Mark 8:27–9:13 | The Jesus Way

We're in this series called The Jesus Way. If you've got your Bibles, you might want to open them up to Mark chapter 8. I heard, bang. Sat there for a little bit, bang. I'm like, oh no. Sat there a little bit longer, bang. And that third bang, I'm like, oh no. So I'm sitting in my living room. And I'm hearing these sounds of birds that are absolutely going at terminal velocity, whacking our huge living room windows. And I'm seeing bird juice on the windows. And they aren't dying, because I go outside and I'm like, they hit so hard. But I did see one, he's like dazed, and he's in the air trying to gather himself, and then whoo, he's away. And that day I realized, it's done. Can't do it anymore. I had put up in our front yard, we've kind of got a very short yard, it's kind of a townhouse situation out in the burbs, and I put up this beautiful bird feeder. And it's got like squirrel protectant bird feeders where if a squirrel jumps on it, they're weighted in such a way, they're spring-loaded in such a way that the weight of the squirrel will shut the door down for the sunflower seeds. But if the bird comes and perches on that thing, even pretty large birds, they're gobbling away. But he got to the point where we had so many birds, and I've been feeding these things like bulk bird seed. I get 50-pound bags of sunflower seeds that are shelled. And it's like, I'll load them up, and two pounds of bird seed. They were going through three feeders, two pounds per feeder every two days. I mean, they're chowing down. I've got the most beautiful portly birds around our home. They're just like huge, big old bellies. They're getting big. But those windows are right there and they just kept smacking right into them. So I'm like, we got to do something different. So I tell my bride, I said, I'm not getting rid of the bird feeders altogether. I'm going to go around the backyard into a common area and I've got a plan. And I go to all my neighbors. I said, all right, here's the plan. I want to feed birds. My bride loves looking at them. They're good for people to see. Are you with me on this one? Yeah, do what you got to do. So I'm like, great. And I got the whole plan going here. And the plan is that if I'm going to have a bird feeder back there, I've got to take some common area, and I've got to rake all that undergrowth out of the way. And then I figured this whole thing out, and I've got this cloth that I've already purchased that I've got to roll out on the ground, and that's weed blocker cloth. and then on top of that weed blocker i'm going to get some crushed rock and it's going to be like two to three inches deep and then i've got this eight inch by eight inch heavy plate boom boom boom you go around you pound that gravel down then i'm going to put about an inch of sand on top of that then i'm getting some eight inch by 12 inch kind of different shapes a little bit but about eight inch by twelve inch flagstone and I've got this flagstone that I'm gonna put down then I'm going to pour in some pea gravel and maybe have a polymer mix that allows rain to go through it but it kinda keeps the pea gravel together and I can hardly wait we're gonna have a bird area and the birds aren't gonna die hitting our windows anymore now Here's the reality. For me to build this area for my bride's birds and for the neighbors to see, there's some steps involved, right? I mean, you got to pull it away. You got to roll out the cloth. Then you got to get the gravel on top, and then you tamp that down. Then you pour the sand on top of that, and then you beat that stuff down, get it all evened out. Then you put the flagstone, then the filler, then the polymer, and then you're good to go. There is a cost and a calling in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Now before I jump into this text today, I just want you to know that although I say cost and calling, this has nothing to do with your human effort. But it will involve some cost for you to take hold of the abundant life that God has for us. and in this passage of scripture that we're going to look at today jesus is going to illustrate for us beautifully what the cost and calling is of the jesus way and one of the things that i'm so encouraged by with so many young people and a lot of tick tockers and different influencers that are out there that are young flame throwing followers of jesus is there has been a new There's a new messaging out there that shouldn't be new because it's gospel centered. But there is a call on our lives to really follow Jesus the way he describes in the word. And there there was a season in the church, and I just want to confess this for all you young people here. where what we did was in an attempt to love people we actually lowered the bar of discipleship we made it so low that we're like oh we'll just come here and we started doing message series that are like five ways to be happy and different things like that. But here's what I need you to know. Happiness is a promise from God. But the way it's taken hold of is not by me getting up here, prattling