“Dire Predictions”
(pt. 2 of “Going Places with Jesus for Lent”)
Mark 8:31-38
“He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For 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.’” (Mark 8:34-35)
(Sermon preached by Rev. Larry A. Langer, First Presbyterian Church, Jasper, IN, March 4, 2012)
The headlines said, “Jewish School to Give Up Shot at State Title.” The Robert M. Beren Academy in Houston, Texas, forfeited their semifinal playoff spot in the Class 2A basketball championship this weekend because the game was held on Friday night, the start of the Jewish Sabbath. (The Jewish Sabbath is from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.)
More than 5000 people had signed a petition to move the game to Friday morning. The school itself suggested that the game be moved just a few hours earlier in the afternoon, so the game would be over by sundown.
However, the League said, “No way. When you joined this league of 220 schools, we told you that those games were played on Friday night and Saturday, and that the schedules would not be changed.” And, with a unanimous vote of 9-0, the Board turned down the request to alter its schedule. (By the way, the bylaws of the league forbid games on Sunday because of our Christian observance of the Sabbath!)
While this was heating up with the Jewish faith, the trouble with the Islamic faith has been cooling somewhat. You remember the story. Copies of the Koran were burned, at least as is said, “Accidentally.” Staunch (I will call them) Moslems took to rioting in protest, burning our American flag and creating mayhem. Our government, under Obama, quote, “Apologized” for being insensitive to their holy traditions and holy book.
Then, while all of this has been going on, our own government, which we say “guarantees religious freedom” by its Constitution, had said that religious institutions must comply with the health care law and provide the possibility of having contraceptive preventative measures available to their employees through their health insurance, regardless of belief to the contrary. The government has backed off of this, but the point has been made in America
What is it that our Constitution says?
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech; or of the press; or the right of the people to assemble; and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
(The Constitution of the United States of America
Aren’t there times, my friends that we wish that we and/or the other citizens of where we live, would absolutely honor the Sabbath as that private Jewish school is? And, aren’t there times when we wish that the Bible would be as honored as the Koran, not that we would riot in the streets, kill and burn a flag, but that we would revere the Bible as THE Holy Book? And, don’t we wish that our laws and actions allowed for individual freedom under God’s rules, and that we would make every effort to not infringe upon them; that our individualism was subject to the guidance of Holy Scripture?
It is my belief that if we followed Scripture, we would be very much freer than we are even now. What do you believe?
Our Holy Scripture today says, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” These are Jesus’ instructions, Jesus’ invitation. Basically, it says that if we want to follow Jesus, we must give up what we have come to know as our “individual rights and freedom.” When we do this, however, this puts a burden on us, our “cross to bear” in Jesus’ terms. But when we do this, then we have the great honor and privilege of walking with Jesus.
There is a very good book and video series out entitled, “Not a Fan,” where this pastor Kyle Idleman challenges us with these words:
Are you a follower of Jesus? Don’t answer too quickly. In fact, you may want to read this book before you answer at all. Consider it a “define the Relationship” conversation to determine exactly where you stand. You may indeed be a passionate, fully devoted follower of Jesus. Or, you may be just a fan who admires Jesus but isn’t ready to let him cramp your style. Then again, maybe you’re not into Jesus, period.
Some people don’t know what they’ve said ‘yes’ to, and other people don’t realize what they’ve said ‘no’ to. But Jesus is ready to clearly define the relationship he wants with his followers.
Not a Fan calls you to consider the demands and rewards of being a true disciple. With frankness sprinkled with humor, Idleman invites you to live the way Jesus lived, love the way he loved, pray the way he prayed, and never give up living for the One who gave his all for you.
But, Pastor Larry, isn’t this what we are doing? We are in church, aren’t we? We try to be nice, for the most part, around here and with those we meet, and we believe Jesus died for our sins and we will be with the Lord when we die.
My response has to be, “I am not the judge. All I can do is lay out the Scriptures and elucidate them for all of us, you and myself. I just am moved to lay out the measuring stick: “Do we live the way Jesus lived, love the way Jesus loved, pray the way Jesus prayed and give our all for the One who gave his all for us”?
I can suggest this, though. If this question makes us wonder about our answer, even for a moment, then perhaps improvement in our relationship with our Lord and Savior is needed. Hear it again and check your feelings: “Do we live the way Jesus lived, love the way Jesus loved, pray the way Jesus prayed and give our all to the One who gave us his all?”
So what are some of these ways?
First, we don’t have to know it all! Mark 9:32 says, “But the disciples did not understand what Jesus was saying and were afraid to ask him.” What didn’t they understand? Jesus had just said, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.”
