Sunday, March 03,
2013, 8:04 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “A Believer’s Prayer” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your
servant is listening. I read Matthew
19:16-30 (ESV):
And behold, a man came
up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is
good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the
commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You
shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and
mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man
said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give
to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When
the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
And Jesus said to his
disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty
will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter
the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly
astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said,
“With man this is impossible, but with God all things
are possible.” Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything
and followed you. What then will we have?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man
will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left
houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my
name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many
who are first will be last, and the last first.
What
good deed?
A man came to Jesus asking what good deed he
must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus’ first response was to ask the man why
he asked Jesus about what is good, for there is only One who is good. Jesus was
saying that God was the definition of, and all that is good. Some people feel
Jesus, by this statement, was saying he, himself, was not God, yet all
throughout his teachings he definitely claimed to be God, which is one of the
reasons the Jews had him put to death. I believe he was letting the man know
that he was/is God, and therefore he had/has the power, ability and knowledge
to determine what is good.
Next, he told the man that if he wanted to
enter life (be saved), he must keep the commandments. The man asked which ones,
and Jesus listed some of the ones that basically had to do with our
relationships with other people, which Jesus later summarized with the single commandment,
“Love your neighbor as yourself” (see Matt. 22:35-40). The man believed he had
kept all these commandments. As far as we know, Jesus did not dispute that. Jesus
had the advantage to know the man’s heart, and he knew what the man was going
to ask next. He was not teaching works-based salvation, yet it is certainly
true that one of the elements of genuine believing faith, which is evidence
that we truly love God, is that we must obey Christ’s commandments (see 1 John 2:3-4;
3:22-24; 5:2-3).
The man was cognizant of the fact that this,
alone, must not be enough for him to gain eternal life, so he asked Jesus what
he still lacked. Perhaps he was of the mindset where he felt as though he could
earn his salvation or work his way to heaven, and since he felt as though he
had already kept all the commandments Jesus listed off, which Jesus would have
known about him, he wanted to know what else he could do to merit eternal life
with God.
Come,
Follow Me
Jesus told the man if he would be perfect, he
must sell all he possessed and give it to the poor, and he would have treasure
in heaven, and then he must come and follow Jesus. Jesus did not tell all his
disciples that they had to sell all they had and give to the poor, yet he did
teach death to self and sin daily, and he did teach that we must follow him in
obedience and surrender of our wills to his will for our lives. All throughout
Jesus’ teachings he taught radical abandonment (rejection) of all that we would
naturally hold on to, and radical abandonment (giving over to) of ourselves to
him as his followers (slaves). He said if we want to hold on to our old lives
of sin and self, we will lose them for eternity, but if we willingly die to
(forego; forsake) our lives of sin and self, then we will gain them for
eternity. That is the same message he was giving this man, only he knew what
was holding this man back from radical abandonment - it was his wealth. And, he
chose his wealth over Jesus.
Although Jesus’ specific message to each one
of us may not be “sell all you have and give to the poor,” the principle is
still there for each one of us. Coming to Jesus Christ means we die to self,
i.e. we let go of everything in our natural lives, and we give it all to Jesus
to be used however he wants – trashed, given away or put to good use. For some
of us, he may have us literally leave all that we possess in this life behind
us in order to go where he wants us to go. For others, he may use those
material possessions for the advancement of his kingdom, such as he uses my
computer so that I am able to write out and send out what he teaches me from my
times with him each day. If I did not possess this computer, I could not do this,
yet truly it is not mine, for it is given over to him and to his service. Yet,
if the Lord said, “Leave it all behind, because where I am sending you, you
will have no need of it,” I would walk away from it all, because Jesus Christ
is my greatest treasure!
Jesus then described how difficult it is for
a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. He gave the illustration of the
largest animal in Palestine going through the smallest opening. Yet, he said,
this would be easier for this to happen than for a rich person to enter into
eternal life with God. Wow! Why so? This is obviously not an indictment against
all who possess great wealth, for there were many wealthy and godly people
throughout scripture, Job included. Yet, the more we possess in this life, the greater
the risk for pride, self-will, a feeling of self-accomplishment and
self-dependence to set in. It is harder for us to see our need of God, and it
is harder to let go of all that we have acquired. And, there is the danger of
making “stuff” our god. That is why it often takes tragic events, hardships, or
times of great difficulty to get some of us to realize our need for Jesus, and
for us to be willing to make the choice between our “stuff” and radical
abandonment to his will for our lives.
Who
can be saved?
This is where the rubber meets the road (the
most important point; the true test of something). We can’t be saved in and of
ourselves, no matter how many good works we do or how many commandments we
perfectly obey, though not many of us have done that, I suspect. “With man this
is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” It is by God’s grace
alone that we are saved (see Eph. 2:8-9). We cannot even come to Christ of our
own accord – the Father must draw us to Christ. And, even the faith to believe
in Jesus is a gift from God – yet a gift that must be appropriated (made our
own) to our own lives. In other words, faith is action and the action required
is total abandonment to Jesus Christ and away from all that is of self and sin
in this life. Jesus wants us to come to him with the humility and simple trust
of a child, and he demands complete and total surrender and allegiance to him
and to him alone. This is the essence of what he told the rich young man
(ruler).
A
Believer’s Prayer / An Original Work / July 31, 2012
With
my whole heart,
Lord,
I pray to be Yours,
And
Yours always.
Lead
me in Your truth today.
May
I love You, and obey.
Lead
me in Your righteousness.
When
I sin, may I confess;
Bow
before You when I pray;
Live
for You and You always.
Love
You, Jesus,
You’re
my friend.
Life
with You will never end.
You
are with me through each day,
Giving
love and peace always.
You
will ne’er abandon me.
From
my sin You set me free.
You
died on that cruel tree,
So
I’d live eternally.
Soon
You’re coming back for me;
From
this world to set me free;
Live
with You eternally.
Oh,
what joy that brings to me.
I
will walk with You in white;
A
pure bride,
I’ve
been made right
By
the blood of Jesus Christ;
Pardoned
by His sacrifice.
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