Gain to Lose?

Many people today seek happiness and fulfillment in possessions and pleasure and power and popularity—fleeting riches and temporal satisfactions, but at what cost? Sadly, for many in our culture, materialism has become their god.
     This desire for temporal things is in direct contradiction to our Lord’s counsel to His disciples when He said: “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)
    During his ministry, Jesus demonstrated His identity through messages and miracles. He wanted His disciples to understand that He was the Messiah, the Promised Deliverer. He preached with great authority—He healed the sick and even raised the dead. He quoted Old Testament prophecies and fulfilled the requirements of the Law. His presence was electrifying to the people of Israel, but even His own family was confused about His identity.
   At that critical moment, Jesus took a break from the crowds and led His disciples on a backpacking expedition to the regions of Mount Hermon. There, alone with the Twelve and after months of instruction, He gave them a final exam recorded for us in Matthew 16:13-20. It consisted of two questions.

1. Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? The disciples answered correctly that people were confused and were suggesting many answers—John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah.
2. But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter offered the group’s answer, and it was 100 percent right:  “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

            Jesus was pleased. “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
            But suddenly, Jesus began a new course of study. His first course had been His Person, and the second was now His Work—His identity and His mission. Who He was, and What He had come to do.
            So having graduated the disciples from the first course, He immediately began the second: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again on the third day” (Matthew 16:21).
            This took the disciples by surprise. “Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!’”
            In that context, Jesus gave His famous quotation about the danger of gaining the whole world and losing one’s own soul: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (verses 24-26)
            Jesus spent the remainder of His earthly ministry prior to the resurrection trying to graduate His disciples from His second course of study. They did not fully grasp the cost of discipleship. Even after the resurrection, Jesus was overheard asking Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” (John 21:15)

What Are “These”?
            “These” are anything and everything in your life that isn’t Jesus. When we take up our cross and follow Him, it means that we love Him more than any of “these things” in life. On the mountain slopes at the headwaters of the River Jordan, Jesus posed these two questions to all of humanity: Who do people say that I am? Who do you say that I am?
Lord, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Yes, and My mission is to die on the cross and rise from the grave for you.
And if anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. Only in the Christian life does surrender bring victory, and only in loving Him more than “these things” can we gain to lose and lose to gain.

Messages From Heaven: Hope for the Future!

Messages From Heaven: Hope for the Future!: While many look to the government, material possessions, drugs, or pleasure, they quickly find that these only lead to temporary dis...

Hope for the Future!

While many look to the government, material possessions, drugs, or pleasure, they quickly find that these only lead to temporary distractions on a lifelong quest for happiness.

Never have so many people been so unhappy as they are today. Perhaps the true source of despair and hopelessness among many people today is simply the recognition that life isn’t what it ought to be. Some of the things that promised them satisfaction and joy have not delivered on the promise.

One thing I can tell you for certain is you can’t live very long without hope. Hope is a main ingredient in life. It is the very core of who you are and your existence as a person.

Psalm 146 is called one of the hallelujah psalms, meaning they “praise the Lord.” And the hallelujah psalm in Psalm 146 portrays a wonderful picture of hope. It is an invitation to those who know despair all too well. It presents and opportunity to take another look at the hope that can only be found in God.

Let’s work through this psalm together on three key points, all of them leading to the One who can and will provide.

1. There is a strong resolution to find hope in God.
In verses two and three the psalmist writes, “Praise the Lord, oh my soul, while I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.” Hope in God is a decision that we make. Sooner or later in our life we come to a fork in the road where we have to make a choice. Either we will put our faith in our own strength or we will make our journey toward God. The psalmist here, with great resolution, says, “I will praise and sing unto my God.”

2. There is a strong resolution to reject placing hope in man.
The psalmist writes, “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.” It is a very interesting day for us at this particular juncture in history. If you examine the lives of our leaders, you will discover they have glaring flaws. The psalmist challenges us not to put our hope in these mortal men or women, but rather we should put our hope in God who lives forever and reigns throughout all generations.

3. There is a strong resolution that man’s plans will end, but God’s truth lasts forever.
The last part of the psalm contains some of the most encouraging truth I have read on this subject of hope. The question is, “What can God do for those who look to Him for help?” The description given for those whom God helps makes room for all of us. The psalmist writes, “He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow.” God allows hope to spring out of hopelessness for all people.

Life has a way of setting us on the course of hopelessness unless we have God at the center of our lives to hold us steady. I want to challenge you that if you don’t have hope in your life today, begin to cultivate it by looking to God as your source of strength. When you feel you are sinking into despair, ask yourself the question of the Psalmist in Psalm 42, “Why art thou cast down O my soul? Hope thou in God.”

Messages From Heaven: Read the Gospels: JC Is Not PC!

Messages From Heaven: Read the Gospels: JC Is Not PC!: Let's be brutally honest: most of Jesus' teaching is completely out of sync with the mores that dominate our culture. I'm ta...

Read the Gospels: JC Is Not PC!

