Matthew 16:24-28 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
The above words are said right after Jesus rebukes Peter for his intensions to provide Jesus a way to escape the cross. Peter’s plan was a good one, to defend Jesus, allowing him to escape the hands of his enemies and maybe to fulfill what Peter envisioned, for Jesus to be placed on the throne of Israel. But Jesus said, this is a scheme conceived in the pit of Hell. Peter, “You are trying to win the world with this idea.” Through force or through conniving, you want to thwart God’s purpose for me. “Get behind me Satan.” Peter’s hope had already been presented to Jesus in the wilderness by Satan himself. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” (Matthew 4:8-10) Peter, a man who had seen thousands thronging Jesus, probably held in his mind a better future for Jesus than his immediate death. Peter, knowing the popularity of Jesus with the common people, probably held pretensions of himself being someone important in the future. He was a close friend of Jesus, one of his twelve disciples. Jesus Christ was powerful, a miraculous healer, and one who even controlled nature. Obviously, this man of divinity would someday rule Israel, but in the immediate future He must escape the hands of the wicked elite. Peter probably thought that protecting Jesus from the powerful was a possibility if the people rose up in anger to shield Jesus from his enemies. Then when Jesus took his rightful place as ruler, Peter would receive the honor due to him as Jesus’ disciple. Who would be more important than he and his fellow disciple when Jesus ruled the kingdom of Israel. But the Lord’s talk of death threatened Peter’s assumptions for the future for Jesus and himself. For him, Jesus was destined for greatness, not death. Through his own strength and persuasiveness, he could implement a better plan for Jesus’ future. But Jesus quickly dispels all of his disciples of the idea of winning the world for themselves by following him. Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. Jesus adjusts their vision of life and its importance with these few words. You are to give your lives away to fulfill my mission of winning eternal life for people; this is my purpose for being sent here by my Father God. Any other purpose that you hold will end with your life being discarded and worthless. Later, we find Judas hanging himself because he had another path for his life, outside of serving the Lord. His body ended up in a burial place for foreigners, not for those close to God. Jesus emphasizes to his disciples, you must follow me, carrying the cross of doing my will at all times. Your life must not be held dear, for it is to be a living sacrifice. That is the cross. If you desire a life significant to God, flee your fleshly desires to be something for God and follow me. By following me, you will not escape troubles and persecutions that come with life, but in all you endure, I will be there. Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:3-33) Paul carries on with this theme of the cross by telling Timothy. “You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (2 Timothy 3:10-13) Paul ends his life under the duress and persecution of the Romans. He was poured out like water on the altar of sacrifices. And his life, like all others who are martyrs or are servants of Jesus, was a sweet aroma to God. Eventually, God will repay all the injustices done to his beloved people.
What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? John tells us, Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. (1 John 2:15) Peter’s intentions were good: who would not want to save Jesus from the cross? All of us would want to do that. Peter even said he was willing to die for the Lord. He was willing to give his life for the Lord, but his purpose of saving Jesus from death was not God’s will. Peter had his own reasons for saving Jesus from death, and he probably thought they were good, but Jesus in addressing his apostles told them if their reason for wanting to live was based on winning something in this world, then their idea of life was wrong. If they wanted to gain something from this world: money, fame, recognition, or the like, their purpose of life was tinsel-bound, not eternally sound. What is sound is living your life for God, for He alone gives eternal life. Jesus said we must be born again. Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. (John 3:3) Otherwise, the life we are living now in the flesh is not capable of passing into the eternal kingdom of God. If we then live only for this world, escaping the process of being born again, our lives will end up without knowing God and his purpose for this transitory existence we have in the flesh. Jesus says, What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Why would you orient your whole life to winning the world when it is so temporary and eventually unsatisfying? This self-serving kind of life is not God’s desire for your life, rather it is the blueprint of Satan. When Jesus in the wilderness was confronted with this self-serving way to live, He said, Away from me, Satan! The devil’s desire was for Jesus to give his soul and purpose for life in exchange for winning temporary benefits on earth. Of course, Peter did not know that he was proposing a plan from the heart of the Evil One. Neither do most people who are living now feel their efforts for success, to win the world at all cost, is really at the cost of their souls. To avoid communing with God because your life is full of your own goals outside of serving him first in your life will cost you your soul. Jesus reminds his disciples that the Son of Man will return to each human soul someday and judge his or her purpose for living. If the life was lived for self, the reward of the brief successes he or she had in life will be all the reward there will be. The Kingdom is not in reach for that self-serving effort, but for those who have placed their lives in the Son of God, who have served him faithfully and diligently, the voice of God will be heard someday: Well done, good and faithful servant! (Matthew 25:23)
We who are In The Body of Christ through faith in his works are presently in the kingdom of God. We dwell with him in high places. Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7) God has paved the way for us to be right with him and that is through his incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. We who are hidden in Christ Jesus have received the mercy and grace of our Father God. We are to be judged based on God’s mercy to us through the grace given to us through Christ’s sacrifice. We do not fear Judgment Day, for we are in God’s grace through his lovely one, Jesus. We are not like those who live only for the day for our own gain because our purpose is what Christ wants for us each day. Jesus reminded his disciples that their purpose on earth was to glorify the Lord God and to serve him alone. They were to lose their lives to fulfill the plan of God to save humans from eternal destruction. Their servanthood to him would cause them some trouble in this world, but they would be gaining the grace and mercy of God. Losing their affection for the world would only increase their desire to know God and to be citizens of his kingdom. Peter had a good plan to win the world. He would stop Jesus’ enemies from killing Jesus. But, this revealed his affection for winning the world. He would even die for this cause, but Jesus said that he was forfeiting his soul for a good cause: saving Jesus from destruction. God’s plan was the cross for Jesus. God’s plan for us is the cross. What is the cross? The cross for everyone is to die to the world and to all of its designs for us. That is a real cross for us! Why, because we have only one life to live in the flesh. Why not be all that we can be in the flesh? Why not be merry, drink, eat and party for tomorrow we die? But Jesus is reminding them of the truth that eternal life is before them if they are willing to carry the cross. If they are willing to forsake their own fleshly desires and leave their lives to God’s will for them, they will find life, real life, eternal life. Are we willing to focus our lives on eternal life or is this world too much in us? Are our lives blanketed with earthly concerns or are we available to God at any moment to do his will? The question will always stand: Are we willing to be servants and slaves to the Most High? The clutter of the world and its attractiveness will always be with us, but heaven and earth will pass away someday. The eternal soul with God will never pass away. Amen! Bless you as you take up your cross and follow Jesus today.
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