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Shame Today Is Worth It · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Pastor John. Sometimes the verse becomes so familiar to us
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  Speaker 1: that we just read it without stopping to reflect on
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  Speaker 1: what the words actually mean. But by pausing and paying
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  Speaker 1: closer attention to it, we can make discoveries that can
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  Speaker 1: alter our lives forever. One such verse as Mark eight
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  Speaker 1: thirty eight. It's part of a larger argument in Jesus's teaching,
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  Speaker 1: and the fact it appears to be the bottom line
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  Speaker 1: of a bigger argument he's making, which makes it even
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  Speaker 1: more important that we not rush past this verse. Jesus
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  Speaker 1: says this, for whoever is ashamed of me and my
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  Speaker 1: words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him, will
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  Speaker 1: the son of Man also be ashamed when he comes
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  Speaker 1: in the glory of his Father with the Holy Angels.
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  Speaker 1: The idea of Jesus being ashamed is a streaking and
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  Speaker 1: unsettling thought for us. Can you help us understand why
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  Speaker 1: he says this and help us imagine what such divine
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  Speaker 1: shame might look like on the day of judgment.
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  Speaker 2: Verse thirty eight really is a striking verse, and it's
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  Speaker 2: striking for two reasons. At least. One is that it's
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  Speaker 2: hard to imagine Jesus being ashamed. I mean, just the
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  Speaker 2: thought of it stops me dead in my tracks. If
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  Speaker 2: Jesus said, I'm going to be ashamed of you, that's
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  Speaker 2: just striking Jesus ashamed. And the other is that this
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  Speaker 2: verse is the fourth and bottom level of a four
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  Speaker 2: step argument for faithful discipleship, taking up your cross and
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  Speaker 2: following Jesus. It's the deepest argument in a force step
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  Speaker 2: argument for why we should take up our cross and
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  Speaker 2: follow Jesus. So let me just walk through the argument,
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  Speaker 2: and then we'll linger for a moment over what that
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  Speaker 2: might be Jesus being ashamed. So here's the whole argument.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus says in verse thirty four of Mark eight, if
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  Speaker 2: anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and
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  Speaker 2: take up his cross and follow me. Now that's the
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  Speaker 2: main point of the argument. Everything else is supporting that.
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  Speaker 2: The next four verses are four distinct arguments, each verse
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  Speaker 2: arguing for the one before it. So building a deep
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  Speaker 2: foundation for this exhortation, take up your cross, deny yourself
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  Speaker 2: and follow me number one, verse thirty five. Because whoever
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  Speaker 2: would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses
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  Speaker 2: his life for my sake and the gospels will save it.
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  Speaker 2: In other words, if you spend your life trying to
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  Speaker 2: save yourself from the painful consequences of following Jesus in
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  Speaker 2: this world, you're going to lose your life, You're going
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  Speaker 2: to perish, you're going to go to hell. But if
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  Speaker 2: you embrace the cost, the loss, the pain, indeed the
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  Speaker 2: shame of following Jesus, then you will live forever. That's
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  Speaker 2: level one of the argument for why we should take
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  Speaker 2: up our cross and deny ourselves and follow Jesus now
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  Speaker 2: next level down, verse thirty six, because what does it
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  Speaker 2: profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit
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  Speaker 2: his soul? In other words, you may succeed in avoiding
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  Speaker 2: all the painful consequences of following Jesus if you are
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  Speaker 2: consistently ashamed of his words and you devote yourself to
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  Speaker 2: a cue emulating all the comforts and securities and wealth
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  Speaker 2: and popularity that you possibly can. But in the end
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  Speaker 2: that will do you no good at all. You will
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  Speaker 2: forfeit your soul even though you gain the whole world.
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  Speaker 2: That's argument number two, next level, next level down, level three,
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  Speaker 2: verse thirty seven, because what can a man give in
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  Speaker 2: return for his soul? And The answer is there's no
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  Speaker 2: amount you can ever store up that would enable you
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  Speaker 2: to buy off Jesus at the last judgment. You can't trade,
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  Speaker 2: you can't give. Your currency is not going to work.
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  Speaker 2: You gain the whole world, and it will be enough
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  Speaker 2: for you to satisfy you temporarily, maybe in this world,
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  Speaker 2: and it will not work. It won't be enough to
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  Speaker 2: negotiate on the last day. You will lose your life.
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  Speaker 2: If Christ and his words have been so unimportant to you,
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  Speaker 2: so cheap that you devoted your life to hiding them
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  Speaker 2: to protect yourself and your wealth and your comfort, it
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  Speaker 2: will not be enough, and you will lose your soul's
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  Speaker 2: Level three. Now here's the last level of the argument,
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  Speaker 2: the one that is so striking about the shame of
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  Speaker 2: Jesus verse thirty eight. Because so four becauses, because because
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  Speaker 2: because because Jesus argued, Oh what a revelation it is
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  Speaker 2: to discover how Jesus and the rest of the biblical
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  Speaker 2: writers don't just link phrass together with no sense, but argue,
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  Speaker 2: because whoever is ashamed of me and of my words
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  Speaker 2: in this adulterous and sinful generation of him, will the
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  Speaker 2: son of Man be ashamed when he comes in the
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  Speaker 2: glory of his Father and with his holy angels. Now
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  Speaker 2: that's the bottom of the argument for why we should
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  Speaker 2: deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Jesus
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  Speaker 2: and not be ashamed of him or his words, even
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  Speaker 2: though they may bring us painful experiences of being shamed.
