Mark 8:31-9:1: Messiah-ship and Discipleship

April 27, 2014

Port Gardner Church

Chuck Hickman

Mark 8:31-9:1

Removing the Veil:  Messiah-ship and Discipleship

Mark 8:31-9:1    [31] And he began to teach them that the Son of Man 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. [32] And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. [33] 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.”

                [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.”

                [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.”

·         Jesus isn’t tried and condemned by a low example of human justice.  He is tried, condemned and executed by the highest system of human justice the world has ever known.

James R Edwards says..”  It is not humanity at its worst that will crucify the Son of God but humanity at its absolute best. The death of Jesus will not be the result of a momentary lapse or aberration of human nature, but rather the result of careful deliberations from respected religious leaders who will justify their actions by the highest standards of law and morality, even believing them to render service to God.  Jesus will not be lynched by an enraged mob or beaten to death in a criminal act.  He will be arrested with official warrants, and tried and executed by the world’s envy of jurisprudence – The Jewish Sanhedrin and the principia iuris Romanorum.”

The Jewish system of justice was the ultimate ascension of human ability to govern the world.  It was so precise.  So specific, so explicit in every possible way.  There was an answer for every question, problem or circumstance.  The written tradition (Mosaic Law) coupled with the oral tradition had every situation accounted for.  There was no escaping the long arm of the police state that was Israel.  Everyone lived by the law.  EVERYONE.  This was the most perfectly constructed system of moral regulation the world would ever know.  Jesus was killed by the height of human perfection… proving once and for all that man cannot save himself.

Look at the greatest governmental systems of the world.  Greece, Rome, The United States of America.  All of these systems have failed, and in the case of the US… is failing.  Not because we don’t try to do what we think is right, but because humanity is depraved and our depravity will always be our undoing. 

In this case, even the perfect human system of government that puts God above all in a Theocracy, still fails because it is administered by sinful human beings.

For you folks that put your faith in government and politicians… beware… failure is imminent.   No matter the party, no matter the platform.  Some may be better than others, sure… but the truth is that government cannot and never will be able to save you or me.  Only Jesus can do that.

·         Peter thinks he is doing Jesus a favor by rebuking Him for thinking that He will be killed. 

Have you ever been so absolutely sure about something that you would stake your life on it.  Or even maybe just your reputation… but you knew that you were absolutely right… But… in the end… you were wrong?

This is the problem with the human condition.  We are easily deceived.  And the person that deceives us most easily is not someone else… not a stranger… not even Satan.   We are the person that will most often and most easily deceive us.  We deceive ourselves.

Matthew 15:19[19] For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Now in this case Peter is deceived and he thinks he’s going to help Jesus.  He’s going to encourage him.  Tell him he’s not going to die in such a horrible way.  Jesus is going to be a champion of the Jewish people and of the world.  And Peter is just trying to give hope to his friend… but in doing so, in being convinced of his rightness in helping Jesus, in his heart felt conviction and love for his friend… what does he do..?  He is actually being used of Satan.  Because any deterrence from the sacrifice that Christ must make will damn fallen humanity for ever.

Many of us think we are doing the right thing or thinking the right thing.  Peter’s situation proves the difference between our thoughts and God’s thoughts.  This is why we always test everything… movies, books, ideas, thoughts…. Against the word of God.  And when we are confronted with error… we choose Jesus.

Peter thought he was right and doing a good thing by “loving” Jesus.  But it wasn’t love at all.  It was sin.  And if Jesus would have listened to Peter and entertained those thoughts…  Jesus would have given into temptation of the Devil and would have sinned.  Not good.

[33] “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Our mind is not like God’s mind.

Romans 8:7 [7] For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.

Romans 12:2 [2] Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are vfolly to him, and whe is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

[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.

Let him Deny himself

Deny myself?  Yes.  Just because you think it to be true… does not make it so.  There is nothing but corruption that comes out of the human heart.  Even our so called “pure” motives are never pure.  They are always corrupted with our own sinful desires.  Jesus is the only pure motive.  He’s the only purity. 

“Your conscience is not the rule of your duty, but God’s Word is; and if God’s Word commands it, whatever your conscience may say about it, you are sinning if you refuse to obey”     Charles Spurgeon

This is not easy… it takes faith. 

Hebrews 11:6    [6] And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Hard words, if they be true, are better than soft words, if they be false.    Charles Spurgeon

The question is, do we trust God?  If we trust Him to save us, would we not then trust Him in everything?

[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.

Lose my life?  Yes.  Submit everything in your life to Jesus.  Being a disciple of Jesus doesn’t mean you get to pick and choose the commands you’d like to obey.  And there are many commands that make us uncomfortable.  They are hard.  Commands to buffet our bodies…  Commands to turn away from sin.  To renew our minds.  To change.  To lose my life for the sake of Christ and the gospel.

[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?

All the money, all the friends, all the accolades, no conflict, no enemies, the perfect persona projected to the world. 

…and yet lose my soul?  No.

[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.”

Deny Christ and He will deny you.  He calls us to deny ourselves.  To change our thinking.  To change our behavior.  To be counted for Christ.

The reason we read through the Bible, the reason we don’t take a pass on difficult scriptures and teachings, the reason we speak out against heresy in the church and un-biblical teachings in books and movies are for this one reason.  To deny any of God’s written word is to deny Jesus.  To let slide what seem to be small issues…  we sympathetically think… Peter was just trying to cheer up his friend… why did Jesus get so mad at him?

We turn away from conversations about popular cultural behaviors:  And then we allow the twisting of scripture to support our sympathies.  We don’t want to rock the boat.  We don’t want our friends to think we’re fanatics.  We don’t want to make our co-workers upset. 

What do you think Jesus just did with Peter?  Do you think Jesus was worried about what Peter was going to think or do?  He was most concerned with standing with the will of His Father.

·         Jesus shows the cost of discipleship will be to suffer as He suffers.  That to be like Jesus we must suffer as Jesus suffered.  And we will be heralded as we herald Jesus.  Or we will be denied as we have denied Jesus.

Now know this… You’ve messed this up.  So have I.  And guess what… You and I are going to mess it up again.  And that’s why Jesus died and rose again… to save us from this and every other possible sin.  Forgiveness is beautiful because it frees us to truly follow Jesus.  Not out of compulsion or pretension.  Not for tit for tat benefits… but because He is real, He has saved us and He is our Lord and King.

The first truth to know it that God loves you.  And He will help you… with all of this.  He does not only redeem your soul,  He redeems everything.