Gain What You Cannot Lose

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Today is picnic day, so you can tell we’re kind of moving through things. We will be doing some communion, and then we’ll head to the park for a meal together.

So we are going to jump in. Today is the first day of summer. Welcome to summer!

For the summer, we’re going to kind of follow some teachings of Jesus as laid out in the Common Lectionary. If you’re familiar with that, it’s a collection of Scriptures that large chunks of the church across the world use to order their services. There’s an Old Testament reading, there’s a Psalm, there’s an Epistle, and there’s a Gospel reading.

We’ll be going through the Gospel readings each Sunday. I don’t choose these—they were chosen hundreds of years ago to be read this Sunday. So we’ll trust that the Holy Spirit has a word for us and the church as a whole, as many churches and thousands of people look at the same passage each week.

So that’s where we’re going this summer. It makes it a little easier as people come in and out of town that each sermon is kind of a standalone.

So we’re in Matthew, and we already read it. This is a challenging passage, isn’t it? It’s got some strong words. It makes some statements that—you know, Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and the Prince of Peace is saying, “I didn’t come to bring peace, but a sword.”

He told Peter to lay down his sword. So what’s going on? What’s happening here?

We’re going to look at the context. I think the context will make a lot clearer, but the challenge remains the same.

We have this well-known saying of Jesus at the very end, verse 39:

“Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”

So I want to declare this good news over us from this passage:

God is freeing us from the fear of losing what we cannot keep, that we might gain what we cannot lose.

This is the core of what Jesus is saying. There’s so much we cling to that we cannot keep. We cannot take it with us. It will not last.

But there is so much in following Jesus and in our wholehearted allegiance to Him that we will gain and that can never be taken away.

I have a pretty early memory. I was about 11 or 12 years old, and I remember we were on vacation in Phoenix, Arizona. My mom was talking to my uncle.

My uncle is like 10 or 11 years younger than my mom, and if you know my mom, this won’t surprise you, but she was kind of a maternal figure in my uncle’s life. He would come to her for advice. He would come to her with questions that he had—pressing questions and struggles.

At that time, he was probably in his early twenties, and he really loved life.

My uncle actually died of COVID in 2020 at 50 years old. But he just loved life and was a really good-looking guy, really fun—one of those fun uncles who just took me everywhere.

He loved girls. Girls loved him. He loved partying. He loved friends. He was just kind of all about having fun.

He wasn’t quite sure he wanted to follow Jesus because Jesus didn’t seem super fun. I mean, He says stuff like this that doesn’t sound very fun.

I remember this because it stuck in my brain. I’m like 12, so my hormones are raging. Any three-letter word like “sex” gets my attention.

He asked my mom, “Will there be sex in heaven?”

Has anyone ever asked that question? Ever thought about it? I’m pretty sure all the guys have thought about that. Maybe. I’m not sure. But adolescent guys are definitely thinking about this, and he certainly was.

But what is at the core of his question?

The core of his question is: Is it worth following Jesus?

Does He have something to offer me that is worth giving up certain things or missing out on certain things?

You can fill in the blank with whatever pleasure or love of life you cherish.

Is it worth giving up? Is Jesus better? Is eternity better? If I were to delay gratification or miss out on certain things, would God come through? Is it worth it?

Because life is short, and I want to have fun. I want to do whatever it is.

This drives a lot of our thoughts. Consciously or subconsciously, we’re asking the question:

Is it really worth it to follow Jesus when following Jesus means losing certain things that I really cherish?

In this passage, Jesus even mentions those relationships—mothers and fathers, siblings.

He cuts at the core of our desires, our needs, and our wants. He’s touching on a core fear of following Jesus.

And this good news from this passage is that God is freeing us from the fear of losing what we cannot keep so that we might gain what we cannot lose.

So in this passage, the context is part of a larger narrative in the book of Matthew where Jesus and the disciples are meeting with increased resistance.

Jesus is meeting with increased resistance. The Pharisees, the Romans—they’re asking, “Who is this guy? What is He doing? He’s causing a stir.”

Jesus is preparing His disciples for persecution.

Matthew, who writes this encounter between Jesus and the disciples, is preparing his audience, who are already being persecuted.

Remember, there are a couple of audiences going on in the Scriptures.

There’s the immediate context of the story—Jesus and the Twelve, or the disciples all around Him.

But then there’s Matthew, who puts all these stories together. He’s putting them together for a particular audience after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension.

The community Matthew writes to is actually experiencing persecution.