Let's be brutally honest: most of Jesus' teaching is completely out of sync with the mores that dominate our culture.
I'm talking, of course, about the Jesus we encounter in Scripture, not the always-gentle, never-stern, über-lenient coloring-book character who exists only in the popular imagination. The real Jesus was no domesticated clergyman with a starched collar and genteel manners; he was a bold, uncompromising Prophet who regularly challenged the canons of political correctness.
Consider the account of Jesus' public ministry given in the New Testament. The first word of his first sermon was "Repent!" — a theme that was no more welcome and no less strident-sounding than it is today. The first act of his public ministry touched off a small riot. He made a whip of cords and chased money-changers and animal merchants off the Temple grounds. That initiated a three-year-long conflict with society's most distinguished religious leaders. They ultimately handed him over to Roman authorities for crucifixion while crowds of lay people cheered them on.
Jesus was pointedly, deliberately, and dogmatically counter-cultural in almost every way. No wonder the religious and academic aristocracy of his generation were so hostile to him.
Would Jesus receive a warmer welcome from world religious leaders, the media elite, or the political gentry today? Anyone who has seriously considered the New Testament knows very well that he would not. Our culture is devoted to pluralism and tolerance; contemptuous of all absolute or exclusive truth-claims; convinced that self-love is the greatest love of all; satisfied that most people are fundamentally good; and desperately wanting to believe that each of us is endowed with a spark of divinity.
Against such a culture Jesus' message strikes every discordant note.
Check the biblical record. Jesus' words were full of hard demands and stern warnings. He said, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?" (Luke 9:23-25). "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26).
At one point an unthinkable Roman atrocity took the lives of many Galilean pilgrims who had come to worship in Jerusalem. Pilate, the Roman governor, ordered his men to murder some worshipers and then mingled their blood with the sacrifices they were offering. While the city was still reeling from that awful disaster, a tower fell in the nearby district of Siloam and instantly snuffed out eighteen more lives.
Asked about these back-to-back tragedies, Jesus said, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:2-5).
Ignoring the normal rules of taste, tact, and diplomacy, Jesus in effect declared that all his listeners were sinners in need of redemption. Then, as now, that message was virtually guaranteed to offend many — perhaps most — of Jesus' audience.
Those with no sense of personal guilt — including the vast majority of religious leaders — were of course immediately offended. They were convinced they were good enough to merit God's favor. Who was this man to summon them to repentance? They turned away in angry unbelief.
The only ones not offended were those who already sensed their guilt and were crushed under the weight of its burden. Unhindered by indignation or self-righteousness, they could hear the hope implicit in Jesus' words. For them, the repeated phrase "unless you repent" pointed the way to redemption.

Messages From Heaven: When God Gives Tests!

Messages From Heaven: When God Gives Tests!: I don't know about you, but I have never liked the word "test." When I was in school, I was the guy who didn't study...

When God Gives Tests!

I don't know about you, but I have never liked the word "test." When I was in school, I was the guy who didn't study for the test. I somehow thought I suddenly would know the material. I think I failed my driving test three times. I certainly failed many a test in school. I didn't like tests.
Did you know that God gives tests too? He wants to see if we have learned what He has been teaching us. He rarely, if ever, announces them ahead of time. They just come. It might be a set of circumstances or a situation you will face to see if you are really learning the material. God will test us to see if we are actually learning, growing, and advancing. He wants us to grow up.
During their time with Jesus, the disciples had reached a point in their spiritual lives when it was time to grow up. They had been following the Lord for awhile. They had seen the miracles He performed. They had heard His teachings. Now it was time to see if their faith had grown.
By now, the crowds that followed Jesus were getting big. They were being dazzled by miracles. One day, as they listened to Him and watched His miracles, their stomachs began to growl. Although Jesus knew these people were basically fickle and were following Him for the wrong reasons, He felt compassion for them (Matthew 14:14). If I knew what Jesus had known about this crowd, I probably wouldn't have fed them. This same group would turn away from Him in a short period of time. But the Lord cared. He loved them.
So He took five barley loaves and two fish, multiplied them, and fed the people. They were stuffed. They decided to follow Jesus wherever He went. After all, He was the walking bread truck. But when Jesus saw that the people wanted to take Him by force and make Him their king, He wanted nothing to do with it. He slipped away by Himself to a mountain to pray.
Meanwhile, the disciples waited for Jesus at the Sea of Galilee. It was getting dark, and there was still no sign of Him. So they got into a boat and headed toward Capernaum. While they may have lost sight of Jesus, He never lost sight of them. It simply was test time for the disciples.
The wind started blowing. The sea was getting rough. As they rowed against the storm, they spotted Jesus. He came walking on the water, headed toward them. They freaked out. They didn't know what to make of it.
Matthew's Gospel gives us a very important detail. It says that Jesus came to them in the fourth watch of the night, which is the last part of the evening, just before dawn (Matthew 14:25). This means they probably had been rowing for nine long hours. Maybe they thought Jesus had forgotten about them. But He had not forgotten. He was going to come in His time.
It is a reminder to us that God's delays are not necessarily His denials. Just because God doesn't answer our prayers as quickly as we want Him to does not mean that He will never answer them. As surely as God has His will, He has His timing. The Bible says, "He makes all things beautiful in His time" (Ecclesiastes 4:11). And He does. As soon as Jesus stepped into the disciples' boat, they found themselves at their destination. He saw them through the storm.
Sometimes we go through storms in life. Sometimes God will allow certain situations in our lives to test our faith. It is really easy to say that you trust God, until you get a call from your doctor with some bad news, or until that person you are in love with breaks up with you, or until your job comes to an end. These are tests.
When you are going through hardship or difficulty, sometimes it seems as though God has forgotten about you, that He is too busy. But God always has time for you. He loves you. God is fully aware of what you are experiencing. Will you still trust Him even when things don't go your way — even when life doesn't unfold the way that you hoped it would? Will you trust God to see you through the storm? Will you pass the test?