What is a Disciple?

Intro: How many of you have ever seen, "Forky Asks a Question" on Disney+?

If you haven’t you are MISSING OUT… if you have Disney Plus and want a good laugh, I’d recommend it...

It’s a series of short films from Pixar (who are some of the most brilliant people on the planet in my book), and it “stars” the character, “Forky” from Toy Story 4.

You can see there in the picture, Forky is a craft that was made by a little girl named Bonnie.. and he comes to life because Bonnie loves him as her toy…

But that’s where the confusion comes in… Because so he think’s he’s still trash....

He’s a spork, pipecleaner and popsicle stick... so in a sense, he was resurrected from the scrap pile.

He keeps trying to jump back in the trash can because that’s what’s comfortable for him…

And what’s really funny about his character is that he knows a whole bunch of words, but he doesn’t know what most of them mean...

And so in Toy Story 4, Woody has to take him under his wing and teach him everything.

So there’s this scene in the movie where Woody and Forky are on this long walk and Forky is just firing away… question after question after question.

Well the Pixar creators took an opportunity to maximize their character and make a series of shorts called “Forky asks a Question” and they are hilarious.

Each short opens up by the narrator saying, “Forky asks a question” and Forky saying, “I don’t know!”

In the shorts, Forky asks one of the other toys a question like, “What is cheese? What is time? What is a leader? What is love? What is money?”

And it’s never a simple answer… some of the concepts are just hard to define… he can’t stay on topic… and so it makes the answers really funny and sometimes profound.

But as I thought about the title of today’s sermon, “What is a Disciple”… and even the goal of this series… The Way... it reminded me a lot of Forky.

Because disciple and discipleship are words that we use a lot in the church.

We know that the mission of the church (from Matthew 28, the Great Commission) is to “Make disciples of all nations.”

We know that Jesus had 12 disciples…

We even know that one of our values in our church is purposeful discipleship.

But when we ask the question, “What is a Disciple?” or “What is discipleship?” the conversation can kind of become like one of Forky’s conversations with his other toy friends.

We can go round and round and still miss the way JESUS defined “disciple.”

Maybe you are new to the church… or new to Christianity… and you sort of feel like Forky when you hear words like “disciple” or “discipleship.’

And maybe you need someone like Woody who will come alongside you and answer all your questions.

Listen, we want to do that for you...

I pray this series will start some of those conversations for you.

But even if you’ve been around the church for a long time, chances are if I asked all of us, “What is a disciple?,” and how do we make disciples, I would get a lot of different answers.

Back in July and August we asked a sampling of members and all of our leaders to take a “church health assessment” through the GCC so we could see where we needed to focus our attention in growing in the next season of ministry...

And one of the clear ways we needed to grow was to DEFINE HOW we make disciples, or what is sometimes called a “Purposeful discipleship pathway.”

What are the paths that we have identified in our church to help disciples grow?

It was evident that we KNOW that we are SUPPOSED TO MAKE DISCIPLES, but not everyone understands how we are seeking to intentionally do that in our context.

And that’s what prompted this series. We want to be very clear about HOW Oak Hill is seeking to Make disciples.

If we are called to “make disciples” and if “purposeful discipleship” is one of our family values, then it is CRITICAL that we, as a local body, have a common understanding about what a disciple is and how a disciple is made...

The vision for this series is simple… here’s what we hope to see as we close out 2020 and start into 2021: (we hope to see) Every person taking their next step in the way of a disciple together.

Every person. That includes you. No matter where you are on the journey of following Jesus… every person..

Taking your next step… not all the steps… your next step...

In the way of a disciple...

Jesus has some patterns of life that he wants every disciple to embrace. They are the patterns that HE is leading us in, and they are revealed in the word.

If you want to know God’s will for your life… his calling… you go to his word.

He has laid out the basic beliefs and character and responsibilities of a disciple in every area of life.

And if we study the New Testament closely, we see patterns emerge regarding the basic ways Jesus wants use to live…

At Oak Hill, our church membership statements are organized to summarize those patterns… we call them “the Gospel” and “The Way of a Disciple.”

