What Do You Believe Jesus Came to Do?

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg.

The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark chapter 8 verses 27 -38. Jesus went on with his disciples to the village of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples who do people say that I am? And they told him John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others one of the prophets.

And so he asked them, but who do you say that I am? Peter answered him, you are the Christ. And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. And 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 said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples he rebuked Peter and said, get behind me Satan, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God but on the things of man.

And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, if anyone would come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it.

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul or his life? What can a man give in return for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the son of man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with his holy angels.

This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Have you ever wondered why this weird dichotomy in our gospel text? I mean on the one hand Peter gets it right. He nails the theological question.

Who do people say that I am? And no sooner does he get the question right, Jesus is saying to him, get behind me Satan. It just seems like a weird thing going on there. Well, we're going to try to unpack this a little bit today and see if we can figure out what's going on.

The Theology of Glory Versus the Theology of the Cross

And this is going to require us to do a little bit of theological borrowing, if you would, from Martin Luther's Heidelberg Disputation. I know you all read this at night and you probably have it memorized, but let me remind you that in the Heidelberg Disputation, Luther came up with an idea that had a great way of understanding why there are two religions in the world.

And you're sitting there going, wait a second, that doesn't make any sense. Two religions? You see there's Christianity, there's Buddhism, there's Islam. That's at least three. Then you've got Hinduism and then start adding, and you're sitting there going, wait a second, there's got to be more than two religions in the world.

No, in reality there really are only two. And they all fall into one of two categories. The theology of glory and the theology of the cross. The theology of glory really should be understood as the theology of self-glory.

And here's how the theology of self-glory works. You apply yourself properly and do the good steps and you'll get the great results and your life will be better. And you will be glorious. And people will say of you how amazing you are.

And you can sit there and go, there's a lot of different ways that that takes shape, but the other religion, the theology of the cross, basically says, as Jesus said in our gospel text, to deny yourself.

To basically consider yourself to be a dead person walking. And this is exactly the truth of embracing what has happened to us in our baptisms. We have been united with Christ in his death and his resurrection, and as a result of it we have all died.

We have died to sin, dying to the devil. But I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself. So let's go back through our gospel text, see if we can make any sense of this. Here's what it says. Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.

You're going to note the name Caesarea Philippi doesn't sound anything like, well, Hebrew. So this is not a Hebrew town. This is not in Judea. This is outside of Israel, which is a great place for Jesus to ask this question.

And so if you know anything about Caesarea Philippi, I'm always a big advocate for traveling the world using other people's vacation photos via the internet. If you've ever been to Caesarea Philippi in that way then you'll note that this was the place where the famed gates of Hades, or the gates of hell, were located.

And on one of the Roman roads coming into town, you would see a cliff face, and carved into the cliff face were all of these little grottos. And back in the ancient world they stuck little idols, statues, to the different Greco-Roman deities, to Zeus and to Athena and the like.

So this is idolatry central, which is a great place to ask the question because we're going to ask a similar question today in the idolatrous world that we live in. So Jesus throws this one out on the table, asks, who do people say that I am?

And now the answers are a little bit weird. They told him, well, some say John the Baptist. Weird answer for a Jew to give because Jews don't believe in reincarnation. John the Baptist is already dead so that's a little on the creepy scale.

So others said Elijah, which makes a little bit more sense because if you know the story of Elijah, Elijah was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire so he technically didn't die. So that's a little bit more feasible.

And then the others, well, maybe one of the prophets. Yeah, that was a spectacular fail right there. Theologically dubious and sketchy at best. So then he asked them, and here it comes, you ready? Who do you say that I am?

And that one just kind of sits out there for a minute. I almost like to see the other disciples kind of like kicking a rock or not making eye contact with Jesus. Like if I don't look at him, maybe he won't call on me.

You ever do that in class, by the way, or is that just me? So Peter, being the bold one here, he steps up and says you are the Christ. And we learn from the Matthean text in the Gospel of Matthew that he says you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, and Jesus praises him for this correct answer.

And it's interesting to note that the Gospel of Mark technically are the preaching notes of the Apostle Peter, and Peter kind of leaves that other part out. He doesn't want anybody having a real glowing report or thought about him.

Why Peter’s Confession Was Not Enough

So he says you are the Christ, and then it says this, Jesus strictly charged them to tell no one about him. And we're going to see exactly why here in a second. And this has to do with the next question that is implied but is not in the text.

