And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? (Mark 8:34-37)
This last Sunday we heard these words of Jesus. They are familiar to us all—the sort of words we hear quoted in all sorts of situations. The saying is that “familiarity breeds contempt,” but in reality, it is far more likely to breed apathy. Familiar people get taken for granted. Familiar pleasures lose their luster. Familiar words become metaphors with no reference point, empty proverbs, and greeting card sentiments. They become words we stop thinking about, stop feeling anything about, and stop caring about. At times, we need to slow down, and let familiar words sink deep into our souls.
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
“Let him deny himself.”
How can we deny ourselves? Does this mean we give up our jobs, and go live in a monastery? Work in a rescue mission? Give away our possessions? How exactly does one give up herself? We all know what it means to be denied, for we have all been in a situation where we didn’t get our way, where our viewpoint didn’t matter, or where we were overlooked. Is Jesus really calling us to do this to ourselves? Are we supposed to always let others go first, speak first, be first?
Part of the threat of this call is the fear of losing ourselves. It means that we might have to relinquish our place, our desires, even our identity. If we don’t stand up for ourselves, who will? If we don’t express ourselves and speak for ourselves, will we cease to matter?
But Jesus is clear—those who seek to save their lives will lose them, and those who lose their lives for the sake of Jesus will save them. We may struggle to believe this, but he is clear. Attempting to preserve our place, our voice, and our identity doesn’t work. We can’t give life to ourselves, no matter how hard we try. And if we let go of ourselves, if we listen and serve rather than speak and seek our own way, we will be given life. As Jim Elliot said, “he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
As we travel through Lent, through this period of preparation and self-denial, let us willingly give up ourselves! Let us give up ourselves for the sake of Jesus, for the sake of the gospel, and for the sake of others. Let us give up ourselves not stoically or in misery, but instead in joy, because we are walking in the footsteps of the Savior, who has promised to give life to all who follow him!
Steven+
Joshua 5 Devotional
And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.
While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. Joshua 5:9-12
This generation of Israel who have spent their lives wandering in the desert is here reminded of their identity as the people of God, as they celebrate the feast of Passover on the plains of Jericho. In explaining to their children why they sacrifice a lamb on this night, they must have been reminded that the God of their fathers is also their God and they are his people, called to be holy as he is holy. This generation is presented as a fresh start, a renewed hope for Israel as they camp within the borders of Canaan and eat of the fruit of the land. Egypt can no longer exult over them, but cowers before them even as do those in Jericho whose hearts, we are told by Rahab, melt before Israel and her God. Similarly Jesus, in Matthew’s Gospel in particular, is presented as Israel, and yet a new Israel—Israel as she was always meant to be, fulfilling the word spoken to her by Moses and all the prophets as she never could.
After his baptism in the Jordan, Jesus was driven by the Spirit into the desert for forty days and there he was tempted by Satan. As Satan tempts him a third time, Jesus banishes him with the words of Moses in Deuteronomy as he has each time before, pulling from Moses’ warning to this generation not to forget God once they are in Canaan and eating of the fruit of land. Moses says in Deuteronomy 6:12-13, “then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.”
Israel here begins to eat of the fruit of the land, which is both a beautiful fulfillment of the promises of God, and also an ominous hearkening back to Moses’ warning to them, that they not forget the Lord their God as they begin to eat of the fruit of the land he will bring them into. Is this not an ominous warning for us also? We are certainly many of us in danger of feasting on all the good things our God has given us and forgetting from whose hand they come. As Israel was commanded to come continually in repentance and thanksgiving to the Lord with burnt offerings and sacrifices, even as our Lord Jesus showed his own dependence on the Father in prayer and fasting and participating with his disciples in the Passover and the other feasts and sacrifices commanded by God, may we not neglect to gather together, but feast on him our Passover Lamb that we might be strengthened to live a life of dependence on God in prayer, repentance, and faithful obedience, following our risen Lord Jesus who as the prophet Isaiah foretold, “will not grow faint or be discouraged, until he has established justice in the earth” and even into every dark corner of your heart and mine.
Rebekah
A Season of Preparation
At some point, Christmas overtook Easter as the biggest celebration for the church. We all now spend far more money and energy celebrating the birth of Jesus than we do the resurrection, but this wasn’t always the case. In fact, it took several centuries for the celebration of Jesus’ birth even to become normal and widespread in the church. But from the beginning of Christianity, the church has celebrated the resurrection of Jesus as its principal feast of the year.
Lent, the 40-day period of preparation for Easter that begins on Ash Wednesday, grew out of Biblical examples. Noah, Moses, the Israelites, and Elijah all waited in periods of fasting or preparation (for 40 days or 40 years) before encountering God and receiving blessings and ministries. More importantly for the church, Jesus’ 40-day fast before beginning his ministry demonstrates this pattern. Great encounters with God, great blessings from God, and great ministries in the name of God are all appropriately preceded by a period of fasting and preparation. It isn’t that God needs our preparation before he can show up—he can do what he wants, whenever he wants! But we need the preparation, so that we are ready for him! Moses needed 40 years as a shepherd in the wilderness before he was prepared to encounter God in the burning bush, and the Israelites needed 40 years of wandering in the wilderness before they were prepared to enter the promised land. The fact that Jesus submitted to this pattern—40 days of fasting before beginning his ministry—should demonstrate to us that we would be wise to follow it as well.
This doesn’t fit a modern culture saturated with instant gratification, but our souls need preparation before celebrating the resurrection. They need yearly seasons like Lent to call us back to the things that matter. They need periods of fasting and contrition, where recurring sin is dealt with, distractions are set aside, and our energy is devoted to works of mercy, so that we are ready to meet God again. Some of these seasons need to be painfully long—40 days long!—so that the preparation sinks deep enough into the hard places of our hearts, softening the soil before God arrives.
As we move toward Easter, I encourage you to take seriously the idea that we are preparing for an encounter with the risen Lord. This is what the celebration of Easter is about, after all! Prepare through fasting, prayer, repentance, and works of mercy. These are the spiritual disciplines appropriate to seasons of preparation. Pray expectantly that God would reveal himself to you anew this year, calling you deeper into his love for and mission to the world, and spend the next six weeks preparing as if he will answer this prayer!
Steven+