What is Your Soul Worth?
Mark 8:31-38 "What is Your Soul Worth?"
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man (a title that Jesus calls himself- somewhat ambiguous in the OT- so maybe he used this title precisely because people could not pin him down as easily) must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny (to totally disown) himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save (to be whole) his life (literally= psyche- soul) will lose (die, destroy) it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit (mortally injure) his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul (What ransom would you pay for your soul)? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."
Does Jesus know how to ask questions, or what? [re-read some]
His teaching caused me to ask some questions this week
Does overvaluing my self and my importance actually do harm to my soul?
Can gut reactions, like Peter’s, be wrong? Who controls my gut?
Do I have to follow Jesus to be a Christian? Because if I do, I wonder if I am a Christian a majority of the time?
What does it mean to follow Christ?
What is the deal with Peter?- Give him a break- he reacted to an emotionally charged prediction with an emotional message- from his gut- a gut reaction- of support and defiance- He didn’t know that Christ- wasn’t looking for this defiance. Simply put- the deepest part of him reacted to what Christ was saying.
Peter was in the habit of these type of knee-jerk reactions? Do you know any knee- jerks? Are you a knee-jerk? He had been one for a long time- he was zealous, hard headed and stubborn. When habits and behaviors build up- How do stop doing something that you have done for so long? How do you stop being someone you have been for so long?
I am going to point some things out today. All I’m asking is that you consider some questions. Questions about life, our souls, our selves.
Consider this- just when we get God figured out enough that we are able to tell God- exactly what to do- like Peter did- this may be our furthest point from God. When Peter tells Jesus he doesn’t have to suffer- he’s Satan.
We don’t "figure out" our way into the kingdom of God- if this were the case we would make a kingdom of God’s values and a God in our image.
Instead we "lose our way" into the kingdom of God. We lose our way and pick up God’s way. Being in relationship with God is less about "figuring out" and more about "losing our way in." It’s more than a conscious thing- it’s a soul thing- it’s a whole body thing. Anybody who wants to follow Christ, he says, must memorize all I said and understand me perfectly- No. It doesn’t say that. Anybody who wants to follow Christ- must deny their own self- pick up his cross and follow him. We learn by following. We learn to be Christian- that is an imitator of Christ- by carrying the cross. What does it mean to carry a cross? It means your carrying around the means to your own death. Isn’t that weird. But maybe its not. Maybe if we were more real with the reality of our impending and eventual death- we would be more able to fully live in the present. Maybe we are to carry our cross- to remind us of the precious- fragile and yet brutal reality of life. The cross does not allow us to romanticize life. The cross puts our daily issues into perspective. We don’t carry it simply to garner attention or to invite pity. We do cause Jesus said.
American Christianity says Jesus went to the cross so that we don’t have to- but consider this- maybe he went to the cross so that we could also go to the cross. Maybe he died for us- so that we could see that we must die to our selfish ways in order to really love others in this life. To live the best life. Even to live a life that might be more full of suffering.
Maybe the best life to live- is the one that gives control of self over to God- so that we see life through God’s eyes- so that we love the world with God’s love. That we hurt where God hurts for His people- that we suffer in order to love others. And by doing so there is more Christ in the world- more love- more good ness, more beauty.
But I don’t think I can pull of this "best type of life." My soul just doesn’t have the capacity. The ability. My well is shallow- and the water pressure just ain’t there. The water I do have is for me and mine. I don’t see how can do life with God’s eyes. I can’t do it on my own.
Let’s take our souls into consideration. Considerations of the soul:
Your soul. Your spiritual center. Your internal drive. Your psyche. Whatever you want to call it. Science has been unable to locate it- and that’s good- because I don’t know if I want to understand my soul. I am talking of my soul as if it is separate from who I am, but a good Hebrew- like Jesus- considered the soul to be inseperable from their body- and it had its deepest roots in the gut- your soul was throughout all of you and was rooted in the deepest part of your guts. That’s the biblical idea of soul. We nowadays talk about Auras and stuff and have overspiritualized our soul- our soul is us- its our undeniable- deep in the guts- driving force and identity of our life. We all have soul- but we all don’t equally recognize or feed our soul.