The next question is, what do you think Jesus or the Messiah came to do? Why did he even come at all? You see, you can get the theological answer as to who Jesus is correct and still actually have an idol that you've created named Jesus.

I know that sounds weird, but the idea is this, is that Peter rightly understood that Jesus is the Messiah, that he's the Christ. But what he was expecting from the Messiah, along with the disciples and other people in Jesus' time, was they expected the Messiah to show up, flex his miraculous muscles, kick the Romans out.

Remember, they're under Roman occupation at this time. Kick the Romans out, and that righteousness would go forth into all the earth from the reestablished Davidic kingdom with Jesus as the king. Of course, the disciples themselves wanted cushy cabinet positions in this new coming kingly administration.

And we know this because as they were getting ready to go to Jerusalem, the sons of thunders, get this, they had their mommy. The sons of thunder, which is a funny way of talking about them, the sons of thunder literally had their mother go and talk to Jesus and say, when you come into your kingdom, can my one son be on your right and my other son be on your left?

If you have to have your mommy ask Jesus these questions, that tells me something about you. But I digress. So you get the idea that these guys really expected that something spectacular was going to happen.

And then if you remember, after Jesus' death and his resurrection, they literally failed the final final in seminary. I don't know any guys who ever went into ministry who failed the final final. And here's how they failed it.

As Jesus is getting ready to ascend to the right hand of the father, one of them blurts out, Lord, are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel? And you can see the Facebook memes now, face palm.

This is a total failure. But this is what they were expecting from Jesus. So the thing they wanted Jesus to do for them, the Jesus or the Messiah they believed in, was all about freeing them from the oppression of the Romans.

So I'll just kind of throw this out there. What do you expect Jesus to do for you? I mean, you believe he's the son of God. We confess it in the creed week after week. I hear you guys do it. I'm assuming that none of you are taking issue with that.

But what do you expect Jesus to be doing for you? Is the Jesus you believe in here to make your children better behaved? Well, my Jesus never was able to do that. What's the reason you believe in Jesus?

Is the reason you believe in Jesus because you think you're a good person and that if you apply Jesus tips and principles to your life, you'll be a good person. What's your Jesus? Therefore, is he there to make you prosperous, healthy, skinny?

My Jesus hasn't done that for me yet. What's your Jesus here for? Why did he come? See, that's really the issue. And this now comes back to that distinction. Theology of self-glory versus the theology of the cross.

If the Jesus you believe in is here to make you amazing in the here and the now, to make you prosperous, healthy, wise, influential, and all of those other glorious things that would be so amazing if you could be, then you have an idol named Jesus and you're guilty of breaking the first commandment because you have in mind the things of this earth not the things of God.

You see, Jesus didn't come to spiff you up here in the now. He's actually called you to repent, to come and follow him and live your life as if you literally are a dead person walking. How do I know? Well, from the text that follows.

Christ Must Suffer, Be Rejected, Die, and Rise Again

So, here's what happens. After Peter gets the question right, Jesus began to teach them that the son of man and he says this plainly, Peter makes a point of letting us know this, that the son of man must suffer many things, get this, be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, the scribes, be killed, and after three days rise again.

He said this plainly. Well, what good is a dead Messiah? What good is a dead Messiah? I mean, those sound about as useful as dead dogs. What are you supposed to do with a dead Messiah? How is a dead Messiah supposed to get rid of the Roman Empire?

How is a dead Messiah supposed to make me have shiny teeth, a big padded wallet, and well, make me the bee's knees and gloriously celebrated throughout the earth? I don't need a dead Messiah. I need somebody who's going to help me, really make me the best me I can be.

Dead Messiahs don't really help anybody, and that's Peter's issue. So Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Jesus. How the text doesn't end at this point in saying, and then sulfur and fire fell from heaven and that was the end of Peter, I don't know.

That's God's mercy, but I would assume that rebuking the son of God in human flesh, that's ridiculous. But see, the thing is, is that when our idols are challenged and the false gods that we've created in our minds are torn down, we oftentimes lash out at the person who's torn that idol down.

And that's exactly what Jesus did by saying, I'm going to be rejected, not celebrated. I'm not going to live. I'm going to die. Oh, and by the way, I'm going to rise again on the third day. Nobody understood what that meant at this point.

So Peter rebukes him, and then Jesus, turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and he said, get behind me, Satan. You see, Satan's all about Satan. We know this from Isaiah 14 where Satan basically says, I will arise to the highest mountain.

