GOSPEL OF MARK: GOD’S SERVANT IN ACTION
TRUE FOLLOWER OF CHRIST
A. Last May I began a sermon series on the Gospel of Mark—studying the life of Jesus from His BAPTISM
to his CRUCIFIXION and RESURRECTION, and ultimate ASCENSION into HEAVEN.
1. The verse in Mark’s gospel that summarizes Jesus’ earthly purpose is found in Mark 10:45- “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give His life a ransom for many.” (Jesus
came to SERVE and to SAVE.)
a. The first half of this GOSPEL focusses on Jesus as a SERVANT and the last half focusses on Jesus
as our SAVIOR.
b. Today we begin our STUDY on Jesus’ third and final year of His MISSION as He and the disciples
leave the region of Galilee and head toward Jerusalem where He knows DEATH is awaiting Him.
2. Let’s pick up where we left off in September- Mark 8:27ff.
a. “On their way to Jerusalem, Jesus asks His disciples who do people say He is”- Mark 8:27.
COMMENT:
They answered, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others say one of the prophets”- v. 28.
b. But most important to Jesus is who do His disciples say He is. Peter quickly answered, “You are
the Christ”- v. 29.
COMMENT:
It was certainly the CORRECT answer. Yet, Peter, nor any of the apostles, truly understood what it meant for Jesus to be the Christ—the Messiah.
3. So Jesus began telling the DISCIPLES for the very first time, His PURPOSE in coming to this earth-
vv. 31-32 (READ).
a. Obviously this upset Peter as he began to “REBUKE Jesus for even suggestion such a thing.”
COMMENT:
Peter can’t even imagine that his good FRIEND whom he BELIEVES is the Christ, could possibly be rejected by Jewish LEADERS and then be TORTURED and KILLED.
b. Jesus turns to the disciples and rebukes Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in the mind
the things of God, but things of men”- v. 33
COMMENT:
Peter didn’t realize it, but he was playing right into hands of the DEVIL. To PREVENT Jesus from going to CROSS puts an abrupt END to God’s MISSION to SAVE the WORLD through His Son. Without the CROSS there is no SALVATION.
B. Up to this point I think the APOSTLES and even the CROWDS of people, for the most part, have felt pretty
good about FOLLOWING after Jesus.
1. They have witnessed many MIRACLES. Many have been the recipients of HEALING, they’ve been
miraculously FED, they’ve heard some good PREACHING.
COMMENT:
It’s EASY to FOLLOW after Jesus as long as everything is WARM and FUZZY and COMFORTABLE.
2. We Americans like COMFORT, don’t we?
ILLUSTRATION:
We have our COMFORTABLE BEDS, our LAZY-BOYS, our BODY PILLOWS, FOOT SPAS, and SNUGGIES. We like COMFORT!
3. But that’s what makes FOLLOWING Jesus DIFFICULT for some because He doesn’t speak of
COMFORT, He speaks of SACRIFICE.
a. Mark 8:34-38 (READ and COMMENT)
b. How does a PREACHER supposed to WORK with that?
COMMENT:
We try to lessen the impact of Jesus’ words by emphasizing the BENEFITS, not the SACRIFICE.
We glamorize the CROSS, or talk about it only during Easter.
It’s bad enough that Jesus had to DIE on the CROSS, but why did He have to go and insist we all end up with our own CROSSES?
C. The truth is: The MESSAGE of the CROSS is not an EASY one.
1. That’s why Jesus tells us “to consider the COST of being His disciple”- Luke 14:25ff.
a. SALVATION is FREE, but being a FOLLOWER of Christ is COSTLY.
COMMENT:
Even though there were CROWDS of people PURSUING Jesus wherever He went, He turns to them and says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me.”
b. It was not an AUDIENCE that Jesus WANTED—He wasn’t looking for NUMBERS. He wanted true FOLLOWERS.
