YouTube video sermon
Matthew 16:24-28
Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Matthew 16. The last few weeks we’ve been in Mark’s Gospel, and I told you that there were some parallel passages in Matthew and Luke, well this is one of them. As you find your spot, you’ll notice that Matthew 16:13 begins Peter’s great confession, which we already looked at in Mark’s Gospel. So, we’re in one of those parallel passages, but the verses that we’re going to be concentrating on this morning begin with verse 24.
This is one of Jesus’ teachings on the cost of discipleship. It’s a passage that you won’t likely hear preached at some churches, because all they want you to hear is that God wants you to be healthy, wealthy, and prosperous. And even I have to admit that I’ve walked a fine line between offering Jesus and salvation as the way to be happy, the way to have abundant life, the way to know peace, the way to have all your problems solved? I’ve been guilty at times of preaching and teaching that to know and follow Jesus will make you a better husband/wife, a better parent/child, a better employee/employer, a better athlete, or whatever. And if you and I aren’t careful we can wind up advertising Christianity as getting without giving and gaining without any of the pain.
But I submit to you that viewing our relationship with Jesus Christ as simply “getting” is to prostitute His divine intention. Yes, to come to Jesus Christ is to receive, and keep on receiving forever and ever. But there’s pain before the gain and there’s a cross before the crown and there’s suffering before the glory and there’s sacrifice before the reward. And I believe that’s what our Lord is teaching us in this critical passage.
This is one of those hard sayings of Jesus – not hard to understand but had to embrace and live by. It’s one of those passages that Mark Twain had in mind when he said, “It’s not the parts of the Bible that I don’t understand that give me the most trouble, it’s the parts of the Bible that I do understand that trouble me the most.” So, follow along with me as we read Matthew 16:24-28:
24 Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay each person according to what he has done. 28 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.”
“Our gracious God and Father, we thank You that You have assembled us in this place. We thank You for the words we’ve been able to sing already, written so long ago and yet with such abiding relevance to our lives today. We thank You that You haven’t left us alone but that You have come to us in the person of Your Son, Jesus. We thank You for giving us the Holy Spirit, who ‘will guide us into all truth’ (John 16:13). We also thank You for the Bible – that we can read it and apply our minds to it. And we pray, as we think about this particular question, that You will help us. Help me as I speak so that I might be clear and concise. Help each of us as we listen that we might understand, and by Your mercy that we might believe and obey the Bible and live in the very power and life that it offers. We ask this humbly and expectantly in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
Let me quickly give you the roadmap this morning. I want you to see the headings that we’re going to consider. In verse 24a I see “the call.” In verse 24b, I see “the condition.” In verses 25-26, I see “the calculation.” Finally, verses 27-28, “the compensation.” The call, the condition, the calculation, and the compensation. Let’s start with “the call.”
The Call
“Then Jesus told His disciples…” One thing, for sure, that we can say about who these disciples – there were some who were true believers. They had already forsaken houses and lands and family and fishing nets and tax tables and all the rest to follow Jesus and they were true followers of Jesus, and yet, they needed to have this call reiterated in their own hearts. They needed to hear this teaching again. Eleven of the twelve disciples were true followers, yet Jesus issued this call to them again that there might be a reaffirmation in their hearts as to what they had chosen to do in following Him. So, the call begins by going to those of us that would say, “Yes, I’ve accepted Jesus as the Lord or my life. Yes, I’ve made a profession of faith. Yes, I’ve been baptized for the forgiveness of my sins. Yes, I’m a Christian.” The call goes to us first – so that we don’t get caught up in a day-to-day routine of spirituality that loses sight of the central demands of discipleship. It’s a call of reminder.
But we also know that there was one of the twelve that was not a true follower. His name, of course, was Judas. And we also know that as the crowds would gather and listen to Jesus there would be many who would listen out of mere curiosity, and many who would come simply to be a part of the crowd and they needed to be saved. So, this call that Jesus initially directed to His disciples was also applied to those that would listen, those that would give ear to His teaching, those that might begin to follow after Him. I think of Colossians 2:6, which says, “[A]s you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.”
This was an open-ended invitation. Yes, it was a call that was reiterated to the disciples, but it was also a call that was extended to the masses. It was offered to anyone and everyone. It was offered to those in the crowds and hearing His voice, and it’s also a call that’s extended to anyone here today that would like to follow after Jesus and be His disciple. If that’s you, then you have a decision to make – you will either embrace this call and respond to this call or you will turn a deaf ear and turn away, but at this very moment this is the call of Jesus to follow in discipleship.
Well, that’s the call. If you’re already a follower, then hear the reminder. If you’re not a follower, then receive the call and respond in faith. That, then, leads to “the conditions.”
The Conditions
This is not some mystical experience that we, in some random way, follow after Jesus. No, Jesus defines for us, very specifically, the conditions of following Him. Remember, it’s the One who issues the call that gets to set the conditions. And those of us that answer the call must receive the conditions as they’re issued.
