I don’t normally go out of my way to preach a topical holiday message. And I don’t plan on doing that today either. But I did want to tie the Christmas story which Nick read for us a few minutes ago in Luke 2 to our text for today, because I feel it helps us to better understand the text as well as the true meaning of Christmas.
And the main thing I want to point out about the account in Luke is that it is simply a proclamation of the gospel. It’s not just a story about baby Jesus in a manger. And we see an indication of that in Luke 2vs4 where it says Joseph went up to the city of David, which is Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David. Christ’s birthplace and lineage are very important, because the prophecies of the Old Testament indicated that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, and that He would be of the royal lineage of David and He would sit on his throne forever. Now all of that may or may not have been known to the disciples when the Lord said, “who do you say that I am?” in Mark chapter 8, but it is likely that they knew about Jesus’s lineage, and that would have given rise to their insight that He could be the Messiah.
Secondly, I want you to notice that the angels tell the shepherds, “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy.” The gospel means literally good news. And the Greek word the angels use is often translated the gospel. Mark declared in his opening verse that he was writing the gospel of Jesus Christ. So the angels appeared to proclaim the gospel concerning the Messiah, the Son of God who came into the world.
And that brings us to another important doctrine of the gospel in the angel’s message - “for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” The good news was not just that a baby had been born, but that the Messiah had come to reconcile men to God. First note that Jesus is given the title Savior. Savior was often associated with a military conqueror. Some of the caesars used the title of savior to indicate the delivering nature of their military conquests. Jesus came to deliver men from the captivity of the evil ruler of this world, that is Satan. Towards the end of Mark 8 Jesus starts to disclose to the disciples the nature of His ministry, and what it means to be the Savior.
And notice there is one other title of Jesus in the angel’s gospel; Christ the Lord. Christ means the Anointed One, the Messiah. Christ is the Greek translation of the title Messiah. Some people mistakenly assume that Christ is Jesus’s last name. No, it’s a title. And His title was Messiah. We see Peter announce that Jesus is the Messiah in vs 29 of Mark 8. The Messiah was the Promised One, the One Anointed of God to be the Savior of the world, who would inaugurate the kingdom of God. And that statement serves as a summary of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now in our text in Mark 8, Mark has sort of reached a turning point in his gospel. The disciples have reached a turning point as well. And I believe that Jesus has reached a point where He is changing His approach to His ministry. Up to now, Jesus has been shining a certain measure of light which was given to the Jews of Galilee and Judea. But now He begins to illuminate the disciples in a very particular, intimate way, regarding the full nature of His ministry. Up to this point, the disciples had received much more spiritual insight than the rest of the people who are attracted to Jesus but they still did not have complete understanding of His ministry. Remember last week in vs18 we saw that Jesus rebuked them because they had eyes but they could not see. They had ears but they could not hear, so they don’t understand spiritual truth.
So in this passage, we see Jesus taking them aside to show them more intimate details concerning His ministry. And to illustrate this new phase of their discipleship where they begin to see more clearly, Mark gives us record of a miracle that is only recorded here in his gospel. And furthermore, it is the only miracle that we see Jesus perform which is done in a progressive nature. I’ve said repeatedly, that every miracle recorded in the gospels is presented as a parable to teach a spiritual principle. And such is the case with this miracle of healing the blind man.
In this miracle we see this blind man healed in two stages as an illustration of how the disciples are receiving spiritual insight. First, Jesus spits on the man’s eyes, and laying His hands on him the man reports that he sees men as trees walking. Then again Jesus laid His hands upon his eyes and the man looked intently, and was able to see clearly.
Now lots of reasons have been floated around why Jesus had this supposed difficulty in healing this man. But I have to say that it was not due to any difficulty on Jesus’s part. He who made the world and all things in it is not unable to heal blindness. It was in fact a deliberate two part healing to illustrate that the disciples needed a two part spiritual touch in order to see the gospel clearly. As the blind man initially saw men as trees walking, the disciples had seen Jesus walking around up to this point in a natural way, as a natural man, albeit one who had supernatural abilities, who spoke like no one had ever spoken, but they failed to see Him in the fullness and clarity of His ministry.
