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The Good News of Jesus

05/03/2009 - Take Up Your Cross, Mark 8:34-9:1

A number of years ago I was on a beach in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when I noticed that a huge crowd had gathered a few blocks away. So I walked down the beach to check it out. At first I thought somebody was hurt or had been rescued out of the ocean, but as I got closer I could hear a man talking through a bullhorn. And as I stood on the edge of the crowd I could hear that he was preaching the gospel and telling people about Jesus. And I thought, "That's pretty cool!"

Then I noticed that he had a cross draped over his shoulder. Not a little cross like you hang around your neck or stick in your ear, but a big, thick, wooden cross that was leaning on his shoulder. And I thought, "That's an interesting prop."

Later on I read in the newspaper that the man's name was Kevin "Mad Dog" Mudford. He was a big burly biker, who traveled around the country dragging a seven-foot cross behind his motorcycle. On the bottom of the cross there was a little wheel that made it mobile.

And the article described how this man had been radically changed by Jesus. At the age of 26 he had already spent half his life in prison or in other institutions, but Jesus had rescued him and so he literally carried a cross to identify with Christ and give him opportunities to share his story.

This past March a movie came out called The Cross. Some of you saw the documentary right here at Oaks Theater. It's the story of a man named Arthur Blessitt who spent forty years of his life carrying a twelve-foot wooden cross around the world. He started in Hollywood, California, on Christmas Day 1969 and finally ended his journey in June 2008, four decades later.

And during that time he carried the cross through 315 nations, island groups, and territories. He walked on all seven continents including Antarctica, through 52 countries that were at war. He's now listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the "world's longest walk," covering 38,102 miles, a distance that would circle the globe at the equator one and a half times.

And why did he do it? "Because I love God," he says, "And because I love people. And I try to keep it simple. I walk for Jesus! At 5 a.m. one morning Jesus spoke to me and said, 'Arthur, take the cross off the wall of your building and carry it on foot. Identify my message on the highways and road sides where the people are.'

"Now for 40 years I've tried to be faithful to Jesus and that call. The walk from nation to nation and across continents has put me in touch with people in all their hurts, pain, struggles, dreams, wars, happiness, hunger, greed, generosity, hate, and love. Sometimes I feel that the twelve foot cross is the lightest weight I bear. I go with the cross, Jesus, and love, to people not just as walker or traveler or adventurer - but as a pilgrim."

This morning we come to a passage of Scripture in whichJesus says, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

What does it mean to take up our cross and follow Jesus? Is Jesus asking all of us to be like Arthur Blessitt and Kevin "Mad Dog" Mudford and pick up a literal cross? Is he asking us to drag a piece of wood around the world or to work every day or to school? I don't think so. I think that's a special mission that he's given to these two guys and I'm thankful for them. But I don't think that's God's mission for all of us. Instead, Jesus wants all of us to know, right up front, that if we choose to be his disciple there will be a price to pay. And for some it may mean more than carrying a cross, for some it may mean hanging on a cross just like Jesus did. It certainly did for many of the Twelve.

If you have a Bible meet me at Mark 8:34. This morning we continue our series through the gospel of Mark with a trip back to Caesarea Philippi. This is where we left Jesus and his twelve disciples last week. If you remember Jesus took them there to get them away from the crowds and the critics and all those who were out to get him.

He took them out of the Holy Land to a very unholy place, a city filled with emperor worship and idol worship and all the immorality that went with them. The gates of hell were there, a cave that many thought led to the underworld. In many ways Caesarea Philippi was the intersection of everything evil and all that was opposed to Christ and his kingdom. But Jesus chose that place as the backdrop for the final exam that he gave his disciples in the course that we called Jesus 101.

And Jesus 101 is all about the identity of Jesus. Who is he? Who is this man that even the wind and the waves obey him? Jesus can't take his friends any further until they've settled that fundamental question. So he gives them a two part final exam. The first question is a subjective one, "Who do people say that I am?" And they tell him the buzz that was out on the street. "Some say you're John the Baptist raised from the dead and others think you're Elijah and others claim that you're Jeremiah or one of the other prophets." And that's all very flattering.

But then Jesus asks them the most important question, "But who do you say that I am?" And after a long, awkward pause Peter blurts out, "You're the Messiah, the Son of the living God!" Yes! That's the right answer. Peter nails it because God the Father had opened his blind eyes to see Jesus clearly.

