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Greg Laurie - Lost in Translation?


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    Greg Laurie - Lost in Translation?

The title of my message is, Lost in Translation. So grab your Bible and turn to Mark 8. Again, the title is, Lost in Translation. I heard about a older couple, they were celebrating 50 years of marriage together. Now, the problem was the wife was getting a little hard of hearing. And the husband announced in front of family and friends to his wife, "My dear wife, after 15 years I have found you tried and true"! Again, she couldn't hear very well. She said, "What"? He said, "My dear wife, after 15 years I have found you tried and true". And then she shot back, "Well, after 50 years, I'm tired of you, too".

That was a little communication breakdown there. Yeah, something is lost in translation. Well guess what? Jesus seemed to have this issue with his own disciples. They did not understand why He had come to this earth in the first place. We're on the verge of celebrating Christmas. And we'll talk a lot about that baby born in the manger, the beauty of the incarnation. But listen, the incarnation was for the purpose of the atonement. The birth of Jesus was so there would be the death of Jesus, and ultimately, the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus came to this earth to die for the sins of the world. But as disciples did not get that because it was lost in translation. Their hope and their belief was He was going to establish an earthly kingdom, then and there. Their hope and belief was He was gonna drive the Romans out who were occupying the land.

In fact, you'll remember after he fed the 5000, that was His most popular miracle to date, that people wanted to make Jesus King by force. And what is that all about? That means that they wanted to make Him the king. So He would drive out Rome. They didn't understand that that is not why he had primarily come.

Now look, one day Christ will come back and establish His kingdom. One day, He will rule as king of kings and lord of lords. But before Christ would wear a crown, He would first have to bear across. Now, as we come to our text here in Mark 8, His ministry in Galilee is coming to a close. This is a transitional moment in His ministry, and for the first time, He's gonna speak very clearly and in great detail about why He has come. And He also asks a powerful question that we still need to answer today.

Let's look at our text, Mark 8, starting in verse 27. "Jesus and his disciples of Galilee, and went to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along He asked them, 'Who do people say that I am?' Well, they replied, 'Some to your John the Baptist, some you're Elijah, and some say, you're one of the other prophets.' Then Jesus asks them, 'But who do you think say that I am?' Peter applies, 'You are the Messiah.' And Jesus warned them to not tell anyone about Him".

Now, this is the most important question of all. Jesus asks this question, "Who do men say that I am"? And this is a question we all must ultimately answer. I'm gonna tell you the answer now. Ultimately, everyone will say Jesus Christ is the Lord. Every Christian will say it, every non Christian will say it, every atheist will say it, every agnostic will say it, every person will ultimately say, Jesus is Lord. You'll say, "Greg, you're wrong about that. Not everybody believes". Well, I didn't say they would necessarily say it during their lives on Earth. But one day when they stand before God Almighty, they will acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord.

Philippians 2:10 says, "At the name of Jesus Christ, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God, the Father". Now, here's a big thing we don't wanna miss. Where did Jesus asked this question? This question, "Who do men say that I am"? Where did he ask it? He asked at a place called Caesarea Philippi. Now we could breeze by that and missed its significance all together. Caesarea Philippi was named after the Greek god Pan. It's one thing to say, "Oh, Jesus is Lord". When we're with our Christian friends. "Oh, Jesus is Lord".

When we're at church and singing praise to Him. But will us say Jesus is Lord, when you're gathered together with family from out of town? Will you say Jesus is Lord, when you're at work? Will you say Jesus is Lord, when you're out and about in life? See, it's one thing to make a stand with fellow believers, it's another thing to make us then in our culture. Jesus said this, "If a person is ashamed of me my message, I, the son of them will be ashamed of that person when I return in my glory and in the glory of my father with a holy angels". Don't be ashamed of Christ, speak up for Him.

So Jesus asked them, "Who do men say that I am"? Basically the Lord saying, "Hey guys, what's the word on the street? What are people actually saying about me right now"? Here's the question, did Jesus know what the word on the street was? Did he know what people thought about Him? And what they said about Him? Absolutely. In fact, He would call people out for their thoughts while He was engaging them. "Why do you think this in your heart"? He would say to someone.

So he was aware. But the reason He asked this question of His disciples is He's giving them a test. And why does it teacher give a test? Answer, to see if the class is learning the material? They'd seen Jesus performance miracles. They'd see Jesus walk on the water. They'd seen Jesus heal leprosy, and drive out demons from people, and even raise the dead. Did they really understand who he was yet? Apparently not. Because they replied, "Well, some say you are John the Baptist, others say or Elijah. Still, others say you're one of the prophets". That was not the right answer. But Simon Peter, known for his outspokenness, got it. Peter says in verse 30, "You are the Messiah". In Matthew's version of this story, He has Peter saying, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God". And that's it. Peter understands, "You're not Elijah. You're not John the Baptist. You're not even a mirror Prophet, you are the very Son of God".

