The Meaning of Discipleship: Number 3
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 soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Matt. 16:25, 26, NKJV.
We have spent a disproportionate amount of time on Matthew 16:13-26. For 10 days we have meditated upon these verses. And for good reason. They provide the pivot point in the gospel story. Up to that point we focused on who Jesus is. After it the emphasis shifts to what Messiahship involves.
And central to that meaning are the two crosses--Christ's and ours. The teaching of the two crosses holds the core of the meaning of Christianity, in terms of both Messiahship and discipleship.
To understand Jesus' teaching related to my cross more fully, I need to remember that sin, in its most basic sense, is putting my self and my will, rather than God and His will, at the center of my life. Sin is rebellion against Him in the sense that I choose to become the ruler of my own life--saying "No" to God and "Yes" to self.
It is the self-centered life principle so natural to human beings that must die. Thus Dietrich Bonhoeffer speaks to the heart of what it means to be a Christian when he writes that "when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."
Jesus pointed to the essential human problem when He claimed that "no one can serve two masters" (Matt. 6:24, RSV). The bottom line is: Whom will I put on the throne of my life? My self or God? I cannot serve both at the same time. When I come face-to-face with the claim of Christ, I must either crucify Him or let Him crucify me. There is no middle ground.
It is in that context that losing one's life or gaining it and gaining the whole world or losing it takes on meaning. What, I need to ask myself, is my price? In what area and at what point would I be willing to sell out my soul in exchange for earthly rewards? Is it popularity, money, prestige, "love," "fun," or something else? In the end it doesn't make any difference, because I am still stuck with a choice that will not go away. The decision is always between something or Jesus.
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 soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Matt. 16:25, 26, NKJV.
We have spent a disproportionate amount of time on Matthew 16:13-26. For 10 days we have meditated upon these verses. And for good reason. They provide the pivot point in the gospel story. Up to that point we focused on who Jesus is. After it the emphasis shifts to what Messiahship involves.
And central to that meaning are the two crosses--Christ's and ours. The teaching of the two crosses holds the core of the meaning of Christianity, in terms of both Messiahship and discipleship.
To understand Jesus' teaching related to my cross more fully, I need to remember that sin, in its most basic sense, is putting my self and my will, rather than God and His will, at the center of my life. Sin is rebellion against Him in the sense that I choose to become the ruler of my own life--saying "No" to God and "Yes" to self.
It is the self-centered life principle so natural to human beings that must die. Thus Dietrich Bonhoeffer speaks to the heart of what it means to be a Christian when he writes that "when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."
Jesus pointed to the essential human problem when He claimed that "no one can serve two masters" (Matt. 6:24, RSV). The bottom line is: Whom will I put on the throne of my life? My self or God? I cannot serve both at the same time. When I come face-to-face with the claim of Christ, I must either crucify Him or let Him crucify me. There is no middle ground.
It is in that context that losing one's life or gaining it and gaining the whole world or losing it takes on meaning. What, I need to ask myself, is my price? In what area and at what point would I be willing to sell out my soul in exchange for earthly rewards? Is it popularity, money, prestige, "love," "fun," or something else? In the end it doesn't make any difference, because I am still stuck with a choice that will not go away. The decision is always between something or Jesus.
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