WHAT DID JESUS JUST SAY?

there are many things Jesus said that are difficult to hear; and even more difficult to obey. When His first disciples spent those 3 years with Him in public ministry, they were continually challenged witht eh truth of who Jesus was,and what was expected of them. This has not changed in 2,000 years. His words continue to challeng me - even today.

This messagewas preached on July 20, 2008 at Grace Baptist Church in Westlake, OH. It is available to listen to online at www.gbcwestlake.org

WHAT DID JESUS JUST SAY?
Mark 8:22-38

Please turn in Your Bibles to Mark 8. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 873 or 891.

VIDEO: WHO WAS JESUS? [2 minutes, 55 seconds]

In these passages today, we are going to see more of who Jesus was, based on what He did, and what he said. And His followers, and all those who were listening, were going to need to decide what they believed about Jesus Christ; and whether or not they were willing to follow Him. We have the same decision to make today.

Mark 8:22 – “And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.”

This seemed, in the gospel of Mark, to happen quite often. People helped their friends, family, who were in desperate need, to get to Jesus, hoping that He would touch their friend and healing would take place. In this case, a blind man had friends who cared enough about him, not only to bring him to Jesus, but to beg Jesus to touch him. That demonstrates great faith.

Mark 8:23 – “And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him., Do you see anything?”

Just like with the deaf mute in Mark 7, Jesus led this man away from the crowd and became very personal with him. Jesus spit on his eyes and laid His hands on this man. Using spit was something the blind man could relate to in that day. People believed there was special power in saliva. Even today, many people instinctively respond to a cut or burned finger by putting their mouth on it to ease the pain. Jesus used this method to connect with this man.

He then asked him what seems to be a strange question:
[1] “Do you see anything?”. What did Jesus just say? Anytime Jesus would touch someone or declare someone healed, He knew it was done and wanted others to believe it was done, even if the victim of the particular disease wasn’t there. In this case, He just touched the man and then asks if he sees anything.

Mark 8:24,25 – “And he looked up and said, I see men, but they look like trees, walking. Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.”

The man looked up, probably seeing the disciples, but said that he could not see clearly, because they looked liked trees walking around. Perhaps Jesus was making a point about spiritual understanding. The disciples were a lot like this man, in a spiritual way. They could see some of what Jesus was saying, but it was still pretty cloudy to them. They didn’t fully understand – didn’t full see it. It was a process for them; just as it for us.

So, Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again. It is the only time we see a gradual miracle from Jesus; and this miracle is only recorded here in Mark. This time, the man opened his eyes, his sight was fully restored, and everything was clear. There is no indication that Jesus didn’t have enough power the first time – and no indication that this man lacked faith. It does make sense, in the context, that Jesus was teaching his disciples something. Just before this passage, we have recorded the feeding of the 4,000, the disciples not “getting it”; and Jesus asking: “Do you not yet understand?” Their spiritual understanding was coming in stages, and they still had a long way to go. Then, Jesus made a statement that makes us ask: Did He just say that?

Mark 8:26 – “And he sent him to his home, saying, Do not even enter the village.”

Jesus instructed this man, [2] Do not go back to Bethsaida; but instead to return to wherever He lived. Why did Jesus say that? It seems this is another instance of Jesus wanting some of His activities to remain silent. We know, in most cases, this didn’t happen; but people kept talking about what Jesus had done for them.

There is a transition that takes place here in the book of Mark. From here until the end of the gospel, the focus becomes Jesus Christ as the Messiah, here to die for the sins of the world. And this next passage gets us headed that direction with a couple more questions that Jesus asks:

Mark 8:27 – “And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, Who do people say that I am?”

They travelled about 25 miles north of Bethsaida to these villages of Caesarea Philippi. This was once a great center for the worship for Baal. According to Barclay: “On the hillside there was a cave which was said to be the birthplace of the Greek God, Pan, the god of nature. Farther up on the hillside rose a gleaming temple of white marble which was built to the godhead of Caesar, the Roman Emperor, the ruler of the world, who was regarded a god. It is in this context, that Jesus asks a very important question, and the answer becomes a turning point in this gospel.

While they were walking, Jesus posed a question: [3] Who do people say that I am? Why would Jesus ask this? It is interesting that Jesus would ask this, since He already knew the answers. But, there was a point to this line of questioning.

