Friday, February 27,
2015, 3:55 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Lord, Move Me.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Luke 18:18-30 (NASB).
One Thing You Lack
A
ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except
God alone. You know the commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder,
Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” And he
said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, He
said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and
distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come,
follow Me.”
When we come into this life we are all born with sin
natures, separated from God, and without hope. All of us have sinned, and we all
come up short of attaining the approval of God and the hope of heaven (See Ro.
3:23). Not one of us can keep the whole law with absolute perfection, so the
law can never save us. Only by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ and
his blood shed for our sins, can we have the hope of eternal life in heaven
with Jesus (See Eph. 2:8-10). Yet, the question always remains: “What is faith?”
Earlier Jesus had stated that if anyone would come after
him, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and self)
and follow him (in obedience). He said that if we want to hold on to our old
lives (of living for sin and self) that we will lose them for eternity, but if
we willingly die to our old lives, we will gain eternal life (See Lu. 9:23-25).
The apostles taught the same truth with regard to our eternal salvation. Paul
said the way we come to know Christ is “that, in reference to your former
manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in
accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of
your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been
created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (See Eph. 4:20-24).
I believe this is the essence of what Jesus was telling this
rich young ruler. So many people are willing to “do” things “for” God on their
own terms. They may keep at least some of the rules, to the best of their
ability, and they may even live morally clean lives, but they won’t yield their
lives to Jesus Christ and give him everything. Jesus is saying, though, that to
be his followers we must be willing to lay it all down to follow him. He wants
our all on the altar. We can’t be his fully devoted followers if we are holding
on to “other gods.” For the rich young ruler, his god was his wealth. He was
not willing to give it up. For others it may be something else. It could be our
entertainment choices, reputation, career, houses, possessions, pride, and/or self-will,
etc. A “god” is anything we give our hearts, minds, loyalties, emotion and
devotion to in place of or above God. These we must forsake.
When He Heard These
Things
But
when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
And Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who are wealthy to
enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of
a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” They who heard it
said, “Then who can be saved?” But He said, “The things that are impossible
with people are possible with God.”
So, what is the essence of what Jesus said here? I believe
this message reaches far beyond just physical wealth, though that is a very
difficult thing, evidently, for the rich to let go of. Many things of this
world may have strongholds on our lives, and we may not be willing to let go of
them to follow Jesus, and that is indeed very sad. I believe the principle here
is that it is hard for those who possess much in the way of the things of this
world to enter the kingdom of heaven, because it is hard for them to let go and
to leave it all behind. This also means that to enter the kingdom of heaven, it
requires that we let go and that we let God have his way in our lives. Sadly
enough, this is not being taught much anymore, and so many people have been
given a false hope of heaven based off a lie.
The message Jesus gave the rich young ruler is the same
message he is giving to all of us, which is we must lay aside (die to) our old
self-life, and that we are to then follow Jesus Christ in obedience and in
surrender to his will for our lives. This is impossible in our own human will
and strength. We can do nothing to earn or to deserve our salvation. Yet God,
who is rich in mercy, made the way possible for us to be saved. Jesus Christ
paid the price for us so we could be set free from bondage to sin, so in his
power and because of what he did for us in conquering sin on our behalf, we can
be saved. All this is the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, yet we must
cooperate fully with his work of grace in transforming us away from living for
sin and self to following our Lord Jesus in submission to his will.
Following Jesus
Peter
said, “Behold, we have left our own homes and followed You.” And He said to
them, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or
brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will
not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal
life.”
I have always loved the stories in the gospels of Jesus
calling his first disciples to follow him. All of them, or nearly all of them, immediately
left their homes and careers, etc. to follow Jesus. They didn’t try bargaining
with Jesus. Those who became his disciples did not ask for more time nor did
they ask if they could follow him on weekends only. It was all or none. Jesus
was very clear on the subject of what it takes to be one of his followers. He
said his sheep listen to him and they follow (obey) him. He said we have to be willing
to leave everything behind, and we also have to be willing to part with family
members or to have family reject and hate us because of our decision to follow
Jesus with our lives.
Yet, the benefits and blessings of following Jesus Christ in
surrender, submission and obedience to him and to his teachings far outweigh
anything we might lose in this life. All that is in this world is destined to
perish, so if we hold on, we are holding on to what is subject to decay, and it
may easily be taken away from us anyway, and then what have we gained? It is
better to lay up treasures in heaven than on this earth. One day we are all
going to stand before God to give an account for what we did with Jesus. There
will be many who will say, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we do such and such for you?”
and he is going to say, “Depart from me, for I never knew you.” And, yet others
will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
What we may have to forfeit in this life is nothing in
comparison to what we gain for eternity. If we are following Jesus Christ in
obedience, and we are being his hands and his feet to the world around us, and
if we are sharing with others the truth of the gospel of our salvation so that
many will be saved, we will reap a harvest for our labor in the Lord. If we don’t
see the harvest now, in this time we have on the earth, one day when we get to
heaven we will get to meet all the people whose lives we have touched for Jesus
on this earth. They are the treasures we are laying up in heaven.
May we all take this lesson to heart, and may we all take
God and his word seriously, and may we all lay it all down for Jesus and be
willing to go wherever he sends us, and to say what he wants us to say, and to
do what he wants us to do for his glory and honor and for the salvation of
souls and the encouragement and strengthening of the body of Christ.
Lord, Move Me / An Original Work /
October 16, 2011
Be
my desire, my heart set on fire,
Lord,
move me to worship You only, I pray.
Fill
with Your Spirit, my heart overflow.
Lord,
may I long for You; Your word to know.
Teach
me to walk with You, Lord, in Your power,
And
may I serve You, Lord, right now in this hour.
Lord,
how I want to obey You forever.
Help
me to hear You, Lord, so I will not stray.
Teach
me to love You; adore You always.
Envelope
me, Lord, with Your grace today.
Meet
me in my need, and show me Your mercy.
Forgive
me for all things, as I humbly pray.
Counsel
me, lead me, direct me, and guide me,
So
I follow You, Lord, where’er You lead now.
I
love to hear You speak Your words to me.
I
am so grateful that You set me free.
Wash
me, and cleanse me, and make me like You, Lord,
And
I will live with You for eternity.
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