Title: Into the Trenches with Jesus
Text: Mark 8:31-38
Thesis: Jesus does not invite us to watch him in the trenches of ministry, but to get in the trenches with him.
Introduction
This week I read about a mid-50’s Parker Brothers board game called “Going to Jerusalem.” In this board game your game piece was a little plastic disciple with a robe, beard, sandals, and a staff. In order to move around the board you had to look up answers in a little black New Testament provided with the game.
In this game you always started in Bethlehem and you made stops at the Mount of Olives, Bethsaida, Capernaum, the Sea of Galilee, Nazareth, and Bethany. It was possible with two rolls of the dice to go directly to the Triumphal Entry. But the game never got to the Crucifixion or the Resurrection. There were no demons or angry Pharisees. In this board game you made your way through the nice stories and the adventure was always safe and suited for a nice Christian family to play on a Sunday afternoon walk with Jesus.
Unfortunately, traveling with Jesus isn’t about being little plastic disciples who only go through the nice stories and never have to get to the crucifixion. If that is our understanding of following Christ, we need to take a good long look at our expectations, especially as we continue our journey in the Season of Lent. (Lee Eclov, Vernon Hills, IL, PreachingToday.com)
In board games and in real life, followers of Christ seem to bring along certain expectations when they decide to follow Christ.
I. Followers of Christ may bring along their own expectations.
Then Jesus began to tell them that he, the Son of Man, would suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the religious leaders. He would be killed and three days later he would rise again. As he talked about this openly with his disciples Peter took him aside and told him he shouldn’t say things like that. Mark 8:31-32
The key to their expectations is found in the discussion that immediately preceded this story.
In Mark 8:27-30 Jesus had asked his followers what people were saying about him and specifically, “Who do people say that I am?” Their reply was some say John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the other prophets.
The Jesus asked them, “Who do you say I am?” And Peter replied, “You are the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, the Son of God.”
The Jews had always believed they were the Children of God and they looked back at the reign of King David as the height of the Israel’s glory. Their dream was that one day another king of David’s stature would rise to restore the glory of their people. They believed the day would come when all of their enemies would be broken and their Messiah would lead them in power and a peace that would last forever.
Jesus Christ was their hope. And now their hope was talking about suffering, being rejected, and killed…
No one wants to hear that kind of negative talk.
Reporting on former President Bill Clinton’s appearance on Good Morning America the reporter said the former President gave President Barack Obama an “A” grade for his first month in office. Then he said that Obama needs to put on a more positive face when speaking to the American people about the economy. (Tahman Bradley, ABC: Obama Should Sound More Hopeful, February 19, 2009)
So the mood was, “Come on Jesus, give us some good news. We don’t want to hear doom and gloom. We want to hear that our leader has a plan to reverse our miserable circumstances and reclaim our rightful place as the blessed people of God. We need a good bailout plan and a stimulus package."
In 1919 several members of the Chicago White Sox conspired to throw the World Series out of bitterness toward their team owner Charles Comiskey, who was notorious for underpaying his players. So in exchange for a bribe that exceeded what they should have been paid, they agreed to throw the series. After the trial, where the famous Shoeless Joe Jackson was suspended from playing baseball, a Chicago Herald Examiner reporter wrote, “As Jackson departed from the Grand Jury room, a small boy clutched at his sleeve and tagged along after him. "Say it ain’t so, Joe," he pleaded. "Say it ain’t so." "Yes kid, I’m afraid it is," Jackson replied. "Well, I never would’ve thought it," the boy said. (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/blacksox/blacksox.html)
It was as if Peter and the other disciples were tugging at Jesus’ sleeve and saying, “Say it ain’t so. Say it ain’t so, Jesus.” Jesus was not meeting their expectations.
Before Jesus responded to Peter, the bible says he turned and looked at his disciples.
II. Jesus took exception when his followers attempted to dissuade him from doing God’s will.
Jesus turned and looked at his disciples and then he said to Peter very sternly, “Get away from me, Satan! You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” Mark 8:33
I want to explore two things in verse 33:
A. The Second Look - when Jesus turned to look at this disciples - What was that glance over his shoulder about?
Jesus no doubt saw approval in the eyes of the other disciples. They were likely affirming what Peter said.
• Was the second glance about temptation?
Was Jesus tempted to go another way? After all, Jesus had begun to attract considerable attention. His star was rising. Maybe the cross was not the best way to go…
Occasionally Bonnie and I eat at a nice restaurant where upon completion of our meal we lean back in our chairs feeling very satisfied - with our next meal securely tucked away in a take-home “doggie-bag.” Then the server magically appears and with a flourish, swooshes a dessert tray before us.
