Take up your Cross

Introduction

As we enter into this weeks lesson we must reflect on what we saw last week. In the verses right before tonight's passage we see Jesus ask the disciples who they say that he is. There were many beliefs going around in that day about who Jesus was but he was getting personal here. Peter on behalf of the disciples speaks and confesses that Jesus is the the Christ, ὁ χριστός. This is a major shift in the story of Mark, you will notice that this next section does not follow the same pattern that we saw before but there will be another one. This is all because they have confessed who Jesus is. This is the same confession at the heart of our own salvation.

The big problem that is still in last weeks passage is that the disciples still expect Christ to come with a militaristic liberation, a takeover and freeing release from the oppressors that they faced in this day. They weren’t completely crazy but what they were looking towards was the little information that they had about the second coming that we still await today. They were not expecting the suffering servant that we see described in Isaiah 53.

Tonight we see Jesus plainly tell them what is to come and then he tells us what we are to do also. This passage carries a lot of weight for the life of a Christian. Lets go ahead and read the passage then we can begin to break it down.

Mark 8:31–9:1 ESV

And he 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 a 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.”

Once they recognized who it is that Jesus was he began to teach them what exactly this would mean and what he would have to do, he would be killed and rise again. Peter was so convinced that this was not true that Peter rebuked Jesus and to that Jesus responds with his strongest rebuke towards a believer that he ever makes.

Jesus then calls the crowd to him to tell them what they must do if they are going to follow him. He tells them the cost of discipleship. What he tells them is still ever true today, we must take up our cross daily.

This section ends with a verse that leads us into the next section of the book where some of the apostles get to see Jesus in his full glory.

In the beginning part of Mark the focus is on the identity of Jesus and who he is. This part moves to what his identity means and the call to discipleship. Tonight we see all of this in this passage and we are going to look at what the Messiah must do and what we must do in response to this.

Lets begin with prayer

pray

What the Messiah must do

Mark 8:31 ESV

And he 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.

This is what Jesus must do. Now that the disciples truly know who he is they must see what it is that he has actually come to do. Their belief is that the savior would come and rally the troops so to speak and destroy the Roman government. They are greatly confused by the thought of suffering, rejection, and death. They are so confused by this part that they ignore the whole part of rising again.

Jesus had to die, and he knew it. This is what is is going towards through the entire book of Mark, it is all leading up to his death. But why did Jesus have to die? The quick answer is so that we may be forgiven of our sins. But why did this require death?

The first reason that he had to die is that the wages of sin is death as it says in Romans 6.23. If he was going to cover for our sins he would have to pay the price for them. This is justice and what we deserve for our wrongdoings and if our price is death and Jesus was going to pay that for us he had to die.

The second reason Jesus had to die is that for the sacrifice to cover us it had to be a perfect sacrifice and he is the only one that could fulfill this. We see in the Old Testament that when they would offer a sacrifice according to God’s law it had to be perfect and without blemish, because of this the only one that could give us a sacrifice that fit into God’s perfect law was God himself.

The third and last reason I want to give tonight for why Jesus had to die is that this is what was required to fulfill all prophecy. This means that this was God’s plan for long before Jesus came to earth. God inspired to prophets to write about the coming Messiah and we see in places like Isaiah 53 that this is what he had to come to do.

Jesus had to die if we are to be forgiven. It is only through his death that salvation is possible and ever would be possible. Jesus knew this and he was trying to tell this to the disciples.

What we must do

Mark 8:34 ESV

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.

This passage holds more than just what Jesus was going to do but it also tells us what we are to do if we are to follow Jesus. If we are to follow Jesus we need to deny ourselves and take up our cross. What exactly does this mean for our lives and what does it look like?

Taking up our cross is not dealing with a mean teacher or a difficult homework assignment, it also isn’t dealing with some form of illness or handicap. Taking up our cross is walking down the narrow path in the footsteps of Jesus, it is the ultimate form of self-denial where we put Christ over all. This is a call to give our life to Christ and the gospel and whatever it calls us to.

The world is against Jesus and his message of the gospel, we can know that if we are to take up our cross then we will incur suffering and persecution. It says in Matthew 10.25 “It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.” This is Jesus saying that we can expect to be treated like him.

The call to discipleship is a call to follow Jesus and is not a small call. When we are saved it is more than just becoming a Christian, true salvation makes you a disciple. This is one that follows Jesus and takes up their cross as they deny themselves fully. Do you follow in this way? Is this true of you?

The rest of this section elaborates on what this means even more. First it says Mark 8.35 “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” saying that is we give up our earthly life for Christ we will see the reward in our eternal life. And in another way in Mark 8.36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” You can become the greatest, wealthiest, most well know man in the world but without Jesus you will suffer for eternity by forfeiting your soul to hell.

You can live for yourself all you want here on earth but you will pay for it for all eternity. I am going to live for Christ and reap the joys of him instead.

Conclusion

When you confess who Jesus is you also confess what you must become. When you confess that Jesus is the savior of the world and died for you and you put your faith in him you to die, you die to self. In this though you live for something far greater and that is him. Jesus Christ is the source for all true joy and happiness, the world can bring you pleasure but for how long? How long does the high from drugs last? How long does the thrill of a relationship last? How long does the excitement of sin last? I can tell you one thing, it doesn’t last for all of eternity.

The joy of following Jesus, the joy of taking up your cross daily, the joy of full self denial and complete Christ exhalation is an unquenchable joy. It is the greatest most pure joy that last through even the most difficult times and hardest challenges and it will be fully magnified when we get to stand in the presence of the king some day.

Christ came to suffer and die because that is what he had to do to make a way for salvation for us. This is what he had to do. If we have accepted this salvation then we are called to act out of that and take up our cross. We are called to live differently, to live like Jesus, to walk down the narrow path that not many are on. This is not some challenge that is super difficult but rather when we truly deny ourselves and focus only on him there is nothing easier. Challenges come our way and they hurt, your mom gets diagnosed with cancer and the next day you find out you lost your baby and its tough, but there is always someone that you can look to and know he is in control, and everything will work out for the good. You know that the only thing that you really can do is take up your cross and you find that the joy in that never left, it was always there and it always will be there.

Give up the fruitless passions of the world and turn to the eternal joys of Christ. Give up your sin and put your faith in Christ. take off the world and take up your cross. Become a disciple. Christ has done what he came to do, now it’s time for us to do what he desires in response. Will you be saved today?