Losing Your Life to Find Life April 29, 2018

Transcription

1 Losing Your Life to Find Life April 29, 2018 Series: Living With Tension Scripture: Mark 8:34-38 (pg. ) Theme: To find a Godly life, you have to die to self. Yesterday morning I had some fun with Google, trying to find out if the good people at Google could give me any advice about whether or not my life has any value. One place they suggested had me answer about a dozen questions and when I pushed the submit button, I found out that to my family, my life has a value of $801, The $1.47 at the end is interesting, don t you think? I m not showing anyone in my family this, because I have some family members who would be negotiating for a trade if there was a real someone on the other end w/ a checkbook. [OFF] You probably know that many, many of our government agencies have had to wrestle with the question of the value of a human life helps make decisions. Let me give you 1 example You know that for many years the federal government told state governments that the speed limit had to be 55 mph This was an issue of fuel economy and safety. -2- But a couple years ago, because cars have gotten more economical and safer, the government said, OK, no more 55. Now, this was not because a couple men & women sitting in a room somewhere said, No one goes 55 anyway, so what d ya think? Raise it? No, this was actually the result of research involving the value of a human life The number crunchers knew that drivers would save a certain amount of time by going from 55 to 65 But they also knew there would be an increase in traffic deaths So the very real question was, is the change in speed limits worth it based on the value of a life? I m not making this up Google said it s true The traffic people knew that for every 125,000 hours saved by drivers, there would be 1 additional death. And if you do the math they did, that means a life would be worth $1.5 million And they said, OK, that s worth it, let s raise the speed limit. By the way, I m only worth a little over $800,000 so my speed limits are a little higher, right.? Well, this really is an important question for each of us, and I think every human being: What is my life worth?

2 -3- In the end, will it matter to the world that I have lived? Jesus had something to say about this. And what he said will cause us some tension in life. Let s examine what he said in Mark 8:34-38, SLIDES =============================== Now, before we dive in to the discussion about whether or not a life has worth There s one thing I want to show you very quickly: So quick question: To whom was Jesus speaking? To the crowds who just came alongside the disciples. It can sometimes be very helpful to pay attention to little things like, Who is the audience? Here, it s the crowds. Know, times when Jesus did these public speaking events and sometimes 1,000s of people crowded around to hear. These are the crowds ordinary people. Almost always the crowds were people who were fans of Jesus they seemed to like him a whole lot But they were not yet with him they might stick up for Jesus when the antagonists were around But they hadn t signed on the dotted line quite yet. So, usually when Jesus is speaking to the crowds he approaches them a bit like outsiders (no animosity) He seems to say, This is what life is like over here on my side of the fence. -4- So, what he does here is to say, If you want to move from being just a fan in the bleachers to being part of the team on the field, here s what you need to know. So I think it s safe to say, almost everyone in this room is part of this audience. There may be a few people here who are not even sure you like Jesus wouldn t describe self as fan. If so, we re really glad you re here and at least willing to give him a listen But I think most of us, if not followers of Jesus, we re at least fans of Jesus. We think highly of him. So, we need to hear him out because Jesus is about to tell us what it means to follow him What life is like as a follower of Jesus. Now, this brings us to the question of value, or worth. Does my life, or any life, yours? matter. We want our lives to matter, right? Can we agree, regardless of where you are w/ Jesus, everyone wants his or her life to matter To have value. Now, Jesus invites us to think about the value of our lives in v. 36 especially What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but you lose your soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?

3 -5- So is it clear to you, Jesus is inviting us to think about our worth? Does my life matter? However, what Jesus is talking about is my soul. So, what is my soul? Or your soul? How you answer this question is really important, and I think for many of us, this is where we get off track. Isn t our soul that invisible part of us that will go to heaven when we die? It s the part of us, we think, that Jesus is interested in. To be honest, I think many of us think of our souls the same way we do our retirement savings When we re 26, we know that there is this future thing called retirement, but we have a life to live School loans to pay cars to buy homes to buy jobs to go to We know there are some super-responsible people who start saving for retirement right away But most people think, Well, right now life is so demanding and pressing, we ll get to the retirement thing someday. Then, we you start inching closer and closer 40 s, 50 s, then it becomes a more important issue. Many of us think of our souls the same way We have a life to live I don t have time to think about my soul right now. Know import; but not now. -6- So I want to show you something To do this, you need to also understand what Jesus is talking about just prior to this question about the value of our souls v. 35: If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. Now, you may not entirely understand what Jesus means but you do know what he is talking about there, right? He is talking about your life, right? Now, please don t think this is a silly question, but what is your life? Would you agree your life is everything you do with your time interests your life is the people you interact with family your life is hobbies job memories it is what you hope to do in the future What you go to school for It is the whole package that makes you, you. Is that fair? Now, need to show you something: This part of the Bible is written in Greek language of the ancient Greeks. They had 3 words for life 1) bios obviously it s where we get our word, biology

