Dakota Community Church
March 08, 2009 am
Keep This in Mind
Mark 8:31-38
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. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
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."
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. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 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."
“You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
How often do you have in mind the things of God?
How hard is it not to be focused on the things of man?
Do you ever feel like there is a conflict between serving God as you would like and the responsibilities of marriage and family?
1 Corinthians 7:32-34
I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— and his interests are divided.
This why we need to have men’s retreats!!
John 15:18-19
"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
If the world hates those who do not belong to it; why do we so desperately want worldly acceptance?
Colossians 3:1-3
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
1. Jesus began to teach truth they didn’t like.
"Then he began to teach them" (v. 31a). This is hardly the beginning of Jesus’ teaching ministry –– he has already taught the disciples many things –– but Mark signals here that Jesus is moving in a new direction. From now on, he will teach his disciples the necessity of his suffering and death and the implications for their own discipleship.
“Must suffer” – this is a necessity to fulfill the redemption of man.
"and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes" (v. 31c). Elders, chief priests, and scribes are the three groups that comprise the Sanhedrin, the ruling body over religious life in Israel. Elders are lay members. Chief priests are the high priest and his predecessors. Scribes are scholars in Torah law. "It is not humanity at its worst that will crucify the Son of God but humanity at its absolute best. The death of Jesus will not be the result of a momentary lapse or aberration of human nature, but rather the result of careful deliberations from respected religious leaders who will justify their actions by the highest standards of law and morality, even believing them to render service to God”
"He spoke plainly about this" (v. 32a). Most of Jesus’ teaching is cloaked in parables, which both reveal and veil the truth –– and which Jesus has to explain to the disciples. Here Jesus pulls aside the veil and speaks plainly and openly.
John 6:12-15
When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
The zealots were a group of what we might think of as terrorists who practice guerilla warfare launching attacks on the Roman occupiers in an attempt to regain independence. Many of these groups believed the Messiah would bring about their victory.
When Jesus starts to talk about rejection and death it seems completely wrong to them!
They know who He is!
Mark 8:27-30
Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?"
They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets."
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Peter answered, "You are the Christ."
Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
They know who He is but when He starts to teach something that goes against their expectations of Him Peter is bold enough to rebuke God!
They held so strongly to the commonly held erroneous religious viewpoint that they felt GOD needed to be corrected by them.
Do you see any possible connection between this and the feel good religion of our day?
2 Timothy 4:2-4
Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
Teachings that suit their own desires; that tell them what they want to believe, hmmmm… Just a thought, just a thought…
So Jesus begins to teach unpopular truth and Peter rebukes him for it. This leads to a verbal exchange in which Jesus makes a shocking statement.
Mark 8:33
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."
2. Jesus identifies the nature of humanistic reasoning.
I am not espousing a “Big Devil” theology where Satan is behind every thought and hiding in every human tendency; however the fall of man is at the root of all reasoning that contradicts God. We rebel in our thoughts, we sin because we believed in the garden, and often still believe today the liar instead of the Lord who loved and created us.
"Get behind me, Satan!" Jesus’ rebuke calls Peter to get behind him, which is where a disciple belongs –– behind the master –– following the master’s lead.
Jesus’ command to "Get behind me" is an order to Peter to resume his proper position behind Jesus.
"Get behind me, Satan!" also directs Peter to stop tempting Jesus with a Satanic temptation. The word Satan transliterates a Hebrew word for adversary but, in this Gospel, Mark uses the word for the tempter –– the one who personifies evil. When Peter rebukes Jesus, he becomes more than Jesus’ adversary –– he becomes the spokesman for the devil, and threatens to derail Jesus’ ministry. "This is the temptation story in Mark. Mark tells us about Jesus going out into the wilderness but doesn’t go into detail…. Mark tells the story this way so that we will recognize that the enduring temptation of Jesus’ life was to resist the cross, to use his charisma to muster enough political clout to become what the crowds wanted him to become".
"You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men" (v. 33c). But "surely Peter would object that the opposite is the case! Peter has been thinking divine things, things about Jesus’ power and his authority and even about his status as Messiah…. By the standards of wisdom that belong to human beings, the cross appears to be foolishness, but by God’s standards it is wisdom".
Keep this in mind
This message we preach, and by “we” I mean all of us as believers, not just the few who stand behind pulpits on Sunday mornings. This message we preach is foolish by this worlds standards.
1 Corinthians 1:17-19
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
This gospel message is foolish to the world, follow this crucified Israeli?
God became a man?
God will judge mankind and find everyone guilty?
God became a man and paid the penalty assigned to that verdict for all who will believe?
Salvation is by faith in Christ alone?
What about other religions?
What about good behavior?
Does this message make you want to pull God aside and rebuke Him?
3. Jesus continues His unpopular message.
Keep this in mind
Mark 8:34-38
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. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 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."
"If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me" (v. 34b). Jesus outlines a threefold requirement for those who would follow him. He requires that we (1) deny ourselves (2) take up our cross and (3) follow him.
The call to self-denial is "the voluntary taking up of the cross as sharing the suffering involved in discipleship and Christian mission".
The self-denial to which Jesus calls us "is not the denial of something to the self, but the denial of the self itself".
Are you practicing self-denial for lent? - This is not that!
We cannot fulfill Jesus’ requirement by simply denying ourselves a particular food or pleasure.
Nor is "the metaphor of taking up one’s own cross ...to be domesticated into an exhortation merely to endure hardship patiently".
What is your cross to bear? - This is not that!
Instead, Jesus calls us to make the central focus of life Jesus rather than self –– to no longer live for self-gratification but to live for Christ –– to lose ourselves (and if need be our lives) in Christ’s service. This suggests that those Christians whose primary concern is their own personal salvation are in grave danger. Christ calls us to lift our eyes beyond the "I". We do not have the power to save ourselves, but only to lose ourselves.
Keep this in mind
Only Christ can save us, but he warns that he will not save us if we are busy saving ourselves.
What are you doing to make your salvation sure?
The only correct answer is nothing.
Biblical exegesis assisted by Pastor Dick Donovan – www.Lectionary.org
PowerPoint available (Free of charge) on request dcormie@mts.net
