Reflection Questions: Mark 8:27-38

Based upon the message, Jesus Loses given by Rev. Paul Hahn (Coordinator, Mission to North America)
at New City Church of Calgary on October 16, 2016
These discussion questions are designed primarily to help you apply the message from the Scriptures
by helping you think through application to your personal life, your church life, and your citys life.
You can use these by yourself for reflection, or with your family or small group for discussion.
To review the sermon, go to NewCityChurch.ca/sermons
INTRODUCTION:
Pray. Take a moment to pray asking God to guide you in reflecting upon the Scripture text.
Read the Scripture text of Mark 8:27-38
A synopsis of the sermon:
Brokenness is a key them that the Gospel of Mark highlights: for we live as broken people in a broken world. Things
are broken. And we are broken. Into all this brokenness Jesus comes as Christ, as King, to mend it all.
Now all of a sudden, he speaks deliberately of losing! As the Christ, the anointed King, he will suffer and die. This is
his mission, to win only by losing. He was Gods King who had come, not to bring divine retribution, but to bear it, to
be broken by it. Our brokenness is so severe that Jesus must allow himself to be broken to mend it.
Peter wants no part of this kind of kingship for Jesus, so he takes Jesus aside and then takes him to task. Peter tries
to speak to Jesus the same way Jesus spoke to the demons, rebuking him, attempting to cast something out of him.
But, Jesus will not be rebuked; the way of the Cross will not be cast out.
Why? Because only through this kind of kingship could Jesus win the world. This is his mission, exclusively to win by
losing. And it is a mission that is intended to captures our lives. Following Jesus is Marks way of describing what it
means to be a Christian. And following Jesus means following him in the way of the cross.
If Jesus is a King by a cross, then it follows that his followers must have crosses too. If anyone would come after
me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (v.34)
At its broadest, cross carrying means enduring any kind of suffering or dying for the sake of following Jesus. At
another level, carrying your cross means enduring persecution for the sake of believing and living the gospel, just as
Jesus passion and crucifixion were the ultimate persecution. The simplest way to think about it is as a sacrifice that
brings the love of God in the name of Jesus into others lives, that will very likely stir up ridicule an misunderstanding,
if not outright persecution along the way.
The cross is the full extent of Gods love for us. Our cross bearing will happen in the places where we sacrificially
pour out the love of God to our neighbours, even our enemies. For while we were yet the enemies of God, Christ
died for us!
Bottom Line: Jesus won by losing, and he calls us to lose that we might win, and that through our losing, the
world might win too.

QUESTIONS:
1. How does this text speak to your heart?
How are you challenged, convicted, encouraged, or surprised by this text?
Why do you think Peter rebuked Jesus for talking about being killed? What did he not understand about the mission
of Jesus?

 Based upon this passage, what kind of person is Jesus calling you to be?

2. How does this text speak to us as a church community?

How does this passage help us understand the kind of community of followers Jesus is wanting for his mission in
this world?

What would it look like for us a church community if we took this passage seriously?
What would we need to change? What would we need to repent of?

3. How does this text speak to our city?

Why does Calgary need to hear these words of Jesus, What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and
forfeit his soul ?
What kind of new life / future in Christ is this text calling our city to experience?
How does this passage inform our mission to our city? In other words, how might our city win if we took seriously
losing?

CONCLUSION QUESTION
What is the one thing you want to take away from this study to remember or to make a change in your life?

PRAYER
What are some ways you can turn what you are learning into prayer? List them as bullet points.
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