So they pass the final exam of Jesus 101! Jesus is the more than John the Baptist or Elijah or any of the other prophets. He's the anointed one, the liberating king, the Son of the living God, the one that those prophets had spoken about for centuries.

And so now having passed Jesus 101, he immediately hands out the syllabus for Jesus 201. Jesus 201 is all about what Jesus came to do. Look at verse 31, He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.

Jesus 201 is a course on suffering because that's what's going to happen to Jesus. He's going to suffer many things at the hands of the religious leaders and he's going to be killed and three days later rise again.

Look at verse 32, He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but merely human concerns."

Jesus 201 doesn't get off to a very good start because a suffering, dead Messiah was not on anybody's radar screen! The Messiah was going to come and kill his enemies, not be killed by them. He couldn't die and accomplish his mission. So Peter takes his aside and says, "No way, Lord. This will never happen to you!"

And Jesus says, "Get behind me, Satan! Don't talk me out of the cross because the cross is my mission." Satan's greatest temptation was to get Jesus to avoid the cross because it would be at the cross that Jesus would crush Satan's head and defeat the powers of evil once and for all, but it will take a long time for the disciples to understand that.

So this is a lesson that Jesus will have to give his disciples again and again, but they won't pass Jesus 201 until after his resurrection. Then they'll begin to understand why Jesus had to suffer and to die and to rise again. But now he says, "Not only must I suffer, but if you want to follow me you'll have to pay a price too."

Look at verse 34,Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶What good is it for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul? ³⁷Or what can you give in exchange for your soul?

Jesus had never talked like this before. Not only was he going to suffer and die on a cross, but if they really wanted to be his followers they would have to take up their cross as well. That was a chilling statement.

Everybody in the crowd knew what the cross meant. The cross was the electric chair of that day. It was the instrument of execution. The cross meant certain death to anyone who challenged Rome, but not just any kind of death. It was the symbol of a torturous, shameful, submissive death at the hands of the Empire.

Crosses were erected everywhere and anyone viewed as a threat was hung on one. The cross was Caesar's way of saying, "You cause trouble and this is what happens to you." And victims hung on crosses for days until their bodies would bloat and rot, stink and decay, be filled with maggots and become food for vultures and dogs. In fact, the cross was so inhumane that even the Romans finally outlawed it in 315 A.D.

Today, the most common symbol of the Christian faith is the cross. They come in all shapes and sizes, but that wasn't always the case. The first symbol of Christ followers was the fish because the cross was so despised.

What did the cross represent for Jesus? The cross was the ultimate test of his obedience to his Father's will. It was the final exam for him. It was the hardest thing he ever had to do. And he wrestled with it in the garden of Gethsemane when he prayed, "Father, if it be your will take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done." The cross represented submission to the will of God.

And so I think Jesus is saying here, "If you really want to be my disciple then you have to submit yourself to the Father's will just like I'm submitting myself to his will no matter what the cost. You need to pick up your cross and die to yourself just like I'm picking up my cross and dying to myself. You need to follow me. You need me to be your leader if you want to make your life fully count. And when you lose your life like that then you'll actually gain your life because then you'll discover what's really worth living for and that's me and my kingdom. What good is it to gain the whole world and have no life at the end? Real life comes from putting God's will above your own and following me no matter what."

Following Jesus means giving up control of our life. It means losing our life in order to find it. It means throwing my life away and submitting my will to God's will. And that can be excruciatingly painful at times. In fact, the word excruciating literally means "out of the cross."

Relinquishing control of our lives to Jesus is not an instantaneous, once and done event. It's not something we check off a list. Instead, dying to self is a process, sometimes an agonizingly slow process like a crucifixion that demands turning more and more control of our lives over to God.

Losing our lives is a repetitive process that involves daily, conscious decisions to submit my will to God's will. That's taking up the cross and without it we cannot be a disciple of Jesus. Being a disciple will cost us something and it may cost us a lot.

But I agree with Dallas Willard who said, "The cost of non-discipleship is far greater than the cost of discipleship." That's true. Because if we don't die to self we'll just die and forfeit our lives when we could have made the most of them for Christ and his kingdom. What good is it for you to gain the whole and forfeit your soul?

The apostle Paul put it this way in Galatians 2:20, 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.

