Title: Who do you say that I am?
Text: Mark 8:27-38
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 then wants to know, “but who do you 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 this all climaxes with Peter speaking for the disciples when he says,
“You are the Christ.”
Following this confession by Peter of who Jesus is we see Jesus 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 rebuke of 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.
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 many, though, this is not a cross they 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 … we all would like to take a pass.
It is a common battle that pastors have to face too by remaining faithful to their call ... and this can be unpopular at times. It is hard, and not received well, to say to someone that which they don’t want to hear. You know it and I know it. We all want affirmation, to affirm that which we want to do.
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
To lose your life in Christ is to save it!
Scott Hamilton’s tells of a story of trial when his brain tumor returned in 2016.
[Hamilton said he would never forget what his wife, Tracie, said to him during a pep talk: “Joy is not the lack of suffering or fear, it’s how you choose to handle the suffering and fear.”
It finally hit him that it was true.
For many, though, this is not a cross they 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 … we all would like to take a pass.
It is a common battle that pastors have to face too by remaining faithful to their call ... and this can be unpopular at times. It is hard, and not received well, to say to someone that which they don’t want to hear. You know it and I know it. We all want affirmation, to affirm that which we want to do.
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
To lose your life in Christ is to save it!
Scott Hamilton’s tells of a story of trial when his brain tumor returned in 2016.
[Hamilton said he would never forget what his wife, Tracie, said to him during a pep talk: “Joy is not the lack of suffering or fear, it’s how you choose to handle the suffering and fear.”
It finally hit him that it was true.
So, when the tumor returned, Hamilton decided to react differently. There was no “why me?” anymore.
“I figured I needed to go through this with joy,” he said. “It was just a muscle I needed to build, like the muscles I built skating.”
The tumor was still relatively small, so Hamilton didn’t need to rush into surgery. He tried to tackle the problem differently: He stopped eating sugar, red meat and other things he considered bad for his body. He started eating organic food and drinking only coffee or water with high pH.
He hit the treadmill and the weight room.
When Hamilton went back to the doctor several months later, he learned that his tumor hadn’t grown. During his next checkup, he heard even better news.
The tumor had shrunk, by about half. Hamilton choked up when describing what happened next.
“Have you ever had one shrink without treatment before?” he said he asked the doctor. “And the doctor said, ‘Nope, never.’”
Hamilton asked, “So how can you explain this?”
The doctor said, “God.”]
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/sports/olympics/figure-skating-nbc-scott-hamilton-.html
Life does not always give us the answers we want to hear, but in Christ we are always in the hands of our beloved savior.
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
The tumor was still relatively small, so Hamilton didn’t need to rush into surgery. He tried to tackle the problem differently: He stopped eating sugar, red meat and other things he considered bad for his body. He started eating organic food and drinking only coffee or water with high pH.
He hit the treadmill and the weight room.
When Hamilton went back to the doctor several months later, he learned that his tumor hadn’t grown. During his next checkup, he heard even better news.
The tumor had shrunk, by about half. Hamilton choked up when describing what happened next.
“Have you ever had one shrink without treatment before?” he said he asked the doctor. “And the doctor said, ‘Nope, never.’”
Hamilton asked, “So how can you explain this?”
The doctor said, “God.”]
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/sports/olympics/figure-skating-nbc-scott-hamilton-.html
Life does not always give us the answers we want to hear, but in Christ we are always in the hands of our beloved savior.
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
