Matthew 19:23
The
Bible says in Matthew 19:23-25, "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto
you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the
kingdom of heaven. 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
In
dealing with the question of going to heaven or not going to heaven, Jesus said
that it will be especially difficult for one group of people to get to heaven. It
will be difficult for them to go to heaven because it will be difficult for
them to turn their hearts away from their riches and to Christ. If you were to
do an opinion survey of what kind of a person was least likely to get to
heaven, some people would probably think that the greatest of sinners would be
the least likely to get to heaven. For example, sinners like murderers, and the
whoremongers, and thieves, and homosexuals must be the ones who are least to
find salvation and to end up in heaven. Jesus said no, it is not these great
sinners who are least likely to end up in heaven, but it is those who
are rich who are the least likely to go to heaven.
Why
is it that rich people are the least likely to end up in the
Riches
of themselves are not evil, but the love of riches is evil. Even heaven is said
to be made of gold and precious gems, etc. Neither
is it wrong to be rich. Many godly people have been exceedingly wealthy, such
as Abraham, King David, and King Solomon. It is part of God’s plan for some to
be rich, but riches also bring a greater responsibility. The day will come when
everyone will give an account of what they have done with the resources that
God has put into their hands.
Listen
to the warning that James gave to rich people who heap up their riches for
themselves instead of using their riches to do good. James 5:1-3 says, "Go to now, you
rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches
are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is
cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat
your flesh as it were a fire."
When
Jesus said “that a rich man shall hardly enter into
the kingdom of heaven”, the disciples were amazed and wondered out loud
how anyone could be saved. The reason that rich people have such an obstacle to
getting rightly-related to God is because of their material
self-sufficiency, and temptation to love riches more than God. Why were the
disciples surprised to hear Jesus’ teaching about riches? Perhaps the disciples
had seen rich people give large sums of money in the temple, and improperly
thought, as many do today, that the more that is given, the more that one gains
the favor of God. Of course this is not true, because the favor of God is given
freely by grace through Christ to those who trust in Jesus for the salvation of
their souls.
Jesus
seemed to indicate that in His day there was a
lot of false teaching about the giving of money. In the Sermon on the Mount
Jesus warned against giving in order to be
seen of men. He said
to give so discreetly that even our left hand
does not know what our right hand does. When Jesus saw rich men giving
gifts to the temple treasury, He said that a poor widow who cast in two pennies
had given more than all the rich men; because they gave out of their abundance,
but she gave all that she had: 100%.
None
of us can truly follow Jesus unless we are willing to give everything. The key
word is "willing". Anyone who becomes saved
and becomes a follower of Jesus Christ, they surrender their will and their
life to God. If you have never done that, then you have never been saved. The
reason that Jesus told this rich young man to sell all that he had and
give it to the poor was because of how much the young man loved his riches. In
his case riches were a stumbling stone to keep him from God and to keep him
from heaven. His only chance for heaven was to let go of the riches, so that he
could find God. Everyone will have something that
they will be asked to give up if they are to go with God, because everyone has
their own selfish will. We give up our will in order to find His will.
On
the other hand, never think that some material sacrifice that you make will
cause you to be more pleasing to God. Samuel said to King Saul, "To obey is better
than sacrifice." If God wants you
to sacrifice something, it will be so that you can better serve Him. God’s
favor cannot be purchased; it is found by faith in and obedience to Jesus
Christ. God’s favor is given freely and is unmerited because we are incapable
of earning the favor of God, and because God’s favor towards us was purchased
already by the blood of Jesus Christ our Savior.
Unfortunately
for the rich young man mentioned here in Matthew chapter 19, he continued to
love his riches more than God. The disciples were exceedingly amazed at the
statement made by Jesus “that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of
heaven,” and they asked "Who then can be
saved?" They were perhaps
disheartened and troubled. They started to think negatively. In response to the disciples’ negative question, it
says in verse 26, "Jesus beheld them".
The word "beheld" speaks of gazing intently. Jesus beheld the
disciples intently as soon as they started thinking negatively and said to
them, "With
men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Any
negative statement by the disciples was countered
by a positive one by Christ. After all, Jesus was teaching these men to live by
faith. They needed to learn the same lesson
that we also sometimes find so hard to learn. They needed to be reminded, that it’s easy to be negative
in a sinful world, but we must learn to live by faith. It’s easy to be negative
when those around you are hard-hearted, deceitful, and unspiritual. However, we
must be careful not to be so negative when looking at sinful human nature and thinking
of all the things that cannot be done because of the limitations of men.
Instead we should think about God and the power of God to do anything. Watch yourself. Counter every negative thought with
a positive one. Jesus gave an essential idea to the life of faith. He said, "with God all things are possible."