We don’t want those statements to just sit in the back of our constitution or on our website… we want them to play an active part of our understanding of discipleship…

It’s not a checklist that we tick off and say, “Look, we’ve arrived!”

Our hope is that these statements give you a summary picture of what we are growing into.

Something to look at to say, “Oh, I think God wants to do some more work on me in THIS area...”

The way of a disciple is about the journey we are walking together IN Christ and TOWARD Christ.

And we are doing it together.

Discipleship is not a solo sport. We don’t grow alone. We grow in community.

We NEED others to help us grow.

And part of BEING a disciple means we are sent to MAKE disciples.

Every person taking their next step in the way of a disciple together. That’s our goal.

Now the format of this series will be a little different:

We often study a whole book of the Bible at a time…

Here we will be studying a key passage from different books each week for the next 6 weeks…

And I’ve selected each of these passages because each one clearly answers a different key question about purposeful discipleship.

So instead of “Forky Asks a Question,” You can sort of think of this series as, “Pastor Ben asks a question...” and God’s word giving us the answer.

And the question for this morning is, “What is a Disciple?” We want to answer that question from Mark 8 this morning in this way:

Big Idea: A disciple is someone who is growing in their dependence on and devotion to JESUS.

I’d encourage you… challenge you to commit that to memory. A disciple is someone who is growing in their dependence on and devotion to Jesus.

We are going to dig into that definition today as we walk through Mark 8:31-9:1.

Your Bibles are open there… but before we understand what this passage means, we have to place it in context.

If you are new to reading the scriptures, you need to know that it’s SUPER IMPORTANT to know how a passage fits into the context of a whole book.

The Book of Mark was written by John Mark…

Mark was likely part of the crowds that surrounded Jesus when he was a teenager… he did some missionary work with Barnabas and Paul...

He also spent a good bit of time with Peter, and tradition would say that Mark’s gospel is a compilation of Peter’s eyewitness accounts of his time with Jesus.

Mark gives us a description of this book that we have in our hands in the first few words that he writes… Mark 1:1…

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1, ESV)

His intent was to give us the gospel… the good news that Jesus is the Christ… (which is the Greek word for the Hebrew word, “Messiah…”)

We’ll talk about what that means a little bit more in just a minute.

But in order to do this, Mark takes us on a journey with Jesus through three sections of his book...

The first section is in Judea and Samaria… far away from Jerusalem… where Jesus HINTS at who he is through teaching parables and healing people.

The second section is “on the way” to Jerusalem (not necessarily in a straight geographic line, but in purpose)… where Jesus plainly SHOWS us who he is and what he came to do.

And the final section is “in and around Jerusalem” where Jesus dies and rises again.... where Jesus PROVES who he is.

And this allows Mark to both tell the true story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection AND present Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God.

So the passage we are studying today comes very near to the beginning of that second section… Jesus is plainly SHOWING his disciples who he is.

Jesus has just asked his disciples two very important questions: “first, who do people in general say that I am?" And then “Who do YOU say that I am.”

That’s a question that all of us have to wrestle with.

And we see a clear difference between the people generally and the disciples… I’ll explain it more later… but it boils down to this:

The crowds believe Jesus to be a good teacher or prophet… the disciples believe Jesus is the Messiah… the promised Savior King of Israel.

And that context sets us up to understand Mark 8:31-9:1 and answer the question, “What is a disciple?”

Read Mark 8:31-9:1....

A disciple is someone who is growing in their dependence on and devotion to JESUS.

We can see three key parts of that definition very clearly in this passage in Mark 8...

We are going to work our way BACKWARD through the definition today beginning with the most important word in that sentence…

The most important word… the most important person to any disciple...

JESUS.

At the heart of the WAY of a disciple is Jesus.

Jesus said, “I am THE WAY, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6, ESV)

The way of a disciple is a journey deeper and deeper into Jesus.

Disciples set their minds on Jesus as Lord and Savior (believe). (v. 31-33)

Explain: So the disciples have JUST confessed that Jesus is the Christ… that was a HUGE DEAL.

