Thoughts from Matthew 19…
We are proud of our individualism. After all, most of the great American accomplishments of the past 200 years have come as a result of this attitude. Great men and women have struggled to shake off the shadows that defined them and to strive for greatness. We have great inventors, great teachers, and great leaders because of this struggle to rise up above the mediocrity of our daily lives.
Even in the church, we see the benefits of this individualism. We look back at the atrocities of the medieval church, when worshippers were subservient to the priests, depending on them for what to know, what to feel, and what to believe. The common man was never allowed to read the Bible for himself, and it was unheard of to interpret scripture apart from their leaders. We are glad to be free of these hardships and happily embrace the fact that as believers, we can come to know God and to learn about Him ourselves! The priesthood of believers is real!
I am immensely grateful for these accomplishments. I can strive for greatness, limited only by my own abilities and not someone else’s oppression. I can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and learn about Him directly from His Word. I’m not obligated to a priest or another religious leader for what to do, say, or to think. We have a lot to be thankful for!
But it is too easy to lose some important truth in our rise to individualism. Over and over again in Scripture, the Lord makes this point clear: we are responsible for each other. It’s not just all about me! I am responsible to love and care for my neighbor.
When the lawyer came to Jesus asking for the greatest commandment, He immediately replied that you should love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (see here). But he didn’t stop there. There is also the second commandment. It is important to love God, but we also need to love our neighbor as ourselves. We need to care for, honor, and take responsibility for our brothers and sisters.
A rich man came to Jesus with a simple question, “What do I need to do to have eternal life?” Our Lord didn’t take him through a plan of salvation, nor did He ask him to pray the sinner’s prayer. In fact, He never once told him to pray, nor to trust, nor any of the other critical steps to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Instead, He directed him to the Old Testament laws, to the commandments to help his fellow man. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not lie, honor your parents, and love your neighbor. The man replied with confidence that he had done all that. Surely he must be ready for the kingdom! But Jesus saw that he was missing one thing. He told him to get rid of all his wealth and give it to the poor, knowing that he would have treasures in heaven. And then to come and follow him.
The man couldn’t do it, so he left in sorrow. His wealth was his barrier between him and the Lord.
How can we understand this passage? God’s word says clearly that we are not saved by doing good works. We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ, and Him alone. Jesus’ answer to Nicodemus also shows the same message. We are saved by believing in Him. So is He telling this man something different? Did this man really need to do good deeds and give away his riches in order to be saved and to have eternal life? When we look at this passage, the following points should come out.
First, the ultimate end for this man was not to help others, nor to give to the poor, nor to dispose of his wealth. What Jesus required of the man was to follow Him. He could never follow Jesus Christ as long as he held onto his riches, so the riches had to go. Whatever is standing in the way between you and Jesus Christ needs to go, whether it be big or small. We all need to follow Him!
Second, we need to help our fellow man. This is not optional. As mentioned throughout Scripture, we know that we are not saved by helping our neighbor, yet it is this giving attitude that demonstrates that we do trust and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we trust Him, we will do His commandments. We should be thankful that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, but we demonstrate our true heart by our actions. See also the study here.
And finally, Jesus promises that we will have treasure in heaven. We need to have a spiritual value system, not an earthly value system. Our worldly values are meaningless in God’s eyes, but it is the treasure in heaven which is the most important. This the world that lasts forever, beyond what we can currently see here on earth!
“Make Christ the Lord of your life; trust Him as your Savior; yield your all to Him, and you will eventually receive more than you have ever left.” – H.A. Ironside3
“He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose” – Jim Eliot
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