Then Jesus told his disciples,
in the glory of his Father,
and then he will repay each person
according to what he has done.
Truly, I say to you,
there are some standing here
who will not taste death
until they see the Son of Man
coming in his kingdom.
Amen.
This is God's holy word.
It's great to be with you tonight.
If you notice in the bulletin,
the title is a little bit awkward.
It kind of went to a different line.
I think when I first picked up the title,
it was like,
what does it profit a man, dot, dot, dot,
the ellipsis.
But we'll end up putting half the question
instead of the whole question.
But I think it's a very important question
that we're answering tonight
of Jesus' question.
What does it profit a man
to gain the whole world,
yet forfeit his soul?
We all probably have this idea
of what an amazing life would look like.
Many of you may know,
I don't know if all of you would know
the name Tom Brady.
Tom Brady, a lot of you,
some of you,
yeah, as American football players,
many of you know I love American football,
coach at the University of Edinburgh,
American football team.
Tom Brady is considered
maybe the greatest NFL player
to have ever played.
He won like seven Super Bowls,
just retired after 23 years,
not long, a couple years ago.
Three MVPs.
There was actually,
there's a show in the U.S.
called 60 Minutes,
and it's like an hour long,
60 Minutes, clever name,
where they're interviewing people,
special stories,
those kind of things.
Well, after he'd won
his third Super Bowl,
he'd just signed
this massive $60 million contract,
which in 2005
was a whole lot of money.
He was,
his partner was a supermodel
that many of you may know
named Giselle.
He had everything
that you would consider
like a fulfilling life.
He had money, fame,
beautiful woman,
family,
this great, incredible
pinnacle of his career.
He actually went on
to have an even better career.
And as they're interviewing him,
they're asking him
about these things,
and he says,
to me, I look at this and say,
there's got to be more
to life than this.
You should really go look
to YouTube and look this up,
Tom Brady 60 Minutes.
It's really sad in some ways,
but also very insightful
that here you are
seeing a guy
who has reached the pinnacle
of everything that we would say
is an amazing life.
And he's like,
there's got to be more
to life than this.
And the interviewer actually asked him,
well, what do you think that is?
He said, I wish I knew.
And we're just like,
oh, we do know.
We know what your soul
is crying out for.
But he's saying,
there's got to be more
to life than this.
And this really hits
on what Jesus is talking
about here with his question.
What does it profit a man
to gain the whole world
and yet forfeit his soul?
Why did Jesus ask this question?
Well, if we look at the context,
the setting here,
Jesus has fed the 5,000.
He's walked on water.
He's performed a bunch
of miracles.
He fed 4,000 more.
And then it's quite interesting.
At the beginning of chapter 16,
it says the Pharisees
and Sadducees came up to Jesus
asking him for a sign from heaven.
So after he's done
all of these things,
they're like,
but show us a sign from heaven
that would authenticate your message.
It's like, seriously?
Sometimes evidence
for Jesus' identity
is just not enough for people.
And there will always be skeptics,
but they have witnessed,
they've seen,
and they're asking for a sign.
And later Jesus asks his disciples,
who do people say that I am?
And they tell them the rumors.
Some say you're John the Baptist,
come back from the dead.
Some think you're Elijah or Jeremiah
or some other prophet.
And then he responds,
but who do you say that I am?
Now that could have been
the question we talked about tonight,
question Jesus asked,
maybe the most important question,
who do you say that I am?
And in that moment,
Peter says,
you are the Christ,
the son of the living God.
And it says in verse 21
of chapter 16 in Matthew,
from that time,
Jesus began to show the disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem
and suffer many things.
Jesus must go and lose his life.
And Peter actually rebukes him for that.
He says, whoa, whoa, whoa,
this will never happen to you.
I think you're misunderstanding
the scriptures, Jesus.
Now he didn't say that,
but that's what he's implying.
You're the Messiah.
You're going to go to Jerusalem
and deliver us,
not go to lose your life.
What are you talking about?
And Jesus then rebukes him
and says, get behind me, Satan.
And then he says something
that's very important
for our passage in verse 23.
For you're not setting your mind
on the things of God,
but on the things of man.