On my bad or normal days I feed my soul all kinds of junk food. I remind myself of how important I think I am. Or I remind myself of how guilty I think I should feel. I keep my soul- my drive- my center- like a nice little pet. I want to keep it calm and domesticated- maybe somedays I want to keep it medicated. But for heaven’s sake- I don’t want it to be out of my control. I want to keep my soul alive- and under control.
Consider that maybe its not at all about feeding the soul, keeping it alive and under control. What if feeding our soul has actually been poisoning our well. Jesus was tempted in the desert. He was tempted to give up his drive- his soul- for food, for splendor- for riches [expound]- he did not budge- he would not let the tempter short circuit or short cut his soul
What if we were never meant to control our own soul? What if someone else controlled my soul and they told me to deny my selfish desires and to see every person as loved by God.
And where does that take us but back to this scripture.
35 For whoever wants to save (to be whole) his life (literally= psyche- soul) will lose (die, destroy) it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Consider this- the only way to keep our soul whole- is to give up our ability to control.
What does it mean for Jesus to control your soul? I don’t know. I can only tell you that I wrestle with Him sometimes because I want my soul back- and on my weaker days- that is to say my better days- I lose my soul to him. And I see an ability to live a life full of more beauty and mercy than I ever thought possible.
Consider this: lose control of your life to Jesus. Don’t give up on life. Give it to Jesus. Consider that your most important decision each day is whether or not you will surrender control of yourself to God. You cannot earn a love that already has been freely given to you- you are loved by God- give up- lose control. You cannot make your soul something that it already is- It is not up to you to "Form yourself a Christian Soul"- no it is for you to give in - to lose your way into God and believe and rejoice that Christ is life- and wants to be your life- your soul.
Your life is God’s. Are you willing to lose your life- to give up control of your life- to carry a cross- to be open to suffering. Would that mean reading scripture during lent- praying in times of silence. Praying for your enemies. Being kind to a detestable neighbor? Looking into the world to see those in pain and see how we can bring life in the midst of death.
Be careful- following Jesus- means living a life of the cross. The way of love- is a vulnerable way- we only have the capacity to love to the degree that we are willing to suffer- to the degree that we lose our life.
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man (a title that Jesus calls himself- somewhat ambiguous in the OT- so maybe he used this title precisely because people could not pin him down as easily) must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny (to totally disown) himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save (to be whole) his life (literally= psyche- soul) will lose (die, destroy) it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit (mortally injure) his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul (What ransom would you pay for your soul)? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."
Does Jesus know how to ask questions, or what? [re-read some]
His teaching caused me to ask some questions this week
Does overvaluing my self and my importance actually do harm to my soul?
Can gut reactions, like Peter’s, be wrong? Who controls my gut?
Do I have to follow Jesus to be a Christian? Because if I do, I wonder if I am a Christian a majority of the time?
What does it mean to follow Christ?
What is the deal with Peter?- Give him a break- he reacted to an emotionally charged prediction with an emotional message- from his gut- a gut reaction- of support and defiance- He didn’t know that Christ- wasn’t looking for this defiance. Simply put- the deepest part of him reacted to what Christ was saying.
Peter was in the habit of these type of knee-jerk reactions? Do you know any knee- jerks? Are you a knee-jerk? He had been one for a long time- he was zealous, hard headed and stubborn. When habits and behaviors build up- How do stop doing something that you have done for so long? How do you stop being someone you have been for so long?
I am going to point some things out today. All I’m asking is that you consider some questions. Questions about life, our souls, our selves.
Consider this- just when we get God figured out enough that we are able to tell God- exactly what to do- like Peter did- this may be our furthest point from God. When Peter tells Jesus he doesn’t have to suffer- he’s Satan.
We don’t "figure out" our way into the kingdom of God- if this were the case we would make a kingdom of God’s values and a God in our image.
Instead we "lose our way" into the kingdom of God. We lose our way and pick up God’s way. Being in relationship with God is less about "figuring out" and more about "losing our way in." It’s more than a conscious thing- it’s a soul thing- it’s a whole body thing. Anybody who wants to follow Christ, he says, must memorize all I said and understand me perfectly- No. It doesn’t say that. Anybody who wants to follow Christ- must deny their own self- pick up his cross and follow him. We learn by following. We learn to be Christian- that is an imitator of Christ- by carrying the cross. What does it mean to carry a cross? It means your carrying around the means to your own death. Isn’t that weird. But maybe its not. Maybe if we were more real with the reality of our impending and eventual death- we would be more able to fully live in the present. Maybe we are to carry our cross- to remind us of the precious- fragile and yet brutal reality of life. The cross does not allow us to romanticize life. The cross puts our daily issues into perspective. We don’t carry it simply to garner attention or to invite pity. We do cause Jesus said.
