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Glory is Coming
40 Plays2 months ago
Series: Acceptance of Jesus' Mission
Mark 8:27-9:13
Recommended
Transcript
Origins and Revival of 'No Pain, No Gain'
00:00:01
Speaker
No pain, no gain. but The phrase that was first originated with the ancient Greek poet, Hesedod is his name, and that was around 700 BC. Also, the famous Greek playwright Sophocles expressed a very similar idea in the fifth century BC, but undoubtedly you recognize this motto from the popular theologian of the 1980s, Jane Fonda.
00:00:37
Speaker
If you ever watched one of her jazzercise videos, she she brought this statement back. No pain, no gain.
Discipleship: Suffering and Future Glory
00:00:46
Speaker
But did you realize this is really a discipleship motto? I bet you didn't. The lifelong journey of discipleship involves suffering now with the hope of glory later. So maybe no pain, no gain, really should say suffer now in glory later. What do you think about that for a church T-shirt? Suffer now, glory later. How many of y'all would sign up to buy a shirt like that? No. You wouldn't. I wouldn't. You know why that is? Because we don't want suffer now, glory later.
00:01:30
Speaker
We want comfort now and glory later, by the way. That's what you and I want. For friends, that couldn't be anything further from the Christian walk, from the very beginning of Christian walk. They fully knew that they were expected to suffer now with the hope of glory later.
Exploring Suffering and Eternal Perspectives
00:01:59
Speaker
You see, following Jesus, if you do it the right way, will create a sharp divide between you and the unbelieving world. It's just the way it happens.
00:02:16
Speaker
Following Jesus will indeed involve suffering. But that suffering, friends, is indeed bearable as long as we keep our eyes fixed on future glory. And that's that's what we're gonna look at today as we continue in Mark chapter eight and beginning into chapter nine. We're gonna look at present suffering. You'll see that from your outline. The suffering mission of Jesus and his disciples.
Transition from Act 1 to Act 2 in Mark
00:02:39
Speaker
We're gonna look at future glory, the glorious consummation of the kingdom. And then third, we're gonna ask ourselves, as we rightly should, every single time we come to the scriptures, what does this mean for you and I today? How do we develop this eternal perspective? How do we hang on to future glory in light of
00:02:59
Speaker
present suffering. So that's where we're going. You'll see that if you have your bulletin today, which which I just want you to know, we go to great lengths to provide you that bulletin every week. So while you take it, and it's a super helpful piece of paper, um you will do me a great justice if you will take that home with you.
00:03:20
Speaker
Please don't leave it in in the pew next to you for me to collect it during the week and throw it away. We go to great lengths to organize it and such, and I go to great lengths to provide that outline for you so that you may not only follow the sermon today, that you may take that with you this week. Today's passage begins what I call the second act of of Mark, right? This first eight chapters are all the way through end of chapter seven was indeed act one, if you will. Act one was all about Jesus's earthly ministry. It was about the selection of the disciples. It was about them running into early opposition. And it was about Jesus showing that he had authority over the natural and the supernatural. And we saw that about all these type of miracles that that he went ahead and performed.
00:04:10
Speaker
Today's passage begins Act 2. It's a brand new act. It's a brand new journey.
Jesus' Passion Predictions and Disciples' Understanding
00:04:14
Speaker
And on that journey, we're going to see Jesus and his disciples are going to travel from Galilee to Jerusalem, from North to South, from the homeland to the foreign land.
00:04:28
Speaker
And we're going to see that this journey is going to be consistent of on the way. We're going to see this term over seven different times throughout Mark. On the way, this is what happened. And that on the way is a picture of what it looks like to be a disciple, what it looks like to be a Christ follower. And we're going to see three different what are called passion predictions. Three different times Jesus tells his disciples, hey, I'm headed to the cross and it's gonna involve suffering. Today we're gonna look at the first of those those three.
00:05:05
Speaker
Mark chapter eight, list let's begin there. Verse 27 and following says this, Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and they went up to the village villages near Caesarea Philippi. And as they were walking along and he asked them, who do people say I am? Well, they replied, some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah while others say you're one of the other prophets. And then he turned to them and he said, but but who do you say that I am? Peter replied, you're the Messiah.
