Why We'll Always Celebrate Christmas!
When It's All Been Said and Done
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, Thank You for a new day! As I come to You right now, I praise and thank You for who You are and for the greatness of Your love for me. I pray that You will open doors for growth in my life today, that I may become more like Jesus. I pray that whatever happens today, I will use it to glorify and honor You. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit today and always that I may gain wisdom and the power to use it to serve You and others around me. Grant me boldness to speak Your truth in love to all I meet. This I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Bible Verses
Mark 8:34-48
34Then he (Jesus) called his disciples and the crowds to come over and listen. “If any of you wants to be my follower,” he told them, “you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. 35If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life. 36And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? 37Is anything worth more than your soul? 38If a person is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, I, the Son of Man, will be ashamed of that person when I return in the glory of my Father with the holy angels.”
Questions for Reflection
Today, we’re focusing on discipleship as we turn again to Mark 8:34-38. Consider the commands of Jesus, and how they impact our pursuit of the purpose of discipleship in our lives.
As you reflect on discipleship, how do you see discipleship itself as a setting aside of selfish ambition, as shouldering your cross, and as following Jesus?
What would be different about your discipleship, if you took Jesus’ command to set aside selfish ambition, shouldering your cross and following Him seriously all the time?
Questions for Exploration
What, if anything, does today’s Scripture teach us specifically about discipleship? (8:34-38)
Questions for Understanding
Sometimes discipleship is seen as learning information. How does today’s scripture confirm or alter that understanding?
How does the purpose-drive understanding of discipleship as becoming more like Jesus apply in today’s Scripture?
Questions for Application
What one thing will you do as a result of reading today’s Scripture in the context of discipleship?
The Disciples and The Crowds...
Any time we read about Jesus life and ministry in the Gospels, we find that often Jesus has His disciples with Him and that He also frequently drew a crowd. On a number of occasions Jesus addresses only His disciples, but at other times He speaks to the crowds. Today’s Scripture is one such occasion. Jesus had just held a vital discussion with His disciples, before this interaction with the crowds. He had asked His disciples who people were saying that He was? Jesus gave the disciples an opportunity to share information they had gained “on the street.” Some thought Jesus was Elijah, or John the Baptist, or some other great prophet. Then Jesus asked the disciples who they thought He was. Peter responded by stating that Jesus was the Messiah. Discipleship means first, and foremost, know who Jesus is. Until we understand that Jesus IS the Messiah, that He IS God’s son, that Jesus died for us on the cross of Calvary to purchase our salvation with His blood, we cannot be His disciples. After Jesus shared this information with the disciples, He told them that He would be crucified. Peter who had just made the great proclamation that Jesus was the Messiah, told Jesus that he would never let Jesus be killed. Jesus had to rebuke Peter. In fact, Jesus said, “Get behind me, Satan.” In the moment when we want our will to prevail over God’s will, we step into the place of Satan, and that is precisely what Peter had done.
Following this encounter, Jesus called the crowds to Himself and spoke the words we have been focusing on these past four days. Jesus was offering crowd members the opportunity to become disciples. Anyone can be part of the crowd. It takes no commitment. It takes no life change. A crowd member may enjoy the blessings of God, as in the time when Jesus fed the crowd of 5,000, or as when He spoke to the crowd during the Sermon on the Mount. But the real blessing comes when we decide to take the step of moving from crowd member to disciple. Jesus makes that offer to each of us. “Do you want to follow Me?” He asks. “Do you want to move from the crowd to the fellowship of my disciples.” Discipleship IS learning information and sharing it, but as Jesus tells us in today’s reading discipleship is primarily about deciding to become like Him. We do that by abandoning our selfish ambition, by taking up our crosses and by purposely following Jesus with faithful obedience. Nothing else will work, IF we want to move from the crowd to being a disciple!
To view other studies from the Why We Celebrate Christmas series, click here.