King Jesus - The Gospel of Mark, Sunday 16th August 2026

Jesus sets the cost of following him right out in the open. The optometrist picture shows how a person can get a fair way down the track, like picking frames, liking the look, and only then realizing the price is higher than expected. Mark has reached that hinge where the question has moved from who Jesus is to what Jesus has come to do. The anointed one, the Messiah, must suffer, be rejected, die, and rise again. Now Jesus tells the crowd and the disciples what it means to walk with him.

Jesus says that whoever wants to be his disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him. Self denial is not just giving up chocolate, a phone, alcohol for Dry July, or some practice for a season. Jesus goes much deeper than practices. He speaks of a posture, an active and ongoing change of allegiance from the self to the lordship of Jesus. The culture says, “you do you,” and teaches that the self is number one. Jesus says the disciple’s identity and loyalty must shift away from self focus and come under him.

Paul’s words in Galatians 5 help make that concrete. The flesh and the Spirit are in conflict, and the fruit of the Spirit is not simply a checklist of behaviours. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control are postures that the Spirit grows in a person. The disciple does not just look for a habit to add or remove. The disciple walks in step with the Spirit, seeking a heart reshaped under God.

Jesus’ call to take up the cross would have sounded shocking. In the Roman world, the cross meant shame, humiliation, criminality, and public rejection. Jesus is not saying every disciple will carry a literal crossbar, but every disciple follows him on a path marked by suffering and rejection. Health, relationships, grief, sexual attractions, childlessness, and many other hard circumstances may become places where God refines and matures his people. This is not a call to stay in harm or call evil good, but it is a call to trust that what others mean for evil, God can mean for good.

Jesus then says the disciple must follow him. Following is not like following a sports team, an influencer, or a recipe. It means stepping into his way, his teaching, his footsteps, and his cross shaped life. Whoever tries to save life will lose it, but whoever loses life for Jesus and the gospel will save it. Jesus lost his identity on the cross so his people could have one in him. Discipleship is costly, but it is also the place where life is redefined by Christ himself.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Self denial is a posture Jesus does not call for a seasonal practice only, as though discipleship were mainly about giving something up for a while. Self denial reaches into allegiance, identity, and the deep instinct to put the self at the centre. The disciple’s life bends away from “you do you” and comes under the lordship of Jesus. [43:33]
• 2. The Spirit reshapes the heart Galatians 5 shows that the flesh and the Spirit pull in contrary directions, and that the fruit of the Spirit is more than external behaviour. Love, joy, peace, patience, and self control are postures before they become practices. The disciple’s obedience grows as the Spirit changes the inner life, not merely as religious tasks are added. [49:17]
• 3. The cross names costly following The cross was not a neat religious symbol in Jesus’ world, but a public place of shame, humiliation, suffering, and rejection. Jesus uses that image to show that following him will not be a life handed over on a platter. The disciple’s burdens may be deeply personal, yet God can use even painful things to refine, mature, and bring good. [53:35]
• 4. Following Jesus is cross shaped Following Jesus is not admiration from a distance or casual interest in his teaching. It is stepping into his footsteps, including the path of suffering and rejection that he himself walked. Christian faith is cruciform, not because of a symbol worn outwardly, but because the disciple’s life is shaped by the cross. [58:06]
• 5. Identity is found in Christ Jesus does not replace worldly performance with religious performance. He does not offer worth through achievement, status, or spiritual respectability. Jesus lost his identity on the cross so his people could receive theirs in him, and that gospel reality reshapes the whole posture of life.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [34:35] - Opening Greetings and Congratulations
• [35:11] - Prayer Before God’s Word
• [35:49] - Counting the Cost With Glasses
• [39:18] - The Cost of Following Jesus
• [40:49] - Jesus Calls the Crowd
• [41:44] - Deny Yourself
• [46:36] - Flesh, Spirit, and Posture
• [51:12] - Take Up the Cross
• [57:14] - Follow in Jesus’ Footsteps
• [58:47] - Lose Life to Save It
• [61:12] - Identity Found in Christ
• [63:26] - Closing Prayer

Bible Reading

Mark 8:34-35
“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.’” [41:44]

Galatians 5:16-26
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” [49:17]

Genesis 50:20
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” [56:29]

Observation questions

1. In Mark 8:34-35, what are the three things Jesus says a disciple must do, and what promise and warning does he attach to that call? [41:44]
2. In Galatians 5, what kinds of things are listed as works of the flesh, and what qualities are listed as the fruit of the Spirit?
3. What contrast is made between giving up a practice for a season and denying the self as a deeper posture of life? [43:33]
4. What pictures are used to describe the cross in the Roman world, and what did that image communicate to the people hearing Jesus? [51:12]

Interpretation questions

1. Jesus calls the crowd as well as the disciples to this path. What does that suggest about who discipleship is for, and how open Jesus is about the cost from the very beginning? [41:23]
2. If self-denial is mainly a change of allegiance rather than just a new habit, how does that reshape the way a person thinks about obedience, identity, and daily choices? [43:41]
3. Galatians 5 presents the Christian life as a conflict between flesh and Spirit. How does that help explain why real change often feels slow, deep, and sometimes painful? [49:48]
4. Jesus says that whoever loses life for his sake and the gospel’s will save it. How can losing life actually be the way to find life, especially when identity is so often built on success, status, or performance? [01:01:12]

Application questions

1. Where is “you do you” most tempting right now—in relationships, work, comfort, plans, reputation, or something else? What might it look like in that area to come under the lordship of Jesus instead of putting the self first? [44:18]
2. Which fruit of the Spirit feels most needed in this season of life—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control? What would that posture look like in one concrete situation this week? [48:48]
3. It is often easier to choose a new religious practice than to ask for a changed heart. Where is there a tendency to settle for outward behaviour while avoiding deeper surrender to God? [50:09]
4. What form of suffering, disappointment, or limitation has become a hard place of discipleship at the moment? Without calling evil good, how might God be using that place to refine faith, deepen trust, or grow maturity? [55:05]
5. Are there any burdens being treated as a cross that are actually situations of harm that need wise action, support, or protection? What would it look like to seek help and truthfully name that situation? [55:25]
6. Following Jesus is more than admiration from a distance. What would it look like this week to step into his footsteps in a deliberate way, especially where that may involve discomfort, humility, or rejection? [58:06]
7. If identity is found in Christ rather than in achievement or even religious performance, where is there still a quiet attempt to prove worth? What would resting in Christ’s gift of identity change in that area? [01:00:32]