The Cross-Shaped Life

We are in Mark 8 tonight.

I wanna start with a bit of an interactive exercise, because we kinda have this more interactive feel.

Shout out your favorite word to describe what a Christian is.

Loving, more like...

Well, let's circle back to that.

Don't say apprentice, but a word, it's like a noun to describe what a Christian is, not an adjective.

Follower.

Disciple.

Disciple.

Godly.

Friend.

Apprentice.

My favorite word to describe what a Christian is, is apprentice.

In our video that we have not played tonight, but the Life Learners Monthly video, one of the things I say is, apprentice is my favorite word to describe what a Christian is.

And for me, part of what that looks like to be an apprentice of Jesus is rhythms.

Daily Settence is a life of rhythms.

For me, I have my spot in the morning sun, I have my cup of coffee, my Bible, my time with Jesus, solitude and silence, that's what apprenticeship means to me.

It's a lovely moment in my day.

But then I might be tempted to think that apprenticeship to Jesus is only lovely and beautiful and Instagramable.

But look at how Jesus describes what it means to follow him in our passage tonight.

He says, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

So much for lovely.

Jesus says those who follow him must take up their cross.

So this life of following Jesus that we're called to, apprenticeship to Jesus is not always lovely, not always Instagramable in the sun with the beautiful lens flare and gratitude by Brandon Lake playing in the background.

Sometimes, in fact, often the life of following Jesus is cross-shaped.

It is a cross-shaped life.

Can I take a quick poll?

Show of hands who owns and sometimes wears a cross necklace.

Hands up if you've got a cross necklace.

Tonight?

I'm wearing a cross necklace.

I've noticed interestingly in kind of pop culture, people are wearing a cross necklace who, as far as I can see, and of course they can't see their heart, they're not wearing it as a symbol of Christian faith.

They're wearing it because it's trendy right now, which is a bizarre kind of moment in our culture.

And so I think there's a challenge for us as Christians who identify as followers of Jesus that it is possible, even popular, that we would have cross-adorned necks and yet not have cross-shaped lives.

Living in this culture, that is one of our challenges.

So today's message, tonight's message, is called The Cross-Shaped Life.

We're gonna explore what it means to live a cross-shaped life together.

Let me pray.

Father, as we come to your word tonight, we pray you would speak to us.

We don't want to encounter words on a page.

We wanna encounter the living and risen Lord Jesus tonight.

So we pray spirit of truth that you would bring to life your word, that you may correct us, rebuke us, teach us, train us in righteousness.

In Jesus' name, amen.

So, Evan read for us our passage tonight.

It opens with a question.

The question is, who do you say I am?

Mark 8, 27.

Jesus and his disciples went onto the villages around Caesarea Philippi.

On the way he asked them, who do people say I am?

It's a simple question.

And I think it's also an extremely important question.

Who do you say I am?

It's the question which has dominated the eight chapters of Mark that we've looked at this year.

If you're familiar with what we're doing at NorthernLife in 2024, we're going through the entire Gospel of Mark.

And here we are about halfway in chapter eight.

You know, Mark's style is to tell a story of Jesus doing something crazy and then whip pan to people's reaction to him.

And throughout eight chapters of Mark, we've seen so many different reactions.

Mark opens his Gospel with these words.

Mark 1, the beginning of the good news about Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet.

So the question, who is Jesus, is underlying eight chapters of Mark.

And Mark says in Mark 1, this is who he thinks Jesus is, the Messiah, the Son of God.

And then eight chapters of story after story after story, where people give an explicit or an implicit and sometimes explicit answer to the question.

In Mark, we've seen crowds amazed by his miracles.

We've seen disciples confused by his teaching.

We've seen demons cast out by his power.

We've seen Pharisees offended by his practices.

We've seen Gentiles transformed by his grace.

But underneath it all, all of Mark is this question, who do you say I am?

Who is Jesus?

It's the dominant question in Mark, Mark 8, 28.

His disciples replied, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others one of the prophets.

You know, in Mark's Gospel, those three answers are a bit of a formula that he uses for the range of opinions that people have about who Jesus is.

We looked about a month ago at the story of John the Baptist's beheading.

It's the same three options.

Look at this in Mark 6, 14.

King Herod heard about this being the growing fame of Jesus.

King Herod heard about this, for Jesus' name had become well known.

Some were saying John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.

Others said he is Elijah, and still others claimed he is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.

So it's the same three options, John the Baptist, Elijah, or a prophet, Mark 8.29.

But what about you?

Jesus asked his disciples, who do you say I am?

Peter answered, you are the Messiah.

Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

So Peter's answer to that question, who is Jesus?

Jesus is the Messiah.

And in the context of Mark's Gospel, the whole 16 chapters of Mark, this is a crucial moment.

