Who Do You Say That I Am? "The Suffering Son of Man"

Well, good morning, church man. I'm just finding myself so grateful that God is unchanging, that he is still the God of Jacob, the God of Mary, the God of Moses, the God of David. This is the God that we come to serve. This is not a new God that showed up in Whitewater at some point in time. This is the same God.

The same God. I'm thankful for that. Are you?

You're really thankful for that? Awkward. Yes. Yes. It's okay.

It's okay. Hey, it's good to be with you this morning. I'm glad you're here. And I say this often, but I'm glad you're here, because I really believe that God has something specific in mind today. He's on the way to something.

He's doing something in my life, in your life, in our lives today. He's calling us to challenge. He's calling us to a next step. And whether today's your first time or you've been here many, many, many times, God is calling us to take another step toward him, and we cannot miss that. We don't want to just be a church that shows up on Sunday for an hour and grows a little bit and becomes more informed.

We want to be a church that is reformed by what God is doing in our lives. This is the work of the Father. This is the importance of this gathering of the church. We want to be a church that doesn't just grow in our knowledge of God, but grows in our obedience to Him. We want to be a church that is about study and practice, about hearing and obeying.

We talk about this often here. One of the ways that we would love to invite you to take part and participate in something that the church, the global church, has been doing for centuries, is coming this week. Now, you might know that Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, and Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the season of Lent. The 40 days coming up to Easter. And Ash Wednesday specifically is a time for us to recognize that we are finite, that we are broken, that we have sin in our lives, that we came from the dust.

And that God, on the other hand, is still the faithful God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is unchanging, and he is perfect, and he is redeeming. And that's what this season of Lent is, to look toward the resurrection, but kind of fasting in our lives, whether that is figurative or spiritual or literal, to wait for the coming feast of the Resurrection. So one of the ways that we've made, tried to make as easy as possible for you to participate on the tables on the way out there is a half sheet paper on Ash Wednesday. And it's just got a discussion guide and some scripture together.

Something that you can do at home. You can do it by yourself, you can do it with other folks, you can do it with your family. Nothing complicated, just a simple way to practice and participate. So we hope you'll grab one on the way out so that we can be the kind of church that does something about what we're learning and raises the people around us up in a way that points them to Jesus. But before we step into today's message, I just want to ask for help.

So let's pray.

God, our Father, Jesus Christ, our brother, our Savior, our Messiah, Holy Spirit, our comforter, our guide, our power.

We pray that you would pour out yourself into and onto us today, that you'd speak through me, even in my brokenness and my lack of understanding and my immaturity and my sin. That you would use me today as your vessel, that you would speak your truth through me. And that Holy Spirit, you would do something here today, that we wouldn't just learn something, but that we would become what you want us to become. So come in Jesus name. Amen.

Well, last week we finally hit that pivotal moment where we get to the moment that Jesus asked the question that we've entitled our whole series after, who do you say that I am? And he asked this question in the darkest, most worldly place that he could take them to. We talked about that last week. And in the face of all this, Peter wins the day. He proclaims, you are the Christ.

And Jesus says, bingo, you get it? And on that confession, Peter, I will build my church. But then the words immediately after this that Jesus shares, they wreck all of the preconceived notions and expectations that the disciples have. The disciples finally have eyes to see Jesus, but only in part. And Jesus is about to unveil fully why he came.

And he starts this road, starts down this road with these very difficult words. We read them last week, mark 8, starting in verse 31. Jesus then began to teach the disciples that the Son of Man, he must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law. And that he must be killed and after three days, rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

And we read last week when Peter rebukes Jesus for saying that he must die, Jesus says, get behind me, Satan. Really harsh words that will not allow Peter's human Notions and desires to get in the way of God's will for Jesus to go to the cross. And we said Peter was like the blind man that needed a second touch from Jesus to be able to see him more clearly. And then we close with those really brutal words from Jesus that are so hard to swallow. Anyone who wants to be my disciple must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.

Today we're going to adjust our lenses again to see Jesus more clearly. Among all of the other things that we've seen about him, we're going today to see him as the suffering Son of man. And that title is an oxymoron. It's two oppositional pictures of the Messiah that contradict each other. If you were here a few weeks ago, we looked at that first title, the Son of Man.

