Undercover Christians

Mark 8:34-38 “34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 35 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. 36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.””

Introduction

When we lookup the word deny in the dictionary we will see it means to reject something or someone.

If we look up the word self-denial in the dictionary, we will find it means the denial of one’s own interest and needs, such as self sacrifice.

Today I want to talk about some Christians who are in denial, but not self-denial. They are for Christ one minute and denying Him the next. They become under-cover Christians depending what situation they are in. Their mouths say one thing, but their hearts are far away from the Lord.

The passages before the text of this message show Jesus reprimanding Peter. Peter had rejected Jesus saying He must suffer, die and be raised on the third day. Now one might think Jesus was being hard on Peter, but t=Satan was making another attempt to derail God’s plan of Jesus dying on the cross for us. Do you remember Jesus being tempted in the wilderness in Matthew 4?

1st Point - Deny, And Take Up The Cross

Jesus called some people and His disciples to Him and He told them; “Whoever desires to come after Me, let Him deny himself, and take up his cross.”

Jesus has told His disciples they will have to suffer and possibly die too. He said it to them and those words still ring true for us today.

There are some people who think there are two types of Christians: The ones who suffer and the ones who live a lavish, easy, and comfortable life.

These are the ones who get upset and go into depression when they are tested. These are the ones who are doubleminded and please know what the scriptures tells us in James 1:8 about a doubleminded person being unstable in their ways.

There are those who run after any new doctrine especially the doctrines that doesn’t call for a sacrifice of oneself and desires.

Many believers say they want to follow Christ and start out great. But when that speed bump in life comes, they withdraw. Usually that speed bump is an occasion to deny themselves in order to keep following Jesus.

To follow Christ means we’re going to have to give up our own desires and live His desires.

We have to deny our own pleasures, social advantages, comforts, and agendas.

Jesus said we have to take up our cross.

the cross was cruel method of execution used by the Romans.

not only did the convicted criminal have to die a cruel and slow death, he had to carry his cross to the area of the execution.

The cross is a symbol of Jesus’ suffering and death. And He is telling us that we must be ready to suffer and maybe die for Christ and the spread of the gospel.

2nd Point - Trading Our Soul To Gain The World

Jesus is addressing a materialistic attitude then and now. This spirit is very strong today.

There are some who devote all of their time obtaining riches and material things and if the time comes, they are between a rock and a hard place. Unfortunately some wind up walking away from the chance to serve Christ.

Mark 10:17-27 tells us about the rich young ruler who wanted to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to sell what he had, give it to the poor and he would have treasures in heaven. Then Jesus told him to take up the cross, and follow Him.

The rich young ruler away sad because he owned a lot of stuff that he wasn’t willing to let go of.

Jesus addresses being ashamed of Him, and denying Him.

There are going to be times when we will have to stand on the fact and let it be known who we have faith in, love and follow.

These days it isn’t popular to say you’re a Christian. Satan is working hard to remove the name Jesus from our mouths because he knows the name of Jesus 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, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” - Philippians 2:10-11.

3rd Point - Being Ashamed and Deny

Jesus addresses the fact of people being ashamed of Him. How can we be ashamed and deny the existence of a man who poured out His life and His blood so that we can be saved and inherit eternal life?

Trying to fit in with the norm to not offend people.

Flat out saying we’re not believers for personal gain.

Taking that salt He gave us and not sprinkling it to make situations better, or hiding that light Jesus placed in us and hiding it in basket. (Matthew 5:13-16)

Jesus is our intercessor and we need Him to speak up for us like a defense attorney who pleads a case in course.

We forfeit that blessing of having Him intercede for us and plead our case of living in sin.

Conclusion

I remember when I worked as an undercover drug agent during the War on Drugs in the 80’s. It was my job to deceive the drug dealers into thinking I was a drug dealer. I acted one way with them, but when I got around my co-workers in law enforcement, I acted out my true title.

Unfortunate for some, there isn’t a position of undercover christian in the kingdom of God.

We cannot be worldly though the week and a Christian on Sunday. It’s all or nothing.

We cannot speak kind words one minute and the next minute when someone offends us, we’re speaking with words that don’t edify (filthy communications).

We cannot cheat to obtain loans, tax returns and other benefits.

We cannot put God at the bottom of our list of priorities.

We learned in Sunday School that Paul denied his education, his title, his possessions and his stance on keeping the law because he found something far better than what he had and that was Jesus...