The Costs of Discipleship (Mark 8:27-38) | 9/8/19
Mark 8:27-38 9/8/19 | Will DuVal
In 1937, Dietrich Bonhoeffer published a book entitled “The Cost of Discipleship”, in which he argued that as early Christianity grew and eventually became the official state religion of entire empires, that the cost of true discipleship, of actually following JESUS, became deemed too great a price to expect most people to realistically PAY. And so rather than confront society with Jesus’ original, RADICAL demands of discipleship, the Church instead began to CONFORM ITESLF TO the surrounding society. For Bonhoeffer, this explained why the 20th c. European Church for the first time EVER in history, was actually beginning to die out and shrink; it wasn’t that the Church had raised the bar too HIGH, and kept people from coming to Jesus; it was that she’d set the bar too LOW in an attempt to include EVERYONE, and begun selling what Bonhoeffer called “CHEAP grace”. He says:
“The price we are having to pay today in... the collapse of the organised church is only the inevitable consequence of our policy of making grace available to all at too low a cost. We gave away the word and sacraments wholesale, we baptised, confirmed, and absolved a whole nation without condition... [Gave] that which was holy to the scornful and unbelieving... But the call to follow Jesus in the narrow way is hardly ever heard."” (Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship, 45)
Bonhoeffer defined “cheap grace” as “preaching forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.” (Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship, 36)
So friends, this morning, as we continue our exposition of the Gospel of Mark, we need to be reminded that it is not for us to ask Jesus to conform to OUR culture, to OUR expectations of Him, OUR lifestyles, what WE think is realistic for him to ask of us; but rather, we need to let HIM confront US with His radical call to discipleship again today. And lest you think that we’re not ever guilty of lowering the bar at West Hills, I will just share with you that I’ve been warned by some that my sermons are too heavy on conviction; that we’re gonna scare visitors off at West Hills. I’ve been told that asking non-believers to abstain from taking the Lord’s supper might make them feel uncomfortable, we shouldn’t make a big deal about it. I’ve been asked why we have an interview process for church membership – if someone is willing to voluntarily get out of bed on Sunday mornings to come to church, to voluntarily tithe and write your paycheck as a pastor, to VOLUNTEER in your nursery... what’s left to INTERVIEW? Moreover, do we even need membership? Won’t that make some people feel like outsiders?
See, lowering the bar to include everyone wasn’t just a temptation for the 20th c. European church. It is the single biggest threat to the 21st c. American church today. As we recognized last week, when studying “Jesus vs. Religion” – our primary problem is NOT external. Yes, we live in a rapidly secularizing society that tells us there’s no NEED for grace because there’s nothing WRONG with us; we just need to accept everyone EXACTLY the way they are – yes, that kind of stinking thinking can start to subtly creep into the church. But it’s what is on the INSIDE that REALLY counts; that which comes OUT of the church that truly defiles us. And the GREATEST threat to the gospel today is not in the world; but in the CHURCH, twisting and distorting the gospel into CHEAP grace in order to pad our baptism stats and fill our coffers.
But in Mark 8 this morning, Jesus is gonna raise the bar. He’s gonna ask us to count the cost, of truly following Him. Jesus used the illustration in Luke 14 of building a TOWER: “which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’” (vv28-30) So this morning, we’re gonna count the cost together. Actually, the COSTS, plural, of discipleship. FOUR of them.
So let’s turn to Mark ch.8, vv27-38 together - Would you stand with me as you’re able, out of respect for the reading of God’s word:
from MARK 8:27-38
And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.35 For whoever would save his life[d] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” This is the word of the Lord...
Cost #1, of discipleship: SUBMISSION (vv27-30).
Following Jesus will COST you, your PRIDE. It will necessarily require you, to submit, and bend your KNEE to King Jesus.