my mouth about five ways to be happy. It's about us opening the word of God and going, What did Jesus say it looks like to follow him? Because that's what discipleship means. It means that we're apprentices of Jesus. And so this old dead orthodoxy that I'm glad is going away and somebody's like putting it out to pasture and putting it to death. The old dead orthodoxy is, well, just come to church and give them a little bit of your money and maybe get into a small group. No, no, no, no. We put forward a brand of discipleship that is unrecognizable in the very words of Jesus. So we are going to have an awesome opportunity today to get it straight in our face. And it's going to be like pulling back the undergrowth, rolling out this, getting a few inches of gravel, beating that thing down. There's a process involved that if we don't look at the words of Jesus, we will wonder why the elusiveness of the joy of seeing birds Feeding and watching all that fun stuff happen why that never is something that we take hold of I want that for you. I Want you to know the abundant life in Christ? You want that you want love in your life genuine love not fake love you want joy you want peace who didn't want peace and Who doesn't need patience? You see, the calling on our life is an incredible calling. And if we're honest with ourselves, if we look at our life, we're functional atheists. We go through all these religious motions, but we've never stopped to go hold it. if we're gonna live in this other realm although we live here but we live vertically with God we've got to order our private lives in a way that's going to be reflective of this God who sent his son to die for us and so today I want to talk with you about the cost and calling of the Jesus way and it begins it begins with a clear confession Jesus was on a walk with his disciples And Jesus asked a question of his disciples. He said, who do people say that I am? They spoke up. They said, some say you're John the Baptist. And that's going back to a text from a couple of weeks ago where Herod was so freaked out by this Jesus that he's like, it's John the Baptist, the guy that I killed. He's reincarnated. Some say you're Elijah. Some say you're just one of the prophets. And Jesus looked at his disciples and he goes, no, who do you say I am? And this is what Peter said in Mark 8, verse 29. You are the Christ. The original word here is Christos. You know what it means? It means the anointed one. And really, even better defined is you are the deliverer we've been looking for. You're the one that we've been looking for. You're the one that we need. You're the one that we've been anticipating. You're the one that the prophets had prophesied that you would be coming. You would be bringing peace. You would give us hope. you would give us a place of refuge you would let our hearts come to a place of calm you would be our true strong tower the righteous run in and find refuge in you you are the Christ and here's my bottom line on this point for you today have you ever come to a point in your life number one where you said Jesus is The Christ. No, more than that. Jesus is my Christos. Is he your deliverer? Or is it just a dead orthodoxy where you added Jesus on? And for some of you, most of you in this room, you're like me. You know what I have to be reminded of all the time in my spiritual life? I have to be reminded over and over again by the promptings of the Spirit, most generally when I'm reading the Word, no, this one who I follow today, this is not smoke and mirrors. This is not bubblegum Christianity. This Jesus really wants to work in me today, and I need him. You are my Christ. You're my deliverer. You were the one that I was looking for. Some of you are new here, so I'm going to remind everyone here who Carl was before Christ Jesus came into my life and transformed me. I was a cocaine snorting, drinking snort. Corousing life of the party and one of the most hollow empty inside men you would ever meet in your life But you would have never known it It was going on deep inside See, I was living like everyone else and we got a fake it till you make it culture that we live in. I A lot of you guys, I'm telling you, you watch what's going on out there. You see highlight reels on all the social media. Here's what you need to know. Without Jesus Christ, everybody is medicating their pain with something or someone. Everyone. And one of the things Satan wants to do to us is tell us, wow, they seem to have it going on over there or over here. If you could look inside the heart of people that are looking for money, status, platform, clothes, acclaim, new hobbies, if you could look behind there, you would find out very quickly, boy, this is really empty. That's an empty soul. And it's good to have a moment here in quietness to just say in this quietness right now, who is Jesus to you? Are we just going to church? I want to be a better person. I'll tell you right now, Jesus does not want to make you better. He wants to make you new. And he wants to take that newness of salvation and begin to work something new in you every day. Every day. And you might say, pastor, come on. Every day. Every day. I am blown away at the stuff that God's teaching me right now as a man with two adult kids and a granddaughter and a bride and I've been married 38 years and sometimes I look at myself and then I talk to God and I go God I've been married 38 years you've done so much work in me and I still suck as a husband and that's a healthy thing Because when you realize you, and this is almost an on an edge word right there. That's as crass as it's going to get today. But when you realize that you suck at anything, and then you turn your eyes to Christos. And say, you're the one that I've been looking for for this. You're the one that I've been looking for for this. Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot. I got into the old dead orthodoxy rut of just going to church, but oh, hear me now. The acid test of your life is not whether you show up to church, it's whether or not Jesus is showing up in your life throughout the week. That's how we know we're walking with Jesus. And that's the way you can build a life where birds come in and feed and enjoy. And you look out and go, wow, look at that. And he wants to do that in you. So it begins with a clear confession. But it embraces the cross before the crown. This is tough. In Mark 8, 31, this is what we find. The Son of Man, Jesus said, 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. Must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. You know what happened after this verse? Peter took Jesus aside. He took him aside, and you ready for what the text says? He said, come on over here, Jesus. Look, you're my leader, but don't you ever do that again. The text says that Peter rebuked Jesus. Can I just give you some friendly advice? Don't rebuke God. Just don't do that. It's just, I'm throwing that for free. Don't rebuke God. And I want to be this candid. You can be frustrated with God. He can handle that. You can ask God questions like, why God? I do that four times a day. But don't ever rebuke God. What was going on? Why was Peter rebuking Jesus? Here's why. We often do this ourselves 2,000 years later. We want our Jesus to show up in ways that Jesus never intends to show up. see Peter was looking at Jesus saying what I want is your kingdom set up here don't be saying you're dying we've been waiting for you a long time the king is coming we sang it at church all the time at synagogue but we we kept singing he's coming he's coming don't you dare say you're leaving you know what Jesus said back to Peter get behind me Satan Now, why did he say that? Was Peter Satan? Come on, guys. No, it wasn't Satan. But he's saying such nonsensical stuff, so looking at the stuff that he wants practically, that he's being stupid. And Peter says, knock it off, man. Get behind me. And when he said, get behind me, Satan, he's saying the words that are coming out of your mouth don't jive with what I am here to do. It embraces the cross before the crown. Jesus said in verse 32, it won't be on the screen, but I want to give it to you. For you are not setting your mind on things of God, but on the things of man. And I want to ask you today, Do you have your mind set on the things of God? Or is your mind set on the things of man? I know it's hard because we're human. We have emotions. Guys get crushes on girls. Girls get crushes on guys. We want to have a career that actually puts some bread on the table. I mean, all that stuff is real. We want to have a life that God builds for us. It's something that we could actually be thankful for. But you got to have your mind set on the things above, not on earthly things. Paul says in Colossians 3, for we died and our life is now hidden with Christ and God. But he embraces the cross before the crown. You know how I take this? The reality is, is I'm going to go into the backyard and And I'm going to rake out all that undergrowth and I'm going to roll out that mat that's going to keep the weeds from growing up through there. And then I'm going to put down the rock. And you know what I got to do with the rock? I've got to pound on that stuff a little bit. Pound it, pound it, pound it. And here's what you need to know. There's no crown without the cross. Any notion that you're going to go through this spiritual journey and not have hardship is a lie. In fact, I would venture to say that I had far more spiritual warfare in my life after I was born again than I ever encountered before. Because Satan was green lighting me on every hundred dollar bill rolled up in a big line off the mirror. He's like, yeah, go man. Hope that fills you up. If Satan isn't bothering you, you probably aren't bothering Satan. When on the other hand, if you're finding yourself up against it, I mean our Jesus said it, for him there would be a crown, but first there is a cross. And we are called apprentices of Jesus Christ and we walk in his ways. And the crown will come one day, but there's some crushed rock in the middle. That God by his power is going to tamp down. And he will do it. The crown's coming, guys. Embrace