Mark No.14 Cross bearerers united

Father, we offer this service to you. We thank you for a lovely day, for the opportunity of coming together in your presence. We think of the subject which will occupy our attention for the larger part of our service, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and all that that means and represents and all the consequences that flow from it.

We thank you again for your goodness and your grace in so many areas. We praise you for a God from whom all blessings are traced. It is Jesus, the first and the last, whose saviour he shall guide us to God.

We will praise him for all that he caused, and trust him for all that's to come. Let's remain standing and take our hymnbooks, Mission Praise, and turn to 738, the hymn that speaks about the cross of our beloved Lord Jesus. Then after that, Sue and Rich Lackey will be helping to take our children's spot, to which you're all invited to be plugged in.

Cheryl Slaughter actually will be helping me next week in this part of the service. 738. 738.

738. Actually, this couldn't be a better psalm to follow on from those. I want to read part of God's word back to him as a thank you for all he's done over the last year for my family, for all he's brought us through, for his faithfulness and his goodness.

This is Psalm 116. I love the Lord, for he heard my voice. He heard my cry for mercy, because he turned his ear to me.

I will call on him as long as I live. The cords of death entangled me. The anguish of the grave came upon me.

I was overcome by trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord. O Lord, save me.

The Lord is gracious and righteous. Our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the simple-hearted.

When I was in great need, he saved me. Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

I believed, therefore I said, I am greatly afflicted, and in my dismay I said, all men are liars. How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of his people.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, truly I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.

You have freed me from my chains. I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord. There are two short readings from the Old Testament to start with. First from Isaiah chapter 53, a very well-known passage talking of the death and suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Two verses. Verse 4. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. Yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted.

And verse 11. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

And a verse from Daniel chapter 7, verse 13. In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence.

He was given authority, glory, and sovereign power. All peoples, nations, and men of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

And finally from Mark chapter 8, starting at verse 31. Mark chapter 8, verse 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.

He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. Out of my sight, Satan, he said, you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.

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. For whoever wants to gain his life, to save his life, will lose it. But whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 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. This is the word of God. Thank you, Anne.

Let's keep our Bibles open there. Listen to a preacher of yesteryear proclaiming what is bound to our soul in contemporary times. I know, I only know that my rags and tatters have really gone when I see them on the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who wore them in my stead and became a curse in my place.

The Father commanded him to take my filthy rags off me, and he has done so. He bore my iniquity. He clothed and covered himself with my sin.

He has taken it away and drowned it in the sea of God's forgetfulness. And when I see and believe that God in Christ has not only forgiven but also forgotten my past, who am I to try to look for it and to find it? My only consolation when I consider the past is that God has blotted it out. No other could do so, but he has done so.

It is the first essential step in a new beginning. The past must be erased, and in Christ it has, through his atoning death. Jesus, keep me near the cross, there's a precious fountain.

Free to all, a healing stream flows from Calvary's mountain in the cross, in the cross. Be my glory ever, till my ransomed soul shall find rest beyond the river. Brothers and sisters, we look in a somewhat indirect fashion at the cross of our Lord Jesus and its significance for us as his disciples as found in the teaching that Anne, who is back with us from Bolivia, Anne read to us in the passage prescribed from Mark's Gospel.

Here is our Lord Jesus, and he's going to teach you a number of things, but in general what I need to remind you of is this, that the cross is the crux of Christianity, and that's a play on words, and deliberately so, I'll give you another. The cross is crucial to Christianity. If you want another witticism, I found it in a book by a lady theologian.

Jesus was at cross purposes with the religious leaders of his day. That's a very clever expression, and it neatly underlines the point that our Savior came into the world in order to offer his life as a ransom for the sins of people like ourselves, and bearing in mind the implications of the claims that he was making, the notion was utterly impossible as far as his critics were concerned, and indeed as far as his immediate disciples, his college of friends were concerned. I mean, here you have it.

