Sermon Notes - A Strange Invitation

A Strange Invitation, Mark 8:31 – 9:1
J. Josh Smith, MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church, attended September 13, 2009

After hearing this invitation you may wonder why anyone would ever agree. This is an invitation to release control, to come and die, to be a slave and a servant. Those who hold tightly to their lives will ultimately lose it.

1. Explanation – Mark 8:31 – 33

This is the foundation of the next verses. Jesus tells us how He is called to live. “Must” is the key word. He must suffer and be persecuted. This is a statement of fact, His purpose. He doesn’t, and we can’t, substitute the word “willing” for “must”.

2. Invitation – Mark 8:34

He is inviting us to come and follow Him and live the life He lives.

Mark specifically notes that He summoned the crowd. In the previous verses, He was talking to the disciples only. This is important it that it shows the invitation is to all, not just the disciples. This gives no one the opportunity to say that this invitation is for the spiritual “green berets”, it is for all who are in the crowd, including believers, unbelievers, and the marginal believers.

Once again, “must” doesn’t mean “willing”. We can’t substitute the two.

Three imperatives for a follower of Christ:

Deny himself – This is radical in what must be denied. He isn’t asking to just deny something but to deny your very self. You must deny your plans, hopes, and ambitions. Must die to that man and live for Christ.

What specifically does this mean? Eight of the eleven times this word is used is in reference to one story. That story is in Matthew 26: 69 – 75 where Peter denies Christ three times. He denied any association or knowledge of Christ whatsoever. Jesus uses the same word to tell us what we must do. We must deny every association and knowledge of the old man. We no longer have the right to determine what to do with our money for example. We go to what Christ says first.

Take up your cross – We use this term all the time but to the crowd it was probably confusing. A brutal death was what came to their mind. The cross was what a criminal, as defined by the Romans, had to carry through town on their back. They knew that whoever carried this cross was going to die. So what did Jesus mean?

He did not mean you must be willing to die. Nor did he mean you should be willing to die if need be. None of this was about willingness. It is easy to say I’m willing to die for Christ. He died to His rights and privileges as the Son of God, and so we should die to our rights. It is an ongoing death as well as an initial moment. The first moment we realize there is nothing we can do to save ourselves is the first of a million deaths. We have to die daily to the sinful man.

Follow me – This is perhaps the strangest of all imperatives. “If anyone wants to follow me he must follow me”, is a sense of the wording. Embrace me as well as my life. People want to follow Jesus but not really follow Him. This isn’t just a philosophy but a life. Don’t say you are going to follow Jesus and then not follow Him. Mortify the old man. You cannot follow Him apart from self denial and self sacrifice. Are you functioning as the king of your own life or is He?

3. Argumentation – Mark 8:35-38

He knows we are scared. This invitation is almost like saying I’m paying for you to visit Hawaii but you have to swim there. We like our life we aren’t willing to just lose it. He gives us two reasons to receive His invitation:

Our refusal to receive it results in the loss of our life – Our very attempt to save our life will cost us our life both here and in eternity in Hell. When you lose it you actually get it. Our soul is more important than our life on earth.

Our refusal to receive it results in loss of reception – He will deny us if we deny Him. He will say, just like Peter, “I don’t even know that man.” This is more than just a verbal denial. Many accept Him with their words but deny Him with their lives. (Titus 1:16) On the flip side, are you living like Him yet afraid to speak for Him? That is also unacceptable in the eyes of Jesus.

4. Exhortation – Mark 8:39-9:1

Jesus says we may not see His glory now but just wait. He is referring to the resurrection. His power comes by death – just like ours does.

Following Him does not just mean embracing an idea or a belief. It is embracing a life. The question is, are you following Jesus, not just did you pray a prayer. It may be the start of a life but it isn’t the prayer that is important. Your perseverance in the life is indication of the prayer.