But Jesus wants to make sure that they understand what they are saying.

You see, it can be easy to use a word like, “Christ” or “Disciple” and not really understand what it means.

Christ is not Jesus’ last name. Christ is a title… it’s the Greek term for the Hebrew Messiah.

So Jesus brings some definition to this word “Christ”… which will help them understand what it will mean to be a “disciple” of this “Christ.”

And he does this by describing two essential truths that we must believe about him: he is Lord and Savior.

First, Jesus is Lord (the “Son of Man” - Daniel 7:13-14)

Jesus calls himself the “Son of Man.”

Now that might not mean much to us, but as good Jews, it would have been a familiar term to them… one that was rich with meaning of authority and dominion.

It was the description of a figure in Daniel 7 who would be given absolute authority.

We studied this when we studied the book of Daniel this past summer… Daniel writes:

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13–14, ESV)

The Son of Man is one who will have absolute authority… the word we more commonly use today is Lord.

Jesus calls himself the Son of Man… but then he ties this idea to another familiar concept in the Old Testament… the Suffering Servant...

Isaiah 53 describes a servant of the Lord who bears the sins of the people of Israel… here’s just a sampling from that chapter… listen carefully for how the suffering servant saves US:

“He was despised and rejected by men… he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. ... like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. ... Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.” (Isaiah 53, select verses ESV)

The disciples SHOULD have recalled these verses when Jesus said that he “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.” (Mark 8:31, ESV)

Now we have to understand: The disciples would NOT have thought of these two figures… the Son of Man and the Suffering Servant... as the same person.

That wasn’t in their Jewish theology.

But Jesus reveals that they are… Both of these figures are fulfilled in HIM… HE is Lord is also the Savior.

Jesus is Savior (Suffering Servant - Isa. 53)

Really, in Mark 8, Jesus is telling the disciples what he WILL do to accomplish their salvation…

He is in ultimate control of the events that will take place… and he MUST be rejected and suffer… he MUST be killed… and he MUST rise again.

God ordained it… the scriptures foretold it… salvation requires it… it WILL happen just as Jesus said.

We know on this side of the cross that it DID happen just like Jesus said.

And this is the essential truth that a disciple must believe: that Jesus is Lord and Savior over all.

That’s the gospel… We believe ALL of who Jesus is or we don’t believe him at all.

The problem is, it’s easy to nod our head and say, “Yes, I believe Jesus is the Christ,” than it is to really wrestle with what that means for our lives.

That’s where we find Peter and the disciples in the next part of this scene.

Mark tells us that Jesus spoke plainly. But Peter pulls him aside to rebuke him.

pssst… Jesus… are you sure that’s what you meant to say?

We just confessed you are the Messiah... and you said we were right… you can’t tell us now that you are going to LOSE to the religious leaders!

Probably not a great idea to rebuke the Son of Man to whom all authority will be given, is it?

And notice what Mark tells us in v. 33 - “But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter.”

Why does Mark include that part, “Turning and seeing his disciples?”

I think it is because Peter was saying it, but all of them were thinking it.

The disciples BELIEVE Jesus is the Christ… but they still need to GROW in their understanding of what that means.

Do we ever find ourselves there? Do you find yourself there today? Needing to GROW in your understanding of what it means for Jesus to be Savior and Lord over all?

And so he addresses Peter directly, but he does it so they ALL understand:

“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.”” (Mark 8:33, ESV)

Those are some pretty strong words… like, what’s up with the name-calling, Jesus???

Jesus is pointing us to the MASSIVE IMPORTANCE of taking this rebuke to heart...

If your mind is set on the things of God, you will see the beautiful truth of who Jesus is and what he has done... and you will believe.

If your mind is set on the things of man, you will never believe the truth of who Jesus is, which is exactly what Satan wants.

Paul wrote this to the Corinthians: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world [SATAN] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:3–6, ESV)

To not believe Jesus… to set your mind on the things of man… is to be blinded by Satan himself...

