Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Mark 8:27-35
Pastor: Pastor Schlicht
Sermon Date:  September 19, 2021

When you think about your life, what times would you consider to be the most valuable? I’m not saying the most fun necessarily, but those times in which you grew the most, the times that paid off so to speak years later, the times that were the most valuable. Maybe some of you are thinking about the good times, but I bet there are more than a few who are thinking about some of the tough times. Maybe you’ve had to struggle with an illness, but through it you see now how your faith was tested and strengthened. It wasn’t just time lost in the hospital, it was valuable. Maybe you think of when your kids were newborn, how everything was so hard at first, the sleepless nights, the irritations, the prayers, the anxiousness. But when you look back, how valuable were those times? Not to mention the invaluable soul of the child, but the way you grew and understood the Lord and his care for you in an entirely new way. Maybe you’re thinking of a heartbreak, and how it forced you to find yourself and centered you on God’s promises. Your heart hurt badly, but it was valuable. It’s true that the hardest times in life are often some of the most valuable. That principle applies perfectly to our lesson today. Families value many things, but our family values the cross. It wasn’t easy for Jesus, it won’t always be easy for us, but it is worth it.

While walking between villages, Jesus asked his disciples an interesting question, “Who do people say that I am?” They told him, “John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others say one of the prophets.” Those are incredible, flattering titles, but they missed the most important part: Jesus wasn’t just a man. So Jesus gets personal: “But who do you say I am?” he asked them. Peter answered Jesus saying, “You are the Christ.” (You are God, the anointed one, Messiah, Savior.) That’s a great answer, but look at what happens next: Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things; be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the experts in the law; be killed; and after three days rise again. 32 He was speaking plainly to them. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Peter valued Jesus as God, he identified him as such. He valued the one who could calm storms and feed thousands. But he didn’t see any value in this talk of suffering, rejection, and death. In fact, it bothered him so much that he had the audacity to take Jesus aside and rebuke him. In their culture, a disciple did not rebuke their teacher. To say it was inappropriate is an understatement. This is how Jesus reacts: But after turning around and looking at his disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! You do not have your mind set on the things of God, but the things of men.” This seems a bit harsh at first. But when Peter spoke, Jesus heard the temptation of Satan through the lips of his disciple. Jesus doesn’t go to the cross because he thinks it is going to be fun. He doesn’t go because he thinks his disciples will enjoy it. He goes because he must. Jesus saw the eternal value of the cross for our souls. He went to the cross and won us salvation! This is the value of the cross! But, and this may be the surprising part, Jesus’ cross isn’t the only one with great value…

Listen to what Jesus goes on to say about the value of a cross for you and me: He called the crowd and his disciples together and said to them, “If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. Jesus sees eternal value not only in his cross for us, but also in the crosses we bear for his sake. Whatever self-centered life we give up for his sake, in return he promises eternal life, a life focused on him and his purpose. It reminds me of a man named Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Two days after Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran Pastor and lecturer at Berlin University, took to the radio and denounced the Nazi dictatorship as unchristian. Bonhoeffer’s broadcast was cut off before he could finish. Shortly thereafter, he moved to London to pastor a German congregation, while also giving support to the Confessing Church in Germany, a coaltion of Lutheran pastors that refused to allow their churches to be co-opted by the Nazi government. Bonhoeffer returned to Germany in 1935 to run an underground seminary for the Confessing Church. His continued objections to Nazi policies resulted in losing his freedom to lecture or publish. In April 1943, shortly after becoming engaged to be married, Bonhoeffer was arrested by the Gestapo. Two years later, on April 9, 1945, just days before the American liberation of the concentration camp, Bonhoeffer was tortured and hanged in Flossenburg. The execution is said to have lasted 6 hours. Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew the value of the cross.

In fact, his most famous book is called “The Cost of Discipleship”. However, in German the title is simply “Nachfolge”: or “Discipleship” as in his mind it was self-evident that being a disciple of Jesus comes with cost. That those who follow a crucified savior must value the cross. One of the sections of this book he brings out the distinction between suffering and rejection as part of the cross, something which I think is key for us to wrestle with.  

He writes: “To endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ. When it comes it is not an accident, but a necessity…It is not suffering per se but suffering-and-rejection, and not rejection for any cause of conviction of our own, but rejection for the sake of Christ. If our Christianity has ceased to be serious about discipleship, if we have watered down the gospel into emotional uplift which makes no costly demands and which fails to distinguish between natural and Christian existence, then…we have well forgotten that the cross means rejection and shame as well as suffering.

I find that this notion of rejection is no longer intelligible to those who see no difference between a normal worldly life and a life committed to Christ. There are many who follow Jesus as Lord, but they have not picked up the cross assigned to them. They will watch from a distance, but they won’t pick up the cross of rejection themselves. What about you? Do you value the rejection of the cross as necessary? Or do you watch Jesus walk off toward Jerusalem and say, “I’ll wait here.” My husband or wife isn’t as committed and thinks I’m getting too serious about Jesus, I don’t want to pick up that cross. I don’t want to deal with that tension, or their rejection of my conviction, I’ll dial it down. I’ll just wait here. I still trust Jesus is my Lord, but I’m not going to follow down that path. Perhaps you find yourself realizing that Jesus’ words conflict with many social and moral ethics in our society. I don’t want to be labeled as a bigot or unaccepting because of God’s truth and I don’t want to be labeled unpatriotic or weak because of my sympathy. I just don’t want to pick up that cross. I’m not gonna talk about it. I’ll sort of sidestep the issue and internalize this tension.  Is there any cross as heavy as rejection? I don’t know if I can think of one. (I sense it weighs heavily on young people, especially.) That’s the hard question today: Does your family find value in the cross…even if it means rejection? The apostle Peter would deny Jesus three times for fear of rejection. What will you do when the cross of rejection comes?

Notice also that Jesus says, “If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Right away, if you are really following Jesus, he says a cross is right there in front of you. You don’t need to go looking for a cross, you’re not supposed to go looking for ways to be rejected.  It isn’t something we should enjoy. Don’t get angry and post a bunch of stuff on Facebook and then sit back and bask in the glory of your rejection. That isn’t what Jesus did and that isn’t what he teaches. The cross will present itself as something unpleasant, but necessary. I had a small one just this past week. A friend had been posting some difficult graphics on instagram. I didn’t want to say anything and so for a while I didn’t. However, in the end, I realized I was just scared of conflict and rejection. It wasn’t something I wanted to do at all, but I felt it was necessary. I messaged them privately to talk about it. This is just a small everyday example of following a crucified Savior. 

But each time you choose to deny yourself and pick up the cross, you are reminded of Jesus’ promise: “Whoever loses their life for my sake, will find it! And the best part about all this! Although we forsake the pursuit of self in order to follow Jesus, somehow joy still finds us here. When we deny ourselves and pick up our crosses, joy still finds us because we understand that we are loving as Christ loved us, and we know that eternal happiness waits for us in heaven. I’m not saying that we aren’t ever unhappy; there will still be plenty of tears. Jesus himself was “a man of sorrows, well-acquainted with grief.” But in Christ, we have a deep and abiding joy that exists even in the midst of unhappiness. The apostle Paul explains it well in 2 Corinthians, “We are treated…as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.” (2 Cor 6:8-10) This is what it means to value the cross. We have something to rejoice about even in suffering. We have life even in death. We forsake the whole world, yet possess everything. Because of Jesus’s cross we never need to worry about being rejected by God. Yes, some people may reject us, others may not, but God will never leave us nor forsake us. Jesus was rejected for our sins so that we would be accepted into God’s family. Our family values the cross. How could we not? 

Amen.