9-12-22 Rich Young Children

This week’s reading: Matthew 19:16-30

Hi Friends,

     Last week, we ended with Jesus, once again, pointing to the Faith of a child as the standard for our entrance into Heaven. He encourages all His disciples to become childlike. There is a huge difference between being childlike and being childish. One learns to live by Faith, trusting the Father. The other acts like a spoiled brat, thinking life is still about what we think, feel and want. That is for sure NOT who we now are in Christ. The point is for us to place our Faith in God alone, not in ourselves, and certainly not in anything of this world. This week, let’s meet a rich young man who had yet to learn this tough lesson, that it is not about ME, what I possess and what I do or do not do, but the truly rich life is all about Faith in Christ. We are in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 19, verses 16 through 30. Listen to the powerful words of Jesus:

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to 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 man to enter the kingdom of God.’ When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” Mt 19: 23-26 NIV

     Approaching Jesus. This rich young man, as he is described in this Gospel, has the wisdom and courage to approach Jesus, which is good. But his motives and understanding are immediately questioned by Jesus. We can read other recordings of this encounter in Mark 10:17-30 and in Luke 18:18-30, where he is also called a rich young ruler. This would indicate that he had wealth, as well as position in his community. In Mark and Luke, he comes to Jesus calling Him “the Good Teacher,” which Jesus certainly is. But then Jesus tries to dig in a bit deeper into this rich young man’s heart to reveal what is truly going on within him.“‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good except God alone.’” (Mk 10:18) One of the core beliefs in Christianity is that Jesus IS God. He is One Person of the Triune Being: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So what is with this question here? Could the real question be, “Do you believe that I Am God incarnate? That I alone can open the doors of Heaven FOR you? Or do you come to Me seeking to justify yourself only?” Since Jesus quickly moves on in His discussion with this rich young man, Jesus already knows the sad reality. There seems to be a lack of sincerity in his reason for coming to Jesus. When we rely on our wealth or our own deeds, we find it difficult to rely on God, and this shows a heart that has not yet surrendered to Him as Lord. Note the question this rich young man asks Jesus, “What good thing must I do to get eternal life?” (my emphasis of Mt 19:16) With him, it is still all about MMI. All about getting something, instead of receiving it. Do we make this mistake too? This rich young man seems to truly want to live his life for God, but he is still trying to do so apart from God. But apart from God, living the Abundant Life is impossible…ahhh, but if we are God’s children, then we are no longer apart from God.

     God’s Commandments. Jesus sites 6 of the 10 commandments God gave Moses as He continues His talk with this rich young man. (Ex 20:2-17 & Dt 5:6-21) Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, that is, do not lie, honor your father and mother and do not covet or envy others, or in other words, love your neighbor as you love yourself. (Lev 19:18) All these commandments revolve around our relationships with other humans. We respect the sanctity of every life and of godly marriages when we do not murder or commit adultery. We show God our loving gratitude for what He has given us, that is, our circumstances in life, when we do not steal from others or covet what they have. We are imitating God when we do not lie, but only speak truth in love and grace. And, of course, we are recognizing, with respect, the humans God chose to bring us into this world when we honor our father and mother…and this regardless to how our parents treated us, by the way. We are only responsible for what we do, not what they did or did not do. Forgiveness is key to the Christian life, as I said a couple of weeks ago. The truth is no human is without flaws and weaknesses. Our parents could only give what they had within them to give. If our parents were never loved by their parents, and never received God’s Love either, then how could they fully love us? Forgive and choose to honor them, not because any of us deserve it, but because God deserves our grateful obedience. Jesus points only to these human relational commands because, if we can’t get these human to human relationships right, then the other first 4 are impossible. More about this later on. This rich young man claims to have followed every one of God’s commands to the “T,” to which Jesus responds with compassion. In the Gospel of Mark, we hear “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” (Mk 10:21) What a beautiful example of God’s understanding heart and patient mercy towards us, right? This rich young man probably really believed that he followed every commandment and followed them perfectly, but the truth is, apart from God, we cannot. This was the whole point to giving humans these high commandments, to reveal our sinful and selfish hearts. (see Ro 3:20) Because of our fallen MMI mentality, no one can obey God’s commands, all the time, in all situations, apart from Him. (see Ro 8:7) We can only approach obedience as we surrender to Jesus as our Lord. Then He will give us the desire and ability to follow them as closely as humanly possible. (see Php 2:13) Again, apart from God, living the Abundant Life is impossible…ahhh, but if we are God’s children, then we are no longer apart from God.   