And if we're honest with ourselves,
we often many times
can recognize this in our own lives
where it's like,
I know, I wish I was setting my mind
more on the things of God.
I'm thinking more
about the things in this life,
the things of man.
We're all tempted to do this.
It's something that's really
our default mode
to really more focus
on the things of man,
the things in this world.
We recognize this often.
We want this to be different.
But that's the setup
for Jesus' response here
in his question.
What does it profit a man
to gain the whole world
and yet forfeit his soul?
Or what can a man give
in exchange for his soul?
When he's asking this question,
he's actually giving us
the rationale for his statement
about the nature
of being his disciple.
So if you're trying
to gain the whole world,
you're not going to be
setting your mind
on the things of God
because his disciples,
he says,
to follow him,
he says,
you must deny yourself,
take up his cross,
and follow me.
To be his disciple,
you must deny himself.
We have to learn
to say no to ourselves.
This word literally means
to refuse or to resist
or to reject ourselves.
It's the idea
of forgetting oneself,
to lose sight of yourself
and your own interests.
It's like,
I'm an afterthought.
But it's actually,
denying yourself
is the same way later
as we'll see Peter
is denying Jesus
where he says,
I do not know this man.
It's kind of looking
at ourselves and saying,
I don't know this person.
It's an,
I'm an afterthought.
I'm not the main thing,
the center of the universe
like my default nature
thinks I am.
John Stott says,
this isn't just denying
things to myself
like to say no to sweets,
which I can have
a problem doing,
but it's to deny myself
to myself.
To deny myself
to myself.
It's denying my agenda,
denying trying to gratify
the pleasures
that are selfish.
Instead,
I must think about others,
put others before myself.
It's where we come
and say,
here's my plans,
Lord.
I lay them down
on the altar
to present them
before you
and say,
not my will,
but your will
be done.
To be his disciple,
we must deny himself,
it says.
And then it says
we must take up his cross.
The cross,
as we know,
is a symbol of shame
and humiliation.
And it's really hard
to imagine
what they would have
been thinking
when they heard this
because they did
understand the imagery.
They understood
that the cross
was a convicted prisoner
being marched
outside of town,
being led to pay
what was called
the supreme penalty.
It was a slave's death,
a traitor's death,
some common euphemisms
for taking up your cross
or for the crucifixion
was called
the extreme penalty,
the most severe punishment,
and there were Latin words
that are used
for these things
that I didn't dare
try to bring in
because I don't know Latin.
But the slave's punishment,
the wretched death,
all of these things
that they would have understood
when they heard
Jesus saying
you must take up
your cross.
Paul talks about
what this looks like
in Galatians 5, 24
when he says,
and those who belong
to Christ
have crucified
the flesh
with its passions
and desires.
So it's where we put
our sinful selfishness
on the cross
and say,
not my will
but your will be done,
dying to these desires,
dying to these passions,
crucifying them.
And also,
I think one of the reasons
he said that Jesus said this
is because crucifixion
was a slow death.
And so being his disciple,
taking up his cross,
is learning to die
to the flesh,
which is a slow
and painful process.
It's a slow death.
Luke even adds
when he records this
that Jesus said
that he must take up
his cross daily.
Our default mode
is to wake up
and to put ourselves
back on the throne
instead of back on a cross.
And Luke says
we must,
he records it
as we must take up
our cross daily,
learning to say
it is not about me
but embracing a life
that is about Jesus,
another's agenda
instead of my own.
So if you would come
after me,
if anyone would come
after me,
let him deny himself,
take up his cross
and follow me.
Follow me is
I go where you go,
Jesus.
I do what you do.
This is all about
following our Lord
and doing as he commanded.
And in following him,
we find our true lives.
We find our true selves.
Trading our agenda
for a lasting
and better one.
It's letting Jesus
set the direction
for our lives.
That's what it means
to follow him.
And it's how we truly
gain life.
But it comes through
denying and dying.
I don't know where
I heard that
but just putting
those two words together,
it's actually really helpful.
denying and dying.
That's what it means
to follow Jesus.
Jesus is the Messiah.
