David Heath-Whyte
NB: This is what I intended to say, for the genuine article, listen to the audio version
Intro - A year today?
I wonder where you think you will be a year from today? What state of health you'll be in, and what you'll be doing?
Whatever we think, the reality may well end up being quite different. It might be quite shocking.
And perhaps if you knew, you might want to make some drastic changes?
But no-one knows.
Except Jesus Christ - when he was alive on earth, Jesus knew exactly what the future held for him. When he told his disciples, Simon Peter was shocked to the core. No Way was this what Peter had in mind - for Jesus, or for himself!
So what did Peter have in mind for Jesus?
Turn with me to Mark 8v31 - page....
Peter's Messiah
At the moment in our sermons we're going through a section of Mark's Gospel.
Where we've got to, Peter has just realised that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah:
He's heard Jesus teaching - with amazing authority! He's seen what Jesus has done: the blind see, the deaf hear; 5000 people, 4000 people are fed; Jesus must be "the One":
- the promised one, the one chosen to be the Saviour, the King for God's people
- Jesus is: the Messiah!So: Glory is in store! Glory for Jesus - he will defeat Caesar and his armies; with the Romans gone, he will reign, he'll have a palace - Glory
And Glory for Peter, James, John & the others! Imagine what it'll be like - perhaps Peter will be a general, or a senator, or something else - GLORY!
That's what Peter has in mind, Jesus is already incredibly popular, and there's better to come: Glory for Jesus, Glory for Jesus' disciples.
The shock
And in a way, Peter was right: but, he was about to have a terrible shock.
And it's a shock for us, too, if we're expecting Jesus to give us an easy life, or if we think that Jesus just needs the occasional nod in his direction to top up our browny points for heaven.
Yes there's Glory coming - but on the way there's going to be terrible suffering for Jesus.
And the real shock is that it's not just Jesus who is going to have to deny himself, and take up the cross to die: it's you as well, if you want to be a 'Christian'.
And it's me - this passage reminds me one of the reasons why I don't wear robes: because I'm just the same as you, and need to hear this just as much as you, and I find it very challenging.
So let's PRAY....
It's not just Jesus who is going to have to deny himself, and take up the cross and die: it's us as well.
Jesus must deny himself, and take up his cross. (31-33)
Of course the first thing we discover here, in v.31-33, is that Jesus is going to have to do that.
Jesus must deny himself, and take up his cross.
Jesus will suffer
v.31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
Jesus knew exactly where he was going - and this is the first time he's made it clear to his disciples. (Notice how in the past he's spoken to the crowds but in parables - but here he's speaking plainly v.32 and just to the disciples)
This is God's plan, something the three persons of the Trinity, decided Father, the Son and Holy Spirit, are completely united about: that the Son, Jesus, would leave heaven for life on earth, and there he would "suffer many things and be rejected":
- it's not just that he's going to die, but he's going to be insulted, shouted at, and lied about, he's going to face injustice and political expediency, he's going to be exchanged for a murderer tho he was innocent, he's going to whipped to within an inch of his life with a bone-studded flail, and then he's going to have to carry through the jeering crowds the heavy cross-beam that they'll eventually nail him to.
- and all the while, the "elders", who are the ruling aristocrats,
the 'chief priests' who are the top religious leaders of God's people,
and the "teachers of the law" - who are the Pharisees who supposedly know their OT scriptures
these people will all reject himAnd then, he must be killed, and rise again.
telly for granted
I don't know about you, but when I want to watch the telly, I just flomp onto the sofa, reach for the remote, and 'ping' it's on - and I can watch a film, or the news, or whatever.
And I never go: "Wow! This is amazing - there's a picture there, in colour, and it moves and changes - and it just sort of comes from that wire, that's attached to that stick, that aerial thing on my roof - how does it do that? it's incredible! WOW!"
Do you ever do that? We don't, do we - because we take it for granted. It is incredible - the technology that's in my sitting room is dazzling - but I just take it for granted.