00:05:42
Speaker
But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. Verse 31 says, then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders and the lead priests and the teachers of the religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. And as he talked to them about this openly or plainly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.
00:06:13
Speaker
Let's just pause right there.
00:06:18
Speaker
Jesus starts this exchange with his disciples, probably in a way that you and I might seem a little foreign, but but he asks a really important question right off the bat in verse 27. He says, who do people say that I am?
00:06:38
Speaker
Right, this is anthropoi, this is the Greek. Who does the world say that I am? Who does the outsider say that I am? to which they respond pretty much like the world would, even today? Jesus might be John the Baptist, or he might be Elijah, or he might be one of the prophets.
00:07:10
Speaker
Let me ask you just a question real quick here. Can John the Baptist save a fallen people? Can Elijah save a fallen people? How about any of the prophets that were sent? It's a question, friends, that you and I are often asked. What differentiates Jesus from some of these people that the world say he is? Well, thankfully,
00:07:36
Speaker
It's a question that all future disciples will have to answer because he goes from this, who does people in general say I am to the disciples? And while the text doesn't say this, I wanna put an asterisk here. I feel like when you read this, he's leaning in closer to his disciples and saying, okay, but who do you say I am, right?
00:08:05
Speaker
almost to the fact, who doesn't care what the world says, who do you, my closest followers, my insights, who do you say that I am? To which Peter rightly says, what, you are the, yeah, you're the Christ, or your translation may say the Messiah.
00:08:27
Speaker
Right, this promised one from the Old Testament that says, there's there's a guy that's gonna come that's going to radically change things. And when Peter says this, who do I say I am? And Peter says, oh, Lord, you're the Christ. And we're like getting behind Peter, yes, yes Peter, you get it. But you don't really get it. How come Peter doesn't really get it here? Well,
00:08:57
Speaker
because Peter, like the rest of the disciples and the Jewish people, are expecting a certain type of Messiah. They're expecting a warrior king. They're expecting a guy to show up on the scene and to rally the troops and to overthrow the Romans. Peter says, I know who you are, Lord. You're you're the Messiah. You're the Christ. And if he got it,
00:09:26
Speaker
Jesus would have said, yeah, you know what, Peter? Atta boy. Way to go. But we can tell Peter kind of doesn't fully get it. He's kind of like the blind man that was healed in the last chapter. Remember where Jesus spits and he puts the mud on his eyes? And he says, show me what you can see? And the guy says, well, it's kind of blurry still, but the people look like trees.
00:09:49
Speaker
kind of what Peter's going through. He can't kind of see who Jesus is, but he can't really see. He's expecting a certain type of Messiah, this warrior king, and we know he doesn't get it because Jesus says, in part, right afterwards, verse 30, hey, don't go telling anyone about this.
00:10:08
Speaker
Part of the reason they're not supposed to go tell anybody because it's not the right time for Jesus to be revealed as the Christ. But I think, friends, the other side of this is they just didn't quite get it. And he doesn't want them to go out and spread the news.
00:10:23
Speaker
how How do we know Peter doesn't really get it? Because verse 31 says, Jesus began to sit down and tell them that the son of man, which by the way is the title he gave himself most often, that Jesus must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders and the lead priests and the teachers of the law, that he would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead.
00:10:45
Speaker
How do we know Peter doesn't get it? Because Jesus is sitting there describing what this discipleship journey is gonna look like for Jesus and what it's gonna look like for the disciples and what it's gonna look like for you and I. And he says, this is the journey that God has laid out for me. This is how I must follow. And Peter says, what? Lord, I'm gonna take you aside and rebuke you. You know what the word rebuke means
Call to Discipleship and Suffering
00:11:10
Speaker
here? A lot of times, that's just not a very common word we use anymore, is it?
00:11:16
Speaker
Rebuke is a strong dislike of somebody. It's a strong censuring of somebody. It's basically saying, how dare you say that? Cover your mouth. How dare you say that? Can you imagine Peter pulling Jesus aside right after saying, hey, you're the Messiah, you're the Christ? Jesus says, yeah, Peter, I i know you kind of get it, but let me tell you what it really is gonna it's going to look like. You're going to suffer.
