Dwell in the Word Mark 8:31-9:1

Consider these questions as we dwell in Mark 8:31-9:1:

1. How does Peter's response to Jesus' prediction of his death and resurrection contrast with his earlier confession of Jesus as the Christ? What does this reveal about the disciples' understanding of Jesus' mission?

2. What does Jesus mean when he instructs his followers to "deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow" him? How does this teaching challenge our natural inclinations and point us toward an eternal perspective?

3. In light of Jesus' warning about gaining the world but losing one's soul, how can we apply this principle to our daily lives? What practical steps can we take to prioritize eternal matters over temporary desires?

Transcript:

In order to understand this passage, we have to think about the context of what we read just two days ago, when we were looking at Peter's confession of Jesus as the Christ. Peter has just been the man who has just said who Jesus is. He is right. He is on point. He knows this to be true. And it seems as though Peter here is no longer the guy who messes things up, right? Instead, he's the guy who gets it. But now we have Peter not truly getting it. We're seeing the full story here because Jesus is going on about all the things that are going to happen that he isn't going to be liked by the Pharisees and the elders and all these chief priests, etc. And in fact, they're going to kill him. And then he also tells them that he is going to rise again after three days. Now, it also says the beginning of verse 32, he said this plainly. He was very clear about this. This is what is going to happen. You've just confessed that I am the Christ. You would think that they would trust that he is correct on this, that he would have an understanding of what scripture is saying, what it's prophesying about the Messiah.

But Peter thinks he knows better. He takes Jesus aside, he rebukes him. And here's the part of this passage that is probably the most famous. In fact, you've probably even said, Get behind me, Satan, in some context, jokingly. Maybe you were on a diet and someone tried to tempt you with a piece of cake and you said, Get behind me, Satan. This is a well-known phrase. But what is Jesus saying? Jesus saying, This is a temptation. This is what I came to do to suffer and die for my people. And anyone that would suggest that this isn't going to happen or can't happen or that they're going to stop it from happening, is doing the work of Satan. And so, Jesus goes into a piece of teaching, something that we know, we've heard this so many times saying, If anyone would choose to come after him, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake in the Gospels will save it. Jesus is saying that his plan, the plan that he is embarking on through his death and resurrection is the plan that is eternal.

Because what we want, what we desire so often, is what is temporary. We don't deny ourself. Instead, we build ourselves up. We decide to follow ourselves, our own selfish desires instead of following Jesus. But Jesus says the opposite is true. We need to take up our cross. We need to follow Jesus because it doesn't profit us anything to gain the whole world. Gain the world and then lose our soul. We understand this. We understand that if we have all the wealth in the world, if we die and we are outside of Christ and we go into eternal punishment, what good will any of that stuff that we had in this life do for us? And so, Jesus gives us this eternal perspective. And so, the question that we have as we think about this passage, do we first off, allow Jesus to be who he is? Or are we trying to explain away the important, hard parts of the gospel? Do we make sure that we understand that this death of Jesus for our sins is the gospel, that it is the way in which we are saved. Or we try to explain it away that Jesus was just a good man who was cut down in his prime.

And the death of Jesus doesn't mean anything. That is taught. But that's not what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is saying that this is the work of the Messiah to suffer and die for the sins of the people. The second question we need to ask ourselves as a point of application is, do we seek the things that are eternal or do we seek the things that are temporary? I know that I'm subject to this all the time. It's much easier to seek the temporary, isn't it? To go after those things that are fleshly desires? But instead, it's important that we think about the eternal, that we take up our cross and we follow Jesus, we believe who he is, and we seek after those things that will last for eternity. May we have those questions in mind as we go into the world today. May we think about, is what I'm doing today seeking myself or have I laid down my cross and followed Jesus today, seeking those things that are eternal, caring about sharing the gospel, caring about seeking holiness? May we do that through the help of God's Spirit. Because we have heard the word today, and we know that when the Spirit is at work in us, it convicts us of our sin.

May we be convicted today and repent and live our lives in such a way that we are seeking those things that are eternal.