American Christianity says Jesus went to the cross so that we don’t have to- but consider this- maybe he went to the cross so that we could also go to the cross. Maybe he died for us- so that we could see that we must die to our selfish ways in order to really love others in this life. To live the best life. Even to live a life that might be more full of suffering.
Maybe the best life to live- is the one that gives control of self over to God- so that we see life through God’s eyes- so that we love the world with God’s love. That we hurt where God hurts for His people- that we suffer in order to love others. And by doing so there is more Christ in the world- more love- more good ness, more beauty.
But I don’t think I can pull of this "best type of life." My soul just doesn’t have the capacity. The ability. My well is shallow- and the water pressure just ain’t there. The water I do have is for me and mine. I don’t see how can do life with God’s eyes. I can’t do it on my own.
Let’s take our souls into consideration. Considerations of the soul:
Your soul. Your spiritual center. Your internal drive. Your psyche. Whatever you want to call it. Science has been unable to locate it- and that’s good- because I don’t know if I want to understand my soul. I am talking of my soul as if it is separate from who I am, but a good Hebrew- like Jesus- considered the soul to be inseperable from their body- and it had its deepest roots in the gut- your soul was throughout all of you and was rooted in the deepest part of your guts. That’s the biblical idea of soul. We nowadays talk about Auras and stuff and have overspiritualized our soul- our soul is us- its our undeniable- deep in the guts- driving force and identity of our life. We all have soul- but we all don’t equally recognize or feed our soul.
On my bad or normal days I feed my soul all kinds of junk food. I remind myself of how important I think I am. Or I remind myself of how guilty I think I should feel. I keep my soul- my drive- my center- like a nice little pet. I want to keep it calm and domesticated- maybe somedays I want to keep it medicated. But for heaven’s sake- I don’t want it to be out of my control. I want to keep my soul alive- and under control.
Consider that maybe its not at all about feeding the soul, keeping it alive and under control. What if feeding our soul has actually been poisoning our well. Jesus was tempted in the desert. He was tempted to give up his drive- his soul- for food, for splendor- for riches [expound]- he did not budge- he would not let the tempter short circuit or short cut his soul
What if we were never meant to control our own soul? What if someone else controlled my soul and they told me to deny my selfish desires and to see every person as loved by God.
And where does that take us but back to this scripture.
35 For whoever wants to save (to be whole) his life (literally= psyche- soul) will lose (die, destroy) it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Consider this- the only way to keep our soul whole- is to give up our ability to control.
What does it mean for Jesus to control your soul? I don’t know. I can only tell you that I wrestle with Him sometimes because I want my soul back- and on my weaker days- that is to say my better days- I lose my soul to him. And I see an ability to live a life full of more beauty and mercy than I ever thought possible.
Consider this: lose control of your life to Jesus. Don’t give up on life. Give it to Jesus. Consider that your most important decision each day is whether or not you will surrender control of yourself to God. You cannot earn a love that already has been freely given to you- you are loved by God- give up- lose control. You cannot make your soul something that it already is- It is not up to you to "Form yourself a Christian Soul"- no it is for you to give in - to lose your way into God and believe and rejoice that Christ is life- and wants to be your life- your soul.
Your life is God’s. Are you willing to lose your life- to give up control of your life- to carry a cross- to be open to suffering. Would that mean reading scripture during lent- praying in times of silence. Praying for your enemies. Being kind to a detestable neighbor? Looking into the world to see those in pain and see how we can bring life in the midst of death.
Be careful- following Jesus- means living a life of the cross. The way of love- is a vulnerable way- we only have the capacity to love to the degree that we are willing to suffer- to the degree that we lose our life.
posted by Palouse Fed. Church at 4:07 PM
1 Comments:
Amen Brother, I've always struggled with that verse, but I've always looked at it the wrong way, never any deeper than the surface. The way you explained it really makes sense to me...now it comes to the implementation. :)
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