00:11:46
Speaker
because I'm gonna suffer. I'm gonna eventually go to the cross, you're gonna have to bear your cross, to which Peter says, no, no, Lord. Don't talk like that. You gotta love Peter, right? I always say Peter is our prime example of what not to say, right? He's that disciple who go, afterwards you read and go, oh, I'm so thankful I didn't say that. Peter basically says, Lord,
00:12:15
Speaker
I don't think you should have to go and suffer. How does Jesus respond to Peter? You gotta love this. Look with me, verse 33. Get away from me. Yeah. How would you like that reference? Not get away from me, Peter. Get away from me, Satan. Satan's always been opposed to God's plan.
00:12:43
Speaker
Understand this is why Jesus is telling Peter this. Stop opposing God's plan. Stop tempting me to think that there's another way other than the cross. My journey, the divine journey, is one that leads to the cross, is what Jesus is telling him here. Be prepared because that's your journey. You too will need to suffer.
00:13:11
Speaker
I want you to imagine, if you will, just for a second. That's why I said let's pause right here. Imagine, if you will, that you quit your job today. And for the next three years, you left your entire family behind. And you followed Jesus. Kind of hard for us sometimes to imagine that because we don't have Jesus here with us. But can you imagine following somebody for three years and you're thinking to yourself the whole time, I'm watching the miracles.
00:13:41
Speaker
um I'm part of the teaching. I'm sitting on the inner circle. This is the guy. This is the This is the Christ. And then to have him tell you, yeah, here's what's really going to happen. I'm not going to be the warrior king. I'm not going to come in, and I'm not going to overthrow the Romans like you think I am. I'm going to be humiliated.
00:14:01
Speaker
I'm going to be spat on. I'm going to have a crown of thorns placed on my head. I'm going to be stripped of all my clothes. I'm going to be whipped. I'm going to be beaten. I'm going to be forced to carry the cross down to Golgotha. They're going to lay the cross on the ground. They're going to lay me on it. They're going to nail me to the cross. They're going to lift the cross, and they're going to drop it in the ground.
00:14:22
Speaker
And then they're going to watch me and jeer me as I perish.
00:14:31
Speaker
How would we respond to Jesus when he says, this is the way, this is the path of discipleship. This is what it's gonna look like. I'm gonna tell you, I might respond a little bit like Peter. No, no Lord, suffer now? I want comfort now. I don't wanna suffer now.
00:15:00
Speaker
I also think Jesus is saying something to Peter here and all the disciples. I just want you to to know Peter's the one that stood up and said said this, but he's saying it for the group. He's saying, Lord, we've all been with you for three years. We know you're the you're the Christ. and So before we just heap a bunch of judgment and condemnation on top of Peter right now, this is this is all disciples. This is you and I as well. So when we read this, we want to know what he's saying.
00:15:26
Speaker
Jesus says to Peter and the other disciples, hey, get behind me and follow me, take up your cross, prepare to suffer the way I will suffer. Verse 34 says, and if any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way. You must take up your cross and you must follow me. And if you try to hang on to that old life, you will lose it. But if you give up that life for my sake and the sake of the good news, you will save it.
00:15:53
Speaker
Right, it's this radical abandonment of one's own identity and one's self-determination and instead give all that up but be identified with Christ and his mission. What's that mission? It's a mission of suffering. It's a mission that says suffer now with glory later.
00:16:18
Speaker
It's the way of a true disciple. And if you don't wanna suffer now, if you'll just look with me in your Bibles real quick, down to verse 38. If you don't wanna suffer now, he says in verse 38, if anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
00:16:47
Speaker
If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, I will be ashamed of that person.
00:16:57
Speaker
In other words, if you can't do suffer now, glory later, but you'd rather have comfort now, friends, you're not gonna get glory later, you're gonna get shame later. So that's why I often tell
Transfiguration and Future Glory
00:17:10
Speaker
people, if you're if you're walking a true Christian walk, and when I use that term Christian walk, it is the discipleship journey.
00:17:19
Speaker
If you're not divisive, if you're not sharply divided with the world, but you look a lot like the world and you agree a lot with the world, you're not really walking the Christian walk. Jesus lays it out here and says, if you're gonna pick a a mode, if you will, or a comfort level, if you will, and you're unwilling to suffer, you're not really gonna be a true disciple.
