Spectator Sport

Spectator Sport

Mark 8:34-38

Last Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday.

96 Million people watched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Kansas City Chiefs.

Now, you have to understand that I’m not much of a football fan and that I haven’t actually watched a Superbowl since the Bengals played in 1989, but what I’ve found out is that there are no cheap seats for the Super Bowl.

Just checking online at Stubhub.com prior to the big event, since they only allowed a limited number of in-person spectators to attend, the cheapest seats cost over $7,000 in the nosebleed section. You could pay up to $50,000 for seats close to the fifty-yard line and $400,000 and up for seats in a suite for the big game.

Now, I’m not a big fan of football but what I discovered are that there aren’t any cheap seats for the Super Bowl. No matter how you look at it, there are no cheap seats for the Super Bowl!

I wanted to see Paul McCartney in concert a few years ago but the cheapest seats started at around $500. There are no cheap seats!

Jesus wants to teach us the same thing about being His followers. He wants us to know that there are no cheap seats in His service. Serving Him isn’t some kind of spectator sport.

Just prior to our passage, Jesus revealed His true identity to His disciples. He’s told them how He would die for their sins. He’s just shattered every preconception and dream they had about the Messiah.

So, Jesus calls the crowds to come closer where they can hear and begins to speak.

And what He tells the disciples and the crowds is that there’s a high price of being His follower. The words that He speaks, they deal a death blow to the cheap, easy, feel good religion that is being passed off as Christianity in the world today.

See, far too many people believe that they can have Jesus and the world too. They think they can say they’re a Christian and live their lives any way they like. And here we find that this idea is completely false.

There are no cheap seats for followers of Christ and that’s because this isn’t a spectator sport. You’re either on the field or out of the game.

Let’s pray and read our text.

Pray!

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.”

The first thing we see is a pattern.

Pattern

Jesus would have been a public relations manager’s nightmare!

Every time He started attracting a large following, He’d up the ante. He’d tell them how high the cost of following Him would be and the crowds would vanish. Jesus did this so that people would know the truth. He wanted them to know that it wouldn’t be cheap or easy to be His disciples.

Jesus shares a pattern for discipleship.

And I need to say this, not everyone who claims to be a Christian can really be called a disciple. Those who would be His disciples, His followers have four requirements.

Let’s look at each of these.

Come after me

When Jesus said these words, His disciples surely remembered when He first called them to follow. Some two and a half years ago, they’d left everything. They’d left family, friends, occupations, and everything else in their lives to follow Jesus.

To the rest of the crowd that day, this was a call to the new birth. It was a call to make a personal commitment to Christ. It was a call for them to turn their backs on everything else to go after Him.

Being born again, getting saved, or whatever you want to call it, is far more than praying a prayer. A lot of people come and pray a prayer and claim to know Jesus. True salvation is about a radical commitment to leave the old life behind to follow Jesus into a new and very different life. Being born again is about being made a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

You see, you can pray the Sinner’s Prayer all day long and not get saved. You can walk the Roman Road, take a Journey through John, or go through any other way that people say brings salvation.

The fact is, you only get saved when God convicts you of your sins and draws you to Himself. When He draws you and you respond by faith, salvation takes place.

True salvation isn’t some form of “easy believing” that leaves you unchanged. True salvation, when it happens in your life, will make such a radical change that you’ll start to act like a different person. Your desires and habits will change. Your interests and commitments will change.

When you come to Christ and are truly saved, you’ll want to follow Him.

“Come after me.”

To the lost person it is a call to be saved.

To the saved person it is a call to radical commitment.

“Come after me.”

The next requirement is to:

Deny himself

Denying self is not the same thing as self-denial. Some people will practice self-denial by withholding certain things from themselves, like some people during Lent. That’s not what Jesus is talking about.

Denying self is far more intense than that. Denying self implies that I’ll stop listening to my own voice. I stop leaning on my own power. I stop trying to fulfill my own will and wishes.

When I deny myself, I have no will but His will. I have no plans but His plans. I have no wants but what He wants for me. When I deny myself, I give up all my rights and all control of my life to Christ.

That’s a foreign concept in the world today.

