Mark 8:27-38
27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.3 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
“What Do We Have In Mind?”
Peter blew it as soon as he made it. He didn’t have in mind the things of God.
His vision fell short of what God intended when he sent his Son to call us to live in His Kingdom.
What do we have in mind when we go to church?
To be comforted or disturbed?
sedated or shaken?
assured or challenged?
Are we open to what God wants for us or just what we want?
Church is no place to come if we don’t want to be changed - in our thinking, attitudes, believing, understanding, accepting, and our living so that we are more Christ like - more compassionate, forgiving, loving, and instep with the One we call Lord.
For the truth of the matter is, there is no crown without a cross; no faith without works; no having life without loosing life in something bigger than ourselves. We are to die to self - take up the Cross - and let Christ live through us! This is a great risk. It is also a great blessing.
Jesus calls us to a life of servitude not self satisfaction; sacrifice not comfort.
Happiness comes as we serve and even sacrifice.
Life is not found in consumption; it is found in denying oneself, taking up the cross and following Jesus.
A good example: Mother Teresa
“...the man of heaven must suffer many things.”
Suffer. This is the word Peter stumbled over and we do to. Yet it is at the heart of life, of Christ’s mission in our world, and even at the heart of God’s love. Remember Phil 1:6-8.
To be on the side of God in this world is to suffer. To follow Jesus is to come to terms with suffering, to take it up, to enter into it, to not deny it.
Suffering is not OF God; it breaks God’s heart. It is overcome by God so even it becomes a blessing. Overcome by the power of love.
Power cannot eliminate suffering; love can and does!
William Sloane Coffin... “The one thing that should never be said when someone dies is, ‘It is the will of God.’ Never do we know enough to say that. My own consolation lies in knowing that it was not the will of God that Alex die; that when the waves closed over the sinking car, God’s heart was the first of all our hearts to brake.”
“And, finally I know that when Alex beat me to the grave, the finish line was not Boston Harbor in the middle of the night. If a lamp went out, it was because, for him at lest, the Dawn had come. So I shall - so let us all - seek consolation in that love which never dies and find peace in the dazzling grace that always is.”
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