Losing Is the Essence of Discipleship, Part 3

How do you feel as you plow through this downer of a series? (Here are the links to posts one and two.) Do these posts have you brooding in the doldrums? I hope not, but I’d understand why!

Discovering the significance of losing as a theme in discipleship is no party, but it’s realistic. Look at your own life. Can you point to instances when God allowed, even encouraged, you to lose? You don’t have to pretend otherwise; your experience lines up with the Scriptures we’ve studied so far. As difficult as this fact might be for us to grapple with, God values loss.

Christ’s Call

No one in the Bible promotes the significance of losing quite like Jesus Christ. More than any other prophet, teacher, apostle, or leader, He challenges His followers to lose.

Does this surprise you? Didn’t think this is what you were signing up for when you gave your life to Jesus? Well, I have good news for you (haha!); it’s all part of the Lord’s plan for His disciples! To back up this claim, let’s consider the following verses from the gospels. (In today’s post I’m using the NASB for all biblical quotations.)

• “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” – Matthew 10:39
• “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” – Matthew 16:25

• “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” – Mark 8:35

• “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.” – Luke 9:24

• “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?” – Luke 9:25

• “Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” – Luke 17:33

• “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” – John 12:25

Certainty

We can make innumerable observations about these verses but three points stand out. First, losing is unavoidable. Jesus leaves us no choice; we will lose in life. The question is, what will we decide to lose?

Christ contrasts human and natural resources with those of the Spirit. Emphasizing one relaxes our grip on the other. And in time, we can no longer hold on; letting go, we drop either this world or ourselves.

Commitment

Second, Jesus conditions our losing. He’s not enamored with defeat and failure as though these had inherent value. Far from it! Instead, the Lord calls us as disciples to deny ourselves for His sake and for the sake of the gospel. That’s the key. Losing for the cause of Christ counts as victory because it demonstrates how committed you are to God’s Son.

Quality

Third, losing and hating are synonymous. The more we value something, the better we take care of it. If we focus on the things of this world, we will spend lots of time and effort trying to secure them. But we do so at the cost of our spiritual lives. Yet if we release what we can’t preserve anyway, we discover our security in Christ.

Future Effects

What happens to us when we lose? When we disown everything for Jesus, have we doomed our future? Have we set up the rest of our lives for subjugation and disappointment? Peter worried about this and brought it up with the Lord:

“Peter began to say to Him, ‘Behold, we have left everything and followed You.’ ²⁹Jesus said, ‘Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, ³⁰but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. ³¹But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.’” – Mark 10:28-31

Jesus promises His disciples an eventful future, filled with blessings and trials. He provides for His own in abundance–a hundredfold increase! But such prosperity costs us control over our lives. Self-determination yields to kingdom priorities.

Christ lived for His Father and served others. As a result, He never lacked for anything. And He calls us to follow in His steps.

Application

Are we up to the challenge? Dare we lose ourselves to find a fulfillment greater than what the world can offer? There’s only one way to find out–let go and let God. When we lose ourselves for Christ, we win!