It's a pivotal moment in the larger narrative of Mark because it is the first time anyone has ever called Jesus the Messiah.

The first time anyone has actually got the answer right.

And the fact that Jesus says, don't tell anyone else, means it was right.

Jesus is the Messiah.

It's an important question.

Who do you say I am?

Who is Jesus?

Peter thinks he is the Messiah.

But who do you say?

What do you think?

Who do you think Jesus is?

Who is this one who, as Mark has told us, calls fishermen to follow him and they follow him?

Who is the one who drives out demons by his own authority?

Who is the one who with a touch of his hand can heal sickness?

Who is the one who calms a storm with a single word?

Who is the one who multiplies bread and fish to feed 5,000?

Who is Jesus?

It's the core question in Mark.

And I put it to you, it is the most important question, the most determinative question you will ever ask yourself in life.

Who is Jesus?

So Mark has put these stories before us.

16 chapters worth, and we've seen 8 chapters so far.

16 chapters worth of stories in front of us to get us to ask ourselves that question.

Who do we say Jesus is?

It's the most important question of life.

I think the reason why it's the most important question is proven to us by the way that the second two paragraphs start.

They start with the word, then.

That doesn't potentially seem significant, but look at it like this.

Peter says, You are the Messiah.

Then, Mark 8.31, which is the second paragraph, Jesus then began to teach them that the Son of Man must......and then the start of the third paragraph.

Then, Jesus called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said, Whoever wants to be my disciple must...

This question, who do you say I am?

Who is Jesus?

It's the most important question of life because it fundamentally shapes who you think Jesus is and therefore what the shape of your life is.

We become like the image of what we worship, and so your answer to the question, Who is Jesus, determines your life and what it looks like.

The answer shapes the implications.

Look at it like this.

Jesus asks his disciples, Who do you say I am?

And Peter answers, You are the Messiah.

Then, Jesus says, Okay, here's what it means for me to be the Messiah.

Then, here's what it means for you for me to be the Messiah.

But I think the way that the logic of Jesus and Mark works is we could substitute a different answer into the question and the second and third paragraph will change.

So, shout out a word that accurately describes what Jesus is.

Who is Jesus?

Redeemer?

Try another one.

Let's go with King.

Let's say, this is hypothetical, Jesus says, Peter, who do you say I am?

Peter says, you are King.

This is how the logic would go.

Then Jesus began to say that the King must take up his throne and call the people to arms and overthrow the Romans and sit down on his glorious throne.

Then those who follow him must bear arms and must come and fill his palace.

What about another one?

Another word to describe who Jesus is.

Teacher.

This is how the logic would go.

Jesus says, Who do you say I am?

Peter says, You are the good teacher.

Jesus says, Yes.

And the good teacher must teach many things and explain the nature of true reality and unpack the scriptures until every word has been explained.

And then those who follow him must learn the scriptures and memorize everything in the Bible, and then the kingdom will come.

Do you see how the answer to the question, Who is Jesus, shapes Jesus' destiny, and it shapes our destiny?

The answer that we give to the question, Who is Jesus, fundamentally shapes, obviously, Jesus' life, but our life too.

But what does Peter say?

Messiah.

Peter says, You are the Messiah.

And then Jesus goes on to explain what it means for him to be the Messiah.

In the second paragraph, it teases out the implications.

Messiah, by the way, is the Hebrew word which means anointed one, means one set apart for a purpose.

It's the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek Christ.

Christ and Messiah are the same word.

The question is, though, if Messiah means one anointed for something, the question is, anointed for what?

Jesus is the Messiah, the one anointed for...

Well, this is what he says.

These are the implications of what it means for Jesus to be the Messiah.

Mark 8.31.

Jesus then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.

He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter.

Get behind me, Satan, he said.

You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.

Suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection.

That's what it means for Jesus to be the Messiah.

Those are the four things which Jesus outlines.

And the text says in the slide before, it says he spoke plainly about this.

There's a time for parables, there's a time for concealing truth, and there is a time for just saying what is going on.

Jesus teases out, he just, no he doesn't tease, he says straight up, he will suffer, be rejected, die, and rise again.

That's what it means for him to be the Messiah.

Now I don't know about you, but those four things are not on my top four list of things to do in life.

By worldly standards, those things suck.

No one wants to do those things, which I think is why Peter rebukes him.

Peter has this image of what it must mean for Jesus to be the Messiah, and Jesus says it means those four things, and he rebukes Jesus.

Peter is incredible.

I take so much encouragement from looking at Peter.

One minute he makes the most incredible declaration of who Jesus is.

He's the first one in all of Mark to say, Jesus, you are the Messiah, and you imagine heaven is roaring.

He's got it.

Humanity are finally coming to understand who Jesus is.

I don't know, what, seconds later?

