31

Losing Your Life to Save It
(Mark 8:34–38)

And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” (8:34–38)

Following Peter’s great confession of Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God (8:29; cf. Matt. 16:16), this passage gleams like a crown jewel for which the rest of Mark provides the gilded setting. It is at this point that Jesus Himself, the divine evangelist, invites all sinners to embrace Him in saving faith and become His disciples.

In contrast to the man-centered, feel-good platitudes that pervade contemporary Christendom, the gospel preached by Jesus was a sobering call to self-denial, suffering, and absolute surrender. False gospels entice their hearers with promises of material prosperity, physical healing, earthly success, self-esteem, and an easy life. The true gospel deals a deathblow to such counterfeits. The Lord Jesus calls His followers to humble brokenness, a life of self-sacrifice, and a willingness to endure hardship for His sake.

This brief but fundamental sermon from Jesus is recorded in all three of the Synoptic Gospels (cf. Matt. 16:24–28; Luke 9:23–27), and reflects the Lord’s consistent teaching on the character of saving faith and the cost of discipleship (cf. Matt. 10:32–33; Mark 10:17–27, 39; Luke 9:57–62; 12:51–53; 13:23–24; 17:33; John 8:31; 12:24–25). As Jesus had earlier told the Twelve when He sent them throughout Galilee (cf. Mark 6:7–13),

On a later occasion, the Lord similarly challenged a large crowd to consider the cost of following Him, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:27–28). The gospel Jesus preached was neither an appeal to people’s felt needs nor a message of easy believism. He called for total submission and unreserved commitment to Him.

This concise, powerful portion of Scripture may be sorted into three headings: the principle of true discipleship, the paradox of true discipleship, and the punishment for false discipleship.

THE PRINCIPLE

And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” (8:34)

The recognition that Jesus was the divine Messiah, as articulated by Peter’s confession (8:29), represented a euphoric moment of realization and clarity for the apostles. Their joy was quickly eclipsed by the news that Jesus must suffer and die (v. 31). The Twelve had difficulty accepting the notion of a suffering Messiah, as evidenced by Peter’s impetuous reaction (v. 32). In reality, they were setting their minds on man’s interests (v. 33), thinking only of glory and blessings for themselves in the messianic kingdom. What they failed to understand was that God’s plan of redemption required a sacrifice for sin (cf. Isa. 53:10–12; John 1:29).

Having explained to the apostles that He was going to die, Jesus summoned the crowd with His disciples and began to disclose that suffering and persecution would be the lot for anyone who wishes to follow Him. The sobering nature of Jesus’ words affirmed the reality of the apostles’ faith. They had already experienced the cost of leaving families, homes, and occupations behind to follow Jesus (Mark 10:28–30). His teaching in this passage reinforced their absolute commitment to Him. For the unbelievers in the crowd, Jesus’ words come after Me comprised an open invitation to place their faith in Him and join His disciples. To do so would cost them everything. As the Lord made transparent, true saving faith is characterized by self-denial, cross bearing, and submissive obedience.

Self-denial. The person who desires to follow Christ first must deny himself. The verb deny (from the Greek aparneomai) is a strong term, meaning “to have no association with” or “to disown completely.” The same word is used to describe Peter’s denial of Jesus (Mark 14:30–31, 72) and Christ’s denial in heaven of those who deny Him before men (Luke 12:9). The Lord’s point was that those who wished to follow Him must be willing to disown themselves and give up everything for His sake (cf. Matt. 13:44–46). They must abandon both their self-righteousness and their sin, submitting all their ambitions and agendas to Him.

Inherent in the reality of self-denial is the affirmation that the sinner cannot gain entrance into heaven through his own self-righteous or religious efforts. For those in the crowd still trapped in the legalism of the Pharisees and scribes, the call to self-denial was a command to abandon their apostate system of externalism, works-righteousness, and hypocrisy (cf. Matt. 5:20–48). That was the very message Jesus preached in the Sermon on the Mount, when He insisted that salvation is given to those who are poor in spirit (Matt. 5:3), meaning those who recognize their spiritual bankruptcy before a holy God (cf. Isa. 64:6). Grace is not extended to those who think they are well but to those who know they are sick (Mark 2:17). It was not the self-assured Pharisee whom Jesus declared to be righteous but the undeserving and self-confessed unworthy sinner who cried out for mercy (Luke 18:14).