It comes from Daniel, chapter seven. And I think one of the main reasons that the disciples and so many others could not see Jesus as the Messiah and could not see him clearly is because they were so stuck on the Daniel 7 description of who the Messiah would be. In Daniel 7, God gives him Daniel, a prophetic dream of the promised Messiah. This is how Daniel describes what he saw. Chapter 7, verse 13.

In my vision at night, I looked, and there before me was one like a Son of man. This is Jesus coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the ancient of days, that's God the Father, and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power. All nations and peoples of every language worshiped him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away. And his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. Everlasting dominion, power and authority. Everyone worships him and his kingdom will never be destroyed. That's an awesome sounding Messiah, isn't it?

That sounds powerful and big. It sure does not sound like one who will be arrested and beaten and crucified and buried. But starting in chapter eight of Mark, Jesus makes it very clear that this is what he came to do. He must die. He must go to the cross.

And today we will look at another prophecy about the Messiah that gives us the other half of this picture. The Son of Man described in Daniel 7 describes Jesus second coming. But first, first he must be the suffering servant. And the disciples can't and won't and don't want to see it. So Mark 8 is the first of the three times that Jesus predicts his suffering to his disciples in the Book of Mark.

And as we look at these other two times and then zoom out on the Bible a bit, we'll get even wider view of things and we'll see that Jesus death on the cross is not a reactive strategic move from God the Father. It's been his plan all along, even before he said, let there be light. Now, between the first time Jesus predicts his death in Mark 8 and the second time, the pattern with the disciples just continues. They are walking with Jesus. They see his power.

They are right there hearing his teaching, and still they can't fully see. They still don't fully understand. It seems like no matter how much Jesus tells them, they just don't grasp what kind of Messiah he is or what kind of kingdom he came to bring. So Jesus pulls back the curtain a second time to tell them what's coming. And I have to imagine that the way that Jesus responded to Peter last time was really guards the questions that they're willing to have this time.

Mark 9, verse 30. They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were because he was teaching his disciples. This is too important. He doesn't want any distractions.

He said to them, the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise. But they did not understand what he meant and we're afraid to ask him about it. Yeah, I get it. I'd be afraid to ask him too.

I'm not going to be the next one that's called Satan.

And I wonder, man, there's a whole sermon just in this one line. But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it. I think we live like this way too often. Well, after this, we get several scenes that continue to show that the disciples still don't see, want to see and are more interested in how this awesome new kingdom is going to make them famous and powerful. They're thinking with a scarcity mindset.

They're thinking about making sure that they get their bellies and pockets and egos filled. And Jesus keeps trying to show them that they're missing it, that it isn't about power or money or notoriety. He tries to teach them again and again that the kingdom will be much more like when he fed the multitudes and there was so much left over that they picked it up in multiple baskets. When he brings this kind of kingdom, there's more than enough Jesus to go around, but they continue to miss it. So he pulls back the curtain a third time with the description of his death.

And I don't know how much more clearly he could say this. Mark 10, verse 32. They were on their way up to Jerusalem with Jesus leading the way. And the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again, he took the 12 aside and told them what was going to happen to him.

We are going up to Jerusalem, he said, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later, he will rise. Now Mark doesn't give us any response this time from the disciples. And astonishingly and a bit sickeningly, the very next scene Mark gives us is the brothers James and John.

And they're asking Jesus, hey, Jesus, when you are the new king of that sweet new kingdom? Which sounds awesome. Awesome, by the way. We were just thinking maybe we could each get a throne on either side of you. Maybe one on your left, one on your right.

Not as big as yours, of course, Jesus, but wouldn't that be amazing? And Jesus just tells them so kindly. I think at this point I would have been ready to punch them in the throat and find new disciples.

I just. Jesus is so patient. He's so patient. And he says, guys, it's nothing like that. You're missing it.

And he closes this whole section with these powerful words. Mark 10:45. For even the Son of man, even I did not come to be served, but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many. You don't get it, boys. Even I didn't come to be served.