Mark 8:28 – “And they told him, John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”

Back in chapter 6 of Mark, when Herod had heard of all Jesus was doing with His disciples, he heard a few suggestions for who this man going by the name Jesus really was. And the same suggestions were the ones the disciples mentioned here. People are saying three basic things: You are either John the Baptist, Elijah or another one of the prophets. In each case, they thought Jesus was a returning spirit or something from the dead. They certainly could not accept Jesus for who He was claiming to be! The majority of the people did not understand, at all, who Jesus was – not unlike the people in the video we began this message with.

But, Jesus now goes to the heart of the matter. Here is a penetrating, but important question from Christ, that we must all answer:

Mark 8:29 – “And he asked them, But who do you say that I am? Peter answered him, You are the Christ.”

[4] “Who do you say that I am?” Ok – so the popular opinion is that I am one of those options. But, what about you? He asked this of the 12 guys that He personally chose to follow Him. And, I believe, without hesitation, their spokesman, Peter, said what is recorded here: “You are the Christ.” In other words, Peter, representing the 12 disciples said: “Jesus, we wholeheartedly believe that you are, indeed, the promised Messiah from the Old Testament. You are the Christ.”

We almost would expect Jesus, now, to applaud His followers for such a great statement of faith. Instead he says this:

Mark 8:30 – “And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.”
It is almost as though He followed Peter’s statement: You are the Christ, with: shhhhh: [5] “Don’t tell anyone who I am.” Did Jesus just say that?
Jesus did accept this statement as truth. However, the disciples still did not fully understand, and were not ready to proclaim Him publicly as the Messiah. In fact, proclaiming Him as such at that time would have caused more confusion and problems than progress for the gospel. People even in that day had many different, wrong ideas about the Messiah. The popular opinion was that the Messiah would be a political hero, who would come on the scene to rescue the Jewish people from Roman authority.

But, as Jesus was about to explain, He was here for something much more important. He was the Messiah, but the not the one they all expected. It was time for the disciples to hear the whole truth about what would have to happen to this One and Only Messiah:

Mark 8:31 – “And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.”

For the first time, to His disciples, here in Mark, Jesus predicts what is going to have to happen to Him, in order for Him to fulfill His position as the true Messiah. He is basically saying this: Yes, I am the promised Messiah. And I am the Son of Man, fully man and fully God. And, [6] “as a man, I will experience incredible suffering, I will be condemned by the religious leaders [the 3 groups mentioned in v.31 that make up the Sanhedrin] and I will be put to death.” But, I will also rise again 3 days later. What did Jesus just say?

They didn’t even notice that He said He would rise 3 days later. We know the disciples never really got that point until days after He actually did rise from the dead. But, the other part caught their attention. Instead of setting Himself up as some political and military hero, here to rescue people from foreign authorities; Jesus said He was going to humble Himself, go through physical pain, and endure the great humiliation of capital punishment. This is not what the disciples expected to hear. But, this was the mission that God had for the Messiah. He said: The Son of Man must suffer many things. This had to happen. When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, in John 3, He explained:

John 3:14,15 – “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
The people of Israel knew the story: a bronze serpent was put on a pole and the sinning Israelites had to look on it to be saved from their poisonous snake bites. Also, Jesus had to be put up on the cross, so that everyone who looked to Him in faith would be saved from their sin. All of this was connected to personal salvation for all who believe. He had to suffer and die. This was a major part of God’s plan to redeem us.

And Jesus said this as a matter of fact. And then, as soon as he said it, the representative for the 12 disciples felt He needed to say something else:

Mark 8:32 – “And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.”

The man who boldly said: I don’t care that everyone thinks you are John the Baptist or Elijah or just another prophet. I know that you are Jesus Christ, the Son of God – the promised Messiah! – that man, now takes Jesus aside, as you would your young child who just said something embarrassing in front of company – and Peter rebukes the Messiah. What was He thinking?

Well, he was probably thinking what the rest of the fellas were thinking: “Wait a second Jesus. As the Messiah, you are going to do the killing, not the other way around. We are going to be with you as you defeat this ungodly government. We are going to be with you as you set up your Kingdom (that you keep talking about) here on Earth. Don’t be a “glass half full” kind of guy Jesus. Don’t be negative, pessimistic – Don’t talk this way – about suffering and death. That’s not a good plan!

As you can imagine, it was “teachable moment” time.

