Finders Weepers Losers Keepers - Mark 8:34-38 Series

Excerpt #1: You are a radical, fundamentalist, extremist Christian or you are a non-Christian.

Excerpt #2: People title this passage, "The Cost of Discipleship," but it could just as well be called, "The Cost of Non-Discipleship." Jesus wants us to compare costs.

Excerpt #3: People Have you noticed how unapologetic Jesus is when he makes demands like this? In ch.10 Peter’s going to tell Jesus, “We have left everything to follow you,” which was true. How does Jesus respond? Did he say, “Oh, I’m so sorry you had to suffer such a loss. Are you okay?”

No, basically he said, “You’re welcome.” He told them, “You’re going to receive 100 times what you gave up now, and eternal life later. You haven’t lost anything.” There are no martyrs in the kingdom of God.

Mark 8:27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?" 28 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." 29 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ." 30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

31 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.

32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 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."

34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would follow me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his life? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his life?

38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Introduction: The Things of Men

We left off last time with Jesus and the disciples as far from Jerusalem as they ever travelled—way up north in Caesarea Philippi. And the disciples standing in what must have been stunned silence. Jesus had just call Peter Satan. The jihadist Muslims routinely refer to America as the Great Satan. I don’t worry too much about that because I don’t care about their opinion. But what if Jesus Christ called you the great Satan? What sin did Peter commit that was so bad that it provoked Jesus to call him Satan? It was a sin that most people wouldn’t think is that big a deal. Peter was guilty of having in mind the things of men.

33 … "Get behind me, Satan!" Jesus said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Most people, when they think of the really bad sins—the ones you’d have to be satanic to commit or that would make you deserve eternal torment in hell, they think of things like mass murder or rape or something like that. But here we see all it takes for you to be satanic in Jesus’ eyes is for you to do the most natural thing in the world—just have in mind the things of men. Having in mind the things of men seems innocuous. It’s like natural gas—a colorless, odorless element that is lethal.

So what about you? Do you have in mind the things of men?

We are right at the climactic center point of the book of Mark where Peter gets an A+ on Mark part 1 (Who is Jesus?). Peter says, “You are the Christ.” But then he gets an F on part 2 of Mark (What did Jesus come to do?). In fact, I think we could call it an F minus because Jesus gives him the correct answer up front and Peter still gets it wrong. How can you still get it dead wrong when the teacher tells you the right answer? It was because he couldn’t accept the right answer because he had in mind the things of men. So what are the things of men? And what does it mean to have them in mind?

Attitude

I’ll start with the second question. The phrase translated to have in mind is phroneo, which is a word that refers to attitude. It’s the same word in Philippians 2:5 where it says: Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. So having in mind the things of men means to have the attitude of men. Attitude involves not only how you think but also how you feel about those thoughts and your whole perspective and way of looking at things. It’s the glasses you put on that color everything you see. That’s what attitude is. And Jesus says if you have the natural, human attitude about life, you might as well be the devil.