FOUR GREAT QUESTIONS OF JESUS I
A Series of Devotional Sermons
First Great Question:
“How does a person benefit if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?
Is anything worth more than your soul?”
(Mark 8:36-37)
Many of life’s concerns are about benefits – in the work place, in the organizations we belong to, even the church we are thinking about joining, and most certainly when facing retirement. We ask, “How will it benefit me?” A very important question because much of our lives are consumed by giving attention to making a living for meeting our needs.
It was as true in biblical times as it is now that folks made a living to put food on the table . . . clothe family . . . provide shelter. Most of our waking hours during the productive years of our lives are (were) spent “making a living”.
As time has marched on, and we have gotten older and hopefully wiser, it has dawned on most of us that there is more to life than providing for the necessities of survival.
Of course, we must abide by the laws of nature that require us to eat and drink to live; to earn a living while we are able; and to save for a rainy day, not to mention build financial security for old age – whether it be a pension, earnings from investments, Social Security or a combination of these. The problem arises in most cases due to the excesses that people go to to store up for themselves treasures on earth - or to “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may die.”
Much of our time is spent satisfying physical desires, considerably less time is spent stimulating our minds, but so very little of our time is spent nurturing our souls. Thus, anxiety is more prevalent today than ever.
Too many people become overweight physically or accumulate a lot more than they will ever need materially, but unfortunately, they become anemic spiritually.
Truth is: The soul demands as much attention as the mind and body. The aspect of our being that we tend to neglect throughout our lives is not the body, nor the mind, but the soul – feeding the soul.
As we grow older, especially if we become seriously ill, we become more and more aware of our soul’s sincere desire to receive the spiritual nourishment that gives us a sense of well-being - “It is well with my soul.”
The soul needs as much attention as the body, if not more. Did you know that you are not a body that has a soul, but that you are a soul that has a body? The Bible tells us that, after God created the body – our earthly tabernacle - He breathed into the physical body the “breath of life” – and man became a living soul.
Your only reason for having a body is so that the real you – your soul – can have a dwelling place on this earth. Your soul is a spirit and, as such, cannot be seen; so, you have a unique body that is recognizable; you have a unique voice with which to speak; you have senses that enable you to relate to the world in which you live.
Yet your soul is the real you - and it is your soul that needs to be fed spiritually so that you can grow and develop and become the person God created you to be. Your soul is that part of you that gives you meaning and purpose in life.
The body that gets sick dies physically, but the soul that gets well never dies - spiritually - since the soul is spirit.
The soul stained by sin but never cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ shall experience spiritual death – eternal separation from God; but the soul cleansed from the stain of sin shall live with God forever. Therefore, Jesus asked, “Is anything worth more than your soul?”
Because you have a soul, you have a longing within your heart to stay in touch with a higher power. Yet so many folks seek to satisfy that longing in their hearts – that innermost desire – in destructive ways.
Some folks turn to alcohol to drown the longing within. Others rely upon mind-altering drugs to transport them into another realm of existence. Still others get caught up in all kinds of illicit behavior of the kind that gives them false feelings of satisfaction that is temporary – all of which is fake.
None of the pleasurable stuff or any of the material or temporal pursuits with which we get so involved - to gain satisfaction for the body - will ever really satisfy if God is left out of the equation.
A person can gain fame and amass a great fortune, to the extent that he or she becomes well known all over the world; but without God, that person will remain discontented, confused and restless.
Nothing but a spiritual relationship with God ever completely satisfies - because the soul was made for God, and without God, a person remains restless . . . oftentimes lives in torment.
Such was the case in so many instances during the ministry of Jesus, when demon-possessed victims begged Him to cleanse them so that they might be freed from their lifetime of torment.
Some of them had no doubt tried magic solutions. Others had tried ancient pagan remedies. Not until Jesus cast out the demons and forgave them of their sins did any of them gain their freedom.
It was important for Jesus to make folks well physically in order to demonstrate His power to make all those who call upon Him well spiritually.
There is only one way to satisfy the spiritual longing in our hearts – and that way is Jesus Christ, God’s Son and our Savior – which presents to each human being created in the image of God a choice: Either God’s way or my way!
Remember the mighty man who came to Jesus and wanted to know how he could satisfy the longing in his heart - to be freed from his greed?
When Jesus put the man to the commitment test by telling him to sell his belongings and give to the poor, the man went away sad because he felt that to do so would be too great a sacrifice. He valued material belongings – things he could not take with him – more than his relationship to God who gave him the power and privilege to gain his wealth.
God wants our attitudes and our actions to be consistent with our profession of faith in Him. He wants us to put Him first in our lives, and to trust Him to meet our basic needs. How shall we answer this two-part question asked by Jesus?
To the first part of the question, we must say: There is NO BENEFIT if I gain everything the world offers but, in the process of gaining, I lose my soul. If I lose my soul, I will have lost life with God.
To the second part of the question, we must say: There is NOTHING worth more than my soul. True, a cleansed soul gains for me absolutely nothing in the way of earthly fame or fortune; however, that same soul – CLEANSED - gains me favor with God! Amen.