Mark 8:33 – But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

What did Jesus just say? [7] “Get behind me Satan.” Did He just call Peter: Satan? Well, He basically said this: “You are speaking the words of Satan.” Jesus took this opportunity to address all His disciples, and by rebuking Peter, He was emphasizing that this plan He just unveiled was the plan of God. And any other plan, including their own, was all about man.

Why did Jesus call Peter Satan? Because what Peter did was to communicate what Jesus’ greatest adversary was trying to communicate and accomplish. The last thing Satan would want is for Jesus to suffer and die for the sins of the world. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, He was trying to get Jesus to respond to selfish thoughts and goals. But, that is not what Jesus was here to do. And Peter was really representing the thoughts of Satan when he rebuked Jesus.

The disciples probably had this fantasy in their heads, that they would accompany Jesus as He overthrew the Roman government and set up His Kingdom right here and right now. Then, they would rule with Him. What Jesus was sharing didn’t sound like it was going to fulfill their fantasies. In fact, it sounded like a nightmare. So, Jesus needed to explain to His followers and potential followers what it truly means to follow Him. There were many people volunteering to be with Christ and follow Him; but their motivations and expectations were out of line. Jesus was going to be clear about what following Him really means.

There’s the story of a soldier frantically digging in during battle as shells fall all around him. Suddenly his hand feels something metal and he grabs it. It’s a silver cross. Another shell explodes and he buries his head in his arms. He feels someone jump in the foxhole with him and he looks over and sees an army chaplain. The soldier thrusts the cross in the chaplain’s face and says, “I sure am glad to see you. How do you work this thing?” Jesus is about to address this same type of question that people interested in Jesus have been asking about the significance of the cross: “How do you work this thing?” Peter had just claimed the truth of who Jesus was, but in the next moment, demonstrated that he didn’t understand anything. He had just learned that His Messiah, Jesus, was going to take a very different path than Peter had imagined.

Mark 8:34 – “And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Did Jesus just say that? I don’t think I like it. He was not just talking to His 12 chosen followers. He was talking to them, since they obviously didn’t understand yet; but He was talking to everyone that considered becoming His follower. And He is certainly saying that same thing to us today.

Understand something: To trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation; or to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior – whatever specific terms you might use to describe the fact that you are a Christian (if you are). – is equal to what Jesus is talking about here. In other words, Jesus is not giving a 2 step plan. First, you pray to receive me as your Lord and Savior. Then, later, hopefully, you decide to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. NO! He is saying: Do you want to call yourself a Christian? This is what it is all about. It is about being a committed follower of Me.

Here is His main statement: In order to be my disciple, you must:
[8] “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me.”
Instead of saying: Bow your heads, close your eyes and repeat after me: I want to receive Jesus into my heart and go to Heaven; Jesus said this: Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me. This is a hard statement. Now, don’t be confused here. Most of us begin to follow Christ with some type of prayer and very little understanding. We pray to receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior and later we truly learn what that means. That is o.k. But, Jesus wanted to make sure these people understood what the decision to follow Christ truly entailed from His perspective.

To deny yourself is not: to beat yourself up, treat material things as evil, to pretend to be something you were not created to be. To deny yourself is to put aside your selfish desires so that you can put God’s interests above your own. It is to be God-centered rather than self-centered. And that…is tough!

Perhaps you’ve heard the story of two young brothers who come downstairs for breakfast on a Saturday morning, and their mother was cooking pancakes. She was starting to pull them off the griddle when the boys start arguing about who’s going to eat first. Their mother seizes this teachable moment and says, “Now boys, what would Jesus say if he were here?” They stopped, looked a little confused, and then their mother says, “Jesus would say, “My brother, you have the first pancake. I’ll wait.” The older brother looks at the younger brother and says, “Hey John, you be Jesus.”
To deny yourself is to apply:

I Corinthians 6:19,20 – “…You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

To take up your cross has nothing to do with the necklaces, tattoos, bookmarks, or any other object in the shape of a cross. The cross had a very distinct picture associated with it in that Roman dominated society. The cross is what a condemned man would pick up and carry. And in doing so, he was showing submission to the Roman authority that he had previously disobeyed. The cross had and is still to have an incredible meaning to those of us who claim to follow Him.