I, I, I. And who's Peter really thinking about? Peter. That's who he's really thinking about. And so Jesus nails him and points out that his false messiah is Satanic. And he says, you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

And here come some tough words now. So Jesus called to him the crowd with his disciples and he said to them, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. See, Jesus made it clear he's heading to Jerusalem to die, and he's now calling his disciples to pick up their crosses, which is telling them exactly how he's going to die and to follow him.

And by the way, dying on a cross is not a glorious death. It is the exact opposite of glory. It is the most shameful, ignominious, painful, disgusting, horrible way to die. And the Romans used crucifixion as basically psychological warfare to let everybody know those who oppose us, this is what happens to them.

And Scripture itself says of those who are hung on a tree that they are cursed. Jesus is literally revealing that he's going to die by a cross, which means he's going to be cursed. He's going to be rejected.

And Jesus says, if you would come after me, you must deny yourself. Deny yourself in what way? Well, he goes on. Whoever would save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospels will save it.

What does it mean to lose your life? Simple. It begins by saying, God, you're right, I'm wrong. It begins with repenting. It begins also then from there realizing that there's nothing here on this earth that you are to attach your affections to, even your own body.

All of this is going away. Christ himself is going to return and all that you see will be destroyed by fire. Nothing will survive. So all of the power games, all of the celebrity games, all of the money hoarding, all of the nonsense that the world chases after, fame, wealth, power, it's all a pipe dream.

A satanic religion designed to glorify yourself. To deny yourself is to say, I count nothing in this life is worth more than Christ and what he has promised in the future. And it's to recognize that the reason why the world is as backwards, upside down, and inside out as it is, is because of our collective sin and yours and my sin individually.

We have all contributed to this. Jesus did not come to give us what we wanted. He came to give us what we need. And the reality is that what is necessary to give us what we need must address the root of the problem.

The root of the problem is that we have all sided with the devil. We are all sinful. We are all ungodly. We are all sinners. And Jesus only came for that group. If you are here because you expect Jesus to make your life simpler, easier, less painful, you're in the wrong place.

Justification by Faith and Peace with God

How do I know? Let's take a look at our epistle text. Our epistle text begins by assuring us that Christ has given us the very thing that we need. And that is peace and reconciliation with God. It's because of our sin that we have been estranged from God and that we are suffering the way that we do.

Romans 5, 1 says therefore, since we have been, notice the past tense, we have been justified. It's a big word. Let me unpack it. It literally means to be declared righteous. We as Christians, those of us in Christ, we who believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, we have been, not will be, we have been justified, and this is it, by faith.

By believing the promise of our justification and forgiveness. We have peace then with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the thing we need. And that peace only came through the theology, more than the theology, the very actions of Christ in denying himself and going to the cross.

See, through him, we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. Now, access is kind of a funny word. Have you ever seen depictions of people in New York City where there's like a super popular night club and there's people standing outside, and maybe the weather is inclement, but they have the red velvet ropes, and people are hoping to get into this club.

Because in order to get in, you either gotta know somebody, or you have to have connections, or you gotta pray that they're merciful. And the person who walks up right to the door and they let them come right in, that person has special access.

Now, I want you to think of it this way. That through Christ, we have access to God. We have access into grace. We have access into the forgiveness of sins, and in this we are called to stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Now, that would be a great sermon in and of itself, but Paul goes on. So, think of it this way. You think that's great. Okay, you think the cake is amazing? Wait until you taste the frosting. And here's the frosting for this.

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings. Okay, as somebody who's experienced a wee bit of suffering over the past few years, I can never honestly say that in the midst of my sufferings, I have broken out in spontaneous praise, singing, my God is an awesome, God isn't it great?

I get to suffer. No, I haven't done that. Yet, Paul is literally saying that more than the fact that we're forgiven and we have a right standing with God, more than that, we rejoice in our sufferings.

You've got to be kidding me. I really have a problem doing this, and I bet you do too. Have you ever considered that maybe the reason why we have difficulty rejoicing in our sufferings is because, like Peter, we have in mind the things of man rather than things of God?

You see, Paul goes on to say this, and understand he's writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces endurance. Endurance produces character.

Character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. There are so many people out there preaching that Jesus wants to give you your best life now, that he wants you to discover some massive dream destiny that God's supposed to reveal to you privately in your heart, and that somehow you're going to become the most influential and affluential person, and you're going to gloriously change the world.

