Lives Lost and Found - Mt. 16:25

Greater things are promised to those
who will risk the lesser

Text: Mt. 16:24-26.
At night, it is impossible to see some stars by looking directly at them -- sometimes we can see a thing better by looking at something else!
One of life's ironies is that we gain some things by giving them up. Cf. Prov. 11:24,25.
Mt. 16:25 contains an important principle in regard to gaining the greater by giving up the lesser.

There is not only this life "under the sun" (Eccl. 1:3), but at death "the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it" (Eccl. 12:7).
The same contrast appears in other passages.
1. "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Mt. 10:28).
2. "For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come" (1 Tim. 4:8).
The question we all want an answer to is: how can we get the best out of both worlds?

Ironically, the answer to the question about "life under the sun" in Eccl. 1:3 is the answer given in 12:13,14 -- which has to do only indirectly with "life under the sun."
1. The way to "love life and see good days" right now is to have a godly concern for the life to come - 1 Pt. 3:10-12. Cf. Psa. 34:11-16.
2. We get the full meaning and enjoyment out of this life only when we cease to make it our ultimate pursuit -- by de-emphasizing the temporal, we get not less of it, but more.
We get the best out of this life when we achieve it "serendipitously." (Serendipity = the faculty of making fortunate and unexpected discoveries by accident.)

Conservative = "tending to favor the preservation of the existing order and to regard proposals for change with distrust" (AHD).
1. With money, as with many other things, the surest way to "impoverish" oneself is to be too concerned about holding on to what one has got. Consider Scrooge!
2. The man who "plays it safe" at all costs -- with no higher objective than to protect his holdings -- is among the "cowardly" (Rev. 21:8).
It is possible to have such a tight grip on life "under the sun" that we lose all that life really is.

The context of Mt. 16:25 is Peter's objection to the Lord's death, and the Lord's prediction that the apostles must face martyrdom as well as He.
In effect, the Lord was saying to the apostles: The time will come when you will have to renounce Me to stay alive. If you do this, however, the thing you will have saved will hardly be worth the name "life." On the other hand, if you will go so far as to die rather than deny Me, you will find what life really is.
The general principle applies not only to life itself, but anything we consider important in life. Consider these examples:
1. Comfort.
2. Security.
3. Family.
4. Reputation.
5. Wealth.
6. Pleasure.
7. Happiness.
With anything of value to us, if we will put following Christ above what the world calls by that name, we will find ourselves gaining the thing that deserves that name in the deepest and truest sense.
The more we're willing to risk the lesser quality, the more we gain the greater - 2 Cor. 4:16. Cf. 6:8-10.

Getting the best out of this world is a little like holding a wet bar of soap: it will slip away from us if we hold on too tightly!
Like the star that can best be seen by looking away from it, the best of this life comes to us when we make the life to come our chief pursuit.
"Many who are first will be last, and the last first" (Mk. 10:29-31).
The Christian never gives up anything without gaining something superior.
"But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. But indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ" (Phil. 3:7,8).