Video of this worship service can be viewed on Facebook here -
https://www.facebook.com/david.p.charlton.9/videos/10164186539945298
Or on Vimeo here -
https://vimeo.com/457519361?fbclid=IwAR0QM_X96OwijXE_sYJzBfxEYhVUHclz0YcA7KT3z7zdtLr7QN1_g8FKn0s
This morning I continue the series of messages titled What Did Jesus Do? The title of the message is He Said Faith Would Be Tough.
To be honest, I really struggled with this message. Late in the week, as I struggled to put much of anything together in this message, I was about to change the topic or use a previous message, but then I realized, well, that would be ironic. To work on a message titled “He Said Faith Would Be Tough” and then abandon the message because it was too tough is the very definition of irony.
There is a lot that challenges us in what Jesus says in this passage, and to be honest, there’s not a lot of appeal to the line whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me (verse 34). I don’t know about you, but I am more than a bit unnerved by the idea of carrying a cross (and I imagine the disciples were more than a bit unnerved also, as they had seen what crosses were used for). And to read the rebuke Jesus gave to Peter, when he said, get behind me Satan! is more than a bit unnerving as well. If Peter got it so wrong that Jesus would rebuke him in such a manner, how might I be wrong and how might Jesus rebuke me?
As I say, I really struggled with this message.
But I think that’s one of the points of this passage – to struggle. It is possible to make faith so docile, so domesticated, and so tame that it can become marginal, or even irrelevant, to our lives.
So let’s turn to this passage. Follow along as I read from Mark 8:27-37 –
27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”
30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.
36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?
37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
One of the difficulties in preaching from this passage is that there is so much to cover in these verses. This passage could easily become its own series, but I’m giving it a single week, so it’s tough to narrow it down to a few thoughts. What I am going to do, then, is focus on verse 34 – Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. I think there is more than enough in that verse to tackle in this message. I will focus on three phrases Jesus uses in that verse regarding what he asks of those who would be his disciples – deny themselves, take up their cross, follow me.
1. Deny himself.
If you were to take a look around our house you would not be wrong to question whether I have ever denied myself anything. We live in a world where the idea of denying ourselves anything seems like a foreign concept.
Which makes it tempting to say that, in terms of appealing to people in our materialistic day and age, this verse would make one of the worst advertising campaigns ever. Think about it for a moment – if you want to appeal to people, what is the best way to do so? Appeal to their self-interest. If you want to attract people, tell them the benefits they will receive, not what they must give up. Imagine, for a moment, how different an advertisement for selling cars would become if it was not based on self-interest as a way of appealing to potential customers. Have we got a deal for you! We’re asking you to give us $25,000.00 of your hard-earned money. That’s right – we want half of your annual income for this beauty that we’re trying to sell you! But we’re going to extract that $25,000 a little bit at a time, month by month, because you have the misfortune of not being able to pay us the entire amount at one time. And because you can’t pay the full amount at one time, we’re going to charge you interest for the privilege of extracting your money from you! That’s right – we’re going to take even more money out of your pocket! So, instead of paying $25,000 for the car, you will end up paying $30,000 for it! Isn’t that a great deal? It is for us! But I’m going to let you in on something – we don’t normally say much about how that’s such a good deal for us and a bad deal for you, because if we tell you that, you might not want to buy our car. And, not only are we charging you so much for that car, after buying it you will have to pay a lot more money in order to insure it, and to maintain it, and when it’s all paid for, guess what – you’ll suddenly discover that it is a really bad investment, because it’s going to be worth only a fraction of what you paid for it. Isn’t that a great deal! It is for us! Who would respond to that kind of ad? Probably no one. That’s why, at the end of those ads, the narrator speed through the fine print so quickly that you miss everything that is said.
Jesus has no fine print. There are no surprises. There are no hidden agendas. There is no bait and switch. Jesus puts it all up front. Verse 32 says, he spoke plainly about this. Jesus did not hide anything. In fact, he was so open about the challenges and difficulties of what he was about to face – and about what his followers would face – that verse 32 goes on to say that Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. What’s interesting about Peter’s action in rebuking Jesus is Peter had just confessed his understanding that Jesus is the Messiah, and now he is lecturing Jesus about the way in which he ought to fulfill his role as the Messiah. That takes some nerve on Peter’s part, doesn’t it? To be fair to Peter, however, maybe he didn’t fully understand the mission of Jesus (or maybe he just didn’t like what he heard).
