Lose Life to Save It
Notes
Transcript
Intro; One of the most important Paradoxes of the Bible is the one we will look at tonight that looks at the cost of being a disciple of Christ.
Jesus spent a lot of time healing the sick, interacting and teaching the public, but He spent a lot of time teaching His followers privately about why He came and also to equip them for when He was gone. That private tutoring reached a climax when Jesus revealed He must go to Jerusalem and die and rise again.
Text; Mark 8:31-38
Mark 8:31–38 (NKJV)
31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
32 He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.
33 But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
Peter has just professed that Jesus is the “Christ” and the disciples began to understand true faith in Him. Now Jesus tells them that things are fixing to change, and a change that blows their mind!
1. The “Must” of Jesus; 31-33
1. The “Must” of Jesus; 31-33
Must- necessary, by compulsion/obligation
Why was this revelation of what “must” take place with Jesus such a shock to His disciples? They had not yet understood that Jesus’ kingdom was not of this earth but of heaven. Spiritual not worldly!
With this being revealed to them, Jesus was opening their eyes to what would be expected of them as His disciples as well. They “must” start thinking spiritual instead of worldly.
The apostles had been given hints from the time Jesus came on the scene that these things would take place.
Sacrifice
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Death and resurrection
John 2:19 (NKJV)
19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
Cross
John 3:14 (NKJV)
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
Resurrection
Matthew 12:39–40 (NKJV)
39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
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.
So what does Peter do? The same thing we would do out of love for Jesus, but thinking worldly.
Jesus have you lost your mind?
How are you going to get people to follow you talking like that?
We’re just starting to get the hang of things and then you’re going to leave!
I thought You were going to bring in Your kingdom?
Peter could not come to terms with this view of Jesus [Messiah], reigning through suffering and death!
Jesus responds by looking at all His disciples and then at Peter and tells Satan to get out.
“Get behind me” means to clear out of my sight, go away! Not Peter but Satan. Peter had allowed his flesh become a spokesman for Satan because he had set his mind on the things of earth [men] instead of the things of heaven [God].
We “must” learn to walk by faith, no matter what the circumstances are around us or the feelings within us. Peter eventually did.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
2. We “Must” Lose Life to Save It; 34-35
2. We “Must” Lose Life to Save It; 34-35
Jesus lays out three “must’s” for one to Lose Life to Save It!
Deny self- telling your desires “no” when they come in conflict with the kingdom, to pursue God’s kingdom agenda in his Word, and to publicly identify with Jesus Christ.
Take up his cross- say yes to God’s will and way
Cross-bearing was not an established Jewish metaphor. But the figure was appropriate in Roman-occupied Palestine. It brought to mind the sight of a condemned man who was forced to demonstrate his submission to Rome by carrying part of his cross through the city to his place of execution. Thus “to take up one’s cross” was to demonstrate publicly one’s submission/obedience to the authority against which he had previously rebelled.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 141). Victor Books.
Follow Me- loyal obedience to; giving or showing firm and constant support or allegiance to a person or institution:
Following Jesus is not a hit and miss proposition, it is an all or nothing lifestyle!
John 14:15 (NKJV)
15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.
3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
3. We “Must” Make a Choice; 36-38
3. We “Must” Make a Choice; 36-38
Life is a gift from God and we “must” make a choice of what we will do with ours.
We can waste our lives having a “good time” and one day come to the end only to discover we had not really lived.
We can spend our lives, living comfortably but lacking purpose and the blessing of God. We spend only to please ourselves. We might leave something behind, but we have not sent anything ahead.
We can invest our lives, to give everything to the Lord, follow Him in everything, and let Him determine the dividends/rewards we receive.
Two illustrations of life;
Three men and three failures
Luke 9:57–62 (NKJV)
57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”
58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”
62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
One man, total success!
3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.
4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Close;
Warren Wiersbe says that Jesus asks that we give our lives to Him so that others may hear the message of eternal life. We give ourselves to Jesus for His sake and for the sake of sinners who do not know the gospel. This is the paradox of the victorious and fruitful Christian life: we lose our lives to gain His life and we share our lives that others may know Him. It for His sake and the sake of the gospel that we lose our life to save it!
