Losing Is the Essence of Discipleship, Part 1

Negative

Over the years some well-meaning people (I hope!) told me that I have a negative attitude. Not everyday, and not all the time, but they confronted me enough that I couldn’t ignore them.

One of the ways I dealt with their comments was to feel bad and berate myself. Not helpful!

I followed a better course when I discussed the subject with Christian counselors. They helped me discover how I come across to other people. They also challenged the extent of the accusation–I may not be as negative as I was led to believe!

Over the same span, God also blessed me with positive friends and co-workers, brothers and sister in Christ who knew how to trust the Lord for victory and believe Him for success. Along with the counselors, their approach inspired me to appropriate the neglected dimension of optimism in my spiritual walk.

The end result? Now I don’t know how to classify myself! I’m confused! Am I a sad sack or an idealist? Is the glass half-empty or half-full (and which is preferable)? How realistic am I, how confident in the Lord’s goodness and power?

As a disciple of Jesus, I’m committed to learning, always learning, about life as it should be–in the kingdom of God. I agree with the Reformer John Calvin who penned, “Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.”

Losing

In this blog series, I aim to grow wiser by wrestling with a melancholic claim: the Christian life is a life of losing. I realize this idea contradicts the affirmative, uplifting, and encouraging preaching and teaching we often receive in church. But I’m not promoting doom and gloom; I’m responding to a ministry email by author Frank Viola that got me thinking about this topic. On March 28, 2019, he wrote the following:

The point is to learn how to LOSE and do it without becoming bitter. That’s right. LOSE. And LOSE again.

Those who have joined the Insurgence understand that when Jesus talked about “losing your life,” He wasn’t restricting that statement to physical death. He was talking about living a lifestyle of losing, laying your life down, letting go, surrendering, and bearing the cross in daily life (= dying to self).

God will honor your generosity. But it will rarely come through the actions of those to whom you’ve been generous. We have a generous God living in us. So be generous – especially toward those who are unable to reciprocate. And always be armed with an attitude of losing. This is one of the basic features of life in the kingdom of God. And it’s a key mark of the Insurgence.

Reading these remarks led me to conclude that losing characterizes kingdom living. Is Viola right? Forget for the moment the ramifications of his idea–is he onto something? Do we have nothing but defeat to look forward to? Is that what he means? Does losing define discipleship? This is what I intend to explore in this blog series.

I offer my investigation with the expectation that God is up to something good with what strikes us as bad news. I believe in good news; the best news, in fact–the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! We can make sense out of losing  as a feature of discipleship only from the perspective of the gospel. Through this journey into Scripture, may we find our story in His.

Christians Are Losers

Mincing no words, Paul demeans the church at Corinth:

“Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things–and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are, ²⁹so that no one may boast before him. ³⁰It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God–that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”‘ – 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Unwise, ineffective, ignoble, foolish, weak, lowly, and despised–not exactly a ringing endorsement! How many of these seven traits do you observe in yourself? A few? All?

But he doesn’t leave us stuck in the mud; he introduces our Savior! And through Jesus, we have what’s been missing: wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption. We have bragging rights, not because we’re superior to the world. We trumpet what the Lord has done for us. We don’t parade ourselves; we flaunt Christ!

Examples

What does winning by losing look like? We have two illustrations from Scripture.

“Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. ³³Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. ³⁴You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. ³⁵So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. ³⁶You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” – Hebrews 10:32-36

Jewish Christians faced pressure from their culture to abandon Jesus. Suffering robbery and economic punishment tempted them to cave, but the writer of this epistle reminded them of their durability. They’d lost reputations, relationships, and material goods in the past. If God honored their faith then, He will continue to do so. The lesson? Don’t give up!

“The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? ⁸Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. ⁹Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men ¹⁰nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” – 1 Corinthians 6:7-11

It’s one thing to experience persecution from those who reject Jesus as Lord;. It’s quite another to deal with trouble caused by fellow believers. Yet such occasions happen, and Paul seeks to train the Corinthians to handle these as tests of character. He wants them to be willing to lose. How hard is that? Who wants to concede defeat? No one! But this demonstrates how liberated we are from the sins that enslaved us. Living only for ourselves, we have little capacity to endure injustice or mistreatment. But in Christ, we enjoy God’s rule over us. Relinquishing our rights frees us to receive the blessings the Lord intends for us. He has His ways!

Application

In contrast with the way we used to live, we Christians can afford to lose. We don’t have to spend all our time and energy defending and securing ourselves–all for the approval of a world that belittles us.

Based on contemporary standards, we may lack impressive status. But God loves us and invites us to find fulfillment in the life of His Son given for us. Life in the kingdom of God runs counter to the urge for self-promotion. But we discover so much more when we let go of the old ways and learn to lose. That’s how we win!