Good morning!

Well, let’s not waste any time…let’s get to what we came here for:

(Calvin and Hobbes Cartoon - I can’t sleep, Hobbes.  I’ve been thinking / What about? / Well, suppose there’s no afterlife.  That would mean THIS life is all you get.  And THAT would mean I’m sitting here in bed as precious moments of my all-too-short life disappear forever. / Honey, wake up.  Do you hear the television on?)

Do you ever have the same fear?  Do you ever fear that your all-too-short life might disappear forever?

Do you ever fear that you will get to the end of your life and find out that you just missed it?  I love this quote from Patrick Morely:  “I wanted my life to count, to make a difference, to be significant.  Now I am tormented with the thought that I may just become another statistic . . .I’m afraid I’ve lost my soul.  I didn’t sell it . . . I simply gave it away.”

About twenty years ago, when I was 18 years old, I gave my life to Jesus because I understood the truth of Matthew 16:25.  Jesus says:  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

The reason I became a Christian was a simple one:  I realized that the only way to be happy was to live for Jesus.  I realized that LIFE is found only in giving my life to Jesus.  That is exactly what this verse means!  If you want to keep your life to yourself and leave God out of the picture, you will lose your life.  But if you give your life to Jesus, you will find LIFE. 

Believing this is biblical Faith.  Biblical faith is trusting God enough to hand over your life to him.

How do we find Life?  By losing it.

As we look at Matthew 16:21-28, we see three things that we can do to return to the ABCs of losing our lives to Jesus, and thereby have LIFE.

The first thing we need to do to lose our lives to Jesus is this:  Accept the Atonement

We read in verse 21:  From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

It would be helpful for us to remember the context of this passage.  Jesus had just asked his disciples who they thought he was.  Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  The word ‘Christ’ is the Greek word for the Hebrew word “Messiah” which means “anointed one.”  The Jews were expecting a Messiah, but they were expecting a conquering King, not a suffering servant.

Peter has just confessed that Jesus is the Christ.  And now only a few verses later, Jesus is telling them that he is going to suffer and die and be raised to life.  This is an apparent contradiction!  It doesn’t make sense for the Christ to die.  The disciples didn’t get it.  They did not understand that the Messiah was supposed to die on a cross for their sins.

What does it mean when Jesus says, “I must go to Jerusalem and suffer… and be killed…”  We need to remember that these things are not just happening to Jesus.  Jesus is making them happen!  Jesus is walking through the life that had been laid before him.  He is in complete control.  He wants to die because he wants to result: offering forgiveness to the twelve disciples… and to you and to me.

How does it make you feel that Jesus deliberately went to the cross to forgive you?  How does it make you feel that Jesus went through all of that pain on purpose?  How is your life different because Jesus bore in his body on the cross the penalty for your sins?

The Apostle Paul says it well in 2 Corinthians 5:15:  And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Christ died for me so that I would no longer live for me but for him who died for me.

This is what it means to accept the atonement.  Accepting Jesus’ death for me means receiving his forgiveness and living for Him.  And why do we live for Him?  Because we can pay him back?  Of course not!  We could never pay him back.  And He doesn’t want to be paid back even if we could pay him back!  (For then it would not be a gift and he would not get the glory for being such a great giver!)

Can you believe it that you are that important to God that he died for you?  Let us this morning accept once again the death of Jesus on our behalf and entrust him with our lives; for he died for us.

And now for the second thing that we can do to lose our lives and therefore find Life… the second thing we can do is this:  Be Focused on the Things of God

In verses 22-23, we read:  And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you."  But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."

Remember that only a few verses ago, Peter had just confessed that Jesus is the Messiah.  And now, after Jesus tells the disciples that he is going to die on the cross and be raised again… Peter rebukes Jesus!

And can you imagine the roller coaster that Peter is on?  A minute ago he was experiencing probably the most holy moment yet of his life, saying “Jesus – you are the Messiah!” and Jesus saying to Peter, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.”

And now… just a few verses later, Jesus is saying to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!”

Peter is not very consistent is he? 

(Consistency: It’s only a virtue if You’re Not a Screwup.)

Do you ever feel for Peter?  Do you ever find yourself doing the same thing?  We are not consistent, either, are we?  One moment we are living the height of our spiritual journey, and the next we are blowing it big time!

As we look at this passage, though, we see exactly what Peter did wrong.  We read:  “For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.”

Peter!  Why the massive fail?

The answer is right here:  Peter was not focused on the things of God but on the things of men.

Question:  What are the things of God?

In the context of this passage, ‘the things of God’ refers to the death of Christ!  And the purpose of the death of Christ?  To bring Glory to Jesus through his death and resurrection on our behalf!  The ‘things of God’ here is simply this: the offer of salvation to men, even though it requires the death of Jesus.

Question:  What are the things of men?