How about us? Do we understand this? Of course, we have the advantage of knowing the “Rest of the Story,” as Paul Harvey used to say. We have the advantage of reading that this happened. Even the Jews believe the first part: Jesus was a man, even a great prophet, and he was betrayed, arrested and crucified. They wouldn’t say that he was “resurrected,” but they would say that they don’t know what happened to his body. The Jewish historian Josephus tells all of this. Josephus is considered the expert on things Jewish of that era.
Here’s where our faith has to take over. If we think that Jesus was just a great prophet and is in a grave somewhere, then we don’t have a “faith that saves us.” But if we say as we do in the Apostles’ Creed, “The third day he rose again from the dead and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,” then we have the faith Jesus said we must have. Do we have such faith?
Second (and this goes toward to not having to know it all), Jesus actually invites our doubts, although Scripture does say, “Do not doubt, only believe.”
Remember the story, though? Jairus was a leader in the synagogue. His only daughter was sick. He went to Jesus and asked Jesus to come heal her. Jesus set out to do so, but the woman with the hemorrhage delayed him, so much so that the report came that Jairus’ daughter had died. Jesus said to them, “Do not fear, only believe.” As we know, once Jesus got to the house, the child was healed.
We need to know that it is okay to doubt and ask questions of faith, because in the end, all will be proven true. When we doubt, we seek answers, and when we seek answers and are open to all answers, the Holy Spirit will give us the Jesus answers. It is okay to ask questions. Jesus says, “If with all your heart you truly seek me, you shall surely find the answers.”
Third, “we must deny ourselves.” This is extremely difficult for us 21st century people! We have been brought up to believe and demand that we can have what we want when we want it – and we always want it right now! And, we can almost have anything “right now!” at least until the credit line runs out; at least until we get in the slow lines or sit at a table with slow service in a restaurant; at least until we sit at some of the traffic lights on 231 or get stopped by a train; at least until someone doesn’t succumb to our text message or answer our cell phone call or doesn’t respond to our email immediately.
But, can we deny what we think we want to do when we are truly needed to do something else? Can we deny our attitude about expecting people to be “self-supporting”; when someone needs our support?
I know of a shelter for homeless and abused children that may have to close because it consistently houses more than the 48 children the license allows. What does this have to do with denying ourselves? Well, what if we have the room in our house to take in a child or two, but, quote, “Don’t want the responsibility,” essentially saying, “We won’t deny ourselves.” (I’m probably preaching to myself here!)
Fourth, scripture says, “Let them take up their cross…” What are our crosses? One of mine is wanting what I want when I want it, I’ll admit it! But what is the cross you must bear?
I had a call Thursday evening from a friend who wanted me to talk to a friend of his who was addicted to pornography, if only the magazines, DVD’s and pay-per-view, none of the on-line internet stuff. This guy’s wife had left him. This guy talked about his upbringing since age 8 when his mother left them because dad was a philanderer and how dad got the house and the kid and had the magazines in the house and different women in and out.
Now, this 39 year old is trying to get his wife of two years and baby back. He is trying SAA – Sex addicts anonymous. He is trying the twelve step program. And, I guess, by talking to me, he is trying faith. The thing is, this is a cross only Jesus can help out with. He wont have the strength to withstand the temptation on his own; he needs a living, loving relationship with Jesus Christ, and truly believe that “Greater is he (Jesus) who is in him than he (Satan) who is in the world.”
Oh, and speaking of Satan, Satan is operating in and around all of us all the time. Anytime we are selfish, anytime we gossip, anytime we think of ourselves first, anytime we are ugly in the way we speak, anytime we don’t put God first, following Jesus first and choosing to bear our crosses with Jesus’ help first, Jesus can, will, and does turn to us and say, quite boldly, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
I dare to say, Saints of God, that to say in response to anything, anyway, “We are only human,” is to miss the point of a Jesus faith. This is never acceptable to our heavenly Father. God expects more of us than this. God expects us to lose ourselves for and with Jesus’ sake.
Listen to these words from one of our spiritual fathers, John Calvin:
We are not our own: let not our reason nor our will, therefore, sway our plans and deeds. We are not our own: let us therefore not set it as our goal to seek what is expedient for us according to the flesh. We are not our own: in so far as we can, let us therefore forget ourselves and all that is ours.
Conversely, we are God's: let us therefore live for him and die for him. We are God's: let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions. We are God's: let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal...
Conversely, we are God's: let us therefore live for him and die for him. We are God's: let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions. We are God's: let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal...
Let this therefore be the first step, that a man depart from himself in order that he may apply the whole force of his ability in the service of the Lord.
(Institutes of the Christian Religion, translated from the 1559 Latin ed. By Fred Lewis Battles, 2 vols., in Library of Christian Classics, ed. John T. McNeill (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960), Book III, Chapter 7, Section 1, volume 1, Page 690.)