4 -8- bios has to do with physical life that is, is a thing alive or dead? Is it a living thing or a non-living thing? Mark 12:44, for example, Jesus talked about a widow who put all of her money in the offering box, and he said, this is all she had to live on. That s the word, bios --- It has to do w/ the fact that a person has a living body that needs food, water, clothing, shelter to live. 2 nd word is zoe and this usually has to do with a certain quality of life When John, who was the best friend of Jesus, introduces us to Jesus in his book (John 1:4) In Jesus was life and his life was the light for all mankind. This life is an extraordinary life Usually, zoe means eternal life or the kind of life Jesus came to give to us. 3 rd word for life is psyche where we get our word, psyche, oddly enough Psyche has to do with everything that makes you you your mind, emotions, your thoughts, feelings, your hobbies what you do with your time it has to do with the people you love that you hold dear in your mind The word psyche means the whole package of your life that makes you, you. OK? Got that? [OFF] -9- Now, if you look at your Bibles this is the word, psyche, is used 4 times in 3 sentences: Look so mentally circle it: v. 35: If you hang on to your psyche, you lose it. If you give up your psyche, you save it. Now: This is important keep reading v. 36 When Jesus asks, What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your (what does your Bible say?) it s the same word: psyche v. 37: Is there anything worth more than your psyche. Please understand, Jesus is not talking about some invisible thing that is important to him because it is what goes to heaven when you die He is simply talking about your life. Your life: The whole package that makes you, you. Please understand we re not just talking religiously about the value of your soul some mysterious part of you that will survive and go to heaven when you die We re talking about what makes you, you, now and always. Now: here s the tough part ~ What could Jesus possibly mean by asking, What do benefit if you gain the whole world, but lose your psyche your life? What does that mean?

5 -9- How can you possibly have everything but no life? Well, this is actually a very old concept from Jewish wisdom Jews had an expression about trifling away a life. You know what a trifle is? An insignificant thing. The idea is, you waste your life on trifles For 40 years now been a brilliant and very successful ad campaign by the United Negro College Fund Makes the very simple statement: A mind is a terrible thing to waste. How many of you have ever seen these ads or heard that slogan? Since $2.2 billion raised More than 350,000 minority students gotten college education through campaign But again how is a mind wasted? Have you ever seen the TV show Antiques Road Show? Or even Pawn Stars? Shows are quite similar in some ways Someone brings in say an old statue and says, I got this at a sale and I m pretty sure it s an original Frederick Remington sculpture called, The Bronco. See, it s even signed by Remington Then the appraiser will almost ask the same question: So how much did you spend for it? $500. Then the appraiser starts saying things like, Yes, this looks like a Remington sculpture and you re right, it s called, The Bronco, and if it s an original, it s worth in the neighborhood of $250,000. Eyes wide at that point. Appraiser goes on: But you ll notice that whoever signed this spelled the name Remington wrong. Etc. Etc. Finally he ll say, You may have spent $500 but I hate to tell you, you can get them at any Hobby Lobby for about $ So it s $475 wasted. Have you ever noticed we actually use the same kind of language about our lives We say, So how did you spend your day? Or, I spent 2 hours of my day sitting in traffic. Why do we use those words? Because we know, we are going to spend our lives on something Jesus knows it, too Question is, is it the $¼ million Remington Or the $25 knock-off? And how do you know?

6 -11- Well, you know, because Jesus tells you. In our world, because of our very consumer-driven culture, the message is, I am my life s purpose. I am to spend my life on me on my comfort. But Jesus is saying, My own glory is too small a thing on which to spend my life. What he means: If you hang on to your life, you lose it. I have done literally, 100s of funerals in my lifetime. A small handful of those were truly nasty, bad people. And everyone knew it. Usually have to find a tactful way to say, We don t know why so-and-so made the choices he made. But we re sad he did. Most funerals are not that way. Most very nice people people we ve loved a great deal And if we would ask, On what did this person spend his or her life? Would be good things family 50 years working pics of vacations birthday parties Not bad things at all But I think, I think there s more And I ve seen it -12- But I have also done a small handful of funerals for people who everyone knows spent their lives on something much, much bigger than themselves And everyone there knew it. And people would write notes and stand to tell stories And say things like, This person changed my life. And although those funerals were equally full of heartbreak There was always present a kind of joy A genuine celebration of tears: Because, in gratitude, we all know, this was a life of supreme & eternal worth. If I am going to live a life that matters Then I must, I must surrender my life to something that is bigger than me Something that will outlast me Something that is worth spending my life on. Because spend it, I will. And so will you. Which is why Jesus opens wide his arms and says, But, if you give your life to me, then you get to keep it. It s a strange thing, isn t it? A tension Every moment of every day, you will spend your life.

7 -13- You are doing so right now Spending your life here. A mind- a psyche a life, is a terrible thing to waste. Your own glory is way too small a thing on which to spend your life. But Jesus the Kingdom of God Something that will outlast me and you Someone who will rule forever He throws open wide his arms, If you spend your life on me, you get to keep it.