2. What does it take to be a true FOLLOWER of Christ.
MESSAGE:
I. DESIRE
A. Jesus said, “If anyone WOULD come after me…”
1. First of all, notice that Jesus said that “ANYONE” is welcome to FOLLOW Him.
COMMENT:
No matter WHO you are, WHERE you are from, what BACKGROUND you might have, what SINS you have committed, you are WELCOMED to FOLLOW Jesus. No one is TURNED
AWAY because of WHO they ARE or WHAT they have DONE.
So, no one can make an EXCUSE, “Jesus doesn’t want ANYBODY like me.” He extends an OPEN INVITATION to “ANYONE”.
2. Secondly, Jesus wants only those who GENUINELY want to FOLLOW Him.
a. Christ doesn’t FORCE anyone to FOLLOW Him. He just INVITES us.
b. The phrase “WOULD COME” is the idea of INTENTIONALITY and involves the WILL.
COMMENT:
It is a deliberate DECISION to turn your LIFE over to Jesus and FOLLOW Him—not just so you can please your WIFE or your PARENTS, but to truly FOLLOW Jesus as YOUR Lord and Savior.
ILLUSTRATION:
In my years of MINISTRY, I have seen so many people who come forward during the INVITATION song to CONFESS their FAITH in Jesus and be BAPTIZED into Him, only to never
RETURN. They just go about their LIVES as if nothing HAPPENED.
And then there are those who give their LIVES to Christ and FOLLOW Him for a while, but then other things become MORE important. They quit PRAYING, they quit READING their Bibles, they quit WORSHIPPING on Sunday mornings. Their DESIRE to FOLLOW Jesus DIMINISHES—it is DISPLACED with something or someone they think is BETTER.
B. This is the very thing that Jesus was WARNING against.
1. He wants people who DESIRE to be there—who will FOLLOW Him no matter what.
2. Jesus had already witnessed many of the DISCIPLES leaving Him because they thought His
TEACHINGS were too HARD:
a. John 6:60- “On hearing it, many of His disciples said, ‘This is a hard teaching. Who can
accept it?”
b. John 6:66- “From this time many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.”
3. SALVATION is FREE, but DISCIPLESHIP is COSTLY.
II. DENIAL
A. Jesus added, “…he must DENY himself…”
1. “Denying self” is not the same as SELF-DENIAL.
COMMENT:
Self-denial is what people do when they make a New Year’s resolution to quit eating ICE CREAM or quit BENGE WATCHING television. Such self-denial is usually TEMPORARY at best, and certainly doesn’t LEAD to any PERMANENT CHANGE.
2. “Denying self” is entirely DIFFERENT—it is a complete SURRENDER of oneself to Christ.
a. The Greek word for “DENY” means “to utterly disown, to refuse to associate with or
companion with someone.”
COMMENT:
It’s the very same word Mark uses to describe what “Peter did to Jesus when he DENIED knowing Him”- Mark 14:68. At the moment, Peter DISOWNED Christ. But, friends, we don’t
have to say “I don’t know Jesus” to DISOWN Him.
Sadly, there are a countless number of so-called Christians who DISOWN their Lord by promoting their own AGENDAS and pursuing their own PLEASURES in direct contrast to what Jesus Christ wants and expects from them.
b. That’s why Jesus turns to His apostles and to the people who had been CROWDING around Him
and says, “If you want to come after me, you MUST deny (disown) yourself…”
COMMENT:
When we “deny ourselves” we are saying, “I no longer want to ASSOCIATE with the person that I AM. I realize my SINFULNESS. I realize my STUBBORNNESS and
PROPENSITY to want to do things my way. I realize that I am NOTHING without Christ.
“I abandon all SELF-EFFORT. I abandon all SELF-CONFIDENCE. I abandon all SELF-WILL. I abandon my own AMBITIONS, my own AGENDA, my own PLANS, my own PLEASURES. And I SURRENDER all to Jesus.”
B. Before submitting our lives to Christ in BAPTISM, we made a confession: (RECITE IT) “I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and I ACCEPT Him as my LORD and SAVIOR.”
1. To accept Jesus as our Lord means to GIVE UP ourselves and LIVE for Him.
a. Just like the apostle Paul when he wrote, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me”- Gal. 2:20a.
b. Jesus DEMANDS that we “DENY SELF” because He OWNS US—we BELONG to Him.