Jesus’ hearers needed to recognize that they could not merit God’s favor through outward conformity to the rituals and traditions of Judaism. Unable to keep the law perfectly (James 2:10), they fell woefully short of God’s standard of holy perfection (Rom. 3:23), and thus deserved divine condemnation and eternal death (Rom. 6:23). Only by rejecting their self-righteous efforts as worthless and clinging to God’s gracious gift of righteousness through faith in Christ could they be saved (cf. Rom. 3:24–28). When the apostle Paul was regenerated by God, he denounced his former good works as a Pharisee, calling them worthless (Phil. 3:3–8). As he explained, true righteousness is not a “righteousness of [one’s] own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith” (v. 9). The sinner denies himself when he abandons self-reliance and self-confidence, instead depending on Christ’s power and mercy alone for salvation.

The gospel call to self-denial also necessitates repentance from sin and selfish ambition (Luke 5:32; 14:26; 24:47). Those who follow Christ must do so on His terms, not theirs. They must be willing to break completely with their former way of life (cf. Isa. 55:6–7), turning to God from falsehood (1 Thess. 1:9) and abandoning the old habits of their sinful flesh (Rom. 6:6; 7:18; Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:5). All that they used to love must be rejected (1 John 2:15–17; cf. Rom. 13:14), having been replaced with undivided love for their Master (Matt. 10:37; John 8:42; 14:15, 23).

Thus, to pursue Christ not only requires embracing Him as Savior but also wholeheartedly submitting to Him as Lord. At the moment of salvation, those who formerly were slaves of sin are transformed into slaves of righteousness (Rom. 6:17–18) and slaves of Christ (1 Cor. 7:22; 1 Peter 2:16), so that His desires, purposes, and will become dominant in their lives. His Word becomes their mandate and His glory their highest ambition (2 Cor. 5:9). Thus, the redeemed can declare with Paul “For to me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21); and elsewhere, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20; cf. 6:14).

Cross bearing. The person who wishes to come after Christ must, secondly, take up his cross. The cross in Jesus’ day was not the iconic, sentimental symbol that it has become over two millennia of history. For those living in the first century, a cross was universally understood as an instrument of execution, similar to the way an electric chair might be viewed in modern times. Unlike contemporary forms of execution, crosses were designed to prolong the agony of death for as long as possible. As instruments of torture, shame, and execution, they were reserved for the worst criminal offenders and enemies of the state. The Romans crucified their victims in public, along highways, as a gruesome reminder of what happened to those who defied Caesar’s imperial authority. Estimates suggest that as many as thirty thousand Jews were crucified during Jesus’ lifetime. Thus, when the Lord used a cross to explain the cost of discipleship, His audience knew precisely what He meant.

Jesus’ point was that those who desired to be His disciples, rather than seeking prosperity and ease, must be willing to endure persecution, rejection, hardship, and even martyrdom for His sake. To follow Christ was to embark on a path of adversity and maltreatment. As the Lord later explained to His disciples,

Not every believer will die as a martyr, but every faithful follower of Jesus will love Christ so fully that even death is not too high a price for eternal joy. All believers inevitably suffer to some degree because the world hates those who belong to Him (2 Tim. 3:12). Thus, to take up the cross is a metaphor for being willing to pay any price for the glorious gift of life He gives (cf. 1 Peter 4:12–14). True conversion causes a person to view the Lord Jesus and the hope of heaven as so precious that no personal sacrifice is too much. As the apostle Paul explained to the believers in Corinth, “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:17–18).

Those who initially profess Christ, but are unwilling to suffer for His sake, expose the fact that they are not truly His disciples. As the Lord Himself explained in the parable of the soils, “These are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away” (Mark 4:16–17). Conversely, those who endure trials and hardship for the honor of Christ prove the genuineness of their faith (1 Peter 1:6–7).

