Discipleship

I have in my library at home a little book that Pastor Bob might also know. I think it's often a stock book for a lot of pastors, written by a man by the name of F. F. Bruce, a New Testament scholar. It's called The Hard Sayings of Jesus. Now it's a great little book, and I should have brought it here this morning to show you, and it gives a quick overview of some of the really hard teachings or the hard sayings or phrases that Jesus used in his ministry. Anything that someone reading it perhaps for the first time might consider difficult, and F. F. Bruce tackles some of Jesus' hard sayings like the ones, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and you drink His blood, you will have no life in you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man.

What is going on there? Or Jesus saying it's better to pluck out your eye and enter the kingdom than to go to hell with both eyes intact. You know? What is Jesus saying there? But you know as well as I do that there can be a number of ways that a saying can be difficult.

The blurb at the back of the book says it all. This is what it writes. Like his original heroes, many people today find Jesus' sayings hard. Some sayings are hard because they are difficult to understand. Others, because the demands they make on us are all too clear.

Today, we're going to be looking at a teaching of Jesus that F. F. Bruce also deals with in his book. And yet, having dealt with so many hard to understand sayings, of this particular passage, he writes that it's not so much difficult to understand. Rather, he writes this, and I quote, no saying or teaching could be harder. And it's not because of its complexity, but precisely because the demands it makes on us are all too clear. I want us to have a look at Mark 8:27-35.

Mark 8:27. Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, who do the people say I am? They replied, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others, one of the prophets. But what about you?

He asked. Who do you say I am? Peter answered, you are the Christ. Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.

He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. Get behind me, Satan. He said, you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. So far, our reading. In our passage, we find Jesus in the half Gentile area of the Sea of Galilee, in and out amongst the villages around Caesarea Philippi, a city on the north of the Sea of Galilee. Now this place was a pluralistic city, a city of diverse religious and philosophical heritage.

It had the Romans living there. It had the Jews living there. But up until this point in his ministry, Jesus had done and said things that, at this point, stimulated this question in his audience, in his listeners, who is this man? Jesus had performed miracles. He had driven out demons.

He had calmed storms. And people asked of him, who is this? In Caesarea Philippi, however, Jesus asked his disciples, disciples, what have you heard? What do the people say about me? And after receiving various answers, Jesus asked his disciples, but who do you say I am?

And once again, Peter, the very abrupt and easy to answer Peter, he speaks on behalf of the 12 and he says, you are the Christ. You are the long awaited Messiah. Now Jesus accepts this as Peter's answer, but he immediately, immediately begins to fill this understanding, this concept of the Messiah with unexpected meanings. The Messiah, the Son of God, the Son of Man, Jesus says, must suffer. He must suffer.

In fact, he will suffer many things. He will be rejected. He will be rejected by everyday people, but he will also be rejected by the religious and the political elite, and he must be killed. And he will rise again three days later. Interestingly enough, it says here that Jesus spoke plainly about these things.

It wasn't in parables. It wasn't in metaphors. Jesus said that this will happen. It must happen. Now Peter, as usual, doesn't handle this very well.

He yells out, never, Lord. That can never happen. Suffering and death doesn't fit into Peter's understanding of what the Messiah must do. The Messiah in his mind comes with glory. The Messiah in his mind comes with unmistakable power and authority.

And many of us, we can sympathise with Peter at this point, can't we? How could Peter know? How could Peter imagine why Jesus must die? What his resurrection would mean? So we understand.

I understand that. But, you know, of course, that that cannot happen. It would mean the end of what you're doing, Jesus. You're starting to build something here. But Jesus sees something far more sinister happening here.

He sees Satan himself at work. The great tempter is once again slithering his way into Jesus' ministry, and the same temptation that Satan gave Jesus right at the start of his ministry, remember that, at the start when he was in the desert, in the wilderness, the same temptation comes up again. You don't have to go this way. You don't have to do these things. There surely is a better way.

But Jesus, thank the Lord, stayed steadfast. When many would have stumbled into this temptation, the Son of God overcomes. Now from this moment, in all the gospel accounts, including John, I would argue, but definitely the three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, this is the turning point. At every single account, this moment is the crisis of the story. Everything falls from this.

Everything else is the resolution to this moment. This moment is the turning point in the story. Jesus, from this moment, starts heading to the cross. The gospel of Luke chapter 9, verse 51 puts it in these ominous words straight after. Verse 51, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.