We say, “No thanks, we are finished…” And then we take a second look. Linda’s Fudge Cake with layers and layers of cake with fudge frosting; Carrot Cake with cream cheese icing; Black-Out-Cake; Lemon Cello Cream Torte; Warm Apple Crisp; and Tiramisu with Italian custard cake made with mascarpone whipped cream, lady fingers, marsala and coffee liqueur, and topped with whipped cream and ground chocolate.
That is the second look that says, “Well, maybe there is another way to go here.”
• Was the second glance about disappointment?
Not long before, he had heard his disciples acknowledge him as “the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, the Son of God.” And now they were trying to sabotage the plan that was before him. I think it was the second… I think he was feeling betrayed by the people he had hoped would be his greatest supporters.
Consequently, the strong rebuke.
B. The Stern Rebuke when Jesus called Peter “Satan” and ordered him to get away from him
Some say that the severity and sternness of Jesus’ reaction to Peter illustrates just how deeply he was offended. It can be said that this was an angry outburst and the scale of anger Jesus expressed is either a measure of the degree to which Jesus was tempted or angered by Peter’s attempt to dissuade him from what he knew he should do.
It is the outburst of the young woman who is deeply in love with a young man and committed to marrying him - to friends who do an intervention because they think she can do better. It is the outburst of a student who has carefully weighed the options and chooses to attend a certain college - to the parents who think the student should attend another institution. It is the outburst of a person who accepts a position in another state in order to provide for the family only to be dissuaded by relatives who do not want them to move. It is the outburst of a person who says, “I came here to tell you what my plans are. I did not come asking for advice. I have made the decision that is right and all I want from you, the people who are nearest and dearest to me, is that you promise to support me in this very difficult decision.”
It was not as though Jesus had arrived at this plan to give his life for the salvation of the world lightly. It was not as if the Godhead had not weighed the gravity of what was at stake and determined that out of love for mankind it would be necessary to do something very radical in order to reconcile man to God.
Jesus was aware of the plan where in, “God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” II Corinthians 5:21
So when Peter took him aside and told him he shouldn’t say things like that, Jesus said, “Oh, but I am afraid it is so… I will be rejected and killed. Now, get behind me, Satan, because you are not thinking like God thinks.”
And then Jesus seized the occasion as a teaching moment about what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
III. Being a follower of Christ is a radical decision.
Jesus said, “If anyone wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me.” (“If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake… you will find it.”) Mark 8:34-35
Jesus’ references to “selfish ambition” in verse 34 and “gaining the whole world” in verse 36 are clearly references to the expectations his followers had brought with them, that he would reestablish the glory of the nation of Israel. Jesus was not concerned about the making of a temporal earthly kingdom… Jesus was about the making of an eternal heavenly kingdom. Jesus was about a kingdom that begins with the rule of God in our hearts and lives. Jesus was about gathering followers who would follow him and not go off in pursuit of their earthly ambitions.
The modern military is a much more gracious place now than it once was. In September of 2002 Lisa Pagan was working in a department store in Camden, N.J. when she decided to enlist in the Army’s Ready Reserve program. She learned to drive a truck, got married, and had her first child while in uniform. In 2005 she left the service.
Just a week or so ago she made the news when upon being recalled for active duty she reported for duty at Fort Benning with her two small children stating that her husband traveled with his business and she had no one with whom she could leave her children. She said, “I have to bring them with me.”
It stirred something of a controversy for a military that tries to look at the whole picture which includes the wellbeing of children and the obligations and commitments enlistees make to their country. (http://www.msnbc.com/id/29441874/)
While we are not exactly comparing apples with apples in likening enlistment in the U.S. Army with making a decision to become a follower of Christ, there is one similarity and that is, it is a radical decision that involves a commitment. And the follower of Jesus cannot pick and choose the obligations with which he or she is willing to comply.
In 1985 Terry Lane, a successful cabinet maker had a growing business with some 40-employees. He found a location in northwest Jacksonville, FL where he built a new 25,000 square foot cabinet making plant.
Immediately upon opening his doors he received calls nearly every night when the burglar alarm sounded. Broken windows, vandalism, and stolen equipment were an everyday occurrence. One night a police officer asked him why he had built his plant next to “The Rock?” “The Rock” turned out to be the Cleveland Arms Apartments, the crack cocaine capital of Jacksonville. It was infested with drug dealers, prostitutes, and felons. It was so dangerous the police were hesitant to go there after dark.
