Mark 08: Following Jesus is Expensive

Christianity isn't about getting a free pass to heaven while continuing to live life on your terms; it's about exchanging your entire life for Christ's. Jesus makes it abundantly clear in Mark 8 that following Him requires denying yourself, taking up your cross, and fully surrendering to His lordship.

• Jesus feeds 4,000 people with just seven loaves of bread and a few fish, demonstrating His compassion and power
• When Pharisees demand a sign, Jesus sighs deeply and refuses to perform on demand
• Jesus heals a blind man in stages, first giving partial sight and then complete vision
• Peter correctly identifies Jesus as the Messiah, but then tries to prevent Jesus from talking about His coming death
• Jesus delivers the challenging truth: "If you try to hang on to your life, you'll lose it"
• The cross was not a symbol but an execution device—taking up your cross meant beginning a journey that ends in death
• True Christianity isn't giving Jesus your problems; it's giving Him your entire life

Take a moment today to ask yourself if you've truly given your whole life to Christ or if you've just given Him your problems. The peace and joy of complete surrender await those who choose to follow Him fully.

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Chapters

• 0:00 Following Jesus is Expensive
• 4:50 Feeding Four Thousand People
• 6:28 Pharisees Demand a Sign
• 7:36 The Blind Man at Bethsaida
• 9:45 Who Do People Say I Am?
• 10:56 The Cost of Following Christ
• 17:07 Giving Your Entire Life to God

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, mark, chapter 8, and today's title is Following Jesus is Expensive. Following Jesus is expensive. It reminds me of when my girls were real little.

Speaker 1: 0:42

I had some friends and they went to Disney World every year. I mean like every year, and I had no idea how much Disney World cost. I had no idea what all goes into it, all the planning and all the things. And I was like, hey, we ought to do that, babe, because my wife for a long time has always planned all of our vacations and stuff because she's just good at it. I don't even know if she likes it or not, but she's good at it, so she gets to do it. And my wife looked at me and she said darling love of my life, do you have any idea how much it costs to go to Disney world? And I was like, no, they go every year. We should go. And she started laying out for me plane tickets, park tickets, all these other things, hotels, all that. And I was like, oh, and she said do you realize? They save up their money every year and that's all they do all year long and they go. It is expensive. But all I had in my head were the rides and the fun and the stuff. And he's like, oh yeah. She said, oh yeah, it's fun and it's great, but it's expensive. Are we going to be willing to save and to count the cost in order to go do that?

Speaker 1: 1:48

Well, can I tell you, when you think about the idea of being a Christian, eternal life, spending eternity in heaven and seeing the glory of God on earth and peace and joy and all the fruit of the Spirit, it's beautiful. It's wonderful, but has anyone ever told you there's a price? It's a wonderful thing, but it's not free. Now, it's a wonderful thing, but it's not free. Now, salvation is free. It costs Jesus everything, and then, to follow him, there's a price to pay, and I think it's important that every once in a while, we take a moment and we realize that, with all this glory and all this wonderful, wonderful adventure of Christianity, it's a price to be paid. We're going to talk about that in just a moment. So have your Bibles and open up with me to Mark 8. While you're doing that, make sure you take just a moment to like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast. It really does help. And make sure you go into the Bible Breakdown discussion on Facebook. There's an amazing team doing a wonderful job and you can find all of it at thebiblebreakdowncom.

Speaker 1: 2:48

Well, if you remember, we've been in this journey of going through the gospel of Mark one chapter at a time, and we're kind of reflecting on this idea that the whole idea of the gospel of Mark is the gospel in motion. And the reason why I love that idea of the gospel in motion is, from the very beginning, mark is just heading straight to the cross. You know what I mean. He just starts with the ministry of Jesus and the grand climax is on its way and that is Jesus dying for us, rising again, and so, in a way, I just think of this whole journey as building momentum to that day. And we're going to continue that journey with Mark, chapter eight. And in Mark chapter eight we're going to get to see about Jesus having compassion and doing all these different things. But he says something at the end that, if I'm honest, we don't talk about a whole lot. But that's what this is for, is where we take a moment and we dig into some of the deeper things of God's word and we really kind of let them marinate for a moment. So we're going to get to that. Let God's word speak to us If you're ready.

Speaker 1: 3:56

Mark, chapter 8, verse 1, says this about this time another large crowd had gathered and people ran out of food again. So Jesus called his disciples and told them I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days and have nothing left to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will faint along the way. For some of them have come a long distance. I mean, you think about it. There's no McDonald's or something like that. They have nothing until they can get to a place to buy something, like a merchant or back home. So some of them they're legit in some problems here. So verse 4, who distributed the bread to the crowd, and a few small fish were found too. So Jesus also blessed these and told the disciples to distribute them. They ate as much as they wanted, and afterward the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food. There were about 4,000 men in the crowd that day, and Jesus sent them home after they had eaten.

