Mark: The cost of discipleship [Mark 8:34-38]

Mark: The Cost of Discipleship []

Stand for the reading of the word of God []

The other day I was going to download an app when a message popped up reading, “you must read and agree to the terms and conditions for service” and following that was about 30 plus pages of terms and conditions. You know what I’m talking about right? If you’ve tried downloading an app or an update or something on those terms, there’s these terms and conditions pages pop up. Well, to use the app or update you must check the box that reads, “I agree to these terms” so I agreed to the terms without reading the terms and conditions, I mean they can’t be that different from the original terms and conditions that I didn’t read in the first place…so click and carry on. Don’t act like I’m the only one who doesn’t read those things??? After agreeing to the terms a message was sent back, “thank you for agree to the terms and conditions of service.” and I was off using the app.

We’re all familiar with this scenario. I bring this up because we’ve come to a place in Mark’s gospel where we see the terms and conditions for following Jesus. And I wonder how many of us have read the terms and conditions for following Jesus or have we just clicked the box so to speak and looked past the fine print. Let me just say, we can’t do that, you can’t say, “I’m not all into that denying self and dying bit, I’ll just be an average follower of Jesus”…well it doesn’t work that way.

Well first, Jesus terms and conditions for discipleship cannot be changed or modified according to our desires. We must agree to His terms, and whatever ideas we may have about discipleship must be brought under the jurisdiction of this passage.

Second, the strength to follow Jesus’ commands come from Jesus Himself, it’s important to point that out right at the beginning or we will go wrong immediately. We’ll be tempted to have this notion that in order to be a Christian you have to do something, as a result of that something happens, and as a result of that you try your very hardest in order to hang in there…then we have it completely upside down if that’s our idea.

We trust in Jesus as a response of His initiative and grace in our lives. The same grace that brings us to faith in Him, sustains us and makes it possible to follow Him. Therefore, the distinguishing feature of a life that beliefs is in a life that follows. The strength to both belief and follow is found in the grace of God alone. Very important we understand that first before we move on, so we are not view this as some check off list. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Discipleship means adherence to Christ”

I will reference Bonhoeffer often because he was a German pastor/theologian who was struggling to follow Christ in the midst of the Nazi rule in Germany during WWII, in the midst of all that was happening around him in Germany he wrote one of the most influential Christian books of the 20th century, and definitely one of the greatest books on discipleship, “the cost of discipleship.” In it he wrote that the first call every Christian experiences is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. And the entire book could be summarized in one powerful sentence: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

He wrote, for the Christian, the old life is left behind and completely surrendered. The disciple is dragged out of his relative security into a life of absolute insecurity. Bonhoeffer would not only write these amazing and powerful words and ideas, he would live them and he would die for the sake of the gospel, as he was executed in a concentration camp for standing for Christ and opposing the third Reich.

While it is true that many of us, if not most of us will not be called upon to pay the ultimate price for Christ in the laying down our life for the faith. But, does that mean that this passage in Mark is really not applicable for us today? Not at all, because the terms and conditions have not changed for following Jesus, they’re still the same, deny yourself, take up the cross, and follow Jesus. So let’s look at these verses closer.

The cost of discipleship []

If we recall last week we said there were three major questions that we are all faced with, who is Jesus, what did Jesus come to do, and what does Jesus demand from us? We answered the first two in that Jesus, as Peter said, is the Christ, God’s son sent to fulfill God’s will, and Christ came into the world to suffer, be rejected, be killed, and rise on the third day. Jesus came to atone or sin, to be the propitiation for God’s wrath toward sinners. It’s important that the disciples got this and that we get this because if Peter and the disciples could not grasp the conditions of Messiahship for Christ, they would not be able to grasp the conditions of discipleship for themselves. i.e. the way of the Messiah was the way of the cross, and the way the the disciples of Christ is the same.

1. The definition of a disciple [v.34a]: Jesus had been teaching the disciples but note here Jesus calls the people with the disciples to himself, this is a little different. It’s important to note this special lesson, Jesus is going to further develop the way in which he would walk and that would be the way His followers would walk as well. So what the definition of a disciple? Jesus lays it out for us in verse 34. “whoever desires to come after me.” emphasis on after me or behind me. i.e. what Jesus is making clear, a disciple of Jesus is, by definition, one who is following after Jesus.