So these words are both for the disciples, to prepare them for the persecution that will come, and for the community—the followers of Jesus, a small fledgling community of Christ-followers who are being persecuted in Rome at the time of Matthew’s writing.

So Jesus is going to start off talking to these folks.

These folks are paying a real price in the moment for pledging their allegiance to Jesus—for pledging their allegiance above Caesar, above the Roman Empire, above status, above wealth, and even above their own safety.

He says this in verse 24:

“The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul”—which is a word for Satan—”how much more the members of his household?”

Look, this is basically what Jesus is saying: if they hate Me, they’re going to hate you. If they resist Me, they’re going to resist you. If they reject Me, they’re going to reject you because a student is not above his teacher.

If you’re going to follow Me, you’re going to get the same kind of resistance I am getting.

If you’re living a life of radical, self-giving, others-centered love—a love that centers the hurting and the broken, a love that crosses boundaries and borders and leads you to eat with people you’re not supposed to eat with—if you’re following and living a life of love that radically embraces all kinds of people, whether Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, male or female, convicted felon or perfect homeschool kid, whatever it is—if you live that kind of love, that radical love for God and for neighbor, who pledges allegiance to Jesus above country, nation, empire, family, whatever, then you’re going to get some rejection.

You’re going to get some resistance.

You’re not above your Teacher, so don’t be surprised.

Jesus is saying, “Don’t be surprised at the persecution, at the rejection.”

I still labor under this false narrative.

I still believe—I love Jesus so much, and I think Jesus is so awesome, and I would want to be around Jesus. So I think if I’m like Jesus, if I treat people like Jesus, if I live in the way of Jesus, people are going to love me.

And I’m always shocked.

I’ve been in neighborhood association meetings, or I’ve gotten phone calls and emails where people just cuss me out because we have a safe outdoor space for people experiencing homelessness, because we serve a couple hundred meals a day for people experiencing homelessness.

I’m thinking, “Why don’t you think I’m so cool? This is awesome! Look—we’re serving people.”

They’re like, “Stop feeding them. We don’t want them around here.”

That’s really what someone said.

“Don’t feed the bears.”

So I’m always surprised.

Now, I’m not always following Jesus perfectly at all, so sometimes I have reason to get pushback that isn’t for following Jesus.

But I’m always surprised that when I’m trying to follow Jesus in the ways that I believe He’s called me, there’s resistance and people actually don’t like it.

I think Jesus would say, “Don’t be surprised.”

Jesus got persecuted.

Jesus got rejected.

Jesus got crucified, as did each of His followers.

Don’t be surprised.

So Jesus is saying this, and He says, “Do not be afraid.”

He says it three times: “Do not be afraid.”

He gives three reasons why they should keep pledging their allegiance to Jesus above status, above wealth, above family, above friends—that they make Jesus the number one priority above all things.

They don’t have to be afraid, even though they may lose some things.

Reason #1: Nothing will remain hidden.

Jesus says nothing will remain hidden.

Verses 26 and 27:

“There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.”

Now, this speaks to our tendency to be pretty private and keep things close to the chest when it comes to Jesus, especially if Jesus isn’t very popular among the people you’re with or in the culture you’re living in.

You’re going to hold it tight and whisper.

But He’s saying that everything that is hidden will be revealed.

First, eventually your allegiance to Jesus will be brought fully into the light. If you try to hide it, you can’t hide it. It’s going to come to light when Jesus returns.

So you might as well speak boldly now, because everyone is going to find out that you were a follower of Jesus.

But second—and this is where I take comfort as well—when you’re being persecuted, when you’re being discriminated against, or lies are being spoken about you, this is saying that those motivations, the wickedness, the darkness, the lies spoken against you, the cruelty done to you—all of that is going to be revealed as well.

God holds your reputation.

God is light, and in Him there is no darkness.

All things are going to come to light, and you will be vindicated.

The truth will come out.

The truth of who you really are, your character, and their deeds will all be exposed.

It seems like, in every age, the wicked get away with so much.

The Proverbs talk about this.

Why do the wicked get away with so much?

Why do these world leaders get away with so much? They’re getting richer and richer and richer.

When?

Well, this says their deeds will come to light.

They will be exposed.

There was a man in our church several years ago that we came alongside very intentionally with resources, time, care, counseling—all kinds of stuff.

One day he got angry with me.

A couple of days later, I was on my way up to visit my parents in the mountains for a family event. My phone started blowing up.

People were calling me.

