Mark | Chapter 8 – Scripture Supply

Mark 8:1-9

“Food for thought”

Introduction
Vs. 1-3 Loving your enemy
Vs. 4-9 Show them what they have won

Introduction

The 8^th chapter is a continuation of Jesus’ ministry among the gentiles as the words “In those days” are meant to tell us not a specific date but that they were still in the Decapolis region. But where had such a crowd come from here among the gentiles? There is little doubt that Jesus’ ministry with the deaf and mute man had an immediate impact but I can’t help but wonder if there was a front man in the healed demoniac of chapter five. This man was from this very area and after being delivered from the legion of demons begged Jesus that he might be with Him but instead Jesus told him to “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” That day I believe Jesus had 4000 friends of the healed demoniac who had been told the story of what great things Jesus had done for him. There is another interesting reality in the setting of circumstances of this story as the immediate need was set in motion because of Jesus’ priority to teach. Here He was among the gentiles teaching them the things of the kingdom and apparently they stayed with Him hanging on His every word for three days. These gentiles choose not to leave and seek food for their physical need because they were receiving food for their their souls. And after three days of this these folks had a strong physical need to eat and many wouldn’t have made it back home to get food with out fainting and this becomes the reason for the miracle.

Vs. 1-3 Loving your enemy

Vs. 1 As we mentioned in chapter 6, though similar the feeding of the 5000 and the feeding of the 4000 are different not only in when the events took place but where they took place. The feeding of the 5000 took place months earlier in the Jewish area of the Sea of Galilee while the feeding of the 4000 took place in the gentile area of the Sea of Galilee.

Though two separate accounts they do have things in common: In both cases the food divided was the same bread and fish, and in both cases Jesus multiplied that which was brought to Him. The repetition of this miracle so close to the time and area of the first has caused people to wonder; why Jesus did this miracle twice? The answer is found in both Matthew and Mark’s accounts as we are told that Jesus was “moved with compassion as they had been with Him 3 days without food”. No doubt this was a further illustration aimed at His disciples with regards to the heart of God towards lost humanity. God possesses no prejudices when it comes to showering his love and compassion upon humanity. Here were 4000 gentiles as there had been 5000 Jew’s. Yet neither situation hindered Jesus heart to meet their needs.

Vs. 2-3 The Greek phrase “I have compassion on the multitudes” is a phrase that today we would say “we have a heart for them” and in reference to the gentiles must have been a remarkable statement coming from Jesus in the ears of the disciples. Jesus elaborates by saying that the 4000 have “continues with me three days.” The phrase means more than merely being in the same general proximity as Jesus as in the Greek it means that they continued to abide with Him in fellowship.

Jesus engaged His disciples as he had previously months earlier at the feeding of the 5000. There the reluctance of the disciples had been due to a different kind of prejudice, one that was predicated not upon differences in culture but rather in a difference in need as they saw their need for rest of greater need than that of missing a meal. Now some 8 months later these same fellows after having spent 8 months among their enemy see a similar situation occur. Though the numbers were less, those facing the hunger were in far greater peril as these 4000 have been with Jesus 3 days without food and the there is a real possibility that some may faint on the way back to their homes. But with the greater need there was also a greater prejudice as they were gentiles. Notice that Jesus eliminates the option of sending them back home which suggest to me that Jesus was anticipating multiple excuses from His disciples. When I factor in that Jesus had been directly dealing with the prejudices of His disciples for around 8 months it reveals that within our fallen flesh such prejudices are very difficult to overcome. Peter who gave this information to Mark will face this same issue for much of his life as he will deal with it again when he deals with Cornelius the Roman centurion than many years later Peter is still struggling as he tries to keep up appearances by not eating with gentile believers when his Jewish friends were in town and is called on it by Paul.

Vs. 4-9 Show them what they have won

Vs. 4 We get a better understanding of the disciple’s disdain for the hungry gentile multitudes when in the Greek they say, “How can one SATISFY these people with bread here in the wilderness.” The word “satisfy” is a word used for feeding animals and when used in classical Greek, people like Plato do so as a way of showing contempt making it a derogatory statement. It tells us that the primary problem with the disciples was not that they had forgotten the feeding of the 5000 8 months ago, but they had questioned why feed these animals at all. While in the Decapolis reign the disciples regard the 4000 as “THESE PEOPLE”. After all they were gentiles who had their own form of government, had adopted the Greek culture and Roman style of living. In essence the question the disciples asked of Jesus with regards to the need of these gentiles is that you can never satisfy this kind of people, they have no interest in truth, they are complete reprobates. Yet they had been with Jesus 3 full days devouring the word of God as He spoke it too them.

Vs. 5-9 After reading these verses I wonder if these fellows had a case of déjà vu. There is little doubt that Jesus was trying to teach them basic principals of ministry things such as:

Begin with what you have: The very first words out of the mouths of the disciples were “HOW” which then were followed by their estimation of what needed to be provided that would “SATISFY these people”. Jesus said to feed the people they asked HOW and Jesus asks them HOW much has he provided? They reply seven loaves and Jesus responded with actions that said, “That will do”! Much of our excuses and procrastination in ministry is because we have grandiose ideas and expectations and we won’t start until our preconceived ideals are met. It is clear to me that human need, must not suffer delay do to my expectation! God does not ask us to give what He has not provided but He does call us to give what He has given us and we can trust Him for the rest. It is right that we ask God to work but He works with what He has given us, so take the bread that He has supplied and give it back to Him to bless it and multiply it so that you can distribute it.
Supply will always equal the demand: The 2^nd principal in ministry is that the Lord wanted to show us that God will never quit giving as long as the need remains. In the Greek the words in verse 6 in English says, “He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, BROKE THEM gave them to His disciples.” But in the Greek it is “kept on BREAKING THEM” and the disciples “KEPT ON GIVING” the seven loaves until the need was gone. Jesus did not gather store houses of bread before he distributed it, no He took what he had and kept on breaking it with nothing visible as a resource from which to continue the distribution. This is always true; we are the supply that Jesus breaks to distribute to others need. We always seem to come back to Him and say, “I don’t have enough” to which He responds “Given them all of you and I will keep on breaking you until the need is met!” In Paul’s 2^nd letter to the Corinthians he describes the marks of authentic Christianity and follows these ideals up with a question “Who is sufficient for these things?” Paul doesn’t immediately answer that question until a few verses later when He writes, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.”
Sustenance comes from what you give of your supply: In both of these miracles of feeding the multitudes the disciples found a surplus that more than met their own personal needs. Here in the feeding of the 4000 we see that the fragments were seven baskets and the word for basket here is different as it is not a lunch pail but a hamper in size. Seven is a number in scripture that always symbolizes completion and the fullness of God. So these disciples gathered up a larger amount of left overs to a people who were in far greater need of the bread of life. The principal is this the greater the need, the greater our own revelation of the person and work of God. As we give out to reach those that are starving for the Him we will always find that we will gain far more of Him ourselves.