And to believe Jesus as Savior and Lord is a supernatural work of God in our hearts.

It’s a work that Jesus is doing right here in Peter’s life… he’s opening Peter’s eyes to the supernatural nature of belief...

And that’s a work that he must do in all of our lives.

Peter can’t deal with the truth of what Jesus is saying because Peter is dealing with Jesus from a human perspective… which is bound by sin and controlled by Satan.

Now don’t worry about Peter… he’ll see the resurrected Jesus… the Spirit is going to take over his life… and he’s going to become a disciple-maker.

But for us today... to walk in the way of a disciple, we must set our mind on the things of God… we must BELIEVE that Jesus is Lord and Savior.

What Jesus says to Peter is the essence of belief: setting our mind on the things of God.

This word for “setting your mind” is the same word that Paul used over and over in the book of Philippians that we just finished studying...

It involves thinking thoughts that agree with God…

And the Bible says that in order to set our mind on the things of God, we must REPENT of setting our mind on the things of man.

Repentance means to change our minds to agree with God.

We use this definition at Oak Hill a lot: Repentance is agreeing with God about who he is and what he has done in such a way that changes our understanding of who we are and what we must do.

We turn from our sin and we trust Jesus for our life.

We put off the old and we put on the new.

Peter needed to change his mind and believe what was true about Jesus… THAT’S why Jesus is rebuking him so strongly.

Disciples set their minds on Jesus.

Who he REALLY is, not who we WANT him to be.

Peter had his mind set on who he WANTED Jesus to be… the Christ who would bring victory and restore power to Israel… and give him a cush job in his king’s court.

But Peter didn’t want to believe that Jesus’ path to the throne was through suffering and death.

Today, a lot of people believe in Jesus as they WANT him to be...

They like the idea of him saving them from hell, but not actively saving them from their sinful habits.

They like the idea of Jesus being loving as long as that means he approves of everything they WANT to do.

They like the idea of Jesus being gracious as long as that means he gives them a healthy and prosperous life.

At Christmas, they will tolerate Jesus as long as he looks like a small baby in a manger.

But we must believe in ALL of who Jesus is… he is SAVIOR and LORD.

We must repent of setting our minds on the things of man… and set our mind on the things of God.

So let me ask you directly: Is your mind set on man or is your mind set on God?

Do you believe Jesus as he has revealed himself to be? Or do you believe in who you WANT Jesus to be (which is really a figment of your imagination)?

This is really what distinguished the disciples from the crowd. They were continually growing to set their mind on Jesus.

We see these two groups distinguished clearly in v. 34 - Notice what Mark says, “And calling the CROWD to him WITH his DISCIPLES...”

All throughout the gospels, we see two groups form around Jesus… the disciples and the crowd. [show diagram]

So you can picture it kind of like a target… Jesus is at the bullseye… he’s the center.

And the people closest to him are his disciples.

Now it’s important to realize that the word “disciples” does not ONLY refer to the 12… it refers to a growing group of people who truly FOLLOW Jesus…

Who believe that Jesus is the Christ and who go all-in to follow him...

When he speaks, they believe him...

When he commands, they seek to obey him...

When he rebukes they repent.

When he moves they go with him.

They aren’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination… but they are growing!

So the twelve disciples (who would later become apostles) are WITHIN this group… but they are not the ONLY ones in this group.

And the group of disciples is distinguished consistently from “the crowd.”

The crowds formed because they were intrigued by what Jesus was doing and teaching.

They saw his miracles and wanted his healing.

They heard his message and were sort of interested, hoping he might be the political ruler or prophet they were waiting for.

But we need to understand: Jesus wasn’t interested in building a crowds for the sake of having a crowd. He was intent on calling people to be his disciples.

That’s why he consistently says HARD WORDS to the crowds… he wants to weed out the true disciples from the half-hearted, self-focused masses.

Really, the crowd, while sort of interested in Jesus, has more in common with the world than they do with the disciples.

They are still part of the world because they have not embraced Jesus by faith… they are only interested in Jesus for what he can do for them...

