A Call to Die

Introduction

Hey good morning Bridge Church. It is so good to be back with you. Although, many of you are probably aware, this was not our original intention, we weren’t planning on being back this soon, we are thankful that God is sovereign and His plans are better then ours even when we don’t quite understand his timing.

Just to give you a little update for those of you who may not know, back in September we returned to our home overseas and pretty quickly renewed our visas and applied for John’s first visa. Rachel and I were granted a one year visa, which is what we applied for, but John unfortunately was denied a visa. You may not have guessed this by looking at him, but John is actually a hardened criminal who has now been fined twice for being illegally in our host country. We came back to the states at the beginning of December and we were supposed to be heading back in early March, but the visa laws were changed at the new year and it looks like now we’ll be heading back in mid-April. Unfortunately, it is not just us, our country has been becoming more and more difficult to gain long term access to. And so, we would greatly appreciate your prayers for our future as well as for the many others who are in a similar position as us.

In light of all of the unknowns, I have been taking heart in Proverbs 16:9 “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” We are trusting that the Lord is establishing our steps as we strive to follow him.

Thank you so much for your prayers as we do so.

It has been a weird season for Rachel and I. In a lot of ways it feels like we haven’t had a ton of stability sense John was born. We did three months overseas, three months back in the states, three months back overseas, now we’ve been back for about three months and we are still not certain as to when we’ll be going home. It is seasons like this that remind me to continue to ask the question: What does following Jesus look like? Where is He leading?

I’m thankful that we don’t have to answer these questions blindly. Scripture actually has a lot to say on the matter. Now, often, the bible doesn’t tell us the specifics to what that looks like, we cannot read scripture and find answers to questions like, “should I take this job and move to that city?” or “Should I marry this specific person?” or “Should I go to that college and study this or this college and study that?” But scripture does tell us what following Jesus entails and it gives us a framework through which to live our lives.

As I read scripture, I can not help but see that Jesus calls all believers to surrender themselves fully to Him and in obedience follow Him. We may not know the exact destination or even the route to take, but He is clear on what that following looks like.

And today, I want to talk about a specific passage that I’ve been meditating on and thinking through that gets out this idea. In a lot of ways, this passage is pretty radical to the lives of believers, though I think many of us might be a little numb to its message.

This passage comes out of Mark, but it also occurs in three of the four Gospels so the early writers obviously saw it as important. Today, we are going to be looking at Mark’s account of Jesus’ words to His disciples when He tells them what Disciples must do in light of following Him. Jesus tells them, and so to us, that Disciples must Daily Deny, Die, and Devote.

If you have your bibles with you today, we’re going to read Mark 8:34-38. I’ll be reading out of the ESV.

Mark 8:34–38 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. 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.”

Body

What must disciples do? (v34)

For every follower of Jesus, every disciple, there is a question that we would do well to answer. It is a question that Rachel and I are currently thinking and praying through and striving to answer for ourselves in this season. What must disciples do? (v34). This passage is perhaps one of the clearest examples of Jesus’ answer to that question. Again, we read in Mark 8:34.

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.

To say it another way, Disciples must Daily Deny, Die, and Devote. We must every day, deny ourselves, die to ourselves, and devote ourselves fully and wholly to Christ.

i. To Deny Ourselves (v34a) …

…means that we set aside our wants and our desires and our dreams, understanding that everything the world has for us pales in comparison to what Christ has for us. God’s calling on your life is so much sweeter then what the world has to offer.

Obviously, this is no easy task. Every day we are bombarded with shouts from the world telling us what we should have. A bigger house, a nicer car, you should have more things in your garage. You know what will make you happy? That latest gadget from Amazon that can be here tomorrow if you want. You know what, even more, you should have whatever you want! You deserve to be happy. Your truth is your truth.

What is the result of listening to the world? What is the result of listening to yourself? At the end of the day, all of the stuff that the world has to offer you will only leave you hopeless and longing for more.

One scholar clarified that, “In such a context deny himself must not be trivialized into a call for a mild asceticism; it means to renounce his right to life.” That is to say, self denial is not just giving up a Sunday morning because you have to come to church, or giving up a little bit of your money to tithe, or volunteering a few times a year for some function. Self denial is giving up your way of life in order to live for Christ.