2. Now, this DENYING SELF is not EASY, and it certainly wasn’t EASY for the Apostle Paul, either.
a. Before giving his LIFE to Christ, Paul was a SELF-RIGHTEOUS Pharisee who LIVED for
himself and thought he could do no WRONG.
b. Listen to Paul as he describes his self-aggrandizing LIFE before he ACCEPTED Christ-
Philippians 3:4b-6 (READ & COMMENT). (Any JEW would be proud of that list.)
c. Now, listen to Paul as he describes his LIFE in Christ- Philippians 3:7-9 (READ & COMMENT). (THAT IS “DENYING SELF” TO FOLLOW JESUS!)
III. DEATH
A. Then Jesus said, “…take up your CROSS and FOLLOW me.”
1. This is the first mention of a “CROSS” in Mark’s Gospel.
a. Even when Jesus told His disciples that “He was going to be killed”- v. 31, He didn’t say it was
by a CROSS.
b. But using that WORD would immediately CONJURE up only one thing in the MINDS of those
who HEARD it—DEATH by CRUCIFIXION.
COMMENT:
CRUCIFIXION was a common Roman execution with over 30,000 NAILED to CROSSES during the lifetime of Jesus. Everyone knew that the CROSS was an instrument of shame, suffering,
torture and death. When a person took up his CROSS, he was beginning a DEATH MARCH.
c. And, yet, Jesus tells those around Him that “If you really want to FOLLOW ME, you have to be willing to PICK UP a CROSS.”
2. Taking up our CROSS means that we will not allow ANYTHING or ANYONE to come between us
and Jesus Christ.
a. When we take up our CROSS to FOLLOW Jesus, we are saying that “whatever we face in life—whatever DIFFICULTY that comes our way, whatever SINFUL PLEASURE that entices us, whatever PERSON that tries to dissuade us—WE WILL NOT BE MOVED.”
b. And taking up our CROSS is not a one-time event that happened the day you ACCEPTED Christ—it is a DAILY process. Jesus said that “…we must take up our cross daily and follow Him”- Luke 9:23b.
3. We are to begin each new day with the RESOLVE that “Today I DIE to self and LIVE for Jesus.”
a. Listen to what else Paul had to say about his relationship in Christ- Philippians 3:10-12 (READ).
b. Nothing mattered more to Paul than DYING to SELF and LIVING for JESUS.
B. It’s when we DIE TO SELF that we truly begin to experience the LIFE that Jesus came to GIVE.
1. Mark 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.”
a. If we want to HANG ON to our OLD LIFE, we CAN.
COMMENT:
If you want to keep CONTROL of your LIFE, to LIVE it your WAY, to CONTINUE in your SINFUL lifestyle—God will LET you do that. He won’t STOP you. He has given you FREE
WILL to do whatever it is you wish.
b. But do realize that by HANGING onto your LIFE, you will ultimately LOSE it!
2. Jesus asked, “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?”- vv. 36-37
a. Did the MAN make a GOOD DEAL? Well, from a temporary worldly perspective, he did.
COMMENT:
He got everything that his heart desired: MONEY, PLEASURE, HAPPINESS, FRIENDS, PRESTIGE, POPULARITY—he GAINED the WORLD. Well, he GAINED the WORLD, but he
LOST his SOUL.
b. Proverbs 14:12- “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”
COMMENT:
The WORLD and its PLEASURES seem so appealing, but it always LEADS to one losing his or her SOUL.
3. Jesus said, that “only those who are willing to LOSE their LIVES for Him and the GOSPEL” will
have ETERNAL LIFE.
a. FOLLOWING Jesus—LIVING for Him is not EASY—I’m not going MISLEAD you about that.
COMMENT:
But, even so, I can’t think of ANYTHING or ANYONE worth LOSING my SOUL over! Can you? If you know of SOME THING or SOMEONE that is worth LOSING your SOUL over, just RAISE your HAND!
b. Yet, how many people, including so-called Christians, will CHOOSE the WORLD over Jesus?
CONCLUSION:
