Losing to Win!
By Pastor J Spurling
The Neighborhood Church of Gainesville
Introduction:
Have you ever had to lose something in order to gain something else?
Currently, I’m in the process of losing weight in order that I can gain entrance back into the pants that fit me quite nicely just last year. It is important for me to lose the 25 pounds I gained this past year in order to fit into my clothes.
This morning we will be considering something else that we all must lose in order to gain something Valuable.
Let’s read Mark 8:34–38 (Read)
Proposition: “People who lose their life for Christ and the gospel will save their lives.”
Transition: “How will people save their lives when they lose their lives for Christ and the gospel?”
Response: People will save their lives as they understand three implications given in our text.
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
Implication #1
1. Christ’s purpose is the Gospel.
Why do I say that? Why do I say that Christ’s purpose is the Gospel?
What I’ve told you so far is, “People who lose their life for Christ and the Gospel will save their lives.” Does it directly say here that Christ’s purpose is the Gospel?
No, it doesn’t, but I think that is what is being implied. Look at the passage again in your Bible. The second part of Mark 8:35 says, “whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” When Christ says “My sake,” He is saying that whoever loses his life for me and what I am all about will save their life.
I want us to understand here that Christ’s purpose is the Gospel and we are not being told to lose our lives on account of two separate ideas, that is for both Christ and the Gospel.
The Gospel and Christ are meant as one concept here in that the Gospel defines what it is that Christ is all about. And whatever it is that he is all about, that is what we should be all about? That is what we should lose our lives for.
Do you agree? Let me give you reason to agree.
Let me propose to you what Christ is all about. Let me show you why I think His purpose is the Gospel. And that we are being told to lose our lives for that very purpose.
The Greek word being used in this verse for the English word gospel is euangelion. It is also translated into the English by saying “Good News.”
I like the way that English reformer William Tyndale defined the word. He said that euangelion (the Gospel) signified a “good, merry, glad and joyful tiding, that maketh a man’s heart glad, and maketh him sing, dance and leap for joy.”
Anything that should cause such a response most certainly is Good News.
Do you recall in Luke 2:10–11 what the angel said at Christ’s birth? Or perhaps you are more familiar with what Linus said in Charlie Brown’s Christmas special when he repeated what the angel said. He said, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
Are you beginning to understand the Good Tidings, the Good News, the Gospel? This is what Christ is all about. It is His purpose to be our Savior.
Let’s take this a little further. Let’s jump over a couple of pages to Luke 4:18–19. And let’s hear what Christ has to say about His purpose.
Christ was about to begin His earthly ministry when He said the following. He takes the Scripture, turns to the book of Isaiah and reads, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because He appointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives. And recovery of sight to the blind. To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
BAM! Christ is telling us what He is all about.
I’m here to be your Savior. I’m here to give this news to the poor. To release those in slavery. To give vision to the blind. To set the oppressed free. To proclaim to the world that the year of the Lord… the Messiah is finally arrived.
And that is very Good News.
It is the Gospel.
Christ is all about the Gospel.
His purpose is the Gospel.
People who lose their life for Christ and the Gospel… Do you see it now?
I really appreciate John-Mark. I appreciate the other Gospels as well. But John-Mark’s retelling of this verse in Mark 8:35 gives a little more explanation than does Matthew, or Luke’s Gospels. Matthew tells of the same account we find in Mark 8—you can turn to Matthew 8:25 and see. However, instead of implying what the purpose of Christ is, Matthew stops short by saying “whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Luke does the same thing in Luke 9:25. Matthew and Luke in effect are saying, “whoever loses his life for My purpose will find it.” Well, what is that purpose. This is why I like Mark’s telling of this important truth. Christ’s purpose is the Gospel.
He is not talking about two separate things that we must lose our life for.
People who lose their life for Christ, People who lose their life for the Gospel, its those people that will save their lives.
Because Christ’s purpose is the Gospel.
Amen? I trust we can now agree.
Implication #2
2. The Means Justify the End.
Wait a minute… shouldn’t I say “The Ends justify the means?”
No, I meant what I said. I’ve heard that the “Ends justify the means,” but I don’t like that. I prefer to live my life by the implication of this verse, “People who lose their life for Christ and the Gospel will save their lives.” “The Means Justify the End.”
We just finished looking at the purpose of Christ the Son of God. Let’s stop and consider the purpose of God the Father. I would like to propose that His purpose, God’s purpose is to be known. God’s purpose is to make His name known. Turn to Psalm 46:10… It says hear, “Be silent, and know that I am God. I will be honored throughout the World.”
If God’s purpose is to make Himself known, do you see how Christ’s purpose, which is the Gospel, fits so nicely with in that? By Christ fulfilling His purpose—the Gospel—God’s purpose to make Himself known is also fulfilled.