I answered, and they said, “Have you seen Facebook?”

I said, “No. I don’t have Facebook.”

They sent me a screenshot.

This guy had posted on Facebook that he was heartbroken because his pastor—then he named me—had had a two-year affair with his wife and was currently on the beach… I can’t remember where.

Now, I remember I wasn’t on the beach.

I was on North 14.

And his wife wasn’t on the beach either.

And I did not have a two-year affair.

Not true at all.

Zero truth to it.

But that’s on Facebook.

Man…

I know that people who knew me, who saw that, would trust that my integrity would speak for itself, or they would call me. People who knew him also thought, “Okay… yeah, that makes sense.”

But I know there are people out there today who saw that post and think, “This guy’s just another sleazy pastor cheating on people’s wives.”

That’s a bummer for me.

Especially because I like you guys to like me and think highly of me.

And there are people out there who think that.

But what I can take confidence in is that all hidden things will be revealed.

God holds my reputation.

I can trust Him.

There’s nothing concealed that won’t be disclosed.

When people speak lies about you—or about me—we can be confident that God has us.

It will all be revealed.

Reason #2: God holds both body and soul.

So everything will be brought to light. But when you’re being persecuted, when you’re being harmed, when you’re being lied about for the name of Jesus, God holds both body and soul.

He says:

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

I don’t think Jesus here is laying out a doctrine of hell. He’s making a broader point. He’s describing the limits of human power and the limits of evil people’s ability to harm you.

The people we’re afraid of are the people who can do us damage. They can torture us. They can kill us. They can shame us. They can make our lives miserable.

But their cruelty has a limit.

It’s the limit of my body. It’s the limit of however many heartbeats I have left.

They can’t touch me after that.

But when my heart stops, God’s love doesn’t.

It holds.

God’s love holds power not only over my time on this earth, but extends into eternity.

And that’s really where the rubber meets the road.

That’s called faith.

Jesus is calling us to this eternal perspective.

So the question becomes: Who am I going to defer to? Who am I going to pledge my allegiance to? Who am I going to bank my life on?

Is it the one who has power over this limited sliver of my life?

Or the One who has power over all eternity, who will see me through beyond death?

I want to give my deference and allegiance to the One who has authority, power, love, grace, and gifts to extend to me that go beyond my 70 or 80 years on this planet—that go into the new heavens and the new earth, into new creation where all things are made new, including me.

You may have seen this illustration before.

Actually, I’ve seen it a lot on Instagram lately.

Oops… I just broke eternity.

Don’t worry—just use your imagination here.

I first saw this illustration about ten years ago. I’ve used it before. Francis Chan used it, and he probably got it from someone else, because all good preachers steal illustrations.

Imagine this rope.

This rope just extends forever.

You can’t see the end. It just keeps going forever and ever and ever.

This represents all eternity.

This little blue part here represents all time before us and all time after us. This is all of human history. It represents the material world as it exists today.

And this little section—probably a generous little sliver—represents your life.

Your time on this temporary plane.

Really, we could probably make the mark even smaller.

But the point is this:

Look how small your life is in the context of eternity.

Jesus is saying, “Don’t fear the powers that only have power over this little section.”

Give your life to the One who holds you forever and ever and ever.

The One who gives you gifts.

The One who holds and sustains your life.

The One who will bring you into communion with Him forever.

When you see life in that perspective, it doesn’t make any sense to be so concerned with building up wealth and treasure and comfort and security and all that stuff.

That question my uncle asked becomes kind of silly when we think about it.

This is all this is.

But God holds all of this.

So Jesus is saying, “Give your life to what matters forever, and to the One who holds your forever.”

I think of Richard Wurmbrand.

I believe Tortured for Christ was the name of his book.

He smuggled Bibles into Soviet communist countries.

He got caught.

He was tortured horrifically.

His companions were tortured horrifically.

You read that and wonder:

Are God’s promises big enough to make that sacrifice and that pain worth it?

Is God’s care strong enough to make that kind of suffering worth it?

Wurmbrand believed it was.

He believed that the One holding the whole rope was worth whatever the people holding the small section could do to him.

I want to be the same way.

Reason #3: The God who holds eternity is good.

The third reason we don’t have to be afraid in persecution—that we can speak boldly for Jesus and live boldly for Him—is that God holds all of eternity.

We’ve just talked about that unimaginable scope.

But here’s the deal:

The only way that illustration is good news is if the God who holds all of that is really, really good.

Really loving.

Really kind.