Disciple simply means learner or student, every person who has ever lived is a disciple, the question is who do you follow?

Illustration: Chris Farley is still regarded as one of the funniest comedians of our generation. From his Saturday Night Live skits to his movies he starred in, Farley was a huge success in the entertainment business. Chris Farley was impacted by the example and influence of another famous comedian: John Belushi. in a real sense Farley was a disciple of Belushi. Farley even admitted that he wanted to be like him in every way. They both starred on Saturday night live and in movies, Farley followed the same career path of Belushi. Sadly that’s not all he emulated about Belushi. Both men struggled with obesity and had a reputation of wild living. The real sad part is Belushi was found dead of a drug overdose at the age of 33, and years later Farley would be found the same way dead of a drug overdose at the age of 33. It goes without saying not all discipleship is the right kind…be careful who you follow after.

2. The demands of discipleship [v.34b]: Are summarized for us in the rest of verse 34; to deny oneself, to take up the cross, and to follow Jesus. All three are requirements of discipleship. The first two (deny and take up cross) in the Greek are [aorist tense] i.e. decisive; the third (follow) is in the Greek [present tense] indicating ongoing, i.e. it’s a way of life. The first condition...

a. deny himself; is to reject or refuse, often of the claims of someone. To deny oneself is apparently just that: to reject one’s own claims to one’s life, both whether to live or die and how to live if that is what happens. i.e. practically it means to give up one’s assumed right to run one’s own life, to turn away from the idolatry of self-centeredness. To give up one’s rights? Do we do that? We live in a day and age where we fight for our rights, I am entitled to ______. Jesus says give up your claim on your own life? That’s radical! That’s counter cultural.

in 1978 Billy Joel released his song My Life which reached #2 on the charts. It was used as the theme song to ABC’s hit series Bosom Buddies in 1980-1982, it was a big hit for Joel, but why was it so appealing to the culture? Here’s the chorus...

, don't need you to worry for me 'cause I'm alright I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home I don't care what you say anymore this is my life Go ahead with your own life leave me alone

“I don't need you to worry for me 'cause I'm alright I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home I don't care what you say anymore this is my life Go ahead with your own life leave me alone”

It was so appealing because it spoke to man at his core, the self-centered self-loving core. Don’t you tell me what to do this is my life, go ahead with your own life and leave me alone…that’s man as man. That appeals to the natural man. Man doesn’t have to work at be selfish, that comes natural. You don’t have to go to the book store and ask, “I trying to learn how to be extremely self-centered and cantankerous towards others, is there a book for that?” they don’t make them, we don’t need them.

What’s not natural is…denying oneself. That goes against our nature. Remember in Christ you are not your own, you were bought at a price…the price was Christ blood. Jesus says anyone who wants to follow me must deny himself…and

b. take up his cross; if denying oneself wasn’t unnatural enough now Jesus uses the image of condemnation; when a person was condemned by the Romans they would be condemned to death by the cross. The cross, in that day, meant one thing…death. To take up one’s cross after Christ, then, doesn’t mean to bear some burden but to put one’s life on the block. We tend to use this phrase very casually today, “we all our our crosses to bear” as if it’s some minor burden or inconvenience but that was never the intent Jesus had in mind.

In Jesus day, those condemned to die on a cross would have to carry that cross, usually the cross beam, on their back. When someone saw that person carrying their cross they knew that man was going one way and would never return. That’s the picture there, not bearing some burden but, those bearing the cross are going one way and will never return. As Christians we are called to go one way and never return…and that one way is in the footsteps of Jesus.

As one commentator wrote, “For the believer, every hour is the last hour. Every successive hour and day after that, self is to be found by being lost. Let the disciple refuse himself: let him think constantly as one who feels the weight of the hateful beam across his back and knows himself condemned to die.”

c. Follow Jesus; to be following Jesus is in the Greek present tense which implies a way of life. This encompasses all of what it means to follow Jesus, denying oneself, and taking up the cross. These demands are not just for the 1st century believers but for Christians of every age. With this way of life Jesus lays out as on going what we cannot do, which we often do is separate the way of salvation [by grace through faith] and the path of discipleship [evidence of salvation]. We can’t separate these, i.e. you can’t say, “I like Jesus for salvation but I’m not into that denying and dying bit.” We are not given that option.

d. To lose or to save one’s life; [v.35] Jesus reinforces that with his statement in verse 35. To make the point clear Jesus draws a contrast between the two ways, in the form of a double paradox. One way is to save one’s life and thus to lose it, the other is the opposite: to lose it and thus to save it.