They thought the Messiah
was going to come
and take power
but instead
he is saying
I must lose my life.
The way of the kingdom
is to lose your life
so that others
might find it.
Jesus says
whoever tries to save
his life will lose it
and whoever loses
his life for my sake
will find it.
This word life here
is not life
where it's like
breathing in and out
and life as opposed
to death
but it's actually
the word where we
get the word soul
or psyche.
It's your very identity.
Who you think you are.
Your core.
Your inner person.
You must be willing
to lose that
for Jesus' sake
and when you do that
you truly find it.
In other words
for the Christian
we let go of our lives
and we let go
of anything
that we're trying
to build our identities
on besides Jesus
besides Christ.
It means that
we subordinate
our thinking
about our own
personal issues
and serving ourselves
subordinate that
to Jesus
where it's about
serving Jesus
his interests
his agendas
his thoughts
obeying his commands.
So whether that's
our careers
whether it's
relationships
comfort and leisure
making a name
for ourselves
whatever we think
success is
it's all laying that
at the feet of Jesus
and say
this is not about me
but this is about you
losing your life
in order to gain it.
So why would we embrace
this self-denial
and this self-death?
And Jesus gives the answer.
What would it profit you
to gain the whole world
and yet forfeit your soul?
Or what can you give
in exchange for your soul?
We know that
the right investment
is investing
in the soul.
The way of the world
is meaningless
and vanity
and yet our default mode
is to go that way
and so we must learn
to deny ourselves
take up his cross
daily and follow him
because
what can we give
in exchange for our souls?
The word soul here
is the exact same word
that's translated life
in the previous verse
but often when we hear this
deny yourself
take up his cross
follow me
whoever loses his life
for my sake
will gain it
we tend to hear this
disregarding the things
of the world
material things
and we see this
as a test of our faith
or maybe even
a deep burden
instead of understanding
that he's showing us
what it means
to flourish
to have a beautiful life
to have a life
that is true life
indeed
we hear these things
about denying ourselves
why is it
that that is such
a burden
instead of Jesus
saying
let me show you
the way to find
true life
because what does it
profit a man
to gain this whole world
and yet
forfeit
the soul
he's not trying
to deprive us
he's trying to show us
true
abundant life
and Jesus gets down
to the very heart
of things
when he says
gains the whole world
he's talking about
when we try to gain
everything the world values
anything that we would
set our hearts on
here on this earth
and you know
we all
dream
hear stories
of celebrities
or musicians
or whatever
the famously rich people
and how they've come
into this wealth
and we then hear
how miserable they are
at some point
how they turn to a life
maybe of drugs
and alcohol
or just
broken relationships
by the way
Tom Brady and Giselle
are divorced
it's like we hear
these stories
of just
relationships
broken lives
we hear all these things
of people who've gone
after the world
but we're like
but I think I'd do it
a little bit differently
I don't know that
that would happen to me
maybe that's the cross
you should give me
Jesus is
seeing if I can handle
wealth
we just think
things would be
different for us
but guys
this is
this is not a new
problem
I mean obviously
it wasn't new
with Jesus
he's talking about
addressing people
that try to gain
the whole world
but in Ecclesiastes
chapter 2
verses 1 through 11
which is attributed
to Solomon
who was at the time
known as the world's
wisest and wealthiest
person
this passage
Ecclesiastes chapter 2
verses 1 through 11
Solomon says
I said in my heart
come now
I will test you
with pleasure
enjoy yourself
and he goes on to say
that here are the things
that he pursued
he said
I made great works
I built houses
and planted vineyards
for myself
I made myself
gardens
and parks
and planted them
with all kinds
of fruit trees
I made myself
pools
from which
to water
the forest
of growing trees
I bought male
and female slaves
and had slaves
who were born
in my house
had great possessions
of herds
and flocks
more than anyone
who was before me
in Jerusalem
he said
I also gathered
for myself
silver and gold
and the treasure
of kings
and provinces
I got singers
both men and women
I had entertainers
people
both
and had many
women and concubines
the delight
of the sons of man
so I became great
and surpassed