the cross today. The cost and calling of Jesus and the way that he goes is also, it involves radical surrender. I can't even get a strong enough word here. If anyone would come after me, jesus says let him take up his cross and follow me and then he goes on i'm just gonna i'm gonna just yeah put up that next verse there guys yeah if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me but then just leave that verse there and i want to keep reading on here For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. And then a question is asked by Jesus. For what does it profit a man or a woman to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? It involves radical surrender. The call on your life is a bold, confident, and well-ordered private life that signals to God, I'm not living for this world. I am banking on eternity. Radical surrender is a hard thing to do. I just felt at this moment right here, I want to just coach you up in how this looks in my life. And I did it this morning again. In fact, I got up this morning at 3 a.m. hoping to sleep in a little bit longer, but I didn't. So I got up, grabbed a cup of coffee, went into the dark in the living room where the bird juice is still on the windows up there somewhere. And I sat there in the dark, and I began to do one of the most important spiritual disciplines you can ever do in your life. In the quietness of the morning this morning, I asked the Lord to search me know me and try me and see if there'd be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the way everlasting and you know what I'm beginning to become a man that actually earnestly means that every morning I earnestly mean it and here's why God always reveals to me. Well, Carl, there was this thing that you said yesterday. I want to coach you on that. I don't want you. That could seem self-aggrandizing, Carl. Let's motor that back a little bit. You know, your bride's been cooking dinner this last week. And remember how we talked that you were going to go up there and help her even if you're a little bit tired and you were going to go help her, Carl? Remember how we talked about that? I'm like, yeah. But she told me, God, that she had it. And then God says to me, well, a good woman always says she's got it. No, these are the conversations I have with God. No, I'm not kidding you. These are conversations I have with God. And this is one I had this morning. My bride's been sitting back here smiling going, wow, I'm going to get some help at dinner time. You are. You are. And there were a couple other things that were probably too personal for me to share because that would be weird. But my relationship with Jesus is that practical, man. I get up and I talk with him. You know what the danger is for you? You think he's the Christ. I said it once. Stamp it, got baptized, now I'm on with my life. What a foolish thing to do. Oh my goodness. You are going to get your booty in a crack so quick, it's not even funny. Here's the truth. It involves radical surrender, and radical is this. God, I don't presume I know everything about me. Search me. And by the way, for some of you who think, well, I've got a pretty good handle on this. I know the word pretty well. No! The word needs to be alive and active. It needs to be the two-edged sword. You need to honestly ask yourself, do I have kind of the spiritual gift or so I fancy myself of being a complainer and a grumbler? If you listen to God, he'll tell you, you grumble too much. You just grumble too much. I've heard it. You see radical surrender says if anyone would come after me let him take up his cross and follow me. What does it profit a person to gain the whole world and lose his soul? And the answer is nothing. And taking up the cross is a radical transformation of the soul that saves you from an eternity separated from God. But it's also the only way to live daily. Every day. I hadn't planned on saying this, but I think this is important for this audience here today. When you begin to cultivate early morning, in fact, I see Caleb sitting here today, and he's a really cool young man, and he came up to me here about a month ago, and he said, that five minutes in the morning thing that you told us broke. He's like, that's like the best thing going. Because if you get five minutes in the morning where you're really introspective before the Lord, and I'm telling you, God can do more work in five minutes than you can in all your hours of Bible study. I'm pro-Bible. I let Bible open all the time. But you've got to have the Bible open and then have your heart open where he can speak through the word into your heart, not into your brain. Amen. I mean, if God's word's not changing the way you live, then you're not reading it right. Straight up. Well, I'm just getting honest with you this morning. It is true. It involves radical surrender, and here's the beauty of this. When you get that time early in the morning, you will hear the voice of God throughout the day, and you need to now learn to train your mind to hear the voice of the Spirit of God. But the Holy Spirit convicts