Discipleship: Come and Die (Part 2)
This is part two of a three part series on what it means to be a Christian. In part one, we looked at the requirements of following Jesus: deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Christ. Now, we’ll look at why anyone would want to do this.
II. The Reasons for Discipleship
1. Loss or Gain?
The first reason to be Jesus’ disciple is this: there is no other way to be saved. Jesus says:
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. (Mark 8:35)
This is utterly counter-intuitive to how we think. How can saving lead to loss? How can loss lead to saving? Yet, Jesus contends that there are only two ways to live.
Option #1: The Path of the Unbeliever
You can reject Christ’s call to discipleship, and live for yourself, for your pleasures, for your interests. Enjoy what you want to enjoy. Relish your sin. Try to save and savor every part of this earthly life. Travel, dine, explore, build, taste—live the life you want to live.
The result? Jesus says you will lose the life that you love so much. It will slip through your fingers like water. You will be like the insane man who tries to satisfy his thirst by drinking sewage, for all your efforts to live the good life will come to ruin. And you will die in your sins and suffer an eternity in hell as punishment for your rebellion against God.
Option #2: The Path of a Christian
Or, you can bow to Christ’s call to discipleship, and live no longer for yourself, but for Him. You lose yourself. You reject sinful desires and live for Jesus, loving the things He loves and loving the people He loves. Life is no longer about you, or what you want, but about Him, the glorious Savior. You are willing to lose everything, even to die for Him, because you have found Christ—who is infinitely better that life itself.
The result? Jesus says that in losing your life for Him, you will save it. You will be a blessed woman, a blessed man, strong, confident, full at the end of your life. And you will pass from this world into the very presence of the Lord who loved you and gave Himself up for you. Forever you will bask in His glory and live in a world of perfect love and delight. Life eternal, heaven, unending joy will be your story for eternity.
These are the choices that Jesus presents: Try to save your life yourself and you will lose it. Lose your life for His sake, and you will save it forever.
Jesus continues in this reasoning:
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? (Mark 8:36-37)
Imagine you were brought onto a new TV game show and presented with just one question:
Would you rather have a hundred million dollars, the house of your dreams, a wonderful family, the best vacations, all the entertainment you could ever watch, everything you could ever buy, the best food, excellent health, and servants to do all your chores…OR your life?
If you choose the stuff, you get killed. Right here, right now.
If you choose your life, you walk away, free.
Such a choice is really no choice at all. Who would in seriousness chose the stuff? As materialistic and nihilistic as our culture is, no rational person would give up his life to gain the material just for a moment!
That’s exactly Jesus’ argument. Why would anyone gain the world if it cost him his life? At the end of his life, what would possibly be worth his soul? Rich men do not die satisfied; they always want one more dollar. Lustful men do not die satisfied; they always want one more pleasure. Celebrity after celebrity rings the same old tale, and yet in our foolishness we crave what Jesus says will lead only to death.
Why would you want a lifetime of chasing after fleeting pleasure if it costs you an eternity of suffering? Why would you seek to gain the whole world and yet forfeit eternal life?
Truly, discipleship is a lifetime of suffering for and with Jesus. But the great culmination is an eternity of perfect happiness with Him! Christ does not downplay the fact that following Him costs everything. Yet the outcome is eternal life in Him. But, on the other hand, following anything or anyone else also costs everything—even your eternal soul.
2. Shame or Acclaim?
The second reason to be Jesus’ disciple is this: Jesus is returning as King and will judge all the earth.
“For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38)
In this verse, Jesus looks forward to His kingdom. When Jesus comes back to establish His kingdom and reign over all, what will He find? Those who were ashamed of Him and who denied Him rather than denying themselves, He will disown. No counterfeit profession will escape His exacting eyes. If the Son of Man, the inaugurated King, the Champion and Conquerer is ashamed of you, there is no hope of blessing for you in the kingdom! To be disowned by the Lord of all is to be avoided at all costs !
But those who followed Him to the end, He will abundantly reward as the King coming into His glorious kingdom. Eternal rewards in the kingdom are reward enough for following Christ! But I do want to speak of some of the immediate rewards of following Christ, and Lord-willing, we’ll look at that in part 3.
Based on a sermon titled “Discipleship: Come and Die” from Mark 8:34–9:1, preached on 2021.09.17 to the junior high students of Lighthouse Community Church in Torrance, CA.