Consider Jesus’ interaction with the disciples in vv27-30 here. There are SO many things we could glean from this PIVOTAL passage, ESPECIALLY if we pull in the parallel text from MATTHEW’S ch.16, the FULL version of the conversation. But I just want to focus on ONE implication of this exchange between Jesus and his disciples. He puts them on the spot, asks them who OTHERS say he is, but then he turns and makes it personal and asks THEM, the disciples, to answer for THEMSELVES: “But who do YOU say that I am?” The “you” is emphatic in the Greek. And for them to ANSWER, as Peter does, “You are the Christ,” the Greek word christos is the Hellenization of the Hebrew word MESSIAH, mah-shee-ach, which means “Anointed One”, you are Israel’s Savior who was prophesied and promised long ago in the OT, now come in the flesh, and in MATTHEW’s gospel, Peter adds: “the Christ, the SON of the living GOD”... for Peter to profess that means, that he is acknowledging that AS Messiah, Jesus deserves his submission and obedience. Jesus: YOU are the Messiah, my anointed SAVIOR, which means: #1) I, Peter, am NOT the Savior, and #2) I NEED a Savior. I’m a sinner. For me to confess YOU as the Son of the living God is to confess that there actually exists a higher authority to whom I must ultimately answer and before whom I ought to willingly SUBMIT. Philippians 2 – at the name of Jesus EVERY knee will bow and EVERY tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father, but I can EITHER bend my knee voluntarily in humble, willing, JOYFUL submission to the good King who is WORTHY of my allegiance, or I can be MADE to bend the knee on my day of Reckoning, and that is NOT a position I want to find myself in.
Nothing flies in the face of 21st c. American culture quite like the call to submission. I know I’ve mentioned this in recent sermons, but it’s so thoroughly INGRAINED in our collective cultural psyche these days, it bears reiterating – that nothing DEFINES Americanism today, they say “you are what you celebrate”, what do we CELEBRATE as a society MORE than... our 2 chief virtues of: PRIDE, and AUTONOMY.
We are a PROUD people. “I’m proud to be an American...” Our country was built on hard work and self-determinism. The pioneer, do it yourself spirit. Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps... if you work hard enough, anyone can be anything. THAT kind of pride.
And AUTONOMY. Radical individualism. Freedom. Independence. Self-expression. The heroes we grew up on were Ariel, Aladdin AND Jasmine, Mulan, Moana, Elsa... we celebrate, and teach our KIDS to “Follow YOUR heart, no matter what it costs you. “You do you, and forget anyone, even your parents... (maybe ESPECIALLY your parents)... who tries to tell you who to be, or what to do”, it is self-expression and personal autonomy above ALL else.
But Jesus asks us, DEMANDS us, to lay our pride, and our autonomy, at the altar of following Him. There’s no room for pride - “It’s the sick who need the doctor, not the healthy” so... if you’re still clinging to your pride and your “I GOT this” attitude, if you haven’t yet looked down and realized that you are HOPELESSLY NAKED, with exactly ZERO bootstraps by which to pull yourself up, then Jesus says, “I can’t help you yet”. There’s no room for autonomy – Jesus will say in just a moment in v34: “if you won’t DENY yourself”, say “NO” to your heart, your dreams, your individualism, your freedom, your self-expression in order to say “YES” to me instead, I can’t help you yet.
American evangelicalism’s gospel has become “Jesus loves you so much that he died to save you from your sins so that you can go to heaven.” And while that “gospel” isn’t inaccurate, it is horribly shallow and incomplete. It is dangerously ME-centric. Jesus loves ME so much... he died to save ME... so I can go to heaven. Jesus becomes a means to an end. Friends, the gospel is about GOD. HIS glory. His Kingdom... come to us in the person and work of Jesus. THAT’S the gospel. And do you know what title the NT uses for Jesus FAR more than “Savior”? Listen: we need a Savior, DESPERATELY, and Jesus IS our Savior, praise the Lord! And He’s called it 15x in the NT. But friends, as much as we need a Savior, we ALSO need, EQUALLY need, a LORD, a kurios, a master, a GOD. We need someone to turn our lives over to, because we don’t have the first CLUE how to run them! And thank GOD Jesus is THAT for us too; and he’s CALLED it, 667x in the NT!
