Mark 8 - THE PRICE OF DISCIPLESHIP

 NUGGETS…from the WORD of GOD

THE PRICE OF DISCIPLESHIP

“Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.” —Mark 8:35

          

************

The Son of God had made inquiry of His disciples regarding popular opinion as to His person. Various suggestions were offered, suggesting the speculation of the multitudes. In contrast, when He asked, “Whom do you say that I am,” Peter boldly replied, “Thou art the Christ,” or, the prophesied, long awaited Messiah. And of course he was right!

On that platform Jesus began to teach them what lay in store for Messiah; that He “must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Peter, if not the others, recoiled at that idea, a concept inconsistent with the popular view among the Israelites that Messiah would come as a conquering king. When Peter “began to rebuke Him” for the notion of suffering and death, Jesus rebuked him in turn and declared that his conception of the redeemer was Satanic in its origin, manifesting his ignorance of the ways of God. (See vs. 27-33)

Almost immediately it would seem, the Savior called those within His hearing, along with the disciples, and began to disclose to them “the things that be of God.” Like His rebuke of Peter, His teaching cuts across the prevailing view of the price of discipleship, then and now. It begins not with self exaltation, but with self denial.

There is an invitation to discipleship veiled in His words; “If any man will come after Me.” That invitation embraced both “the people” and those already identified as His disciples. (v.34)  If self preservation and advancement (in this world) is our goal, we have an inverted view of the things of God. A candid individual said to me today, “My immediate goal is to buy a bigger, better home, and if I get a better home I will need better cars to park in front of it…” He saw himself driven by what a radio preacher some years ago referred to as “the desire to acquire,” and was remarkably candid about it. Sadly, many professing Christians are driven by the same wind and fail to recognize its inconsistency with “the things that be of God.”

The Lord then probes the issue, first with a telling declaration, then with a penetrating question.

The declaration, our text for today: “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.” Interestingly, the word translated “life” in this verse is the same word that is rendered ”soul” in the following verse, The soul consists of intellect, emotions and will. It is, in a manner of speaking, the CPU of personality; the place where information is processed, decisions made and actions initiated. It is, in fact, the essence of “life” as we know it, determining values and dictating behavior to the body. It is the real “self” of man, and makes a man what he is. It is that in man which will survive after the body dies, and give account to God. We can cherish our souls (life) and squander them on our own interests, but only to “lose” them. Or, we can surrender our souls to Christ and to God and preserve them forever.

The question, then, is this: “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” It is a rhetorical question, and the implied answer is, the person who makes that deal is a fool. Jesus tells the parable of “the rich fool,” who made it big and determined to secure his wealth in a ‘bigger barn’ and to “eat, drink and be merry, But God said to Him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be which thou hast [acquired?]” (See Luke 12:16-21!)

The price of discipleship is high. Hudson Taylor called it “the exchanged life.” It is my life for Him in exchange for His life for me. It involves a cross, the potential for suffering, the surrender of my plans for His will. For “what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (v.37)  The preservation of life is beyond our power. It is given to us one day at a time, Today is all we have that we can be sure of, and that only one moment at a time. “Our times are in His hands.” 

The Son of God ends this discourse on a sober note: “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (v. 38)  The implication is this: Jesus is coming again and it behooves us to be ready if we would save our souls from the wrath to come. That can only be done in and through the Lord Jesus Christ—first received by faith as Savior, then surrendered to as Lord. If He is, indeed, “the Christ,” the dividends will offset the cost by an immeasurable margin!

   “If I gained the World but lost the Savior  Were my life worth living for a day?

   Would my yearning heart find rest and comfort,  In the things that soon must pass away?

   If I gained the World, but lost the Savior,  Would my gain be worth the life-long strife;

   Are all earthly treasures worth comparing,  For a moment with a Christ-filled life?”

—"Pastor" Frasier

*********************

       5/12/12