Mark 8:31-38
“Sometimes We Think WE Know Better Than The Lord”
by: Rev. Ken Sauer, Pastor of Grace UMC, Soddy Daisy, TN www.graceumcsd.org
History is filled with examples of women and men who, by throwing away their lives, gained life eternal.
Late in the 4th Century there was a certain monk who had made up his mind to leave the world and to live all alone in prayer, meditation and fasting—so that he could save his soul.
That was his only goal.
But in doing this, he felt like there was something wrong or missing from his life.
One day as he rose from his knees in prayer, it suddenly dawned on him that his life was based on a selfish, not a selfless love for God.
Have you ever felt that way?
Have you ever wondered if your faith is here to serve your needs and interests only, or to serve the greater good of all people?
Anyhow, this monk came to the conclusion that if he was going to really serve God he must serve others.
So he said “good-bye” to the desert and headed for the greatest city in the world—Rome.
There was still an arena in Rome; there were still the gladiator games—Christians were no longer being thrown to the lions, but instead, they had to fight and kill one another…and the crowds loved it!!!
It was like NASCAR or March Madness in college basketball for them.
This monk found his way to the arena.
There were 80,000 people there.
The chariot races were ending; and there was an excitement in the crowd as the Christians prepared to fight.
The fight was on and this monk was appalled!
People for which Christ died were killing each other to amuse the crowd.
So he leapt over the barrier and got between the two fighters…
…and for a moment…
…they stopped fighting.
“Let the games go on,” roared the crowd.
They pushed the monk aside, and again he got between the fighters.
The crowd hurled stones at the monk, and they urged the fighters to kill him and get him out of the way.
Then the commander of the games gave an order…
…the gladiator’s sword rose and flashed…
…and the monk lay dead!
Immediately the crowd was silent.
They were suddenly shocked that a holy man should have been killed in such a way.
We might say, they became “convicted.”
Suddenly there was a mass realization of what this killing really was.
The games ended abruptly that day—and they never began again.
That was the end of it.
The monk, by dying, had ended them.
One author writes, “His death was more useful to [humankind] than his life.”
By losing his life, he had done more than he could ever have done by living it out in lonely devotion to the Lord in the desert.
God gave all of us life to spend and not to keep.
If we live, always thinking of our own gain, ease, comfort and security…
…if our single aim is to make life as long and as trouble-free as possible…
…if we make no effort except for ourselves…
…we are losing life all the time…
…and not in a good way.
But if we live our lives for others…
…if we forget wealth and comfort in order to do something great for Jesus and for others…
…we are winning life all the time!!!
In our Gospel Lesson for this morning, Jesus makes His first prediction of His up-coming trial and death.
And when Peter hears this, he thinks Jesus is insane and needs to have an exorcism.
We are told that Peter took Christ aside and “began to rebuke him.”
The verb for “rebuke” is the same word used to silence demons.
Only a few verses back in this chapter Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ.
Apparently, Peter had a definition of the Messiah that was different from Jesus’ own definition.
Peter wanted Jesus to be a sort of a “Jewish Caesar.”
This kind of Messiah would call his disciples to position, power, privilege, power and prestige.
Yet Jesus is talking about suffering and dying!
And because of this, Peter tries to set Jesus straight.
But Jesus will have none of it.
Jesus comes back at Peter with the same intensity that Peter had aimed at Jesus.
“Get behind me Satan!’ he said. ‘You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
Confronted with the necessity of suffering, most of us react exactly like Peter.
In a ‘pain-killer’ culture, its hard for us to understand suffering—even for the right reasons.
But Jesus gives us the challenge to think like God thinks, not as we human beings normally think.
Now, don’t get me wrong.
Jesus’ healing miracles and Jesus’ compassion for the crowds at the feeding miracles make it clear that God does not delight in human suffering.
The disciples were sent out to heal as well as to preach the gospel.
But the danger lies in thinking that suffering and self-sacrifice are always to be avoided.
We Christians often think that if we just pray enough God will remove all trials from our lives.
A family with a drug-addicted teenager might be pressured to “pray harder and the kid will come around,” rather than for the strength to care for their child and to find the right treatment and support.
Prayer is very important in healing, but prayer is an opening up of ourselves to what God wills, not an exercise in forcing God to do our will.
And that is what discipleship or following Christ is about as well!
A disciple must take up the Cross; must be willing to lose his or her life; and must not deny Jesus when confronted by co-workers, family, friends.
The picture of the condemned criminal carrying the Cross to the place of execution should form within us a shocking requirement for discipleship.
Our human standards can’t come close to explaining the necessity of this kind of commitment to the will of God!
Commitment to Jesus brings persecution, because this world is contrary to God!
We can’t expect the Gospel of Jesus Christ to match our own desires and the demands of our world.
The gospel was not formulated for the convenience and comfort of those of us who preach it to others.
We Christians are called to deny self.
We don’t have to invent some fancy form of persecution complex in order to live this kind of life.
The Gospel itself, calls us to deny self in order to be more like Christ!!!
Being a follower of Christ isn’t a prestigious job.
Our physical lives are rarely in danger, but our own desires and whims are!
Fred Craddock points this out in this way:
“We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking a $1,000 bill and laying it down on the table—‘Here’s my life, Lord, I’m giving it all!”
The reality for most of us is that God sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $1,000 for quarters.
We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there.
Giving our life to Christ isn’t glamorous.
It’s done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time!
God gave us life to spend, not to keep.
A rock song by the Band Def Leppard screams out: “It’s better to burn out than fade away!”
What would have happened to life if everyone had just wished for nothing but to comfortably stay at home, and there had been no such thing as an explorer or a pioneer?
What would happen if every mother refused to risk bearing a child?
What would happen if everyone spent all they had on themselves?
The very essence of the Christian life found in risking life and spending life, not in saving it and hoarding it.
Jesus says, “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and the gospel will save it.
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”
It is better any day to burn out than to rust out!
Christ’s followers are called to literally “say No to self.”
We must say “No” to self and “Yes” to Christ!
We must say “No” to self-seeking and self-will.
We must be able to say with Paul, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.”
Can you say this?
As Christ’s followers, we no longer follow our own will, but the will of Christ…
…and in doing this we find perfect freedom!!!
Jesus “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.”
If each day we could go out of our house with only one of these sentences locked in our hearts and dominating our lives, it would be far more than enough to be a Christ follower!!!
Jesus never tried to lure anyone to Him by the offer of an easy way; he sought to challenge us to waken the boldness and moral courage in our souls, by the offer of a way that could not be any higher nor any harder!!!
Jesus came not to make life easy but to challenge us to greatness!!!!
What a way to live—it is The WAY!!!
Amen.