I pick up on the story from last week. Here is Peter in a moment of inspiration identifying who Jesus is. Not for him, the speculation of the bazaars or the third-rate music hall jests, which were centering on perhaps the character of this wonder-working man from Galilee.

Who do they say I am? Well, let's cut through the foliage, men. Who do you say I am? You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Well done.

Well done, Peter. That's not come through human ingenuity. It's not a little bit of classic cogitation, a sort of logical deduction that you use when you read the Jewish chronicle and work out the crossword puzzle.

That's inspiration. But then, and this is where the difficulty comes, the inspiration is found by prediction. I mean, look at what our Lord says in verse 31 following this tremendous announcement from Peter.

He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders. Peter gives an attestation as to who Jesus is, and the Savior responds by an affirmation. If this is who I am, this is what I am going to do.

And that's where you run into difficulty. Because if he is who he says he is, then according to classic theology, in that day it is impossible for him to do what he says is just around the corner. I have a ruse when I'm traveling.

If I happen to be sitting next to a Jewish person when I'm moving towards the Middle East, in order to get them into conversation, I think I may have mentioned this before, banking on their curiosity, I take out my little notebook and I start to write just the few bits and pieces of Hebrew that I remember from my studies of yesteryear. And invariably it works. Gentile scribbling in Hebrew, and I use that.

It's a ruse, may I be forgiven, to get them into conversation. I use that deliberately and then eventually take them to the Old Testament and see what they make of Isaiah 53. You see, that's a very difficult passage for the Jew.

Because it speaks about the suffering servant. It speaks about the Messiah. And do you know that according to the Targums, which are the Jewish commentary on the Old Testament Scriptures, whenever there is glory in Isaiah 53 and there's not much, that is associated to the King Messiah.

When there is suffering, it is associated to the people. Now here is our beloved Lord and He comes along, the blueprint of His life is actually in the Old Testament Scripture. He sees Isaiah 53 and He knows that His life will be lived in accordance with what the prophecy there delineates.

So our Savior says, you're right Peter. Now, then, He speaks. He speaks to Peter and He speaks to His disciples with very choice and precise words.

Look at verse 32. He spoke plainly about this. An outspoken language that conceals nothing is what the word plainly means.

He comes clean. He comes clean and look at the verbs there. The Son of Man must suffer many things.

He must be rejected by the elders. He must be killed and after that three days will elapse and He will rise. Now, that too, Peter, was an impossibility.

So, the prediction as to what is round the corner for Jesus is followed by an objection by Peter. This is out of keeping with Messiahship. Peter, look at verse 32, took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him.

In one sense, I'm glad He did because here is depicted Sergeant and maybe you. Oh yes, we know who you are but Lord, you do need a little bit of advice. Let's get a bit of corrective into what you're doing.

I mean, it is quite ridiculous when you think of it logically but when you handle it emotionally, you see the humanness, so to speak, of Peter. He comes to Jesus and says, no, just come here. Let me just give you the benefit of my wisdom.

Actually, it's more strong than that. Peter takes Jesus aside and begins to rebuke Him. It's a very strong word.

You come across it in the first chapter in the 25th verse and the third chapter in the 12th verse. The very language that Jesus uses for exorcism, in putting down the devil, Peter uses in the correction of Jesus. Now, you can understand to some degree Peter's dilemma.

It's exactly the same as Jews have today, Orthodox Jews, when you try to explain Isaiah 53. It's the dilemma of the presupposition that when King Messiah comes, He will establish His kingdom. He will do this, He will do that, and He will do it according to our speculation.

You know, the beloved Lord rarely moves according to our speculation. And that's one of the problems for us as Christian people. We're often in trouble because the sovereignty of God in our lives does not unfold in the way that we predetermine.

And as a result, we say, Lord, let's give you the benefit of our advice. And sometimes even more passionately, Lord, why have you done this when you should have done that? And there's the echo of Peter's impertinence. Jesus makes a prediction.

