What Will It Profit A Man...

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to 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 will a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:24-26

I've often looked at this verse through very high and holy eyes. "Oh I most certainly would give up the whole world in order to take up my cross and follow Jesus. It will be difficult but I'm willing to go where you will have me to go." But I want to flip this around a little. What would it look like for you to gain the whole world? What would that mean to you?

I think for me it would mean complete and total freedom and power. If I gained the whole world I would have access to the endless accumulation of knowledge. I honestly would want to be the smartest person alive. And not only this but I would want to have the kind of freedom to act like a child, playing childish games, taking in childish pleasures, and just doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. I would do everything within my power to return to a simple state of mind, where there are no consequences for my actions. If I could gain the whole world, I would live out a kind of carefree existentialism where nothing and nobody could stop me, because I would be completely unconcerned with others.

What would it mean for you to gain the whole world? I'm sure your vision is different from mine. It's kind of fun and exciting to consider all the possibilities, to be the richest, to be the smartest, to be the sex god, to be the most powerful person, or whatever your concept of gaining the whole world might be. But what would it cost to actually get there? What would it take to achieve your vision of gaining the whole world? Interesting, because it actually may not be that hard for most of us to at least gain a piece of our vision, our dreams.

This is what scares me. What benefit comes from pursuing your vision of gaining the whole world? Some pious and upright people might say, "NONE!" I would disagree. I think I might quite enjoy my life as a slacker with all the potential in the world skating through life without a concern for how I abuse and use others with my superior knowledge. The question may not be benefit but rather gain. What do I GAIN by chasing down the whole world? In the end, the answer to that question is absolutely nothing. We maintain status quo, we keep what we have. We try not to gain anything, so that we don't have to lose anything. We live, we die, eat drink and be merry.

But what if we headed in the opposite direction? What if we decided to give up our pursuits of gaining the whole world? What would that cost us? What would you lose? Here's something we don't talk about much. Most of us, even many of Jesus' believers, live under the pretense of chasing after our vision of gaining the whole world. We put pretty labels on it, like careers, families, security, investment, or sometimes even ministry. But we're really pursuing our agenda for world domination. And yet we feel like we've gotten nowhere, that we've gained next to nothing. Why? Because we haven't embarked on the one journey that really matters, to lose everything.

What a paradox it is to follow Jesus. In order to gain anything, we must lose everything. In order to live in Christ, we must first die in Him. In order to save my life, I have to first lose it. Which direction are you headed in? At the end of your life, (which by the way could be sooner than you think), will you have spent your time trying to live it up, pursuing what you want or will you have lost yourself in Jesus in order to find the kind of true life that only He can give?

The Lord is My Defender

Do not fret because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass And fade like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Psalm 37:1-3

Being young and in the ministry, I find myself wanting to prove that I can do it, that somehow I am qualified to do the work. But without fail, one of the constant battles I find myself in is that people are questioning me or seeking my harm through words. In the past I have felt the need to speak up and defend myself, as if I have to prove to them that their perceptions of me are wrong. But lately I have been struck by this realization, when others seek my harm or have ill feelings towards me, only God can be my defender.

If we spend all of our time trying to prove the naysayers wrong, we will inevitably fail. We become self-fulfilling prophets because of our paranoia. We think, "that person is wicked and evil so they will never understand what I am trying to accomplish." And they won't as long as we try to convince them otherwise. Rather than trying to defend myself, I have found Psalm 37:3 to be the best advice.

"Trust in the Lord and do good." Or as Paul tells Timothy in I Timothy 4:12, "Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe." The Lord is my defender. Instead of being concerned with the stinging comments and harsh rebukes of those who are seeking my downfall, I should be focused on trusting in the goodness of God and living a Godly life. God will deal with those who oppose me unjustly. God is not concerned about whether I can defend myself, but rather about how will I respond in the face of opposition. Does my anger control me or does His love? Must I justify my actions or am I willing to lay down my desires for theirs?