Minutes later, Peter rebukes Jesus, and Jesus says, get behind me, Satan.

You've got to relate to Peter in some ways that we can be like that.

Peter has this image of what it means for Jesus to be the Messiah, and Jesus says, that's not it.

The Messiah must suffer, be rejected, die, and rise again.

He says, Jesus says to Peter in verse 33, you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.

And he's right.

It is a very human concern to want to avoid suffering, rejection, and death.

I think we spend a heck of a lot of our time in life, a heck of a lot of our life trying to avoid or numb the pain of suffering, rejection, and death.

And yet Jesus says, I am the Messiah, and that's what it means for me to be the Messiah.

And what I think is cool about Mark 8 is it's kind of like a mountaintop, right in the middle of Mark.

16 chapters of Mark, here we are at Mark 8, and the end of Mark 8.

It's kind of like being on a mountaintop, and you can look forward into the future of Mark's Gospel.

And we know, because we looked at Mark 14, 15, and 16 around Easter, we know how the story ends.

Jesus does suffer, he is rejected, he does die, and he does rise again.

That's exactly how Jesus' story goes.

He lives a cross-shaped life.

That's the first implication of Jesus being the Messiah, which brings us to the second one.

If Jesus, the Messiah, faced suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection, then those who follow him in some way face the same thing.

That's what our scripture says tonight.

Jesus lived a literally cross-shaped life.

And he says, those who follow me must in some way bear their own cross, and also live a cross-shaped life.

Remember, the most important question of life is, who is Jesus?

It's the most important question because it directly shapes the purpose and destiny of Jesus' life, and then of our life.

Our answer of who we think Jesus is is the most important question.

This is what it means for us who follow Jesus, the fact that he is the Messiah, Mark 8.34.

Then Jesus called the crowd to him, along with the disciples, and said, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, and take up their cross and follow me.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the Gospel will save it.

What good is it for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul?

What could anyone give in exchange for their soul?

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.

Whoever wants to follow Jesus must take up their cross, lose their life and forfeit the entire world, Jesus says.

This is a very stark picture of the life of apprenticeship to Jesus.

In many ways, it's the furthest thing possible from my lovely coffee cup holding spot in the sun, time with Jesus.

This is cross-shaped apprenticeship.

This is the furthest thing from having a cross adorned neck, but not a cross-shaped life.

But it is the calling that Jesus gives us.

When Jesus says, come follow me, he says, come take up your cross and follow me.

And so this call that Jesus took to suffering, rejection, death and resurrection is in some way the calling that we take up, that we follow Jesus into that.

Which as I think about that, I can't help but ask a few questions, such as, didn't Jesus die so that we would not have to?

Didn't Jesus take our place on the cross?

Didn't Jesus go through the suffering, rejection, death and resurrection out of the Messiah, because He loves us so much, that He didn't want us to have to go through that?

The answer is yes and amen.

So how then are we supposed to carry a cross that's already been carried?

How are we supposed to die a death that's already been done?

How are we supposed to lose a life that's already been saved?

How are we supposed to pay a price that's already been paid?

What is left of the cross to shape our lives that hasn't already shaped His?

Why are we called to a cross-shaped life?

Wasn't that Jesus' calling?

I think the answer is it is the power of the Kingdom of God.

The cross is the power of the Kingdom of God.

Mark 9 verse 1, Jesus said to them, truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the Kingdom of God has come with power.

He's referring to the cross.

The power of the Kingdom of God comes through the cross.

And so we are called and beckoned and invited to follow Jesus into a cross-shaped life, not because there's anything left to do.

The cross was sufficient.

Jesus said it is finished.

But because that is how the power of the Kingdom of God comes out on earth as it is in heaven.

It comes through the shape of a cross and into our lives.

It's the power of the Kingdom of God.

So yes and amen.

Jesus died so we wouldn't have to.

He took the cross that we wouldn't have to carry it.

He gave his life to save ours.

But he did that in order to invite us.

That we might not fear to follow him into death in order to see the power of the Kingdom of God in our lives and in our world.

Dad alluded to it before.

My favorite metaphor or analogy story for understanding this paradigm of life through death is that Jesus went into the cave of death and he kicked out the back wall.

And then he rose again.

And now he stands risen, inviting us to enter into self-denial, which is a kind of death, because he has kicked out the back wall.

And there is now life through death.

The power of the Kingdom of God comes through the cross only because of what Jesus has done.

And so we can live a cross-shaped life.

And that's how life eternal, the life that is truly life, comes.

It comes through the cross.

Jesus said in Mark 8, 34, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the Gospel will save it.

And maybe that's not lovely, maybe that's not Instagrammable, but the cross-shaped life is the power of the Kingdom of God because of the Gospel.