See, Jesus was not a mere man. He was not just one of the prophets. He was God coming to us in human flesh. God had a face. It was God with skin on walking among us as the Lord entered our world. The birth of Jesus Christ was the most momentous event it has ever occurred in the history of the planet. It was the eternal God confining themselves to a single cell and being born of a woman, in order to be the Savior of the world. God literally became a fetus. And then in this earth shaking event, Simon Peter got it. "You", He says to Jesus. "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God". And in Matthew's version of the story, Matthew 16, Jesus says, "Blessed are you Jonah, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to you, you are Peter. And on this rock, I will build my church".

Can you imagine how Peter felt? Singled out by Jesus. "Hey Peter, guess what? You didn't just come up with that on your own. My father gave that thought to you. That's where the inspiration for those words came". Man, Peter was just thinking, "this is so awesome. I'm being singled out and complimented by Jesus. But now, the Lord continues on and He drops what could best be described as a bombshell". Look at Mark chapter eight, verse 31, "Then Jesus began to teach Him that the Son of Man 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 three days later, rise again".

Notice the detail in those words. He laid it out. "Guys, here's who's gonna betray me. It's gonna be the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law. And I will be killed, and I will rise again in three days". He spoke plainly about this. Now look at this, Peter took him inside and began to rebuke Him. And when Jesus turned and looked at the disciples, He rebuked Peter, said, "Get behind me, Satan for you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns". Stop there.

By the way, this is the first time Jesus ever talked specifically, clearly. And I might even add graphically about the fact that he was going to die. I don't even think they heard the, He'll be raised on the third day part, they just heard He was going to die. I don't think I'm overstating it when this was really shocking to them. He was effectively saying, "I, Jesus, who you've given up everything to follow. I'm going to be murdered in cold blood, I'm gonna be taken from you". And they're thinking, "How could that be part of any plan? You're the Messiah. You're supposed to establish your kingdom here and now. How is this going to be part of something good for you to be taken and murdered? And in fact, we've given up everything to follow you Jesus. And we made these great sacrifices".

And so Peter thought, since he's the guy who got an inspired thought from the Father, that he would sort of set Jesus straight. And we read in verse 22, Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. And by the way, in the original language, that implies it was done over and over again. I mean, I'm trying to imagine this. Peter says, "Jesus, come in for a second. Buddy, listen. Come on, man. What are you doing? I rebuke you, Jesus. You cannot do this". He's rebuking God Almighty. I mean, this is insane. And Jesus listens to him. And then Jesus turns and rebuked Peter. Now we say, "Boy, I can't believe Peter did that". "Oh, excuse me, have you ever given God advice before"?

The Bible as the questions from Romans 11:34, "Who has known the mind of the Lord? And who has been this counselor"? Well, I would say the answer to that question is, I have. You have, and will say to the Lord, "Now Lord, I've got this all figured out, I met this girl, this is the one I'm supposed to marry. So you need to reveal this to her. And Lord, here's my business plan. And you need to bless it. And here's the way I'm gonna do my ministry. And here's what you need to do next". I'm not asking God for wisdom. I'm not praying about direction. I'm making my plan and asking God to bless it. And the question is, who's in charge here? And who is leading who? Jesus was in charge? Peter says, "No, bad plan. I veto it. I reject it". Jesus says, "I rebuke you, Peter. The devil gave you that thought to deter me from this course".

Listen, it was always God's plan for Christ to die. I already mentioned that. We read them Revelation 13:8, "Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world". What does that mean? That means before there was a planet called Earth, before there was a garden called Eden, before there was a couple known as Adam and Eve who ate of the forbidden fruit, God knew man would blow it. The sin of Adam and Eve did not come as a surprise or shock to the Lord. He knew it would happen, It was just the Lord knowing the future. And so He said, "I already have a plan. And it's not a backup plan, it is the main plan. My son is gonna come to this earth and be born in a major, live a perfect life, and He's gonna die on the cross for the sin of the world because of this sin that will be committed there in the Garden of Eden".