Whether that is his political deliverance or physical healing or whatever it is.

Really the way of a disciple is about trajectory of our heart… am I moving toward Jesus? Am I continually being filled with Jesus?

Or am I only viewing Jesus from afar… with a heart divided between Jesus and the world?

I want you to understand… the purpose of the church is not to build crowds… it’s to make disciples.

We love the PEOPLE in the crowds… and we love them enough to say hard words so that they would find their life in Jesus.

We see these two types of people sitting in the seats of churches today...

We see those whose minds are set on Jesus as their ONLY source of life… their ONLY Savior and Lord.

That’s the way of a disciple.

But then there are those who just hang out in the crowd.

They come to church… they say they believe in Jesus… maybe they say, “I’ve always believed”...but they do not follow him.

We call these “nominal ‘Christians’”, they are “Christians” in name only...

and I put that in air-quotes because they are not actually Christians… they are not Christ-followers.

They CALL themselves believers of Jesus, but they do not live like they believe that he is Savior AND Lord.

Understand: This is one of the most important things I can say all day, so listen closely: there is NO DIFFERENCE between a genuine believer in Jesus and a disciple.

A disciple is NOT different than a true believer in Jesus.

Disciples are NOT some second tier of saved people.

If you are not a disciple, you are not a genuine believer.

A genuine believer of Jesus is a disciple because they believe with all their LIFE that Jesus is Savior and Lord.

And the RESULT is that they follow Jesus by walking in his way.

You can’t say, “I believe Jesus is Savior and Lord” and then NOT have that change your life.

And I’m NOT saying that disciples of Jesus are PERFECT in their following...

I’m saying that they consistently turn from setting their mind on the things of man… and turn TO setting their mind on the things of God.

Some people in this room today are going to realize that they are still in the crowd…

They THOUGHT they believed in Jesus… they’ve spent a lot of time AROUND him and his people…

They’ve done some of the things Christians do… they know the language… they’ve checked the boxes..

But at the heart of it, they believed in who they WANTED Jesus to be... instead of who he truly is as Savior and Lord.

If that’s you… and God opens your eyes to that fact today… don’t be embarrassed.

Embrace Jesus. That’s the gracious work of God in your life to show you that today.

And if you ARE a disciple… understand what Jesus calls us to in MAKING disciples...

He does’t tell us to invite them into the crowd… he calls us to show them who Jesus really is.

That’s why making disciples is NOT the same as inviting someone to church.

Sure, they will hear Jesus proclaimed here and we are HAPPY for that!

But what they need to see and hear even more is your conviction that Jesus is Lord and Savior.

And out of THAT they will become part of Christ’s people, the church.

The purpose of the church is not to build a the crowd… it’s to make disciples who are growing in their dependence on and devotion to JESUS.

Back in Mark 8, Jesus wants us to make sure that every disciple… AND every person in the crowd understands what that means.

He wants to make sure that we know that following Jesus is as simple as believing, but it’s not going to be easy.

Verse 34 - “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.”

Disciples set their mind on Jesus… working our way backward through this definition, we see this next part in v. 34...

Disciples are devoted to Jesus. (v. 34)

Explain: When Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me...” he’s using the same phrase here as he did in his rebuke to Peter when he said, “Get behind me.”

The clear emphasis is that Jesus is first. JESUS determines the way his disciples go.

Where he goes, disciples get behind. They follow.

So where did Jesus JUST say his life would take him?

SUFFERING, REJECTION, DEATH, and THEN RESURRECTION.

And so if disciples COME AFTER Jesus… if they FOLLOW HIM… what should they expect their lives to look like?

Suffering, rejection, death, and then resurrection.

Jesus makes clear in his call that following Jesus is not the easy life.

It is NOT your best life now, the way that your flesh would want it.

It is NOT the most physically comfortable… most physically safe… most earthly successful… most well-preserved life.

But it is the ONLY life that will last.