Now I don’t want you to hear me wrong. It is not bad to have material possessions or to have hobbies or to work hard to provide. It is wrong to put those things first in your life. On the other side, we also do not deny ourself in order to gain salvation, it comes out of salvation. You cannot work to save yourself, rather you work out of the fact that you have already been saved. The theologian Craig Blomberg writes,

Self-denial alone accomplishes nothing of everlasting value unless it flows from a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

True disciples of Jesus, that is if the good news that Jesus, the perfect Son of God, lived, died, and rose again for you, if you’ve believed that, repented of you sin and confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, then you need to know that to be a true disciple of Jesus, you must deny your sinful self. You must deny your wants and desires and the lies of the world.

That is why Christ can then command that Disciples must…

ii. …Take up their cross (v34b)

I would hope that you all have at least a minor understanding of the implications of taking of ones cross. The cross is not just a metaphor that you need to just endure minor inconveniences. The cross was a tool used by the Romans to torture and kill criminals, especially those who might be a part of some rebellion. It was used to bring about a humiliating death, not just to punish the one dying, but to be a warning to all others of the fate that awaits anyone who goes against the rule of the world.

Grant Osborne writes,

A person crucified in Jesus’ day was first of all scourged (beaten with a whip consisting of thongs with pieces of metal or bone attached to the end) or at least flogged until the blood flowed. This was not done just out of cruelty but was designed to hasten death and lessen the terrible ordeal. After the beating, the victim was forced to bear the crossbeam to the execution site in order to signify that life was already over and to break the will to live.

Christ’s call to take up our cross does not mean that you need to sacrifice parts of your life. Christ’s call to take up your cross means that you sacrifice your whole life. You are daily dying to yourself and to the world and living for Christ.

That is what Baptism pictures. Baptism is the act of publically showing that you are dying with Christ and being raised to new life in Him, it is no longer you that live, but Christ that lives in and through you for the Father’s glory.

The act of dying to yourself is not a one off thing that happens the moment you are saved, rather it is a daily act of obedience to Christ. It happens at both beginning of a life lived for Christ and daily of a life committed to Christ.

It is after this that Jesus then commands that disciples, as the Deny and Die, then Devote themselves to Him.

iii. To Follow Him (v34c)…

…Following Christ is a daily commitment to live as He did. To go where He goes. To surrender yourself to Him. To be commanded by Him.

This starts in a simple way, every single morning committing to Him.

A few weeks ago, I was listening to a sermon from the church my brother attends, and the Pastor had one of those tweetable lines, He said, “Healthy habits create Holy moments.” Healthy Habits create Holy Moments. What he meant by that was not, eating the right amount of carbs and proteins and fats, although that is good, he didn’t mean working out regularly, although you should, he meant habits like praying, reading your bible, memorizing scripture, being in community with other believers, signing out praises to God, sharing the Gospel. These are all healthy biblical habits meant, not just to make your life better, although they certainly will, but meant to bring Glory to God, to advance the Gospel, and to help you know who Jesus is better so that you can follow Him. A right view of who Jesus is ought to lead to a right view of how to be like Him, how to follow Him.

Now one of the things I love about our faith in Christ is that it is not just a blind faith where we ask no questions and seek no answers. Our faith is logical and reasonable. Often, the Word of God gives us answers to our questions. Jesus has already in this first verse told us what Disciples ought to do, and in the following verses He tells us…

…Why disciples must do this?… (v35-38)

…He gives us three reasons and one promise. You’ll notice that each verse begins with the word “for” in the ESV. It’s the word pronounced gar. It’s how you would say, for or because or since. It is the ‘Why’ to discipleship. Why must disciples daily deny, die, and devote? Well…

i. …The first reason…

…is found in verse 35. Mark 8:35

Mark 8:35 ESV

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

It’s interesting to me how many plots to movies are about finding yourself. Often the main character goes on some journey or adventure so that they can find themselves. In reality at the end of whatever adventure they go on, the usually don’t actually find themselves, the usually only have a slightly different perspective as they go back to life as normal. No amount of ‘finding yourself’ will lead to life. The only way to actually find your life, the only way to save your life is by giving it up to Christ.

