"Youth Sunday Sermon"  Youth, UPC

Mark 8:31-9:1

KATHERINE

Jesus’ teaching that He must suffer and die must have shocked the disciples. After all, He was the Messiah, the One who would redeem the world and establish God’s reign on Earth. The disciples left everything they owned to follow Jesus, and they thought they understood who He was. In the verses preceding this passage, Peter confessed Jesus as Messiah. When he did this, Peter probably imagined Jesus as the ruler and conqueror of nations, reigning over a great kingdom. Therefore, his reaction of disbelief is what we might expect.  Peter’s idea of the Messiah’s role certainly did not include suffering and death! But when Jesus commands Peter to get behind him as one who opposes him, we are reminded that God works in mysterious ways that we do not always understand.

Like Peter, we often do not understand what God is doing. We forget that God is in control of all situations, and has a divine plan that surpasses our understanding. Peter could hardly have been expected to understand that only through His death could Jesus fulfill His purpose on Earth. Because he was confined by the limitations of human understanding, Peter had trouble believing what Jesus was telling him. Jesus tells Peter to turn his mind to divine things, and remember the power and sovereignty of God. He is asking Peter to have faith in what he cannot understand and does not see, just as sometimes we must have faith that God is working behind the scenes, beyond the realm of our understanding. Even in times of grief and sorrow, God’s quiet, comforting presence remains. In times of worry and uncertainty, God remains the hope of better times to come. God’s everlasting faithfulness to His people assures us that He will not leave us to face anything alone.

Throughout his discipleship, Peter wished to show his love and devotion to Jesus. When Jesus was arrested, Peter rushed to his defense, though recklessly, and cut off the ear of the high priest’s slave. Even with this devotion, however, Peter denied Jesus three times after His death. This shows that his focus was still on himself and the consequences he could face if he confessed that he knew Jesus. He loved Jesus, but he did not yet have the faith and courage to remain loyal when his own image and safety were at stake.

WILL

What about our own image?  What about our own pride?  What are the ways in which we too focus on ourselves, forgetting Jesus’ command to deny ourselves, take up the cross and follow him?  When we keep the focus on ourselves—on our own lives, our own worries, our own anxieties, we deny Christ.  Like Peter, we frequently deny Christ, though we often do not think about it.

1. We deny Christ when we deliberately avoid talking to someone.

2. We deny Christ when we are distracted by the media and other people’s lives.

3. We deny Christ when we selfishly try to deal with our problems without asking for help when we need it.

4. We deny Christ when we deny the Christ that is in us.

5. We deny Christ when we settle for easy answers and do not seek to know God and God’s divine will.

6. We deny Christ when we refuse to acknowledge our own sins, and by lying to ourselves.

7. We deny Christ when we put ourselves first, before others, and when we try to be the best, the smartest, the fastest, the humblest, the most caring, or the most pious.

KATHERINE

In Peter, we see our own tendency to look to our own desires first.  Anytime we pour our effort and lives into achieving a goal, we must consider what our motives are. Our focus is too often on the reputation we can build for ourselves or the material gain we can receive. It is really easy for us to leave God behind and work to get ahead. In this passage, Christ challenges Peter to deny himself; likewise, each of us are challenged to deny ourselves.  This includes intentionally shifting our focus from ourselves to others.  In order to do this, we must see God’s children the way God sees them, not as the world sees them. When we focus less on ourselves, instead of denying Christ, we affirm Christ.  We follow Christ when we recognize and honor the presence of God dwelling in each person. And when we shift our focus from ourselves to others, we begin to bear the cross.  We help others bear the burdens in their lives.  Giving thought to others and sharing the burden, however, does not mean that we completely ignore ourselves and our own needs and responsibilities.  We can perform even the most mundane tasks and responsibilities in a way that recognizes the unimaginable worth and value of each person, including ourselves.  And as long as our basic needs are met—as long as we have food, shelter, and clothing—we have a responsibility to bear the burden with and for all of God’s people.

TIERNAN

 When the Scripture tells us that to become a follower of Jesus we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus, this makes me think I’m going to have to completely forget about myself.  And honestly, I’m not sure that I’m ready to do that.  When I think about denying myself, I think about denying what will happen in my life.  I think about denying the realities in my life, like saying I have done right when I know I have done wrong. 

But we cannot get stuck on denying ourselves.  We need to think about what this passage means in light of the whole gospel.  If I was to fully deny myself, what would happen to the dreams and goals for my life?  Is it possible for me to follow my dreams and follow Christ?  Maybe the passage is telling me to put my ego aside.  By putting my ego aside, I can open up towards more opportunities, more people, and new changes.  By putting my ego aside, I am ready to reach out and help others.  I am ready to follow Christ.

Sometimes we don’t open up because we are afraid we will get hurt, and no one wants that.  So instead, we close ourselves up.  The longer we close ourselves up, the harder it is to open up.  God may be leading us down a path that we don’t want to follow.  So we tend to venture off the path.  But by faith, God will help us to come back onto the path so that we can follow him toward our goals, toward the life that God wants for us and that we want for ourselves. 

When we put our egos aside, we are open to new people and new experiences, and it is in those new places where God leads us to fulfill the dreams God has for our lives… and for the lives of others.