When I hear stuff like that, you're going to notice what's missing. The great icing of Christianity, the great cake that we have in the forgiveness of sins, is suffering. The person who's telling you that Jesus has come to make your life easy is behaving satanically.

Jesus didn't come to make your life easy. He's come to call you to repent, take up your cross, consider yourself to be a dead person walking, and come and suffer and die. And that we, having in mind the things of God, would see our sufferings as precious, something to rejoice over.

There's that strange story in the book of Acts where the disciples, for the first time, were beaten for proclaiming the gospel, and they went home rejoicing that they were found worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ.

How come they didn't teach me this in school? And I know for a fact there are many of us here who are currently suffering in our lives, in all kinds of ways. Either in health, or in family,.

Or name it.

You're suffering. Brothers and sisters, rejoice. This is a precious gift given to us by Christ. This is the theology of the cross that teaches us to deny ourselves. You see, you suffered, you realize this world's got nothing to offer you.

You truly suffered, you realize you're not as strong as you thought you were. You truly suffer and you realize just how completely weak and sinful you really are. Suffering produces endurance. Endurance produces character.

Character produces hope. Hope in the resurrection. Hope in the forgiveness of sins. Hope in Christ. Hope in a new world. Hope that He's going to make all things new. And see, this hope does not put us to shame.

Because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. And see, here's the reason why. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for, and here's that scandalous word, the ungodly.

Jesus didn't die for good people who just needed a little bit of help getting better. Jesus died for the ungodly. That's me. And if you're honest with yourself, and evaluating your life according to God's law, then you will rightly confess that that is also you.

If you do not believe that this is you, then you do not understand what God demands of you. And you must take a harder look at your own life in light of what God's law demands. You sin against God in thought, word, deed, the things you do, and the things you don't do.

This is most certainly true. And because of that, you and I truly have been declared ungodly. And yet, we hear of God's great love that Christ died for that group. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die.

And we hear stories of this from the battlefield, the guy who takes the grenade for his buddies so that they can go on living. But see, God shows, He demonstrates His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

And see, since now we have been justified, declared righteous by His blood, not ours, His, how much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God? And here are some very comforting words. Because we as Christians, we know that we are still extremely weak.

That our good works are still tainted with all kinds of sin. That even on our best day, we still have to pray at the end of the day, forgive us our trespasses. As we forgive those who trespass against us.

And so because we still wrestle with our own sin, it's very common for doubts to arise in our mind. And yet, Paul assures us, think of it this way, if Christ died for you when you were ungodly and a sinner, how much more are you saved now that you have been reconciled?

And that's his point. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, how much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life? Not yours, His. And more than that, we rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Deny Yourself, Take Up Your Cross, and Follow Christ

Returning then back to our Gospel text, we now see what Jesus is talking about. If anyone would come after me, Jesus says, let him deny himself. Repent. Be forgiven. Live his life as a sacrifice for his neighbor.

Suffer and rejoice in those sufferings. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Whoever would save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospel's will save it.

If your Jesus is here to save your life in the here and the now, you have a false Jesus. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his life? That seems like a foolish exchange, does it not?

And yet, we can think of human history examples of people who have climbed the ladder of wealth, died with millions and bazillions of dollars, but have died without faith in Christ. And what do they have to show for it on the day of judgment?

Will their money save them? No. So what can a man give in return for his life? That's another great question. You see, if you could give something in return for your own life, then you wouldn't need a crucified, rejected, risen Jesus.

But you can't. You see, Jesus is the one who was given for your life. There's nothing you can give. Which is why Jesus says, whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, ashamed of the Gospel, ashamed of the one who was crucified, ashamed of the theology that Jesus preached to deny yourself, whoever is ashamed of that in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory, the glory of his Father with his holy angels.

So who do you say Jesus is? But more importantly, what do you believe he came here to do? Why do you worship him? What do you expect of him? If you expect for him to ease your suffering, to make your life easy in the here and the now, to raise you up to glorious heights so that everybody laud and magnifies your name, then you have a false Jesus like Peter did.

And you have more to do with Satan than you do with Christ. If that's you, repent. Repent. Be forgiven. Jesus was rejected so that you would not be rejected by God. He died so that you could live. And he has risen again, the first fruits of the new creation and we who are in him, when he returns, will raise us up with him also.

He hasn't given us what we want, because what we want is satanic. He's given us what we need, and what we need is reconciliation with God. And that takes a crucified and risen Jesus. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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