There are two things that I believe that Jesus continues to challenge His Church with today:

Compassion: Jesus never looked at a person or a crowd that He hasn’t cared about. His first reaction to any person friend or foe is always the same, compassion. He was never to tired or fed up with a person to not desire to reach them with His love. He was never unaware of their need or heart ache. It flies in the face of humanity even the church whose often first response is how we can not get involved or help. I for one need to be continually reminded of this lesson from Jesus to be “moved with compassion”.
Action: I believe the 2^nd challenge is to move beyond sympathy and empathy to taking what He has given us and give it back to Him to bless and break that we can distribute it to others. So often my lack becomes my excuse, “Oh I like to help but I don’t have….” God never asks us to give what we don’t have; He only asks us to give what He has given us. It was a principal that God tried to imprint upon the Jews as well. At the Feast of Purim in March is a feast that was to commemorate the deliverance of the Jews by the Lord through Esther. It is during this season that every Jew no matter how poor they are and in need themselves they are to seek out someone with worse circumstances than themselves and give that person a gift. There is far too much of our time devoted to us waiting until the betterment of our circumstances to help others instead of taking what we have at that moment and looking to give it away.

Mark 8:10-21

“Earth crammed with heaven”

Introduction
Vs. 10-12 Every bush afire with God
Vs. 13-21 Plucking blackberries

Introduction

I’m fascinated at the work of the Holy Spirit as He came upon the writers of the Bible. He always places a thread from one section to another and it is up to the student to find the thread so they can determine the garment the Lord wants us to ware. Here in this section the disciples were fresh off of the feeding of the 4000 in the gentile region of the Sea of Galilee. They take sail back too a Jewish area to be met by Pharisees seeking a sign. The oddity of this request of another sign is best understood when considering that they had arrived on the seen 8 months earlier when Jesus had fed the 5000. And instead of realizing that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah they choose to see a violation in the ceremonial washing by the disciples. They wanted a grandiose sign; fire at night or bread from heaven and didn’t realize that Jesus had given them “bread from heaven”. In the next sentence Mark tells us that Jesus again sets sail with His disciples who had forgotten bread and are clueless as to what all of this meant. This leads to Jesus words illustrating the dangers of hard heartedness as it relates to not seeing God. The true seeker of God is not the person looking for God to break into his world in some supernatural event. Instead the true seeker of God recognizes that God is already here and has left evidence of this fact every where the seeker looks. God is not to be found in just what man calls the sacred places, He is to be found in making the common places sacred! Poet Elizabeth Barret Browning wrote, “Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God; but only he who sees, takes off his shoes, the rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.”

Vs. 10-12 Every bush afire with God

Vs. 10-12 Dalmanutha is on the Western side of the sea of Galilee near Tiberias which means that when they got into the boat and left the Decapolis region they sailed over to the Jewish region of the Sea of Galilee. The Pharisees would not have gone to the gentile areas but waited some 8 months in the Jewish area for the opportunity to harass Jesus again. In chapter 3 verse 22 they had seen great signs that they attributed to Beelzebub. And here they began to question Jesus repeatedly as if He were on a witness stand causing a dispute with Him. They were asking for a sign as a way to establish His credentials to prove that He was a spokesman for God. They want a sign in heaven, something specific and spectacular. But in truth they were determined to not believe no matter how much evidence to the contrary. In Deuteronomy 18 the Lord established standards through Moses to determine if what the person spoke was from the Lord and the supreme test was if what they said didn’t happen then the Lord hadn’t spoken. It is not always wrong to seek a sign; it’s the motive which determines its correctness.

There is always enough evidence to convince us of Jesus’ claims and God has no interest in entertaining His doubters in any theater that displays His marvelous works. There are far too many already living by their fleeces instead of their faith. It is never signs that we need but rather an awakening to act on what we already know to be true! Jesus’ mission was not to convince His critics, but to give salvation to the brokenhearted!

Jesus response was grief and disappointment at the hardness of their hearts. It is a sad sate when those who have been given authority over others are spiritually blind. There was a tendency in that age to to look for God in the abnormal the super natural. The false Messiah’s of that time would promise huge earth shattering events as signs of who they claimed to be. This was what the Pharisees were demanding in order to believe, something that defied the laws of nature and astonished humanity. And even though Jesus had done many of these events they still attributed them to satan. Their problem was not that they wanted to see the hand of God it was that they were blind to the hand of God. This wasn’t the first time they had asked Jesus for a sign as we are told in Matthew chapter 12 that they did so. Since Mark is writing to Roman readers he doesn’t include the words Jesus went on to say in Matthew chapter 16. There Jesus told them that a “wicked and adulterous generation” seeks a sign and that no sign will be given them except the “sign of the prophet Jonah.” But in chapter 12 Jesus explains that the sign of the prophet Jonah was that “as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” The sign of the prophet Jonah was a sign given him for being rebellious, a sign that personally illustrated that it was futile to try to divert God’s plans and will. These religious leaders were wanting to see a sign in the sky that would show them who the Messiah was but there were signs all around them and the biggest one that they didn’t see was the hardening of their own heart do to rebellion. The only sign that Jesus would show them was His resurrection to which Jesus said in Luke 16:31 that “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.” Jesus wasn’t interested in fueling their unbelief and in Matthew chapter 16 Jesus tells them that they can clearly distinguish the signs of foul weather from looking to the sky but they couldn’t discern the signs of the times around them. The only comfort these Pharisees could obtain is that they weren’t any more blind at this moment than Jesus own handpicked disciples.

Vs. 13-21 Plucking blackberries

Vs. 13-16 Thirteen hungry men and one loaf what ever are they to do? God’s people have a tendency to miss God’s blessings as twice in less than a year they had witnessed Jesus feeding well over 12,000 people on nothing more than 12 loaves of bread and a few fish. Yet they are still perplexed at what to do when they had mistaken forgot to purchase more supplies. Their problem was forgetfulness but not at purchasing supplies but of forgetting God’s blessings! They felt that Jesus warnings against the “leaven” of the Pharisees and Herod had something to do with their failure to bring adequate supplies.