And the result is sin spread through the human race. And this reminds us that the devil was trying to stop Jesus from reaching His objective. Again, what was that objective? It was to die on the cross. Remember that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. The Father's Vote from heaven that said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased". The Holy Spirit came upon him in the form of a dove. And we read immediately Jesus was driven into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And among those temptations that devil said to Jesus, "Here's all the kingdoms of the world, they all belong to me, and I can give them to you if you will simply worship me". Jesus replied, "It is written, you shall worship the Lord God, in Him only shall you serve".

What was that all about? The devil is saying, allow me to loosely paraphrase, "Jesus, we both know why you're here. We both know you're gonna go die on a cross for the sin of the world. And I'm gonna make you an offer now, I'm gonna give you what you come for. I know you've come to purchase back that which was lost in the Garden of Eden, I'll give it to you on a silver platter, if you'll give me the momentary pleasure of worshiping me". And Jesus rejected that. Jesus knew he had to go to the cross.

And this is a reminder that the devil often hits us as Christians in the beginning and at the end of our lives. In the middle, too. But you remember, when you were a brand new believer. Some of the first attacks that came your way were the devil challenging what had happened? You had that little thought in your mind? "Am I really a Christian? Did Christ really forgive me"? He challenges us to doubt our salvation. Now, fast forward, we're coming to the end of our journey as a follower of Jesus, the devil wants to trip us up because if he can, he can discredit all the good we did for all of those years. That's why Paul said, "I wanna finish this race with joy".

So it's a good thing to know that God will be with us and give us the strength we need to finish the race we need to run. So Jesus is saying, "Look I'm gonna die on the cross, and there's no getting around this". Now Jesus, shall we say, shifts gears. Now He personalizes it. And in effect is saying, "Look guys, I'm not the only one who's gonna bear a cross, you're gonna bear a cross too. In fact, you need to bear a cross". And though these words were given some 2000 years ago, they ring true for us today. These words that we're about to read are not just for first century Christians, they are also for 21st century Christians.

Let's go back to Mark 8:34. "Then He called the crowd to Him along with his disciples and said, 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me, for whoever seeks to save his life will lose it. And whoever loses their life for me and the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the son of men will be ashamed of them when he comes in His Father's glory'".

We'll stop there. You could insert your name here. "If Greg will take up the cross and follow me, if Josh will take up the cross and follow me, if Mary will take up the cross and follow me". This isn't just for the 12 disciples of Jesus, this is for you. Now you say, "But I don't even know what that means to take up the cross and follow Him". Well, first He says, "Deny yourself". The word deny means to say no to yourself. It means to put God's will above your will. What is this cross that we're all called to bear? Well, first let me tell you what it isn't. Because I think we have a lot of misconceptions about the cross today. We adorn in our churches with massive crosses. we get into lawsuits about where crosses can be displayed. We tattoo a cross on our arm. We we make it a fashion accessory. But in the first century know this, this the cross was a repulsive symbol.

By the way, the cross was not the symbol of the church in the beginning. Now, later it came to be a symbol of the church. But back then if you were to cross, that was a despicable symbol, because a cross was an incredibly horrible way to die. It was not invented by the Romans, but shall we say, it was perfected by them. And the Romans crucified 1000s of people and lined Roman streets with them as a warning to not rebel against Rome. Crucifixion was saved for the worst of criminals. So if you were in town getting food for dinner, and you saw a man walking by you surrounded by Roman soldiers burying across, you knew this man was gonna die a horrible, painful, torturous death. To even use the picture of a cross was repugnant and repulsive.

Now he said, "Okay, it was a bad thing. So what does it mean"? I think we use this phrase burying across in ways that are not really biblical. For instance, a mother might say, "Well, my cross to bear, it's my children". And then the children of that mother say, "Well, our cross to bear is our mother". Or someone else might say, "Well, my affliction or this difficulty I have is my cross to bear". You identify whatever issue you have or difficulty you have as your cross to bear. That's not what it means to bear the cross.

Listen to this. To bear the cross means one thing, it means deny yourself and put God first. Let me illustrate. I've been a Christian now for 50 years. And I've seen a lot of things. I've seen gifted preachers shoot up like rockets and then come crashing down. I've seen people that had their lives changed by Jesus, walk away from their faith. I've seen very talented people that I thought would do great things for the kingdom sort of flame out. So as time has passed, I'm not so much impressed by charisma as much as I am impressed by character, and longevity. For instance, I'm more impressed with someone who just lives a faithful Christian life. I'm impressed by a husband who keeps his vows to his wife to a lifetime. I am impressed by a wife who stands by her husband through thick and thin. I'm impressed by a Christian who stays with it every day, sunny days, and stormy nights. I am impressed by a believer who weathers the storms of life and continues to give glory to God, because that's what following Jesus is all about.

