By Katherine Roberts
The Verity Fellowship, a resource for women who minister the Word of God, is a gospel-centered ministry of Western Seminary that launched this past year. Today, we are featuring a condensed version of post that was originally run on the Fellowship’s blog, in order to highlight the content that is being provided there. Also, be aware that the Verity Forum, a day of workshops centered on Jesus, is taking place May 7th, 2016.
One of the most difficult things about the gospel is that everything about it is counterintuitive. Do you want glory? You have to humble yourself. Do you want to be first? You have to be last. Do you want to live? You have to die.
I was in ninth grade when I realized that the gospel outlook was profoundly different from that of the world. I was on the cross-country team, and we were choosing a team captain. The group had nominated my friend, Ginny, and me.
At the time, I was not walking faithfully with the Lord, so my heart was selfish. Nonetheless, I’d grown up hearing the gospel, and had been shaped by its counterintuitive mentality. Because of this, when I looked at my ballot and wanted to vote for myself, I instead voted for Ginny.
The votes were tallied, and Ginny won. Later, my coach pulled me aside. “You know,” she said, “If you had just voted for yourself, you would have won.” The message? The right thing to do is to seek your own good before you seek the good of others.
And I felt like that was exactly what I should have done.
Paul Miller, director of seeJesus, helps to explain the reason I felt this way. It is because according to the world, life is like a ladder. At the top of the ladder is success, and at the bottom of the ladder is failure. Apart from Christ, we all naturally see life through this lens. Our time and energy are devoted to climbing this ladder, and avoiding the bottom at all cost.
It is because according to the world, life is like a ladder. At the top of the ladder is success, and at the bottom of the ladder is failure. Apart from Christ, we all naturally see life through this lens.
Yet Jesus reveals an entirely different worldview.
Rather than seek his own glory, Jesus humbled himself. As the Apostle Paul writes, “Although he existed in the form of God, [he] did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, being made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:6-7). Jesus deserved to be first, but he chose to be last.
Remember the Last Supper? The disciples were arguing about which one of them was the greatest. Meanwhile, Jesus “got up from supper, and laid aside his garments; and taking a towel, he girded himself. Then he poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet” (Jn. 13:4-5). It’s hard for us to imagine how shocking and scandalous would have been. The Master stooping to take the place of a servant to wash the disciples’ feet? Unthinkable! But that is just what Jesus did.
It is the way Jesus walked for us. Instead of trying to go up the ladder, he went down in sacrifice.
Finally, rather than seeking to preserve his own life, Jesus chose to die. He said, “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn. 10:11). And that is exactly what he did.
Paul Miller describes this counterintuitive gospel life as the “J Curve.” Picture the letter J, starting at the top of the short curve. The word “life” is written there. Trace the curve down to the bottom. The word “death” is written there, in the trough of the J. This is the counter-intuitive gospel way. It is the way Jesus walked for us. Instead of trying to go up the ladder, he went down in sacrifice.
This is the way that we are called to live, too. Remember that verse in Philippians where Paul says that Jesus humbled himself? Well, the beginning of the verse says, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus “(Phil. 2:5). When we live in this counterintuitive way, we come to know the joy of fellowship with Jesus in his sufferings.
But death is not the end of the story. Go back to your mental image of the letter J. You’re at the bottom. But now trace the curve up the long side of the J. At the top the word “resurrection” is written. This is because Jesus rose from the dead and was exalted. And as a result of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and exaltation, much fruit was produced. You and I, as those who know Jesus and have been (and will be) raised to new life with him, are that fruit!
Jesus promised, “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, the Father will honor him” (Jn. 12:24-26). Resurrection and glorification are the ultimate outcome of a life lived according to the “J Curve.”
So then, what might this look like in your life? Maybe it will mean laying down your life daily to love someone who never appreciates you, or holding your tongue when all you want to do is defend yourself, or letting go of something you desperately want for the sake of another. Whatever it is, ask God to move you from seeing life as a ladder of success or failure, to instead viewing it as a “J Curve.”
Katherine Roberts is currently an MABTS student at Western Seminary, and the co-founder and co-director of the Verity Fellowship.
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