Contrary to what the world would say, working hard to make your life good and easy this side of Heaven will only lead to death. But giving yourself to Christ will lead to finding true life in Him. For He himself is Life. It is simple: Saving your life leads to losing it. Losing your life for Christ and the Gospel leads to finding it.

ii. Reason 2 (v36)…

i…is found in verse 36. Mark 8:36

Mark 8:36 ESV

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

Do you realize just how much your life is worth? The perfect Son died on the cross, taking the punishment that you rightly deserved on Himself, in order to purchase you. You were bought for a price, one that you cannot pay. Your soul costs more then the world. So much so that gaining the whole word means nothing if you forfeit your soul.

You could have the biggest house, the best job, you could, by all accounts of the world be a somebody, yet at the end of your life, it will be nothing without Christ.

That is not to say that wealth is bad. I had a professor in bible college who would say, I hope that some of you here are filthy rich and I hope that you give all of it to the Kingdom, to advancing the Gospel. I and my family are able to live in the middle east and spend my time learning another culture and language so that I can share the Gospel with people who have not heard because of God blessing His children with wealth that they then give to the support of the church. That sacrifice of my brothers and sisters in the faith is not lost on me. I hope and pray that you will give faithfully and generously to the needs of the church and then go above and beyond that to give faithfully and generously to workers who are sharing the Gospel with unreached people groups.

But it is important to realize and to know and to remember that gaining the world and even giving away your money does not win your salvation. There is no profit to gaining the whole world and not having Christ.

Jesus Himself clarifies this in the following reason.

iii. Reason 3 (v37)…

Verse 37 states… Mark 8:37

Mark 8:37 ESV

For what can a man give in return for his soul?

What can we give to gain our soul? Nothing. We can’t even give the whole world to gain our soul There is nothing that you can give to gain your soul. You cannot give money, you cannot give your good intentions, and you cannot give a morally upright life in return for your soul. All you can give is yourself fully to God, trusting and knowing that Jesus is the only one who can save. In fact, he gave Himself for your soul.

Some of you are probably familiar with who Jim Elliot was, but for those of you who are not, Jim Elliot was a missionary in the 1950’s who along with Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Nate Saint, Pete Fleming, flew into the jungles of Ecuador in order to share the Gospel with the Auca people. The Auca people up until that point in time had killed virtually every outsider to come near them. So much so that an oil company in the area ended up shutting down their operation because people had been murdered and the workers were to afraid to work. You know it is bad when even an oil company wont stay.

After months of dropping gifts from the small prop plane that Nate Saint would fly, they decided to land on a small beach near the tribe, build a tree house, and wait to make contact and share the good news of Jesus.

After a few days, the Auca people came and Jim Elliot made contact and they shared a meal. Nate Saint even took one of the Auca up in the plane. Imagine how amazing that would have been for that tribal member.

A few days later, the Auca people came back, only this time instead of coming back as friends, they came back with spears killing all of the missionaries there. Jim Elliot was 29 years old when he died.

As the Auca people came out of the jungle shouting war cries and throwing spears, he could have taken out his pistol to fire back. But he had made a pact with the other missionaries not to kill any of the tribesmen because they had not yet heard the Gospel.

Why was Jim Elliot and the other missionaries able to die for the faith? Why have so many throughout history been able to die for their faith? Because their lives were not their own. They belonged to Christ.

In one of his diaries, Jim Elliot famously said,

He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

Once you are fully submitted to Christ, once you have denied yourself, died to yourself, and devoted yourself to Him, the natural outcome is a life lived fully for Him. Jim Elliot and the missionaries with him gave up what the could not keep, but they gained what they can never lose.

Two years later, Jim Elliot’s wife, Elizabeth, their daughter Valerie and Nate Saint’s sister, Rachel, moved to the Auca village and many came to faith in Christ.

I fear that some of you here today, may be trying to give something to gain your soul. And that is leaving you empty or helpless, desperate for more.

