If you had the power to raise the dead, but it cost you your life, would you do it?
That is the central question. I think we could answer that question no. Jesus answered that question yes.
There are a whole bunch of spiritual truths that come from the sacrifice and resurrection pattern. Not the least is the one who holds onto his life will lose it, but the one who loses his life for me, will find it. It’s Good Friday and Easter. You don’t get one without the other. Each one corresponds to a theory of want Jesus did for us – substitute and victory. They are both tied in each other. A church that only preaches one is missing something…