Jesus says the reason he came is to be a ransom for many. And that word, ransom, is a powerful word. It literally means the price paid to purchase someone out of slavery. Jesus is trying to tell them, this is why I came. But they still can't see it because they're looking for a Daniel 7 kind of Messiah.

And if they would have had eyes to see and ears to hear what Jesus is saying, then a little bell, I have to imagine, would have rang in their minds to remember that the prophet Isaiah, one of the most quoted prophets in all of the Old Testament, who they would have known, well, actually described that the Messiah would be a suffering servant. These words from isaiah were written 700 years before Jesus was born. And those of us on the other side of the resurrection, the other side of the cross, we know this. Imagine with me now, 700 years before Jesus is even born. This is how Isaiah describes the Messiah.

Isaiah 53, starting in verse 4, surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. Yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him.

And by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living.

For the transgressions of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich. In his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth, yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer. And though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days. And the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied by his knowledge. My righteous servant will justify many and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great and he will divide the spoils with the strong. Because he poured out his life unto death and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.

That just means that he came in and paid the price.

Amen. This is a passage that the disciples would have known. A clear description of Jesus that's right in front of them. But they can't see it, at least not yet. And the difficult reality is it's going to take a cross and a resurrection for their eyes to be opened.

In the aftermath of the resurrection, the same self centered blind disciples that just don't get it. They become powerfully transformed and emboldened to stand up and preach with absolute conviction that Isaiah 53 was always about Jesus. What felt confusing and contradictory before the cross became undeniable in the light of the empty tomb. They finally get it. And the death difficult truth for us is that's how it often works for us too.

We don't see clearly until we walk through the suffering. And if we fast forward to Acts 8 after the resurrection there's an awesome story that brings these two opposing pictures of the Messiah together. In Acts 8, the Holy Spirit leads a guy named Philip to go on a walk down a particular road. This is a different Philip than the Philip that walked with Jesus. This is a guy that was later called Philip the Evangelist because of this very story.

So Philip listens to the Holy Spirit and he goes on a walk down this particular road, not knowing why. At the same time, God is leading an Ethiopian eunuch, a guy riding in a chariot who has traveled all the way to Jerusalem from Ethiopia. This is a 1200 mile journey in the first century that would have taken about two months one way in a chariot. That does not sound very comfortable to me. He's come all the way to Jerusalem because he is so hungry to find God.

So empowered by the Holy Spirit. Philip hears the Ethiopian, of all things, reading a scripture of Isaiah 53 out loud. And Philip realizes, this is it. This is why God sent me here. And so he runs up to the chariot and he goes, do you understand what you reading?

And the Ethiopian guy says, how could I unless someone explains it to me? And so he invites him to hop up in the chariot and ride along and explain it. And here's what happens. Acts 8, starting in verse 32, this is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading. He was led like a sheep to the slaughter.

And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation, he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth. The eunuch asked Philip, tell me please, who is the prophet talking about?

Is it himself? Is it someone else? Then Philip began with that very passage of scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. The good news about Jesus, that he would suffer and die for the sins of the world. And they traveled along the road.

They came to some water. And the eunuch said, look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized? And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

These words from Jesus just echo in the air. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. He who has eyes to see, let him see. Philip knows without a doubt and makes it so clear to this man that this is all about Jesus. Jesus is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53.

Now, all the disciples eventually saw it too. And when it landed with its full weight in their lives, it changed absolutely everything. Even our boy Peter, who once rebuked Jesus for talking about the cross, later writes with perfect clarity in First Peter, chapter one, he says, for you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed. Silver and gold didn't pay the price for you to get out of slavery from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.

Peter got it. And once it all clicked for him, it changed everything for the rest of his life. And in the Book of Acts, we get to read the fulfillment of Jesus promise on this rock I will build my church. But there's something in what he just said in First Peter that I don't want us to miss. And I talked about it at the beginning.

Jesus was chosen before the creation of the world. Peter isn't the only one who points this out. Paul in Ephesians 1 says, For God chose us in him, in Jesus before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight in love. He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he has freely given us in the one he loves. In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace.