Life, is a word often used for soul, it refers to the whole self. The meaning is obvious. The person who lives a life with the sole purpose of serving themselves will lose their life, but the one who lives their life denying and giving up their selfish desires will save their life. Jesus is referring to eternal loss or eternal life…now remember this is not done of our own power, notice the subject of that verse, Christ and the gospel.

To be a disciple of Christ is to live for Christ and the gospel, that is to follow Jesus and to proclaim the good news of the gospel unto salvation. That Jesus lived the perfect life we could not, died as the propitiation; wrath absorbing substitute for sin, and rose from the grave conquering sin and death and all those who trust in Him shall be saved. That is worth living for and worth dying for.

A question of profit and loss []

verses 36 and 37 serve to restate and emphasize the same issue, once again in paradoxical form. What profit is there if you gain the whole world but lose your soul; or what shall one give in exchange for your soul? The answer is nothing! i.e. the kingdom of God is a good buy at any cost. If God offers eternal life it’s worth it no matter what you may have to give up. Remember King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, I tried to fill my life with everything this world has to offer and it’s meaningless apart from God.

The ultimate issue in discipleship []

Most of verse 38 reflects back on what was already said, but this is the first time Jesus speaks of Himself in eschatological terms [son of man coming in glory] indicating that our present discipleship has crucial implications for events at the end of the age. The picture is standing before Jesus at the final judgment where we will be either honored or rejected by Jesus. Three things about this verse that are the ultimate issue in discipleship. I know there are many books on discipleship out there and many studies and that but this verse has the three major issues.

1. The required confession; of Jesus is the opposite of being ashamed of Him. Ashamed is the same as deny, what’s required is confessing allegiance to Him. Allegiance to Christ and the gospel, the very nature of discipleship is committing to the words and works of Jesus.

2. The context of the that confession; is in this adulterous and sinful generation. Jesus is using this to paint the culture, unfaithful to God and wicked. The disciple of Jesus must confess and follow Jesus’ ways in the midst of a sinful wicked people who deny God. The implications are clear, The decision to follow Jesus will produce tension with the surrounding culture-and this is always the case. This is not just for those in Jesus day, this is true for all believers of any age. The person ashamed to confess Christ in a hostile culture is not worthy to be called disciple.

3. The final issue; as seen in verse 38. If a person holds back from declaring allegiance to Jesus in the present, wicked generation, then Jesus will hold back from acknowledging a relationship to that person at the great judgment. The picture is that at Jesus’ coming He will hold a tribunal; the issue for each person will be whether he knows and is known by Jesus the judge. If Jesus denies a person, there is no hope for eternal life, and that will be the ultimate loss of self the entire passage has been focused on.

Conclusion: My life is no longer all about me and myself, that radical transformation only takes place from a power that is outside of ourselves. Because all of us all day and everyday are all about ourselves and our agendas. So the kind of transformation we’ve seen and have been talking about is not, here are a few principles and concepts I’m going to try to stick to myself, like hanging ornaments on a Christmas tree.

No discipleship is the evidence of life which emerges from a life that has by grace through faith been united with the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the union with Christ fruit begins to emerge, evidence of life is visible, so much so that those around us notice something very different in that life. They may even be annoyed by it. You see people may be intrigued by the words of Jesus, impressed by the works of Jesus, but never really bow beneath His Lordship.

So all of us are faced with how I live my life. Is it the Billy Joel way, “I don’t care what you say it’s my life, leave me alone.” Or do we live it the Dietrich Bonhoeffer way, who said, “the call to discipleship in Jesus Christ is a call to both death and life. How we living? Do you know the true cost of discipleship? It’s costly but worth it.

Prayer: May all of us learn how to die for Christ and the gospel, so that we may have life. Amen.