Text: Mark 8:27-38
Facebook live: Who do you say that I am?
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.
Jesus asks the disciples:
“Who do people say that I am?”
And we know that the disciples say that the people think that Jesus is “John the Baptist; [some] say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”
And then Jesus asks, “but who do you say that I am?”
And Peter, speaking for the disciples says,
“You are the Christ.”
Following this confession by Peter of who Jesus is we see our Lord begin to teach them everything he is now prepared to do.
Jesus says that the Son of Man:
Must suffer
Must be rejected – by the elders, chief priests and scribes
Must be killed
And after three days must rise from the dead
As the one who made confession for the disciples, Peter, didn't really understand Jesus and his work for the salvation of the world at this time as his words to Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 16:22, makes clear:
“Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”
This is met by Jesus’ full rebuke, which is focused not on Peter the man – just as his confession of faith was not revealed by flesh and blood but revealed by the Father in Heaven … so too Jesus’ rebuke is not focused on Peter the man - but on Satan - the deceiver and the father of lies.
“Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
To be opposed to Christ … is to be in harmony with the devil.
Who do you say Jesus is?
To lose your life in Christ is to save it.
Jesus says …
“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.
For some there is a denying of self in the trials of life.
When Pastor William Sangster was told he was dying of progressive muscular atrophy, he made four resolutions and faithfully kept them:
1. I will never complain;
2. I will keep the home bright;
3. I will count my blessings;
4. I will try to turn it to gain.
W. Wiersbe, Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, p. 215.
If we compare what Christ faced in his walk to the cross to these four resolutions, we see that:
1. The Christ must suffer – but he never complained.
2. He was rejected by the many, but remained the light of the world.
3. He gave his life in death - for that we are all blessed.
4. He was raised from the dead - so that his sacrifice is our gain.
To lose your life in Christ is to save it!
[Harry Gallagher story]
Many years ago, there was a newsman in Detroit. His name was Harry Gallagher. He was for a time the anchor man with Joe Glover on TV2. This was around 1979. A former Marine, he seemed to me to be a basic - just the facts - kind of guy.
At some point Robbie Timmons returned to the anchor desk with Joe Glover and Harry went back to reporting and special features. And I didn’t think much about him.
As Monica and I prepared for our wedding and we talked to our Priest Father Cronk, I learned that Harry was a member of Our Lady of the Lakes as we were and was fighting cancer. Father Cronk spoke to me of Harry’s faith and strength in the midst of trial. He passed in June of 1982 three months before our wedding and to this day I remember his stoic focus as his co-workers commented – “… he was a strong individual, never let on that there was anything wrong and would never complain.”
https://freep.newspapers.com/clip/30152050/detroit-free-press/
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
For most of us, this is not a cross we wish to bear. We hope to avoid trial and conflict. Following Jesus as example is good,
but suffering or being hated and despised on account of Christ … I think we all would like to take a pass on that one.
Jesus had given the disciples a summary of His work and he now gives a summary of the demands of true discipleship.
He does not show here how one becomes a disciple - through the working of the Holy Spirit by faith in Christ and by the washing of regeneration in the word through baptism;
But here, Jesus tells us how we show the evidence of this gift of faith in Christ by denying self; taking up the cross we must bear; and by following him.
It can be summarized as this.
“If anyone wants to save his life, have the full enjoyment of this life and all that it may offer in this world, he will lose the true life in Christ the Savior.
But if anyone will regard this life, the world and all it has to offer, as nothing, give it all up for the sake of Jesus and His Gospel, he will find the true life, the true joy, and [true] happiness in Him.”
Popular commentary of the Bible P.E. Kretzmann NT Vol. 1 pg. 209
As our epistle in Romans today comforts us all with the good news:
5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God
As we faithfully serve as God has called us and shine the light of Christ in our vocations we lose our life for Christ’s sake and the gospel and ultimately save our lives for eternity.
May our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, who has redeemed you, and called you through the power of the Holy Spirit to faith, complete this blessed good work in you now and forever!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen.