Matthew records in chapter 16 a warning of a threefold leaven:

The formalism of Pharasitical externalism
The rationalism of Sadduceen Skepticism
The materialism of Herodian relativism

All three of these influences can misdirect and blind a person from seeing the truth even when it’s right in front of them. Nothing was easier to think than acquainting the Messiah with wonders and conquests, miraculous happenings nationalistic triumphs. It is the way with humans, to believe emphatically that God is on our side. But the truth is God is on our side only to the degree that we are on His side!

Vs. 17-21 Jesus makes it clear that there is a direct correlation between and forgetful memory and a hardening heart. When forget the words and works of Christ we begin to doubt His words and works! Because of the lack of comprehension of His disciples, Jesus asks a series of questions that were aimed at awakening from their lack of understanding:

Use your mind: Jesus said, “Do you not perceive nor understand?” I believe that is always the first place to start, think about where you are and what God’s word has to say about it. I find when ever my heart is stuck it’s usually do to me not using my head and the quickest way to get back on tract is get into the word. In Isaiah the Lord knew that the nation of Israel was stuck in their rituals while their heart was far from Him so He spoke through the prophet Isaiah saying, “Come now let’s reason together” then He began to ask them some thought provoking questions about where they were truly at spiritually.
Determine where you heart is at: Jesus asks, “Is your heart still hardened?” That leads to the next question one in where we will need to do some personal analysis to determine why our heart hasn’t responded to what our mind has understood. We can mentally recognize something is true but if it’s true and haven’t acted on it than we have a problem not with the head but with the heart. Truth is designed to move us not entertain us, if we are only excited in the mind but not moved in the heart than we need to pray that what we know to be true in our mind will extend beyond our intellect to our actions!
Look beyond the immediate: Jesus asks them, “Having eyes, do you not see, and having ears, do you not hear?” Often there is a disconnect in what we think we know and what we really know. We see and hear things but are unable to look at what connection they have to our own lives and situations. Twice in the same year these 12 fellows were being fed by loaves and fish and all they seemed to see was they got a quick meal instead of what the lesson was for. Oh how true this is in our own lives isn’t it?
Remember past lessons: Finally, Jesus asked, “Do you not remember?” Every day we are in the class room with Christ and the lessons are not just what we see of the black board. Every situation and circumstance is designed to teach us more about who He is and who we are. The past way in getting todays lesson is to look back and see that He has been trying to teach in the past. That’s how you can lay ahold of the truth He want’s you to have today!

The amazing part of this story to me is how the Lord uses it as an illustration of a greater problem as clearly they had not learned the lesson of multiplication when what He has provided us is given back to Him that He make continue to break it to bless people. If 5 loaves were enough to feed 5000 men, and seven loaves were enough to feed 4000 men, would not 1 loaf be more than enough to feed 13 hungry disciples if they would but give it to Him to be blessed and broken? Clearly the problem is not in the lack of provisions but in the forgetfulness in giving what He has supplied to Him.

Mark 8:22-30

“The Hinge”

Introduction
Vs. 22-23 Bread crumbs
Vs. 24-25, 27-29 Two stage process
Vs. 26, 30 Prohibition

Introduction

Having left the section on Jesus warnings against seeking a sign and how such things can dull our comprehension towards seeing our Lord, we come to a perfect illustration of this in the strange miracle of the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida. Again there is a link in this illustration as it relates to the three events that follow it it:

Peter’s confession
Jesus’ words on His death and resurrection
And finally as we move into the 9^th chapter, Jesus’ transfiguration

Mark sets this link in place with simple geographical tags when he writes: “Then He came to Bethsaida” and follows that with verse 27, “Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi”. Then finally in chapter 9 verse 2 we read, “..Jesus took Peter, James and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and was transfigured before them”. These geographical tags are like bread crumbs on a trail, if we follow the locations on a map we see clearly that from the first bread crumb to the last Jesus was leading His disciples to mount Hermon where He was transfigured. Mark wants his readers to understand that this was an orchestrated march and that the events along the way were meant to prepare them to see Jesus as He truly is. This section fits right next to the warning of not looking for validating Jesus in supernatural signs but rather looking to the continual signs that He places along our roads in life. Eight months earlier in chapter 4 verse 41 Jesus was with his frightened disciples as they were astonished at Jesus calming the wind and the waves. There they questioned, “Who can this be, that even the wind and sea obey Him!” I suggest to you that the last 8 months of their lives had been about answering that very question. This fact can be seen as we note the similarities to the disciples question of, “Who can this be” with Jesus’ question in chapter 8 verse 29 of “But who do you say that I am?” This unveiling is what John would say in his gospel in the first chapter verse 14 was the event in which “we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” We are going to take these two stories found in verse 22-30 of the 8^th chapter of Mark together as that is how I believe Jesus meant them to viewed and why Mark writes them the way he does.

Vs. 22-23 Bread crumbs

Vs. 22 We are now prepared for this strange miracle that happened at our first location on the map, Bethsaida. First, we have the timing of this event is in the 8^th chapter which just so happens to be the mid point of this gospel and the turning point in Mark’s narrative as Mark’s view of Jesus begins to take a new direction. That would make this section of the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida for all practical purposes the “hinge” of the gospel. And as we begin to examine this “hinge” we have the most peculiar of all of Jesus’ recorded miracles. I suppose to call any miracle which by nature is peculiar the “most peculiar” is odd. By way of explanation I offer three points as to why I find that it stands out among all the miracles.

First, it is unique as it is only recorded by Mark. As already noted Mark was not an eyewitness of this event but as Peter’s disciple received most of the contents of this gospel directly from him. Thus as the Holy Spirit directed Peter and Mark recorded it for his Roman readers it only found print in this gospel. That ought to cause us to ask the question, why? What is it about this miracle as it relates to the gentile Roman reader that makes it essential for their comprehension of who Jesus is?
Second, it is unique in that it is the only recorded miracle that is a process and not an instantaneous completion. There is a sense in which no two miracles were alike and the fact that this one is not like the others is not what causes it to be unique. Jesus did miracles in accordance to what the situation demanded and this one stands out not because of that but rather that it took a process to complete it and no other miracle has that element in it. Again this ought to cause us to ask the question of “Why is this miracle a PROCESS, and what does that have to do with the events of this journey to the mount of transfiguration?”
The third and final reason that this miracle is unique is in the prohibition that Jesus tells the now healed blind man from Bethsaida. Prohibitions from Jesus are not entirely unique as we see them a few times but with the other two things it adds to making this miracle stand out among all others. This also ought to cause us to ask the question as to, “Why did Jesus prohibit this man from not only telling anyone but from even going into the town?” Again this relates to the journey Jesus has His disciples on.