00:17:46
Speaker
And I thought to myself, comfort now, shame later. What if that was a t-shirt? How many of us would buy that t-shirt? How does the disciple persevere through this inevitable suffering that is indeed coming our way? Well, we look to future glory. And and this is why, if you have your outline, there's ah there's a spot there to fill it in. this We see this sneak peek, if you will, this preview, this glimpse of future glory in the transfiguration. Look at me here at the beginning of chapter nine, starting in verse two, it says, six days later, Jesus took Peter and James and John and led them up the mountain on the high mountain to be alone. And as the men watched, Jesus' appearance was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them. Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking with Jesus.
00:18:46
Speaker
Peter exclaimed, Rabbi, it's wonderful for us to be here. Let's make three shelters as memorials, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. And he said this because he didn't really know what else to say. I kind of chuckle when I get there, right? The the the event was so magnificent, but sir he's like, I don't even know what to say right now, I just have to say something. Hey, let's make a memorial.
00:19:11
Speaker
You gotta love Peter. Verse seven says, then a cloud overshadowed them, the voice from the clouds said, this is my dearly loved son, listen to him. And suddenly when they looked around, Moses and Elijah were gone and they only saw Jesus with them. And as they went back down to the mountain, he he told them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. And so they kept it to themselves, but they often asked themselves, they asked each other what is meant by rising from the dead.
00:19:44
Speaker
I say, even now, he's given them this preview. I'm gonna suffer, I'm gonna go to the cross, I'm gonna die in three days, but eventually I'm gonna be risen from the dead, and they're still kind of scratching their heads. What does he mean by risen from the dead? ah He's given them this little preview, this little peak, and he's pulled back the curtains of heaven just enough to see this glorious picture, this radiant picture. I love i love how it's described here, right?
00:20:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's like this shining glory that awaits us. And it's got to be an encouragement to these three that are up there with them. So much so, Peter doesn't even know how to respond. aa Oh, Lord, you're so glorious. I don't even know what to say. Let's just create a memorial.
00:20:32
Speaker
but it's it's It's that overwhelming. It's that ah awesome. you know We talked on Wednesday night about awe and reverence. i i'm No doubt these guys were in awe, reverential awe at this point. And it gives us this little peak, this little glimpse of hope that while we suffer now, this is what awaits us. This glory that's sure to come and so therefore we can take heart.
00:21:01
Speaker
and And I just put a note to myself here at the end of verse 10. I just put a ah put reminder what it would be like on that mountain. Could you imagine if you were up there with them? It's kind of hard. Sometimes when I read an account like this, I just think to myself, what would it be like if I was there? I put myself there on the mountain. Here's a guy you've been following for three years, and now he gets up there, and all of a sudden Moses is there and Elijah is there.
00:21:26
Speaker
And then Jesus is this you know just turned into this super bright, glorious, almost, you know you you gotta to shield your eyes.
00:21:35
Speaker
I think that type of event would transform me to some degree. I think I would sit there and go, wow, that's that's what's waiting for me. That's what's waiting down the road. I can suffer just whatever it takes right now.
Maintaining Eternal Perspectives
00:21:50
Speaker
As long as that glory is right around the corner and and that's why Brother Maxie did such a great job when he read today saying, you know, what we suffer now is just, it's nothing. It's a small drop in the bucket, if you will, that amount of suffering that you're gonna endure for what the glory is that is to come. For all creation is waiting now. nothing you know It's eager, it's it's waiting for this future time, this future day, when God will reveal who his children are, but well is also eager that all creation will be restored.
00:22:23
Speaker
it's It's groaning now. The pain that creation is going through is groaning now, but Christ will come back in all consummation, make everything new.
00:22:35
Speaker
And I think it's this little glimpse that Mark is telling us here. You could make it through the suffering of discipleship. You've got to remember there's going to be glory later. So what does that look like for you and I today?
00:22:48
Speaker
how do we make this real? How do we read this story today and what does a concrete example look like? If you were with me Wednesday night during Bible study, we talked about concrete examples, right? When you read your Bible and you study your Bible, it's great just to read it and go, yeah, hey, I made it through Mark chapter eight today.