Why do we submit our lives to Jesus? Why would we even want to? Because Jesus loves us more than anyone else and gave his life for us when he died in our place for our sin on the cross. Nobody else has ever done that or will ever do that. Nobody loves you like Jesus loves you. Nobody. He is worthy of our complete devotion and that's what this table represents that we'll observe in a moment, the death of Christ that he wants us to remember every time we come to it.

I love what A. W. Tozer said about Galatians 2:20, "There are three characteristics of those who are crucified with Christ. First, they have no plans of their own. You can't make many plans when you're hanging on a cross. Second, they are looking in just one direction. And third, they're not coming down."

Jesus is asking for our total allegiance in this passage. He goes on to say, "If any of you are ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Jesus is coming back and when he returns our lives will be evaluated. We will be judged. And if we've been ashamed of him, he'll be ashamed of us. That doesn't mean we won't enter his kingdom, but it does mean that we'll lose rewards there. Who wants Jesus to be ashamed of them? I don't. You don't. Instead, I think we'd all rather hear those words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Jesus is the Son of Man. This is the second time that Jesus has referred to himself as the Son of Man in this interaction. The first time was last week when he said in Mark 8:31, the Son of Man must suffer many things.

It's like Jesus is saying, "Now that you've figured out that I'm the Messiah let me take your understanding up a notch and tell you why I'm asking for total allegiance because I'm also the Son of Man that Daniel talked about in his prophecies."

In Daniel 7:13-14 we read, In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. ¹⁴He was given authority, glory and sovereign power, all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Jesus has every right to ask for our full devotion because he is the Son of Man and one day his kingdom will come to this earth and it will be an everlasting kingdom that will never be destroyed.

So he says in Mark 9:1, And he said to them, "Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power."And a taste of that kingdom does come in the event that we'll look at next time, the Transfiguration.

Becoming a disciple of Jesus starts with faith believing that he is the Messiah the Son of the living God. But it only starts there. It continues as we follow him, deny ourselves, take up our cross and submit more and more of our lives to his will. That's the process of discipleship and spiritual transformation that Jesus is looking for in all his followers.

A number of years ago a good friend of mine sent me a poem called the Road of Life. It's a poem that paints a graphic picture of what it means to let go of our lives and turn them over to God. And I've thought of it often. Maybe you can relate to it too.

At first, I saw God as my observer, my judge,
keeping track of the things I did wrong,
so as to know whether I merited heaven or hell when I die.
He was out there sort of like a president.
I recognized his picture when I saw it,
but I really didn’t know him.

But later on when I met Jesus,
it seemed as though life were rather like a bike ride.
But it was a tandem bike,
and I noticed that Jesus was in the back helping me pedal.

I don’t know just when it was
that he suggested we change places,
but life has not been the same since.
When I had control, I knew the way.
It was rather boring, but predictable...
It was the shortest distance between two points.

But when he took the lead,
He knew delightful long cuts, up mountains,
and through rocky places at breakneck speeds.
It was all I could do to hang on!
Even though it looked like madness,
He said, “Pedal!”
I worried and was anxious and asked,
“Where are you taking me?”
He laughed and didn’t answer,
and I started to learn trust.
I forgot my boring life
and entered into the adventure.
And when I’d say, “I’m scared,”
He’d lean back and touch my hand.

He took me to people with gifts that I needed,
gifts of healing, acceptance, and joy.
They gave me gifts to take on my journey,
my Lord’s and mine.

And we were off again.
He said, "Give the gifts away,
they’re extra baggage, too much weight."
So I did, to the people we met,
and I found that in giving I received,
and still our burden was light.

I didn’t trust him at first,
to control my life.
I thought he’d wreck it.
But he knows bike secrets,
knows how to make it bend to take sharp corners,
knows how to jump to clear high rocks,
knows how to fly to shorten scary passages.

And I’m learning to shut up and pedal,
in the strangest places.
And I’m beginning to enjoy the view
and the cool breeze on my face
with my delightful constant companion, Jesus Christ.

And when I’m sure I just can’t do anymore,
He just smiles and says..."Pedal!"

Who's steering your bike? Who's sitting in the front seat? If you want to be a disciple and make the most of your life let Jesus take the handlebars and start the adventure.

FOR MORE INFORMATION about Valley View Community Church, feel free to contact us at info@valleyviewseek.org or call 610.631.2707.