Most religions and ministries are focused on catering to self. They want people to feel good about themselves. They want to build up people’s self-esteem. They want people to rejoice in achievements and abilities.

Jesus, on the other hand, wants people to know that without Him, they’re nothing and can do nothing.

Jesus is calling those who claim Him as their Savior to make a total commitment to His Lordship in their lives. He wants absolute control in every area of our lives. He calls on us to disown ourselves and give Him the reigns of our lives.

Come after me. Deny himself. Next:

Take up his cross

This phrase had a lot of meaning for the people in Jesus’s day. Historians estimate that over 30,000 people were crucified by the Romans during Jesus’ lifetime. Every person who heard these words knew what He was saying.

In that day, a cross wasn’t a piece of jewelry or a decoration in a church building. A cross was an instrument of shame, humiliation, suffering, torture and death. When someone took up their cross, he was beginning a death march.

When someone took up their cross, they carried the instrument of their own death on his own shoulders. When they reached their destination, they were laid down on the cross they’d carried; nailed to it; suffered on it and died on it.

When Jesus called these people to take up their cross, they knew exactly what He was talking about! Sadly, that message has become watered down today.

Some people think that the burdens of life are a cross they must bear. Some people say that a lost, abusive spouse, a wayward child or a crazy boss is their cross. Some people think that an illness or a physical handicap is their cross. The trials and hardships you face in this life are not your cross!

When Jesus tells His disciples to take up their cross and follow Him, He is calling us to die to ourselves.

He is calling us to willingly bear the shame, the criticism, the humiliation, the suffering, the hatred, the alienation and even the death that may come to those who are associated with Him.

We take up our cross when we choose the narrow way over the way of the world, no matter the cost. We take up our cross when we live out biblical ethics in our personal lives and in our business relationships, no matter the cost.

Not many people are truly carrying their cross today.

Many are quick to compromise when it makes their way just a little bit easier. Businessmen will lie to keep their customers. Christians will lie to save face. Church people will compromise with the world to avoid being singled out and humiliated for being a believer.

To take up your cross means that you are willing to identify yourself with Jesus Christ, His death and His word, regardless of what it costs you personally, publicly or financially! That’s not a side of Christianity you hear about very often!

It isn’t popular to talk about sacrifice, death and suffering, but that’s what Christianity is all about! There are no cheap seats, but there’s a high price to pay for being a genuine disciple of Christ.

Come after me. Deny himself. Take up your cross. And finally:

Follow me

The true disciple of Jesus turns their back on self and old life. The true disciple takes up their cross and is willing to lay down everything for the glory of God. The true disciple takes their place behind Him and follows wherever He leads. The true disciple walks in total obedience and submission!

Jesus is calling His people to be constant followers.

Some people follow on Sunday, but take a different path on Monday. Some people follow when they need help, but take another path when things get better. That’s not what He’s looking for! Jesus is calling for His people to make a radical commitment to follow Him all the time, all the way to the end of their lives.

There are no cheap seats in Christianity. You’re either on the field or out of the game. It costs something to be a follower of Christ.

· Can we honestly say that we are totally committed to Jesus when other things in life come before Him?

· Can we honestly say that we are following Him when we do as we please when we please?

· Can you honestly say that you are bearing your cross when you can’t even be faithful to the church?

Isn’t it about time that God’s children examined their priorities so that Christ and His will came first?

The price of discipleship is high, isn’t it?

There really are no cheap seats! If you think you can pray a simple prayer and go to Heaven while you live life as you please, you’re deceiving yourself! If you think that going to church, throwing some money in a plate and doing a few religious things are enough to secure you a home in Heaven, you’re deceiving yourself.

Genuine salvation is about a radical commitment to Christ.

When you come to Him for salvation, you’re giving up all of your rights. You’re making a radical, eternal commitment to live as He sees fit. Genuine salvation is by faith through grace alone, but it does produces drastic changes in the lives of all who receive it.

There is a pattern and there is also a paradox.

Paradox

What we’re meant to learn is that the spiritual side of our lives is far more important than the material side.

That’s not the way most people think. Most people live their whole lives trying to take care of the physical and material needs they have, giving no thought to the spiritual side of life. Jesus wants us to know that only the spiritual side of life really matters in the end.