the world regarding sin, righteousness, and judgment. And he's our comforter. And he guides us as well. And he wants to do that in you. And I mean, hear me now. It is that practical. It's that real. The cost and calling of Jesus' way is it responds with humble obedience. Six days later, as the story goes in Mark 9 now, Peter, James, and John went to a mountain with Jesus, and he was transfigured. What happened? The text says, that his robe became so white that it was more white than any cloth can be bleached on earth. And they're freaking out. They're like, what is happening? And the face of Jesus is shining brightly. And two guests appear, Elijah and Moses. Now you might wonder, well, how in the world do we know it's Elijah and Moses? Did they know what these guys looked like? No. So I would imagine, inductively, that there's some conversations that Jesus and Elijah and Moses are having. And I don't know if Moses was saying, yeah, keeled over on Mount Nebo. No. I don't know if Elijah was going through all the exploits of him being a prophet. I don't know what in the world the discussion was, but they know it's Elijah and Moses and Jesus. And Peter, James, and John were just like you and I would be. They were freaked out. They were terrified. As a matter of fact, this is what happens. Peter, who I feel like I'm a lot like this guy. But Peter was the kind of guy that when he got nervous like this, some people get nervous and they just shut down. Some of you like that? You get nervous and you're like, oh. Peter gets nervous and he can't shut up. He just can't shut up. And Peter says to Jesus, hey, should I set up a tent? One for you, one for Elijah, and one for Moses. And he goes back to his two brother, to his two disciple buddies, and the conversation had to have played out like this because the text says, because Peter was terrified, dot, dot, dot, he said these stupid things. So he's all freaked out, and he's like, hey, how about if I, we'll have a buffet. You know, he's coming up with something. He's got to say something. He said, I'll set up three tents. Uh-uh. a voice from heaven came and spoke and this is what god said this is my beloved son listen to him you know what this greek word is it's a kuite it's a kuite Now this is an important Greek word. Leave this text up here. Because this isn't just listening. Akute in the original language means listen and act. And this comports with what Jesus said, and we even sang about it today. The difference between a house that when the storm comes and it falls versus the house that when the storm comes and it stands is one thing. We say it here often because this is Discipleship 101. Some people... Here today will hear the word and walk away and go, man, that was a great word. Some of you will hear the word and put it into practice. You're going to stand strong. What God said to Peter is a coup d'etat. Listen. Go do what the man says. You know what? It responds differently. with humble obedience. You know what that is? That's me going through the steps in my backyard. It's pulling away the underbrush and rolling it out and now getting the gravel down and getting all that and tamping it down. See, here's the deal. Some people dream of having a cool bird area but they never get the supplies or they get them and it sits in the garage for a month of Sundays. Some people get the supplies, get off their booty, go outside, do that stuff, build a little area there, and the birds show up. That's Christianity. When Jesus said it, are you going to do it? Because if you do it, you'll be like a house built on the rock. Is it hard sometimes? Yeah. Sometimes I read the words of Jesus and I'm like, I'm going to skip that verse. Subconsciously. Anyone else done that? Don't leave me hanging out here like summer sausage. Of course you have. Sometimes you read the word and you're like, I'm glad I know that one. Don't want to practice it, but glad I know it. No, you know where the real spiritual rock stars are in this world? They aren't loud necessarily. Thankfully, there are some loud ones who are actually spiritual. But they listen to Jesus, and they do it. Isn't that cool? I just give you discipleship. Just read the words that Jesus spoke, and when you see something that you aren't doing, do it. just do it how great is that oh we're done now i got a few more things true christianity only works when you do what jesus says if you don't want to do what he says just plan on building on the sand the rest of your life and every new storm of life is going to knock your booty down And I mean do what he says, without justification, explanation, or minimization, or delay. If you go alone, go. If you stand alone, stand. If you walk alone, walk alone. You'll be the richer for it. One last thing. It expects suffering, but it ends in resurrection. Oh, yeah. You know, the interesting thing in this text, and it's used twice, is these are big stories, so I'm just cherry-picking the central passage for each one. But, you know, it's really interesting. There's a theological concept called the secret Jesus. Because in this