Another translation is Jesus set his face towards Jerusalem. From this moment, in the north of the country in Galilee, Jesus starts heading down. He knows what he must do. He's going to the cross, friends, and he's going there for you and for me and for his disciples. But Jesus is also setting the example of what it means to be a disciple.

He has just said, if anyone will come after me, if anyone will follow me, he must deny himself, he must take up his cross, and then follow me. And this is the hard saying that F. F. Bruce is referring to. Not the fact that Jesus must die, not the fact that he calls Peter Satan, although he does deal with that. This is the hardest saying. What does it look like for us?

What does this look like for us to follow Jesus, to deny ourselves, to go after him, and take up our cross? Well, it looks like what Jesus is about to do. And so the first thing we realise about this is that to be a follower of Jesus, to be his disciple means to follow Jesus as Lord, and that it is a choice. Now before you stone me as not being a Calvinist, Jesus gives a choice, and we'll get to that soon. I don't know if you remember, however, in the early nineties, I was in New Zealand then, there was a bit of a fad that was happening where people wore bracelets on their arms with the initials WWJD.

What would Jesus do? And looking back, it makes me smile because at one point, it was so popular to have these bracelets that even non-Christians were wearing them. The question, what would Jesus do? I think still today, and many people rejected it and say it's bad, and the churches were saying it's not great and so on, but I think it is a good question to ask and to be reminded of. In certain situations, how do I react?

How should I react when someone says something negative about me? When someone really hurts me? What should I do for someone who is in need? What would Jesus do in this situation? It's not a bad question.

But there's an even greater question to remind ourselves of when we talk about following Jesus and being a disciple of His, and that is what has Jesus done? What has Jesus done? To be a disciple of Jesus, and that is why Jesus resolutely sets his face, and that is why the gospel accounts make that clear every time Jesus mentions these words. To be a disciple of Jesus is always to follow him, and you will only follow him because he's already been there. Jesus has already been to the cross.

He has already taken up his cross. He has already denied himself. So after he's died my death, after he's saved me from the wrath of God, after he's imparted on me his clean and his pure life, because he's melted my heart of ice and stone and given me a heart of flesh and life, only because he's made me aware of who God is and how much He loves me, only now can I choose to follow him? Being a disciple is only possible because of what Jesus has already done for me. You see, the WWJD bracelets were such a fad at one time, even a non-Christian could wear them and perhaps for a little while be motivated to do a nice thing.

But only a true disciple radically affected by the grace of the cross and what Jesus did for us. Only a disciple radically affected by that will continue serving Christ their entire life. Even when that rotten bracelet falls off your hand because you've worn it so long. Even when you chuck it in the bin because the fad is over and it's a fashion crime to be wearing it. Only a true disciple radically affected by what Jesus has done on the cross will follow Him their entire life.

Notice in verse 34 what Jesus says. He begins by saying, if you would follow me. That if reflects Jesus acknowledging that some will not follow him. A certain rich man, you remember, heard Jesus call to discipleship, and he walked away sad in Mark 10 because he had to give so much away to follow Jesus. He heard what was being asked of him, and he judged it too costly.

Jesus, in turn, doesn't run after him. Jesus doesn't follow him, and he doesn't change the terms of this calling. Jesus says after that, count the cost. Count the cost of being a disciple. You call me Messiah.

You call me Christ, but do you really wish to follow me? And so, friend, if you are radically saved and your heart is melted to know God and to sense Him in your life, now you have the choice. Do you follow Christ or do you follow the world? For the first time in your life, you have a choice. If you did not know Christ, if you were not justified by Him, you would have chosen the world a million times out of a million times.

Before Jesus died for you, you would have chosen the world, and now you have a real choice. And to be a disciple means to follow Jesus as your master, as your Lord. Now there's an element here that makes even the most long-time, lifelong disciple uncomfortable. Because you may say, I do believe that Jesus is my Saviour. I do believe that He has died for me on that cross.

But this is the point that Jesus is making. Friend, is Jesus your Lord? If someone invites me into their house and says, come on in, K.J., but leave Trump behind. If someone says, come on in, Nikki, but leave Hudson behind. It's impossible.

It's impossible. You can't separate the two. It's not like the top half of me is K.J. and the bottom half of me is Trump. If you're going to keep Trump out, then I can't come in at all. In the same way, if you say to yourself, Jesus, come into my life, forgive my sin, answer my prayers, do all these things for me, but you are not allowed to be my absolute master.