“Lord” and “Savior” are not synonyms, friends. And if you’re here this morning and you’ve attempted to entrust your eternal destiny to Jesus without laying down your LIFE in order to follow Him, let me be very blunt and very biblical with you: you are not a Christian. You are not saved. Until Jesus is your Savior AND Lord. He has no desire to merely be your “Get out of Hell Free” ticket. He isn’t peddling cheap grace. He wants so much more than that for you... WITH you. He wants a RELATIONSHIP with you. He wants your HEART. He won’t settle for anything less. But it’s GOT to be on his terms. Discipleship DEMANDS your submission. He’s not interested in coming along for the ride. He MUST be in the driver’s seat.
Anyone else like to drive? Hate to let others drive? Anyone else HATE to be in second place? We walk the dog, every single day, and every walk, Polly and I will be talking and all of a sudden I’ll look around and be like “Where’d she go?” and I’ve gotten like 10 steps ahead, and I will confess to you – it has much less to do with the relative lengths of our legs, and much MORE to do, with the fact that I’ve never been comfortable with second place. And I am wired to be so competitive and so driven, that somewhere in my unconscious, even our family DOG walks become a race. And by God, I’m gonna be #1!
Thad’s like “Who am I interviewing to WORK for?!”
Submission is HARD isn’t it? Anybody else married? Is submission HARD?! I’m preaching to myself this morning; I am chief of sinners. But friends, it is the cost. And that is a really GOOD thing, because Jesus knows how to drive FAR better than you and I do. He deserves, he DEMANDS, our submission today. GIVE it to Him, and watch Him turn your life around in ways you never DREAMED possible in your own strength.
Cost #2 of discipleship: SUFFERING (v31)
We hear in v31: “Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Serving a suffering savior is in itself a form of suffering. I mean, can you imagine the disciples’ inner turmoil for those 3 days after Jesus’ death. You want to talk about PTSD?! Imagine watching the guy who you had bet EVERYTHING on, given up your LIFE for, put your eternal hope and faith in, be brutally tortured and ripped to shreds and bleed out in front of your very eyes. But it wasn’t just the inner agony of watching someone ELSE you love suffer; Jesus is very clear with us that signing on to be his disciples means that WE must suffer as well:
He alluded to it in our parable a few weeks ago: “when persecution arises on account of the word, immediately [some will] fall away” (Mark 4:17)
He’s more explicit elsewhere: in the Beatitudes, Matthew 5 (10-12) ““Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.”
“they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.” (Matthew 24:9)
““If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you... ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” (John 15:18-20)
And right here, in v34, Jesus warns them that following Him will mean taking up their CROSSES. An instrument of death. Take up your electric chairs, and follow me. He’s saying, the cost isn’t just “denying” yourself, it’s actually DYING. Dying TO yourself. Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Col. 3:5 - “Put to death what is earthly in you:[b] sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, idolatry.” Being raised to new life in Christ REQUIRES us to first DIE to ourselves.
Anybody here DIE lately? I haven’t, but from what I gather, it doesn’t look like a lot of FUN. I HAVE died to my sin. To my selfish, fleshly nature; on my GOOD days, I STILL die to it, put my earthly desires to death. It’s not always FUN, is it? It is LIBERATING. It is FREEING, but it isn’t FUN. That’s why C.S. Lewis, in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the 3rd Narnia book, depicts it in allegorical terms through the character Eustace, as a dragon being stripped of his scales. Aslan, the God-lion, tells Eustace, if you want to be transformed from the dragon you’ve turned yourself into, back into a human boy, I can DO it, but it’s gonna hurt. Eustace says, “I was afraid of his claws, but I was pretty nearly desperate now... The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. ” That description NAILS it, doesn’t it? Those of you who have died to your sin?
Friends: are you suffering for Christ? I’m not just talking about persecution, sure, our faith should cost us something in a world that is increasingly hostile towards the Christian worldview, but I’m talking even more about what it costs you IN HERE [heart]. Remember: the MAIN problem isn’t out THERE, it’s in HERE. So what is your commitment to Christ costing you, in HERE? What are you saying NO to, in order to say “YES” to Jesus? What sinful, fleshly impulses, what self-indulgences, are you DENYING, putting to DEATH, in order to choose life in CHRIST instead?