In this context, ‘the things of men’ refers to Peter’s understanding of who the Messiah ought to be.  Jesus must die.  But Peter rebukes Jesus because Peter doesn’t want Jesus to die.  The death of the Messiah is just not in accordance with Peter’s idea of who God ought to be.  Peter doesn’t understand Jesus’ ways.

Aren’t we the same?  We have our own ideas of how God should work.  We have our own picture of how a good and loving God ought to rule his creation.

What can we do to lose ourselves to Jesus and focus our minds on the things of God?

I’ve got a few quick ideas:

Entrust yourself to God’s sovereignty.  Sometimes life doesn’t come out like we want it to.  We are tempted to say: “I have got some ideas, God, on how you can improve your performance as ruler of the universe.”  When you experience this temptation, remember Peter’s advice giving and what Jesus says in response.  And even consider:

What would have happened if the conversation went like this:

Jesus:  "I must die on the cross."
Peter:  "No, Jesus, may it never be!"
Jesus:  "MMmmm, yea Peter, you’ve got a good point.  That wouldn’t be very fun.  Let’s do it your way, Peter.  I won’t die on the cross."

Where would we be today if Jesus took Peter’s advice?  Where would you be today if God answered all of your prayers?

Aren’t you glad that Jesus doesn’t take our advice on how to rule the universe?  He does exactly what he wants!  And what he does is BEST!  Let us trust him to be God.

Are you going through some hard times right now?  Maybe you honestly don’t think God is doing a very good job of being your God right now.  Let me encourage you: you haven’t seen the whole picture yet!  The story of your life is not yet over!  Set your mind on the things of God… on knowing Him and making Him known, and be assured that “he works in all things for the good of those who love Him.”

And here is another idea on how to lose ourselves to Jesus and focus our minds on the things of God:  Commit yourself to knowing God’s Word!

Remember the wisdom of Proverbs 3:5?  Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Commit yourself to understanding God’s ways so that you can lean on Him and not on your own understanding.

Think for a minute how different your life would be if in every situation you lived out God’s Word.  Wouldn’t our lives be so much more wonderful if we saturated our minds and hearts with God’s Word and lived it out more consistently?

If we want to know God, we must give him time!

A.W. Tozer writes:  “If anyone wants to know God, let him count no time wasted in the cultivation of His presence.”

Don’t you want to know Jesus?  Don’t you believe that this where true Life is found?  Do we all agree that life just works best when we are focused on the things of God?   Read the Word daily.  Memorize it.  Meditate on it.  May we be people of the Word.

And now we can move on to the third thing that we can do to lose our lives and experience the LIFE that Jesus gives:  Consider Your Own Profit

I find it amazing that so many people actually believe that Jesus really walked the earth…and really died on the cross for them… and really loves them… and yet they are so unconcerned about obeying Him!

Consider verses 24-28:  Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?  Or what shall a man give in return for his life?  For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.  Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

This passage is so packed with good stuff.  But I want to focus on one word… the word “profit.”

Look again at verse 26:  “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?”

According to this passage, what is the number one motivator that Jesus uses to cause us to give our lives to Him?

The answer: our own profit.

What do you profit, he asks, if you gain the whole world, and yet forfeit your own life?

Jesus holds out LIFE.  There is one way to have it: to give your life to Him. 

Jesus cares about you.  He wants you to succeed!  He wants you to have LIFE!  He is FOR you!

Are you FOR you?  Do you want what is best for you?

Some of you here this morning may be trying to make life work without Jesus.  For some reason you are afraid to lose your life to Him.  For some reason you don’t trust him.

I want to encourage you this morning to put your trust in Jesus.  Give him your life.    This is the only way to make life work.  God knows it, and he pleads with you.  Give your life to Him; this is the only way to find life.

Life… or Death.  The choice is ours.

And there are some here this morning who are experiencing the journey with Jesus.  But you are at a spot right now where you know what the ‘next step’ is for you to continue to lose your life to Him.  Maybe there is something really hard that you know God is calling you to do.  Let me encourage you this morning to take that step.  Live a life of faith.  Give yourself fully to obeying Jesus.  Lose your life to him!  Choose to do life His way! 

Why?  Because this is the only we you can profit!

Why does Jesus want us to give our lives to Him?  What motivates him to be so demanding and to ask for it ALL?

His love.

He loves us.  And he knows that what we need most is Him.  And he knows that the only way we can have Him fill our hearts is to empty our hearts of everything else and give it all to Him.

We have experienced his love, haven’t we?  And we want more, don’t we?

Do we hunger to know him more?  Do want to be close to him?  Do we want to be fully devoted to Him? 

Give it all to Him.  It is worth it!  This is the only way to find Life.




Let us Pray…

Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross on our behalf so that we can be forgiven and have LIFE.  Thank you for loving us!  That you would want so much for us to know you and experience you… that is LOVE.  You are our loving savior who holds out to us LIFE – Lord we grab it… we want it.  Our heart’s cry is to know you and live for you and experience LIFE.  Amen.