Vs. 23 We have seen the method of spit being used in the healing of the deaf and mute gentile man at the end of chapter 7 and though it seems to be unhygienic as a treatment remedy it is interesting to note that most people if they cut or burn their finger immediately put it into their mouth to soothe it. The healing of the blind man in the 9^th chapter of John’s gospel also records the use of Jesus’ spit this time it was mixed with dirt making mud in which Jesus anointed the mans eyes before telling him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. Although the method of using spit isn’t unique in light of this miracle I can’t help but wonder if it wasn’t meant as a sort of parable in action. I suggest to you that, spit is like words as both come from the mouth (and in my case sometimes comes out as words are spoken). As such this action was meant to convey that the work was being accomplished through the agency of the Word of God. I believe that this view is supported in the text by what follows this healing as Jesus asks His disciples after they had moved on to Caesarea Philippi “Who do you say that I am?” And although neither Mark’s or Luke’s account records this statement Matthew’s does as Jesus follows up on Peter’s confession of “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” with, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” In other words, Jesus was telling Peter and the other’s that this revelation as to the true identity of “Who Jesus is” was not something that was attainable through natural observations and detailed analysis. Instead they could have only come to this conclusion as a direct revelation through the teaching of the Word of God, which Jesus had been actively working into their lives. It is my opinion that the method of spiting in the eyes of the blind man from Bethsaida had more to do with Jesus’ disciples than as a necessity in the healing of the blind man.

This takes us into the vital question as to, “Why was this miracle done in a two stage process?” There have been some commentators who in light of the fact that in every other miracle the healing was instantaneous, suggests that this two-stage process was either:

A weakening in Jesus’ powers
Or that by this stage in His ministry the opposition had become so intense as to limit His ability
Or perhaps this case of blindness so difficult that it required two stages

I personally find none of these explanations satisfactory as they are not consistent to who Jesus is. Having eliminated those explanations, I can only come to the reason for this two stage process being employed by Jesus as a deliberate act done not for the benefit of the blind man from Bethsaida but rather for His disciples. Healing this man in this manner offered nothing that I can determine for the blind man but it did serve as a personal illustration for His disciples. They were like this blind man in their development as to the comprehension of the true identity of Jesus. Their blindness would be healed in a two stage process: The first part of which enabled them to view Jesus partially, seen in the man from Bethsaida seeing only “Men like trees walking” which indicates that their vision was true but not clear which is why we have the 2^nd touch by Jesus on his eyes and their vision of Him would be completely restored as they would see “everyone clearly”.

Vs. 24-25, 27-29 Two stage process

Vs. 24-25, 27-29 I can’t help but notice that as Jesus employed a two stage process in healing the blind man from Bethsaida so two did He ask two questions of His disciples at Caesarea Philippi:

The first question was “Who do men say that I am?”: The disciples answer reveals that the view of the people was that they held Him in very high regard. They came up with three possibilities that demonstrated this:
John the Baptist: This reveals that the people saw Jesus as pure in character
Elijah: This reveals that the people recognized Jesus as having the power of God
One of the Prophets: This reveals that the people saw Jesus was proclaiming the truth

Through out Jesus’ ministry amongst the people they could see “men like trees, walking”. They weren’t completely blind they thought perhaps that He was John the Baptist come back to life, maybe Elijah or one of the other prophets. The people weren’t speaking of “reincarnation” they had no such superstition. No they saw the similarities in His ministry to those that had gone before Him and thought of Him as a “reappearance” in type of ministry. In the people’s estimation Jesus was not the messiah He was speaking about the messiah paving the way. These people knew their bibles and they knew that the Old Testament was full of men who spoke of the coming One and they purposed that Jesus was another man “like trees, walking around doing just as those had before Him.”

The 2^nd question was “But who do you say that I am”: This is a 2^nd touch question as this was the disciples own view of Jesus. The populace held Jesus in very high regard but there was not one time that they had the slightest inkling that He was indeed the Messiah. So when Peter answered “You are the Christ” he became the first to utter the truth. He words were immediate and definite albeit based upon Jesus’ response in Matthew’s account he didn’t fully comprehending just what he had said. Christ is the Greek form of the Hebrew word, Messiah and it means the same. It’s not a name, it is a title speaking of the office Jesus holds as it means the “anointed one”. In the Old Testament there were only two offices where a person would be anointed “King and High Priest” and Jesus is the only one that was both. The Holy Spirit had clearly spoken to them that Jesus was far more than John the Baptist, Elijah or one of the prophets. He was the One who all others had been looking for and all the scriptures had been point too.

Vs. 26, 30 Prohibition

Vs. 26, 30 This leaves only the two prohibitions both to this man and the disciples after they had given the correct answer. First note that Jesus told this man to go back to his house and to neither go to Bethsaida nor tell anyone there about his healing. Jesus had done many miracles in Bethsaida none of which do we have this injunction. I believe as Jesus didn’t want the man to even go into the city suggests a greater concern that just asking the man to not say anything. There are multiple times in the Bible where the healed person was told to not say anything and went ahead and did so anyways. This tells me that Jesus didn’t want even the possibility of this happening so he sends him back to his house and orders him not to go into the city. Jesus didn’t want this particular miracle to be a distraction and get in way of the larger illustration to the disciples to which it was intended to be a demonstration of. Notice that after Peter’s confession Jesus “strictly warns” them that they should tell no one. You would think that Jesus would have them shout it from the roof tops. Instead He tells them to remain silent which again goes back to the two stage process in healing the blind man.

The first touch opened their eyes to a part of the truth, they saw Him enough to make a confession of the truth, seeing Him as a tree walking, but they had not yet seen Him clearly in His glory which will be.
The 2^nd touch which Jesus will speak of in detail in verse 31-38 before they see Him in His glorified state on the mount of transfiguration. So when will the 2^nd stage be completed for these disciples? Well at the cross and resurrection that is when their eyes will be completely open. That is why speaking of this confession now though true wasn’t one they could clearly see.