When it comes to His church, I can get very worked up about the people involved. But I need to maintain a new posture. Whereas I have been telling people what they need to do to dwell properly in the land, I need to set an example of what it means to dwell in the land. I need to be an example of one who cultivates faithfulness. The Lord is my Defender.

Seek First His Kingdom and His Righteousness

"Soren Kierkegaard considers what sort of effort could be made to pursue the kingdom of God. Should a person get a suitable job in order to exert a virtuous influence? His answer: no, we must first seek God's kingdom. Then should we give away all our money to feed the poor? Again the answer: no, we must first seek God's kingdom. Well, then perhaps we are to go out and preach this truth to the world that people are to seek first God's kingdom? Once again the answer is a resounding: no, we are first to seek the kingdom of God. Kierkegaard concludes, 'Then in a certain sense it is nothing I shall do. Yes, certainly, in a certain sense it is nothing, become nothing before God, learn to keep silent; in this silence is the beginning, which is, first to seek God's kingdom." (Excerpt from p 86-87 of Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster)

Matthew 6:33, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Simplicity. The above quote comes from a chapter in a book on Spiritual Disciplines. One of these disciplines is simplicity. Why do we have greed in our culture? A lack of contentment with simplicity. Why do we have so much anxiety over our things? A lack of simplicity. Why are we so busy? A lack of simplicity. Why does the church seem to mimic the world so much? A lack of simplicity.

The Gospel at its core is, in one word, simplicity. It is neither being rich, nor being poor. It is neither keeping the law, or breaking the law. It is neither my generosity, or my greed. It is simply seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness. Anything else we seek is complicated and it is an idol. Is that harsh? Maybe, but it IS simple.

What gets in the way of you seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness? Is it time? Is it your mortgage? Is it your favorite TV show? Is it your spouse? Is it your children? Is it church? Is it evangelism? Anything that replaces God as our focus becomes our idol. I've been thinking about this a lot lately. The Bible tells me not to worry about tomorrow. So why do I? It is because my pursuit is not simple, it is complicated. I am trying to seek His kingdom and be in debt to the mortgage lender. I am trying to seek His righteousness and watch all my favorite shows. I am trying to seek His kingdom and teach His church. But what if I just pursued His kingdom and His righteousness? What if I lived in a bad investment of a home, but was free from the worry of a mortgage? Could I seek Him better? What if I didn't have television, but read His word more? Could I seek Him more intimately? Sound radical? Maybe, but it IS simple.

Creation and The Word (Psalm 19)

Psalm 19:14: "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer." I love sunrises. They are pure and they declare the majesty of how great God is. They remind me of warmth and power and life. When I consider how God set the sun in its place, I realize how truly small I am. All at once it makes me want to know Him and yet afraid of how LARGE He really is.

Psalm 19 is powerful to me. Verses 1-6 deal with the truth that screams from His creation. It makes you want to spend all day and night admiring His work. When I take my dog, Roxy, on a walk at night, I am always amazed at the clarity of the stars and the moon. They look like a picture. We talk about HD and 3D, but God's design in the sky is waaaay better. It cries out, "I Am!" But creation alone might lead us to worship the creation and not the creator.

That's why He gave us His word. Psalm 19:7-14 deals with the work of God's word. The sun warms your body, God's law warms your soul. When I go to the beach, I want to spend all day and night there. When I open God's word, I want to spend all eternity in it. It amazes me that some people could live on the beach or in the mountains and not wake up every day freshened by them. But I live an hour from the beach in either direction and rarely go. Sounds crazy. But God has given us light and life in His word and it's available in our homes, on the internet, in bookstores, on the radio, on cd, and on and on and on. But we take it for granted. I suggest waking up early sometime, grabbing your Bible, and reading Psalm 19 as the sun comes up. At least in that moment you will realize that God is really GREAT!