The only way that’s good news is if the God who holds your eternity looks like Jesus.

If His posture toward you is the same posture Jesus has toward you.

If He died for you like Jesus did.

That’s the only way it’s good news.

This is what Jesus says:

If you’re concerned whether the God who holds your eternity will come through for you, whether He has you, whether He will ultimately deliver good to you…

Look at the sparrows.

These seemingly worthless birds that were sold and sacrificed at the temple.

He says God pays attention to them.

He keeps track of every single one that falls.

And not only does He know you…

He knows how many hairs are on your head.

This is Jesus’ way of saying that God is intimately concerned for you and your well-being.

He cares for you.

He loves you.

He has you.

So we can trust God with everything.

With everything.

So that’s the context.

Don’t be afraid of persecution.

Be bold.

Speak boldly.

Live boldly.

Then He presses in and says some really strong words.

He says:

“Whoever acknowledges Me before others, I will also acknowledge before My Father in heaven. But whoever disowns Me before others, I will disown before My Father in heaven.”

We need to hear this in the context of the goodness of God and the persecution these believers were experiencing.

These are meant to be words of comfort.

These are spoken to people who are experiencing persecution because they’re boldly following Jesus and pledging their allegiance to Him.

So He says:

“Shout it from the rooftops.”

Live your life all out for Me, even if it costs you everything on this earth.

My little good-news statement is based on something Jim Elliot said.

Do you know Jim Elliot?

In 1956, he was speared to death by the people he was going to share the Gospel with.

He kept a journal for many years before he went, and he wrote:

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

So the world might look at us—and we might even think ourselves—that we’re foolish.

But we’re gaining what we cannot lose.

Jesus says:

“Whoever acknowledges Me before others, I will also acknowledge before My Father in heaven.”

I find that very encouraging because we can live boldly for Jesus because Jesus lived boldly for us.

We can suffer boldly for Jesus because Jesus suffered boldly for us.

We can die for Jesus because Jesus died for us.

We’re not greater than the Teacher.

The Teacher gave Himself.

He suffered.

He died.

He took up the cross.

Then Jesus says:

“Whoever does not take up their cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.”

But here’s the really good news.

Jesus doesn’t just die instead of us.

He dies ahead of us.

He never promises we won’t die.

He goes ahead of us into suffering.

He goes ahead of us into persecution.

He goes ahead of us into death.

Then He says:

“Follow Me.”

Your fate is My fate.

The student is not above the Teacher.

Come with Me.

As we go into suffering together, as we go into the grave together, you won’t remain there.

Because He didn’t just die for us.

He rose from the dead for us.

It says in Corinthians that Jesus is the firstfruits of the resurrection.

So we follow Jesus into death…

…and out the other side.

We die with Christ, and we come out the other side, rising with Him.

So again:

God is freeing us from the fear of losing what we cannot keep, that we might gain what we cannot lose.

Just to kind of wrap up here…

I personally struggle with this.

I’m not just speaking boldly up here. It’s hard when the rubber meets the road, isn’t it?

When your bank account is kind of low…

Or when someone is actually wanting to kill you.

In America, we really haven’t had that struggle in recent history.

But there are places where this shows up in our lives.

Sometimes I wonder if we took some of the teachings of Jesus more seriously, there might actually be a little more resistance.

Maybe a little more persecution.

I know some of you will laugh at this, but I feel like I’m getting older.

I am.

I’ve passed midlife.

I’m 46 years old.

Maybe some of you have had the same realization.

I’m realizing I’ve probably lived more life than I have left.

I didn’t work out very much when I was younger.

In the last couple of years I’ve been working out, but I’ve realized…

I’ll never get as buff as I could have gotten.

It’s over.

I could have saved a lot more money when I was younger.

Now I’m kind of catching up.

I find myself looking at Instagram Reels trying to figure out how to get rich really fast.

It kind of consumes me a little bit.

It can start to shape my priorities.

How can I prioritize my life and my spending and my savings and my budget so that I can…

…go to the beach.

Not with anyone else’s wife.

Just with my family.

With my wife.

Just my wife.

I start thinking about all this.

Now, it’s not wrong to have money.

I’m not saying that.

But what is wrong?

Jesus says you can’t serve God and mammon.

Right now, I find myself dangerously close to serving mammon.

How can I get more?

How can I have enough?

How can I be comfortable with the years I have left?

How can I look as good as possible with the years I have left?

How can I make this little section of life as awesome as possible?

Because I have such a limited perspective.