Another word for purpose that has been popularized today, especially in the business world, is mission. God has a mission to make His name known. Christ has a mission--a sub-mission if you will--that fits nicely into God’s mission. By Christ fulfilling His purpose, which is the Gospel, God’s purpose to make His name known is also fulfilled.
How does this fit in with what we are talking about? How does it fit in with “People who lose their life for Christ and the Gospel will save their lives”? Better yet, how does this concept of God’s mission and Christ’s sub-mission fit in with “The Means Justify the End”?
We are a society that has come to accept the idea that the ends justify the means. It doesn’t always matter how you achieve life, liberty and happiness. The important thing is that you achieve your goals. So pursue them at any cost.
Here is an example of what I mean. Say you go to a friend. You say to this friend, “I’ll give you $5 if you streak through the streets (of course you shouldn’t be asking your friend to do this… but lets say that for some reason you did). He is going to say “no way!” (I hope). Because $5 (the end result) does not justify making a fool of themselves. Let’s suppose you approach the same friend and offered him a million dollars to do the same thing. Chances are he will do it, once he is sure you have the money.
Do you see what I am getting at? It is not the end result that should be our motivation. It’s not the $5 or the million dollars, or even eternal life. Did you hear what I said? It’s not even our desire for eternal life that is important… “People who lose their life for Christ and the Gospel will save it.” The saving of one’s life is eternal life. This is the end result. But this is not what is important here. Instead it is the means, the losing of one’s life that becomes the determining factor. It is the means that will determine our salvation.
If losing our life is the means by which we attain eternal life, how can we be sure that we are doing it correctly? “People who lose their life for Christ and the Gospel will save their lives.”
God has a mission, Christ has a mission that is a sub-mission to God’s mission, You and I, if we desire to lose our lives in a manner that is pleasing to our Lord we must develop a mission that is in sub-mission to Christ’s purpose. We must find a purpose that fits in with the Gospel.
For me, I’ve dedicated my life to the proclaiming of the gospel overseas as a missionary. You may be committed to doing that here in the states as a pastor, church leader, or a lay person.
However we determine to develop our purpose it is vital that it is in sub-mission to Christ’s gospel.
Implication #3:
3. There Is a Return on One’s Investment.
This verse is implying that we invest our lives. In fact it is saying we are to lose our life as we invest it. Christ is speaking literally here folks. Christ just finished telling the disciples how He would be killed. It even says in verse 32 that He was stating the matter plainly.
In this context Christ was not speaking figuratively. Many of the disciples were killed on account of the Gospel. We should understand that this is a possibility if we invest our lives to the purpose of Christ. But even when we realize the consequences of our faith we should also know that our physical life in no way compares to eternal life. “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”
“Pastor, are you telling us that we need to be willing to literally lose our lives for the purpose of the Gospel?” No, I’m not asking you to be willing… I’m asking you to live as though you’ve already lost it.
God’s Word is commanding all of us to do just that. “People who lose their life for Christ and the Gospel will save their lives.” You may live to a ripe old age as the Apostle John did or you may be killed on account of the Gospel as Peter did. Both men lost their lives for Christ and the Gospel. That’s what we are being told to do here.
Illustration:
“This is it guys!” he shouted as the Piper bounced onto the beach. They’re on their way!”
Lunch over, the men busied themselves fixing up a miniature “jungle” and model house in the sand, with the intention of demonstrating to the savages how to build an airstrip, should they be interested enough to want the white men to come and live among them. Then the five missionaries sang together, as they had so often done spontaneously and joyously.
Committing themselves and all their carefully laid plans to Him who had so unmistakably brought them thus far, they waited for the Aucas.
Before four-thirty that afternoon the quiet waters of the Curaray flowed over the bodies of the five comrades, slain by the men they had come to win for Christ, whose banner they had borne. The world called it a nightmare of tragedy. The world did not recognize the truth of Jim Elliot’s credo: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
There is a return on one’s investment and as it was for Jim Elliot and his comrades it can be for us as well. I’m not implying that all of us or even any of us must forfeit in martyrdom our physical lives for eternal life. However, the possibility that we could die on account of Christ does exist. What I am saying is if we allow Christ’s purpose to become our purpose we also can enjoy eternal life because this is how Mark told us we could save our life. “People who lose their life for Christ and the Gospel will save their lives.”
Our Savior’s reason for existence was to make a way for humanity to enter back into relationship with God. Jesus’ purpose was all about the good news. His purpose was the Gospel.
We, as His disciples, must determine how we will carry on that purpose. How are you living in sub-mission to Christ’s purpose? How are you committing your life to the Gospel so that others have the opportunity to enter into that relationship with God? You can be a part of the redemption plan wherever you are. It’s just a matter of taking the time to be purposeful.
As you invest your life into the purpose that Christ has given, you will be assured of an amazing benefit. And that is standing before the Father and hearing those wonderful words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