Jesus says:

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.

That’s a paradox. A paradox is something that seems contradictory, but is still true.

Jesus says that if you believe that having your own way, living life on your own terms and being your own lord is more important than surrendering to His Lordship, you’ll lose your life.

But, if you’ll surrender your life to Him, giving up control over all you have, you’ll actually save it. From a human perspective this makes no sense, but from heaven’s viewpoint, nothing else makes sense.

You have a choice.

· You can live your life as you see fit.

· You can refuse to come to Christ for salvation.

· You can call all the shots.

· You can be your own boss.

· You can do as you please, living life on your terms, but in the end, you’ll lose.

When you reach the end of your days, you’ll find there is nothing but an eternity in Hell waiting for you.

On the other hand, you can commit your life to Jesus. You can deny your own will, give up all your rights, surrender to His Lordship and follow Him faithfully. At the end of that way, His way, you will find that the door of Heaven will be opened to you.

So, in the economy of God, “Losers are Keepers.” Those who lose their lives by giving them up for Jesus are winners. While those who live for this life alone, lose everything in the end.

Jesus asks:

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

Think about it for a minute.

Imagine you possessed the whole world and all the riches in it. Imagine you could do anything you wanted to do, be anything you wanted to be, or go anywhere you wanted to go. Imagine you were the absolute ruler of all things. Sounds like a dream come true doesn’t it?

Now, imagine at the end of having, being and doing as you please that you die. And after death you found yourself in Hell forever. Would those few years, or even decades, of pleasure be worth an eternity in Hell?

Let’s be realistic.

Most of us will never know what it is like to possess riches, power and the ability to do as you please. So, imagine that you live your life, doing all the things that you want to do, and when you reach the end of your life you die. You’ve worked hard all your life. You’ve done without, endured hardship and suffered, but you’ve lived life on your terms.

Then you die and still go to Hell. Where’s the profit in that? What have you gained? You’ve gained nothing but lost everything! That’s why you need to come to Jesus.

Jesus asks:

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

Before you answer, let me remind you that your soul is the only part of you that will live forever. Your body will die and be buried, but you soul will live in either Heaven or in Hell. So, what is your soul worth?

Are you willing to trade your soul for the right to do as you please and live life on your own terms? Are you willing to spend eternity in Hell for a few years of being your own god?

If you’re lost, that’s exactly what you are doing!

You’re trading the most valuable possession you have for the things of this world. You have bought into the lie of the devil and you’re going to lose all you have and all you are.

But it’s not too late to change the road you’re on. Come to Jesus today and trade this world for a permanent, eternal relationship with Him. Trade Hell for Heaven today!

When you and I reach the end of our earthly journey, nothing we’ve achieved or accumulated in this life will matter. All that will matter is our relationship with Christ. All that will matter is that we willingly lost our lives to His will so that He might live through us.

There is a pattern, a paradox and a penalty.

Penalty

Jesus has something to say to those who would reject His message.

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.”

He’s talking to those who are ashamed of His message, those who are unwilling because they may face shame, ridicule or disapproval by accepting Him.

You see, there is a price to pay when someone follows Jesus. It’s about rejecting the ways of the world and instead walking with Him. It’s about being willing to be persecuted, criticized and even hated for the cause of Christ.

Not everyone is willing to pay the price. Those who refuse to live a separated life prove that they want no part of Him or His message. These people will face judgment when Jesus comes. Just as they have refused to acknowledge Him, He’ll refuse to acknowledge them.

Believers may suffer in this life but they can be assured they’ll enter into heaven when this life ends.

The lost person might enjoy the best the world has to offer but, in the end, they’ll face the judgment of God and spend eternity in hell?

Which one do you prefer?

There are plenty of cheap seats in church. A person can come, sit in their pew and it won’t cost them anything. Others do the work; others pay the bills and others are willing to bear the blame of Christ before a lost world.

But there are no cheap seats in the body of Christ. It costs something to be a true believer. It costs something to be a genuine disciple of Jesus. True Christianity demands everything!

Genuine discipleship demands nothing less than denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Jesus all the way.

Joining a church will cost you nothing, but coming to Christ will cost you everything!