Loyal obedience. Third, as Jesus’ words follow Me indicate, discipleship requires loyal and continual obedience to Him. The verb follow (a form of the Greek word akoloutheō) is the same verb found in John 10:27, where Jesus described believers as His flock, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” Like sheep submitting to the voice of their shepherd, genuine followers of Christ are characterized by loving obedience to Him and His Word. As the Lord explained to a group of “Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine’” (John 8:31).

At the end of His ministry, Jesus reiterated the truth that faith in Him necessitates submission to Him. Using imagery similar to this passage (Mark 8:34–38), the Lord declared, “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him” (John 12:25–26). On the night before His death, in the upper room with His disciples, the Lord reminded them, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15), and “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word” (v. 23), and again, “You are My friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14; cf. 14:21, 24; 15:10). Clearly, Jesus considered a life of obedience to be a nonnegotiable reality of genuine discipleship.

The rest of the New Testament echoes that same reality. Though believers are not saved on the basis of their good works (Eph. 2:8–9; Titus 3:5–7), those who have been saved will inevitably demonstrate the fruit of a righteous life (cf. Matt. 3:8; Gal. 5:22–23). Thus, obedience becomes a litmus test for regeneration (cf. Luke 6:43–45). As the apostle John explained,

Those who live in obedience to Christ demonstrate that they are truly His disciples. Conversely, those who persist in unrepentant sin give evidence that they do not belong to Him (cf. 1 John 3:4–10).

It is important to note that self-denial, cross bearing, and obedience are not meritorious works that somehow earn salvation. Nor do they comprise a list of sequential steps that must be followed to be saved from sin. Rather, they are the inherent characteristics of repentant faith and the new birth, which is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8; 2 Tim. 2:25) imparted by His Spirit at the moment of salvation. Those whom God saves He transforms, giving them a new heart (cf. Ezek. 36:25–27), so that out of love for the Savior, they eagerly deny themselves, endure suffering, and submit obediently to His Word.

THE PARADOX

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (8:35–37)

The Lord expounded on the nature of true discipleship by using a paradox. As Jesus explained, For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. Those unwilling to surrender their lives to Christ, choosing instead to cling to sin, selfish ambition, and acceptance by the world, will one day lose their souls to everlasting death. But those willing to abandon everything for the sake of Christ will receive eternal life. Jesus, of course, was not suggesting that every form of self-sacrifice has spiritual or eternal value but only that which is done for His sake and the gospel’s.

In Matthew 13, the Lord illustrated this paradoxical principle with two parables about the kingdom of salvation:

In the same way that one might sell all he owns to gain something of far greater value, so believers are eager to give up everything to gain Christ and the salvation He alone provides. As the apostle Paul explained, speaking of the self-righteous works he abandoned for Christ’s sake, “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8).

The Lord continued by posing two rhetorical questions: For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? To obtain all of the riches, respect, and religious accolades this life could offer and yet die apart from Christ is to be eternally destitute. The world and all it contains is passing away (1 John 2:17), soon to be consumed with fire (2 Peter 3:10–12). But each person’s soul will live forever. For those who joyfully embrace that reality, it is incredible to think that anyone would forfeit eternity in heaven for a few fleeting decades of self-indulgence in this life. Yet that is what most people do (Matt. 7:13). Such is the power of human sinfulness (cf. John 8:42–47).

On a different occasion, the Lord Jesus illustrated this truth with a parable about a wealthy fool who thought only of the present and failed to plan for eternity. As Luke reports,

To gain the whole world but reject Christ is to lose one’s soul to hell. But to give up everything this world offers for the sake of following Him is to gain eternal riches (cf. Matt. 6:19–21).