The first condition is found in the very next part of verse 24, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself…” No small task, to be sure. Jesus starts with a doozy. We must seek to deny ourselves (daily), deny our pursuits, deny our wishes, deny our ambitions, deny ourselves completely. Folks, if you haven’t already noticed, that’s hard. “We are not our own, we were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, paraphrased). We need to be reminded of this. It’s not about me. It’s not about what I want to do. Part of our faith in Jesus is to always remember that I must die to myself. And we can only hope to achieve that by relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, by remaining in the Word (daily), by crying out to God in prayer, and by understanding that we are to be in submission to Christ.
Second, we must “take up [our] cross…” This phrase has been picked up and used by those of us in the body of Christ, and unfortunately, we’ve misused it. Taking up a cross isn’t living with an unbelieving husband. It isn’t having a nagging wife. It’s not a dominating mother-in-law. It’s not an addiction that we struggle with or a rebellious child. And it’s certainly not a lawn mower that won’t start, although I’ve heard preachers equate it with such a thing. Taking up a cross literally means to pick up the instrument of one’s own death. That’s what it meant in the first century, and while we don’t live in a society that practices public crucifixions, nevertheless it means crucifying ourselves. As Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). To take up our cross means that we subject ourselves to humiliation, to jeers, to criticism, to mockery all for the sake of Jesus.
As one pastor and author put it, “We must be cross bearers and not merely cross wearers. We are either abandoned to Christ or abandoned by Christ. We cannot have a crown without a cross, religion without repentance, blessedness without brokenness, salvation without sacrifice, church without commitment, heaven without holiness, and prosperity without adversity.” We must take up our cross.
Last, we must “follow [Him].” True faith and true discipleship mean following in the steps of Christ. The picture that I want you to have in your mind is following someone in the snow, or following someone in the woods, or following someone as they step on the rocks and cross a river. You’ve been in those situations (no doubt) where it’s easier and clearer and safer to simply follow in the steps of the one leading. I’m thinking about the simple task of walking to the car after it snowed. Someone takes the lead and they walk to the car, and I literally step where they stepped. Or think of someone hiking and crossing a river. They stepped here and then there, and then over there and they crossed successfully and safely. You’re literally taking the same path and the same steps they took. In many instances, when we’re following in this manner, we’re not even looking ahead. We’re literally just watching for the next footprint. That’s what I imagine it to be like. Jesus doesn’t tell us every step He’s going to take, we simply step in His steps. By faith, we follow Jesus. By faith, we seek to be obedient to His Word. By faith, we pray and listen to the Holy Spirit’s direction.
“If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” Those are the conditions. And now “the calculation.”
The Calculation
We need to do some math. We need to add this up carefully, and the youngest and least educated among us can do the math. It’s simple. “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” It’s addition by subtraction. Many of you know the struggles of selling a home. Real estate agents, consultants, even home buyers will tell you that getting rid of clutter actually makes things better. It’s in line with the “less is more” concept. It’s gaining by losing. It’s the paradox of discipleship. You have to give up to gain. You have to die in order to experience life. There has to be a crucifixion if there’s going to be a resurrection.
Think about this for a minute. If you and I try to navigate this life on our own, if we try to be the master of our fate and the captain of our souls – as the old poem Invictus goes – if we seek to preserve and protect and save ourselves from all perils and harms and find our way to calmer and safer waters on our own, we’ll ultimately lose our lives. If we’re relying solely on ourselves, then we’ll lose our eternal souls in the darkness and emptiness of hell. But, if we let go of the control of our lives for the sake of Christ, then we’ll actually find life in Him. It’s strange, I know. In the end, if we forsake ourselves in the pursuit of Christ Jesus, then we will ultimately find abundant life, eternal life, supernatural life. It’s part of the paradox of the Christian life. How often do we hear this expressed in the Bible: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12), or “many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first” (Matthew 19:30). “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Jesus then reasons with us in verse 26, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” This is hypothetical and hyperbolic, of course, but Jesus is simply making a point in the most obvious way. All of us live relatively puny little lives in the grand scheme of things. I don’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings, but there really aren’t any “big shots” here today. We all know ourselves well enough to know that we’re just common folk. Sure, the neighbors might think highly of us. Sure, our friends might have lofty visions of us. If all else fails, surely our dogs think we’re the best humans they’ve ever seen. But we’re not that special. We all have our sins and brokenness. We all have our weaknesses and vulnerabilities.
Now, let’s just pretend (and that’s all that this is) that we could actually gain the entire world, that we could somehow and someway, have access to every pleasure, every treasure, every desire that we could ever want – we could travel in the most luxurious planes and cars, we could vacation as long as we liked at the most opulent destinations, that there was really and truly absolutely nothing that we couldn’t obtain or experience, that the world really was our very own playground, but in the process of gaining all of that we lose our very soul. What do we have? We have nothing. I mean, what’s a dead man who owns everything? He’s a dead man. And even worse, an eternally dead man.