This little sliver of life becomes everything.

I realize that causes me to become stingy.

It causes me to hold back.

It causes me to be less generous.

It causes me to think,

“I can’t give my time.”

“I can’t give my resources.”

“I have to build for my future.”

Yeah…

That’s where I’m at.

I don’t want to be there.

I want to have the perspective I think Jesus is calling us to.

“Don’t be afraid.

I have you.

I hold you.

I will give you good gifts.

I’m a good Father who gives good gifts.”

So how about you?

Where are you with this?

Following Jesus is not just an addition to your life.

It’s not another priority on your priority list.

It’s a reorientation.

He reorganizes the list.

He’s always at the top.

Following Jesus isn’t just an intellectual belief that He’s the way, the truth, and the life—that He died for your sins so you could go to heaven.

It’s actually living like He is the way, the truth, and the life.

That reorients how you view your bank account.

How you view your personal safety.

How you view what you do with your time, your talent, and your treasure.

It reorients everything.

I think if we followed Jesus and took His words a little more seriously, we’d probably experience a little more resistance.

Here’s a few examples.

You can’t serve God and mammon in a culture that worships mammon. If you stop prioritizing mammon, you’re going to get some pushback—from your brothers and sisters, from your mother-in-law and father-in-law, from the people around you.

You’re going to get pushback.

If you say, “Jesus said, ‘Love your enemies,'” and your country calls you to kill them, and you take those words seriously and wrestle with them, that’s going to cause some pushback.

That’s going to create some tension.

You have to really wrestle with that.

There are some questions that, culturally, I think we’ve settled, but Jesus is still asking us:

Am I number one?

Are you pledging your allegiance to Me above all else?

John Lewis, the African American congressman who crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, with Martin Luther King Jr., often spoke about this. As a follower of Jesus, he encouraged people by saying:

“Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.”

He’s talking about faithful, courageous obedience.

You know, one of my goals is to get arrested.

All right—I want to get arrested for doing good stuff.

I’m not trying to get arrested, but I kind of wonder…

If I’ve never been arrested…

If I don’t have a rap sheet…

Am I really doing anything for the Lord?

Now, I’m going off my notes here, so forget that part.

But think about it.

Martin Luther King Jr. got arrested.

The Apostle Paul got arrested.

Jesus got arrested.

Some of the greatest followers of Jesus were treated like criminals for following Him.

Richard Wurmbrand spent years in prison.

So maybe we need to think about some “good trouble.”

Not trying to get into trouble, but following Jesus and accepting whatever consequences come with that.

So here’s the question as we head to our happy picnic.

Where is the fear of losing what you cannot keep actually showing up in your life right now?

Maybe just think about this last month.

Where have you been afraid of losing something that, if you really think about it, you can’t keep anyway?

What’s the thing you can’t take with you that’s keeping you from following Jesus?

Would you just take a moment and sit quietly with the Lord?

Spend some time and see if the Holy Spirit brings anything to mind.

We’ll just be still for a moment.

Moment of silence.

Anytime we wrestle with some of the harder words of Jesus, I think it’s important to look fully into Jesus’ face, as the hymn says.

I love that we do communion every week because we always proclaim even the harder teachings of Jesus in the shadow of the cross—in the shadow of the absolute love that God has demonstrated, the absolute kindness and goodness and faithfulness of God made known in Jesus.

We can trust a God who has already gone before us.

We can trust the God who has proven His love for us, who never leaves us or forsakes us, but remains with us.

If you would stand, I want to do this little litany together.

I’ll read the leader portions, and you can respond with the people’s words.

We’re simply going to declare who God is and how we respond to this good news:

Jesus is freeing us from the fear of losing what we cannot keep, that we might gain what we cannot lose.

Leader: God, You are the faithful Creator who cares for every sparrow.

People: We bring You what we are afraid to lose.

Leader: Jesus, You did not cling to Your own life, but gave it for us because of Your love for us.

People: Free us from the fear of losing what we cannot keep.

Leader: Spirit, You raised Jesus from the dead and will raise us also.

People: We release what we cannot keep, that we might gain what we cannot lose.

God, help us.

Lord, we thank You that You are kind and good, and that You speak these words in such love. They’re meant to encourage us.

We pray that we would live for You—the One who gives good gifts to His children, who will not give a stone instead of bread or a snake instead of a fish, but who gives bread, who gives fish, who gives life and gives it abundantly.

We can trust You with our everything—here and now and forever—and experience the joy that comes with following You.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.