"living In Reality"

“Living in Reality”

Mark 8:34-38

I want us to think about the following questions this morning:

1. What gives you the greatest joy in life?

2. What creates for you the deepest sense of purpose?

3. When do you feel most alive, most true to the person God created you to be?

My guess is that you aren’t thinking about something you bought or even earned—but rather, you are thinking of something that is rooted in relationships, acts of service, and even in things that the world calls “sacrifice” when you are caring for another person or persons.

Right before our Gospel Lesson for this morning Jesus asked His inner circle of disciples who they think He is.

And Peter answered the question with the right words: “You are the Messiah.”

After Peter said this, Jesus started to teach His disciples what it means that He is the Messiah—the Savior of the world.

He said that He will suffer many things, He must be killed and after three days rise again.

But in hearing this, Peter, took Jesus aside and started to rebuke Jesus—telling Jesus that He is wrong…

…And, in a sense, was tempting Jesus forsake what the Messiah is called to do and be, which is what the devil had been trying to tempt Jesus to do all along.

So, Jesus turned and looked at His disciples and rebuked Peter saying: “Get behind me, Satan!

You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Then, we are told, Jesus turned to the entire crowd that had been following Him, and said to them: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

This is some really heavy stuff.

Jesus tells His disciples what He, Himself must do as the Savior of the World—and then, He tells all who want to be His disciples what they must do.

Does that mean that they must go to the literal Cross and die the death Jesus will die for the salvation of humankind?

Or does it mean something different?

It definitely does not mean that anyone other than the Son of God Himself can die for the salvation of all who will believe.

So, what does it mean?

Jesus said, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and the gospel will save it.”

The original disciples and the entire crowd that Jesus addressed had no idea what He was talking about.

It was only later, after Christ had died, been raised and the Holy Spirit had been sent did they start to find out what this meant.

Only when they started to try themselves to intentionally live out His teachings and follow His example did they get a glimpse of this profound truth.

And the same can be said for us.

Think of it this way: The Cross of Jesus Christ represents God’s Commitment to humanity.

It is the Ultimate Commitment to save us from our sins.

Christ denied Himself--His place as God-Made-Flesh—He could have called down an army of angels to save Himself from the horrific death He faced…

…But instead, He took it on willingly.

He took on something that He could have otherwise avoided (denying the human tendency to love Himself—to look out for number One above all) and took up the Cross (He bore the painful cost of that denial) so that we may be Resurrected as He was Resurrected and live and reign with Him forever and ever—being freed from the wages or outcome of our sin—which is death.

This was the Ultimate Act of Love.

He took it on because God so loves the world—that includes you and me and everyone who has ever lived.

Now, we, if we are going to seek to be like Jesus and be Christ to the world--we are to do the same…

…on a daily, minute by minute basis.

And when and if we do this…

…when and if we deny ourselves (our tendency toward self-centeredness) and take up our cross (which is the cost of denying our self-centeredness) and follow Christ we will find ourselves in touch with something more REAL than anything else that we have known before.

We will be touching the deep and powerful stream that runs through life.

And we will begin to love, finding ourselves in-touch with the life of God or the Kingdom of God.

We will know that what Jesus is teaching is not about some moral code of conduct—but it is REALITY.

It is how we were created to live.

It is what life is about.

It will bring us true joy and true peace.

Self-denial and cross-bearing are not about us being less happy—or mutilating ourselves and all that.