Speaker 1: 5:05

Immediately after this he got into a boat with his disciples and crossed over to the region of Dalmuthah. When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had arrived, they came and started to argue with him, testing him and demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority. When he heard this, he sighed deeply in his spirit. Pause, every parent knows that I'm going to read that verse again. When he heard this, he sighed deeply in his spirit. Can I just give you an example as a weary father, what a sigh deep in his spirit when he heard somebody say something stupid. I know this because I heard my dad give this sigh many times and I know this because I have given this sigh. Jesus hears these Pharisees just being silly and I don't mean in a good way and he finally just does. Here it is. That is the sign of someone, the sigh of someone who's just like ugh. So here we go again. Ugh, there we go. He said why do these people keep demanding a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, I will not give this generation any such sign.

Speaker 1: 6:22

And he got back into a boat and he left them and he crossed over to the other side of the lake, but the disciples had forgotten to bring any food. Now, how do you forget to bring? You just got through feeding 4,000 people with seven loaves of bread and you didn't bring a morsel, a scrap, a piece, nothing, no, they didn't bring a thing. But they didn't bring any food and they had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat when they were crossing the lake, jesus warned them Watch out, beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod. And at this they began to argue with each other because they hadn't brought enough bread. I wonder if they're arguing about not bringing enough bread and somebody going Well, you know, he did just increase seven loaves to feed 4,000. We could ask him hey, can you divide this up amongst the 12 of us? And they're going hey, you idiot, that's not what we're supposed to do. I mean, they're arguing right. Verse 17,.

Speaker 1: 7:16

Jesus knew what they were saying and so he said why are you arguing about having no bread? Don't you know or understood or understand even yet? Are your hearts still hard to take it in? You have eyes, even yet, are your hearts still hard to take it in? You have eyes. Can't you see? You have ears. Can't you hear? Don't you remember anything at all when I fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread. How many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward? Twelve, they said. When I fed the 4,000 with the seven loaves. How many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up? Seven, they said Don't you understand? Yet he asked them.

Speaker 1: 7:52

When they arrived in Bethsaida, some people brought to him a blind man and they begged him to touch him and heal him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out to the village and then, spitting on the man's eyes yes, spitting on the man's eyes he laid his hands on him and he said Can you see anything? Now the man looked up and he's like yes, I mean, I see people, but I can't really see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around. I love this. Jesus placed his hands on the man's eyes again and his eyes were opened. You know what this sounds like happened. It sounds like listen, for his own reasons, and we talked about this some yesterday, the thought of healing properties in the spit. We got that. But this is what it sounds like happen. Jesus spit on this guy's hand just hawk poo, you know and rubbed them together, put them on the guy's eyes and he's like what do you see, I see, Well, I see men like trees. And then it says Jesus put his hands on his eyes again. You know what it sounds like? Jesus just cleaned the spit off his eye. It's not like he had to touch him again to heal him. He just needed to finish the process by getting the spit off of his eye. And then the guy's like oh, there you go. He says his sight was completely restored, he could see everything clearly. And Jesus sent him away, saying Now listen, don't go back into the village on your way home, verse 27.

Speaker 1: 9:15

Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the village near Caesarea, philippi, and they were walking along. He asked them who do people say that I am? Well, they replied Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, others say you are one of the other prophets. Then he said but who do you say that I am? Peter replied you're the Messiah. But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead and as he talked openly with his disciples, peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.

Speaker 1: 10:02

Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples and he reprimanded Peter. Get away from me, satan. He said. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not God's. By the way, that's awesome. Peter was willing to tell the people that is me, I'm the one that messed up. He got mad at me. He told me I did it wrong and then he said and come on, keep following me, because it didn't say he got rid of him Verse 34. Here's the point. We need to. We need to. Just every Christian needs to take a moment and listen. Here we go, verse 34.

Speaker 1: 10:32

Then, calling the crowd to join the disciples, he said if any one of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it, but if you give up your own life for my sake and for the sake of the good news, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is there anything worth more than your soul, if anyone is ashamed of me and my message and these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of man speaking of Himself, will. That's deep he's saying. I love this verse. He says this right here. He says if you want to be my follower, you've got to give up your own way, take up your cross and follow me.