A faith that costs you nothing is worth EXACTLY what you paid for it. Did you get that? A faith that costs you nothing is worth EXACTLY what you paid for it.
Cost #3: SURRENDER (vv32-33)
This point goes hand in hand with submission, but takes it a step further, because Jesus not only calls us to lay down our pride, and recognize that we are NOT the messiah, BECAUSE of that, He ALSO calls us to surrender our WILL to His. Hand over our CONTROL, our PLANS, to HIM.
Consider vv32-33: Jesus, for the first time in Mark’s Gospel, predicts his own death in v31, “And he said this plainly,” we hear in v32; Mark wants to be clear: the reason Peter admonishes Jesus WASN’T because he simply MISHEARD Jesus. And what IS Peter’s response?
“Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.” “Rebuke” is a STRONG word; to “rebuke” is “to express sharp, stern disapproval” (dictionary.com). Again, Mark doesn’t want us to feel SYMPATHY for Peter here; this was not a heart-broken Peter, pleading in TEARS with Jesus; No, Peter took Jesus ASIDE... “Hey, Jesus, come here a second, I need to talk to you...” The same PETER who Jesus had to save from drowning because of his little faith, the guy who’s about to deny Jesus THREE times lest his faith cost HIM some persecution, THAT Peter says – “Jesus, I got a BONE to pick with you; come here...” He took Jesus aside and REBUKED him. And what is Jesus’ response?
33 But turning and seeing his disciples – see, THEY were thinking the same thing: “Wait a minute, Jesus, if you’re really Sovereign over the wind and the waves and the loaves and the fishes and demons and sickness, Jesus – if you’re REALLY the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, then just re-write the plan. This seems like a BAD plan, Jesus. You DON’T have to suffer and die.” That’s what they’re ALL thinking; Peter’s just the only one with the cahones to say it out loud: You don’t HAVE to do this.
But they’re WRONG. Because Jesus just SAID in v31, “the Son of Man MUST suffer and be rejected”. Not MIGHT suffer. Not even WILL suffer. He MUST suffer and die. To which Peter says, “No, Jesus, listen.” To which JESUS says, “No, Peter, YOU listen... “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”” You care about YOUR plan, Peter, not mine.
Friends, what is the most OBVIOUS example in your life of something that seems so CLEARLY to be NOT within God’s plan. The life circumstance that has you MOST questioning God’s sovereignty. His supreme power and absolute control over everything. At one time for me it was my parents’ divorce. No good can come from this. No, this can’t be GOD’S plan. Later it was not getting the job offer I wanted. Not having the MARRIAGE I wanted. What is it for you? And have you realized yet, that God’s plans for you are so much better than your plans for yourself? Isaiah 55:8, that “Your ways are NOT my ways, declares the Lord”, and that that’s a REALLY good thing?
If there was EVER a plan, that appeared to be NOT the Lord’s plan, it was this one. The suffering, rejection, and death of the Messiah. No way. Can’t be. But Jesus says, “Peter, your ways are NOT my ways,” in fact, on THIS one, this part of the plan is SO crucial, it is the very CENTERPIECE of all of human history, that to buck against me on THIS point, and try and assert your will over mine in THIS instance, Peter, it is nothing less than the plan of SATAN: “Get behind me SATAN!” Even the Pharisees only got called “SONS of the devil” by Jesus. Jesus reserves his most SEVERE reprimand, in ALL the Gospels, for Peter here. Because following Jesus means surrendering our will to his. “THY Kingdom come, THY will be done”, not my will, but yours, O Lord.
I guess at the end of the day, it also really boils down to a matter of facing the facts. Because the FACT is, I have little to NO control over MOST of what happens in my life anyway. I didn’t choose to get a flat tire last week. I didn’t choose to have a headache all day Wednesday. I didn’t choose to have my Bible chewed up. That was my demonic DOG – SHE chose that one.
