Live For Today and Die Forever
Please stand as we read our newest memory Scripture together …
1 Peter 4:10
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
And our memory refresher verse(s) for today is(are) …
1 Peter 3:15
“In your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
Please open your Bibles to Mark 8:27-38
This past week I was wondering about the teachings of Jesus.
I had heard some preachers say that Jesus taught the most about money; and when He did it was almost always in the context of the danger of idolatry money poses.
Others say that Jesus spoke more about hell than He did about heaven.
One author was looking at the frequency of subjects in the Gospels.
For instance, Len Lacroix says that Jesus spoke most frequently about God.
“God (166) verses spoken by Jesus containing the word ‘God.’ [Please note: These were not necessarily teachings about God. However, if you add to these verses all the instances where Jesus spoke about the Father (61), Himself (117), and the Holy Spirit (32), that adds an additional 210 verses, which would bring the total to 376 verses altogether.]”
So, God, in His various Persons, would obviously be the focal point of Jesus’ thoughts and teaching. The ENTIRE BIBLE is about the Creator, the creation (us), the broken relationship and the mending of that relationship!
God is IT!!!
That is why we focus so much on Jesus! Jesus is the ONLY way to eternal life. Jesus is NOT about behavior modification. Jesus is about spiritual transformation and that transformation naturally results in behavior modification!
We can force ourselves to modify our behavior on our own.
We can act good.
We can ACT righteous but we cannot BE righteous without being born again. We cannot BE righteous until we are made into a new creation through faith in Jesus Christ!
Following Jesus’ focus on God would be His teachings on the eternal dwelling of the righteous (273) and the eternal dwelling of the damned (172).
Interestingly, though, when you look at the actual teachings of Jesus you most often find them recorded in two or three of the Gospels. This is talking about different parables and ideas recorded as Jesus spoke to crowds or to His disciples or in private as with Nicodemus.
However, there is one succinct teaching that is found six different times in the four Gospels. And, of the six different times it is recorded, we see that it He spoke it in four different events.
Obviously over Jesus’ three plus years of ministry He repeated the same teaching points and thoughts many times. So, what is this thought that is recorded six times in the four Gospels?
Let’s see … Mark 8:27-38
(Prayer for help)
Matthew 10:39
“Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it.”
Matthew 16:25
“Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will find it.”
Mark 8:35
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the gospel will save it.”
Luke 9:24
“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will save it.”
Luke 17:33
“Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.”
John 12:25
“Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
Jesus is talking about perspective here. What is REALLY important???
I have to warn you. This is not an easy teaching. The commitment Jesus is speaking about is not what we see today. Often today Christianity is equated with “going to church”. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Although attending church for worshiping our Lord, hearing the Word of the God and Christian fellowship is a part of the life of a Christian it is far from the entirety of a life devoted to Christ.
Christianity in many areas has been reduced to attending church as a type of legalistic obligation. Something a person would rather not do but more of a begrudging duty.
Others may think of the Christian life a more of hobby.
You know about hobbies, right? Hobbies are something you are interested in but only when you have time and the money to spend on them. They are not a top priority in life. Hobbies come after what is important is done.
Hobby Christians say, “If I have time I’ll go to church. If I’m not too tired to get out of bed and if I don’t have a birthday party to go to and if friends are not coming over and if there is no snow on the road and if it’s not too nice out then I’ll go to church. If I have any money left over that I don’t need for anything else I’ll contribute a little. But, it’s not really necessary, it’s a hobby!”
Now, remember, these are examples. Going to church does not make you a Christian but a true Christian will have a deep desire to be a part of a body of Christ (the local church) where the kingdom of God is alive and active.
It is important to note that attending church is only an important part of the life of a true Christian.
So, what is Jesus getting at here? He is certainly NOT talking about a hobby or even a vocation. Let’s see …
Let’s look at this verse by verse.
The quotation starts in Mark 8:34
“If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”
“If” is the biggest two letter word in the Bible. It is not only spoken of explicitly but is implied literally hundreds of times. (John 3:18 for instance)
“If anyone would come after Me” –
John 14:6 - Jesus is “the Way, the Truth and the Life”
Acts 4:12 – that there is “No other name under heaven by which we must be saved”
Do you want to be a follower of Jesus; a disciple of Jesus? What’s required?
“Deny yourself.” Jesus becomes primary and you become secondary in your own life.
Not only do you have to deny yourself but you have to take up your cross.
Does that mean that we need to go to the jewelry store, purchase a piece of cross jewelry and wear it each day? Of course not.
What did it mean in Jesus’ day when someone was seen carrying a cross?
It meant that that man was on his way to his execution. Dead man walking.
“take up your cross and follow Me.” – these two are inextricably intertwined.
You DON’T get One without the other.
OK. Now Jesus is going to put down an ultimatum. Are you ready for this?
Mark 8:35
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the gospel will save it.”
This seems almost confusing if you don’t have verses 36 and 37 along with it, right?
It seems to say that if I am drowning and I try to swim to shore I will die but if I drown on purpose for Jesus and the gospel then I will live.
This is why we need to be so careful in pulling a verse out of its context.
We also need to be careful when trying to explain the Gospel to those who have no church background.
Sometimes as I drive down the road I see church signs that are meaningful or even funny to anyone who was raised in church but they must seem like a foreign language to those who have absolutely no church background.
(show photos of two church signs)
Sign 1 says, “With all this rain we need an ark. Fear not. We Noah guy!”
Sign 2 says, “Sin is a short word with a long sentence.”
We live in a culture where many do not even know that Christmas and Easter are about Jesus! I kid you not!!!
What I am saying is that if you were to pull this verse out of context it is difficult to understand but let’s read the next two verses to see if it helps out.
Mark 8:36-37
“What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”
We all know that no matter how much or how little you accumulate in this life you can’t take it with you, right?
So, what if you gain the whole world and live in fabulous pleasure and riches apart from Christ for 60, 70, 80 or even 120 years and then you must face eternity in outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth for all of eternity? What then. Will it have been worth it?
Matthew 25:30 / Matthew 13:42 and 50
Jesus didn’t come to fool around.
Jesus didn’t come to get us to join a club.
Jesus didn’t come to get us saved and then have us live like the world.
What verse 35 is saying is if you live with this life as your top priority and with Jesus as a hobby you will spend eternity in hell separated from Him.
It will not matter how many times you were baptized or how much money you gave or how many churches you joined.
He not only wants full and total commitment but He REQUIRES full commitment.
Verse 35 also says that you MUST make Jesus the top priority in your life. Here’s the thing … if you subordinate your life to His you may have to give up many if not most of the pleasures in this earthly life.
But what will you get in return? You will get eternal life in the presence of Yahweh, the LORD Almighty for all of eternity.
The phrase “if you” appears over 400 times in the Bible.
And, there are a multitude of other verses where we are given a choice to make one decision or another.
In this thought that we are talking about today, the thought that is repeated in all four Gospels six times Jesus is giving all of us an option.
“If you” want you can choose between life with Christ here and in eternity or life without Christ here and in eternity.
Not making a choice is actually a choice in itself. It is a choice to live for yourself in this life and in all of eternity without Jesus.
It’s not a game. It is deadly serious.
Let me finish with this reading from Luke 12:16-21
Then (Jesus) told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
This is how it will be for anyone who chooses anything over a life lived for Jesus!
The time may be short for anyone of us.
The choice we make today may be the choice we have for eternity.
Final thoughts and prayer
