The Normal Christian Life: Following and Serving the King

Peter was on board with Jesus as the Messiah. Peter was not on board with Jesus going to the cross. As Jesus rebuked the demons in 3:12, Peter now rebukes Jesus. Bad call! Peter quickly gets in return what he had just given and more!

Jesus treats Peter as if he were Satan or a demon-possessed man! It is harsh but justified and necessary. Like Satan at the temptation in the wilderness (Matt 4:9-11), Peter offers Jesus the crown without the cross. He thinks he has a better plan than God does.

Peter wants a Jesus who fits his agenda. He thinks he knows the kind of Messiah Jesus needs to be and attempts to reshape and redefine Him to fit his conception. Are we not often guilty of doing the same thing? “Give me a Jesus I can control, one I conjure up in my image and likeness!” No, you and I must learn and affirm the ways of God, not man. You may not fully understand it. It may not be easy or safe. It will, however, be best. In fact, it will be perfect (Rom 12:2).

Mark 8:34-38

God’s ways are often hard but usually clear. They are a challenge but always perfect. The passion of the Christ reinforces these biblical truths.

Confident that God’s will is perfect, even if it might not be safe, we embrace the call of Jesus to follow Him and to die in order that we and others might truly live!

Jesus lays out the essence of “the normal Christian life,” the basics of discipleship, which sadly in our day looks like “the radical Christian life.” Being Jesus’ disciple requires three essentials.

First, deny yourself. Give up the right to self-determination. Live as Christ directs. Treasure and value Jesus more than yourself, your comforts, your aspirations. Put to death the idol of I! Say no to you and yes to Jesus!

Second, take up your cross. Die! Luke 9:23 adds the word “daily” because that is what we must do. This is not normal or natural, but it is necessary to be Christ’s disciple. And it is a slow, painful death.

Finally, follow Me! Are we willing to believe and obey Jesus? It will be radical, not comfortable, because it involves a death to the self-centered life.

Verses 35-38 all have the word “for” in Greek (gar). Jesus is providing the basis for the challenge of verse 34.

If you save or treasure your life above all else, you will lose it. The one who plays it safe and considers his existence more important than Jesus will lose both Jesus and eternal life.

In contrast, the one who gives his life for Jesus and the gospel will actually save it! Following Jesus involves risking it all—safety, security, satisfaction in this world. But He promises us that it leads to a reward this world can never, ever offer.

There is a life worth giving for the glory of God and the gospel! It is a dying to self that others might live! It is not safe! But it is the normal Christian life! J. I. Packer says, “There are, in fact, two motives that should spur us constantly to evangelize. The first is love to God and concern for His glory; the second is love to man and concern for his welfare” (Evangelism, 73). C. T. Studd (1860-1931), missionary to China, India, and Sudan, said,176 “We will dare to trust our God ... and we will do it with His joy unspeakable singing aloud in our hearts. We will a thousand times sooner die trusting only in our God than live trusting in man” (Platt, Radical, 178).

Your life is set free to live the normal/radical Christian life when you see death as reward, when you can say with Paul, “For me, living is Christ and dying is gain” (Phil 1:21).

Jesus asks, “For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his life?” The answer is nothing. He asks, “What can a man give in exchange for his life?” The answer is nothing.

On April 17, 1998, Linda McCartney, wife of Paul McCartney of the Beatles, died. Newsweek concluded its article on her death by saying, “The McCartney’s had all the money in the world.... Enough to afford their privacy. Enough to give them a beautiful view. But all the money in the world wasn’t enough to keep her alive” (Giles, “Lady McCartney,” 64).

I appreciate the way John Piper puts it:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) understood what the normal Christian life should look like. The way may be hard, but the path and the end are glorious.

May all of us learn how to die for Christ and the gospel, that we, and others, may truly live. May all of us learn what is, and how to live, the normal Christian life.