I conclude with the realization that there are many today, that are wondering around that are either blind or are able to communicate a true vision just not a clear one. In either case what is needed is a touch from Jesus. It is my sincere earnest prayer that they will be opened to just such a touch. I also notice that the key to clear spiritual vision of Christ has to do with comprehending His sacrifice. Simply put we will neither appreciate or comprehend Jesus’ glory if we can not come to personal terms with the reason for His sacrifice!

Mark 8:31-33

“From rock to stumbling block”

Introduction
Vs. 31-32 The message of the cross
Vs. 33 Three truths about the cross

Introduction

Nothing could illustrate the point I made last week with regards to; having a true vision as to who Jesus is but not a clear vision, then the section we are looking at this morning. The last sentence Jesus issued a strict prohibition to the disciples after Peter’s confession of “You are the Christ”. This causes me to ask two questions:

Why “prohibit” the disciple’s public profession as to Jesus’ true identity when 8 months earlier in chapter 6 verse 7-13 He told them to preach and heal the people?
What was it about the disciple’s public confession of Jesus true identity after Peter’s profession that Jesus saw as a hindrance of His greater work in human hearts?
The answer to the first question: Is found in the difference between the messages. The first message of the 12 in chapter 6 verse 12 when they were sent out was that they “preached that people should repent”. Where as based upon Peter’s confession had Jesus not strictly prohibited it, their message would have been that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah, the fulfillment of all that the prophets and scriptures had pointed towards. These are two very different messages:
The first message was a diagnostic question, that should cause a person hearing this message to recognize their own need for change. Clearly Jesus encouraged this message and had instructed His disciples to preach it.
But the 2^nd message would have been as to His true identity which although correct; there was something about it’s proclamation by these disciples at this time that clearly Jesus didn’t want them to preach it publically as it would have been a hindrance to His work in human hearts.
This leads us to the 2^nd question: “How can that which is true be a hindrance to the work of Jesus in human hearts? The only answer to that is “When that which is true is communicated improperly, either in time or method or both.” Had these disciples been allowed to preach that Jesus was the Messiah the impending result would have been numerically positive but superficial and emotionally driven. I suggest to you that Jesus had been dealing with this very thing with the masses in John chapter 6 verse 15 when “they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king”. He didn’t want nor did He allow shallow commitments based upon popular notions. He wasn’t interested stirring the masses to such a fervor that all through out Israel you would have seen stickers of the backs of donkeys that said “He-haw if you love Jesus!”

That’s the focus from verses 31 to the end of this chapter verse 38 as Jesus talks about two things:

Vs. 31-33 The truth about the true revelation as to Jesus identity. This goes to the timing of the truth concerning Jesus.
Vs. 34-38 The true cost with regards to personally accepting that revelation: This goes to the method with regard to both preaching and receiving this message.

Vs. 31-32 The message of the cross

Vs. 31-32 After Peter’s confession and Jesus strict prohibition; Mark starts the very next sentence with the word “and”. This indicates that Jesus’ words on His death and resurrection followed right after Peter’s confession and His strict prohibition. According to Matthew’s account there was a quick blessing with regards to the recognition of Peter’s confession but in it Jesus gave credit of that confessional revelation to the Father and not Peter. I’m sure Jesus’ commendation of Peter’s confession caused an immediate sense of pride and perhaps this aided Peter’s bold rebuke after Jesus.

The theology of the cross was not something that any of these disciples associated with the confession as to Jesus being the Messiah. The worst “must” in verse 31 points to the inevitableness and rational of the cross. The word “rejected” describes a person who has been tested for the purpose of being approved and having past the test is rejected anyway. Jesus didn’t pass the test of the religious leaders in a Messiah because He was not what they wanted.

Jesus had hinted at the cross from the beginning of His ministry:

In John 2:19 Jesus after He cleansed the temple for the first time and the Jew’s demanded a sign to show that He had the authority to do so said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. They mocked Him with regards to the length of time it took to build the temple and that Jesus would be able to do so in three days but John looking back 70 years upon those words said, “But He was speaking of the temple of His body.”
3:14 He told Nicodemus, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”
Jesus had defended His disciples lack of fasting to the Pharisees by saying, “the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”
Only days before Jesus had told them that the only sign that would be given this generation was the sign of Jonah, which Jesus had already described in Matthew 12 “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

Yet with that said all of those statements are in the nature of parables and clearly the disciples didn’t grasp them and after Peter’s confession. The Greek verb tense in the phrase of verse 32 saying, “He spoke this word openly…” speaks of a continuous action of doing so over and over. This suggests that this discourse to His disciples was not a brief conversation but one that went on for several days on their way to the “Mount of Transfiguration.” Jesus in details mentions two specific things with regards to the cross:

The events of the cross: Suffering, rejection and death
The enemies at the cross: By whose hands these would perpetrated saying, the elders, chief priests and the scribes

This causes me to believe two things with regard to Peter’s response in verse 32:

It wasn’t immediate, when these truths about the cross were first presented. I believe it took several days of this before Peter couldn’t take the affront upon his theology rebuked Jesus.
This confrontation by Peter was done in alliance with the other disciples. Peter wasn’t taken aside privately; instead Jesus turned around and looked at all His disciples when He rebuked Peter.

Peter’s protest was born out of his ignorance of God’s will and his deep love for his Lord; he didn’t yet understand the relationship between suffering and glory. One-minute Peter was the “rock” and the next minute he was a “stumbling block”! Dr. G. Campbell Morgan said, “The person who loves Jesus, but shuns God’s method, is a stumbling block.” We have very little on the specific’s of Peter’s rebuke except for what Matthew records which is, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” Peter along with the others said, “This can’t be the way, this won’t happen to you, cast any thought of this from your mind!” These words of Jesus seemed impossible and unbelievable, so much so that Peter and the others said “No way Lord! I was with you right up to the point where you said suffer, reject, die and rise again!”

Vs. 33 Three truths about the cross

Vs. 33 When Peter said these words Jesus’ recognized the voice behind them as it was the voice of the world system influenced by satan. That’s why Jesus responded “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men.” In the world influenced by satan nothing is more important than ME, my interests, MY plans, MY way. It’s all about ME and that was what Peter was suggesting the world system, make it all about you Jesus. We all live in a world that is dominated by this prevailing thought of “thinking of our own self first and foremost.” The world is full of these slogans: Take care of your self, look out after number 1, I did it my way, you deserve the best etc. Jesus recognized the slogans because they come from the father of lies, and living by such a philosophy is the surest way to live an empty despairing life. Seeking personal fulfillment as the chief aim in this life is the easiest way to be unsatisfied. “There is another way to achieve what you want, think of yourself”, satan demands!