We read this again in 2 Timothy chapter 1. He, Jesus has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. This is. This might not look like much, but this is an explosive reality for us to grasp.

God chose the cross before the creation of the world.

But if this is true, then that's not exactly how we've all been taught, is it? We've heard this story most often, something like, God made the world, we broke it, and he had to do something about it, and Jesus was the only option. So in reaction to our sin, he sent Jesus to the cross. But if he chose Jesus before the creation of the world to be the ransom payment, the price paid to purchase mankind out of slavery, then there's more going on. This is a much more thoughtful, much deeper story being told in the whole of Scripture than a response or A reaction to sin.

Think about this. God chose to create people with the freedom to rebel. He knew that we would rebel. He knew that through that rebellion the cosmos itself would be fractured. And before creation, he had already determined the plan for redemption.

Sending Jesus was not an afterthought or a reaction or even a response. It was the plan. Why does this matter? Because if the cross was the plan before creation, then it wasn't a tragedy that spun out of control. It was love on purpose.

God wasn't surprised in the garden. He wasn't scrambling when sin entered the world. There was no emergency meeting in heaven where they were wringing their hands trying to figure out what to do next. No last minute rescue mission. He create knowing exactly what it would cost him to turn on the world.

And all of this should lead us to see that the Bible is not merely the story of a perfect world that we broke and God trying to patch it up. Jesus was not seen as a reaction to human failure. The cross was not an emergency response. From the very beginning, God chose a story that would reveal his nature fully. Not just his power, not just his authority, but his self giving love.

He created with full awareness of the cost, not because he underestimated it. He knew exactly what it was and he decided to pay it. That means love and grace are older than sin.

Let that sink in for a moment. Love and grace predate sin because that's who God is. So many Christians live as if the kingdom revolves primarily around my sin and what God has to do about it. But this powerful realization shows us something bigger. Redemption was not an emergency measure.

Redemption is a purposefully chosen display of who God is. And if that's true, then the cross isn't an interruption in the story. It's the centerpiece of God's self revelation to his creation. If this is true, then the defining element of the story isn't our sin. Did you hear that?

I promise. Almost everyone in this room has been living like. The defining element of the story of the Bible is the sin of the person in front of them in the mirror. But that's not what the Bible teaches us. The defining element of the story is God.

It's his character, it's his love and his grace that predate our sin. It's sending Jesus to the cross as plan A, Plan A from all along. All from the beginning. From the beginning of the beginning. He knew what what it would cost.

He knew the price and he turned on the lights anyway. And if willing, self sacrificing redemption is the clearest Revelation of who God is. And if the pinnacle of our existence as image bearers, as disciples of Jesus, is to be men, women, students and children who are being formed into the likeness of Jesus, becoming more and more and more like him, then it makes so much sense for Jesus to look at us in the eye. If this is the plan before creation, and if we're supposed to look like him, then it makes so much sense for him to look at us and say, you want to be my disciple? Do this.

Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. If the cross was the plan from before creation, that's how this makes sense. Calling us to the cross is not God demanding something from us that he was unwilling to endure himself. The cross is God saying, this is what pure, unfettered, perfect love looks like. The cross is not an invitation into meaningless suffering.

It's an invitation into the likeness Jesus. This is so upside down for us, isn't it? Jesus went to the cross to show the world what God looks like. That's incredible. That's incredible.

We're going to share in communion now. If you didn't get a communion cup on your way in, just raise your hand. I left mine on the front seat there.

Thank you, Vanna.

Some of you are old enough to know the joke.

You can't joke during communion time. It's serious.

This just keeps rattling me this week. Honestly, You want to follow Jesus, you want to be like him, you want to look like God? Deny yourself. Take up your cross and let's go.

Jesus went in this beautiful symbolic picture of being the greater sacrificial lamb, stepping in and paying the price for us to be bought out of slavery. And he did that through his body blood. And before that day, he was with his disciples in the upper room. They were sharing a meal together. And he broke bread.

And he broke bread. And in the language of feeding the 5,000 and the 4,000, it's the same language. He broke bread and he gave it. He blessed it and gave it to them. This is not just the story of our dying Savior.