Speaker 1: 11:32

Now, what the original audience would have understood is there was a thing called the crosswalk. They didn't call it quite that, but that's what it was. And what it was is the moment of crucifixion did not start when you got on a cross somewhere else. The moment of crucifixion started when you would take the cross beam and begin the walk of death to the place of execution. So once, according to the research I've done, once you started the walk toward where you would die, you couldn't undo it. The punishment was in process, and so you can't look back, you can't do anything. You're going to die at that point.

Speaker 1: 12:10

And so Jesus is saying so much more than we get. He's saying if you want to be my follower, then you have to actually follow me. You must give up your own way, take up the cross which means no turning back and follow me. If you want to be my follower, then follow, follow me. He says if you try to be my follower, then follow, follow me. And he says if you try to hang on to your own life, you're not going to be able to save it, but if you give your life to me, that's when you find it. And he said if anyone is ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of that person. But in another gospel he says but if any one of you proclaims me, I will be so proud to proclaim you. And that's what we've got to realize about Christianity.

Speaker 1: 12:55

Unintentionally, I think that for many people they have understood Christianity to be a get-out-of-jail-free card, no-transcript. And for many people they're told there's sin in your life. We're born into a sinful state. Jesus wants to forgive you of your sin. And we go cool, I would love to be forgiven of my sin, please. I'll take some of that.

Speaker 1: 13:32

And so they say just pray this prayer and then go on living your life, and the moment that you die, you cash in your God, your free God, hope. By the way, 20 years ago at that church, I prayed this prayer and they told me that if I prayed the magic words, I'll go to heaven now. And then they go oh well, then you never went to church again. No, you didn't actually serve God. No, you didn't like try to live a sinless life and grow into the in the goodness of God, and all that, and of course not. No, okay, no problem, you did pray that prayer once. That that is not how this works. Is it possible? They're going to be people that are going to be shocked when they die because they they gave Jesus their problems. They never gave him their life.

Speaker 1: 14:11

And Jesus said I don't want just your problems, I want all of you. I am exchanging my life for your life. I died on the cross, rose again and I'm willing to give you my life, but it's going to cost you your life. Now here's the catch. People hear that and they go. I don't want to give God my life, I just want to give him all the bad stuff. Don't work like that. You have to give him everything. That's why the Bible says if we will confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we shall be saved. We declare with our mouth, that is to declare allegiance. All other things are gone. We now belong to God. You go well, my goodness, that sounds awful permanent. Sure does. Jesus dying on the cross was awful permanent. Thank goodness he rose again.

Speaker 1: 15:02

Here's the amazing thing. Jesus' verse there says if you try to hang on to your life, if you try to do it your way, you're going to lose. But life you try to do it your way, you're going to lose, but if you give your life for me, you'll save it. This is the amazing thing that happens. People have this idea that if they give their life to God, it's like a death sentence and they no longer get to do things their own way. It's actually a life sentence and you get to figure out what true life really is. We're actually proclaiming freedom, salvation and joy.

Speaker 1: 15:32

So here's my question for you when you gave your life to Jesus, did you give him your life or did you just give him the bad feelings? Did you just give him the emotions? Give him the moment? Here's the thing God knows If you gave him everything, then you gave him everything. So this is not in any way intended to take away any assurance of your salvation. That's not what this is at all. It's just to remind us what the walk of Christianity is Christianity, chris-ti-anity, a follower of Christ, christ follower, we are a follower of Christ.

Speaker 1: 16:08

So here's what you get to do. If you would say yes, pastor, all that time ago, I just prayed a prayer. I wasn't giving God my life. Well, today's your day. It's time to come home and as soon as this podcast is over with you, take a moment and you say God, I'm so sorry, I repent of all my sin. I give you my entire life. I exchange all of me for all of you. I give you my entire life. I exchange all of me for all of you. Come into my life and I'm going to follow you the rest of my days. That is the eternal commitment of Christianity. Welcoming to the family of God.

Speaker 1: 16:38

But on the other side, if you did do that, but if you found yourself not giving Christ your life, this is a moment, of course, correct. Can I tell you? You'll never be more full of peace and of joy than to know God is in control. So here's the question Is he, have you given him everything? It's the greatest thing in the world. Don't the enemy lie to you and tell you oh, but then you're not in control. You never were in control to begin with. Can we get that straight? But now we can give our life over to Jesus and watch what happens. The proof is in what happens. Let's pray together right now.

Speaker 1: 17:15

God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you're with us and you're for us. I'm thankful for you. I'm thankful that you give us the most amazing opportunity, and that is we get to exchange death for life. Thank you for that. We celebrate it today In Jesus' name. We pray Amen. Amen. God's word says in Mark 8, verse 34,. It says If anyone would come after me we read it today let him deny himself, take up his cross, follow me. What joy it is for those in whom their sins are forgiven. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Mark, chapter 9.