In other words, Jesus, Saviour, come into my life, but Lord, Master, stay out. The question is, can He be in your life at all? Because He is all Saviour, and He is all Lord. In fact, He could not be Lord if He wasn't Saviour, and He could not be Saviour if He wasn't Lord. We follow Jesus as His disciples both because He is our Saviour and because He is our Lord.

Because He saved you, He bought you with His blood, Paul says. And because He bought you with His blood, He is your good master now. So what does it look like? What does it look like for Jesus to be our Lord and for us to be His followers? How will my life be shaped by this reality?

Well, Jesus gives us this phrase that explains this idea. If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself. Now this is probably one of the most misunderstood and misapplied commands of Jesus. The word that Mark uses here means to resist. It means to reject.

It means to refuse. In short, to say no. It's the same word that Peter used in the courtyard when he denied Jesus. When he cursed and he said, I do not know that man. To deny yourself is to say, I don't know that person.

I don't know this. When we are called to deny ourselves in living our lives for Jesus, it may involve denying ourselves of things, meaning I may not have an extravagant lifestyle. I may not pursue the life of celebrities. I won't buy a third television for the house because that is just going a little bit above and beyond. It may mean that you do not have things, but that is not what Jesus is getting at here.

Neither does it mean denying your self-worth. Neither does it mean denying your feelings. Neither does it mean denying your happiness. Neither does it mean denying your intellectual thought, your brain, when it comes to faith. To deny yourself in what Jesus is saying here is to deny self-worship.

We heard it already in our call to worship this morning. In the face of God, in the face of these gods that we have, these idols that we have, to deny ourselves in worship, to deny yourself lordship. It means saying no to the god who is me. It means to reject the demand of the god who is me and what he makes on me, to refuse to obey the god who is me. It is a decisive no.

No. I do not know you as Lord anymore. No, I do not bow to you as lord of my life anymore. To deny yourself means to say no to ourselves so that we can say yes to Him. And this means that we should often and very carefully think about how we look at our lives.

We should often and very carefully look at how we live our lives. We may be far too self-centred. Let me ask you this question. Are you struggling with frustration in your life? Are you frustrated that your goals are not being met?

I am. I have been. Well, evaluate those thoughts and those feelings by asking the Lord Jesus, what are His intentions for you being in this situation? What are His intentions for you to be in this situation? Is He keeping you there?

Have you asked Him what is His insight on your situation, or are you angry because you are still at the centre of the story? That's a really hard question. Disciple, Jesus says, denies himself to follow Him. Who is Jesus? The second thing Jesus mentions here is to take up your cross. Now this phrase has also been often misunderstood and misapplied.

Even in secular Australia, I've heard this being said. If someone is going through a sickness, if someone has a bad knee or some arthritis, they say this is the cross that I have to bear. But Jesus' words mean so much more. This phrase, for the original hearers, would have been absolutely horrifying. It would have made them gasp.

It would have made them sit back. It evoked in their minds the scenes that they often saw of men and women carrying crossbeams to a place where they would be publicly executed. Someone taking up their cross only happened after they had been given the death sentence. When a criminal picked up his cross and carried it through the streets, for all intents and purposes, that man was a dead man. His life had ended.

And something of this, something of this is what Jesus is getting at. In order to follow Jesus, we must think of ourselves as already dead. There are things in our life we know that must die, things that God has to weed out in us. And we may know that, but we may not know all of that yet, and all of those things that have to come and have to die still. To carry the cross is to suffer, but that suffering is always for a good purpose, friend.

We suffer, we carry that cross by the will of God so that we can be stronger, so that we can be more faithful, so that we can see Christ more clearly, so that we can be more obedient and closer to Jesus. To carry the cross means you are already a dead man, but you're dead to things that are useless, things that do not last, things that destroy. And we are dead so that He may resurrect in us what He knows to be better. And this teaching is so hard, but it is a liberating one if you understand. Because to be in captivity, to be in bondage, to be enslaved is a terrible thing, and we might think that carrying the cross behind Jesus is just that.

It is captivity. It is oppression. The word of God says, and if you're completely honest, our own experience says that any form of oppression we have ever felt has been the result of our own gods, has been the result of our own making. Freedom comes when we lay down all those ill-gotten false crowns, when we throw them on the floor and we say no. We live as though the gods who are us have died.

Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me, Jesus says. But then we come to our last point in verse 35, and this sums up all that Jesus has been saying all along and all that He will do now as He sets His face towards the cross. Verse 35, for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel, he will save it. Lose your life for my sake, Jesus says. Lose your life for my sake.

