Subject: LOSING WHAT WE WANT AND SAVING WHAT WE LOSE.
Text: Mark 8:35: "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."
There is a great deal of misunderstanding in the world.
Dr. John R. Church once told me of a man who went into a doctor's office. The receptionist asked him what he wanted. He said, "I've got the shingles."
The receptionist told him to go down the hall and the nurse would take care of him. He went down the hallway to where the nurse was and she asked him what he wanted. He told her that he had the shingles.
She took him into one of the little examining rooms, took his temperature and blood pressure, and told him to take off his shirt - that the doctor would be with him in just a few minutes.
The man took off his shirt and waited, and, sure enough, in just a few minutes the doctor did come in to see him.
"What's wrong with you?" the doctor asked.
"There's nothing wrong with me," the man said. "I just have the shingles you ordered from the Building Supply place, and I wanted to know where you wanted me to put them."
The disciples didn't always understand Jesus and the nature of the Christian life, either. When they realized that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah, they began to think of Him as One Who would set up an earthly kingdom and restore again the kingdom of Israel. They began to think of Him as One Who would overcome all of the enemies of the Hebrew people, and Who would sit upon a throne in power and great glory. They began to think of Him as the One Who would gather the scattered Jews from other nations back to Palestine again and as the One Who would usher in a new age of peace and goodness which would last forever.
Their ideas of the Messiah had no place in them for suffering and rejection, for a cross on a hillside and a cruel death.
Thus, when Jesus began to reveal to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, Peter began to rebuke Him, saying, "Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee!"
Human nature draws back from rejection, from pain and suffering and from death. Human nature wants to be accepted, appreciated and praised, not rejected.
Pain and suffering are things that human nature seeks to avoid. When we used to get a headache, we used to make a bee-line to the aspirin bottle until we found that there is something else we can take that has twice the pain-relieving ingredients of an ordinary aspirin.
If we get a toothache, we go to the dentist; but before he fills or pulls the aching tooth, we want him to deaden it so it won't hurt while he works on it.
We may draw back when we see a doctor or nurse coming our way with a needle to give us a shot, but when we get in sufficient pain, we are only too happy to have a doctor or nurse stick a needle in our arm if it offers relief from the suffering.
Where our physical comfort is concerned, our human nature was well-illustrated by a friend of mine who became ill and went to see his doctor. The receptionist told him that all of the appointments were filled for that day, but she would give him an appointment with the doctor for the next day. He said, "I am sick today, not tomorrow; and I need a doctor now, not tomorrow."
Human nature wants what it wants when it wants it. It does not like to be rejected. It does not like to be denied. It does not like to suffer. And it certainly does not like to be crucified and die.
We can understand, therefore, something of how Peter must have felt when Jesus began to talk about travelling a pathway that led to rejection, suffering and death, rather than a pathway that led to acceptance, comfort, power, prosperity and glory.
Peter, however, apparently failed to understand that it was this very pathway of rejection, suffering and death that led to the open grave and the resurrection; that it is the way of self-denial that leads to fulfillment; that it is the way of the cross that leads to the crown; and that it is the way of death that leads unto life.
Strange though it may seem, in the realm of those things that eternally matter, we must give in order to receive; we must lose in order to find; and we must die in order to live.
Jesus puts it like this: "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."
We ought to be able to see this more clearly than did Peter and the other disciples when Jesus first began to talk to them about the way of self-denial, rejection, suffering and death.
Looking back at what actually happened, we should be able to see clearly that it is the pathway of self-denial, of obedience to the will of God and the way of the cross that leads to the resurrection, to eternal life, to power and eternal glory.
Looking around us we can see this great truth illustrated in everyday life over and over again.
The person who lives a self-centered life never finds fulfillment in life.
The person who lives only to get and never to give never finds lasting satisfaction in what he or she gets.
The person who is interested only in ruling and not in serving is eventually rejected by those he or she would rule over.
The person who is interested only in personal recognition and fame soon finds that the spotlight of the world flashes here and there and never rests on the same spot very long.
The Los Angeles Dodgers may bask in their glory for a few short moments, but this afternoon's football games will remove them from the spotlight and time will relegate all of them to the status of has-beens far sooner than they may believe possible.
The person who always chooses the easy way and the comfortable way always winds up flabby in body, mind, soul and spirit, and withers away like a summer squash instead of growing strong like a mighty oak that stands on the mountain buffeted by the storms of the years.
The person who follows only the desires of his or her own heart, travelling the pathway of selfish living, finds at the close of life's little day that the treasures he or she has gathered from the harvest-fields of time have turned to dust; while the person who travels the pathway of self-denial and loving service to others in Jesus' Name finds that the way of the cross does lead to the crown and the way of loving service does lead to treasures in Heaven.
We are not properly fitted for life in this world, much less life in the everlasting kingdom of God, until we have eyes that can see beyond ourselves to the needs of others; until we have ears to hear the cries that come from a moaning, sinsick, suffering world; and until we have hands willing to reach out in loving service in the Name of Jesus.
Years ago in our country Dwight L. Morrow was a very influential man in the political life of our nation. He had a great deal to do with decisions as to whom his party would run for President. He had a little daughter, Anne, who used to be present almost unnoticed at some very important political gatherings with her daddy.
At one meeting the question arose as to whether or not Calvin Coolidge was a suitable candidate for the Presidency. Coolidge had been invited to be present. He had been interviewed, and had then left. Those present were discussing whether or not he would do as their candidate.