You don’t choose cancer. You don’t choose to lose a child. No one would EVER choose these things. But on the cross, God proved that He can take what seems to be the WORST of ALL plans, and REDEEM it, and USE it as the very means of accomplishing His perfect purpose. And I can RAIL against the plan, I can blame God, blame others, I can let the little bit of control that I DO have turn me into a total control-FREAK and try and micro-manage everyone ELSE’S life to, to get THEM to conform to my plans... or I can face the facts. And SURRENDER my will, my plans, my control, because it’s really just an illusion anyway – Proverbs 16:9 “In his mind MAN makes the plans, but it is the LORD who directs his footsteps” – I can surrender to the One who numbers the stars, and numbers the hairs on my head, and choose to trust HIS plan, even when I don’t understand it. That’s my choice. That’s your choice. That much we DO have control over. Not what happens, but whether or not we accept it as a gift from a good and loving God.
Finally, Cost #4 of discipleship: SELF (vv34-35). It will cost you, your SELF. Your very LIFE. I’m out of time, but we’ve touched on this already anyway.
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life[d] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.” Bonhoeffer put it this way, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die”.
Here’s the question some of you should be asking right now: Why would ANYONE want ANY PART of this. You’re telling me that following Jesus is gonna cost me my PRIDE and AUTONOMY, I’m gonna have to SUBMIT to him... it’s gonna cost me SUFFERING... it’s gonna cost me my plans, MY will, MY control – I have to surrender all THAT to Jesus too... and it’s gonna cost me my LIFE. I’ve got to “take up a CROSS”, put to DEATH my old life, my old ways, REPENT and TURN from sin, in order to follow Him. You Christians are CRAZY! This doesn’t sound like “GOOD NEWS” at ALL to me! Where’s the GOOD part? If that’s the COST, what does it even BUY you, anyway? For those who “count the cost” and give Jesus their submission, their suffering, their surrender, their selves; what’s the REWARD?
And Jesus’ answer is EVERYTHING. Yes, it cost HIM everything, his OWN infinitely valuable life; and so yes, it will also cost YOU everything too – you must lay down your life, in return. But the reward is NEW life, in Him. ETERNAL life, WITH Him, in Glory.
The Reward is your SOUL, #1 (vv36-37). If you ARE counting the cost this morning and you’re honestly skeptical, you’ve got to admit: Jesus makes a pretty compelling case in vv36-37: “what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?” If your hope is NOT ultimately in Jesus, then let me ask you, friend: what IS your plan, exactly, for eternity? I think of those retirement investment commercials: “What’s your retirement plan? Do you know how much you need to have saved?” What about the ULTIMATE retirement. Retirement from this WORLD! If your hope is in your... money, are you planning to take that WITH you, and ask God how much a ticket into Heaven costs? If it’s in your FAMILY... are you hoping that one of THEM can like vouch for you at the gates of Heaven? If it’s in your... good deeds, are you just crossing your fingers and hoping they’ll be good ENOUGH to earn your way into Heaven? What exactly is your ETERNAL plan?
Jesus says, “you can gain the whole WORLD – EVERYTHING this world has to offer – and there’s no exchange rate for purchasing your soul back. You’ve got worldly currency, and Heaven only accepts spiritual currency. You want security in your ETERNAL retirement? You’re gonna need
Reward #2: the SON’S APPROVAL. v38: “whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels”, but the CONVERSE of that is ALSO true friends, whoever is NOT ashamed, whoever ACKNOWLEDGES Him in this generation, in this life, here on earth, if you CONFESS him as Messiah, the Son of the Living God, and GIVE Him your submission, your suffering, your surrender, and your whole self, you will be SAVED.
Bonhoeffer said: ““Costly grace is the gospel... Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ [and he’s SO good]. It is costly because it will cost you your life, and it is grace because it gives you the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son... and what has cost God [SO] much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us.”
Friends: Will YOU count the cost, and follow Him today? Let’s pray.