Jay's Teaching Mark 8:31 - 9:1

Hi Everyone,

I loved Jay's last teaching on Sunday morning, June 29th so much that I want to process it by writing it down. I'm putting my synopsis here. Sadly, this was not taped, but it was one of the best teachings I've ever heard. I will use this blog to solidify it for myself, and if it blesses someone else, then that's great.

I'll write the passage here for referral. It will make this blog long, but I thought it might be easier.

Mark
8:31 And he began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
32 And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.
33 But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter saying, "Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.
34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.
36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
9:1 And he said unto them, "Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power."

This scene should be very interesting to all of us if we're still living here on earth. Jesus has just finished healing a blind man who first saw men walking as trees and then finally saw clearly. (Mark 8:22 - 26) Mark moves on to His disciples seeing Jesus partially (in the light of this world), but not seeing who He really was - fully. They, too, had blurry vision, and Jesus knew it. He was the Christ. They got that part, but He really was the suffering savior, too. They were blind to that, and Jesus begins the process of healing them of their own blindness.

How we see other people is often an indicator of how we are, but how we see Jesus will determine where we go. It is His suffering (and we find out that it sharing this suffering) which opens our eyes to see Jesus clearly. It's the spit that Jesus puts on our eyes to open them to a whole new reality. This was a sobering thought for me, and it helped me put much of the current Bible teaching in perspective. So much of the teaching I hear from various pulpits across the country is focused on making our lives better through "life coaching." Jesus didn't have a "life coaching" program. He points us directly to death and eternity in order to get it right.

...so, Jesus is saying, "Yep, you got the first part right. I'm King, Savior, Christ, but you don't yet see the second half - I'm a dividing line." He's like a big magnet that God sent into the world. Some peole are attracted to Him, and others are repelled by Him. It's like a table full of little balls all painted the same color. Some, however, are metal under the paint, the rest are plastic. When you bring the magnet out, the metal balls all attach themselves to it and the balls are divided. That's how Jesus works in the world.

Another dividing line can be seen in the wilderness when the sons of Korah rebelled and accused Moses of ruining their lives. God opened the earth and swallowed the sons of Korah up. The next day, Israel woke up and blamed Moses for their deaths. The cloud descended and Moses sent Aaron out into the midst of the people with incense and he prayed for the people. The plague came and destroyed everyone before Aaron, but those behind Aaron were saved. The prayers of Aaron and the incense became the dividing line between life and death in Isreal that day. It's a picture of Jesus.

Jesus begins to teach His disciples on this day of a whole new way of living their lives. They now have a whole new purpose. This is all in response to Peter's rebuke and Jesus' response, "Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men."

We just can't live like other people.

We used to have row boats. The cross is meant to be a mast for our boats now. This is a whole new principle. The sailboat changes everything. The Holy Spirit comes into your life and He will blow you in a new direction. You don't live by your own power and go in your own way any longer.

In ancient times a young girl would live her entire life anticipating her wedding day. Everything was done in preparation for that day. If she lived her life right, it set the stage for a great marriage for the rest of her life. In the same way, our purpose here on earth now is to prepare for eternity with Jesus. The purpose is not to live a fulfilling life now, necessarily. It certainly isn't to be wasted on getting a lot of stuff or living for a momentary, self-serving pleasure.

Is there any other way to serve God than to live totally for Him?

If the young girl preparing for marriage was ashamed of her husband-to-be, think of how that new husband would be ashamed of his new wife. If she did not live her life proud to be betrothed to him, why would he be proud to take her as his wife? In the same way, if we do not live our lives here proud to be heading for eternity with Him, why should He welcome us with pride and joy?

The disciples had a hard lesson to learn that day, and it can only be learned through dying to this life - through suffering. That was the message Jesus was delivering. They did learn it. Each one of them served Him faithfully, and all but one of them was martyred for him. They did give their lives for Him. The one that was not martyred was John, who was boiled in oil but did not die.

When Peter's life is drawing to a close and he knows that he will die soon, he recalls this time with Jesus when he learned what life is all about. He speaks of it again in 2 Peter. It was just days later that they experienced the mount of transfiguration and saw His glory.

There is no easy life. There is no middle ground.

God bless you,
Monica