And so following Jesus involves three acts of devotion:

1) Deny ourselves

Think about it: who are we most NATURALLY devoted to? [point to that person]

Who do we work hardest to protect and preserve from the time we are born? Our SELF.

Who do we think about the most? Our SELF.

Who do we LISTEN to the most? Our SELF.

Who do we think is RIGHT most of the time? Our SELF.

If we are going to follow Jesus as Savior and Lord, it means that we must stop acting like WE are Savior and Lord.

Our desires… our physical comfort… our pleasure… our control… none of that is ultimate.

JESUS is ultimate.

Now that doesn’t mean that we equate being miserable with being godly.

It doesn’t mean that there is no joy in our lives… in fact, this is the way to TRUE joy.

One commentator put it this way: "By denial of self, Jesus does not mean to deny oneself something. He means to renounce self—to cease to make self the object of one’s life and actions. This involves a fundamental reorientation of the principle of life. God, not self, must be at the center of life."

(Wessel, W. W. (1984). Mark. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (Vol. 8, p. 697). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)

Paul said it this way, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20, ESV)

DISCIPLES have been crucified with Christ…

And even CHRIST denied HIMSELF in the way he lived…

We just saw this in our study of the book of Philippians… “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5–8, ESV)

To live devoted to Jesus we MUST deny ourselves. Our mind must be set on Jesus, not ourselves.

And then, just like Jesus, we must...

2) Take up our Cross

That’s the second act of devotion for disciples.

Now this is not literally picking up a piece of wood and walking around with it on your back..

It’s not that we impose suffering on our lives...

Or that we never try to alleviate suffering in our lives...

It means that we embrace the reality that the way of Jesus will mean suffering and possibly even death.

To take up our cross is to say, “Whatever suffering or discomfort or danger that following Jesus might bring today, I’m willing to embrace it.”

Devotion to Jesus means that we Deny Ourselves, Take up our cross… and finally...

3) Follow Jesus

We learned this prayer a few weeks back… hopefully you are still praying it often: Father, lead me in the way of Jesus today.

Wherever he is working by his Spirit, that’s where I want to be.

Whatever he is doing, that’s what I want to do.

Whatever reflects him, that’s what I want to think about.

Whatever responsibility he has called me to, that’s what I want to fulfill.

Whatever character traits are his, that’s what I want to mark my life.

Whoever he wants to serve, that’s who I will serve.

Devotion means that the pattern of our life takes the pattern of Jesus’s life.

Disciples are devoted to Jesus.

Do your choices reflect a devotion to yourself, or a devotion to Jesus?

Now maybe you are like, “That sets the bar pretty high!… I don’t know if I can live out that kind of devotion.

What if I fall short?

What if I stop following?

What if I can’t do it… what if I can’t live up to the way of a disciple?”

I WANT TO… but what if I can’t.

And that’s where this last part of our definition of a disciple becomes so critical…

This is what we often miss when we think about walking i the way of a disciple.

Disciples aren’t devoted because they are capable… Disciples are devoted because they are dependent.

Look at v. 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.” (Mark 8:35, ESV)

Disciples are dependent on Jesus as their only source of life. (8:35-9:1)

Explain: To deny our self, we have to rely on another.

Our biggest problem in life is that we are too busy trying to save ourselves.

We try to be the best possible person we can be.

We try… in our own power… to walk in the way of a disciple and earn favor with God.

We do the things that we believe will earn us the highest rewards in life.

We think, “If I just try harder, I can improve my character.”

We think, “If I just make this change or that adjustment, THEN I can have peace… hope… love.”

We think, “There’s nothing a little money can’t fix.”

We think, “If I do something bad, I can make it up by doing something good.”

We think, “As long as I hide my faults and vices so that no one else can see, and as long as they don’t affect anyone else, then I’m OK be OK.”

So much of what we do is an attempt to save ourselves and preserve our lives.

And it will always fall short.

Jesus says that all of these attempts and more will actually lead to us losing our life… because we can do NOTHING to save our soul.

We could have all of the wealth and security and control imaginable… but v. 36 - 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?” (Mark 8:37, ESV)

In other words, “Your soul is the most valuable thing you have… but you can do NOTHING save it. You are entirely dependent on someone else to save it.”