The world system is fine with a church and Christianity without a cross it is the cross that the world rejects when it come to our faith. The message of the cross has three elements to it the first two are what people reject and it is because of this that people can’t come to see the third element:

The cross always leads to the resurrection: Without the cross their can be no resurrection! But it is interesting to note that the disciples never seem to hear Jesus when He spoke about the resurrection but the truth is every time He spoke about the cross He spoke about the resurrection but they never could get to it. They would just come to a halt when Jesus spoke of the cross and just never got to the resurrection. The resurrection speaks of freedom, victory, new life, peace, and joy but we can not get there until we come to the cross. Saint’s there is a great truth in this we will never get to the resurrection with all that it holds until we come to accept the cross.

The cross means the end to “self-sufficiency” and “self-reliance”: These have been the philosophies of the world sense the fall of man and in fact were part of the fall. The world hates anything to do with not being able to say that it isn’t “self-sufficient”. Not only does the world not understand the message that apart from Christ we can do nothing it hates that message because the cross of Christ means the end of “self-reliance”. Within all humanity lies a desire to be able to claim that we had a little something to do with our own salvation. And because of that He becomes our debtor, He owes us what we want when we want it. But the cross of Christ wipes all of that out, nothing I have done or ever will do will be worth while and acceptable before God apart from what He has done on the cross. The cross of Christ doesn’t improve a person; it doesn’t make a person better. No it cuts a person off from themselves completely, the cross wipes me out to where there is nothing left of me!

The cross destroys our “status” our old personal value system: The cross causes us to realize that we aren’t “basically good” or that God winks at our sin and makes excuses for it. The cross speaks of “judgment” and “accountability” and we hate those things when they are aimed at us. We don’t even like to sing the words of amazing grace because the writer went on to describe amazing grace as “saving a WRETCH like me”. “Why I’m not a wretch, I’ve known wretch’s and I’m not one!” The cross places all of us in the same hopeless and helpless category of “sinner” and that just doesn’t make us feel good about ourselves. The cross forces us to confront, our own disappointments and disasters in away that we can’t excuses them or justify them. Our whole value system is destroyed by the cross as everything that we would value as putting ourselves above others, success, popularity, prosperity, power doesn’t matter one iota to God. The cross is the most radical idea ever put for humanity and we will never understand Christ or Christianity.

Mark 8:34

“What do you want from life”

Introduction
Vs. 34 The threefold process of discipleship

Introduction

Before I start I wish to offer a sincere apology with regards to this message only having one verse in the study. I had every intention to finish this chapter and worked diligently to accomplish this task but in the end the amount of truth God gave my heart far exceeded the amount of time I have to communicate it. There are two things that most church growth experts will tell you in seminars to stay away from if you want to “grow your church” and reach unchurched people:

The cross of Christ: As it singlehandedly destroys humanity’s two primary “felt needs”: “Self-sufficiency” and “Self-esteem”.
“Self-sufficiency”: The cross says that we can never be good enough or do enough to save our self. Further more the cross of Christ destroys the notion that I can ever improve on this condition enough or do better next time.
“Self-esteem”: The cross says that we along with all of humanity are NOT “basically good”. At the same time the cross tells us that there will be “personal accountability” and “judgment” for our actions. Our entire personal value system is destroyed by the cross of Christ. It is the most radical truth ever put forth to humanity and it destroys every other philosophy held by mankind.
The denial of self: The concept and notion that this life is NOT primarily about me! That I’ve been created for a purpose that can only find it’s fulfillment in living life diametrically opposed to how most in this world live it.

Apparently Jesus didn’t attend church growth seminars directed at staying away from these two topics as He in back to back messages tackle’s them both. As noted this chapter is the mid point of the gospel, the first half of which has been Mark revealing to his Roman readers Jesus true identity, “The Son of God”. The 2^nd half of this book will be the further unveiling of this with the focus upon the primary way in which this revelation becomes known, namely His death, burial and resurrection.

Vs. 34 The threefold process of discipleship

There are several things I notice as we start this section:

First is an overall observation that Jesus’ words in this section are dealing with discipleship. He says as much in His opening to those that were there, “Whoever desires to come after me…”, and what follows is:
Vs. 34 The threefold process of discipleship
Vs. 35 The motive of the undertaking, namely LIFE
Vs. 36-38 The fact that there is no way to escape the outcome of the decision made by the individual at His invitation.
Secondly, I notice that Mark informs his readers that Jesus called two groups of people to hear what He had to say with regards to discipleship as we read, “When He had called “THE PEOPLE” to Himself “WITH HIS DISCIPLES”, He said to them..” This leads me to wonder if this message was meant evangelistically; as those followers other than His disciples were invited to listen. Or was this message only telling His disciples in contrast to theses followers the true meaning of what it means to be His disciples? At issue in these questions is a greater issue: Is discipleship a further step than being a follower of Christ or put another way can you be a Christian and not be a disciple? To answer that question will require us to examine in great detail these words to these two groups of people hearing them.
Third we will need to look carefully at the threefold process of discipleship that Jesus put forth to these two groups and in so doing two things stand out:
All three of these things are in the “present tense continuous action” in the Greek! Which simply means that Jesus is saying that the true disciple will be one that “keeps on continually denying himself, keeps on continually taking up his cross and keeps on continually following Jesus.” This tells us that discipleship tough being a one-time decision is demonstrated by continuous actions that are implemented through out everyday.
Next I notice that this threefold process of continual application is seen in implementing two negative actions (denying self and taking up his cross) and one positive action of (following Jesus). Jesus starts by saying “whoever desires to COME after Me” and the word “COME” is the same word He used in John 5:40 where He used it in conjunction with having LIFE, the inference is if a person doesn’t do so they have no life. This is further clarified in the motive in implementing this threefold process with two negative actions and one positive as LIFE. This informs us that such actions are not hating oneself but rather the path to fulfilment and enjoying life as God designed us to.

