|give up|
We don’t normally encourage people to give up. Certainly not to “give up their life”.
In the gospel of Luke, that is exactly what Jesus commanded to those following Him.
“Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.”
Luke 9:23-24
In a world that holds self-expression, complete freedom of autonomy and the power of freeing yourself to truly live; telling people to give up their own life is not only counter to the cultural language.
This command can easily be framed as hateful.
Jesus certainly isn’t calling for His followers to go toward a path of self destruction to death. That isn’t in line with His continual drive toward loving the world through sharing the good news.
His followers couldn’t share His message if they were truly “giving up” on their life in the most dark and literal understanding of that phrase.
What can be more dark however, is that His followers will still fail to share the true message of Christ if they fail this test from Christ.
The test to give up on their understanding, desire and rules of life. Instead they are called to exchanging those laws and understanding for the ways of Jesus.
Everything, every moment, every decision, every opportunity, every entertainment, really and completely EVERYTHING must be “given up” and laid before Christ.
The stakes are high.
“And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?”
Luke 9:25
So often we look to others to be the ones that give up the world.
Living in a way that is different than the people around us. Look at the famous ministers leading ministries all over the world. Look at the people founding missionary schools and those planting churches among all peoples. Look at the local ministry leaders, helping those in need. Look at the pastors giving so much of their time to pray for the sick and share the Gospel with our neighbors.
They have it covered right?
I’m needed elsewhere. I’ve got other things to worry about. My family needs that extra trip and I need to work extra hard to make just a little more money.
I couldn’t imagine how I could make the time to be a part of that “extra” work.
The problem is that it isn’t the “extra” work, it IS the work.
The life of the follower of Jesus is at its outset a counter cultural decision. It means that the follower makes nearly every decision with this lens; how does this benefit and support the purposes of my Lord, Jesus?
Once we make the decision to “give up”, we are saying some obvious choices. I’m giving up that common race against my neighbors and community to get ahead, to make sure that I build a kingdom here on earth. This can be the first most difficult step, especially when so much of financial advice is masked in christian language of stewardship.
The christian reality is that our stewardship is all for one purpose. The Christian stewards their gifts, jobs, money, time and family; to bring about greater glory for the Lord Jesus.
The messy work is figuring out how we bring that glory about in our daily lives. Some decisions might look very much the same, some events may still be just as important.
Working as a Pastor means my professional life is surrounded by gospel interactions. But just because my vocation is built around sacrificing for Christ, does not mean that all others in my church do not have to live at that same level of sacrifice.
I need to model to my family that I’m not just “professionally” a follower of Jesus, but that when we are home, we invite others into our life, to model the love and life of Jesus.
That when I’m outside of my job, I’m never outside of my faith, that my work as a pastor is the extension of my continued obedience to the way of Jesus.
For your daily life, your job, your spare time outside of that job, is ALL under the Lordship of Jesus. It’s all His time. Those moments every day are all His moments, that He desires to be made central. Some situations; as a coworker expresses need and you have the opportunity to pray over them, will be obvious in their opportunity for Christ’s glory.
Other moments may be more difficult to spot, to judge between being a kind and helpful employee/employer or saying no to extra work to be able to minister to a local mission, join in your weekly prayer group, or serve you church community.
That’s when all our giving up comes into clearer focus.
The real difficulty comes when we begin to realize, there are many more “no’s” we need to give. We are limited creatures, limited in time and energy and finances. So when we are given the choice to “give up” our desires to building our life here, but “passing it on ahead” in the words of the Treasure Principle.
Those decisions, finally saying no to those opportunities, to instead focus upon the gospel opportunities already given to you. Its in those moments of giving up that we will find what Jesus offers, receiving more than we could ever imagine.