When I was a young Christian, evangelism was often carried out by means of The Four Spiritual Laws, the Roman Road of Salvation, and then Evangelism Explosion. I don’t hear much about those methods anymore, instead I increasingly see signs like that above.
I thought about this when I read Matthew 19 the other night. I read it and then thought about it for the rest of the night. Isn’t that the best kind of Bible reading? Here are a few of my thoughts:
16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
He came straight to the point! What is interesting is the man knew he didn’t have eternal life. This is something we can know.
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, God:
This is quite a nugget, but I am setting it aside for now
but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Uh, the man asks about eternal life and Jesus tells him to obey the Law?? Did he get it wrong? Did he forget to offer the man the free ticket?
I find it interesting that Jesus only mentions the second tablet. Nevertheless, his response is clear, If you will enter into life, keep the commandments.
20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
This is why Jesus pointed him to the Law. The man said, “I’ve done that and I still don’t have eternal life.” Let’s set aside the discussion of whether or not we can obey the Law, the thing Jesus wants the man to recognize is the inability of the law to give life. The Law is good, but it is weak. It cannot forgive sins; it cannot justify; it cannot give life. The man knew he didn't have eternal life and Jesus wanted him to know and to feel deeply, that his best efforts at doing the best thing were not enough, could never be enough, to gain him eternal life. What lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
Argh! it gets worse! More works! Does Jesus not know the Gospel? Or, Is this proof that the teaching of Jesus is not for the Church? Or, Is this what everyone needs to do to be saved? ie. salvation really is by works?
Have you ever noticed that Jesus did not use the same approach with every person? He talked to one man about being born again, to a woman about the water of life, and to this man about riches. We, on the other hand, get hold of a phrase and use it on everyone.
But what is the message? Can life be had by keeping the commandments? No. Can life be had by giving away all your money? No. Where is life to be found? Come follow me. Jesus has life and for me to have life I must come to him. This is the gospel, Come follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
This is why he said these things, to expose the man’s heart. The man loved his money more than eternal life. He loved the things of this world more than heaven. He was full of sorrow, yet not willing to part with that thing that was keeping him from Jesus. This is serious and thought provoking.
Back to this “free ticket to heaven” kind of evangelism. Could it be that many today would have simply offered the man a ticket, and said, “Just sign on the dotted line and you will go to heaven.” But Jesus said, Come follow me. You see, eternal life is not some thing you acquire. It is not some thing you can buy with obedience or sacrifice. Nor is it some thing you need a ‘claim ticket’ for.
Come follow me. Come to Jesus. He has life. He is life. When I come to him he breathes into me the breath of life. The gospel is about Jesus. The gospel invitation is “come to Jesus.” Come follow Jesus.
23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
25 When his disciples heard [it], they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?
26 But Jesus beheld [them], and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
The story now shifts to the disciples. They were rather shocked at all this. I love the ending, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. No matter how you look at it, eternal life is not within my grasp. It’s impossible. I cannot do it. But with God all things are possible. Again the gospel! You cannot do this. God can do this. Amen!
I love this scripture because it is so complex and we often, same a applying universally over emphasis the short comings of the rich young man missing the main message. first we have to understand that Jesus would never say anything that was not true, so with that said the problem is that yes you must be able to gain eternal live by keeping "all" the laws/commands, otherwise Jesus was not being honest. But Paul writes that no one, except Christ, is perfect, so the Young Rich man was not being honest when he said he had kept all these from when he was young or age of accountability. This is the deception of Satan our view is skewed, so we rationalize and say were perfect, but were not.. But the Young man knew this was not true because he asked "what else?" this is s confession that he had not truly kept these. Then Jesus tells him "if you want to be perfect" interesting he does not say gain enthrall life, but being perfect does gain eternal life? Then Jesus say's give everything away, but is this true, is giving everything away a requirement for entering the Kingdom of Heaven ? Can I not keep the law, but give everything I have away to gain it? I'm still perplexed about this, is what Jesus saying true or not? In the end I believe this interaction was not for the benefit of the rich young man or us understanding the short comings of the rich young man, it was for the Disciples and teaching them about salvation, that as you say salvation is from God, we can't earn it, buy it or doing anything for it... we just accept it as possible and that God has done it.. But this interaction is still very interesting to ponder and discuss.
ReplyDeletevery good comments. I responded by making a new post! I thought my comments too long for here, so I created a new post
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