When we try to save our own souls...

Whether that is through seeking control or wealth or self-righteousness…

When we try to save our own souls… our own life… it keeps us from confessing that Jesus is the only one who can save us.

We talked about this at the end of October… relying on SELF will actually KEEP us from relying on Jesus.

We don’t overcome our sin by looking inward… we overcome sin by looking UPWARD at the one who lived, died, and rose again for us.

“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:35, ESV)

We must stop trying to save ourselves… and instead lose our lives for Jesus Christ.

We must stop looking to the stuff of this world that gives us a sense of identity… of security… of comfort… and instead say, “My life belongs to you, Jesus, because you are the only Savior and Lord.”

When we try to save ourselves, this is the outcome (v. 38) - “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.”” (Mark 8:38, ESV)

There is a day coming when it will become evident that we could do nothing to save ourselves.

When Jesus returns to judge the world, he won’t be asking, “Who said they were a Christian?”

He won’t be asking, “Who lived a good life?”

He won’t be asking, “Who attended church as part of the crowd.”

He will be saying, “Who trusted me with their life? Who put their trust and hope in me?’

It is the disciples who lose their life for the sake of Jesus and the gospel’s who will save it.

They go all in… they put all of their eggs in the Jesus basket.

They spend themselves to KNOW Jesus (that’s what he is saying they lose their lives for MY SAKE)

and they spend themselves to proclaim Jesus (that’s what he is saying they lose their lives for the GOSPEL’S SAKE).

And when we follow Jesus like THAT, the beauty is that we don’t have to wait until we die to see his power at work…

Look at chapter 9:1 - “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.””

Now we read that verse and it seems weird, because we’re like, “Jesus didn’t return yet… and aren’t all these guys dead?”

But Jesus isn’t talking about his return… he’s talking about his Kingdom coming in power...

This promise is fulfilled first in the next verse when Jesus’ glory is unveiled on the mount of transfiguration…

Peter and James and John get a front-row seat to his glory.

But it’s also fulfilled as Jesus rises from the dead, and they see his glory…

And when he ascends to the right hand of the Father and they receive power from on high…

They are filled with the Spirit…and they go out to make disciples of all nations.

When we lose our lives for the sake of knowing and proclaiming Jesus, we find true life NOW… we get a front row seat to the the glory of Jesus and the power of his kingdom.

That’s the beauty of the way of a disciple… it is the way to true life.

A disciple is someone who is dependent on and devoted to Jesus.

So our goal in this series is to take the next step. And I want to leave you with a question to help you do that:

Take the next step: Discern: Are you a disciple according to this definition? Or are you part of the crowd?

If you aren’t a disciple of Jesus, then you need to count the cost…

Not only the cost to follow Jesus… you must deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow him...

But also count the cost of NOT following Jesus… it means you will lose out on what it means to truly live!

And once you count the cost, I would urge you… set your mind on Jesus as the only Savior and Lord… and follow him.

We are going to talk more next week about how someone becomes a disciple… come back for that… and talk to me after the service today.

But if you already ARE a disciple, how might Jesus want you to GROW as a disciple who MAKES DISCIPLES?

Start by PRAISING God for saving you through Jesus, the only Savior and Lord.

And then ask him to reveal your next steps of dependence and devotion to Jesus.

Maybe that starts with making sure you understand what a disciple is: maybe look to see if you’ve been believing a false definition of “disciple” and devote this definition to memory...

Maybe do some further study this week.... There are some great resources on our website at oakhillfellowship.com/theway to help you with that.

Our reading plan is there… there’s also a document that is an in depth dive into the majority of passages that include the word disciple… there are some video resources that take you deeper into the topic...

But ultimately, Jesus wants you to MAKE disciples… ask him how he wants to use you to help someone ELSE encounter Jesus.

He wants us to take the next steps in the way TOGETHER.

Let’s ask him how he wants to lead our church in that pursuit over the rest of this year.