Presented to the Swift Current Corps 05 September 2010 and Alberni Valley Ministries, 08 September 2024 by Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay
This is the 2024 Alberni Valley TSA Version. To view the 2010 Swift Current version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2010/09/mark-834-91-luke-923-927-matthew-1621.html
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me (and for the gospel) will save it Mark 8:35
I’ve got a test for us today: Famous Quotes. Let’s see
who can name the speaker of each of the following quotes:[1]
1) “Hi Ho Silver, Away…”
2) “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto”
3) “I am not a crook”
4) “While women weep, as they do now, I'll fight;
while children go hungry, as they do now I'll fight; while men go to prison, in
and out, in and out, as they do now, I'll fight; while there is a drunkard
left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one
dark soul without the light of God, I'll fight, I'll fight to the very end!”
5) “Up, up, and away!”
6) “I’m strong to the finish ‘cause I eat my spinach;
I’m _________ the sailor man.”
7) “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
but for whoever loses his life for me (and for the gospel) will save it.”
These are all famous quotes from people and in some
ways the quotes have even served to summarize the impact the individual had on
history. Nixon is famous for his speeches around the time of his resignation.
Another little quiz for you: only three American presidents have ever been
impeached, can you name them? (Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump; Nixon resigned
he was never impeached)[2]
William Booth’s ‘I’ll Fight’ quote still echoes down
through the generations as The Salvation Army champions its Wesleyan version of
the social gospel. As John Wesley said, ‘there is no holiness but social
holiness’[3] And Jesus’ quote that we are looking at today – “For whoever wants
to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me (and for the
gospel) will save it” – is a very important one. Did you realize that no
other saying of Jesus’ is given as much emphasis in all of scripture ?[4]
Each of the Jesus’ biographers, in their gospel accounts, record Jesus as
uttering this quote at least once. Matthew and Luke each record it multiple
times in different contexts where Jesus says the same thing: “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 is thus a very important saying for us to
understand.
Today, we read the quote in the context of Mark
8:34-38, which is very much the same context as Luke 9:23- 9:27 and Matthew
16:21-28: 34:
Then he called the crowd to him along with his
disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will
lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
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? If anyone is ashamed of me and my
words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed
of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."
Jesus says “For whoever wants to save
his life will lose it…”, What does it mean to SAVE your life? It means
NOT to die; it means NOT to die a physical death.[5] And what does it mean to
LOSE your life? It means to die. It is simple. It is not tricky –
especially given the context of Jesus talking about us picking up our cross and
following him: the cross – of course - being a brutal method of state
execution, much like the electric chair or lethal injection in the States today
only usually more painful.
I’ve got a couple of examples both negative and
positive responses of people faced with exactly this situation that Jesus is
talking about when he says “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for me (and for the gospel) will save it.” When we
were in Vancouver, there was a large Salvation Army conference at Canada Place.
General Gowans was the keynote speaker – we all know General Gowans, he was the
one who articulated the Salvation Army mission very succinctly as to ‘save
souls, grow saints, and serve suffering humanity.’ One speaker at that same
conference was Baroness Cox who shared a testimony about a young boy from her
time serving in Indonesia.
This young boy came to know the Lord. He told everyone
he found about Jesus. He didn’t have a lot of success in his evangelism, if I
remember correctly, not anyone came to the Lord at that time - but
he was not ashamed of the gospel. One day some people come to his village who
aren’t so happy about his faith. They are seeking Christians for execution.
They come to his town and they offer to spare his life if he simply renounces
his faith. He refuses. They chop off a limb. He is given another chance to deny
Christ. He refuses. They chop off another limb. They give this young boy every
opportunity to deny Christ and save his life: he refuses and he dies by being
hacked to death in front of his whole village. He is asked to deny Christ and
thus save his life but instead he loses his life for the Gospel and for Christ.
This boy really did pick up his cross and follow our Lord to Calvary.
As did the apostles around Jesus’ time: We know that
Jesus’ apostles, like this boy, loved Jesus more than their own families and
even their own lives . Jesus’ apostles did not die peaceful deaths – many were
crucified or beheaded. Matthias was stoned; Thomas was stabbed; James
the brother of Jesus was thrown from the top of the temple in Jerusalem: he
survived, so his attackers beat him to death. John would be the exception to
the rule of the martyred apostles, but it was not for a lack of conviction. His
accusers tried to boil him alive in a pot but much like with
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace for some reason God chose
to decline John’s offer of martyrdom (Daniel 3:1-30). However no one can
deny that they all lived up to the Christian standard: “For whoever
wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me (and for
the gospel) will save it”
I can think of another story of some missionaries in
Afghanistan way back now, even before the American invasion (2001). This one
had a very different ending. The government sentenced some missionaries to
death unless they recanted their faith. These missionaries, unlike
the apostles, unlike the young Indonesian boy decided they would
deny Christ and the Taliban government rewarded them by sparing their lives. In
so doing the so-called missionaries reward for this is only in this life – the
one they chose to save. Whereas others have offered up their lives for God,
and others have received their martyrs’ crown, these people apparently chose to
save their life for themselves rather than to die for Christ.