00:23:07
Speaker
The next step in that study says, oh, what does Mark chapter eight really mean? That's your secondary reading. Your third reading says, what is what is the biblical truth? What does that mean to me today in my life? right What did it mean to the original author? What is the biblical truth? How do I apply that to my life? that's That's the pattern which when you study your Bible, you should be asking yourself. And while it's great to say something like, we have to put our eyes on future glory. right Very biblical.
00:23:37
Speaker
Very accurate. But is it concrete? Do you go home on Monday morning and go, oh, I just have to wait for future glory? Is that concrete? What does concrete look like? Well, I'm glad you asked. This is what we're at this is where we're ending today.
00:23:57
Speaker
I just want you to know that that suffering that you're going through is normal. If you were a Christ follower and you were following Christ and you were diligent in that manner and there are people that are unregenerate, worldly people that you live with or you work with and you are sharply divided with them and they may dislike you, that's normal. That suffering you're going through is both normal and it's temporary.
00:24:24
Speaker
How do we keep an eternal perspective on suffering? It is this idea that what you're doing and going through right now is a small blip. That boss that's mean to you, it's temporary. that That pain that you're experiencing within your family, that that brokenness that you're experiencing, it's temporary.
00:24:44
Speaker
But there are real, I wanna say that again, there are real future rewards. So when you use a word like glory, sometimes we get so lost because it's hard for us to wrap, you know, the best way Mark says is it's like this shiny white whiteness that's so white, it's better than any bleach. It's the best way he can describe that, right? We can't really describe the glory of God, but but what's real friends is you will suffer now and the reality is there will be a reward for you later.
Focus on the Savior, Not the Situation
00:25:20
Speaker
There are rewards.
00:25:30
Speaker
Remember, I work outside of being your pastor. I have ah another job in a company that I work for. They are a French company. And so that means two things. They love their vacations. And they love for the Americans to do all the work. One of my French bosses,
00:25:52
Speaker
told me this story that I'm gonna recall to you and and I don't know why this came up but it it it made me chuckle at the time and I thought that's gonna be a great illustration today. He he tells me this guy's name is Francois. Francois says ah many people come to to Paris to vacation because they want to see the Eiffel Tower, they want to see all these different various things. He says we often see the tourists come up to, there's a place called Arc de Triomphe, right, is this this big huge tower. And he says, you've got the very top of the tower. He says, there is a, all these little...
00:26:29
Speaker
um and I'm losing the word, it's a telescope, I was gonna say a magnifying glass. It's these big huge telescopes, he said. And he goes, they're all around. he goes and He goes, the local French people will just sit back and laugh because they're just waiting for the tourists to come. And he said, you know, but what they do is he goes, they go and they grab the telescope and they put in their one euro or whatever it costs to get that telescope to work. And he goes, and sure enough, they're looking and looking and he goes,
00:26:57
Speaker
Without fail, the Americans mostly will go, wow, things don't, they look off they look further than they really should be. I thought this thing was supposed to bring it closer. And he says, we just laugh and we walk up to him and tap him on the shoulder. Hey, you have the telescope the wrong way. You know, they're looking at it from the wrong end. And I thought, did that really happen? He goes, it happens all the time. And I thought to myself, that's a great illustration. Oftentimes we can kind of look at a,
00:27:28
Speaker
problem and we can magnify that problem in such a way where we lose sight of the glory of God. Sometimes when you're in it, you know that it we're so engulfed in the details of that suffering, we we sometimes just have to pull our head up and look at the big landscape. What is God doing in the big picture? Can I suffer now for just a little bit with the understanding that there's going to be future glory.
Closing Prayer for Strength in Discipleship
00:28:00
Speaker
So my concrete application for you this week is this. Get a Jane Fonda video.
00:28:09
Speaker
Now, I want you to practice this week simply focusing on your Savior, not your situation. Focus on your Savior, not on your situation. Because we like to flip that around. We like to focus on the situation.
00:28:25
Speaker
and how it seems almost insurmountable to get out of that. We focus on our Savior, not on your situation. Situations are fleeting. Your Savior is forever. Amen. May we be a people who give up our own way, who take our cross daily and follow Jesus and all God's people said.