Sermon
Notes, January 6, 2019 AM
WHEN
LOSING IS WINNING
Steve W.
Reeves
INTRODUCTION:
A. An
Elementary school principal asked the teachers to write out a New Year;s resolution which would be posted on a bulletin board in the Teacher’s lounge. After
the resolutions had been posted the teachers gatered around to read them. One
teacher became very upset because her resolution was not posted. “That;s just the
way it is around here,” she explaimed. “I knw she doesn’t like me. She intentionally
left my resolution off the board,” The principal overheard the tirade and immediately
went to her desk where she found the piece of paper under a book. As she stapeled it
to the board she couldn’t help reading what it said. “I resolve to not let small things
upset me.”
1. Have you made any resolutions for 2019? Even if you haven’t made any
resolutions I suspect you have some hopes and expectations for the coming year.
2. Have you thought about your relationship with God in 2019? Do you have some
spiritual goals you would like to achieve? Do you want to grow in the grace and
knowledge of the Lord Jesus (2 Peter 3:18)? Do you want to experience greater
joy in your life and become a more dedicated follower of the Lord? Do you want to
experience victory in Jesus?
3. I want to tell you how to achieve spiritual victory in your life. Although it may sound
strange, the key to winning spiritually is to lose yourself.
B. In Luke 9:24-25 Jesus said, “ For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. 25 For what is a man
profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?”
1. Luke 9 recorded the events that occurred during the zenith of Jesus’ ministry.
a. Jesus sent the twelve apostles out to preach the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:1-6).
b. Jesus’ reputation spread throughout the region. Even Hered the Tetrarch
who reigned from 4 BC to 39 AD, heard about Jesus and was perplexed (vs. 7).
c. Great crowds followed Jesus. This led to one of his greatest miracles with the
feeding of 5000 (Luke 9:12-17)
2. All of these events crescendo to verses 18-22.
a.. In private conversation with His disciple He asked them who people said He
was Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” The Messiah!
b. You can imagine the images this evoked in the disciples’ minds. Everything they
knew about the Messiah had to do with being a great conqueror and king.
c. Cab you imagine how they felt when Jesus told them that He had to be rejected
and put to death so He might be raised?
C. What would Jesus tell us ab out victorious living in 2019>
I. SATISFACTION COMES FROM SACRIFICE
A. According to Luke 9:23 Jesus said, If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must
deny himself.”
1. The word, “deny” means to disown or to separate from.”
2. In Luke 14:26 Jesus said, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own
father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even
his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”
a. The teaching of Jesus did not make people comfortable.
b. Jesus never preached, “health, wealth and prosperity.” He never conducted
an “I’m Okay, You’re Okay,” feel good seminar.
c. Jesus challenged people. Churches that grow challenge people. Sermons that
change lives challenge people. If we want this year to be one of growth it
must be one of challenge.
B. The German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was one of the leading opponents
of the Nazi’s. In April of 1943 he was arrested and accused of plotting against
Hitler. He was placed in a concentration camp and executed two years later in
April of 1945. In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, (1937) he wrote, “When
Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Bonhoeffer said that the greatest
enemy faced by the church was “cheap grace.”
1. God’s grace is made available to us because Jesus denied Himself. He lived
by the mantra, “Not my will but thy will.”
2. Our reception of God’s grace demands the denial of self.
C. In Luke 9:24 Jesus said, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it.”“
1. Paul put it in these words, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ lives in me and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the
son of God.”
2. Paul was willing to give up everything (Philippians 3:3-10). He died to himself.
He understood this is what occurred at baptism.
a. Romans 6:3-4 – “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized
into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have
been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in
newness of life.”
b. In Colossians 3: 5 – “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as
dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts
to idolatry.”
II. SUCCCESS COMES FROM SURRENDER
A. Not only did Jesus say we deny ourselves. He also said in verse 23 that we “take
up our cross daily.” The cross represented the surrender of a person’s rights,
independence and life.
1. The cross was a terrible means of executing slaves and criminals.
2. It is estimated that about 30,000 people were crucified during the years
leading up to the first century A.D.
3. On one occasion about 40BC, 2000 Jews were crucified at once. Condemned
individuals were forced to carry their cross to the execution.
B. When Jesus said, “take up your cross,” he is not talking about some burden that
we bear, (i.e. Aunt Flossie has a terrible cross to bear”). He is saying “Just like I
am taking up my cross to die you are taking up your cross to die with me.”
1. For a person who takes up their cross there is no going back.
2. For a person who takes up their cross there is total surrender.
C. It’s tough to surrender our rights, privileges and desires.
1. Our faith is often based on convenience rather than commitment.
2. Our service to God is often superficial rather than sacrificial.
3. Our devotion to God is often determined by our agenda rather than God’s
agenda.
4. In his book, Radical, David Platt tells about attending a prayer meeting in an
Asian country where Christianity is not allowed. Everyone had to dress in black
and wear black hoods over their heads so they would not be recognized. Under
the cover of darkness they went to a small house where they crowded in under
the light of a single dim light. There were no chairs, only a hard concrete floor.
They stood in a circle to pray for fellow believers in prison. They prayed for
hours. Platt looked
down and saw a puddle of water on the floor. He was shocked when he realized
it was the tears of these people mingling together in the floor. On another
occasion a group of farmers in the country came together and asked him to
teach the book of Nehemiah. He taught them all day. They asked him to come
back the next day and the next until they had studied the entire Old Testament.
They had never had a Bible teacher before.
III. SALVATION COMES FROM SUBMISSION
A. After denying ourselves and dying with Christ Jesus sais, “follow me.” The literal
meaning of this is, “imitate me.” We do this by submitting to His will.
1. 1 Corinthians 11:1 – “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”
2. 1 Thessalonians 1:6 – “You also became imitators of us and of the Lord,”
3. 1 John 2:6 – “The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the
same manner as He walked.”
4. 1 Peter 2:21 – “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also
suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,”
B. Once there was a man whose face was badly deformed. People ridiculed him and
he soon decided to fine another town to live in. He found a mask that fit over his
face. It was very handsome. In his new town wearing his mask he attracted many
people. He met a beautiful woman, fell in love and asked her to marry him. One
day a person from his old town showed up and learned his true identity. In front of
all of his friends they ridiculed him and forced him to remove his mask so they
could see how hideous he was. He had worn the mask for so long that when he
took it off his own face had been reshaped to the handsome image of the mask. In
the same way – the more we imitate Christ – though it may seem unnatural at first
– the more we will be transformed into His image.
CONCLUSION:
A. As Jesus concludes this discussion with his disciples he asks them a question. “What
shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose His own soul” (Luke 9:23)? 1. Of all he questions we have asked in recent weeks there is none more important
than this.
2. Nothing in life is more important that your relationship with God. Your career, your
money, your investments, your home – pale in comparison with your relationship to
God.
3. You may be a winner in every area of life but you will lose it all one day. Only those
who lose their life for the sake of Christ will find it.
B. We urge you to give your life to Him beginning today as we stand and sing.
