Luke 9:21-26 - Surrender, Suffering, and Sacrifice

Today, before we look at Luke 9, I again want to ask for your prayers. This coming Saturday the 11th, I will be leaving for a Southeast Asian country. I will meet with a national leader there who works with over 600 plus pastors. It is my goal and prayer to connect each of these pastors to a prayer partner here in the states that will take him into their heart and regularly intercede on his behalf.   Would you be willing to join me in this great ministry of prayer so that the multitudes in this Asian country can hear the Truth of God’s Word and find out Who Jesus really is? Let me know by sending me an email at: [email protected]  Also, if you would like to financially support this great opportunity, please go to my website: https://www.pmiministries.org/ Under the donate button you will see a place there to do that! Thanks in advance for all your prayers and support!   In Luke 9:6-36, Jesus is performing several ministries as He completes His northern Galilean ministry. In verses 1-11, Jesus is sending. He sent out His disciples by twos on their first solo tour of ministry. In verses 12-17, Jesus is feeding. He miraculously feed five thousand men with their families with only five loaves and two fish. Now, in verses 18-36, Jesus is teaching. He first teaches His disciples about His person (vv. 18-21). When He asks them who they believe He is, Peter responds that He is “The Christ of God.”   Then strangely, in verse 21, Jesus tells them to “tell this to no one”. Why? Because in John 6 we learn that after Jesus fed the multitude, they sought to make Him a king. Jesus knew that this was not His Father’s plan at this time. He knew that He must first suffer by being rejected and killed by the religious leader and then resurrect the third day (v. 22).   Jesus had already given a number of "hints" about His sacrificial death, but now He began to teach this truth clearly to His disciples. John the Baptist had presented Him as the "Lamb of God" in John 1:29, and in John 2:19-22, Jesus had predicted the "destruction" of the temple of His body. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" But He was speaking of the temple of His body.”   Jesus was making statements about His suffering and death when He compared Himself to the serpent in the wilderness in John 3:14-15. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” And to Jonah in Matthew 12:40, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”   This passage in Luke 9:21-26 is the first of three statements in Luke about His coming passion in Jerusalem (see also Luke 9:43-45; 18:31-34). It is clear that the Twelve did not understand, partly because of their unbelief and immaturity, and partly because it was "hidden" from them by God. Jesus taught them as they were able to receive the truth (John 16:12). It must have shocked the men to hear that their own religious leaders would kill their Master.   But Jesus did not stop with a private announcement of His own death. He also made a public declaration about a cross for every disciple. In his Gospel, Matthew tells us that this was necessary because of Peter's desire to protect Jesus from suffering (Matt. 16:21-23). Keep in mind that Jesus is talking about discipleship and not sonship. We are not saved from our sins because we take up a cross and follow Jesus, but because we trust the Savior who died on the cross for our sins. After we become children of God, then we can become disciples.   In tomorrow’s chat we will look at what it means for us to be a disciple of Jesus in more detail. But for sure, like Jesus, it involves, surrender, suffering, and sacrifice!   God bless!