He must go to Jerusalem. Peter objects to the prediction. It's out of keeping with Messiahship.

So, Jesus objects to the objection. Now, this runs quite logically through the text, even if you'd never thought of it, in terms of these little headings that I'm throwing out. Peter takes Him aside and begins to rebuke Jesus.

But, verse 33, when Jesus turns and looks at His disciples, He rebukes Peter. The objection to the objection. And look how it's done.

Because Peter is the mouthpiece for them all. He may have Jesus on his side. He may have Jesus seemingly privately.

But Jesus also knows what the thoughts are of Peter's colleagues, the disciples. So, Jesus turns around and He goes eyeball to eyeball with the rest of His colleagues. In the rebuke of Peter, He adds a corrective to them.

For they are empathizing with the mistakes of Peter. Do you remember I told you that in Mark's Gospel you get a very interesting differentiation between the presentation of the temptations of our Lord. In fact, they don't go into the three temptations as such.

What happens is, reference is made in the baptismal encounter to our Lord Jesus. Then going into the wilderness. And He's tempted by the devil.

And then He comes out again. And the specifics are not gone into. But if you dip into Luke's Gospel, you'll discover that Satan not only tempted Jesus three times.

But time and time and time and time again. The tempting experience for our Lord was co-extensive with the whole of His ministry. Of that there can be no doubt.

Now the devil knows something about the psychology of temptation. Let's invert that a little. The devil knows a great deal about your psychology and levels his temptation towards your possible weakness.

Not so? Now if our Lord Jesus is going to be tempted by the evil one. If words are going to be directed into His ears. What better? What a more malevolent strategy than for the devil to take hold of the mental processes of Jesus' most precocious disciple.

And speak to him words of temptation. For remember that in the balance here. For if Jesus is deflected from doing what He is designated to do in Jerusalem.

There will be no salvation. There will be no guarantees of eternal well-being for the elect of God. The very judgment to which Jesus makes reference later on in this passage.

Cannot come about in the way that has been predetermined. If Jesus responds to the temptation given by Peter to Him. So Satan uses the very strategy that you would expect from such a diabolical personality.

He speaks through Peter to Jesus. And the Lord uses such strong language. It falls hard on sensitive ears of Christian people to hear our Lord reacting so strongly.

But He has to. Why? Because you see this man is trying to tinker around with the purposes of God. This man is trying to give a better theology to Jesus than what he understands our Lord from the Old Testament.

This man has to be put in place. He has to be put back amongst the ranks of the disciples. Amongst the ranks of the learner.

For he at this point is not a teacher and never will be if he continues like this. Get behind me Satan. You do not have in mind the things of God.

But the things of men. Peter you are knee jerking. You are reacting like an unspiritual, insensitive man.

You haven't yet learned the fundamental lesson. That when I speak with my dominical authority, that is the authority of God's own Son. And when God reveals to you something of my character.

That means that your opinion Peter counts for absolutely nothing. If your opinion is different from our teaching. Then your opinion needs to be changed and brought into harmony.

With the purposes of God. Then our Lord does something else which is very significant. Everything He does is significant.

Here is this prediction and the objection to the prediction. And then the objection to the objection. Well He then calls to Himself.

For there are not just twelve disciples. There is a crowd that is away in the distance. And He beckons them.

And He starts to lay down certain conditions about the kingdom. Now why does Jesus do that? I mean why does He just continue to address Peter and the eleven? Well because the kingdom that our Lord has come to establish is not just for twelve of His followers. The kingdom He has come to establish is first for the Jew and then for the Gentile.

And so our Lord brings to Himself a representation of the Jewish populace. And He starts to address them about kingdom matter. Fundamental to the kingdom is this.

What's fundamental to the kingdom? Well our Lord by implication speaks of His own death. And if you sift what in effect I think are various comments that our Lord has made publicly on a variety of occasions. And Mark has brought them together from verse 34 through to verse 38.