     Do you have this world or does it have you? The talk continues as Jesus lovingly says to this rich young man that he still lacks one thing. Even if he has been wonderful and selfless in all his relationships, “Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’” (Mt 19:21) And as we all should be familiar with, this rich young man walks away, very sad, because “he had great wealth.” (Mt 19:22) The question I posed above though would ask, does he have great wealth, or does that great wealth have him? Who is really in control of his life: himself or his wealth? Where is he basing his identity: on God or on this earthly wealth? We should really have sympathy on this rich young man. He is crying out to Jesus, in essence saying, “I’ve done it all, so why do I feel like I’m still missing something?” Have we ever felt this way? And what is it that he is missing? Could it be a relationship with God? Again, where is the foundation for his “name”? Please notice, I have been calling him by the name the Bible calls him, “the rich young man,” because this is the way he saw himself. It was his wealth that defined him, and even the thought of letting that all go, was devastating to him. Give to the poor and you will have treasures in Heaven, is what Jesus says. Jesus is trying to reach his heart so he can discern which treasure is really worth his time, effort and life: those here or those in heaven? You see, part of being obedient to God here, in this world, is sowing good and righteous seeds for the next world. When we are generous here, we will be rewarded there. Again, not because we deserve it, but because God will reward our trust in Him. Trust, then obey, then rewards. This is God’s way. The WHY we obey is key…because we have Faith. It is not to get anything from God, but Faith in the fact that Jesus already opened Heaven for us. We obey out of gratitude for His Love, His Sacrifice and His Indwelling. Grateful Obedience…this is the phrase God has put on my heart lately, and it describes the person we were always meant to be. Growing IN Christ, becoming transformed into His likeness, means we will follow Him. As we mature, more and more, we will give up the things of this world that are replacing our identity as a Child of God. Even a lack of wealth should not define us. Our “name,” our identity, WHO we are, should stem only from the fact that we have been given the right to be called a Child of God. (see Jn 1:12) Then we trust Him to bring whatever it is we need, when and how we need it. (see Mt 6:33) But if we are still holding on to the things of this lower life, white knuckled, then can we follow Jesus? My Friends, these verses are not a call to poverty. Just like singleness that we talked about last week, some are anointed by God to live with no earthly possessions. I think of St Francis who was born into wealth, but then renounced it all after his conversion, and lived the rest of his life pointing others to God. This was God’s anointing on his life. God doesn’t have a problem with us being financially secure, so long as that is not our idol, so long as we trust God more than anything in this world. Money is not evil. It is what we choose to do with our finances that can make it good or bad. If we use our funds to build a child’s hospital, money is good, right? But if we use it only to indulge ourselves and never bless others, then it can be a problem. So here God is not saying we all must become paupers to follow Him…but then again, if this is what God is calling you into, then obey and trust He will provide. The real issue here, of course, is that the wealth of this rich young man defined him, and in doing so, it revealed the state of his heart. And the heart of the matter is always a matter of the heart. The rich young man could not envision a life without his wealth. His wealth was the only world he really wanted. His wealth was his idol. His wealth was his identification. I can ask us also, where do we place our identity? Again, apart from God, living the Abundant Life is impossible…ahhh, but if we are God’s children, then we are no longer apart from God.   

     Misunderstood. As this rich young man turns away from Jesus and the only Way to have the Eternal Life he said he was seeking, Jesus turns to His disciples and astonishes them. People of that day, and maybe now too, believed riches were sign of God’s approval, so it should be evidence that the rich would “get in.” But as with most things, we humans get it all backwards. No one can buy our way into Heaven. It is Faith in Jesus alone that opens the door for us. If we have this saving Faith, then we will start living by it, doing the good works God designed us to do, like being generous. (Eph 2:10) It seems this rich young man was not willing to do that. The image of a camel going through the eye of a needle is almost hilarious, if it wasn’t so sad. Too many well meaning people still think they can accomplish this impossible feat of getting into Heaven by their own efforts. Like these disciples, we think our worldly positions, possessions or performance are what opens the doors to Eternal Life, but we misunderstand God’s Holiness when we think this. We think that we are good enough and somehow deserve Heaven, but we are sadly mistaken. Many times I have said, many more times I will say, good people do not go to Heaven. Only holy people do, and there is only ONE WAY to become holy. We must be rid of all our sin- our MMI nature, our selfish thoughts, emotions, desires, and our self-righteous deeds. Which one of us can do this? We are born sinful.Even if we could act unselfishly, no amount of “good acts” will ever wash that original, deep stain away. One way: we must surrender to The Way. In paying for our sin debt, Jesus wipes our slate clean. He gives us a new identity that is not based on this temporary world, but founded in our Loving Father, our sacrificial King and our patient Holy Spirit. God renews our soul so that we can think, feel and want what He thinks, feels and wants, more and more. And He transforms our works so that they truly are good works, pointing to our Holy Father instead of ourselves. This rich young man misunderstood what could grant him Eternal Life because he kept looking at himself. The disciples of Jesus misunderstood what it takes to enter Heaven because they kept looking at this world. I pray you and I understand, it has nothing to do with what we have or who we are before we encounter Christ. But it has everything to do with Whose we now are after we are IN Christ. This is the only way to live the Abundant Life here, AND have Eternal Life forevermore. Again, apart from God, living the Abundant Life is impossible…ahhh, but if we are God’s children, then we are no longer apart from God.   

