In Tuesday's passage the Lord began preparing His disciples for His death. He is going to the cross. Satan has tried to tempt Him away from it. His disciples have tried to talk Him out of it. But He's going to carry His cross up Golgotha's hill, and anyone who wants to be His disciple will also have a cross to carry.
"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.'" (Mark 8:34) Jesus calls the crowd to Him so He can make it plain that anyone is welcome to be His disciple, not just the Twelve. I can be a disciple of Jesus. You can be a disciple of Jesus. But there is a requirement we must meet. The cross symbolizes death, and in taking up our crosses and following Him we are dying to ourselves. Yesterday we talked about how Jesus is determined to obey God's will no matter what, even though it will cost His life. In order to be true disciples, we must be determined to obey God's will no matter what the cost. Most Christians will never be called upon to give their lives for Christ (although in some areas of the world Christians are still dying for their faith) but we will all have to give up something. We will have to give up our "me" attitude and put a greater priority on God's will than we put on our own will.
"For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me and for the gospel will save it." (Mark 8:35) Jesus is not saying we must die a martyr's death in order to be saved. He's saying something like, "Whoever holds onto what the flesh desires, rather than onto what the spirit desires, loses himself. The one with a "me first" attitude, the one who says "not Your will but mine be done", the one who says "I'm going my own way and making my own choices", the one who says "I am the 'I AM' in my own life, no God will rule over me", forfeits his soul. But the one who gives his life to Me, who loves Me and obeys Me and wants to be like Me, preserves his life. In giving up his sense of self-entitlement and in submitting his will to Mine, he gains life---an abundant life---not only in this world but in the next."
"What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?" (Mark 8:36-37) Satan constantly strives to blind the citizens of the world to the truth. He's tried to tell us that the here and now is what matters. He puts stumbling blocks in our paths like greed and self-indulgence and the kind of pride that causes us to think of ourselves as the most important being in existence. One of the biggest lies the devil has ever (successfully in many cases) managed to tell is that there is always tomorrow. He says, "Go on and live for today! You're young. You're healthy. Go out and get all you can get while you can get it. There's plenty of time to worry about all this religious stuff later. You only live once, right? If you give your life to Christ you will have to give up a lot of things to follow Him. Do you want to have to consult the will of God every time you make a major decision? Do you want to stop putting yourself first in order to put Jesus first? What a drag! Don't let Jesus cramp your style, at least not now." But the truth of God's word says, "You aren't promised tomorrow. The very breath in your lungs right now is a gift from Me. What good is it to experience all the pleasures of sin that Satan offers you if it means you lose your soul? Will you be able to pay God any price to bribe your way into heaven? No you will not, for the only price God accepts is the blood His Son shed for you, and you have rejected His Son!"
Jesus concludes His teaching moment with this warning, "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." (Mark 8:38) Jesus calls Himself "Son of Man", a Messianic term Daniel used when he foresaw Christ approaching the Father to be given "authority, glory and sovereign power". (Daniel 7:14) He is clearly declaring Himself to be the Messiah, the Anointed One who was promised. But He also says, "If you deny Me, I will deny you. If you refused to deny yourself and carry your cross and follow Me, when you stand in the judgment you will stand alone with no defender. If you rejected the price I paid for you, there remains no other sacrifice for sins."
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