all who were before me
in Jerusalem
also my wisdom
remained with me
and whatever my eyes
desired
I did not keep
from them
I kept my heart
from no pleasure
for my heart
found pleasure
in all my toil
and this was my reward
for all my toil
then I considered
all that my hands
had done
and the toil
I had expended
in doing it
and behold
all was vanity
and striving
after wind
and there was
nothing to be gained
under the sun
he said
I went after everything
I gathered anything
that my heart wanted
and all was vanity
and striving
after the wind
and we don't believe
that do we
like we think
it would be different
if it was me
or maybe it's just me
but like we really think
we would be different
but yet Jesus is telling us
if you try to gain
the whole world
you forfeit your soul
and the way for true life
is deny yourself
take up your cross
and follow me
what does it profit a man
to gain the whole world
and yet forfeit his soul
and have you ever wondered
why this is the way
of the kingdom
the nature of the kingdom
wouldn't it be possible
that Jesus denies himself
for us
and instead of us
and takes up his cross
for us
instead of us
why did he have to call us
to the same life
why would he tell us
that we must do this
as well
I think a few reasons
one I think
because he knows
the human condition
he understands
our sinful nature
we would pursue
the things of the world
at the expense
of our souls
if he didn't command us
to do this
we would twist everything
and make it about us
I mean
have you ever been around
anyone who's like
we would consider
a little narcissistic
where they make everything
about themselves
miserable people
to be around
but yet you flip that
and turn someone
who is other centered
someone who wants to serve
who genuinely is about
other people
and they're amazing
to be around
we love those kinds
of people
Jesus knows
when he's telling us
that it's not about ourselves
to not deny ourselves
take up our cross
and follow him
that it's the way
of life
he also knows
that
this is just
the nature of the kingdom
because this is his nature
he tells us that
because when we
lay down our lives
for others
putting needs
before our own
we're demonstrating
God's very nature
God's very heart
we're displaying
his glory
to the world
that's what he himself did
that is the way of life
and he knows best
and then I think
a third thing is
he really just knows
what will satisfy us
he created us
and he knows
where true life
really is
and he's just telling us
the way of that
as a little side note
I came across
this article online
as I was looking up
something else
I was like oh
this is kind of appropriate
the title of the article
was Serving Others
in Brain Health
the Neurological Benefits
of Altruism
it sounds really interesting
article
it says this
the effect of serving others
on the human brain
is more profound
than most people realize
altruism activates
the same reward circuitry
that responds to food
and sex
drops cortisol
floods the brain
with dopamine
and oxytocin
and in older adults
measurably slows
cognitive decline
helping someone
isn't just a nice
thing to do
neurologically speaking
it's one of the most
potent brain
health interventions
available to you
God designed us
so that even serving
other people
is good for our own health
now they probably
were thinking
this is an evolutionary thing
this wasn't a Christian article
but Jesus
when he's telling us
these things
he knows how we're made
because he made us
and he's not
giving us a burden
or placing on
like just
just take it for the team
and trust me
it's like no
like this is the way
of the kingdom
and it is good
and it is right
and lovely
and praiseworthy
when we live
for something
beside ourselves
it actually blesses us
in ways that we don't
even totally understand
so want us to get
the fact that
Jesus is not being cruel
or giving us
a terrible burden
when he calls us
to deny ourselves
and take us across
and follow him
but it's literally
for our good
and for his glory
we feel
because it's such
a hard battle
that it's a loss
for us to follow
this way
but David Livingston
the well-known
Scotsman
missionary
in South Africa
says this
people talk
of the sacrifice
I made
in spending
much of my life
in Africa
is that a sacrifice
which brings
its own blessed reward
and healthy activity
the consciousness
of doing good
peace of mind
and a bright hope
of a glorious destiny
hereafter
away with a word
in such a view
and with such a thought
it is emphatically
no sacrifice
say rather
it is a privilege
anxiety
sickness
suffering
or danger
now and then
with a foregoing