Why do these numbers get more faint as the years go by? I ask myself. You will find that He centers His teaching on two points. One is self-denial.

This has to be recognized. And the other is scriptural logic. This has to be embraced.

You say you don't understand. Well hang on and you will. Our Lord Jesus is going to Jerusalem and He is going to take up His cross.

And in taking up His cross He will give an example for all who are to follow Him. As to the self-denial that is necessary in their lives. You see when the weeks lengthen into months and our Lord is in Jerusalem and done, treated criminally by these chief priests and teachers of the law and the Roman authorities.

When they put Him to death on that torture rack and death by a cross. He did experience whatever a pensioned off politician might write about in these days. If you don't get that point read the newspapers.

Our Lord when He died on the cross of Calvary. He not only died for the sins of humanity. His life became a prototype.

For the sort of life that kingdom people are to live. He says look if you are going to be a member of my kingdom. Not only do you have to embrace the fact that my death has benefit for you.

But you in effect have to take up your own torture rack and follow me. Now this for the Jew was a very strange metaphor. Repugnant to the disciples and to this crowd alike.

The saying evokes the picture of a condemned man going out to die. Forced to carry on his back the cross beam upon which he is to be nailed. Now remember that when Mark actually puts this gospel together in written form.

What he is describing will have been experienced by many of the friends of the readers. Because following King Jesus in New Testament times. Often caused great physical deprivation.

And sometimes lined up with death. And Jesus here is prompting the evangelist to make the assertion. That actually the implications of my being Messiah and eventually dying on the cross are these.

You too will live a sacrificial life. The pivot of discipleship is self-denial. Take up your cross and follow me.

Now not only does self-denial one of the two main thoughts that comes out here. But there is another one and that is scriptural logic. Look at verse 35.

Because verse 36 and 37 explain it. 35 says whoever wants to save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for me and the gospel will save it.

What does that mean? Well it's the language of commerce. It's the language of gain and loss, profit and exchange. Not easy perhaps to grasp on first reading.

So let me help you by dipping into mission history and fairly recent mission history. Take Jim Elliot the man who gave his life in order to reach the Alka Indians in Latin America with the gospel. He writes in his diary on one occasion.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose. Think that one through. You see he died in his mid-thirties if memory serves me right.

He gave what he could not keep his life in order to gain what he could not lose. Eternity. Now Jesus here in the 36th and 37th verses is expounding what's in the 35th.

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world yet forfeit his soul? If you lose your life in its occupation with trivia in this world, then it means eternally you will be impoverished. What will you give in exchange for your soul? What will you give in exchange for eternal well-being with me? Take up your cross. Put my gospel first.

Place right priorities in your life by the way that you live. Honor me. This is what Jesus is here teaching.

These are the conditions for entering the kingdom. Self-denial and the application of scriptural logic. And he concludes his address at this point by giving an admonition.

Look at the 38th verse. Disloyalty to Jesus, this side of eternity, results in him refusing to acknowledge you. On the other side.

You see it's the message of the cross again that is so difficult for Peter to grasp and the early disciples to grasp and for Judaism as a whole to grasp. But the message of the cross is so essential that Jesus says, you reject that message. If the cross is an embarrassment to you, then there is nothing I can do to help you.

You see the point? There are only two categories of people in our world. The cross embracers and the cross rejecters. So Jesus says, if your Christianity or your alleged Christianity causes you such an embarrassment that you distance yourself from me, then actually when I return to inaugurate my kingdom, I will distance myself from you.

You see the crux of Jesus' ministry was the cross. We've come full circle. So now you can see the utter absurdity, if not the cross danger, of Peter saying to Jesus, come on one side.

I know a thing or two about messiahship that you need to take on board. Peter, you're mad in trying to correct him. You don't really know what you're doing.