And they had the same difficulty with spiritual principles that Jesus was teaching. They were so focused on their physical expectations of the Messiah, they could not see the spiritual kingdom which He was establishing. Back in vs15, for instance, when Jesus started warning them about the sin of the Pharisees which He called leaven because of it’s corrupting influence, they thought He was talking about the fact that they hadn’t eaten dinner. And so Jesus rebuked them for having dull hearts, spiritual ears that could not hear, and spiritual eyes that could not see.
So Mark records this account of Jesus healing the blind man in two stages to illustrate that the disciples needed to receive a second touch from the Lord, so to speak, that they might have spiritual insight into the purpose of the gospel. So often I find that the church is guilty of the same spiritual blindness today. We are so focused on the physical, on the natural, on our physical needs and wants, that we miss the spiritual blessings that God intends for us as citizens of the Kingdom of God. We measure God’s blessings in our lives by how well our business is doing, or whether or not we have perfect health, or whether or not we have a good relationship with our spouse. We are focused on the physical, the natural, so much so that we are blind to the spiritual.
Well, Jesus leaves Bethsaida and He and the disciples travel to Caesarea Philippi, and Jesus wants to help them gain this spiritual insight, so He asks them, “Who do people say that I am?” And the disciples answer Him, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.” We could try to explain all the reasons that people would think of one of those men, but I think the real point of their answers was that everyone had limited Jesus to that of a prophet. That’s the most that they could see.
Then Jesus said, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter *answered and *said to Him, “You are the Christ.” You are the Messiah. And Jesus warned them to tell no one about Him. In Matthews gospel account of this incident, Jesus said, “Who do you say that I am?” And Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. (Matt.16:6)
So we see that God touched Peter, and presumably the other disciples as well with a divine second touch, that they might see that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. And there is in that act a foretaste of a second touch needed in our lives as well, as once we believe, the Holy Spirit is given to us that we might have understanding of the word of God. That is the purpose of the Spirit, to give us power and understanding.
But why does Jesus tell the disciples not to tell anyone? Isn’t that counter productive to the ministry of the gospel? Well, Jesus instructs them not to tell anyone because their knowledge is still incomplete. Their conception of the mission of the Messiah is incomplete still. They need still another touch to see the method by which Jesus will fulfill His Messiah-ship. They are still expecting what most people expected of the Messiah; a earthly reign from the throne of David in Jerusalem, after the Messiah had vanquished all their enemies and established the Israelites once again to their former glory they had once under David. So Jesus does not want them to broadcast that kind of message. He has further insight for them first.
So in vs 31 “He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.”
What we see there is that Jesus began to teach them the true nature and purpose of the Messiah. And the purpose of His coming to earth. It was not to reestablish Israel as a world power, but to die on the cross for the sins of the world, to pay the penalty for sin through His death, and to rise again from the grave victorious over the enemy of mankind. That was the mission of Christ; to suffer rejection from Israel, and die on the cross as substitute for sin, and rise victorious from the grave, having triumphed over sin and death, so that He might give life to all who believe in Him.
Well, Peter and the rest of the disciples can’t comprehend such a thing. That doesn’t fit their template for what they thought Messiah was to accomplish. So Peter, perhaps emboldened by the Lord’s comments after he had said Jesus was the Messiah, says to the Lord, “may it never be!” “We will never let that happen!” In his mind, nothing could be further from their expectations than Jesus dying. The Messiah was supposed to sit on the throne of David forever. And of course the disciples were looking forward to being on the front row of that new regime. They were looking at things naturally. They were expecting physical exaltation from following the Lord. Suffering and rejection did not factor into their expectations of their life with Christ. They did not understand still that the kingdom of God which Jesus was inaugurating was a spiritual kingdom where He ruled in the hearts of His people.
That’s why the prosperity doctrine which is widely preached today is such a damning doctrine. It is a doctrine focused on the well being of the physical. It claims that the kingdom of God is measured by your bank account, or by your job, or heath, your prosperity. And in so doing, they miss altogether the spiritual kingdom where the Lord rules and reigns in one’s heart. And even more to the point, they reject the fact that often suffering in this world is a divinely appointed part of the Christian experience.
So Jesus rebukes Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” I don’t think Jesus is necessarily calling Peter Satan, but He is saying that Peter is pushing Satan’s agenda. The world agenda is the devil’s agenda. Ephesians 2:2 tells us that Satan has engineered the course of this world, the systems and passions and desires in such a way as to entrap men by their passions and desires of the flesh. So those that push the agenda and interests of the world are in fact acting on behalf of Satan, whether unwittingly or not.