     Abundant Life and Eternal Life. As usual, Peter steps up to question Jesus. After all, these disciples are not rich young people. They have given up everything already in order to follow Jesus. “What then will there be for us?” Peter asks. (Mt 19:27) Jesus is not dismayed by his question because Peter is not being selfish here. He seriously wants to catch a glimpse of what Heaven will be like for the fully surrendered followers. The picture Jesus paints for them must have left them all speechless. These Apostles will sit on their own thrones, judging God’s chosen people, right along side Jesus. What an inheritance these faithful men will receive. Yet Jesus promises rewards for you and me too. “‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus said to them, ‘no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.’” (Lk 18:29-30) God will take care of us as we seek to take care for His Kingdom. The Abundant Life is not one where we have all the passing pleasures of this world, but one where our character continues to develop into that of God Himself. So no matter what we have or do not have, we will remain at peace, sharing joy and acting righteously. Whatever our circumstance, we will be content because we belong to God and Eternal Life is our true reward. Obediently following Jesus, we will learn to sow what we have here, and look forward to the harvest in this present age, but more so in the age to come. We live abundantly here, loving God and others as much as humanly possible, then we look forward to Paradise when our time here is done. God will bless us here, and bless us even more hereafter. It is important to note that the Gospel of Mark cautions us that “persecution” will come with whatever God grants us here. But not to frighten us. As we follow Jesus, we should expect persecution. But just like Jesus is triumphant, so too are we IN Christ. He is the only Way we can have life here, and there. Again, apart from God, living the Abundant Life is impossible…ahhh, but if we are God’s children, then we are no longer apart from God.   

     First, last and last, first. We will discuss this interesting verse more next week as we read the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. Our reaction or response to that story Jesus shares will help us gauge where our heart is as far as loving one another the way Jesus loves us. I will close with this idea of what is impossible for us. What we need to come to grips with is that there really is no greater wealth than to belong to God and receive Eternal Life. Our Salvation is of the greatest importance to God, as well as of the greatest worth to us. Salvation means we are reconnected with God, Who is Life. Salvation means we can be the person God originally designed us to be, filled with peace and joy to the overflow. Salvation means we can love God with all we’ve got and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Those other 4 commandments Jesus did not mention to this rich young man revolve around our relationship with God, which can only come about through Salvation. By God’s Grace, through Faith in His Love and Provision, we can have no other god besides the One True God. Hear God commanding us to Revere Him above all others. By God’s Grace, through Faith in His Love and Provision, we can have no idols based on this passing world. Hear God commanding us to Recognize Him as being nothing like this world. By God’s Grace, through Faith in His Love and Provision, we can keep God’s Name sacred, not demeaning His reputation by being careless with His Name.Hear God commanding us to Respect Him and His Immaculate Character. And by God’s Grace, through Faith in His Love and Provision, we can find holy rest in God, trusting Him to provide for all our needs. Hear God commanding us to Remember Him and His Faithfulness. As we keep these first 4 commandments to Revere Him, Recognize Him, Respect Him and Remember Him, we will not be last in Heaven. We will all be the rich young children of God. For, my Friends, there is more wealth in being God’s, than all the wealth of this world put together. The more I live according to this truth, the more I do have, enjoy and share the Abundant Life, as I look forward to my Eternal Life in Jesus. How about you? Then won’t you join me?

     Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.

<>< Peace, Diane