Following Jesus (9)
Scott Bayles, pastor
Scripture: Mark 8:34-37
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 2/26/2017
Good morning and welcome to church. During church one Sunday, the pastor announced, “There will be a meeting of the Board immediately after church.” After the close of the service, the Church Board gathered at the back of the auditorium for the meeting. But there was a stranger in their midst—a visitor who had never attended their church before. "My friend," said the pastor, "Didn't you understand that this is a meeting of the Board?" "Yes," said the visitor, "and after today's sermon, I’ve never been more bored in my life." I hope you’re not bored by today’s message; rather, I’m glad you’re here and I hope you are too.
Today, we are half way through our sixteen-week journey through the Gospel of Mark. The first half of this journey has taken us from the banks of the Jordan River to a humble house in Capernaum with a newly installed skylight, from a seaside cemetery where Jesus cast out a legion of demons to a hillside picnic where he fed a legion of people.
In Mark 7, we listened as Jesus explained to the Pharisees as well as his followers that what goes into your body doesn’t defile you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart. While legalistic law-enforcers focus on having clean hands, Jesus focuses on giving us clean hearts.
After this latest skirmish with the scribes, Jesus casts another demon out of a gentile woman then heals a deaf man with a speech impediment. As Mark 8 begins, Jesus feeds a crowd of 4,000 people and heals a blind man from Bethsaida. Loveable Peter makes his famous confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. But then immediately makes the mistake of chastising Jesus for predicting his own death. That brings us to the last paragraph of Mark 8. If you have a Bible or an app on your phone please open it up to Mark 8:34-37.
At this point, Jesus still had thousands of enthusiastic fans that followed him everywhere he went—from town to town, from shore to shore. Jesus had achieved rockstar status. And Jesus loved them. He showed them compassion and kindness. But every so often Jesus would say or do something to thin the herd a little, to separate the tire-kickers from the car buyers.
And this is one such moment. Mark writes:
Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? (Mark 8:34-37 NLT)
Jesus wanted to separate the fence-sitters from the followers. The question is: which one are you? To find out, I want you to measure your commitment level against this statement. In this challenging verse, Jesus gives us three marks or signs of a fully sold out follower. The first one is denial.
• DENIAL
If we focus on just the first part of this challenge, Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves…” (Mark 8:34 NIV). Another translation says, “you must turn from your selfish ways” (NLT). Many of us are not genuinely following Christ because we’re too busy looking out for ourselves. The truth is—each of us have a natural bent toward putting ourselves—our own wants and wishes—first.
Jesus challenges us to deny ourselves, to realize it’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s all about him! Pastor Rick Warren agrees. In the opening line of his best-selling book, The Purpose-Driven Life, Warren writes, “It’s not about you.” He continues, “The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.”
Many of us fall into the trap of selfishness. We’re me-focused. Self-centered. Self-absorbed. Self-serving. Self-involved. Me. Me. Me. Too many of us feel as though “the world revolves around me.” If we want to follow Jesus, we need to deny ourselves. MercyMe illustrates this idea quite comically in their song So Long Self. The song paints a picture of a man breaking up with himself.
Well if I come across a little bit distant, It's just because I am
Things just seem to feel a little bit different, You understand
Believe it or not but life is apparently not About me anyways
But I have met the One who really is worthy, So let me say
So long, self. Well, it's been fun, but I have found somebody else
So long, self. There's just no room for two so you are gonna have to move
So long, self. Don't take this wrong but you are wrong for me, farewell
Oh well, goodbye, don't cry
So long, self.
How about you? Have you broken up with yourself yet?
God wants us to stop living self-centered, self-focused lives. He wants us to stop making a big deal about ourselves and start making a big deal about Jesus! Are you the center of your universe or is Jesus? Only one of you can hold that spot. Denying ourselves means saying “So long, self. Hello, Jesus.” The second mark of a genuine follower is dedication.
• DEDICATION
Returning to Mark 8:34, Jesus continues, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must…take up their cross” (Mark 8:34 NIV).
The cross. Can you turn any direction without seeing one? Perched atop a chapel. Carved into a graveyard headstone. Engraved in a ring or suspended on a chain. But Jesus isn’t talking about something you wear, carry in your pocket, or stick on the bumper of your car. In Jesus’ day, the only reason a person picked up a cross is so that they could die on it.
The Romans did not invent crucifixion, but they used it a lot. They considered it the most horrible, painful, tortuous, and humiliating form of execution possible. And they always made it into a public spectacle—an exceedingly effect deterrent to crime. Criminals and enemies of the state were forced to carry the wooden crossbeam—the instrument of their own execution—through the streets in a parade of shame ending in a slow, excruciating death.
This is what it means to “take up your cross.” That’s just Jesus and some of his followers did. According to tradition and archaeological evidence, the apostle Peter ended up literally fulfilling this when he was crucified, reportedly upside down, for his faith in Jesus Christ. In fact, eleven of the original twelve apostles died martyr’s deaths.
Of course, not everyone who follows Jesus will be killed for his or her faith. Even in the first century, while hundreds of Christians were persecuted and put to death, thousands more lived and spread the gospel across the Roman Empire and eventually the world. Clearly, Jesus had something metaphorical in mind. The apostle Paul employs this same image, saying, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 NIV).