Some of you here may need to today give that which you cannot keep to gain what you will never lose.

We know that we will never lose our salvation because…

…iv. In the final verse, Jesus give a promise(v38)…

Mark 8:38

Mark 8:38 ESV

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.”

A life lived wholly for Christ means that you are unashamedly sharing the good news of Jesus, the love of Christ, with all those around you. You do not cower in fear of what someone might think of you, you do not worry about looking like a religious fanatic if you share the truth that Jesus loves someone, you no longer worry about what your neighbors might say if you invite them to church, or better yet, invite them into your home to read the bible together. No, living wholly for Christ means that you are not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power to save.

For if you are ashamed of Jesus, make no mistake, He will be ashamed of you. Rejecting Jesus now means that you will be rejected later. Will you stand up for your faith in boldness and love?

Conclusion

Knowing what disciples ought to do and why we ought to it is fundamental to following Jesus. The Lord does not want blind robots following Him, rather, He created us to be in a deep loving relationship with Him. Through His word, He has given us direction. This is our mandate as disciples. To deny ourselves, die to ourselves, and devote ourselves to following Him.

It is in this last point that a natural question pops up. If we are to correctly follow Christ we need to know how and we need to know where. The how to follow Christ is relatively clear and we’ve already covered most of it. To deny and die. Thats the how. Jesus Himself modeled this when He died on the cross.

The other side of following Christ is to know where. Where do we follow Christ to? This is the question that Rachel and I have been asking for our whole marriage and it has taken us to places we never could have imagined.

Where do we follow Christ to? Everywhere and to the ends of the age. We Follow Christ to the nations! Matthew 28:18-20 recounts for us:

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Where do we follow Jesus too? We follow Him to the all nations. We are to be His witness in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in Samaria, and to the end of the earth. This command is not just for some, rather all believers of all times are called in their following Christ to Go! Spreading the Gospel is not just the job of your pastors and the missionaries your church supports. Sharing the Gospel is the job of all disciples as we deny ourselves, die to ourselves, and devote ourselves. Where do we follow Christ to? Everywhere He leads.

i. For some of you, that means that you actual go somewhere.

Some of you are called to first,

1. Go to your neighbors, your colleagues, your classmates, your family, and friends. Go to them with the good news of Jesus. It might be uncomfortable. It might cause hard conversations. You might even be rejected or ridiculed. You might even lose your job. But take heart. For what benefit is it to keep all of those things and yet lose your soul? What benefit is it to keep you nice job and watch others around you live and die apart from Christ? Would you spend the afternoon prayerfully considering who in your life you might go to with the good news of Jesus. Who can you share this message that He died on the cross for their sin and rose from the grave conquering death and that if they would believe in His name and repent of their sin and follow Him, they will be saved. Who can you share this news with this week?

2. As you go to your neighbors, I think some of you here today, and I pray that this is true and that the Holy Spirit moves in your heart. Some of you here today will need to Go to the nations!

Church, according to the Joshua Project, there are still 7,246 unreached people groups in there world today. Roughly 3.4 Billion people do not have access to the Gospel. I think that virtually all biblical Missions work is good and is important and has its place. But it kills me just how much the church spends and sends people to where the Gospel has already gone. Now, I want to be careful because it is not bad to go to be apart of where the Gospel has already gone. Those places need good bible teaching and good training. We need more seminaries and hospitals and schools advancing the Gospel. Your youth groups should continue to do outreach trips and mission trips as much as possible.

But at the same time, do you realize that only 3% of missionaries go to unreached places? That means 97% go to reached or already evangelized places.

Globally, 87% of all Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists do not personally know a Christian.

The world’s 1.9 billion Muslims have only 5,000 missionaries: That is one missionary for every 400,000 Muslims. And yet Brazil received 20,000 missionaries in 2010.

95% of the 5.5 million full-time Christian workers in the world are working within the Christian world.

Only 1.7% of all Christian giving goes towards reaching the unreached.

My prayer and my hope is that some of you sitting here today would hear these facts and answer the call to faithfully follow Jesus to the unreached peoples of the world so that they might hear the good news of the Gospel.

