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26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 28 Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. ~ Matthew 16:26-28
Today, we conclude our study of Matthew 16 where the Lord Jesus revealed, for the first time, the startling revelation that He was going to Jerusalem to die on a cross. On the heels of that explosive announcement, the Lord Jesus began to give to His disciples a portrait of the disciple. The disciple is one who is growing in the discipline of being defined by God. Being defined by God translates into obedience. Of course, our obedience to God will never be perfect, but the disciple will grow in his yieldedness to God. In fact, he gladly is defined by God's culture to the degree that he recognizes that the things of this world aren't real. This process is known as sanctification which will increasingly become the means by which the disciple is taught what is really real.
In v.26 of today's passage we read, "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"
This verse is best understood in the context of the previous verse which reads, "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." It is obvious that the life that is lost here is the false life that we have been led to believe yields ultimate satisfaction but the only life that brings true satisfaction is the life the Lord gives us. Simon Peter thought he had arrived when he was the first to acknowledge the Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. That is until he tried to prevent the Lord Jesus from going to the cross. Peter did this because his definitions did not align with God's. This is why discipleship is necessary, in order to redefine our understanding of life. This, we know to be sanctification.
Discipleship is the primary tool that God uses to bring about our sanctification which is the process through which we acquire God's wisdom. Sanctification is all about acquiring God's way of thinking and living out of His culture in this world. Note the usage of the word "soul." The Lord Jesus used it to draw a distinction between it and our spirit. Our soul is made up of our mind, will and emotions. Those who are willing to be defined by the Lord Jesus will find the life they have always longed for and as they find they will be surprised by how counter-cultural God is to our natural way of thinking. His life is an abundant life that satisfies in ways that we could not before imagine.
When we lay down control of our lives, we discover He gives them back with so much more added to it. When we sacrifice our preferences, we discover that our hearts are awakened even more to God and His ways. As this happens our eyes are opened to the truth and we begin to learn that through the process of sanctification we gradually learn to dethrone self from being the god of our lives. The idea isn't denying things for ourselves, the idea is that we have come to the place where we are not living for ourselves anymore. It means that we are gradually learning to dethrone ourselves from the throne of our lives, giving to God the place of the decision making. We will never be perfect at this, this side of heaven. But, the more we dethrone self, the more God will express Himself through our yielded lives.
Following the Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate adventure of them all. In fact, it is the greatest of all adventures because we grow in our experience with Him. The Lord Jesus will always call us beyond ourselves. And, as His followers, we will struggle with serving two masters which have access to our souls. Inside the believer in Christ are the Spirit of God and the flesh. The flesh is the wicked desires within us which will always make life about us. The indwelling Spirit of God will always push God's agenda in our lives through which we will experience the transformation that we all long for. In fact, this is why we long for heaven.
In v.27-28 of today's passage we read, "27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 28 Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."
At His first coming the disciples expected the Lord Jesus to set up a very different kingdom. The Lord Jesus surprised the disciples daily, just He does you and me. The surprise is most often due to our poor theology. This explains why the Jews looked at Gentiles with contempt because they were unable to see that God had always had a heart the Gentiles. The disciples expected the Lord Jesus to set up a political kingdom here on earth but they were not regularly defined by God. Those who are being defined by God realize that God's work with the Jews was and is different than His work with the Gentiles. Here, the Lord Jesus confirmed for His disciples that the kingdom they expected was coming later. In fact, He will bring it at the end of the Tribulation. And, in that kingdom God will give to each believer certain responsibilities based upon the yieldedness to Him that we embraced while here on earth as believers.
The Lord Jesus assured the disciples that some of them would see the kingdom before they died. This happened on the Mount of Transfiguration when Peter, James and John witnessed the glory of God come upon the Lord Jesus. On that mountain the Lord Jesus spoke with long-dead Old Testament figures Moses and Elijah who represented the Law and the prophets respectively. Both, the Law and the Prophets point us to the Lord Jesus Christ who is the fulfillment of them both.
Essentially, the fulfillment of the law and the prophets by the Lord Jesus is about revealing its true purpose and significance. That is, He is the embodiment of the law and He fulfills the prophecies. By doing so He not only underscores His identity but establishes the means by which we are afforded a personal relationship with God. This is unfathomable that the God of all creation would think of insignificant you and me in such a way. It only shows what a mighty God we gladly serve having been redeemed and regenerated by His very life.