Because your reaction at this point, your knee jerk, alas is going to be followed by so many other people, not only in your time, but also down the history of the world. And people who back off from the cross or want another explanation for the Christian message, in effect, so distance themselves from Jesus, the benefits of Jesus' life can never be credited to their account. So you see how important this teaching is.

And why Tim Saunders in working out this little series that we've been going through from Mark's gospel, rightly chooses the heading cross bearers unite. What is our common denominator here at the tab right now? Well, it's not that we're all British, though the majority probably are. It's not that we can all read, though the majority of us probably can.

The common denominator is this. We recognize the significance of the cross. And not only do we recognize its saving significance, but in degree, not as well as we should.

But we do want to live with this as a fundamental behavior conditioning process. In degree, we want to live the crucified life. Taking up the cross and following Him.

Bearing scorn sometimes, bearing shame at other times. And for a good part of the world, the Christian world today, risking persecution. For what reason? The cross of Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection, recognizing that as being the most vital message that we embrace.

A message that causes self-denial. A message that compels us to use simple logic in working out its implications in terms of our commitment and our behavior pattern. Cross bearers united in our common acknowledgment to the Lord Jesus.

Let's bow our heads in prayer. So in the cross of Christ we glory, towering over the realms of time. Your righteousness as filthy rags.

Your life a bundle of contradictions, is that what you say? I point you to His cross. That's why He had to take Peter on, you see. That was the reason for the forcefulness of His language.

Anyone who stops anyone else confessing the cross of Christ is acting as an advocate of Satan. Peter learned his lesson. And ultimately the cross became central to his theology.

Central as the influence, the abiding influence of his life. May that be the same for you and for me. And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it.

That on the cross my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin. Let's stand. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, How great Thou art, how great Thou art.

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, How great Thou art, how great Thou art. 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. Thank you Father for this reminder this morning of the cross.

That's why we're here around your table to remember your death. We thank you Jesus that you suffered, you were rejected, you died but yet you rose again. And Father we cast ourselves as a group and as individuals to your cross this morning.

And we recognize that in and of ourselves we are unworthy of anything. In and of ourselves we are nothing. And so we do cast ourselves upon you and we pray that our praise might be acceptable in your sight.

In Jesus name, Amen. Father we read the same words week by week nearly but they're forever new. As we read about that wonderful night when the Lord Jesus broke bread and offered the wine to his disciples.

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you. The Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said to them this is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

Let's eat with thanksgiving in our hearts. Behold him all ye that pass by the bleeding prince of life and peace. Come sinners see your maker die and say was ever grief like his.

Come fill with me his blood applied. My Lord my love is crucified. Jesus we just can't understand how you did what you did for us.

We could never put ourselves in your shoes. But Jesus we thank you that you put yourself in our shoes and you died the death on the cross that we should have died. Lord we thank you for the freshness of the blood of Jesus.

The blood that goes on cleansing goes on healing even today. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen.

It's quite amazing isn't it that our Lord was able to look ahead and anticipate his own death. Yet that's what he did. He said that he was going to die.

So he was going to shed his blood and at that meal he took the cup and he looked ahead and he said this is my blood which is given for you. Let us drink with grateful hearts thanking God for the fact that the blood of Jesus goes on cleansing us. And let's be truly grateful.

Praise the darkness that covers the earth No pressure in justice and pain Nations are sinning in hopeless despair Though many have come in your name Watching all sanity dies Touched by the madness and lies Come Lord Jesus Pour out your spirit we pray Come Lord Jesus Come Lord Jesus Pour out your spirit as we pray May now your church rise with power and love Its glorious gospel proclaim In every nation salvation will come To those who believe in your name To us bring light to this world That we might speed your return Come Lord Jesus Pour out your spirit we pray Come Lord Jesus Pour out your spirit as we pray Break celebrations on that final day When out of the heavens you come Darkness will vanish, no sorrow will end The news, the power, and your throne All the way from Israel complete Face to face we will meet Come Lord Jesus