The
disciples were often negative, specifically in
regards to people being saved. It’s no wonder that Jesus was quick to show them
their error. These were the men who were to take the gospel to the
Mediterranean world and beyond. They were to endure great hardships for the spreading of the gospel. They would have a hard time
enduring the hardships ahead if they were negative and thought that there was
little chance that people would be saved upon hearing the gospel. The disciples
were learning that there is enough power in the gospel of Jesus Christ
to save everyone in the world and to transform the world. Paul said in Romans
Jesus made it very clear in His conversation with the young
rich man that salvation requires a total commitment. No one becomes a follower
of Jesus by making a half-hearted or partial commitment. When someone
decides to walk with God, they will lose or forsake something in this world. If
you go with God, you will go a different direction in life than you otherwise
would have gone, and you will go a different direction then the world is going. Peter thought that he and the rest of the
disciples had given up a lot in order to follow Jesus. But if you were to ask
him today, Peter would probably say that he did not lose anything by following
Jesus Christ, and that he and the other disciples
gained infinitely more than he could have conceived. For example, they gained
heaven instead of hell. They gained the tremendous privilege of walking with
and talking with Jesus for three years on the earth. They gained the
power and the authority of apostles. They gained the invaluable opportunity to
be the key figures in the spread of the gospel throughout much of the world. And the apostles gained great rewards when they
went to heaven. On the other hand, anyone who chooses
not to follow Jesus has lost everything of lasting value.
It
turned out to be just as Jesus said in Matthew
There
are two important ideas to remember about forsaking things in this world in
order to follow the Lord. The first thing to remember is that if you sacrifice
or give up anything for Christ, it must be God’s
calling for you to do so. It must be God’s will. The apostles did forsake all
that they had and followed Jesus, but that is because it was the will of God
for them. When Christ was on the earth there were only twelve apostles,
but there were hundreds, if not thousands of other believers during the
ministry of Christ. Most of the believers did not forsake their homes or their
occupations like the twelve apostles did, because it was not God’s will for
them.
The
second thing to remember is that you must be willing to forsake anything that
you have: any possession and any relationship, if it turns out to be the will
of God for you. If there is anything that you love more than God, or if there
is anything that you are not willing to do if God wants you to do it, then you are making a
serious spiritual mistake.
When man allows his selfishness and stubbornness, which we are all
heir to, to dominate him; he will resist going God’s way. On the other hand, if
we understand what Jesus did for us by His death on the cross, we
will be willing to follow Him. Our sins were very great until the mercy of God
took them away. We would have suffered an eternity in hell if it were not for
our Savior. It is a very logical and natural thing to forsake all and follow Jesus.
When we follow the Lord, at first it might appear that we shall lose, but we
end up gaining. When we go our own way, we are tempted to think that we shall
win, but we end up losing. It says in the Proverbs, “There
is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof is the way of death.”
How
vain we humans can be to think that we know more than the loving and
all-knowing God. God loves you, and He wants to see the best possible things
happen to you. If God wants you to give up something or someone and go in a
certain direction in life, it is for your good and for your happiness. He is trying to get you
to give up something that will be harmful to you. Never forget that He knows
the end from the beginning.
God’s
ways are not man’s ways. Jesus said, "But many that are first shall be last, and the last shall
be first." This is not the
philosophy that we hear from the world. The world has a strange and inordinate
affection with everything and everyone that comes in first place. This desire of some men to come in first sometimes reaches
ridiculous proportions, and is often self-defeating. When coming in first
becomes the most important thing to a person, what
often happens is that other things that are important become neglected. And then
sometimes the things that are neglected help to insure that you will not truly
win. For example, if the
desire to come in first causes one to ignore teamwork or cooperation or self-discipline, damaging blows
can be made to the ability of the entire group
to achieve and to perform.
Instead
of having an emphasis on coming in first for our own selfish gains, we should
have an emphasis upon doing our best. Christians should dedicate everything
that is done to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. We should do all things for
His glory and not for our own glory. Colossians 3:17 says, "And whatsoever
you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to
God and the Father by Him."
The
issue of coming in first is really the issue of competition. Learn to compete
with yourself instead of with others, and you will have a more noble and more productive kind of
competition. The most important issue is not how you compare with others but how to learn to improve yourself and your abilities through
self-evaluation and by doing your best for God. Using this yardstick,
when you see a contest, the person who comes in last may actually have
outperformed the one who came in first. The one who came in last may have
dedicated what he did to God and may have achieved the limit of his abilities,
while the one who came in first may have done what he did for purely selfish
reasons and may not have done his best. Make it your goal to never do less than
your best, and to always dedicate everything that you do to God and to His
glory. Remember that God will hand out the prizes at the end of the race of
life. Jesus knows all things, and we are told that
one day the tables will be turned on who will be in first. Jesus said, "But many that
are first shall be last, and the last shall be first."
In
order to illustrate this point, Jesus told a very long parable in Matthew
chapter 20, verse 1-16. He said, "For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with
the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into
his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing
idle in the marketplace. And said unto them; Go you also into the vineyard, and
whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out
about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour
he went out, and found others standing idle, and said unto them, Why stand you
here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no
man has hired us. He said unto them, Go you also into the vineyard, and
whatsoever is right that shall you receive. So when even was come, the lord of
the vineyard said unto his steward, Call the labourers,
and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they
came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.
But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and
they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they
murmured against the good man of the house, Saying
these last have wrought but one hour, and you have made them equal unto us,
which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them,
and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?
Take what is yours and go your way: I will give unto this last one even as unto
you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is your eye evil
because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many are
called, but few are chosen."
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Copyright; 2008 by Charles F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved