The Cost of Discipleship
The Gospel of Mark • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction:
Introduction:
The issues of God and the issues of men differ radically. This our passage this morning, shows just how much they differ, and this passage is a warning to everyone. Jesus taught His disciples the incompatible nature of following Him halfway. The same call is given to each of us too, He is expecting you to abandon all this world has to offer for the greater treasure of knowing Him.
Recap:
Recap:
v. 34) Directions
v. 34) Directions
Note, Jesus spoke to all, to the people and to His disciples. This teaching wasn’t just for the disciples it was for everyone and it is a warning to the whole crowd, to the whole world!
Let him deny himself, take up his cross: it was bad enough for the disciples to hear that Jesus would suffer, be rejected, and die on the cross. Now Jesus told them they had to do the same thing.
Everyone knew what Jesus meant when He said this. Everyone knew that the cross was an unrelenting instrument of death. The cross had no other purpose. It is important to understand the cross wasn’t about religious ceremonies; it wasn’t about traditions and spiritual feelings. The cross was a way to execute people. In these 20 Centuries after Jesus, we have sanitized and ritualized the cross.
The cross of Christ is the most revolutionary thing ever to appear among men. The cross of the old Roman times knew no compromise; it never made concessions. It won all its arguments by killing its opponent and silencing him for good. It spared not Christ, but slew Him the same as the rest. He was alive when they hung Him on that cross and completely dead when they took Him down six hours later. That was the cross the first time it appeared in Christian history.
After Christ was risen from the dead the apostles went out to preach His message, and what they preached was the cross. And wherever they went into the wide world they carried the cross, and the same revolutionary power went with them. The radical message of the cross transformed Saul of Tarsus and changed him from a persecutor of Christians to a tender believer and an apostle of the faith. Its power changed bad men into good ones. It shook off the long bondage of paganism and altered completely the whole moral and mental outlook of the Western world.– A.W. Tozer
How would we receive it if Jesus said, “strap yourself into the electric chair daily, and follow me?” Picking up the cross, Christian, is not a journey; it is a one-way trip.
I believe there are many Christians who think cross bearing is simply a irritation in life, sometimes a inconvenience. I’m here to tell you cross bearing is picturing a person, who is condemned and required to carry their cross all the way to the place of execution…just as Jesus was required to do.
Jesus makes deny himself equal with take up his cross. The two express the same idea. The cross wasn’t about self-promotion or self-affirmation. The person carrying a cross knew they couldn’t save themselves.
This morning we are going work through 5 issues: discipleship, life, value, the Messiah, and of death.
The issue of discipleship: indulging self vs. denying self
Discipleship seems to have a load of definitions
The issue of discipleship, is this indulge yourself or deny self.
Jesus was very pointed: there is a life of self-indulgence and there is a life of self-denial:
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
17 Therefore
“Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.”
18 “I will be a Father to you,
and you shall be My sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
[Denying himself]—Saying yes to Jesus often means saying no to yourself.
Each of you has to make a choice between:
Loving comfort and ease || Commitment and discipline
Loving wealth and property || work and compassion
Loving recognition and fame || humility and sacrifice
Loving position and power || service and ministry
Loving pleasure and indulgence || righteousness and self-control
The question is: how does a person go about making the right choice? Jesus said four things:
You must “will” to come after Him.
Will—desire, wish, design, purpose, resolve, determine. It is a deliberate willing, a deliberate choice, a determined resolve to follow Christ. If a person really wills and deliberately chooses to follow Christ, then they need to do the three things mentioned. This choice is voluntary. It is not forced upon the person.
You must deny yourself.
Deny—to disown, disregard, forsake, renounce, reject, refuse, restrain, disclaim, do without. It means to subdue, to disregard oneself and one’s interest. At it’s simplest it means to say “no.” The call isn’t to say “no” to some behavior or thing, but to self. A person is to deny self. What this means is we give up and go without. Family it means to let Christ rule and reign in one’s heart and life, to let Christ have His way completely.
You must take up your cross.
Cross:
[Take up his cross]—Death to self is essential for life in Christ.
You must follow Christ.
At it’s most basic understand of what it means to be a disciple. It means to be seeking union with and to become more in the likeness of what you are following. It is following Christ, seeking to be just like Him. Again, this is no passive behavior, but an active commitment and walk. It requires energy and effort, action and work. It means to pursue Christ with zeal and energy, struggling and seeking to follow in His footsteps no matter the cost.
[Follow Me]—Following Jesus doesn’t mean He blesses my previously charted course.
vv. 35–37) Possessions
vv. 35–37) Possessions
[35] There is a real issue of life, that being, saving life vs. losing life. Jesus made a very surprising statement. If a man wished to save his life, he must lose it. What does Jesus mean? The key is found in two phrases.
The first phrase is: “for my sake.” “For whoever desires to save his life for my sake…will save it.” The person who abandons this life, who sacrifices and gives all for Christ will save their life. But if you want to keep your life, that is, what you have, and seek more and more of this life you will lose your life completely and eternally.
Many seek to avoid aging, decaying, death.
Many seek to make their lives more comfortable and secure.
Many seek to gain wealth, power, and fame.
Many seek thrills, excitement, and stimulation.
If that is your aim and passion in life you deny, neglect, compromise, and ignore Jesus Christ the one who has come to save your soul.
19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance.
2 Treasures of wickedness profit nothing,
But righteousness delivers from death.
Family, we must follow Jesus this way because it is the only way we will ever find life! It sounds stranger to say, “You will never live until you walk down death row with Jesus,” but that is the idea. You cannot gain resurrection life without dying first.
Attempting to protect my life is the most dangerous path I can take.
The second phrase: “and the gospel’s [sake].” Whoever desires to save his life for the gospel sake… will save it.” The person who abandons this life, who sacrifices and gives all they are and has for the gospel shall save their life. The person who tries to save their life and those who keep the gospel to themselves.
What does this look like?
I would argue the person trying to save their life is the one who:
Lies around in the comfort of their home only.
Spending all they have (time, energy, money) on themselves and their family.
Spending all their time on their own affairs and desires.
Family we are called to become explorers and pioneer for Christ, taking the gospel to the ends of the world. Those who sacrifice and give all we are and have for the sake of the gospel. Those who give their time for the visiting, teaching, sharing, witnessing, and ministering the gospel to those we encounters with.
29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.
11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
[36-37] There is an issue of value, that is, gaining the world vs. saving the soul. The Greek word translated soul is the same Greek word translated life. Jesus used the world life in two senses. There are two stages, two beings, two existences to the same life: the life that exists on this earth and the life that shall exist beyond this earth.
Once a person (life) is born into this world, they will exist forever. It is just a matter of where they go after this life: heaven with God or hell separated from God’s loving kindness, mercy, and grace.
Jesus Himself had the opportunity to gain the world by worshipping Satan, but He found life and victory in obedience!
5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”
8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
The people who live this way before Jesus are the ones who are really, genuinely happy. Giving our life to Jesus all the way and living as an others-centered person doesn’t take away from life, it adds to it.
Prioritizing the world’s possessions endangers me to losing heaven’s rewards.
Every material thing will pass away.
Money and property can only be held for a short time, so why live for those things.
Position and power and also fleeting.
Freedom in the sense of doing what you want to do and hedonism can only be enjoyed for a little time.
The wordly things and comfort.
“Only one life twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
24 because
“All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away,
Everything cannot be used all at once anyway! Everything sits, unused most of the time.
Our souls are eternal though, we will never ceases to exist. It shall live forever, either with or apart from God.
36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
The soul is of more value than the whole world! This is why sanctity of life is so important and should be considered when you vote in November.
26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Don’t waste your eternal soul on temporal pursuits.
We really need to ask ourselves what would be gained if we were given the world’s wealth during our lifetime, what good would it do? Because it would mean you have missed the opportunity of using your life for the glory of God and the salvation of the lost.
These verses are dealing with the commercial rather than the judicial. As usual, Jesus is meeting objections at our level, appealing to the shrewd commercial instincts of these people who were tradesfolk.
Our lives are worth more than all the world has to offer. Shall we use them for Christ or self?
Discipleship is all about submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Submitting to God’s plan for your life, trusting Him in all areas of life to provide and guide, and living in obedience to the Word of God.
The Goals of Discipleship for our church is:
Established in the Word of God: the focus of your life
Established in the Word of God: the authority of your life
Established in the Work of God: the purpose and context of your life.
Established in the ministry
Established in the local church
vv. 8:38–9:1) Confessions
vv. 8:38–9:1) Confessions
[38] Structurally this verse parallels and complements verse 35 by carrying the thought to its ultimate consequence. Because a person who is ashamed of Jesus and His words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of them when He comes in His Father’s glory.
Clearly Jesus and the Son of man are the same Person. The veiled reference to His future role as Judge was appropriate because of the crowd’s presence.
To be ashamed of Jesus is to reject Him and to retain allegiance to “this generation” because of unbelief and fear of the world’s contempt. In return, when Jesus comes in glory as the awesome Judge, He will refuse to claim those as His own and they will experience shame.
20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
22 And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?”
And He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ 26 then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ 27 But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. 29 They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. 30 And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”
Jesus realized that some of His young disciples might be stumbled in the path of discipleship by the fear of shame.
This sinful world seeks to shame us from boldly standing upon the ministry and message of Jesus.
So He is reminding them that those who seek to avoid reproach because of Him will suffer greater shame when He returns to earth in power. What a thought! Soon our Lord is coming back to earth, this time not in humiliation, but in His own personal glory and in the glory of His father, with the holy angels.
26 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven.
It will be a scene of dazzling splendor. He will then be ashamed of those who are ashamed of Him now.
No heaven-bound citizen can be ashamed of the message it takes to get there.
[1] This verse is the positive side of 8:38 and provides a reassuring conclusion to this section. The words “And He said to them” introduce an authoritative statement by Jesus. He predicted that some who stood there listening to Him would not taste death before they saw a powerful display of God’s kingdom.
Several interpretations have been suggested for the meaning of the kingdom of God come with power:
Jesus’ transfiguration
Jesus’ resurrection and ascension
The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the spread of Christianity by the early church
Since the kingdom comes with power, we can go with assurance.
Let us do what God is calling us to: evangelism and discipleship.
24 “The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.” ’
