What Are You Willing to Lose?
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Intro:
Intro:
Good morning.
I want to start this morning with a question that will serve as our lesson title this morning — “What are you willing to lose?”
I’ll rephrase that a few different ways:
“What are you willing to give up?”
“What are you willing to sacrifice?”
“If you do so, what will you GAIN?”
I think you know where we’re going with this, this morning?
The question more specifically is “What are you willing to lose … FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST?”
Now before you answer that, I want to think about this:
Who Here Enjoys Losing?
Who Here Enjoys Losing?
And yes, I mean by that, losing in sports, board games, videos games, cards, Joker, Chinese Checkers, regular checkers, chess, and tic-tac-toe?!
Does anybody ENJOY losing at any of those?
Because I sure don’t!
Just ask Lindsey and she will readily tell you that I am very COMPETITIVE by nature (and so is she!), which makes for some very interesting moments at our house!
I’m a little ashamed to admit that one time a long time ago I witnessed a “knock-down-drag-out” over the board game “Risk.”
And more recently, another game called “Ticket to Ride” got pretty interesting.
We don’t like to lose, right? Generally speaking, nobody does!
Implied in this word “lose” is the concept of “LOSS” - You know, we just intuitively know the meaning of the word “lose,” but I went ahead and looked up the definition and found it interesting:
“To be DEPRIVED of or CEASE to have or retain something.”
In short, when we LOSE something, we are GIVING UP something.
We might be giving up a physical item, we might be letting go our of pride (honestly, a good thing), we might be letting go of a relationship, the baggage of sin (also a good thing), etc.
Did you know that losing can be GOOD for us?
That’s why, in my opinion, youth sports are so valuable (as long as they are not taken to the level of idolatry, which is a big problem with many today).
But done properly, youth sports teach kids the value of WINNING and LOSING.
How to win the right way and to lose the right way.
How to play the game, how to work hard for something, how to be a good teammate!
The life lessons are plentiful!
So again, I say this morning that sometimes we NEED to lose (as much as I hate to admit that)!
So again, I ask the question — What are you willing to LOSE for the sake of Christ and His kingdom?
And the answer should be? (What would I NOT be willing to lose for the kingdom of heaven’s sake? I should be willing to forsake ALL and follow after Christ if that’s what He wants!)
Turn with me to …
Mark 10:
Mark 10:
We’re going to be focusing 23-31 in a few moments, but before we do that, we need to just read through quickly verses 17-22.
Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.
You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”
And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”
Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Now, we’re very familiar with these verses, or we should be!
We’re quick to point out (as we should) that Jesus never commanded EVERY person to sale all he has and come follow Christ, because every indication seems to point to the fact that Christ required that of this rich young ruler SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE he had a problem with materialism — the idolatry of money and possessions!
That said, what if Jesus HAD commanded ALL of us to sell everything we have and come and follow Him?
How many of us would be willing to LOSE all of that?!
So that section of verses sets us up for what we’re about to read and focus the remainder of the lesson on now.
We’re going to read through this section (verses 23-31), and then we’ll go back through verse by verse.
Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!”
And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God!
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, “Who then can be saved?”
But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.” Then Peter began to say to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You.”
So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s,
who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
V. 23 - Wouldn’t you have wanted to have been a fly on the wall?!
Jesus “looked around” after this interaction with the rich young ruler — I wonder what the expression on His face must have been?
If I had to guess, I bet it was one of tremendous sadness, acknowledging that so many others have this same mindset that the rich young ruler had.
“How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!”
Living in America with the physical comforts and blessings we have, we must remember this.
What if Jesus had said it this way? “How hard it is for those who have riches to LOSE them in order to GAIN the riches of heaven?!”
V. 24 - ASTONISHING!
Again, wouldn’t you have wanted to have been a fly on the wall?!
This is one of the most fascinating exchanges in all of the Gospel accounts!
Very memorable — We’re all very familiar with this exchange probably!
And we need to remember this because it’s so important!
Notice “how hard it is for those who TRUST in riches to enter the kingdom of God.”
The problem isn’t with riches - The problem is with trusting riches, or WILLING oneself to riches to the point that it becomes idolatry and the LOVE of money, which is the root of all kinds of evil (1 Tim. 6:9-10).
What are we willing to lose for Christ?
V. 25-26 - Jesus is using a figure of speech here called hyperbole:
Hyperbole is an extreme exaggeration for the sake of emphasizing a point.
Jesus is saying that it is impossible to be saved if we idolize our riches! (And what we are going to see after this [by implication] is that we cannot idolize ANY of the things Jesus is about to list for us).
“Who then can be saved” is the apostles’ question.
Have you ever asked that? Do you ever get to feeling it’s impossible to be saved?
It’s not! But we’ve got to TOTALLY give our lives to Christ — We’ve got to be ALL IN!
V. 27-28 - This is what we just said — It’s not impossible to be saved! (With God on our side!)
Now key in on Peter’s statement in verse 28.
This is very important.
And as we read this, ask yourself — Was Peter being honest? Was he being ingenuous and sincere?
“See, we have LEFT ALL and followed you.”
What are you willing to LEAVE for Christ? What are you willing to LOSE for Christ?
In Matthew 16:24–26, we read - “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
We’re talking about gaining and losing!
The question is — What do we have to LOSE? And what do we have to GAIN?
When it comes to eternity, we have EVERYTHING to lose if we lose out on heaven, but everything to GAIN if we gain heaven as our home!
V. 29 - This is the key takeaway that I really want to hone in on for our main point in the lesson:
“Left” = “Lose.”
Notice everything included in the list:
“House,” “Brothers,” “Sisters,” “Father,” “Mother,” “Wife,” “Children,” “Lands” …
If we are unwilling to lose these things if it came to it “for My sake and the gospel’s,” then how can we say we are worthy of Christ?
What am I willing to lose?
What am I putting ahead of my service to Christ?
V. 30-31 - There is a great deal of comfort in this verse, actually.
Losing is not pleasant — We mentioned that humorously in the introduction this morning.
I hate to lose! Competitive by nature!
But there are things we must be willing to lose if we are going to give our ALL to Jesus Christ.
The comfort is found in what we GAIN as Christians!
All those things that Jesus listed - “Houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and lands, WITH PERSECUTIONS” (verse 30).
It’s as if Jesus is saying, “Oh, by the way, if you pick up my cross, you’ll find persecutions, too.”
But notice the first part of verse 30 - “Who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time — and in the age to come, eternal life!”
If you’ve given up family who disowned you when you became a Christian, you gained a new family a hundredfold in Christ! (the church)
If the decisions you make as a Christian cause you to make material sacrifice, so what? You’re home in CANAAN’S land will be far better than just a cottage here below as we sometimes sing!
So what are you willing to give up/to lose?
What would you NOT be willing to give up, if it meant that heaven would be your home?!
Verse 31 - “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Do you want to be the first that will be last, or the last that will be first?!
(Give invitation).
