Our holiness and witness are worth more than our lives
What are Christians willing to sacrifice for the sake of their holiness, integrity, and gospel witness? Not much, apparently.
In the environment of today’s politics and culture wars, the top priority seems to be winning. We have to defeat our enemies — at any cost. When other Christians make pleas that we’re forsaking the above values, we’re told that we don’t know what time it is, and that those principles must be shelved because they don’t help us win.
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Many Christians who are engaged in those battles say they are doing so to protect their country and their families from the evils of leftism. That in itself may be virtuous — we should care about those things — but in making that their top priority, they’re usurping what God’s word prioritizes: Him.
Jesus taught His people to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). Those alone are worth any cost. They must come before everything else in this world, including our power, our comfort, our freedom, our homes, even our families and our very lives. Let’s search the Scriptures for what the Lord says about how much His kingdom and righteousness are worth.
Our witness
In Matthew 13, Jesus gave a series of mini-parables about the kingdom of God:
44 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
In both, those who find the kingdom sell all they have for it. The kingdom is the greatest treasure and should be our hearts’ deepest desire. Nothing in this life is worth more than knowing Christ and finding eternal life in Him; Paul said as much in Philippians 3:
8 Yet 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 9 and be found in Him …
While we strive for winning, Paul calls us to “count all things loss” for Christ. Even our families, if it comes to that? Yes, even our families. Jesus made that clear: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26).
That’s one of several times Jesus said we must deny ourselves for His sake, even unto death:
“Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” (Luke 17:33)
Mark 8: 34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”
Notice in verse 35 that Jesus makes a distinction between Him and the gospel. It’s not only knowing Him that’s worth our lives, but also the good news we proclaim about Him. Our witness is worth our lives.
Of course, through the centuries, countless believers have given their lives and more for the sake of the gospel. They withheld nothing. They never compromised. They never fought back. They suffered unimaginably, and why? Because, as Paul wrote, “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). Here’s what he stunningly said in 2 Corinthians 4 about the loss of all things:
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Related: The hope and point of Christianity is not this life
Some culture warriors may concede that eternal life is more important than this life, and that we shouldn’t deny the foundational doctrines of Christianity. But what about how we live in this life? Is there room for compromise there? That’s where the second term in Matthew 6:33 comes in — righteousness.
Our holiness
The knowledge of Christ has a powerful effect on our lives here and now. He works in us to will and to do His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). His will is that He sanctifies us (1 Thessalonians 4:3). He makes us holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). Our salvation and sanctification are so inseparable that the latter must be worth as much as the former. Our holiness is worth our lives.
God certainly thinks so, judging by His priorities for His people in Scripture. When the Israelites went into battle, God would not give them victory if they tolerated unholiness in their camp. “Keep yourself from every wicked thing,” He tells them in Deuteronomy 23:9. His concern for them is not whether they won or lost; the outcome was always determined by God anyway. He was more concerned with their righteousness than that of their enemies. This played out in Joshua 7 when the Israelites attacked Ai after their victory at Jericho; they lost because one of them “took of the accursed things” of Jericho.
Many of God’s people were killed because of that, showing that God places a higher importance on the holiness of His people than even their lives. He brought their nation to judgment and ruin because of their apostasy and disobedience, costing many more lives and families.
Holiness means being set apart from the world. If we’re not holy in how we conduct ourselves, what’s the point of our battles or even our existence? How are we any better than our enemies if we stoop to their tactics and objectives? If we forsake our holiness, we’ve already lost. We’ve done our enemies’ job for them.
Our holiness also ties back to the first point, about the gospel — holiness is a witness. It’s how others can see the Lord in us (Hebrews 12:14). How we conduct ourselves can be the difference between others glorifying God (Matthew 5:16) or blaspheming Him (Romans 2:24). We’re talking about people’s eternities. Again, without that, what are we even doing? Why are we here? Our best life now? Is that what Jesus died for?
Jesus continued in Mark 8, “Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” What do we have here that’s of equal worth to eternal things? Possessions? Liberty? Power? Our lives? “For what is your life?” James asked. “It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14). What, then, should we value more than our witness (testifying of Him) and our holiness (living like Him)?
The Lord gave everything for us; how can we withhold anything from Him?
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