Paul paints a picture here of total dedication. Jesus is saying, “If you want to follow me, you’ve got to be all in.” You don’t take up your cross for an hour on Sunday mornings. You take up your cross daily. It takes complete commitment, total dedication, 100%. Jesus doesn’t want just some of your life; he wants all of your life!
At a youth rally in Florida, the leaders took up an offering. The men who counted it found something peculiar in one of the collection plates—a small picture of a girl. They assumed it fell out of someone’s wallet and dropped into the plate by mistake, but they were wrong. Something was written on the back: “I have no money, so I give myself.” That young lady understood Christ’s call to “take up your cross.”
Jesus isn’t looking for half-hearted followers. He has no interest in Sunday Christians. Jesus explains that following him is not something you do part-time or half-way. When you pick up your cross, there’s no turning back. It’s all or nothing.
So, the first indication of a genuine follower of Jesus is denial, the second is dedication, and the third is direction.
• DIRECTION
Again going back to Jesus’ statement, He concludes, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must… follow me” (Mark 8:34 NLT). This may be the most obvious part of Jesus’ challenge, but what does it really mean to follow Jesus?
For those to whom he spoke directly in biblical times, it was often quite literal. Jesus invited them to go with him, to walk with him as he journeyed throughout Palestine, teaching and healing. But this invitation extends down through the centuries to every person in every place. How can we follow someone who isn’t right in front of us? The Greek word translated follow literally means, “to walk the same road.”
Once upon a time, as the high-school prom was approaching, one young man asked his father if he could borrow his dad’s 1963 Corvette—for him and his date. His dad said, “I’ll tell you what, if you can improve one letter grade in each of your classes and if you’ll get your hair cut, I’ll let you take the car.” Well, a few weeks went by and the boy managed to pull up all of his grades. He went back to his father and showed him his progress, then asked if he could have the keys. The dad said, “I’m sorry son, but you didn’t get your hair cut.” Indignant, the boy grumbled, “Come on Dad, even Jesus had long hair!” The father smiled as he said, “Yep, and Jesus walked everywhere he went too.”
For us, following Jesus doesn’t mean walking behind him, but taking the same road. Walking the same path. The invitation to “follow me” is an opportunity to learn from Jesus how to live authentically. The beautiful life Jesus lived—marked by a passionate love for God and a compassion for people, is something we can learn. Humility and forgiveness are traits we can develop. The practices of prayer and worship can be cultivated. But we need a teacher and an example. Jesus offers to take on that role in our lives.
If we want to learn how to do something well, whether a craft or skill, we might apprentice ourselves to a master. We spend time with them. We observe them. We let them instruct us and correct us. We seek to model ourselves after them. Craftsmen, artists, and athletes alike hone and perfect their abilities in this way. This is what Jesus offers when he says, “Follow me.” He gives direction to our lives.
The purpose of this apprenticeship is not to live the life Jesus lived. That has already been done—and we could never be perfect as Jesus was. The purpose is to learn to live your real, present life with all its responsibilities, relationships, and roles as Jesus would live it if it were his—to live your life with his heart. Just imagine Jesus leading your life.
That’s what Charles Sheldon did. In 1896, Charles M. Sheldon penned the words of what has become a classic, inspirational and best-selling novel titled In His Steps. In this book, Sheldon tells the story of a local church whose members pledged, for an entire year, not to do anything without first asking the question, “What would Jesus do?” Following Christ’s example brought great joy to this small-town congregation, but it also brought misunderstanding, conflict and difficulty. It meant entire dedication of money, talent, career and influence to the cause of Christ. A hundred years later, the book was reprinted under the title What Would Jesus Do? And it swept the world like wildfire becoming responsible for the most widely recognized acronym in history—WWJD.
The only way we can know the answer to that question is by spending time with Jesus, drawn near to the heart of Jesus, and applying his words and wisdom to our lives. That’s why we’re on this journey—following Jesus through the Gospel of Mark.
Conclusion
Jesus says that these three things separate the frauds from the followers: denial, dedication, and direction. Of course, that leaves us with a decision to make. Remember, Jesus started off saying, “If any of you wants to be my follower…” (Mark 8:34 NLT). So right off the bat, before Jesus even finishes his sentence, we’ve got a decision to make: Do you want to follow Jesus?
In two thousand years, the invitation hasn’t changed. Jesus still says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (ESV). My favorite word in that invitation is ANYONE. No matter what your story, no matter what you’ve done, Jesus invites you to follow him. Anyone… Anyone who has ever laid awake in bed and thought I don’t know what to do with my life. Anyone who has ever wanted more out of life. Anyone is an all-inclusive term. Anyone means everyone. Anyone means me and anyone means you.
So what’s your decision?
Invitation
Next week, we’ll continue following Jesus through the Gospel of Mark.
In the meantime, for all of us, following Jesus means following one step at a time. If you need help taking the next step in your relationship with Jesus, whatever step that may be, let me know. Let’s take that next step together.
Let’s stand and sing together.