Lane said that as he sat mulling over what to do, he heard the Lord say to him, “Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! If you love only those who love you, what good is that? If you are kind only to those who are kind to you and friends only with those who are friends to you, what good is that?”
From that moment Lane was obsessed with how to connect with the neighborhood. He bought basketballs, wrote, “Jesus Love you,” on them and tossed them over the fence into the complex. When he found a bunch of children playing under a tractor trailer rig in the parking lot, he invited them into the plant and opened the soda machine and gave them all a cold can of pop.
Today Lane directs a community center called Metro Kids Konnection for the children and youth of Cleveland Arms where he and his staff care for children physically, academically, and spiritually. (Terry Lane (as told to Shirley Shaw),”Look at the Children!” Today’s Christian, September/October 2007; Brian Lowry, Associate Editor, PreachingToday.com)
The follower of Christ cannot read through the Sermon on the Mount electing to obey some of Christ’s teachings and ignoring others.
That is why we scrub off the graffiti, replace broken windows, strip and rewax the gym floor, pick up the trash, operate Kids Klub, provide VBS, sponsor the Halloween Alternative and Easter Egg Hunt. That’s why we do the Back Pack Ministry, and fill Easter Food Baskets for Secrest families. That’s why we don’t sell our property, get our four million dollars and relocate in a nice quiet north suburban neighborhood.
Taking up one’s cross and following Jesus is about individual and community decisions to live in obedience to Christ. Failure to do so is dereliction of duty. Failure to do so is failure to report for duty.
Deciding to follow Christ is not only a radical decision; it is a radical decision with eternal consequences.
IV. A decision to become a follower of Christ has eternal consequences.
“And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?” Mark 8:36
I came across an interesting bit of trivia this week that I assume has some scientific basis. In the movie 21 Grams it is asserted that at the moment the human body dies it immediately loses 21 grams of weight. 21 grams is the weight equivalent to 5 nickels or a hummingbird. 21 grams is the weight attributed to the human soul.
I am not so good at weight conversions but I understand that 21 grams is roughly equal to ¾ of an ounce.
Jesus essentially says, “If you gain the whole world and lose your 21 gram / ¾ ounce soul, you have made a foolish trade. Nothing, including everything in this world is not as precious as a ¾ ounce soul.
According to Seattle Times Ask the Expert Columnist Darrell Hay, the average 1,600 square foot home weighs 345,000 pounds (including the footings and garage floor). That means the average 1,600 square foot home weights 172.5 tons. (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/asktheexpert/2002122968_homehay19.html)
That means if you manage to acquire a 172.5 ton home in this life but lose your ¾ ounce soul you have made a poor eternal investment.
The new FDIC regulation now insures $250,000 deposits in individual banks. That means if you manage to save $250,000 in ten banks, which is $2,500,000, and fail to save your ¾ ounce soul, you have invested poorly for eternity.
Homes and money are big in our culture and the current efforts on the part of the United States government to bail out failed financial institutions, salvage home mortgages, and stimulate the economy are indications of that fact.
Most of us have felt a bit of alarm about the implications of a failed economy on our own economic well-being… but Jesus reminds us that a radical commitment to the security of the eternal ¾ ounce soul is more pressing.
Conclusion
In his poem, We Dare to Correct Jesus? B.D. Prewer argues:
Jesus, your teaching seems okay when taken in small doses,
But sometimes you’re fanatical and get right up our noses.
My life’s my own to spend at will in ways each mood expresses,
I’m not some mad religious type that goes to wild excesses.
I am to be most reasonable not looking for excuses,
Belief is okay in its place and the church has its uses.
So no more of this gloomy talk of suffering and losses.
You cannot really mean that stuff about us carrying crosses! (B.D. Prewer 2002)
A construction observation deck is a platform built so onlookers can safely overlook or observe a construction project. In downtown construction projects plywood walls may be built along a sidewalk next to the building site. Sometimes they cut round, face-sized holes in the wall so passers-by can stop and peek in on the progress. The action is always on the other side of the wall or above or below the observation deck. Jesus is the one in the trenches and he when he looks over his shoulder and sees us watching, he calls out to us and beckons us to get into the trenches of living the Christian life with him.
So we say, “Oh, but you can’t really mean all that stuff about us carrying crosses!"
But Jesus says, “Oh but I do! Come, climb down from the safety of the observation deck, get in the trenches with me, and follow me to the cross and beyond.”
