A Heavenly Perspective

 

Text: Mark 8:31-38

Focus: sacrifice

Function: to help people see that loving others is a sacrifice

³¹Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. ³²He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

³⁴He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Here is another one of those passages that holds in contrast the concept between Jesus coming to give us life more abundantly and what it means for us to live a sacrificial life for Jesus.

Is it a contradiction in terms to say that we live sacrificially so that we can have an abundant life?

It seems that way. But it is a concept that is spiritually discerned. Living an abundant and sacrificial life.

I hope today to help people see that loving others is a reward in itself and it takes a degree, sometimes a large degree, of personal sacrifice to fulfill this command.

The context of my point comes from Jesus himself telling them, preparing them, for the fact that he is going to die and raise again on their behalf.

Jesus is speaking to them of his own sacrificial love for us, for humanity.

And the story tells us that Peter didn’t understand and actually rebuked Jesus for saying this.

I think Peter wasn’t really listening to Jesus. If Jesus had merely said that he was going to die for them, then that would not have been in alignment with the prophecies that they were holding on to about a Messiah who was coming to deliver them.

But Jesus didn’t stop at predicting his death, but he added the prediction of his resurrection.

I picture the story kind of like this: Jesus calls his 12 disciples close to him and almost in a whisper tells them about a tremendous miracle that is about to take place. I picture him bringing them into his confidence and expecting the reaction of wonder and amazement from them, instead Peter rebukes him for his speech.

Now that is really odd to me. Peter has seen miracle after miracle performed by Jesus and when Jesus speaks of another miracle about to happen, I wonder why he is surprised at the possibility.

It is like Jesus is telling them “look, something powerful is about to happen and I want you to be ready for it.” But Peter cannot envision the possibility. Even though Peter has already seen Jesus raise someone from the dead, he is oblivious to what Jesus is trying to tell him.

So I get the feeling that what is missing from the story, slightly alluded to in the fact that Peter didn’t question Jesus but rebuked him for speaking of his own death, is the point that Peter is trying to make to him that Jesus has the chance right then and now to revive the ancient glorious Jewish Kingdom that they remembered from the days of David and Solomon.

Peter is looking for human power and Jesus tells him that is a solution that come straight from Satan himself.

And Jesus answers by telling him that just as he is going to die in faith that God will raise him, he wants us to be able to live with that same kind of faith.

The resurrection is certainly implied here, but I see Jesus referring to the way that he was willing to forfeit his own life instead of take out his own retribution.

He died in faith of the resurrection where God will indeed fairly judge and reward distinguish the sheep from the goats, the people who do justice and those who don’t.

And God proved it by raising him from the dead.

Jesus lived without the fear of death because he trusted in God.

And that is how I take the command for us to take up our crosses and follow Christ.

Live without fear because God is in control. Even in the midst of suffering, we are present with the Christ in our lives and we are not alone.

Jesus promised to never leave us or forsake us.

Jesus is living without the fear of death because of his confidence in the resurrection.

Way back in the Sermon on the Mount, at the beginning of his earthly ministry, Jesus tells us to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven instead of being greedy here on earth.

And that takes sacrifice. But Jesus gives us another perspective on that problem of sacrifice for the kingdom of God when he asks the question in our text this morning: “What does it profit a person to gain the whole world and lose their soul.”

Jesus implies here that God will judge unkindly those who hoard their wealth. He doesn’t qualify it with how to give it away, but John gives us an idea of sacrificial living for others when he says If we have the resources to help the desperate, and we refuse, we are not showing love. And John says that we lay down our lives for others because Jesus laid down his life for us. 1 John 3:16

As I mentioned, I hope this sermon helps us realize that loving others sometimes means we have to sacrifice.

As a prime example, it is hard at times to forgive when we have been hurt. But to restore a relationship, we may have to sacrifice our pride, not our dignity, but our pride and forgive. That isn’t easy when the person we are forgiving is not aware or does not care that their actions are hurting us. So, one of our sacrifices can the pride that keeps us from forgiving.

Also, we can sacrifice financially by giving to the poor. I am aware that there are a lot of people out there who will take advantage of us who are generous and we have to be careful, but I recognize this, the gift given in the name of the Lord is credited to our eternal reward.

Regardless of how it is used, it is given to God. We cannot out give God. And, we remember that those who give to the poor are lending to God and God will repay, If not in this life, then in the life to come.

I want us to be prepared as well as we can for our homes in heaven. But I also want us to enjoy the love and passion that the Spirit gives us while we are still living here on the planet.

So, when Jesus tells us not to think with the Satanic logic that denies the power of God to restore and looks for personal revenge and tells us to lay down our lives instead of taking revenge, he is giving us indeed a path to a spiritual life where we walk with God by the Spirit and then, with the power of the Spirit are able to present God’s redeeming love to the circumstances we face.

He is telling us to live by faith and love without condition. Loving unconditionally may not bring us the world’s goods, but it will profit for eternity.