text in this story jesus speaking to this great healing that he's been doing he says tell no one what you have seen now why would jesus say tell no one what you had seen and the answer is simply this jesus knew That he needed to run these three years of public ministry without being harassed to set up a kingdom here on earth and he needed to establish how life worked as a disciple of Christ without these guys blowing his cover too soon. This secret savior theology is really profound. But here's what you need to know. He spoke to them these words. so also the Son of Man will certainly suffer many things, but tell no one. Christ's sacrifice of his life and his resurrection cleared the way and opened a new and living way. And it's made possible for us to overcome suffering and rise up with him. You know, the interesting thing about this long text in Mark chapter 9 is that there was a call on the disciples' life to begin living like Jesus lived. To begin through prayer and fasting, see deliverance. But Jesus also undergirded for his disciples. He said, listen, the Son of Man is going to suffer, but ultimately resurrection is coming. We don't talk a lot about it, but Jesus promised it. If they persecuted me, he said, how much more so will they persecute those who are my disciples? And I want to give you a hard reality of the abundant life in Christ. It's going to get hard. And it's going to get harder in our nation to stand for Christ. I cannot give you details, but one week ago today, I was told a heart wrenching story of someone who absolutely lost their job. And an amazing job. Because the bosses in this workplace did not like what this person stood for. They worked hard, had good reviews. They are in a field, without giving it away, that requires many, many years of training. And they were let go. And the way they were let go is they said, well, we've got a workforce reduction. See, there's ways that people get around facing things for what they really are. That's going to happen. But what was most encouraging to me was to look at this man and have him say back to me, Jesus said it was going to happen. And I never thought it would. But we're here. And I guess he's going to carry me through. And he will. So I've got a turning point question for you this morning that's really simple. Really simple. And here it is. Will you surrender to the Jesus way? Just that. I want you to close your eyes, everyone in this room, just close your eyes, and I'm gonna walk you through something really practical here. I wanna ask you, in fact, I'm gonna be this bold. Is there someone in this room today that has never made a clear confession that Jesus is the Christ? He's the one I've always been looking for. He's the one I've always needed. And today you're saying for the first time in your life, I'm making him my savior. If that's you, I just want you to look up at me and raise your hand and I'll talk to you after the service. Right on. Today. Today's the day. Right on. Anyone else, just look up at me and put your hand in the air. I've got to see you. If you've never said before today, Jesus is the Christ. He is the anointed one. He's the one I need in my life. But you know you need to do that today. Just look up at me. I'll talk to you after the service. Who else? Who else? Right there, young lady. Right on. Right on. That's great. Anyone else? Anyone else? I'm going to look around here. Anyone else? That's a powerful thing, guys. That's a powerful thing. Isn't it? It's awesome. So I'll talk to you both after the service. And you know, here's the cool thing. When you acknowledge he's the Christ, it's a cry of the soul. It's not even... Walking down an aisle or lifting a hand in the air. It's a heart that says, you're the one I've been looking for today. I give it all to you. Who here needs to be aware of the fact that they need to embrace the cross before the crown? And you're going to surrender to the Jesus way. Who here knows that the Jesus way involves radical surrender and you've got something in your life that you need to know, you need to surrender to? This is maybe the biggest one for the whole room. The Jesus way and the calling on your life is to respond with humble obedience. Will you do that? Will you begin to be a person who does what Jesus says? Will you? How about expecting suffering? Will you begin to brace yourself by living in closer proximity to Jesus so that when the suffering comes, you can say, well, he said it was coming. And I'm going to be okay. Because my God loves me. Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you that you are here. That you, by your goodness and grace, change us day by day. If we will lean into you as disciples of Jesus Christ. Forgive us, Lord, for diluting what real Christianity is and making it into this thing where we kind of hang out with certain people or do certain things. God, let it take over the totality of who we are. And God, I pray right now for people that have been in Jesus for a lot of years. Spark a fire of revival in us, I pray. And I thank you, God. I thank you. In the name of Jesus, amen.