in the common conveniences
and charities
of this life
may make us pause
and cause the spirit
to waver
and the soul
to sink
but let this only
be for a moment
all these are nothing
when compared
with the glory
with which will be
revealed in
and for us
and then he says
I never made
a sacrifice
this is what
it looks like
to set your mind
on things above
to understand
that losing
our life
means saving it
focusing on
eternity
is the blessed
life
and following
the example
of our Lord
who lost
his life
emptied himself
so that we
could have life
in his name
as we've been
talking about
that being
united to Christ
means that we
have a relationship
with God
and then he calls
us to do the same
and that is a life
that is the opposite
of having a
superiority
mindset
but it is one
that gives us
humility
when we trade
our agendas
for his agenda
it's saying
it's not about
me
the way I
spend my time
the way I spend
my money
it is not about
me
but how can I
use these gifts
that God has
given me
to serve
and bless
others
and if you
think about it
think about how
like when we
are pursuing
the ways
of the
or the things
of this world
pursuing like
a way to
gain the world
think about
the worry
and anxiety
that causes
worry is like
saying
I think
I know
how a good
God
would
what he
would do
in this
situation
and I'm
afraid
you're just
not going
to come
through
in that
way
I mean
think about
the people
we know
that have
walked away
from the
faith
because God
didn't come
through for
them in the
way that we
thought he
should
but instead
we've got to
learn we
don't know
better than
God
so we trade
our agendas
for his
and it allows
us to say
okay God
in this
thing that's
going on
what are you
up to
what do you
want me to
learn from
this how
are you
wanting to
show yourself
to me
in a way
that we
will be
glorious
we must
learn to
set our
minds on
things of
God
not on the
things of
man as he
told Peter
and this
changes the
way we see
everything it
changes even
the way we
see suffering
which
suffering is
one of those
things that
is like
I was
actually supposed
to preach
this sermon
a few weeks
ago and
because of
some things
some crisis
going on in
our family
I'm preaching
it three weeks
later it's been
three weeks of
hard suffering
and it's very
tempting to
to doubt
the goodness
of God
to doubt
that his
way is the
best way
but in those
times we
understand that
he really knows
what's good for
us and we
can see from
his word
and when we
cling to him
and his
word that
this suffering
is producing
wisdom
it's producing
joy in ways
that we never
would have
understood
it's producing
endurance
as scripture
says
it's producing
a courage
that maybe
we needed
but it's also
producing a
humility
and we just
have to cling
to those
things and
say God
you know
what's best
more than
I do
and so I
trust you
in that
setting
our minds
on the
things of
God
not the
things of
man
changes
the way
we see
all of
life
helps us
to learn
to see
life in
the way
that he
sees it
and that's
the nature
of the
kingdom
to deny
ourselves
take up
our crosses
and follow
him
greatness
comes by
being last
saving your
life means
we lose
it
and Jesus
establishes
kingdom
by losing
his life
he calls
us to
do the
same
and this
is the
abundant
life
it is
not
drudgery
it's not
a burden
doesn't mean
it's always
easy
but it does
mean it's
good
and it
will glorify
him
and be
for our
benefit
let's
pray
father
we
we just
acknowledge
right now
together
that we
are prone
to try
to gain
the world
to try
to go
after the
ways of
this world
to find
success
in the way
of the
world
to find
success
and
even more
than that
lord
we
we wake
up
every day
wanting
to be
the center
of the
universe
to say
it's
about me
we don't
wake up
wanting
to serve
we wake
up
wanting
to be
served
and so
I pray
that you
would help
us to
cling
to you
and your
word
and the
promises
and the
wisdom
and the
goodness
of this
passage
that says
what would
it
profit
you
to gain
the whole
world
and forfeit
your soul
but instead
losing our
lives for the
sake of
really finding
it
to deny
ourselves
to take
up our
crosses
and follow
you
that is
the way
of true
life
that is
the way
to abundant
life
help us
to trust
you in
that
so that
when we
wake up
in the
morning
we will
really try
to crucify
the flesh
with its
passions
and desires
as Paul
says
but this
is a
daily
thing
Lord
and we
need your
grace
to do
it
so please
grant us
that grace
to grow
in these
things
help us
to do what
you said
and set
our minds
on the
things of
God
and not
on the
things of
man
please help
us to do
this
we pray
in Jesus
name
amen