We are now ready to examine this threefold process of discipleship in detail:

“Let him deny himself”: The word “deny” in the Greek as Jesus used it is a “reflexive pronoun” and means to “forget one’s self” or “to lose sight of one’s self and interests”. When combined with the verb tense it speaks of doing so as entering into a “new condition”. What is further revealing to me is that it is the same word used later of Peter when he denied the Lord. When we use the definition supplied in the Greek it goes against what we normally interpret the word deny to mean. Jesus is NOT telling these two groups to “give up” on their self, instead He is saying the opposite. Jesus is saying to these two groups that their present concerns about their self, their rights to run our own life, feel the way they do, act the way they do, is in reality ruining their opportunity to experience life! “Denying self” strikes at the very heart of our existence as it is what we humans value and protect above everything else: “The right to make ultimate decisions for ourselves”. All of humanity rebels against anyone who tries to take away our right to make the final decisions in our lives. Jesus’ words about discipleship is not aimed at “giving up” this or that, it is aimed at “giving up” our perceived belief to the right to ourselves! Paul spoke of this eloquently in 1 Corinthians saying, “you are not your own…for you were bought at a price”. Discipleship seen as following Jesus has a core trait that says that we “no longer own ourselves”. Jesus, has purchased the right to make all final decisions on the great issues of our life. “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny self trust, self-sufficiency, the feeling that we are able to handle life by our self and do what we want when we want.” The ultimate self-delusion is that we can live life independent of God and Jesus is breaking through that self-delusion. Such a concept to live life independent from God is the religion of hell, the worship of self! That is why the first step of the process of discipleship is to relinquish our “believed rights” run our own life and submit ourselves and our leadership of self-governing to Jesus’ Lordship! There is no possible way of discipleship apart from this first step.
“And take up his cross”: The cross was an instrument of death reserved for the worst criminals. I’m certain that this phrase falling on these two groups was a difficult concept to understand. There are those who want to interpret this statement by Jesus in a manner that He was not intending. We have invented the phrase “my cross to bear” as a way explaining what we believe He meant: A kind of trial, handicap, difficult situation or circumstance becomes our “cross to bear”. But Jesus wasn’t speaking in terms of difficulties, the cross was NOT the “trial” it was the “execution”! The person who “bore the cross” didn’t come away from the experience and say, “Wow that was tough”, NO they were dead in a humiliating, shame ridden and painful death! The cross was designed to be demeaning and degrading as it placed a naked man above the ground in full view on onlookers in a slow painful death. The cross that Jesus tells these two groups to take up is a symbol of those events that lead to the death of our pride and fallen flesh. Any event that leads us to the end of our foolishness and sinful addictions is good. Paul spoke of such a cross in his 2^nd letter to the Corinthians where he speaks of a “thorn in the flesh” that was given him to buffet him, lest he be exalted above measure. Paul learned that such a cross was a great thing as it caused him to understand that God’s grace was sufficient for him, and that God’s strength was perfected in the things that caused Paul to recognize his weakness! It’s for this reason that Paul exclaimed in 1 Corinthians 15:31 that He “died daily”! That I believe is what Jesus is saying is the 2^nd step in discipleship where we recognize that anything in our life that leads us to die to our pride is a good thing as it is then that we will see that Gods grace is all we need. The problem is that we humans have a tendency to avoid anything and everything that comes at us that humbles us. We attempt to escape by getting angry, getting even or running away from such “crosses”. But Jesus say’s such things as these are essential in discipleship as they lead us to more of Him! These first two steps “coming after and taking up”, are not only put in the negative they are also in the Greek to be obeyed at once and are once for all acts. That is, they are to be looked upon as permanent attitudes and practices in life. Our whole life is to be characterized by by a habit denying self and not owning our own life or avoiding the things that humble us and make us more dependent upon Jesus.
“And follow Me”: The word “follow” means to take the same road as another but the idea is NOT to do so AFTER another but ALONG WITH or accompanying another! We are walking with another in fellowship on the same road as them. The Greek here has it as a moment by moment habitual action living out that which the first two steps were permanent practices. Jesus 3^rd step in this discipleship process is obedience that is done so in a moment by moment communication as we walk the same road in life as Jesus! Jesus is not speaking about perfection He is speaking about intimate relationship where two are going the same direction! Our Christian life is living life as He lives life, “loving your enemies, praying for those who hurt you, forgiving those who offend you”. It is a decision in a moment lived out daily for a life time as we make these three choices each and every moment of every day.

Discipleship is denying our rights to self governing our lives, seeing the events that cause us to die to self and be more dependent on Jesus as GOOD THING instead of something to be avoided and enjoying a daily walk with Him where ever He takes us! As wonderful as these sound in truth they don’t always present themselves in appealing packages do they? In fact, John wrote that when this confronted the 70 that were also walking with them that many turned and went back and chose to follow Him no more. I personally like the fact that Jesus has never invited anyone to join Him that He didn’t let them know what was involved. Jesus is not into tricking anyone to become His disciple on false terms, He wants us to know that if we are going to follow Him we are going to become a different person then we are. Physically no one I know joins a gym or starts a diet with the hope that with all the dying to self that in a year they are going to look and feel just like they do right now! Yet there are many who want to spiritually “join” Jesus as long as in the end they can spiritually stay the same as they are when they started the journey. Next week we shall take up the motive behind this threefold process of discipleship as well as the fact that there is no way to escape the outcome of your decision!

Mark 8:35-38

“Living by losing”

Introduction
Vs. 35 Getting the most out of life
Vs. 36-37 The cost of compromise
Vs. 38 No “Closet Christians”

Introduction

Having examined in detail the threefold process of discipleship we move on to the motivation and expectation behind making such a decision. As I said last week I for one am very thankful that Jesus is up front with His invitation as He never wanted people to follow Him under false pretenses. There was never any hidden fine print with regards to what was involved. No person who has made this decision will ever be able to say to Him, “Hey, wait a darn minute here Jesus you never told me I wouldn’t be in control of my life, you didn’t tell me that I would be placed into daily situations where I will be reminded that I can’t trust myself and can only trust you and you never told me that we would be on this journey together going places that you want me to go even if I don’t.” Yet with that said there are untold millions who daily complain about these clear terms of being a Christian. As I illustrated last week these same folks don’t have the same expectations when it comes to the sacrifices they make to become physically healthier as they do with their spiritual health. This morning we shall finish with this convicting section.

Vs. 35 Getting the most out of life

Vs. 35 This verse requires us to do some in depth research in the Greek to uncover it’s meaning which can be clouded in the English translations. Up first is the phrase “whoever desires”; in verse 34 though the same English words are used in verse 35 they are different in the Greek. In verse 34 this phrase is in the indicative mode with the use of the conditional particle ei. What that means is that in verse 34 the expression assumes that SOME DO desire to come after Jesus. But the same phrase a sentence later is in the future tense making the “whoever desires” an as yet unfulfilled hypothetical condition.