Even though Jesus said to do otherwise: “For whoever
wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me (and for
the gospel) will save it.”
I really hope that they who denied Christ when it was
difficult and when it really mattered have since come to the Lord in fear and
trembling and in legitimate repentance – legitimate repentance would mean, of
course, that should they wind up in the same situation that they would choose a
very different course of action. Just like Peter did. Remember that he denied
Jesus 3 times before the cock crowed twice but later repented, led the early
church, and eventually accepted his martyr’s crown (Mark 13-14).
I thankfully am not in a position to judge the
missionaries or anyone’s salvation and really hope that they truly repented of
this sin and grab hold of eternal life like the Apostle Peter but... if they
didn’t and don’t… Can you imagine if you were told that if you denied your
faith you would live but if you didn’t you would die so you deny your faith and
they kill you anyway? Can you imagine if the last thing you ever do before you
are faced with the reality of God’s eternal kingdom, is to deny your citizenship
in that kingdom? Jesus says if we deny him here and now, he’ll accept our
resignation and then he will deny us in his kingdom there and then. It is
scary.
What about us here today? I don’t imagine that many of
us will ever be faced with a literal life and death decision for Christ – but I
look at the news – so maybe. Some of the younger people might live to see such
a time (cf. Mark 3:20-35; 13:9-13).[6] I don’t think that anyone a generation
ago would have been able to predict the persecution Christians are suffering in
Quebec and other places in Canada these days.[7] But assuming that we
never face that same life and death choice, how do we apply this very important
saying of Jesus to our own life? “For whoever wants to save his life will lose
it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
Theologian Fred B. Craddock says, “A cross is not
sought or pursued, but it was and still is true that following Jesus in service
to God, which translates into meeting human needs, is on a path which there are
crosses, prices to be paid, pain and hurt to be accepted. We are not speaking
about a death wish here but obedience to the will of Christ.” [8] We are not
called to be suicide bombers but we are called to serve Christ and not
ourselves. We are called to give Jesus all of our time, all of our life, and if
he asks for us to sacrifice our physical life – as he did of his apostles, the
missionaries that we spoke of and that young Indonesian boy - then we must not
withhold it from him.
Leon Morris says, “The follower of Jesus must deny
himself (not just his sins, himself; he cannot be self-centred).
There is nothing self-indulgent about being a Christian. The disciples had
probably seen a man take up his cross, and they knew what it meant. When a man
from one of their villages took up a cross and went off with a little band of
Roman soldiers, he was on a one-way journey. He would not be back. Taking up
the cross meant the utmost in self-denial.”[9]
How do we do with that today? How can we in our life
consistently deny ourselves and instead follow Christ? A lot of it comes down
to how we spend our time. There are people in our city here who are not yet on
a path of salvation. Jesus wants us by serving others and to point them to the
path of Salvation that he died to make, and the apostles died
pointing out. Are we willing to give our lives in service for Christ? Do we
spend our time serving and telling people about Jesus and salvation or do we
spend our time in self-indulgence? In our life everyday, we have to make our
decision to follow Christ. Do we put ourselves first or do we put God and
others first? Do we spend our time serving God and others and reading the Bible
and praying or do we spend our time just watching videos, reels, clips, social
media, TV, etc.? Do we spend our time helping and our conversations telling
people about Christ or are we gossiping about others instead? How we spend our
time is a true indication of what we believe and who we believe. I ask each of
us here today if someone looked at our how we spend our time could we convince
them that we have given up our lives for Christ? Are we offering our time and
our lives to Christ? If we are then great things will happen for the Kingdom, I
promise.
Remember the story about the young boy that I told
you. The young boy from Indonesia who eagerly and painfully accepted his
martyrs crown? Shortly after and because he died, the rest of his village chose
to live. He died for Christ and the rest of his village saw that and decided to
live for Christ. His death led to the salvation of all those people even
through the generations, I believe, and this is why and how we know this story
today.
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
It is September. We are starting a new school year. A
new church season If in this whole upcoming year, every one of us focuses on
service and Salvation and is able to bring just one friend to or back to the
Lord and/or just bring them here to worship with us on Sundays then there would
be at least double the number people serving alongside us just one year from
now and then double that number again one year later. Jesus asked us to give up
our lives for him and to invite others to do the same. Today I would like to
encourage all of us here to do just that: if there is anything in our lives
that is more important to us than Christ… If there is some way that we
selfishly holding onto our time and if we are putting anything in our life
before the work of Christ, I would invite us in a moment and lay that before
the Lord. Let us each ask our Lord to “Take my life and let it be consecrated,
Lord, to Thee.”
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