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  Speaker 2: In those experiences, in those very experiences of being shamed,
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  Speaker 2: we can be like the Apostles in X five forty one.
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  Speaker 2: They went out rejoicing because they had been counted worthy
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  Speaker 2: to be shamed for the name of Jesus. Magnifying Jesus
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  Speaker 2: should be more important to us than avoiding the painful
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  Speaker 2: disapproval of a sinful and adulterous generation. So what is shame?
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  Speaker 2: It's helpful to dig into the obvious. Sometimes what is
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  Speaker 2: shame it's the painful or uncomfortable feeling of being seen
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  Speaker 2: as foolish, weird, stupid, weak, rejected, disrespected. There are small
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  Speaker 2: embarrassments in life that we get over in a hurry,
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  Speaker 2: and there are horrible experiences of being shamed that give
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  Speaker 2: wounds for a lifetime. Being shamed or being ashamed is
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  Speaker 2: not a feeling of being disapproved because you did wrong.
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  Speaker 2: We call that feeling guilt. It's a feeling of being
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  Speaker 2: disapproved because you are seen as foolish or ridiculous or worthless.
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  Speaker 2: And the more powerful and admired the people are who
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  Speaker 2: ridicule you, the more painful it can be. So being
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  Speaker 2: ashamed of Jesus and his words would mean that we
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  Speaker 2: spend our lives avoiding all such disapproval or opposition or rejection,
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  Speaker 2: by either concealing Jesus and his words or changing them
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  Speaker 2: so they fit the priorities of the people we want
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  Speaker 2: to please. So what then, is Jesus shame? Whoever is
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  Speaker 2: ashamed of Me and my words in this adulterous and
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  Speaker 2: sinful generation of him, will the son of Man be
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  Speaker 2: ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father
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  Speaker 2: with the Holy angels. Jesus tastes the feeling of what
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  Speaker 2: it would be like to be a fool at the
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  Speaker 2: last Judgment day, what it would be like for him
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  Speaker 2: to be a fool, And he turns and he acts wisely.
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  Speaker 2: So if we considered it foolish to hold fast to him,
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  Speaker 2: he will consider it foolish to hold fast to us.
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  Speaker 2: If we turned away from from esteeming him and advocating
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  Speaker 2: for him, because we didn't want to look foolish. Jesus
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  Speaker 2: will turn away from us so as not to look
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  Speaker 2: foolish on that day. If we felt it would be
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  Speaker 2: shameful to side with Jesus, he will feel it to
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  Speaker 2: be shameful to side with us. If we spent our
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  Speaker 2: lives saving faith with fools by disassociating with Jesus, he
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  Speaker 2: will save face with the wives, his father, and the
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  Speaker 2: Holy Angels by disassociating with us. When Jesus pointed out
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  Speaker 2: that we were trying to avoid shame from an adulterous
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  Speaker 2: and sinful generation, he's warning us, don't make such an
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  Speaker 2: insane choice. I'm coming with the glory of my father
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  Speaker 2: and with the Holy Angels. Whose blessing do you want?
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  Speaker 2: The sinful and adulter this generation praising you, commending you,
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  Speaker 2: thinking you're cool, smart, intelligent, or God. I'm Jesus. Don't
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  Speaker 2: be insane, dear people. This is not salvation by works.
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  Speaker 2: This is salvation by faith, which embraces Jesus as supremely valuable.
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  Speaker 2: This is salvation by faith which is not ashamed of Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: That's what faith is, embracing Jesus, Trusting Jesus receiving Jesus
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  Speaker 2: as more admirable than all the people that the world
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  Speaker 2: wants to impress. So reading the argument backwards goes like this,
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  Speaker 2: to have Jesus be ashamed of you is terrifying. Therefore,
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  Speaker 2: it is futile to devote your life to accumulating wealth
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  Speaker 2: by hiding the words of Jesus. You can't buy him off.
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  Speaker 2: Therefore trying to save faith before worldly people by getting rich,
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  Speaker 2: which will mean you forfeit your soul. Therefore, be willing
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  Speaker 2: to lose your life in this world with all its esteem,
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  Speaker 2: and you'll save it. Therefore, take up your cross, deny
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  Speaker 2: yourself these temporary worldly moments of esteam, and follow Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, true discipleship means denying yourself these temporary worldly moments
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  Speaker 1: of esteem, and to follow Jesus and to embrace shame
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  Speaker 1: for him. Now, because saving face what the world leads
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  Speaker 1: to losing your soul when Christ returns in glory amazing
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  Speaker 1: and you're flipping all of this to missions, this point
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  Speaker 1: reminds me of your point about why the world needs
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  Speaker 1: Christians to be uncool. For that's c THEPJ Book on
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  Speaker 1: page two ninety one to see why it is in
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  Speaker 1: the best eternal interests of the world that not be
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  Speaker 1: cool to the world. Absolutely central point. Thank you Bestor John.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us today. Have a question to
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  Speaker 1: ask Pastor John. Find a link to email us and
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: find our complete episode archive at the same place. Ask
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Pastor John dot com. Will Jesus use this single Bible
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  Speaker 1: verse from the Old Testament to disarm an entire mob
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  Speaker 1: and to escape with his own life? That story is
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  Speaker 1: up next. I'm Tony Raiki. We'll see you on Thursday.