Now. I wish all of you could be as we are and go, but I recognize that that is not the case. And I don’t want that to discourage you for there are is another way that you can go.

ii. For some of you, going means sending.

There is the option of sending as going. How might you be a part of advancing the Gospel if you are called to stay here and be a faithful member of The Bridge Church? You can send others.

I think I’ve shared this before, but I love the illustration of the work of spreading the Gospel as a spear piercing the darkness. The ones who go are the tip of the spear. The shaft of the spear might be likened to the short term missions trips that members of the church take. And the heel or foot of the spear are the faithful and devoted followers of Jesus prayerfully and financially sending out the workers to the harvest. Without the spear head, we are simply throwing a stick into the dark, but without the shaft of the spear and without the heel, the spear tip will aimlessly flop around and be useless.

For those of you here today who are called to genuinely called to stay, not out of comfort or laziness, but because the Lord has you here for a reason, you can still be a part of the great commission by:

1. Prayerfully sending workers. You can follow the work that workers are doing overseas in unreached places and in difficult countries. If you have a country on your heart that you want to engage with in prayer, come talk to me and I might be able to connect you with workers there. You can follow along with myself and my wife in the Middle East. Join the prayer newsletters and text groups that workers have and earnestly lift of the work that Disciples are doing. You can sign up for our newsletter in the back and I’d love to tell you more about that. You can start a weekly prayer group for the work happening, both overseas and in this church to advance the Gospel. You can go onto the Joshua Projects website and just start praying for unreached people groups every day. As a family, you can pick a people group and spend some time at dinner or before bed to pray for them.

Prayer is powerful and God invites His people to be apart of His work in the world through prayer.

As a cool story of how God answers prayer, when we were back in the states this past summer, I was trying to work a little more on getting our finances in order now that we have a son. I am not very financially literate so it takes a lot of effort to read articles and talk to people for me to understand things. So I did a quick google search: Christian Financial Advisors. And I went to one of the first websites that popped up and I started looking around his website. He had an impressive resume of working for big banks and doing financial advising with major clients. But his bio said that he wanted to start helping fellow Christians get financial stable. In fact, he put the church that he attends in his bio for his job and its a reformed baptist church. So I ended up scheduling a call with him and shared about our situation and our work and the people group that we are seeking to reach and he gave me some helpful advice. After the call, I got an email from him and he said,

“It took me until after our call to put things together. About 7 years ago I led a prayer meeting at my old church focused on praying for unreached people groups. I used the Joshua Project’s list of unreached people groups, and gave one to two names to each person attending to be praying for that group and that God would raise up workers to share the Gospel. One of the groups was the group you are currently working with (which is why I recognized the name). It is encouraging to hear that the Lord answered that prayer through you and your wife!”

Church, In your following Jesus, don’t underestimate the role of prayer. You can also be a part of the great commission by

2. Financially sending workers. It is true that churches send people, but churches are made up of individuals. Followers of Jesus are called to financially support the work of the ministry. For many that means tithing to your local church. If you are a member of this church then you need to financially give to the work of this ministry. But some of you might have more means. Would you consider prayerfully seeking how you might give above and beyond what you are giving to the church to support workers, especially those reaching the unreached. Would you prayerfully consider how you might help to change that statistic of only 1.7% of all Christian giving going to the unreached. Obviously, I would love for you to consider making a commitment to financially support my family as we serve unreached people in the Middle East. But more then that, I would love for you to consider supporting any workers who are planting churches and sharing the Gospel with unreached people groups. I can connect you to other workers I know who could desperately use your financial support.

I’m going to invite the worship team back up. And as they make their way and as we close in prayer, let me give you this last encouragement:

If you do not yet know Jesus, then I want to invite you today to commit your life to Him. Come talk to myself or one of the church leaders here about what it means to become a disciple. To be baptised in His name.

And if you are a Disciple of Jesus Christ, then scripture is clear, you must daily deny, die, and devote. Deny your own sinful wants and desires, die daily as you take up your cross, and devote yourself fully to Christ as you obey and worship and follow Him. Both here and to the ends of the earth.

Let’s pray.