For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.

Mark 8:35

If this life is about giving it all away, then the pathway many of us must first take is to take ownership of that which is ours.

It may seem counter-intuitive at first, to have to take possession of something, only with the intent to then lose it, but unless you take ownership of something, unless you decide that something is your right to do whatever you please with it, you will never have the authority to release that authority to whomever you choose.

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Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

Matthew 13:44

The selling of everything can be perceived painful at times, it really can.  That is, in pursuit of this treasure of the Kingdom, which we have seen, while we are attempting to make it completely ours, there is that which is difficult and even hurtful, nearly to the point of death it can seem at times.  But, it is the nature of the Kingdom, however, that it is always worth the effort.

For the children of Israel in the desert, they complained that their trials were hard (Numbers 11:1).  Yet, what they couldn’t see was who the Lord was in their midst, and the wonderfulness of all of His great promises towards them (Hebrews 4:2).

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If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:26

There are many ways to approach discipleship in Christ, but one thing is assured.  Unless your obedience is carried to the extreme, it is not Biblical Christianity.

Discipleship begins at the cross.  It begins at the laying down of everything of this life, and that of following the Master.  From start to finish, it must be about absolute trusting and dependence upon the Shepherd for everything. Read more…

Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

Luke 17:33 KJV

He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Matthew 10:39 KJV

Perhaps one of the most enigmatic phrases to the carnal observer would be this one, largely because it is so simple.  He has hidden things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them to babes.  Instinctive to nearly every human being who has not been otherwise affected is the basic drive for self-survival, self-preservation.  It is at a core part of their being.  In a human realm, such as in gangs and the mafia, only a greater fear than death itself is capable of overcoming such an innate, core part of our human nature.  We fear death, and losing our self, and yet, this is at the core of not only the Gospel, yet of love itself.  To love is to lose yourself, and yet retain it.

This verse is perplexing only in a natural sense, however, to mind of man, and not to God.  Many have of course tried to fulfill this in their flesh, only to fail again and again, and some have set up whole camps for doctrines of thought around the whole idea that we should simply not try and just “let God”.  While this may sound wonderfully and spiritual, the plain fact remains that we were given instruction for a reason, if we could just know how to apply it!

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Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.

Matthew 13:12

One sad thing I see in the interpretation of Matthew 13 is a large branch of thinking that rationalizes that Jesus was saying that the Kingdom of Heaven is somehow corrupt, not holy, or not pure.  Because of lack of understanding, or partial revelation (which we all must deal with — 1 Corinthians 13:9), many have assumed the Jesus meant somehow that the Kingdom of Heaven was itself divided.

In the case of Matthew 13, most of the parables start with the phrase “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…”.  The Kingdom is likened to 7 things.  Some see believe that because they cannot find a species of mustard plant that grows from a very small seed into a large tree, that Jesus must have been implying some abnormal growth.  In addition, with parables such as the leaven which a woman hid, they assume that because in MOST of the references to the leaven in the Old Covenant are a reference to sin, and that sin was outlawed in most of the sacrifices, that Jesus obviously couldn’t be saying that the Kingdom was like leaven.  However, Jesus also plainly said in John’s gospel that unless you ate His flesh and drank His blood, you would have no life in you (John 6:53), a highly detestable practice in Jewish custom.  In the course of Jesus’ teachings, the fact that the image was abhorrent because of misunderstanding did not seem to matter to Jesus.

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You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Matthew 5:14

Jesus said not to think that He was come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).  What this means for us today, was the He was the fulfillment of the Law of Moses.  What He lived on Earth, perfectly satisfied the perfect of justice of the Father, so that anyone who is baptized into Jesus Christ has lost their old life with its sin and corruption, and entered into that perfect, finished, and sufficient righteousness of God.

Yet, more than this.  In Matthew 5:19, Jesus says that whoever continues to BREAK one of these commandments AND teaches other to do so, will be considered least in the Kingdom.

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Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.

Matthew 7:6

God shares His secrets with His friends.  Psalm 25:14.

What if God didn’t want to share certain things with some people?  Would that make Him mean, just because He withheld certain details about His Kingdom?

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When any one heareth the word of the kingdom…

Matthew 13:19 (portion)

When someone hears a word of the Kingdom, something responds, this can no longer remain the same.

In the worst case, the word is misunderstood and stolen quickly away, yet, in other situations, a greater degree of change occurs.

Consider one of the more well known “Words of the Kingdom”, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16).  This is more than words on a page.  When Jesus spoke, he said His words were Spirit and they were life (John 6:63).  There was a content in the content, a message in the message.

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When we look at the Gospel, we see good news.

Despite the cost, despite the hardships, despite the pain.  Despite anything.

When we look at the life of absolute surrender, the life of absolute submission, and absolute loss of this life, it is only a most extraordinary gospel that can still be good news in the wake of this.

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He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.

Matthew 13:11

Jesus had secrets.  God has secrets.

This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES; I WILL UTTER THINGS HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.”

Matthew 13:35

It is something to think of this.  In some ways, they were closely guarded secrets, yet on the other hand, they could be thought of as some of the ideas hidden in the most plain sight possible.

Even as Jesus had no earthly comeliness that men should be drawn to Himself, it was the inner, Spirit in the message that made the difference.

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