Take Up Your Cross

INTRO

Jesus was not afraid to engage the people and to interact with the people as a Servant. This chapter contains a key verse for Christians. The reality is that when we follow Jesus, it will not be easy.

TEACHING

Mark 8:1-10: Again, the large crowd that had gathered around Jesus for three days had nothing to eat. And again, this was not a problem but a potential. Jesus wanted the disciples to trust Him, to depend on Him in every walk of the ministry. This crowd numbered 4,000 men, and Jesus used seven loaves and a few small fish to feed them all with seven baskets of food left over. God kept saying to His people: trust Me, I am the Bread of life.

Mark 8:11-21: When the Pharisees began to argue with Jesus and demand a sign to test Him, Jesus and the disciples got in a boat and went to the other side. As they sailed, Jesus commanded, “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod” (v. 15). While the disciples focused on their lack of bread, they didn’t understand Jesus’ message. In other words, the Pharisees and Herod had some issues the disciples needed to be aware of, so Jesus warned them to beware of the Pharisees, the religious, and the opposition.

Mark 8:22-26: These verses describe Jesus healing a blind man. This story is exclusive to the Gospel of Mark. And in this instance, Jesus healed the man in two stages. After Jesus healed the man, He told him to go straight home without even going into the village, which implied Jesus instructed him not to tell anyone what had happened.

Mark 8:27-33: These verses recount Peter’s confession of the Messiah. Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” (v. 27). The disciples said some people thought Jesus was John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the prophets, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Moses. When Peter answered, “You are the Messiah!” (v. 29). Jesus told the disciples they couldn’t tell anyone He was the Messiah. Jesus then predicted His death, burial, and resurrection after three days (v. 31). Jesus didn’t hide these events from His disciples.

Peter drew Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him. The most recent mention of “rebuke” was when Jesus rebuked the wind and the rain while they were in the boat during a storm on the sea of Galilee (Mark 4:39). Now Peter rebuked Jesus. Why? Peter didn’t want this to happen even if Jesus would be resurrected. Each of us has to answer these questions: Do I really believe in this chapter in the Bible? Do I believe in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection? Do I really believe what He has called me to?

Jesus looked at the disciples and rebuked Peter (v. 33), “Get behind Me, Satan, because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns, but man’s!” Peter’s problem was that he was focused on man’s concerns, not God’s. This is an ongoing battle that we face every day. If we only see the problems, we’ll never see the potential. We’ll never experience faith. We’ll never experience God working in our lives. We’ll never experience the resurrection of the situation. Peter didn’t want to deal with it, and the American church doesn’t want to experience the suffering, to experience the resurrection that God has for us. Wiersbe said that this was just what Satan was after . . . the disciples “were following Satan’s philosophy (glory without suffering) instead of God’s philosophy (suffering transformed into glory).”¹

Mark 8:34: Jesus summoned the whole crowd, not just the disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to be My follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.”

What does “follower” mean to you? A follower goes along behind someone. If Jesus goes left, you go left. If you are a follower, you do what Jesus does. So why do we pick and choose what we do? For example, I’ll read this part of the Bible, but not this. We will not be ready for the end times if we don’t embrace Mark 8:34. Jesus is preparing us for anything radical that is coming. I believe we will be part of the end times. If the Apostle Paul said it, we should say it as well.

Jesus gave three specific instructions in this statement that deserve further study. The first instruction was “Deny yourself.” What does that mean? It might mean denying yourself pleasure or denying yourself things of this world. It doesn’t mean you hate yourself. It means giving full control to Jesus by surrendering completely to Him. John MacArthur said this reveals an important spiritual truth: “Those who pursue a life of ease, comfort, and acceptance by the world will not find eternal life. On the other hand, those who give up their lives for the sake of Christ and the gospel will find it.”²You cannot put the things of this world before Christ.

The second instruction was “Take up your cross.” This means we must make some form of sacrifice and demonstrate the willingness to do whatever it takes to become dead to our own will. We must be willing to suffer, to be rejected, and to be killed . . . to follow Christ and how He lived His life. The suffering and death component fits in this. Are we willing to go there? Jesus’ disciples ended up actually doing that.³Matthew, the tax collector with a comfortable home, was impaled by spears in Ethiopia. James (who once wanted to be the greatest) was thrown off a wall and clubbed to death. Jude was crucified by magi in Persia. John was boiled in tar and exiled to an island of Patmos. Matthias (the disciple who took Judas’ place) was stoned and beheaded. Philip was hung upside down by iron hooks. Peter, who didn’t want Jesus to be killed, was, according to tradition, crucified upside down by Nero. These guys didn’t get it while Jesus was alive, but when the Spirit of God came, something happened, and they became willing to take up their cross. When truth is really, really hard, we initially reject it. Then the Spirit of God kicks in, and we come to accept it. Doubting Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India. James the Lesser was beheaded in Palestine. Simon was crucified in Persia (just like Jude). Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross in Greece. Bartholomew was flayed to death by a whip in Asia Minor. All of these men were crucified because of the gospel. They believed this message was so life-giving that they embraced Mark 8:34. This message still applies today. In 2 Peter 1:16, Peter said, “We did not follow cleverly contrived myths . . .” No one would die for a myth or a fable. If you really want to be a follower, you have to surrender everything that gets in the way of following Jesus. You have to be willing to die for the sake of the gospel. But until persecution comes, it’s really hard to gauge whether or not you can do this.

The third instruction was “Follow Christ.” How many times are we asked to give up everything and walk in His steps? In Mark 2:14, Jesus called Matthew (also called Levi, son of Alphaeus; Matthew 9:19) to follow Him. Following Jesus doesn’t mean sitting still. You have to get up and share the gospel. You don’t worry about where to lay your head; you don’t worry about your bills. In Mark 10:21, Jesus told the rich young man to sell everything and then follow Him. There is more to do than just accepting Jesus as Savior––we have to follow Him. We have to walk out our faith by following Jesus wherever He leads. Obviously, getting to this point in your faith is a process that takes time.

Mark 8:35-38: Only by losing our lives for the sake of Jesus and the gospel can we save them. And if we are ashamed of Jesus and His words, then He will also be ashamed of us “when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (v. 38).

CLOSING

All of this, recorded in verses 35-38, would not be an issue if we live out Mark 8:34. Where are you in all of this today? Peter initially had a problem. It was all about himself, rather than about the Lord. But when you flip it, this works.