Mushrooms or Maple Trees:
Spiritual Growth as God Intended
Sermon #2
Sermon Objective: Being a Christ-follower requires one to surrender themselves to God’s will for their lives.
INTRO
Last week we began a Bible series called Mushrooms and Maple Trees. Mushrooms sprout up overnight and then wither away in a matter of days. Maple trees grow gradually while learning to withstand the forces of nature that threaten their existence. They result in a majestic fruit bearing entity that lasts for generations.
So it is with people who follow Christ too. Unfortunately some, wither away very rapidly; but others grow deep and strong and produce the fruit of life that God designed for them.
In chapter 8 and 9 of Mark we are discovering eight elements of a Christ-follower that produce this depth and substance to life.
Just as Jesus was preparing and grooming the first disciples to be Maple Trees so we will discover that as we apply the lessons to our lives we too will grow in kind. Maple Tree style followers live lives that please God.
Read Mark 8:27 – 38
Last week we discovered that the first component of a life that pleases God is:
1. A LIFE THAT FOLLOWS HIM PERSONALLY (8:27-33)
We cannot follow just any image of Jesus … the journey begins with:
(i) an accurate understand of Jesus as the suffering servant who died for our sins and
(ii) our willingness to accept Him as Savior
To begin anywhere else circumvents the process. It nullifies all other attempts to please God because we are still at odds with Him … we are not yet His children apart from a born-again experience.
The true disciple will follow Jesus because He is the Son of God.
And as we will see today … true disciples will follow Jesus regardless of what this life offers.
A life that pleases God is:
2. A LIFE THAT FOLLOWS HIM IN FULL SURRENDER (8:34-38)
Mk 8:34 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.
Mk 8:35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Mk 8:36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
Mk 8:37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
Mk 8:38 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.”
Billy Graham said, “Salvation is free; discipleship will cost everything we have.” As we carry on our sermon series from Mark 8 & 9 called “Mushrooms or Maple Trees” it will serve us well to keep that thought in mind.
It is worth noting that Jesus addresses the crowd as well as his disciples. The requirements for following him are not just for the Twelve but for all Christians … to you.
As I see it, LIVING A LIFE IN FULL SURRENDER has three components. Let us focus our attention now on these simple but very crucial words of Jesus, whereby he gives us the process of discipleship.
#1. DENY YOURSELF –Wave Your Sovereignty
By denial of self, Jesus does not mean to deny oneself something like some do during Lent (i.e. “I won’t eat chocolate for forty days.”) He means to renounce yourself—to cease to make self the object of one’s life and actions.
This involves a fundamental reorientation of the principle of life. God, not self, must be at the center of life. In fact, verse 35 suggests that Jesus becomes the object of your affection!
The word "deny" means to "disavow any connection with something; to state that you are not connected in any way with whatever is in view."
Interestingly enough, it is the very word used to refer to Peter’s denial of Jesus a little later on. Peter denied that he had any connection with Jesus
• Denying self means that we set aside our right to ourselves, our right to run our own lives.
• We are to deny that we own ourselves.
• We surender the final right to decide what we are going to do, or where we are going to go.
• It strikes right at the heart of your very existence, because the one thing that we, as human beings, value and covet and protect above anything else is the right to make ultimate decisions for ourselves.
o Deny our self-trust
o Deny our self-sufficiency
o Deny our feeling that we are able to handle life by ourselves and run everything to suit ourselves.
The writers of the Bible show us what this looks like in they way the lived and died. Their words must be on our lips too:
o Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
o 1 Corinthians 6:19b-20a "You are not your own; you are bought with a price"
#1. DENY YOURSELF –Wave Your Sovereignty
#2: TAKE UP YOUR CROSS – Welcome the Shame
Many people think that a cross is any kind of trial or hardship you are going through, or any kind of handicap you must endure … "That’s my cross,” we say. But that is not what Jesus means.
The cross stands for more than an irritation. It stands for shame and humiliation. Ultimately it stands for death … martyrdom … giving up even life itself for the sake of Jesus. Now you can see why it is essential that you have denied yourself the right to make decisions for your life’s outcome. If anything other than the Lordship of Christ is governing us we will choose comfort.
The cross of shame is:
1. a voluntary choice
2. a choice of obedience
3. a choice that anticipates future reward not immediate gratification
#1. DENY YOURSELF –Wave Your Sovereignty
#2: TAKE UP YOUR CROSS – Welcome the Shame
#3: FOLLOW ME – Walk in His Steps
John tells us that at this point many turned and went back, and followed him no more, because these words seemed to them harsh and demanding.
Friends, they are harsh and demanding. And without the hope of eternity they would be unrealistic. Without the promise of eternity we would be a fool to heed them. The Bible says If the dead are not raised, LET US EAT AND DRINK, FOR TOMORROW WE DIE. (1 Corinthians 15:32 KJV).
Jesus did not come to call us to ultimate barrenness, weakness, darkness, and death. He called us to life, to richness, to enjoyment, to fulfillment. But he has told us that the way there is characterized by self-denial. Discipleship ends in life, not in death. It ends in fulfillment and satisfaction. But the only way that we can find it is by means of a cross.
WRAP-UP
Mk 8:34 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.
Mk 8:35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Mk 8:36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
Mk 8:37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
Mk 8:38 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.”
#1. Wave Your Sovereignty
#2: Welcome the Shame
#3: Walk in His Steps
In the original Greek, these steps are stated in the present, continuous tense. That means,
o Keep on denying yourself
o Keep on taking up your cross
o Keep on following me
This is not the decision of a moment, but a program for a lifetime.
Jesus challenges us regarding:
• Our Present Motives (Self or the Mind of Christ)
• Our Future Plans (Security or Loss of Life)
• Our Eternal Values (Earthly Pleasure or Gaining the Soul)
• Our Ultimate Goal (Status or Glorifying God)
He died on January 28, 814. Many years later, archaeologists discovered the tomb of Charlemagne, the great king and emperor of France. When the tomb was opened, after being closed for centuries, the men who entered it found something amazing. They found certain treasures of the kingdom, of course. But in the center of the large vault was a marble throne, and seated on the throne was the skeleton of Charlemagne, with an open Bible on his lap, and a bony finger pointing at Matthew 18:26, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" What a tremendous lesson from history to those of us who follow!
Last week we saw that a proper understanding of Jesus was to see Jesus as taking The way of the cross.
This week we see that a proper understanding of ourselves is to see ourselves as taking The way of the cross.
Remember, “Salvation is free; discipleship will cost everything we have.”
He who has ears to hear
Let him hear.