Because Jesus has gone into the cave before us and because He kicked out the back wall, we can enter into suffering, rejection and death, self-denial, knowing that resurrection life, new life, new wine, new power, comes into our life when we lay it down.

It's the mystery, the paradigm of the upside-down Kingdom, that life comes through death.

The power of the Kingdom of God is the cross.

So, anyone need the power of the Kingdom of God in your life?

Anyone got an addiction that you can't break?

Habits that are draining your life that you can't change?

A heaviness of your spirit due to the real pain of life?

But that's all you can see, and you can't see the joy in that, and you can't see Jesus in that.

Anyone got a broken heart that needs mending?

Everyone put their hand down as soon as I said the word addiction.

I'm pretty sure every hand is up, because we all want to see the power of the kingdom of God come in our life.

But it comes through the cross.

And when the power of the kingdom of God comes through the cross, dead things come back to life.

Hope is restored.

Joy overflows.

Peace abounds.

And we experience eternal life now.

When the power of the kingdom of God comes through the cross.

So, like, practically, I know you're saying, help me out.

What does this look like?

I'll give you something.

Galatians 6.14.

May I never boast, this is Paul talking, may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

Paul, I think, is talking about dual cruciformity, that the cross goes two ways.

The world has been crucified to me and I have been crucified to the world.

It's dual cruciformity, the cross goes two ways, which means, if we take Paul as speaking the truth, which I do, everything in my life, in fact, everything in me, my flesh, the passion and desire of my flesh, which wages war against my soul, it has been crucified with Christ, past tense.

And it means everything in the world, its allures, temptations, systems of evil, the brokenness has been crucified to me.

Paul says, I have been crucified to the world and the world has been crucified to me, which means the cross becomes a lens.

In fact, it becomes the lens, the lens through which we see and interact with everything.

Because as far as I'm concerned to the world, I'm dead.

I'm crucified with Christ.

And as far as the world is concerned to me, it is crucified with Christ.

It is dead and it no longer has power over me.

And so we live in a culture that wears this around the neck as sometimes little more than a cross adorned neck, a trendy fashion piece.

But really, this is the power of the Kingdom of God.

Because what this is saying, what Paul is saying in Galatians 6, is that I've been crucified to the world and the world has been crucified to me.

Which means tonight, you go home, you're hungry, angry, lonely, tired, you're tempted.

You can hold the cross up like this at the temptation.

And you can say, you can't touch me.

As powerful as that temptation to whatever, you know, self-medicating pain of your choice is, you hold the cross up and you say, I've been crucified to the world and the world has been crucified to me.

My Savior went into the tomb, the cave of death, and He came back alive.

And now I don't have to be a slave to sin anymore.

We see everything through the cross of Christ.

It becomes a lens.

And I'm not talking about like a vampire garlic thing.

You don't have to do it physically.

But symbolically, spiritually, if you will hold up the cross at your temptation and you'll say, I've been crucified with Christ.

I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

That is how the power of the kingdom of God comes.

It comes through the cross.

Because Jesus has died and has rose again, death has a door at the back of the cave, which means we can enter into it and find life on the other side.

I found that so helpful this past week.

This is actually not my cross necklace.

I had to borrow it.

And I'm glad that it's big enough that you can see it.

The cross is a lens.

And I think it's kind of a beautiful image that we wear it around our neck, always with us, close to us, that when the world tries to get at us and say, you need this, if only you had this extra whatever, you would be happy.

The cross, we hold up and we say, I've been crucified with Christ.

As Andrew said last week, I have all I need in Him.

And so I can be content.

The world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

The cross-shaped life is the best life.

I want to finish by saying that.

It's not a life of like gloom and suckiness and suffering, but even now and so much more when Jesus comes back, it is the best life you could possibly live.

The power of the kingdom of God breaking out in your life, breaking your addictions, giving you satisfaction in Jesus.

It's the best life you could possibly live.

And it's cross-shaped.

So the invitation, Jesus says to all of us, come and follow me.

It's apprenticeship.

And it's cross-shaped apprenticeship.

Let me finish with the words of Jesus.

And let us receive it as his followers tonight.

Jesus said, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it.

But whoever loses their life for me and for the Gospel will save it.

Let me pray.

Lord Jesus, we're sitting here tonight, and I can't speak for everyone else, but I speak for myself, that I've got, I've got a war going on, the world is trying to get me, and my flesh is too, and I'm absolutely certain that everyone in this room feels the same.

But we thank you that you have gone into the cave of death before us.

And because you let the cross shape your life, we can now find freedom and life eternal.

So tonight, as we feel what it's like to live in this now and not yet kingdom, this now and not yet regenerated self that we have, would you remind us that it was finished on the cross?

Teach us what it means, Holy Spirit, to know that we've been crucified with Christ, and the world was crucified to us, so we can live a cross-shaped life.

We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.

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