This is the story of there is more and more and more than enough of Jesus to go around. And he gave it to them. And he said, this is my body given for you. Take and eat.

And he took the cup, he blessed it, and he said, this is the cup of the new covenant. This is my blood of the new covenant. I'm doing a new thing now. When you drink of it, remember.

King Jesus. Help us to get our heads around this magnificent and powerful reality.

And help us to be willing to step up, deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow you.

Give us an ever expanding understanding of what that means.

We will need your help.

In Jesus name, Amen.

Jesus calls us down that same path to the cross. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. It's a brutal and beautiful and necessary invitation.

Because, as Dallas Willard says, the cross is the end of your kingdom. The cross is the end of your kingdom. You must take it up. You must die. The apostle Paul describes the result of taking up his cross in Galatians 2:20.

He says, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live. But Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body. I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. And then he elaborates even more.

In 2 Corinthians, chapter 5. He says, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone, the new is here. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them.

And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors. Don't miss is such explosive reality. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you, on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus died so that we could become his righteousness and become ambassadors of reconciliation.

Jesus calls us, deny yourself, Take up your cross. Follow me. Because the cross is the end of our kingdom, the end of my kingdom, the end of your kingdom, and the beginning of his life in us. We can't possibly do this work of bringing reconciliation to the world if we don't even look like him, if we don't understand what he understood, if we don't live like he lived.

The cross is the doorway for us and this world to experience resurrection Christ like life. But if we're going to take it up, we're going to have to lay something down. That's how it works. If you want to take up the cross, you got to lay something down. So where's one area of your life that you know that you know?

I don't have to even describe it to you. You walked in with it this morning. That one area of your life that you know that you know that God has been calling you to lay it down and deny yourself. Maybe it's unresolved, broken relationships and you need to make the call or show up and knock on the door or send the text or schedule or coffee. Maybe it's your produce.

Maybe it's keeping you from submitting to what you know God wants you to do. Maybe you know you're wrong. You know you need to apologize, but you're waiting for somebody else to make the first move. Maybe it's control, man, we're good at that one. Trying to control everything.

Gripping so hard on the steering wheel that her knuckles are white and God is just whispering, trust me. Trust me. Maybe it's an addiction. Maybe it's a sin that you just keep going back to and going back to and going back to, and it is time to finally confess and repent and let that part of you die. Maybe it's bitterness.

Maybe you've just been swimming in bitterness because it's so familiar to you. Maybe it's comfort. Comfort you refuse to surrender. Maybe it's an ambition that looks impressive on the outside, but you know, inside it's straight up disobedience.

Maybe it's fear. You know, you're supposed to speak up or step in or do that thing, but it feels risky. Church Denying ourselves and crucifying our old way of living is about laying down the small, fragile kingdom we've been trying to build.

It is denying self. It's letting something die. But we're not just losing. We are promised that in its place, when that seed is buried, what sprouts up from that seed is everlasting life. That it wasn't just buried for dead.

It was planted for something beautiful. This is the promise. This is why the cross is the doorway to resurrection life. And as we turn and move toward Easter, let's not rush past the cross. Let's walk through it.

Let's be honest about what needs to die in us. Let's trust that the God who knew the cost from the very beginning and still, still turn the lights on is just as trustworthy. Now. On the other side of death is resurrection. Jesus is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, and he is the mighty son of man.

From Daniel 7, we're going to sing. Would you stand?

This song is all about if the whole earth could just recognize for a moment who Jesus is and what God has done, it would change everything, just like it did for the disciples, just like it did for Peter. And so as we sing this, we're going to have a prayer team on either side of the room? And today there's something to lay down. We've all got a next step. We all have a thing to lay down.

You may have laid down 72 crosses prior to today. There's another cross to lay down, Another way to deny yourself, another thing to let die so that you can take up the cross of Christ. So let's sing this together. Maybe you want to come forward. You can come forward.

You can stay where you are. Maybe it's just opening your hands. Maybe it's coming to receive. Prayer, please. Church.

God is calling us to take a next step toward him today. And my prayer is that the fear and the anxiety and the worry that's holding us back would be released. Let's sing together.