Bridge Church Vancouver

We never really know the value of things until they are gone

I had a conversation with a friend this last week. He had retired in the last year and had worked hard to build the finances for his retirement. This man was a successful man with much influence, he had a full and highly respected career, he had authored a number of books, internationally sought after as a speaker and finally after a lifetime of hard work, his effort had finally allowed he and his wife the opportunty to spend the last 20-30% of their life doing whatever they wanted to do. The last 3 weeks have not been good for him as he watched his retirement portfolio loose 100's of thousands of dollars in its value and there was nothing he could do about it. Now he wont live long enough to regain what he lost and is looking for ways he can begin to earn money again. This man can tell you exactly what the numbers are that he lost but he is also realizing the value of the many other things in life that he lost, he lost the freedom of his retirement, the rest of many sleepless nights, the confidence of the future he had planned, those things are gone, those are the things his retirement funds were buying him. These were the "intangibles" the things in his life that you cant put in the bank or on a shelf that made his life meaningful. the things he was really trying to achieve as he put his money into his retirement accounts but never showed up on any statement. Now he knows what he was really trying to gain and what he really lost.

Like a person you have a relationship with - when that person is no longer there, the relationship is over then we have a new understanding of how important that person was to us
Like

Jesus calls his disciples - and us - to FOLLOW HIM
What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? What did it mean to Jesus when he called his disciples to follow him? Does it mean anything different today?

At The Bridge we say that we as a church seek to know, love and FOLLOW Jesus..., what does that mean, here in Vancouver, in 2009?

In this passage of Mark 8, some strong and amazing things are said:
Jesus feeds 4000 with only 7 loaves of bread
Jesus is challenged by the Pharasees who want a miraculous sign
Jesus challenges his disciples who are not 'getting it' regarding who He is and what motivates Him, then
Jesus heals a blind man as an object lesson for the disciples
Jesus presses the disciples about where they stand in regards to who Jesus is
Peter procaims Jesus to be "the Christ, the Son of the Living God"

Mark 8:31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and 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.

Mark 8:33 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 things of God, but the things of men."

Text for today:
Mark 8:34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his 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 him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

"If" - a choice - we have an opportunity to "run after Jesus"
He is not going to make anyone follow him
He also knows that no one is following him - except those who choose to

"anyone" - it is an open invitation - anyone can follow Jesus, if they want to

the fact that the opportunity to follow Jesus is a choice that is open to anyone also means there are some indicators that will distinguish a follower of Jesus - "If anyone would come after me..."

As followers of Jesus we must live:
Sacrificially

Deny himself - this is completly counter cultural, counter intuitive, we live to satisfy ourselves. Jesus knows who and what we are like. He knows that from the very begining humanity has been bent on satisfying themselves. He also knows that following him is going in a direction that is completely different than what we - and the rest of the world - would go if left to our own instincts or desires.

by setting a standard right up front of denying ourselves is going to in itself distinguish many who will and will not follow him. you are going to follow him - his way or you wont be following him. he's not going to fight you over it, but he IS going in his direction and he is not going to change that for you, me or anyone else. to follow him means we will stop going in our own directions, living by our own desires, we will get on the path of denying ourselves - or we wont. you wont 'kinda deny yourself'

no one does this compleltly nor perfectly, but Jesus knows the direction of your life. He knows if you are on the path of denying yourself or satisfying yourself.

Take up his cross.
the cross has been the symbol of the Christian church for centuries. The cross today has in many ways lost its meaning from when Jesus first spoke these words. To the first century person, the cross was a symbol of death and shame. today the cross looks like 'bling' anyone and everyone can wear it, it is a fashion accessory.

the cross was the most grusome and cruel form of public capital punishment that humans have ever designed. to be stipped naked, stretched out on a wooden beam and nailed to it was not particularly someting to be desired nor glamorized. it could take days for the person to finally die, Jesus died much quicker than most, most likely because he had just had the daylights tortiously beat out of him before he was nailed to the cross. most people actual cause of death on a cross was by asphixiation, a slow, agonizing, shameful, painful death.

What was Jesus saying here when he called his disciples to take up their cross?
could it be that he was raising the bar even higher than mearly 'denying yourself' but actually sacrifice yourself -

Jesus willingly laid down his life, - he sacrificed himself,

follow me
You or I will not go anywhere as a Christian that Jesus has not already gone = if we are following him. you and i will not experience anything more than what He experienced. we will not sacrifice more than he sacrificed, we will not deny ourselves more than he denyed himself. we are following him - he is our lead, he is our example.

like the Soul matters
some things are more valuable than others.
One of the great things about scripture is we have the opportunity to see further than the disciples did as they lived it. Where the disciples were able to see, touch, hear and be with Jesus - a great advangtage no doubt, one thing they didnt have that we do is the ability to know what comes ahead.

the disciples heard this from the perspective of being with him. He tried to set it in perspective but they just didnt get it - it was pretty extraordinary...

Mark 8:31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and 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.
Mark 8:33 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 things of God, but the things of men."

many times we hear Jesus words of denying self, taking up his cross, follow me
saving life -loosing it
loosing life / saving it

and it just doesnt make much sense - IF we are trying to understand it from a mortal perspective.

mortals believe you die and thats that

like the resurrection is real

What do you believe about the resurrection??

We believe the crucifixion happened, much is written, much is preached about the crucifixion
but what do you know and believe about the resurrection?

what you believe about the resurrection will have a lot to say about how you approach our text today -
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.

forfeit soul--... Is the soul more valuable than this life
is your soul, more precious to you than anything you accumulate or achieve in this life
how do you know that, would anyone else recognize that like real life only really comes from Jesus

ashamed of me & My words...

when he comes in his Fathers glory with the holy angels...