And to state it another, Jesus alters the scenario just a bit and says, “Let’s just say you did, indeed, own the whole world, could you buy back your soul with it” (Matthew 16:26b, paraphrased)? The answer, of course, is no. Why? Because you and I aren’t the owners of our souls. We aren’t the creators of our souls. God is. Therefore, the only natural response is to abandon our lives and give them to Jesus Christ, where we’ll be rich forever. Do you remember our recent study in Philippians, where Paul echoes, in very concrete and dramatic fashion, the very thing that Jesus is saying here? Paul writes, “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:5-8). That’s the attitude, that’s the mindset, that’s the view of our lives in relationship to following Jesus.
The call, the conditions, the calculation, and lastly, the compensation.
The Compensation
While I want to challenge us, I also want to encourage us. That’s a tactic that Jesus often employed – challenge followed by encouragement. If you will cross the line with God, if you will release the emergency brake of your soul, if you’ll go for broke with God, if you’ll live a life of sacrifice and submission and surrender to God, then I want you to know that God will reward you one day. God will give you the crown of righteousness, and He will more than make it up for every step of faith that was taken in His name. Jim Elliott, one of five missionaries that were killed when trying to evangelize native peoples in Ecuador, said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot gain in order to gain what he cannot lose.”
Look at verse 27, “For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay each person according to what he has done.” Now, I know that many of you are scratching your heads because people like me are constantly preaching and droning on and on about the fact that we are saved by faith and not by works, and yet this sounds like we’re saved by works. Not so. Let me explain. In our zeal to preach salvation by faith alone through grace alone, sometimes we’ve downplayed the fact that there is still a judgment that everyone will undergo. The Bible is clear that everyone – believers and unbelievers – will be judged.
2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”
Romans 14:10-12 says, “Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So, then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”
Many Christians think that only unbelievers will be judged. That’s not true. We are redeemed from the punishment and eternal separation from God by our faith in the completed work of Jesus Christ. That’s indeed true, and yet Christians will be judged in order to receive rewards that will then be laid at the feet of Jesus in thanksgiving and worship for all that He has done.
At the turn of the 20th century, a couple left NY and traveled to Africa in order to be missionaries and bring the gospel to the heart of the African continent. After 45 long years of ministry the time finally came for them to retire. As they returned home, they wondered whether any of their family, any of their supporters, any of their church friends would come out to welcome them home. Unbeknownst to them, on this same ocean liner was President Theodore Roosevelt, coming home from an African safari. As the ship pulled into NY harbor they saw throngs of people, the military band was playing Stars and Stripes Forever, there was confetti and tickertape everywhere. As the crew lowered the gangplank, this retired missionary couple saw President Roosevelt emerge from his luxurious estate and be welcomed home to tremendous fanfare.
Well, when it came time for the couple to disembark, there was no one left. All of the people were gone, and the road was littered with confetti and tickertape. They got a hotel room for the night. Later that evening, the husband was a bit depressed and disheartened that no one had turned out to welcome them home. And his wife said, “Sweetheart, remember that we’re not home yet.”
Our reward is not of this world and our reward is not the applause of men, but rather is of another world and will be realized when the Son of Man comes with His angels in glory. In that day, every deed that was done in genuine faith, every deed that was done to please the Father, every cup of cold water, every slander and criticism taken will be rewarded. And those who have denied themselves by the power of the Holy Spirit and taken up their cross to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ will hear those words we all long to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your Master” (Matthew 25:21).
If I had another point (and I don’t), it would be “the confirmation.” See, I believe that verse 28 is Jesus’ confirmation of the compensation He just mentioned. If you continue reading Matthew and flip to the very next chapter (17:1-8), then you’ll discover that three of the twelve (Peter, James and John), did not taste death before they witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus. In a sense, they did indeed see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. Folks, we can count on God to deliver on His promises. He is faithful. None of us will ever be short-changed by following Jesus. It may cost us something today, but trust me, trust God’s Word – the benefits for tomorrow are literally out of this world.
“Lord, help us to learn the paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the crushed spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to really possess everything, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive.
Lord, we know that we can’t see the stars in the daytime but they’re there. But when the night comes, they shine so brightly. Help us find Your light in our darkness, Your joy in our sorrow, Your grace in our sin, Your riches in our poverty, and Your life in our death. We would be crucified so that we live, yet not us but Christ.
We pray for those that don’t know You today, that they would open their hearts, they would say no to the passing world and yes to eternal life, that they would never think to purchase their soul with earthly gain or to profit if they were to gain the whole world and lose their soul. And, Father, for those who already claim Christ, help us to know that this is the way we came to You: destitute, desperate, without resource, begging, mourning, meek, hungering. And we affirmed Your Lordship in those days, and we said we’d commit loyal obedience at any price, so hungry were we for salvation. May we be true to that commitment.
Father, help us to be faithful disciples, self-denying, cross-bearing, loyally obedient, until we see Jesus face to face, to receive the crown that will be cast at Your blessed feet. We thank You that Jesus is coming, and we know it because He gave us His table and told us to celebrate it until He comes again. And we have hope.”