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LIFE: LOST AND FOUND He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it (Matt. 10:39).
The theocentric principle here is that Jesus Christ is the Lord of life. This implies that He is also the Lord of death. The Bible tells us this specifically. "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death" (Rev. 1:18). Life and death are in Jesus Christ's hands.
Life Is the Crucial Capital Asset Without life, we can accomplish nothing. This is why the author of Ecclesiastes wrote, "For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion" (Eccl. 9:4). David wrote: "What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?" (Ps. 30:9).
Jesus announced that the man who finds his life will lose it. This is a peculiar saying. What was He getting at? To find out, we must consider the second half: "He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." The distinguishing feature here is the phrase, "for my sake." The man who loses his life shall find it if he loses it for Christ's sake. The positive sanction -- gaining life -- comes as a result of losing one's life for Christ's sake.
This implies that the discovery of life in the first half of the statement has something to do with false worship. A man thinks he has found his life on some basis other than Jesus Christ's sovereignty. He has found life for something else's sake. Because he has worked to find life for something other than Christ's sake, he is faced with ultimate loss. He will lose his life. "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36).
Eternal life is also the supreme form of grace. It is God's unearned gift to man. Temporal life is analogous to eternal life, though not equally valuable in God's eyes. It is a gift of God. As with any gift in a fallen world, it can be misused. Some covenant-breaking men view temporal life as supreme. Others view life lived for the sake of a false god as supreme. This passage makes it clear that temporal life lived for Christ's sake is supreme. This implies that temporal life lived for Christ's sake is an aspect of eternal life.
In this passage, life is representative of capital. Eternal life is the supreme form of capital in history. Temporal life is next. Gold, silver, and other forms of wealth are secondary to life. This is why men will sometimes pay large sums to hospitals and physicians in the hope of extending their lives. Other things being equal, the marginal value of longer life is greater than the marginal value of assets that can be enjoyed only in life. Other things may have more value to an individual than temporal life: personal honor, personal reputation, children's inheritance. But without life, no one can enjoy the income generated by capital.
Finding life is desirable. If life is worth more than capital, then securing capital is secondary to finding life. This puts capital in its proper perspective. It is a tool of life. The individual uses capital. He seeks to attain his goals by means of capital. But if his quest for capital undermines the goal of life, meaning life lived for Christ's sake, meaning eternal life, then it is a foolish quest. Covenant-breaking men too often forget this principle. Riches usually testify against the wise judgment of those who possess great capital. "And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God" (Matt. 19:24). There can be exceptions (v. 26), but these are rare.
By using life as the goal of the quest, Jesus identified all other quests as secondary. Life is the supreme goal. So, if a man's quest for life and his seeming attainment of life lead to the loss of his life, then surely the same is true of all other goals: money, power, fame, etc. What is true of a primary quest must also be true of secondary quests.
Temporal Applications Jesus taught clearly that eternal life and death are attained temporally. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:36). Life lived for Christ's sake is eternal life. Life lived for anything else's sake is eternal death, i.e., the loss of eternal life. The concern here is eternal life.
Does this have implications for temporal life? Yes. In this passage, finding life and losing life are accomplished in the present. One person believes he has found life in history. The other knows that he has lost his life in history. In other words, he has died covenantally in history. Paul wrote: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). We are buried with Christ covenantally; therefore, we shall live with Him eternally. "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him" (Rom. 6:3-9). "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead" (Col. 2:12).
Our new life today is secured by Christ's definitive work in the past. Our new life is sealed by our baptism: judicial death and resurrection. We must die judicially in order to live eternally. This is what it means to lose our lives for Christ's sake. Conversely, to live by anything other than Christ's definitive work in the past is to secure eternal death. It is to affirm the sovereignty of something other than Jesus Christ. It is to hope in eternal deliverance from the torments of hell and the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14-15) on some basis other than Christ's perfect judicial work.
What was accomplished judicially in history by Christ serves as the basis of the extension of His kingdom in history. "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen" (Matt. 28:18-20). This is the Great Commission. What Jesus accomplished representatively and definitively in history, His people are to manifest progressively in history. This is the meaning of the Great Commission.(1)
Baptism and Life The Great Commission is given to individuals and corporate bodies, beginning with the institutional church, which alone can lawfully baptize. Covenant-keepers place themselves under its jurisdiction through baptism. Life lived for Christ is lived judicially through baptism, as Paul taught. Baptism publicly incorporates us into Christ's life though the church.
The old dogma, "there is no life outside the church," is true. The church is the incorporated body of Christ. While a redeemed person can be outside of membership in a church, this judicial status is abnormal for the believer. The sacraments are available only in and through the institutional church. Life is found only in the church. The public death of the old sinful man through baptism is the mark of the new life. We lose our lives in baptism and thereby find life. The life we find is an earnest -- a down payment -- on eternal life. "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory" (Eph. 1:11-14).
The church is the model for other corporate endeavors. It is not based on biology, as the family is. It is based on confession. Membership is open to all confessing people, unlike the family, which is a closed institution.(2) The unity of purpose that a shared confession establishes enhances men's efforts to achieve both their personal goals and corporate goals. Paul used the metaphor of the body to describe the interdependent life of the church (Rom. 12; I Cor. 12) seventeen centuries before Adam Smith described the capital-intensive division of labor of the pin-making factory. Corporate efforts are more effective than isolated individual efforts. Without corporate structures to serve as vessels of vision, the individual's efforts are tightly circumscribed: capital constraints, insufficient skills, insufficient information, and short life expectancy. We extend God's kingdom in history through our cooperative efforts, which normally involve participation in corporate structures. To imagine that isolated individual efforts in spiritual affairs are equal in their effects to participation in the church is to imagine that the isolated inventor can achieve success without factory production.
Conclusion Man's top priority is service to God, not eternal life. Service to God is theocentric. Life is theocentric. Through service to God, a man demonstrates his possession of eternal life, meaning life lived for Christ's sake. By placing anything other than life lived for Christ as his top priority, a man risks losing eternal life.
The public manifestation of the attainment of eternal life is participation in the sacraments. These are corporate marks of individual conditions. Incorporation is vital to the life of the believer. It is also vital to the extension of God's kingdom.
What is said here of life applies far more forcefully to lesser goals. He who finds his riches solely in history has lost riches in eternity. He who finds his riches in a promise of eternal inheritance gains riches in history. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 6:33).
Footnotes:
1. Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., The Greatness of the Great Commission: The Christian Enterprise in a Fallen World (Tyler, Texas: Institute for Christian Economics, 1990).
2. Adoption is possible, but not legally mandatory.
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