Rene Lacoste was the world’s top tennis player in the late 1920s. He won seven major singles titles during his career, including multiple victories at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the French Open. His friends called him “Le Crocodile,” an apt term for his tenacious play on the tennis court. Lacoste accepted the nickname and had a tiny crocodile embroidered on his tennis blazers. When he added it to a line of shirts he designed, the symbol caught on. While thousands of people around the world wore “alligator shirts,” the emblem always had a deeper significance for Lacoste’s friends who knew of its origin and meaning.The cross is an emblem of Christianity that holds special meaning for every one of us who identify with Jesus Christ. Whenever we see a cross, it should remind us of Christ’s tenacious determination to do His Father’s will by dying for us on Calvary. The cross is all about making a choice. The cross is about discipline, hard work, obedience, and commitment. The cross can be an obstacle for many people.

Billy Graham wrote in Decision magazine, “I find that I can preach on any subject other than the cross, and it does not seem as offensive to people as the cross does. I can preach on doing good works, on social improvement, on all kinds of things, and people will applaud me. But when I preach on the cross and the blood of Christ, there is an offense.”

To be able to understand what Jesus is asking us to do in “taking up our cross”, we have to understand what He did. Jesus was responding to the will of the Father, in going to the cross. He was not following natural self-protection plans or even selfish political aspirations. He was going to obey the Father, and not be sidetracked by anyone else’s desires for Him. When Jesus said to take up your cross, he was not saying they would all have to physically die like He was going to. He was also not saying that enduring certain burdens in our lives was equal to carrying our cross. Sometimes people think they are carrying a cross by putting up with annoying people or bad weather or some other minor thing.

The primary meaning of this phrase: take up your cross, is all about obeying God and doing His will – no matter what. It is a narrow focus on doing only what God wants for our lives, not selfish dreams or even following the dreams others have for us. It means a willingness to do even what would be misunderstood by others. It means doing what might even be considered a waste by others.

When Jesus said “Follow Me” he said it in a way that means: Keep following me.
This is a life process. The disciples certainly didn’t just make the decision to follow Him and then always do it just right. The call is to continually follow. That is a mark of a true Christian – one who is still following, years after they prayed to trust in Christ. You have decided not to follow your own plan, but God’s. You are not going to go after your own dreams, but the vision that God gives you for your life. You are not out to please others with your life, but God. And your greatest example, for you to follow, is Jesus Christ Himself.

This call to follow Christ is not an easy one. In the early days of World War II, when Winston Churchill took over the leadership of England, he said that all he had to offer his people was "blood, sweat & tears."

During the siege of Rome in 1849, Garibaldi, the great Italian patriot, made this famous proclamation: "Soldiers, all our efforts against superior forces have been unavailing. I have nothing to offer you but hunger & thirst, hardship & death. But I call on all who love their country to join with me."

Martin Luther said: “A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing.”

Billy Graham has said, “Salvation is free, but discipleship costs everything we have”

And concerning the cost of discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who paid the ultimate price with his execution at age 39 on April 9, 1945, was a good example of this. He had bravely resisted Hitler and the Nazi State when most of Germany’s clergy supported the Third Reich. And it was Dietrich Bonhoeffer who wrote: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
If all of this sounds extreme to you, then you have a little idea of what those disciples and others were experiencing as they listened to these words from Christ 2,000 years ago.

These next 4 statements, are all descriptive ones, to elaborate on this foundational commitment: “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” They explain it:

Mark 8:35 – “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”
· Those who follow Christ submit to God’s will and gain eternal life
What did Jesus just say? He gives a paradoxical statement here. He just said: Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me, if you want to be my disciple. Because: the person who tries to protect Himself will not gain eternal life; but the person willing to give up everything important to him, for Jesus’ sake and the good news, will actually receive eternal life.

Whether one actually gives up physical life for the sake of Christ or gives up their own personal control of their lives, the same thing applies. This is how you deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Christ. That person is a true Christian, and therefore, has eternal life promised in Heaven.

Understand, this is not about good works. This is about the evidence of a person who has truly committed his life to Jesus Christ – one who is a true follower – a Christian. These statements are showing the differences between those who are Christians and those who are not. Don’t get caught up, here, in trying to figure out who is saved or not saved by what you presently see. Don’t get discouraged because you don’t always see great fruit in your life. However, you should take this opportunity to check your heart and make sure that the commitment you made to Christ was real; and if you have become lazy in your commitment to follow Christ, you have a great opportunity to get back where you should be. Even if you are saved, you probably still need to reminded of your commitment, just as I do.

