Untitled Sermon

Desiring Our Saviour

Text: Mark 8.34-38 ESV

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. 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. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 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.”

Intro: The Illawarra is a great place to live. We have city and bush. We have beach and escarpment. We have so much. I don’t know how many of you have ever been to the top of Brokers Nose up here behind us, but let me tell you, the view facing east is much different than the view facing west.

Theme: When Jesus changes everything, that “everything” includes our point of view/perspective.

1. Review:

A. The increased training of the disciples - v 27

B. The good confession – v 29

C. The misstep of Peter when He tried to correct Jesus - v33

2. The people involved in this passage:

A. The crowds are back – v34

Jesus “called” them back. He literally summoned them to listen in.

I believe that makes this teaching something basic for all followers of Christ to understand. This is not just for the closest of followers, or the strongest of Christians. This is something everyone needs to hear and understand.

B. The disciples are also invited to hear this teaching that changes perspective.

We expect Christ’s closest followers to accept this heavy teaching. This was such a change of their “point of view”. They all wanted life, the glory of being on the winning side – the Kings side.

Jesus uses hard and negative language: Deny self; cross, lose, forfeit, ashamed. Sometimes even the most committed of us need to hear the harsh realities!

C. The repeated word here is life. Ψυχή - psychḗ;

Just like the Greeks had 3 words for love, they also had more than one word for life.

There is a word for life as in beating heart

There is a word for life as in soul

And we have the word here that is the combination of physical, emotional and spiritual life. Some translations take this same word and give it different English words, sometimes “life” and sometimes “soul.” 2x in verse 35, and once at the end of both 36 & 37.

God is not asking for your heartbeat. Nor is He interested only in your life after death. God wants to help us, all of us, in every area because He knows our yesterdays, our todays, and all our tomorrows.

3. The problem of desires:

A. “If anyone would come after me” esv; “If anyone wishes to come after Me” NASB; “Whoever desires to come after Me,” NKJV

The Greek word is Thelei – a strong desire or almost overwhelming wish.

Jesus purposefully uses a strong word because he wants to make a very strong statement.

People desire to be around people of power.

Loosing one’s life for poor political prowess was popular in Jesus day. v 35a

People desire to be around popular people.

Jesus even places it in the realm of great wealth in verse 36a.

Desires are natural. God created us with desires – especially for relationships! However, to be a Christ Follower means our desires change. As Christian, Jesus changes everything – including our desires, and our perspective on what is important.

33 Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. Luke 17:33 NKJV

B. Jesus also speaks of the desire to save one’s own life.

Long life is good if it brings others closer to God. But long life does not mean a good life. Jesus died comparatively young. Others, like tyrannical leaders, have lived longer than we would have wished.

“Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?” Luke 12:25–26 ESV

Long live can’t be the focus of our desire! Jesus shifts the focus from “desire” to “deny self”!

To deny oneself means to surrender immediate material gratification in order to discover and secure one’s true self and God’s interests. It is a willingness to let go of selfish desires and earthly security. This attitude turns self-centeredness to God-centeredness. Barton, B. B. (1994). Mark (p. 239). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

So, just as we deny immediately spending our whole pay packet on ice cream so we can pay the bills and buy healthy food, so too we must realize that immediate gratification is often harmful to our best life, relationship with God, and with His people.

“whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Mt 10:33

4. The problem of the cross:

A. Denying self and the cross are inseparably linked by Jesus.

To deny oneself is not to do without something or even many things. It is not asceticism, not self-rejection or self-hatred, nor is it even the disowning of particular sins. It is to renounce the self as the dominant element in life. It is to replace the self with God-in-Christ as the object of affections. It is to place the divine will before self-will. Brooks, J. A. (1991). Mark (Vol. 23, p. 137). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

B. We are so far removed from the times of Roman crucifixion, that we don’t understand the cross.

They would have heard the concept of taking up one’s cross as an invitation to die – and that at the hands of a government they hoped Jesus would overthrow. This was not a glamorous death. This was a horrific way to die.

We all respect death. If you came in this morning and saw a king brown snake in the room- then you would have been the only one in the room! I certainly would not have been. We obey traffic laws – even as pedestrians, because we are not keen on dying any time soon. Yet Jesus says to take up the cross (a horrible symbol of death) and follow (v34).

Jesus is obviously not talking about carrying a wood beam around all the time. Otherwise verse 38 does not fit. Since the middle ages, some churches have pushed people to wear a cross on a chain around their neck. Is that what Jesus is asking for? I think not! Again, it does not fit the context. Jesus wants followers that are more interested in following than in getting power, fame, or anything else that people seek in this world. He changes everything when He says we must follow Him. Then, after this life is over, we can see how He credits us as His followers in heaven.

C. The cross is THE way to a relationship with the Father.

No one can buy their way into Heaven

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

It is the gift of God… Eph 2.8

Salvation comes through accepting Jesus.

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.”

12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4.12 ESV

To accept the Cross is to acknowledge that Jesus is who He claimed to be, and DID what He claimed He came to do.

“the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10

Conclusion: When Jesus changes everything, that “everything” includes our point of view/perspective. As we have studied the Word of God this morning, I hope we have been open to changing, adjusting our perspective. It is hard to deny ourselves. We all understand that! Yet we also all understand it is necessary.

We also all know that we are to take up our cross and follow Jesus. Jesus is not asking for masochism or adorning ourselve’s with some kind of identifying accessory. He is asking for a deep connection with Him and His mission.

1. Are you one of the crowd Jesus called to hear this or one of the disciples?

2. Jesus used a symbol that people saw around them to shock them into thinking different. What do you have in your life to prompt you to think different?

3. How is the connection between denying self and the cross of Christ obvious to people who see you in everyday life?