Jesus had to suffer
And we're like that with what Jesus had to go through, aren't we? We're so used to the idea, that we take for granted - we don't flinch when we hear about it, we don't stop to wonder about it. "Oh yeah, Jesus suffered, died and rose again!"
We really need to thank Peter for being so wrong here - v.32 "Jesus spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him." - Yes of course, what Jesus is saying is a shocking thing - it's terrible, it's crazy, it's awful - it's unimaginable. Of course Peter should rebuke Jesus!
But Peter was wrong: it did have to happen - because it was God's plan: the only way that people like you and me could be saved.
That's why Jesus came - that's why Mark's book is the "Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (1v1) It's Good News, because what the Messiah has come to do is to die for you and me, to serve us instead of him being served, to give his life as a ransom for many. He must suffer, he must be rejected, he must die.
That's why Jesus is so fiery towards Peter: "Get behind me Satan" - after his fasting in the desert, Jesus has already resisted Satan's temptations to take the easy way, but now here is Peter, doing Satan's work for him! Peter "does not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men!"
I wonder if you've ever realised that - to have in mind the things of men, rather than the things of God, is to be doing Satan's work!
Jesus is very firm with Peter, he fights what Peter says, because: he must suffer, and die, and then rise again.
We take it all for granted, but it is both shocking and wonderful that the Messiah, Jesus, should do this for us.
Jesus must deny himself and take up his cross.
You must deny yourself and take up your cross.
Well as if that wasn't shocking enough, there's worse to come: if you call yourself a follower of Jesus, if you want to gain from what he has done, if you want to receive the forgiveness he has bought with his blood on the cross - then you too have to deny yourself and take up the cross.
v.34-38: You must deny yourself and take up your cross.
v.34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Jesus demands two things of us: deny yourself, and take up your cross.
And verses 35-38 explain and amplify those two things.
Deny self
First, Jesus says: Deny Yourself.
If I "Deny myself" then "what I want" doesn't matter anymore, it has no priority, and I replace it with "What Jesus wants"
I'm being called to follow Jesus, and not my own wishes and desires, not my thoughts and my ambitions.
Like Peter, I face that question: will I set my mind on the things of men, or the things of God?
To Deny yourself is to have in mind God's things - to let Jesus take control.
works?
Now you might be thinking: "hang on a moment, is that something I have to do, to earn God's favour? Is it a way of scoring points to get in God's good books?"
No - Imagine two young lovers: it's evening, they're walking romantically out on the beach at Weston-Super-Mare; it's a vast beach going out to sea for hundreds of yards - the sun is setting over the sea; they're miles from the shore, miles from the sea - miles from anyone -aaah.
Until to their disgust a Land-Rover screeches up to them, a man leans out and shouts: "hop in quick, and we can escape the tide!" The couple look around - the sea is hundreds of yards away, what's his problem?
Rescue is on offer, because with that huge flat beach, the tide can sweep in and catch you out in minutes.
To receive the offer of rescue, they need to "deny themselves." - but will they? Will they see that carrying on in their way, however attractive it seems, is in fact extremely dangerous?
You see, Jesus offers us his rescue, he calls us to repent and believe in him, and denying yourself is, basically, that repentance. It's how Jesus wants us to respond to his offer of forgiveness. - both when we first become a Christian, and every day as we're living as Christians.
v.35-36
Have a look at v.35 "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it."
You can try to keep your 'life': you can hold onto your 'self' and ignore Jesus - but if you do, you won't be rescued - you will lose your life: you will end up in hell.
Perhaps by going "your way", you get everything you ever wanted in life - v.36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
Even if we've got everything - 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? the answer is: you haven't got enough, you need Jesus!
But, if we respond to Jesus' gospel message - and accept that we need to turn around: then: v.35 "whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it."
But it's not just our initial response: If we carry on responding, by finding new ways of giving up our-selves, because of Jesus, so that his Gospel can be heard by people - v.35 "whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it."
Jesus had to deny himself so that he could save people - and he calls us, his followers, to deny ourselves for him.
