Lose Nothing

Loss causes grief. The greater the loss, the greater the grief. We speak of the "sense of loss" and I suppose we mean the degree our senses are affected by the loss. Losing something trivial produces some mild anxiety unless I take it as a sign of my losing something greater, like my memory to disease. "I can't remember where I put things anymore" can be a statement of great anxiety if it is  tied the fact that my mother developed dementia at an early age. Loss is relative depending on what is attached to it. The more closely it is tied to "well-being" the greater the sense of loss. (The ulitimate word for well-being in the NT is eternal life.)

Jesus saw part of his job description to lose nothing the Father had given him. Imagine the Father in conversation saying to Jesus one day, "Where is Apostle Andrew? I haven't seen him in the Apostle meetings recently." Jesus might reply, "Yeah, he stopped showing up a few days ago. He had some riff with Peter and didn't want to see him." What might the Father say to Jesus next?  Forget the relational side of this matter for the moment. Were twelve apostles working together a part of the Father's strategy for seeing the world reached with the gospel? Were there logistical matters at stake for a successful mission to save the world? It wasn't the only piece of the strategy, or even the most important part of it, but is was pretty important to accomplishing the will of the Father. Jesus' dying on the cross and being raised on the third day was more important, and Judas could be replaced, but can you imagine what things would have been like after Jesus working for three years and getting to Acts 2 and having to replace all twelve apostles?

In John 6 in connection with Jesus losing nothing given to Him by the Father, he anticipated the end game, raising each one up at the last day. He did not want anyone lost, separated from him eternally. But he also wanted them to experience eternal life now (read John 6:39 and 40). As I have pointed out many times, eternal life is quality of life and is relational not merely never-ending. John 17:3 says so. The quality of life with the Father and the Son is tightly wrapped with the quality of life we experience with one another. Why else would so much attention be given to living out the second commandment to love one another within relationship to our physical families, our local church families (remember all the letters in the NT were written either to local churches or leaders of local churches), and even in our relationships with those in the world? Quality of life is not abstract. Eternal life is not abstract. It is a life lived out daily in relationship, first with the Father and the Son, and then with one another. This must go far beyond simply saying to one another, "Be warmed and filled." (Jas.2:14ff)  John wrote, "We know we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death." (1 John 3:14)

It is crystal clear to me that God's design is for this eternal life, this quality of life, not to be experienced in the abstract, but within well defined contexts, the context of the physical family and the local church family. Both contexts test our sincere resolve to carry out His commands and to demonstrate to the world in very tangible ways the veracity of His teachings. Every letter in the the NT advocates for this. Jesus advocated for this in His earthly ministry among His disciples. And, I advocate for this today. The breakdown of the family and the local church surely causes the Father a profound "sense of loss" and it should produce the same level of grief in each of us.