The Return on Investment

Mark 8:31-38 New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Predicts His Death

31 He then began to teach them 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 after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

The Way of the Cross

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. 35 For whoever wants to save their life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Much of the world we live in today is focused around profit margins and returns on investment.  Even in areas where this seems difficult to do with money figures, we still do it with statistics and tests.  People want to know what their return on their investment will be. When Peter heard Jesus say that he was going to die, I believe Peter thought his investment was a waste.  It was not their current understanding that this was how things were going to go down. When we see Peter as someone who has giving up nearly everything to go out on limb and follow Jesus then we better understand why he was so upset when Jesus said “...The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected....and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.” Now we start to gain an understanding of why this was such a big deal to him.  Peter dropped his life to follow Jesus, definitely under some preconceived notions on his part, i.e. the son of man as an earthly ruler, and so hearing these things from Jesus came as a shock to Peter.

Imagine pouring three years of blood and sweat and tears into a house you are remodeling and through some technicality it is all taken away from you.  You have installed new carpet, refinished the cabinets, updated all the fixtures, put a new roof on, painted the inside and outside. You have done all this work and someone finds a way to take it all away from you.  Can you imagine the frustration and heartache in that moment? There are several other examples I could use here which may hit closer to home but may also be too delicate to approach. In any instance, just imagine pouring all that you are into something or someone and it all being taken away from you.  That somber feeling of loss is similar to what Peter was feeling in that moment. That is exactly why Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked him. In the mind of Peter, if Jesus died, he felt like his return on his investment was nothing because he did not fully understand the scope of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  

Peter’s misguided understanding of what Jesus was proposing was selfish, as I think we all would be in that situation.  Peter was more worried about the earthly side of Christ. More importantly, Peter had relegated himself as a person of authority when it comes to the mission of Jesus.  This was the very thing to which Jesus was speaking against when Jesus said he would “be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law.” Peter was fitting himself into that category by rebuking Jesus for the claims found in this scripture.  This self-centered and self-appointing nature is in fact devilish. And this wasn’t some gentleman’s disagreement where a calm, cool, and collected conversation took place. Peter was understandably upset with these claims that Jesus was making and Jesus was understandably upset that Peter wasn’t making the connection.  This is why Jesus rebuked Peter so harshly with ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ Thankfully Jesus and Mark included “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns” so we better understand the point Jesus is trying to make here.

Verses 31-33 were crucial to Peter’s understanding of who Jesus was and there are still crucial to our understanding today.  When we concern ourselves with worldly matters alone, we are, in fact, worrying about the things that the devil himself would much rather we worry about.  Jesus clearly states that these self righteous and self appointing characteristics are of this world. We too need to always be mindful of this. Every decision, every moment ought to consider the scope of God.  These decisions ought not be focused more on the return of our investment than the concerns of God. Initially, this effort may seem labor intensive. Is every decision meant to be funneled through this filter? The answer is yes.  And it will be difficult at first, but it is like riding a bike. There will be bumps and bruises at first, but once we have done it enough, it will become second nature.

In a moment of foreshadowing, Jesus says, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’  Changing how we think is part of denying ourselves. It would be incredible easy to base decisions off of what is best for me rather than funneling those choices through the ‘concerns of God.’  However, I have already discussed how those decisions can lead to negative consequences because of their narrow focus. The things we deny ourselves will vary from person to person but imagine for a moment the difference that could be made if we each made the effort to put the ‘concerns for God’ above our human concerns.  Imagine the possibilities.  Imagine the difference.  

I heard a great quote the other day, “Christian faith is not a lifestyle choice; it is a vocation to never-ending struggle.”  That does not sound too awfully appealing, I know. Who wants to endure a never ending struggle? Perhaps we look at it this way:  there is a drive within every single one of us to find truth. We may not really acknowledge that drive but I promise it exists. It exists in so many forms that it is difficult to put into words in a way that would make sense to each of you individually.  Do you know how I know this drive exists? This eternal search for truth exists because we are flooded with things that are determined to derail us from finding this truth through God. Instead, we replace that drive to better understand Godly concerns with TV, cell phones, social media, addictions, self-righteousness, self-promotion, greed and power.  There is so much out there trying to deter us from this never ending struggle so it makes it easy to give up.

In review, our message and our scripture for this morning point to a vocation or job of never ending struggle.  Everyday we are remodeling that house and eventually this house, our worldly bodies, will be taken from us. This makes it difficult to see this world’s return on making such an investment.  However, for the Christian who takes on the difficulties of this never ending struggle to find truth, the return on investment is eternal. It is the Kingdom come. It is a life renewed, not on worldly terms but on Godly ones.  So, yes, keep pouring yourself into that house, keep getting back on that bike, I don’t care the cliche but deny yourself, pick up that cross and truly follow Christ.