In the course of following Jesus, there are times when we will be called upon to deny ourselves. Perhaps it is to deny ourselves something we want in order to provide for someone who has a need. Perhaps it will be to deny what we want to do in order to devote time to help someone who needs our help and our attention.
But here’s what I think is interesting. In spite of what I said about the appeal of commercials and the need to appeal to people’s self-interest, I also believe that people really do want to be challenged. I believe people really want to be challenged by a cause that is meaningful and represents a higher purpose. The challenge of Jesus to his disciples certainly does just that. I believe that as much as we all want to spend some time lying on the beach or relaxing in front of a TV and watching a good movie or a ball game, what we really want is for our lives to matter. I believe we find a great appeal in being challenged for a calling that makes a difference. When we are challenged in such a way, we will deny ourselves. This was true of the disciples. Even though Peter rebuked Jesus, he quickly came to understand the purpose of Jesus and he responded by offering his life to that purpose.
2. Take up their cross.
As difficult as it is to hear the words deny himself, the phrase take up their cross is in a whole other category. In fact, it is a phrase that is in a whole other universe.
The disciples were very aware of what it meant to take up a cross. The cross was an instrument of power, it was an instrument of torture, it was an instrument of domination, and ultimately, it was an instrument of death. For us, the idea of taking up our cross is more of a metaphorical challenge. We might crucify a particular desire – maybe a desire for success or material gain – but for the disciples, it was very literal. It was especially literal for Peter. In John 21:18-19, Jesus said to Peter, 18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!” In those verses, Jesus again puts together those two phrases for Peter – taking up his cross and following him. According to church tradition, Peter was crucified in Rome under the reign of the Roman emperor Nero, so taking up his cross became a literal calling.
We are very fortunate to live in a time and place that provides us with the freedom of worship and the freedom to practice our faith according to the dictates of our consciences. Some people talk about religious persecution in our country, which is quite a stretch in my opinion. You can go online to a number of sites and find a great deal of information about the very real persecution that Christians face in a number of countries worldwide. The U.S. State Department has long monitored the plight of those around the world who are persecuted for the faith. Other organization, such as Open Doors USA and Voice of the Martyrs on any given day because of their faith.
https://www.state.gov/bureaus-offices/under-secretary-for-civilian-security-democracy-and-human-rights/office-of-international-religious-freedom/
When the Khai family joined us for worship several years ago, their pastor accompanied them. If you aren’t familiar with the Khai family, they are the refugee family we helped to settle here in the states several years ago. We worked with two other churches and with Kentucky Refugee Ministries to bring them to our country. I asked their pastor to speak to us that Sunday morning, but he initially declined to do so. He said he did not want to take my time. I asked to him to please speak to us, because he had shared some of his story with me, and it was a story we needed to hear. If you were here that day, you heard him speak of being imprisoned for preaching. He was imprisoned and told not to preach any more. He continued to preach and was again imprisoned. When they told him, once again, to stop preaching, he said he could not stop. Isn’t that amazing? He knew what it meant to take up his cross. Persecution for his faith was real to him but it did not in any way hinder him from following Jesus and the calling that was upon his life. He was imprisoned for his preaching. The worst I get is a rolling of the eyes or a yawn.
3. Follow me.
Throughout the Scriptures, the theme of follow me runs very strong. But it is a follow me that doesn’t really offer any details. God invited Abraham, for example, to follow, going to a land yet to be revealed. Genesis 12:1-2, 4 tells us 1the Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. There were no details at all about location; there was simply the invitation to go. When Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James, and John, he gave them the invitation to follow me. Matthew 4:18-22 tells us, 18 Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee. He saw two brothers. They were Simon (his other name was Peter) and Andrew, his brother. They were putting a net into the sea for they were fishermen. 19 Jesus said tothem, “Follow Me. I will make you fish for men!” 20 At once they left their nets and followed Him. 21 Going from there, Jesus saw two other brothers. They were James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were sitting in a boat with their father, mending their nets. Jesus called them. 22 At once they left the boat and their father and followed Jesus. Again, there were no details or specifics about where they would be going or what they would be doing; just follow me.
The difficulty we have is that we tend to think of following as leading to a destination. When Jesus invites us to follow him, there is a destination, but not a destination in the way we envision it. We think of a specific locale, with a specific path, and a specific length of time involved. In following Jesus, there are very few specifics. We simply follow. There is no address to plug into our GPS. There is no map to tell us the path. There are no details about what we will encounter along the way.
Where, then, are we willing to go? What, then, are we willing to do?
I do not know where God is calling or leading you. I don’t always know where God is calling me or leading me. But I do know we are being called and being led, so let us deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow him.
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