As one person to find it, being a Christian is long obedience in the same direction. Long obedience in the same direction. But listen to this, bearing across isn't as awful as you might think. Look at verse 25, Jesus says, "Whoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose His life for my sake shall find it". Here's what the Lord is effectively saying. If you'll get your priorities in order, if you deny yourself and take up the cross, you will find fulfillment in life.

Listen, there's nothing wrong with wanting to be happy. And God is really telling you how to be happy. But it's not by chasing happiness. As one person said, "The pursuit of happiness is one of the least happy things a person can do". So you don't find happiness by pursuing it, you find it by putting God first in your life and following Him. This is contrary to our narcissistic culture of today, our selfie culture, where people literally die trying to get the ultimate selfie, hanging off the side of a cliff or doing something dangerous. We wanna look good. We wanna put up this appearance that we have it all together. We're so obsessed with ourselves. The Bible even says, by the way, that one of the signs of the last days would be people would love only themselves, 2 Timothy 3. Is that not an accurate statement of today? People loving only themself?

Here's what you need to know, selfish people are unhappy people. Now, studies have confirmed this. Research has shown this is true. Now, you can get a momentary burst of what we might call a temporary happiness by doing something selfish. In other words, just catering to yourself. They talked about when people shop, that there's a certain euphoria that they can get buying something. They call it retail therapy, right? You get sort of a rush, "Oh, I got this thing". But then you get at home and you were at once, and you're not as excited by that thing. And so experts say that basically, selfish people are unhappy, and selfish people are happy.

One experts said, "Selfish acts bring you happiness, but only in the short term. But selfish happiness fades quickly, and then drives you to more selfish behavior. On the other hand, selfless acts bring happiness". You know this from experience. When you've done something for someone else, you put the needs of another person before your own. And after you did that thing, you experience this happiness. And that's really what Jesus is saying, "Look, instead of loving yourself and being obsessed with yourself, deny yourself. And if you will lose your life, you will find your life".

What does it mean to deny yourself? Let me give some examples. To deny yourself means you're not embarrassed about your head, and pray over a meal, even around non believers. To deny yourself means you speak up for your faith even when it's unpopular. To deny yourself means you take up the cross and resist the allure and temptation of this world, to live for self, and instead you choose to serve others. To deny yourself and marriage is to put the needs of your mate above your own. To deny yourself is to control your impulses as a single person. To deny yourself means you get up every day, and you open up the Word of God. I could just go on and on.

You say, "Well, I don't know that sounds like a miserable life". No, listen to me, this is the happy life. This is the joyful life because you have your priorities in order. And this is why Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me". Look at the positive outcome that comes when you take up the cross and put Christ first. Verse 35, Jesus says if you'll seek to save your life, you'll lose it. But if you lose your life, for my sake and the gospels, you will find it. Listen, as I said earlier, there's nothing wrong with wanting to be happy. God wants you to be happy. He's even described in Scripture as the happy God. But go about it in the right way. And don't chase after your desires, put His will above your own. And as you lose your life, you will find your life by following Jesus Christ. And one day you'll look back on your life and realize it was all worth it.

Hey, thanks for watching our TV program. And I wonder if you yourself have accepted Jesus Christ. A lot of times people tune into programs like this, who aren't believers and they're kind of checking it out. Maybe you're laughing out at first. Maybe you think it's not real. But something has happened and maybe something that's been said, you've suddenly discovered you need Jesus Christ. The day I accepted Jesus, let me tell you, it was a last thing I planned on doing. I didn't plan on becoming a Christian that day. But that was a day that was a point of eternity for me to believe in Jesus.

I wonder if this is not that day for you? You've been eavesdropping, you've been checking it out. But now God's speaking right to your heart and you realize you need Jesus Christ. Would you like to have your sin forgiven? Would you like a second chance in life? Would you like to go to heaven when you die? Would you like your guilt removed? Listen, it can all happen because Jesus Christ, went to a cross and died for your sin and then rose again three days later, and you'll come into your life right now. And be your savior and your lord, and the best friend you've ever had. Let's pray together. Pray this after me.

Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I believe you died on the cross for my sin. And I'm sorry for that sin. And I turn from it now. And I ask you to come into my life and be my savior, and be my Lord, and be my God, and be friend. I choose to follow you from this moment forward. In Jesus name I pray, amen.


If you just prayed that prayer, I want you to know in the authority of God's Word, that Christ himself has come to live inside of you. The Bible says, "These things we write to you that believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life". But let me say God bless you. And welcome to God's family.

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