Suddenly little Anne's voice interrupted the meeting. "Of course he'll do," she said. Her father asked her why she was so sure he would do.
She lifted up a rather grubby thumb that had an even more grubby bandage on it. "He is the only one of you," she said, "who noticed that I had a sore thumb and who asked me how it was getting along."
She spoke more wisdom than she knew.
None of us have learned properly the pathway of life until we have come to have eyes that see beyond ourselves to the needs of others. None of us have learned properly what it means to be a disciple of Jesus until we have learned to travel the pathway of self-denial in order to render loving service to others in the Name and in the Spirit of Jesus.
William L. Stidger, in one of his books, tells the story of an old Russian legend about a Golden Palace which was said to have in it everything that would please the heart of a child, and children everywhere tried to do good things that would earn them the key to the palace.
One day a little child asked the old doorkeeper what she would have to do to earn the key to the palace. "I have brushed my hair until it shines like gold in the sun and I have woven many yards of linen - all for the key to the Golden Palace; and no one has given it to me," she said.
The old doorkeeper patted her on the head and said, "These do not count. Do something every morning for somebody else, and thou shalt earn the key."
The little girl laughed happily and ran off to to find someone to help, that she might earn the key. She found an old beggar. Running to him, she gave him all of the money she had been saving up for many weeks.
"Now," she said to herself, "I have earned the key to the Golden Palace," and she ran to tell the old doorkeeper.
But the old man shook his head. "Try again," he said.
She went back to the city disappointed. As she came to a steep hill she saw ahead of her a poor lame woman who was climbing the hill painfully and carrying a heavy bundle upon her back.
"I'll help her," the little girl thought, "and that will earn me the key to the palace." Taking the heavy bundle, she trudged up the hill beside the grateful woman, and then ran to see the old doorkeeper.
"Oh, doorkeeper!" she said, "the key! the key!"
Sadly the old man replied, "You must try again, child. Try again."
By now the little girl was discouraged. Walking home slowly she decided to give up trying to get the key.
Passing a wooded section, she heard a faint noise among the bushes, and was frightened. When the noise came again, she realized that it must be a dog. She parted the bushes from where the noise came and there was a little shaggy dog, caught in a steel trap.
"Oh, you poor little dog," she cried, " I will try to help you."
She pulled at the heavy spring until her hands were torn and bleeding. Finally the little dog was free. He licked her hand and whimpered. She tore off a part of her skirt and made a bandage for the dog's bruised foot. Then carrying the little dog, she walked on towards home.
Suddenly there appeared before her the old doorkeeper, holding out to her the key to the Golden Palace.
"Oh," she said, "the key is not for me. I did not help the little dog for the key. I forgot all about the key."
In the eyes of the old doorkeeper there were tears of joy. "You forgot yourself, dear child," he said. "The key is for those who forget themselves."
The things we do simply for personal gain, for selfish reward and for personal recognition, no matter how helpful they may be to others, still fall short of the loving service of Christian discipleship. Jesus said that so long as we have as our main motive simply the saving of ourselves, simply our own welfare and profit, we are losing our lives; and not until we are willing to lose our lives for His sake and the Gospel's do we really find them.
Self-denial comes before self-fulfillment.
The cross comes before the crown.
Giving comes before receiving.
Death to self-centered living comes before new life in Christ.
William Barclay, commenting on Mark 8:35, says: "God gave us life to spend, not to keep. If we live carefully, husbanding life, always thinking first of our own profit, ease, comfort, and security, if our sole aim is to make life as long and as trouble-free as possible, if we will make no effort except for ourselves, we are losing life all the time. But if we forget health and time and wealth and comfort in our desire to do something for Jesus and for the people for whom Jesus died, we are winning life all the time."
There are two seas in Palestine.
The water in one is fresh and good. There are fish in it. Trees and green grass grow along its banks. Boats ply along on its waters, and fishermen haul in their catches. Birds flit through the air and build their nests and sing their songs. Along its shores the children play. People build their houses near it, and every kind of life is happier and better because of its sparkling waters. It is fed by the River Jordan. It is called the Sea of Galilee.
The River Jordan flows on south into another sea. In this second sea there are no fish. There are no trees and grass along its banks, no song of birds nor children's laughter. The air is heavy and hot around its shores, and neither man nor beast nor bird will drink of its waters. Travellers do not visit it much unless on business or perhaps out of curiousity. There is even a dry, barren look to the area around it. It is called the Dead Sea.
What makes the difference between these two seas? They are both fed by the same river.
They both have the same water flowing into them. In fact, the Dead Sea has probably much more water flowing into it than does the Sea of Galilee, because, as the Jordan River flows south, it is joined by the waters from other smaller streams and branches.
The difference is this: the Sea of Galilee receives but does not keep the waters of the Jordan River. It has an outlet, so that the waters which flow into it can flow on out to water and bless other areas of the countryside. Its receiving and giving go on in somewhat equal measure.
But the other sea, the Dead Sea, is a selfish old sea. It has an inlet to receive all of the water the Jordan River and other streams are willing to pour into it. But it has no outlet. What it gets it keeps. It willingly gives up nothing except what the hot rays of the sun forcibly take from it.
The Sea of Galilee gives and lives.
The Dead Sea receives and hoards.
There are two seas in Galilee. One is alive. The other is dead.
There are two kinds of people in the world.
Jesus said, "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for My sake and the Gospel's, the same shall find it."