivation? Number one, Jesus says, for whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospel's will save it. This means that you denying yourself, taking up your cross and following Jesus isn't done for no reason. It's done for Jesus's sake and for the sake of the Gospel as it makes its way into all parts of the world. What does it mean to save one's life? To save one's life?

It means to you live your life with your soul intentions being to pursue comfort and gain, to avoid any kind of suffering that may come your way to live for yourself and your will. You think of the rich young ruler. That's a perfect example. A man who had a lot and so walked away from Jesus because he didn't want to give over anything that he had. That's what it means to live.

Seeking to save your life, pursuing comfort and gain, avoiding suffering, living for your own will in yourself, but on the other hand to lose one's life. It means to deny yourself, to relinquish any claims that you have on your life. To take up your cross and follow Jesus to live for Christ and his will.

You see this picture perfectly and the writing of Paul in Philippians one as he is in jail, you see Paul writing, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel. So that has become known to all throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. He was content with where he was, regardless of the difficulty of his circumstances. Why?

Because the Gospel was being advanced and people were coming to know of Christ's great love for them. A little bit later, he says, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain this embrace of opposition and shame and suffering and death. It comes as a result of being wholly sold out to Christ and holy sold out to the mission of the Gospel.

So I think for us as we take these internal surveys this morning, it's important when we realized that we don't seem to be facing these sorts of issues, we don't seem to be facing opposition. We don't seem to be suffering much at all. We don't seem to be put in circumstances where we're finding ourselves being shamed for who we are and what we believe in.

I think when we find ourselves in that sort of state away from any sort of opposition, we have to ask ourselves, are we truly obeying this call? Because if we are, I think opposition will come, and so my desperate plea for myself and for all of you this morning is that we obey. Jesus has call to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow after him.

Regardless of what that means, whether that is you leaving today, moving to some other part of the world to reach an unreached people group with the Gospel, whether it means you go in and knock on your neighbor's door to share the gospel with them, whether it means doing whatever you can do to reach the people that are around you at work in your neighborhood at school, that is what it looks like to obey this call. Motivation.

Number two, he says, for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and to forfeit his soul? About six and a half years before Jim Elliot was speared to death on that beach, he wrote his journal. These words that I want you to hear, he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. Again, that is a perfect embodiment of someone who has sold out to Christ and sold out to the mission of the Gospel.

He did not know at this point what exactly that would mean for him, but Christ did, and regardless of whether or not Jim Elliot knew what was coming, he did not care. He was ready to embrace whatever it was that came his way for the sake of Christ and for the sake of the Gospel. Motivation number three four. What can a man give in return for his soul? Jesus is saying, your soul is the most valuable thing you have and the Greek. This is psych. This is like the, this is the breath of life.

Reflecting back on Genesis two seven where God forms Adam but then breeds into him the breath of life. It is what gives you your being, allows you to be alive, connects us to the creator as our creator. He's saying, what can a man give in return for that? That is the most valuable thing there is nothing can compare.

If you remember anything about Peter after this scene, what happened as Jesus was led before the Sanhedrin and then being tried right before his execution, Peter standing outside just waiting to hear news and this girl turns to him and says, aren't, aren't you? One of his disciples did not see you with him and if you remember, Peter Responds, no, I do not know that man. Three times.

Peter denied Jesus, ashamed of him seeking to save his own life by not being associated with him and consequently being led to trial as well. Yet, if you remember after Jesus's resurrection as the disciples, some of them are in a boat fishing. They see this man on the short, calling them to him, Jesus calling them to him. Jesus enters into this conversation with Peter where he asks him three times, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

This was Jesus' attempting to Redeem Peter, give them a chance to write what he knew he had done in wronging him by claiming that he did not know him three times. Jesus asked Simon, do you love me? All three times Peter responded, yes lord. You know I love you. Yes you know I love you.

Yes Lord, I love you, and then Jesus gives him one more call, which is then follow me again, reflecting back on this moment, warning him of everything that was going to have to take place and the crucifixion and the resurrection. Reflecting back on the first moments that Jesus had with Peter Saint Peter, follow me. Peter probably didn't know what life was going to look like for him from then on out, but he didn't have to. All he knew was, I just need to follow this. Jesus.

I've seen the incredible things that he has done. I've heard the incredible things that he said. How can I do anything but follow him in an ax? The picture of the early church shows just how much Peter had changed. Just how convinced he had become that Jesus really was who he had said he was and that it was worth giving up anything for Christ's sake and the gospels for you here this morning, maybe you don't know what this means for you leaving here today.

Maybe you don't know what it means for you to deny yourself, to take up your cross and follow after Jesus and you may not know and that is okay. But my heart and prayer for you this morning and my heart and prayer for myself is that we hear these words follow me and that we trust in Jesus and trust in his sovereign plan and trust in his definite work. Trust in the father's definite plan and foreknowledge and regardless of what that may mean for ourselves, that we follow him.

That is our application for this morning. If we want to come after Jesus, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him. If we are sitting in this sanctuary this morning seeking to save our own lives, we will lose them. But if for Christ's sake and the gospel's sake, we are willing to hand our lives over to Jesus saying, do with me what you will. We will save it. Father, I thank you for this morning.

If I pray that for myself this morning as well and follow, we beg you for, for you to use us, for you to use this congregation for you to use this church in bringing your gospel to this community of Collierville into the world. We love you and we pray all of these things in your name.