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.
Jesus asks the disciples:
“Who do people say that I am?”
And we know that the disciples say that the people think that Jesus is “John the Baptist; [some] say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”
And then Jesus asks, “but who do you say that I am?”
And Peter, speaking for the disciples says,
“You are the Christ.”
Following this confession by Peter of who Jesus is we see our Lord begin to teach them everything he is now prepared to do.
Jesus says that the Son of Man:
Must suffer
Must be rejected – by the elders, chief priests and scribes
Must be killed
And after three days must rise from the dead
As the one who made confession for the disciples, Peter, didn't really understand Jesus and his work for the salvation of the world at this time as his words to Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 16:22, makes clear:
“Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”
This is met by Jesus’ full rebuke, which is focused not on Peter the man – just as his confession of faith was not revealed by flesh and blood but revealed by the Father in Heaven … so too Jesus’ rebuke is not focused on Peter the man - but on Satan - the deceiver and the father of lies.
“Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
To be opposed to Christ … is to be in harmony with the devil.
Who do you say Jesus is?
To lose your life in Christ is to save it.
Jesus says …
“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.
For some there is a denying of self in the trials of life.
When Pastor William Sangster was told he was dying of progressive muscular atrophy, he made four resolutions and faithfully kept them:
1. I will never complain;
2. I will keep the home bright;
3. I will count my blessings;
4. I will try to turn it to gain.
W. Wiersbe, Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, p. 215.
If we compare what Christ faced in his walk to the cross to these four resolutions, we see that:
1. The Christ must suffer – but he never complained.
2. He was rejected by the many, but remained the light of the world.
3. He gave his life in death - for that we are all blessed.
4. He was raised from the dead - so that his sacrifice is our gain.
To lose your life in Christ is to save it!
[Harry Gallagher story]
Many years ago, there was a newsman in Detroit. His name was Harry Gallagher. He was for a time the anchor man with Joe Glover on TV2. This was around 1979. A former Marine, he seemed to me to be a basic - just the facts - kind of guy.
At some point Robbie Timmons returned to the anchor desk with Joe Glover and Harry went back to reporting and special features. And I didn’t think much about him.
As Monica and I prepared for our wedding and we talked to our Priest Father Cronk, I learned that Harry was a member of Our Lady of the Lakes as we were and was fighting cancer. Father Cronk spoke to me of Harry’s faith and strength in the midst of trial. He passed in June of 1982 three months before our wedding and to this day I remember his stoic focus as his co-workers commented – “… he was a strong individual, never let on that there was anything wrong and would never complain.”
https://freep.newspapers.com/clip/30152050/detroit-free-press/
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
For most of us, this is not a cross we wish to bear. We hope to avoid trial and conflict. Following Jesus as example is good,
but suffering or being hated and despised on account of Christ … I think we all would like to take a pass on that one.
Jesus had given the disciples a summary of His work and he now gives a summary of the demands of true discipleship.
He does not show here how one becomes a disciple - through the working of the Holy Spirit by faith in Christ and by the washing of regeneration in the word through baptism;
But here, Jesus tells us how we show the evidence of this gift of faith in Christ by denying self; taking up the cross we must bear; and by following him.
It can be summarized as this.
“If anyone wants to save his life, have the full enjoyment of this life and all that it may offer in this world, he will lose the true life in Christ the Savior.
But if anyone will regard this life, the world and all it has to offer, as nothing, give it all up for the sake of Jesus and His Gospel, he will find the true life, the true joy, and [true] happiness in Him.”
Popular commentary of the Bible P.E. Kretzmann NT Vol. 1 pg. 209
As our epistle in Romans today comforts us all with the good news:
5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God
As we faithfully serve as God has called us and shine the light of Christ in our vocations we lose our life for Christ’s sake and the gospel and ultimately save our lives for eternity.
May our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, who has redeemed you, and called you through the power of the Holy Spirit to faith, complete this blessed good work in you now and forever!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen.
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