“Discipleship”
Mark 8:31-38
I had a hard time writing this sermon.
I spent a lot of time reading.
I didn’t go out much this past week-- during breaks--at the continuing education event Clair and I were at in Pigeon Forge.
Instead, I wrestled with this Scripture.
On Wednesday evening, I finally thought I had an idea…
…a beginning…
…and then, there was a knock on our hotel room door.
A friend of ours, another pastor at the conference, was stopping by to talk.
When he asked me what I was doing I said, “working on my sermon for Sunday.”
“Not getting very far,” he mused as he looked at the title of the sermon, the Scripture passage written below it and then…
…nothing…
…a blank screen on a laptop computer.
As the week moved on, I wondered more and more as to why I was having such a hard time writing this sermon.
I mean, it’s pretty straight forward.
Jesus and His disciples have been together for some time now.
They have traveled with Him throughout Galilee and have watched as He has healed the diseased, the disabled, and so many troubled people.
He has told parables, fed thousands of people with just a few scraps of food, walked on water and stood up to the criticism of the religious leaders.
Finally, the day came for Jesus to “pop the question.”
He asked His disciples: “Who do people say that I am?”
“What’s word on the street?”
And, not surprisingly, not much has changed from then to now: everybody has a different opinion about Jesus.
They replied, “Some people say you are John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
Then Jesus looked at His 12 who made up His inner circle: “But what about you?” He asked.
“Who do you say that I am?”
It was Peter who answered for them, “You are the Christ.”
Of course, this was the right answer.
If Peter had been taking a multiple-choice quiz he would have gotten an A+, but if he had been asked to write an essay on what it meant—he would have failed miserably.
And isn’t this where all of us are in one way or another?
We are no different from Peter.
As soon as Jesus began to teach the disciples what it means that Jesus is the Christ—“Peter took [Jesus] aside and began to rebuke him.”
Peter didn’t have a clue what it meant to be the Christ or the Messiah.
Like the rest of Israel, Peter thought that God’s Messiah would be a great warrior like King David—but on steroids!!!
He would have great power, and restore Israel, both nationally and religiously.
So far, Peter had witnessed Jesus’ great power in many ways.
He knew Jesus was special.
And so, Peter had the right term for Who Jesus was, but not the right meaning.
After Jesus rebukes Peter, He calls the crowd over to Him, for there were many more people than just the 12 disciples who were following Jesus.
And Jesus said to everyone who was hanging on and hanging out: “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.”
It’s pretty straight forward, isn’t it?
But what does it mean?
See why I have had such a hard time with this sermon?
Jesus tells us what it means to be the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God: He will face betrayal, denial, suffering, death, and finally, Resurrection.
That’s tough…but, that’s alright.
We can accept that, right?
I mean, it’s not something we have to go through ourselves.
But He also tells us what it means to be one of His disciples, one of His followers.
And sometimes I wonder if I have got this one figured out yet.
As a matter of fact, I am pretty sure I do not have this figured out yet.
Sure, I can say the right words.
I can believe the right things.
But can I live the life?
Do I live the life?
Do I even have an ounce of understanding about what living the life means???
I made the difficult decision to give my life totally over to Jesus Christ—100 percent—32 years ago!!!
32 years ago.
At least that’s what I thought I was doing.
I was 18 years old.
As I said, it was a difficult decision.
I was a pretty worldly kid.
Partying was my favorite subject.
Heavy metal music told me how to live.
I believed in Jesus Christ; I’d always believed in Jesus Christ.
I would even go so far as to say I loved Jesus.
I prayed daily.
I grew up going to church.
I knew a lot about the Christian faith by watching, listening too and being loved by many of Jesus’ disciples.
I had a lot of grace surrounding me.
I just hadn’t made the decision to give my all to God yet.
Eventually I did.
Or I started to.
And I have never been the same person since.
Have I tried to go back?
Yes.
Have I been like the Israelites, the former enslaved people, who, when wandering in the wilderness, so often complained to Moses—“why didn’t you leave us in Egypt—we were better off as slaves—making bricks with barely any straw for Pharaoh!!!???”
You bet!!!
You know why?
Grace is free, but it’s not cheap!!!
And being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not an instant fix; it is a life-long journey of commitment and learning, of falling down and getting back up again.
And I wouldn’t trade it for ANYTHING in the world—even though I think I sometimes do anyway.
How many times do I continue to give into temptation—having in mind the things of people rather than the things of God?
How often do I look the other way when faced with another human being in need of help?
I mean, how well do I stand up in the parable of the Good Samaritan?
Who am I in that parable?
Am I the priest, the Levite or the Samaritan?
Do I cross the street when I see those in need or do I respond with Love for God and neighbor?
And even if I get it right sometimes, do I get it right all the time or even most of the time?
And when I am getting it right, am I really loving neighbor selflessly or do I have other motives?
In verse 34 Jesus says we must “deny self.”
Well, my friends, “Self” has been THE PROBLEM ever since the Garden!!!
And SELF continues to be THE PROBLEM!!!
SELF stands in the way of taking up the cross.
The people listening to Jesus knew exactly what “taking up the cross” meant.
They had already watched the Romans crucify 2,000 Galilean troublemakers.
Imagine the impression this must have made.
And Jesus took up the Cross not because He had too.
He took up the Cross because of a fully, perfect selfless love for you and me.
And we are called to take up our cross as well.
But as long as SELF remains, we will forever be seeking painless shortcuts to the Kingdom.
We will try and try again to come up with another way that doesn’t involve a cross.
But, only when we deny SELF and take up the cross can we follow Jesus.
Shane Claiborne, who spent a summer in the slums of Calcutta with Mother Teresa, wrote the following about one of his experiences there:
“People often ask me what Mother Teresa was like.
Sometimes it’s like they wonder if she glowed in the dark or had a halo.
She was short, wrinkled, and precious, maybe even a little ornery—like a beautiful, wise old granny.
But there is one thing I will never forget—her feet.
Her feet were deformed.
Each morning in Mass, I would stare at them.
I wondered if she had contracted leprosy.
But I wasn’t going to ask, of course: ‘Hey Mother, what’s wrong with your feet?’
One day a sister said to us, ‘Have you noticed her feet?’
We nodded, curious.
‘Her feet are deformed because we get just enough donated shoes for everyone, and Mother does not want anyone to get stuck with the worst pair, so she digs through and finds them.
And she wears the worst pair herself.
And years of doing that have deformed her feet.’”
This is an example of what it means to follow Jesus.
And I have heard that Mother Teresa often had her doubts, as well, as to whether she really knew what it means.
For no matter how great she seemed to be, she was a sinner as well—a human being.
Billy Graham was used by God to bring many to Jesus Christ.
But Billy Graham made many mistakes.
I read that he often lamented the fact that he got so involved with politics and politicians.
The Apostle Paul, the first man to bring the message of Jesus outside of the Jewish realm, admitted several times in his writings that he had a hard time following Jesus.
But he said, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus has taken hold of me.”
How about you?
How is the discipleship thing working for you?
How far along are you?
Do you find yourself getting discouraged?
Do you sometimes doubt if it is worth it?
There is nothing more difficult and nothing more worthwhile than being a disciple, a follower, a student of Jesus Christ.
It is what gives us hope in the midst of a lost and broken world.
It is what causes us to love.
And if, for just a moment, we can forget about SELF, we DO catch a TRUE glimpse of God’s Kingdom—if just for a moment or two.
And that’s worth a million, zillion lifetimes and all the money and fame and attention and power and whatever else we run after in this world!!!
Have you caught a glimpse of God’s Kingdom…
…if just for a moment or two?
