Sunday’s Message Following Jesus.

Pastor Ray Frangakis brought the final message in the series A Final Look at Following Jesus Through Mark.

How does one summarise what it means to Follow Jesus from a book such as the Gospel of Mark? Perhaps the answer to this is found in what is probably the key passage in Mark – Mark 8:27-28. Here Jesus asks His disciples, Who do you say I am? (Mark 8:29). Peter responds You are the Christ. But then Jesus goes on to explain that He must suffer, die, and rise (8:31–33). Peter was horrified by this idea and Jesus responds, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me (8:34).

John Stott helps us see why this matters. The cross doesn’t just change how we relate to God; it also reshapes how we see ourselves.
He says there are two mistakes to avoid self-hatred: seeing ourselves as worthless. Instead, the cross says that Christ died for you. Your worth is measured by what God paid to redeem you.

Self-worship: where life centres on me. Instead, the cross exposes this as sin and calls us to deny the false self – the part of us curved in on itself, and that self-understanding leads a Jesus- follower- kind-of-life .

You see, in the cross we see two truths – which almost seem opposite to each other. Firstly, we see we are deeply loved, but, secondly also called to die to the self.
This isn’t gloomy self-negation. It is actually joyful self-forgetfulness where we lay down our false self and take on our redeemed new self in Jesus.

Practices for this week:

1. Name the false self: Where am I demanding “my way”? Confess it and “nail it to the cross” in prayer.
2. Affirm the true self: Thank God specifically for ways He has remade you in Christ. You are a new creation, an adopted child, a Spirit-filled person.
3. Develop the muscle of costly service: Do one unseen act of love for someone else’s good.

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