Take up cross
What about "Take up your cross."?
'taking up your cross' is what a condemned criminal would do: on the way to his execution, he'd have to walk through the crowds carrying the cross, being mocked and spat on.
It's what Jesus had to do, and he calls us to do something like that, by admitting to the world that we're his. And what could be more worthy of ridicule these days, than being someone who believes Jesus is their Lord and Saviour?
Steve took me to a rock concert the other day - it was great fun, but a few minutes into the main act, the lead singer, only feet away from me on the stage, cried out: "Hands up if you've bought our latest CD" - and almost the entire crowd had their hands up (including Steve). "Hands up if you haven't!" cried the singer. What was I going to do? I hadn't bought the CD! What would happen if I put my hand up - would I be lynched?
And Jesus says: stick your hand up, and admit you haven't bought the world's CD, because you're mine. Admit you've given your life to me - whatever anyone else will think or do about that. Take up your cross. Be a witness to Jesus.
Jesus calls us to be visible Christians, public Christians : 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."
Jesus is real, and one day everyone will see that - but today is the day for us to declare whose side we're on - to stick our hands up and say: I'm not ashamed of Jesus, he's my Lord and Saviour.
Deny yourself, and take up your cross: Let Jesus control your life, let people know that he does:- and follow him!
mean?
Sarah
Practically, what does it mean?
Sarah is friend of mine (I've changed her name to protect her anonymity) - She's a Christian; and when she was in her 20s, she was engaged to be married, to a nice guy, but he wasn't a Christian. Sarah realised from Bible that she shouldn't marry a non-believer; and so she broke the engagement off.
She denied herself - because she loved that man. She took up her cross - her mother and sister thought she was barmy and told her. She's still single, nearly 15 years later - and she's still following Jesus.
"Oh, but you've got to follow your feelings" people say: or Jesus. We haven't got to follow our feelings: I have to say "no" to my feelings, when the Bible tells me that what I'm feeling is wrong.
Eden
I wonder if you've heard of The Eden project - I'm not talking about Cornwall, I'm talking about Manchester.
It's a Christian project where dozens of people have volunteered to move into the most deprived areas of Manchester to start new churches to reach young people. They work in teams, with local churches, but it's still hard going.
The team members have made a decision: their 'success' in life, their 'ambitions' can all go in the bin - they're denying themselves, and they're going to live in those areas and help those young people to know Jesus personally. And Jesus says: "whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it."
me
It's huge isn't it? Hugely exciting, a massive privilege, to follow Jesus like this.
It's about my plans: forget the daydreams where I'm headlining the Maynards groovy rock band at Wembley Arena, hacking away on my gold plated Gibson Les Paul! Our aims have to be set where Jesus wants them - helping others to hear and turn to him.
It's about my standard of living: I don't need to follow the lifestyle mags, or the changing-rooms ideas: will I accept 'less-than-what-I-could-have' and use the rest for Jesus?
It's about every decision I have to make, every action I choose: What does Jesus want?
And it can start small - how about giving up another 30 minutes of your Sunday morning, and arriving here early to help set up for things? It's not hard, we can show you what to do, but you'll have to deny yourself those 30 minutes in bed or wherever.
So it can start small - but it is about big, radical, painful, decisions too.
But as I finish just notice two things:
First, This can only happen within a church fellowship, where people are meeting in homegroups as well as on Sunday: I doubt Sarah would have survived without the homegroup she's in. The Eden workers are all in teams working together, sharing their lives.
If Jesus is calling you to make a huge choice - get into a homegroup, so that Jesus can give you support there, through his body the church.
The second thing to notice is that in a way Peter was right: all along, the Messiah and his followers are destined for glory. The prize that Jesus has won and shares with us is heaven, and to live his way now is a great privilege, a right response to his offer of salvation, however our sinful minds might try to twist it!
Shocking!
It's shocking stuff: not only did Jesus have to deny himself and take up his cross, but he calls me and you to do the same.
Jesus called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."