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WHOEVER WANTS TO BE MY DISCIPLE

Mark 8:31-9:1

Key Verse 8:34

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.

Introduction

Last week we learned that Jesus is the Messiah. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Messiah. As soon as the disciples have come to recognize him as the Messiah, Jesus begins to teach them further, that is about the Messiahship first and then the discipleship. As Jesus’ disciples, we are to know the discipleship and live according to it. May God open our hearts to accept Jesus’ teaching and live as true disciples of Jesus so that we may be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

Read verses 8:31-33. What did Jesus begin to teach his disciples about the work of the Messiah? (31) How did Peter respond and what does this show about him? (32) Why did Jesus call Peter "Satan"? (33)

1-1, Read verses 8:31-33.

He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

1-2, What did Jesus begin to teach his disciples about the work of the Messiah? (31)

Upon hearing Peter’s confession Jesus began to teach the way of the Messiah. Here Jesus used the strong word “must.”
Jesus must suffer many things. He must be rejected by the religious leaders. He must be killed and after three days rise again.
As Isaiah 53:4-5 reads, “he took up our pain and bore our suffering…he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities.”
After going through such unbearable trials, he would rise again from the dead. Jesus is not a political Messiah, but a suffering Messiah for our sins.

1-3, How did Peter respond and what does this show about him? (32)

He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. Undoubtedly Peter was stunned and traumatized. So he rebuked Jesus strongly, probably saying “Lord, you should not talk like that. That’s terrible!”
Peter thought that the Messiah should be a conquering King who should destroy all his enemies and establish a powerful earthly kingdom.
Jesus could have taken one of the offers from Satan from His 40 day fasting and prayer to bypass suffering and procure all glory on earth. But he did not.
Also when we carefully study the Old Testament, we will discover that God’s prophecies point to the suffering Messiah.
Genesis 3:15 describes that the Messiah would suffer while reconciling sinners to God. Psalm 22:5 depicts Jesus’ exhaustion and thirst on the cross. Isaiah 50:6 predicts Jesus’ trial through spitting, whipping, and punching.
Isaiah 53 prophesies the meaning of Jesus’ suffering and death. Jesus must suffer and be killed to pay the price of our sins as the Lamb of God.

1-4, Why did Jesus call Peter "Satan"? (33)

33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Jesus came to the world to defeat Satan and to save sinners and restore God’s kingdom. Satan used Peter to frustrate God’s world salvation work.
No doubt Peter loved Jesus as his Messiah and teacher. So he was concerned about Jesus and his well-being.
But Peter didn’t have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns, the utmost concern of which may be the security of life on earth.
As a human, each of us has many different human concerns such as school study, job, marriage, health, raising children and many other things.
No doubt we should take care of these concerns. But these human concerns can easily take over our life priority, and we become slaves to them.
But God’s concerns are revealed throughout the Bible. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” - John 3:16
God’s No.1 concern is that we believe in His Son, Jesus so that we will not perish but have eternal life.
For our salvation, Jesus must suffer many things, and be rejected and killed and then rise again from the dead.
Jesus always had in mind the concerns of God as his top priority and lived for them. That’s why he went up to a solitary place early morning to seek His will.
And for the concerns of God he was willing to give his life. Jesus wanted to accomplish God’s concerns and reveal his glory by dying on the cross.
On the other hand, Peter only thought of Jesus’ suffering and death humanly and rebuked Jesus not to suffer and die.
Peter spoke for Satan when he had in mind only human concerns. We want an easy and trouble-free way, but God’s concerns are to fulfill a redemptive purpose.
Christian are people who see things from God’s concerns and make a decision to fulfill God’s concerns.
In Genesis, Abraham’s servant refused to eat before His master’s desire was fulfilled. Likewise we are to be concerned about God’s concern the most.

Read verse 8:34-37. If anyone wants to follow Jesus as his disciple, what must that person do? (34) From Jesus’ response in verses 34-37, what can we learn about the way to life? (35-37)

2-1, Read verse 8:34-37.

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. 35 For whoever wants to save their life[b] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

2-2, If anyone wants to follow Jesus as his disciple, what must that person do? (34)

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.

Jesus openly invited anyone who wants to be His disciple. To follow Jesus as His disciple, there are 3 requirements.

First requirement is to deny ourselves. Jesus didn’t say, “hate themselves.” Deny ourselves does mean to give up.
So denying ourselves means giving up our natural feelings about ourselves. Naturally, we keep our right to take control of our lives.
Naturally we want to have the final right to decide what we are going to do and where we are going to go.
Naturally we don’t want anyone to make final decision for ourselves. But denying ourselves means giving up this right of owning our lives.
Paul understood it well and said 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.”
Paul denied himself and yielded his right to Jesus. In other words, he yielded his driver’s seat to Jesus. That is the true meaning of denying ourselves.
To be Jesus’ disciples, the first step we take is to deny our self-trust and our desire to run our own lives according to our natural urge and drive.
But we must know that our natural urge and drive lead us to godless and corrupt lifestyle.