Here at Christmas, supposedly a time when we honor Christ’s birth, we end up finding ourselves entrapped by the course of this world, don’t we? Our passions and desires of the flesh are ratcheted up to another level this time of year. We think we are honoring Christ and in fact we are serving our flesh, the natural man. Bottom line, Jesus said, you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.
I was telling someone yesterday that truth in regards to attending church. Some where along the line we have forgotten that our main purpose in going to church on Sunday is to simply worship God. To bow our will to His will. To bow our knees in the midst of the congregation and to refocus your mind of God’s interests for a couple of hours. To relinquish your focus on man’s agenda, on man’s interests and focus your heart on the Lord’s interests. Church is not just about whether or not you like the preacher. Or whether or not you got your needs served. But just to come to the assembly of believers and bow your heart to the Lord and meditate on Him, and pray to Him, and worship Him. To present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service of worship. (Romans 12:2)
Well, thankfully Jesus is patient towards the disciples, as He is patient towards us. We are often slow to see, and slow to hear. We don’t care to be refocused away from our desires. But the Lord provides another chance for the disciples to learn and to see the truth of the gospel and so He tells them clearly what it means to be a disciple. And I think that this teaching is the clearest presentation of the gospel that Jesus has ever given up to this point. So I want to read it to you in it’s entirety before making any comments on it.
Vs.34 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? 37 "For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
What Jesus is saying is a continuation of what we have just seen in regards to the gospel. The world, the natural man, the agenda of man, is at odds with the interests of the Lord. If you want to be a follower of Christ, then you must abandon your agenda and the agenda of the world, for the sake of the Lord’s agenda. That’s the truth of the gospel of salvation. It isn’t believe in Me and I will give you all that you want. That is the way most people think Christianity offers. God is like sprinkling fairy dust over your life. It makes everything better. All your dreams will come true.
But nothing is further from the truth. The natural things, the passions and desires of the flesh, must be forsaken in exchange for the Lord. “Come after Me,” He says. Come away from the lusts of the flesh and follow the desire of the Spirit. And the way that is done practically is you must be willing to die to the world. You must be willing to lose your life for the sake of gaining new life from God. You must put to death the desires of the flesh, and desire to live according to the Lord’s desires.
Now that is nothing short of a radical change. But nothing less is the gospel. Nothing short of full surrender to the Lord is salvation. God will not strive with man. Either you surrender everything, or you have no part in Him. And furthermore, Jesus said, if you gain the whole world and as consequence you lose your soul, then what benefit is that? What is worth your soul? The soul of man lives forever, either with the Lord or in eternal damnation. What is the benefit of gaining a million dollars and losing your soul? What is the benefit of gaining worldwide acclaim for something you have accomplished on this temporal earth, but you have accomplished nothing for the Kingdom of Heaven? What does it profit you to gain the whole world and lose your own soul?
The gospel is about a choice of focusing on the natural things which you can see, taste, feel and touch, things which offer some physical benefit, or things which offer an eternal benefit. Do you have ears that cannot hear? Do you have eyes that cannot see? Is your heart too dull to comprehend the spiritual things of God? Is your appetite too honed on the things of this world to hunger for the things of God? I urge you, focus your attention on the things of God. Look intently at the word of God that you might see clearly the spiritual truths of God.
And finally, Jesus gives a warning to those who are ashamed to proclaim Jesus as Christ the Lord. He says, if you are ashamed of Him and His words, and chose instead the acclaim of this adulterous and sinful world, then He will be ashamed of you when He comes in His glory with the angels in power. If you lived your life in pursuit of this corrupt and dying world, then when Jesus appears to consummate His kingdom, you will have no part in it. Jesus is coming again in the full sovereignty and power of His kingdom, as the Israelites had looked for. The first coming He came in humility, to serve, to be our substitute and our Savior. The second coming is still in the future. And that coming will be in power and judgment.
The true meaning of the Christmas story is that God so loved mankind, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes on Him shall be saved from the wrath to come. To those who accept that gift of God, and believe on Him who He has sent, that is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, then to that person will be given life everlasting. But to him who rejects that gift, and spurns the love of God for the love of this world, they will face the judgment for having chosen this world rather than choosing the Lord. I pray no one leaves this place today without making that choice to die to the world and live for God through Christ Jesus. What shall it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? And what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
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