One of the great challenges in our English Bibles is the multiplicity of meanings with the use of the same word. Here is a clear example of this in verse 35 as Jesus says to these two groups “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” At issue is what specifically does Jesus mean when He used the word LIFE? In the English we use only one word for “life”:

It can mean the physical life
It can refer to the inner life of man which is often called the soul. This refers too the part of a person that thinks, wills, feels and reasons. It is this LIFE that our visible personality resides and interacts in our activities, hopes and aspirations
It can refer to eternal life, life beyond what we know as our physical life

In the Greek there are different words used for each distinction and the word Jesus used is “psuche” which refers to the “soul”. Jesus is saying that the motive behind the threefold process of discipleship is that the person who so takes up this invitation will live life as God attended man to. But the opposite is also true, if a person desires to live life seeking self-gratification they will lose that which can alone make the activity of life worthwhile and satisfying. God has designed man is that we can only find life satisfying and peace filled when our entire life is swallowed up in the pursuit of God’s will for us! Jesus is not speaking in terms of our salvation for our self-denial can never change a sinning soul only trusting in Jesus blood can do that. Jesus is offering up the motivation for the threefold process of discipleship which is not aimed at eternal life but rather getting most out of life! Jesus’ desire is that His disciples get the most out of life and He says that there are two attitudes towards life that are possible and each of them has their own result:

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it: The first is described as “saving your life” and by this Jesus is saying that if you continue to live life by insisting to make yourself the center of your universe, holding on to being self centered as a means to achieve happiness you will only achieve the opposite. You will end up miserable and discontented if you make life about “What’s in this for me?” The world is full of examples of people who have lived narcissistic lives all about their own happiness and despite their protests they are the unhappiest people you have ever been around. The truth is all of us have first hand experience with this don’t we, as we have all at times lived self consumed lives where everything is about us and thing is no matter how much of us we have we are never content
but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it: The second attitude towards life is the exact opposite. Disregard any part of life that places you as the most important person and move out into total dependence upon God, live careless of what may happen to you. It is the attitude found in Paul as he said in Acts 20:24 “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy..” Jesus says when you lose your life in Him for the pursuit of enriching others life for Him you will discover the greatest life. Martyred missionary Jim Elliot was found of saying, “He is no fool who gives up what he can not keep to gain what he can never lose!”

These are the only two possible results but there are still folks attempting to save their currant way of living and expect to achieve different results. I’ve heard it said that this is the definition of insanity, “To continue the same practice expecting different results! If we continue to live life in pursuit of making life all about us we will discover that we may end up with everything we want but the problem will be that we won’t anything we have! Jesus didn’t call us to a discipleship that is boring and barren, No He called us to LIFE, the riches of His continual presence and joy that all of His creation can never contain. Saint’s discipleship may begin in death but it ends in LIFE! This is the great paradox of discipleship and we are living by one of these two attitudes at any given moment but we can not live by both of them at the same time.

The world is full of examples of these two philosophies is action:

French philosopher Voltaire said to his Dr. near his death, “I will give you ½ of what I’m worth if you will give me six months of life.” The Dr. replied that he couldn’t do so to which Voltaire moaned, “Then I shall die and go to hell!”
Famed film producer Louis B. Mayer last words were, “Nothing matters! Nothing matters!”
The suicide note of comedian Freddie Prinze written at the height of his success was “I must end it, There’s no hope left!”

But when you compare them with the words of Christians you see something completely different:

George Washington said, “I die hard but am not afraid to go.”
D.L. Moody’s final words were, “Earth is receding, heaven is opening, and this is my coronation day.”
Vs. 36-37 The cost of compromise

Vs. 36-37 These questions of Jesus are designed to cause the applicant to search their heart and question the way they have been living. The word Jesus uses for “world” here is the word kosmos and it refers to the world system which satan controls and unsaved humanity is enslaved by. The word “loses” in verse 36 is a word that means to “sustain damage, to receive injury or to suffer loss”. It is this world system promises you everything to satisfy your longing but never delivers and the only thing that it doesn’t allow is God. The prudent investor will always ask this question, “If I’m going to invest my resources, time and energy into this venture will I be able to enjoy the fruit of this investment?” Jesus’ point is that there are the majority of people in the world who have invested poorly having spent everything upon pleasure and possessions and once their life is gone they have nothing left. If asked many folks will tell you that they wouldn’t be willing to sell their soul for all the money in the world but in reality they are giving it away for far less than that, some cheep momentary pleasure, earthly relationship or worldly pursuit! You never see Hurst’s pulling U-Haul’s! Charlemagne was the emperor of France from 742-814. During his life time his goal had been to evangelize Europe. When his tomb was opened they found something very interesting, though the tomb was filled with treasures in the center of the vault seated on a throne was the skeletal remains and on his lap was an open Bible with his bonnie finger pointing at the words of Mark chapter 8 verse 36-37.

Vs. 38 No “Closet Christians”

Vs. 38 Jesus says, “for whoever is ashamed of Me..” this is not a statement about the future conduct of a person but rather their present attitude towards Jesus. Jesus final words point out that the conduct of the individual presently determines Jesus future action towards that person. The matter of discipleship has to do with the expectation of making or in some cases not making the decision to become His disciple. There is no such things as “Closet Christians”, “Secret Saints” or “Disguised Disciples” every person Jesus has called He has done so publically and the way we live out our life’s shows that our answer is equally as public! The very first thing He wants us to know is that it is a persons WORKS and not their WORDS alone that will tell their story of commitment. Jesus is talking about a person who expresses conformity to Christianity but in reality adopts and follows to the values of this world. To this Jesus says that this will be revealed in that day. Jesus said something very similar in Matthew chapter 7 verses 21-23 when He announced that, “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of My Father in heaven.” And here in we have the answer to the original question that this section brought up “Can you be a Christian without being a disciple?” A person can come to Jesus and all who do so will be given life if they really meant it when they came. But in coming to Jesus it is clear that we are coming to take up the work of discipleship as described in this passage! Now in saying this I realize that none of us are “good disciples” all of the time, there is much failure that surrounds our lives at times but Jesus is talking about our hearts and aim in life. Do we want to live for our self’s our do we want to live for Him?

This is a placeholder. Notes will be added