CAREY

  As many of you know, for the past two years I have served on the planning team for the Mid-Winter Youth Conferences along with other students throughout Mission Presbytery.  At Mid-Winters, youth get to share in worship and fellowship with youth from other churches. Every Saturday night there is a dance, and then after the dance there is a time for vespers. Well this past year, when it was time to transition the youth from energetic dance mode to a very calm and emotional time of worship, the leaders projected a video that pretty much did the trick. The video starts off showing a business man leaving his house and getting in to his car. As he begins to pull out of his driveway, a young boy on a skateboard rides behind his car, causing the man to have to stop abruptly. The man then gets on the road, and quickly discovers that the traffic is bad, becoming increasingly agitated. After driving some more, the man pulls in to a parking lot, where a woman in another car cuts him off as he is trying to pull in to a parking spot. The man then finds a parking space that is farther away, parks his car, and walks up to a coffee shop.

Unfortunately for our frustrated friend, there is a long line and a long wait for his cup of coffee. After finally ordering, the disgruntled fellow goes to sit at a table in the corner when a man in a black suit with an intimidating pair of dark sunglasses walks up to him. Without saying a word, the man in the suit pulls out a glasses case on which the words, “Get Service” are printed.  The man hands it to our friend and walks away.  Not knowing what to do, the disgruntled man opens the case and puts- what look like reading glasses- on. As he looks around the coffee bar, he notices that the other people in the restaurant now have descriptions next to them.  One woman, who is sitting alone, reading a newspaper, has a description that says, “Avoids relationships for fear of pain.” Another label reads “Has never known true friendship.” The employee of the restaurant then brings the confused gentleman his coffee. The employee’s label says “Fighting addiction.”

Quite confused and overwhelmed, our friend then hurries back to his car. As he is walking, he sees the woman who stole his parking space. Her tag reads “Grieving her best friend.”  The man then drives home wearing the glasses. Everyone he passes has their own trouble. Problems range from running away from home to having car trouble and just needing a ride.  When he gets home, he begins to take off the glasses, but then sees the young boy on the skateboard. With the glasses firmly back on his face, we see that this young boy’s description reads “Just needs someone to care.” The man calls out to the young boy, sets the open glasses case on the trunk of his car, and goes over to talk to the kid. Just before the screen blacks out, the inside of the case comes in to focus. The words in the case simply read: “Get it?”

How many of you woke up today and said to yourself “Today would be a good day to up my life for the sake of Jesus?” I know I didn’t. The first thing I thought today was something along the lines of how much I hate Daylight Savings Time.  And what about those little frustrations that get us down during the day? By showering at night, I have gotten my morning ritual down to the art of being able to get out of bed, getting dressed, driving to school, and being in my first class 10 minutes after I wake up. As nice as that is, it doesn’t really leave me much room for unexpected events. If there was a boy riding a skateboard behind my car, it would slow me down and cause frustration. If somebody takes the close parking spot that I have my eye on, it aggravates me immensely. We all get frustrated by these little nuisances, and we let that make us start to think poorly about others. Even when it isn’t somebody’s fault, we allow association to give us ill thoughts towards them.

However, friends, there is another option. We have all been given a pair of glasses. You will probably be either relieved, or possibly disappointed, to find out that they were not handed to us in a suspicious manner by a man dressed up in a black suit with an awesome pair of sunglasses. No, these glasses that we have been given were granted to us by God, the Father Almighty. We are all born with the ability to look at somebody, find out what is burdening them, and try to help, but we do not always use this ability. We must each make the conscious decision to use this power that we have. We must make a conscious decision to put the glasses on.  

Just like the man in the video, it may be frightening at first.  Surely at times, we too have tried on the glasses but gotten overwhelmed by what we saw and taken them off. Only by wearing our glasses for long enough will we know the purpose.  In the video, this man notices the young boy on the skateboard. He has observed the kid riding his skateboard on the street numerous times, but only after doing so through the glasses does he really see the boy.  Finally, it all makes sense. He has worn the glasses long enough, just as we must all wear the glasses for a while to really understand why they have been given to us. For us, it may finally make sense due to a child riding a skateboard. Or, it could be a stranger in the courtyard of the church.  It could be in somebody that you know well. Or, it could be someone visiting the Micah 6 food pantry.  But eventually it will make sense, and you will understand why you have been given the glasses. You will understand how best to deny yourself and follow Christ. Get it?

WILL

So… What does it mean to follow Christ in the real world? 

A lot of us know that when we follow Christ, we need to express outward love to other people; we need to be out in the world showing visible signs of God’s love.  But while this is an important part of following Christ, it’s not the only part.  Before we can show outward love, we must truly devote our time and ourselves to God.  We do this by: praying, reading and studying Scripture, and asking God to help us through difficult times.  Once we have followed Christ in our personal lives, then we can follow Christ outwardly.  Once we have set aside our own egos, we can see the world as God does.  And then, we can truly be outlets for Christ’s love and healing in the world.  We can smile J. Offer hugs.  Listen to people when they need a chance to talk.  We can be the love of God in the world, balancing our own lives on one shoulder and bearing the cross on the other.