\u201cThen Jesus told his disciples, \u2018If 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 soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?\u201d- Matthew 16:24-26 (ESV)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Friends, there is an altogether wonderful, sobering, joyous, and terrifying fact within these sacred words spoken by the Christ that we often overlook. That fact is the life that is SPENT at the expense of following Jesus Christ. The common dream shared amongst our nation today is to live a life with the absence of difficulty and the abundance of pleasure. To get married. Start a family. Work an enjoyable job. Build up a retirement account. Retire in luxury. The American Dream. However, we hear Jesus Himself say these words in Matthew\u2019s Gospel, we hear GOD in the flesh, the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, the one that everything was created through and not a single thing was made apart from. And we find that this \u201cAmerican dream\u201d is no dream at all. In fact, when placed on the scale of eternity, it only leads to an eternal nightmare because a life that requires no sacrifice of self and instead contains a futile pursuit of shallow pleasures that ends in a deathbed of wanting \u201cone more\u201d trip, \u201cone more\u201d vacation, \u201cone more\u201d thing to want. According to Jesus, this life pursuing a self-serving dream is a lifeless life, there is no eternal weight to be had there because everything about it places its worth in the temporary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thankfully, Jesus does offer us a way to find a pure, eternal, satisfying, and fruitful life. This life is one that is spent for Him because He gave His life for ours. Some people may ask \u201cpeople die for others all the time, what makes this any different?\u201d The difference, once again, is found in Christ. The sacrificer was not a mere man; rather He alone is the one who outweighs every possible concept of existence. He outweighs every other dream, every other person, every other sacrifice, and certainly, the Almighty God is worth more than the \u201calmighty dollar\u201d! He is the Lamb of God. The one who was and is and is to come. That man chose to be made sin as a sin offering\u2013 though He had no sin!– So that we as wretched sinners may be reconciled with the Almighty, Righteous, and Holy God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, what makes the sacrifice of Jesus different from the rest? Well, there are several factors. The first is that the atonement of sacrifice made by a man only temporarily saves another from physical death; that of Christ saves a man eternally from a spiritual death. Secondly, no man rose from death, never to die again, but instead lived forever, except<\/em> Christ. He defeated the sting of death, the dominion of sin, and the gates of Hell, all with His revived breath. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that we know how Jesus was different from the rest, why should we be different from the rest? Why should we abandon our self-serving, self-glorifying life and instead, spend our lives for Christ sake? The answer circles back to where we began, brothers and sisters. When we follow Christ we\u2019re commanded to do two things: deny ourselves and take up our crosses. These are critical requirements because we are now on a critical mission. Christ\u2019s mission deals not with material wins and losses that can be volleyed back and forth, but eternal wins and losses that are final. If we are to spend our lives devoted to things of Heaven, to the peculiar Glory of God and the life that is found in Christ, all earthly things must be regarded as just that\u2026 Earthly, temporary, and finite. We must deny ourselves of both the pride and the pleasure that come from the things of this world; endurance and strength must take their place as we patiently wait with longing and anticipation for the Glory that is being prepared for us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This work is one that will bring us to our knees or even to our grave. But trust me friends: every second of cross-bearing and self denying is well worth it if done towards the Glory of our Lord who has restored us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cThen Jesus told his disciples, \u2018If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross<\/p>\n