Jesus now uses the common day idea of financial gain to speak of following Him for spiritual gain – that is much more valuable:

Mark 8:36 – “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”

· Those who live for themselves lose everything in the end
The rhetorical question: What benefit is there for someone to gain everything this world has to offer and yet suffer the loss of his soul, with no eternity with God? The obvious answer is: There is NO benefit – NONE – It is a wasted life.

Mark 8:37 – “For what can a man give in return for his life?”

· Those who live for this world’s goods have nothing with which to bargain for their eternal life

The next rhetorical question: What can a person, who is living for this world, give to God in order to receive eternal life with Him? The obvious answer is: NOTHING.

It is not difficult for us to see most of the people in this world living for material gain. Most of what our world tells us is about how to get more money and how to spend it on things that will make us happy. And yet, most of what people are living for has NOTHING to do with eternity. In fact, people are pursuing what cannot satisfy and will be gone when this life is over; and ignoring what will truly satisfy and bring eternal life in the end. And even we Christians sometimes get caught up in the confusion – don’t we?

In his book: Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper relays this story:
“In April 2000, Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards were killed in Cameroon, West Africa. Ruby was over 80 years old. Single all her life, she poured it out for one great thing: to make Jesus Christ known among the unreached, the poor, and the sick. Laura was a widow, a medical doctor, pushing 80 years old, and serving at Ruby’s side in Cameroon. The brakes failed, the car went over a cliff, and they were both killed instantly…Was that a tragedy? Two lives, driven by one great passion, namely, to be spent in unheralded service to the perishing poor for the glory of Jesus Christ – even two decades after most of their American counterparts had retired to throw away their lives on trifles. No, that is not a tragedy. That is a glory. These lives were not wasted. And these lives were not lost…

Piper continued:
I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider a story from the Reader’s Digest, which tells about a couple who ‘took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot boat, play softball and collect shells.’ Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life – your one and only precious, God-given life – and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this; playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: “look, Lord. See my shells.” That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Over against that, I put my protest: Don’t buy it. Don’t waste your life.”

Mark 8:38 – “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
· Those who deny Christ in this life will be rejected by Him when He returns

Jesus is continuing to explain the statement: Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. Jesus is noting that the majority of people living at that time were spiritually unfaithful and continually sinning. And in the midst of it, those who denied Christ (were ashamed of him) demonstrated that they were not believers and would be rejected by Jesus Christ when returned for judgment in the future, along with his angels.

We need to be careful here, because at first reading, we could easily be confused. We are removed 2,000 years from when this was written, and we tend to read it differently than it was intended. You might read verse 38 and think it is saying that if we Christians get embarrassed and are unwilling at times to share our faith or even say we are Christians, then we will lose our salvation and not go to Heaven some day. That is not what this is saying.

Those who are ashamed, or reject Christ are the non-believers. One of the reasons we know that is because one of Jesus closest disciples, the Apostle Peter, was obviously a Christ –follower and on His way to Heaven. However, he denied that he knew Christ, not just once, but 3 times. Did he lose his salvation? NO. Does this mean he was never truly a Christ-follower? NO. This verse is not referring to our failure to talk boldly about Christ. It is referring to those who rejected Christ for who He said He was. They would be rejected in the judgment.

It does point out that true believers will be willing to tell people that they are Christ-followers. They will not be ashamed of Him. Yes, we fail often; but true Christ-followers are denying themselves and lifting up their only hope: Jesus Christ.

SO WHAT ABOUT YOU?
This question is on your outline but there are no blanks to fill in. You will have to answer this question for yourself:

Has there been a time in your life when you have confessed that Jesus Christ is who He said He was: The promised Messiah who died for your sins? Have you trusted in Him for your salvation, not counting on good works or religion to get you to Heaven? Have you given your life to Him, accepting the call to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him?

If you have not, today is a great day to do that. You can do that right in this moment. Just tell God what you want to do. If you would like to talk about it with someone, I will be up here when the service ends; and I would love to talk with you about it.

If you have already made this decision at some time in your life, this is great time to evaluate where you are in following through with this commitment in reality. Maybe you have gotten a little lazy. You might even be living in a way a non-believer lives: you are not denying yourself, you are not submitting to God’s authority and the way of the cross; and you are following your own plan, and not following Christ.

If you find yourself there, you have one option: confess it before God and recommit yourself to His call today. You can do that right in your seat. If you would like to tell us about it, you can see Steve or I after the service. We would love to hear about your decision and pray with you.

Let’s take some time to consider this and pray right now.