To Save or To Lose Our life

It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: (II Timothy 2:11,12)

The contexts of some of the following passages seem to be pointed toward the last days. Also, each passage tells us something about what it means to die in the Lord.

Now, here is a question that deserves careful thought. What is the relationship between the simple Good News of salvation through the blood, and the admonition to take up our cross and follow the Lord Jesus?

About all we hear preached these days is how to "get saved." The idea seems to be that if we will "accept Christ" we are saved and will go to Heaven when we die.

If such is the case, what about the statements of the Lord that we have to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him? Do these statements have any force at all? Are being saved and being a disciple two different things?

I asked this question at our last Tuesday night discipleship class. One person said, "Getting saved is like winning the lottery, and denying yourself and following the Lord is like going and picking up your winnings." The consensus of the class was that getting saved starts a person on the path of salvation but if he is to reap the rewards of the Kingdom he must keep the commandments of the Lord.

What do you feel is the relationship between "getting saved" and taking up one’s cross and following the Lord Jesus? After we get saved, is it absolutely necessary to be a disciple?—to lose one’s life for the Gospel’s sake? What do you think?

Let us examine the passages in the four Gospels that speak of saving and losing our life and see if we think they are an important part of being saved. If they are, then we need to make some changes in our preaching in America.

How many "saved" people would remain in your church if the Pastor told them that unless they denied themselves, took up their cross, and followed the Lord Jesus they could not be a disciple?—not a true Christian?

If we preach a watered-down Gospel to people in order to get them to attend church, at what point are we going to explain to them what it really means to be a Christian? Will we ever be able to tell them the truth without having them troop out of the church as fast as they entered? Are we selling people something without telling them what is in the package?

The Lord’s words are very strong in some instances. They reveal that the Gospel is not the Divine means of giving people everything they want but is slanted more toward God’s needs, God’s pleasure.

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. (Matthew 10:37-39)

One aspect of dying in the Lord is to put the Lord ahead of every family member. We see also every believer has a cross to bear. He must lift it to his back and follow the Lord each day. Whoever does not do this is not worthy of the Lord.

We have to be worthy of the Lord.

Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. (Revelation 3:4)

What about the believer who is unwilling to put the Lord ahead of all? Can he be saved without doing this?

Insisting on finding our life means clinging to those things we desire whether or not they are the Lord’s will for us to have them. Losing our life for Jesus’ sake means putting His will first in every matter. "Not my will but Yours be done."

Have you done this? Whatever you cling to you eventually will lose. Whatever you give to the Lord Jesus will finally be given back to you if it is for your eternal good.

From Matthew:

From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:21-26)

It was God’s will for Christ to suffer and it is God’s will that each believer suffer. We must share Christ’s suffering. Apart from suffering there is no Kingdom of God, no glorious future. When we turn away from suffering we are attempting to save our life. Then we become the prey of Satan just as was true of Peter.

We do not mean by this that we should not pray for God to remove what we do not want, or for God to give us what we do want. We always must tell the Lord what it is we desire, giving thanks in the meantime. Otherwise we will bear much needless pain. We have not because we ask not.

Letting our requests be made known to God is approved in the Scriptures. Forcing ourselves and others so we can escape from the prisons God places us in, is an attempt to save our life. In so doing we shall lose our life.

We cannot be a true saint of God apart from denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following the Master. Whoever does not do so makes himself the prey of Satan. In fact, God Himself will send a strong delusion on him.

From Mark:

And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. (Mark 8:31-38)

Notice the emphasis on losing our soul. The Lord doesn’t seem to be stressing that our soul will go to Hell necessarily but that we shall lose it if we seek to pursue our own course. It sounds as though our soul is something that has been given to us by the Lord. If we in turn give it back to the Lord, denying ourselves our most fervent desires, remaining as patiently and as cheerfully as we can in the prison where the Lord places us, we will be given back our soul now crowned with eternal life and righteousness.

But if we cling to our soul, building bigger barns to hold the possessions we have gained, then somehow our soul is removed from us and we are left a naked spirit. Perhaps this is what it means by being saved as by fire. The spirit is saved in the Day of the Lord but enters the Kingdom (if the Lord chooses to save the individual) as a small child who, devoid of all Kingdom inheritance and glory, begins life once again.

From Luke:

Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels. (Luke 9:22-26)

The penalty for saving our life is to lose it, to lose ourselves, to be cast away. Even though we have gained the whole world we have lost everything of value to us. If in the process of attempting to save our life we worship the Beast or his image or receive the mark of his name, we put ourselves in danger of everlasting torment.

Every true saint must finally face his or her own Gethsemane. The final cross looms before us. We struggle with the angel until our name is changed from Jacob, the supplanter, to Israel, the struggler with God. We writhe on the cross as Adam cries out in death throes. But then comes the peace and holiness of God.

To avoid our Gethsemanes is to lose the Glory of God.

We must never deny Christ before men. Whatever painful cross is involved, we must never, never deny Christ before men. Sometimes we will be rejected by our family or by our fellow workers if we confess Christ and behave as a Christian. But if we deny Christ and are ashamed of Him, then He will deny us and be ashamed of us at His appearing.

Confessing Christ when it causes persecution is a form of losing our life. Can we deny Christ and still be saved? Must we lose our life in order to be saved?

In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. (Luke 17:30-33)

Losing our life for Christ’s sake means being always ready to surrender our possessions. It is not possible to enter the Kingdom while we are clinging to our personal wealth.

Lot’s wife left her heart in Sodom with her house, her sons-in law, her neighbors. Where her heart was, there was her treasure. Not a great sin, we might say. But Mrs. Lot perished with the wicked. She lost her life because she attempted to save it.

The day may come when the Spirit of God warns us to flee. We must be ready always to obey the Lord. The slightest hesitation (after we are certain it is the Lord who is speaking) may result in our destruction. "Remember Lot’s wife"!

From John:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. (John 12:24-26)

In the Kingdom, life comes from death. All true, eternal Kingdom ministry flows from the death of the one ministering. We are brought down to the point where we despair of life. Then we are raised. As we are raised the power that raises us spills over to other people and they come to life in the Lord.

The power of the Lord Jesus comes from His cross. It is Calvary, not Christ’s teachings as wonderful as they are, that saves the world.

The Apostle Paul wrote letters during his imprisonment. Those letters have influenced world civilization for two thousand years.

The same is true of you and me. If we follow the Lord and serve Him we will die to our own adamic nature but many people will live spiritually as a result. Then the Father will honor us.

But if we succeed in saving our own life we will die barren and alone. Because we have chosen to save our life we have lost everything of eternal value.

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