THE PUNISHMENT

For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels. (8:38)

The purpose of Jesus’ first coming was to suffer and die as the only sacrifice for sin acceptable to God (Mark 10:45). But, as He reminded His audience, a future day is coming when He will return as sole sovereign in triumph and judgment (cf. Rev. 19:11–16). As the divine Judge (John 5:22), Jesus Christ is the determiner of every person’s eternal destiny. Whoever rejects Christ in this life, being ashamed of Him and His words, will be rejected by Him at the judgment (cf. Matt. 10:32–33). In this context, ashamed (from the Greek verb epaischunomai) means to despise, reject, or refuse to accept. The only people who will be saved are those who are ashamed of themselves but not ashamed of Him.

Every sinner ought to be utterly ashamed over his own wicked thoughts, words, and actions, even over self-righteous pride and hypocrisy. As noted earlier, the gospel calls sinners to deny themselves by abandoning both sin and self-righteousness. True believers are characterized by brokenness, humility, and a sorrow that leads to repentance. By contrast, unbelievers are ashamed, not of themselves but of Christ. They love their sin, so that their “glory is in their shame” (Phil. 3:19; cf. Jer. 6:15); they prize the approval of this world (John 12:43), and are therefore unwilling to embrace the suffering inherent in following Christ. Moreover, they see no need for the gospel, thinking they can gain heaven through a righteousness of their own making (cf. Rom. 10:3). Consequently, they find the message of the cross to be offensive and foolish (1 Cor. 1:18, 23).

Although the Lord Jesus deserved honor, glory, and worship, He was rejected by His own people (John 1:11). The nation of Israel had eagerly awaited His arrival for centuries. But when He came, the religious leaders and the people were ashamed of their own Messiah. The Lord referred to them (and all people like them) as this adulterous and sinful generation. In using that description, Jesus was not referring to literal adultery but to spiritual harlotry (cf. Isa. 57:3–10; Ezek. 16:35–36; Hos. 2:13). First-century Judaism had replaced true religion with dead traditions and superficial legalism. Though the nation no longer worshiped physical idols, Pharisaical religion had created one great idol out of the rabbinic system of ceremonies, traditions, and external rituals (Mark 7:6–13; cf. Matt. 23:13–36).

If anyone is ashamed of Christ in this life, like the apostate leaders of Israel were, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels. Using Old Testament imagery that was readily familiar to His listeners, Jesus declared the terrifying end that awaits all who reject Him (cf. Matt. 25:31–46). In Daniel 7:9–14, the prophet recounted a powerful vision of that future judgment:

By using the title Son of Man (a designation He applied to Himself more than any other in the Gospels), Jesus directly connected Himself to Daniel’s vision. One day, in fulfillment of that prophecy, the Lord Jesus will return as King and Judge (Mark 14:62). He will return to earth in glory to establish His reign over the whole world. The rugged cross will be replaced by a royal throne. When that day of reckoning comes, the Lord will destroy His enemies (2 Thess. 1:7–10), and they will be cast into eternal hell (cf. Rev. 14:10–11).

For believers, the return of Christ is their blessed hope, a comforting promise that they eagerly wait to see fulfilled (Titus 2:11–14; Rev. 22:20). In the meantime, they are not ashamed of Christ or His Word (Rom. 1:16; Phil. 1:20; 2 Tim. 1:12; 1 Peter 4:16). Having abandoned their sin and self-effort, and wholly embraced the Lord Jesus in faith, they rest confident in the knowledge that they are forgiven and redeemed. The wondrous reality is that their Savior is not ashamed of them either. As the book of Hebrews reveals, Jesus “is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Heb. 2:11), and “God is not ashamed to be called their God” (Heb. 11:16).

For unbelievers, the certainty of final judgment is a terrifying reality (Heb. 10:29–31). As the Scriptures declare, “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27). On that day, those who refused to abandon their sin or who trusted in their self-righteous efforts will be irrevocably and eternally condemned to hell (cf. Matt. 7:21–23; cf. Rev. 20:11–15). But those who obeyed the invitation of the gospel—embracing the Lord Jesus Christ in humble, repentant faith—will not be put to shame (Rom. 9:33). Having abandoned this world for the sake of Christ, they will live with Him forever in the world to come. As the Lord Himself promised, speaking of the glories of the new earth, “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son” (Rev. 21:7).