And here is a paradox, a seeming contradiction of things of opposite meanings holding together, a paradox of what it means to be a Christian. We finally find ourselves when we lose ourselves. And we lose ourselves by finding Jesus. How can we better be at denying ourselves? How can we better be at denying the idols of me?

How do we die to the things that God doesn't want in our lives? By investing all we are and all we have into Jesus and the gospel. The message and the story and the meaning of this entire world. The direction where this world is heading. The truth of why we exist.

By investing all that we are and all that we have, we say to Him, here is my home, Lord. Here is my bank account, Lord. Here is my talent. Here are my gifts, my brain, my heart, my hands, my feet, and my mouth. Here it is, and it is all yours.

All of it. Please, God, Jesus, use it. Glorify Your name through it. Can you see why it is hard? It demands my life, my all.

Some of you may know the story of Jim Elliot, whose story is recorded in End of the Spear, written by his wife. And he was a Christian missionary who died, who was killed at the age of 29, very young, ages two, three years younger than me, alongside four other missionaries while attempting to evangelise a remote tribe in Ecuador. For the sake of the gospel, he was killed. Speared to death, in fact. Now many people, when they heard this news, thought it was a tragic waste of a young life.

But before he died, he wrote this very poignant statement which is so profound when you think of his life. He wrote this. He says, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. He is no fool. A person is not foolish for giving what he cannot keep to gain what he will never lose.

So much of what we've heard of Jesus saying, his hard saying today hits us, and it makes us very uncomfortable. And I am this morning preaching to myself. But are we really following Christ? Is He our Lord as well as our Saviour? Are we daily putting His priorities above ours or at least evaluating His priorities with ours?

Am I prepared to follow the Christ who went to the cross? And as I read this and as I think about it, a part of me says it's foolishness to abandon ourselves entirely to Jesus. Have something up the sleeve. Just rely on something. Whether that is your knowledge, whether that is a second career, whether that is a second home.

You gotta keep some balance in your life. You gotta be able to enjoy life. These words of Elliot breaks it all down with piercing perspective. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he will never lose. This is not foolishness to him.

It makes perfect sense. You've been bought by the blood of Jesus. It has been done for you, friend. You are His. There is no question about it.

Faith the size of a mustard seed has won that for you. You cannot be lost to Him. You are His for ever. But now, please follow Him as Master. Now two things I want to leave you this morning in view of this teaching, very practical things.

The first thing is not to be complacent about your faith. You must think about your faith. You must consider your faith and your walk with the Lord. You must think about it. You must make plans to make it healthy.

You must make plans that you execute on and you have to follow through. It is something that you need to do to change your life. And so do it. Don't wait. Don't be complacent about your faith.

And the second thing I want to say is you cannot do this alone. You cannot do it alone. We were never meant to be disciples alone. Jesus had 12 with him. It's why God gave us the church.

Alongside not being complacent, I want to tell you to get involved in the lives of other Christians. One of the most struggling ministries at Open House is our small group ministry. We have a handful of groups in a church of 100 members. We have, at best, 20 to 30 members involved in regular meetings. You cannot do it alone, friend.

You cannot do it alone. Get yourself to a small group. Come to church regularly. Stay involved. If you're frustrated that no one is meeting near you, then start a group.

Talk to me. Talk to Gary. Talk to someone, and then get the training and the resources that you need, and then start one yourself. And invite people that you know are not part of a group and start it. Don't be complacent about your faith and don't do it alone.

This is how we follow Christ. This is how we are able to grow and develop ourselves in following Christ. Let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus, we hear Your hard words, Your hard sayings. And, Lord, first of all, we marvel and we thank You for the fact that we are already Your disciples.

It's not true and it's not possible to be a Christian and not be a disciple. We are disciples of You. We are followers of You purely by Your grace extended to us. We are Yours, Lord, because You've saved us. But now, Lord Jesus, we may choose to follow You, or we may choose to follow something else.

Help each of us to follow You. Help each of us to lay aside our life, to deny the idol of me, to take up that cross as a dead man, already dead to all the sin, all the useless things in life, the things that we cannot take with us, to give it up for the things that we will never lose. Father, bless this church. Keep it faithful and close to You. Protect it, Lord, and love it with that sanctifying, purifying love that only You can give.

And, Lord, help us to be disciples of You. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.