Second requirement is to take up our cross. Simply cross is God-given mission to each of us. Jesus’ mission was to carry the cross to Golgotha and die there for the sins of the world.
Apostle Paul’s mission was to carry the cross of the gospel to the Gentile world. Our mission is to bring the gospel of Jesus to people in college and university.
We all have school study, jobs and family responsibilities to bear. But as Jesus’ disciples, we have another cross, the cross of mission.
This cross of mission makes our life truly meaningful and worthy, because God created us for his mission.
Human beings are truly human beings when they carry out God’s mission. God made us in such a way from the beginning(Genesis 1:28). Jesus’ disciples are those who take up the cross of mission.

Third requirement is to follow Jesus. It reminds me of 2 Timothy 3:10-11a, “You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings”
Jesus is the Good Shepherd for His sheep to follow. He suffered and died on the cross and raised from the dead.
We must follow Jesus in such a way to deny ourselves and take up our cross because it is the only way that we will ever find life.
It sounds strange to say, "You will never live until you walk down death row with Jesus," but that is the idea. You can't gain resurrection life without dying first.
Following Jesus means to lose our life for Jesus and His gospel. Jesus elaborate in verses 35-37 in a paradoxical way.

2-3, From Jesus’ response in verses 34-37, what can we learn about the way to life? (35-37)

35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?

Everyone wants to save their life. Nobody wants to lose their life. The question is how to save one’s life.
Jesus says, “Whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” This is paradoxical and difficult to understand.
We can understand it with John 12:24-25, “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
The kernel of wheat shows the truth clearly that only through death comes life. If a grain of wheat does not die, it remains as a single seed.
But if it falls to the ground and dies, it produces abundant fruits. When we die to our sinful self for Jesus, Jesus will save our life and give us eternal life.
So we crucify our sinful feelings and desires and follow Jesus’ words. Instead of losing our time & energy for something else, we lose our time, energy and our life for studying the Bible daily.

37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

Every day, we exchange a day of our life for something. One day we will have no more day to exchange and we will die.
Therefore, while we have days of our life, we must save our life and soul. What a tragedy it is to gain many things of this world but to lose our soul in eternity.
Jesus urges us to save our life while we have days of our life in exchange for our soul.
Jesus came to the world to give us eternal life through his suffering, death and then through his glorious resurrection.
Following Jesus as his disciple means participating in suffering with great hope to have glorious eternal life. May we exchange our daily life for saving our soul.

Read verses 38 and 9:1. In light of Jesus’ second coming, what should be our attitude toward Jesus and His word? (38) What is the meaning of Jesus’ promise in 9:1?

3-1, Read verses 38 and 9:1.

38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

3-2, In light of Jesus’ second coming, what should be our attitude toward Jesus and His word? (38)

38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

This is Jesus’ warning as well as his promise. Jesus promises that he will come back in God’s glory with the holy angels.
But his promise contains his warning that we should not be ashamed of Jesus and his words in this adulterous and sinful generation.
If we are ashamed of Jesus, Jesus will be ashamed of us when he will come again.
Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He saved us from our sin by sacrificing his life on the cross.
We must be proud of him and share him with others boldly, joyfully and willingly, knowing that Jesus is the only way to God’s kingdom and eternal life.
Paul confessed in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes; first for the Jews, then to the Gentile.”
Let us share Jesus and his gospel with campus students shamelessly because we know that the gospel of Jesus is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.
May we look up at Jesus the suffering Messiah who suffered and died on the cross and rose again from the dead.
We all want to love Jesus and follow him. Being a disciple of Jesus is not easy. It is radical. But it is the way to life. May we deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus, losing our life for Jesus and the gospel. Amen.

3-3, What is the meaning of Jesus’ promise in 9:1?

And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

Walking with Jesus doesn't just mean a life of death and crosses. It also means a life of the power and glory of the kingdom of God.
Jesus promised to His disciples that they will taste the glimpses of that power and glory that would happen in the book of Acts as well as transfiguration mountain sooner or later.

Conclusion

Jesus is coming again in glory. Some people like to skip Jesus teaching if denial and death, but only want to like Jesus coming in glory. They do not want to follow Jesus to Calvary but they do want to follow him to glory. It is not easy to follow Jesus in this adulterous and perverse generation. But according to God's promises, Jesus will come again in glory and power. When Jesus comes again, he will come as the Judge of the living and the dead. Then he will separate those who were ashamed of him and his words from those who took up the cross of mission and suffered to keep God's words in their hearts. Those who are ashamed of him and his words will be condemned. But those who suffered for the gospel and Jesus will be accepted into his kingdom. Jesus rewards us richly when we take up our cross and follow him. May God bless us to accept Jesus’ invitation to the glorious life of mission by deny ourselves and take up our cross daily his coming semester.

One word: I want to follow JESUS!