Obedience is Key
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
This time we’re going to tackle two questions Jesus asked.
Question #1: “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?” (Matt.16:26)
For me, this is one of Jesus’s most probing, universally relevant questions of all! The context is found in Matthews gospel, chapter 16, where Jesus has been discussing the necessity for believers to pick up their cross and follow Him. Let’s read it:
“24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 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? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works” (vs.24-27).
The first thing we note is the requirement Jesus places on anyone that desires to follow Him. You MUST take up your cross. What does that mean?
We’ve all heard someone who is going through some great trial—like an extended illness, or some terrible catastrophe that befell them—“This is just my cross to bear.”
But that is not what Jesus is talking about here. The Cross Jesus is asking all believers to carry is the Cross of self-denial.
It means that when my will comes into conflict with God’s will, I pick up my cross, deny my own desires, and follow Him.
Jesus is letting us know that if we don’t do this, we will surely become sidetracked and hindered in our Christian journey. Because our own fleshly, soulful desires so often run counter to God’s will for us.
For instance, let’s imagine someone deeply hurts and offends you. No doubt about it, they do you wrong. Your first reaction is to become angry. Then as the anger simmers and stews, you begin having thoughts of vengeance. You want to hurt them like they hurt you. To lash out and strike back.
As the anger simmers you begin to develop a bitter spirit. But then you remember what Jesus said about forgiveness. “But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matt. 6:15).
As you ponder His words, you have a choice—you can either choose to go your own way and hold on to your bitterness. Or, you can pick up your cross, deny your own desires, and obey the Lord.
That’s just one example of what picking up your cross means. Typically, every single day in many ways we must make this choice, for Jesus said we won’t make it in the long haul if we don’t live this way.
“Whoever desires to save his life (by living a life of self-will) will lose it, but whoever loses his life (gives up a life of self-will) for My sake will find it.”
And on the heels of this statement, Jesus asks two questions every human being on earth would do well to consider: “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”
BOTTOM LINE: Nothing is more valuable than your soul. What good is gaining the whole world, everything you’ve ever wanted, all the money, success, power, prestige, and material things you’ve ever imagined, if at the end of your life you failed to see to the saving your soul?
To further hammer His point home, Jesus asked a second question: “Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
The answer is, all the wealth and success the world could ever give you is a pitiful trade off if you lose your soul in the process!
But people make this trade-off all the time all over the world. Rather than come to Christ and come under His yoke, which is easy, and His burden, which is light, they choose instead to chase after that which will never fully satisfy them.
ILLUS: I remember watching a movie once of a man lost in the desert. The scorching sun is beating down on him. His eyes show his desperation.
He’s thinking one thing—WATER. He’s got to find water. And then, just up ahead, he thinks he sees a beautiful pool of cool, clean water.
He cries out with joy, and summons all his strength to reach the pool. But on getting to the spot, he realizes he had only seen the heat waves from the sun bouncing off the sand.
It was a mirage. Instead of a cool drink, he only has the hot white sand sifting through his trembling fingers.
Like this man, Jesus says that most people will chase a mirage, something that promises to satisfy their spiritual thirst. But at the end of their lives, all they will have is the hot sand of disappointment sifting through their fingers.
They should have come to the one who said, “But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14).
So the answer to Jesus’s question is, “NOTHING is more valuable than your soul, and NOTHING is worth trading for it!”
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Question #2: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46)
Ok, the context for this question from Jesus is found in Luke’s account of the Sermon on the Mount. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus delivered a masterpiece of the most profound teaching on life and living ever uttered on earth.
He taught on prayer, fasting, giving, forgiveness, worry, reconciliation, love, sin, how to handle adversity, how to respond to enemies, priorities, hypocrisy, God’s care for us, false prophets, and much more.
It is right toward the end of this masterpiece when He asked the question, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and not do the things which I say?”
Jesus is making a powerful statement in the form of a question—If you say I’m your Lord, you should be doing what I taught. Lordship and obedience go hand in hand!
Something I’ve noted happening a lot in American Christianity is professing Christians not living out in their lifestyles the commands and teachings of Jesus.
One observer was so disturbed by this he coined the phrase, “Christian Atheism.” Christian atheism means you have someone who professes to be a believer, but in their lifestyle they live like an atheist, not patterning their lives after the things Jesus taught.
Or, what some do is simply cherry-pick the teachings of Jesus that they like, while ignoring the commands they don’t like. For instance, they like going to church to spend time with their friends, but they might be in bars on Friday night abusing alcohol.
Or, they like what Jesus said about the Heavenly Father taking care of their material needs, while they ignore the Lord’s commands about sexual purity until marriage (that’s a big one these days).
John wrote in his first epistle, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”—1 John 5:3
Something else Jesus said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s account speaks to the same thing. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.’ (Matt. 7:21)
You get the idea.
So the answer to Jesus’ question, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do the things which I say?” is—We shouldn’t. If we call Him Lord, we are called to pattern our lives around His teachings, and the teaching of the rest of Scripture!