Spiritual Disciplines (Solitude) – Various Texts

• March 11, 2024
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Various Texts

I sit in a bright-lit June meadow at the Abbey of Gethsemane, a Trappist monastery in Kentucky. It’s early afternoon, and I’ve been here since morning in what can only be described as an uneasy solitude. Time is measured here in the chant of crickets and frogs, in the syncopated litany of songbirds, in the silence of tattered wildflowers.

Even though I yearn for this acre of solitude, some other part of me hungers for the larger world of “relevance,” as if my solitude were a rarefied form of loitering. By most standards, I’m not being productive, efficient, or the slightest bit useful. And I can’t help feeling… what? Extraneous? Indolent?

It seems I should be writing something, cleaning something, fixing something. And I still have this tiny but stubborn repository of conditioning inside that tells me I should focus only on others, that sitting around in a monastic meadow is withdrawn. Navel-gazing self-indulgence. Shouldn’t I be back home working in a soup kitchen or something?

Being alone in order to find the world again sounds ridiculously paradoxical. It seems so even now that I’m here. But somewhere along my spiritual journey, I’d stumbled upon a difficult and enigmatic truth: True relating is born in solitude.

Those are the words of author Sue Kidd in her book Firstlight. And perhaps that’s what you imagine when you think about solitude – going to a monastery or a convent and sitting in silence. But that’s only one form of solitude. As another alternative, try this description by Ruth Haley Barton in her book Invitation to Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God’s Transforming Presence.

My entry into solitude often feels like the hard landing of an aircraft that this flight attendant humorously describes: “Ladies and gentlemen, please remain in your seats until Captain Crash and the crew have brought the aircraft to a screeching halt against the gate. And once the tire smoke has cleared and the warning bells are silenced, we’ll open the door and you can pick your way through the wreckage to the terminal.” When life is as noisy and fast-paced as mine, it feels as if my approach to solitude involves slamming to a screeching halt.

The smoke of clutter and distraction billows around me, and warning bells sound, telling me that I have been in a bit of danger and it’s a good thing I’m on the ground. Picking my way through the wreckage of external distractions, I stumble off the plane into the presence of the One who has been waiting for me to arrive, the One who loves me no matter what kind of disheveled shape I am in and is so glad I’ve made it home.

Either way, one of the more controversial issues in ministry and church circles today is busyness and speed. How quickly do we expect the “lost” to be saved? How soon will new churches plant other new churches? How fast should a new believer move into a leadership role? How long should cross-cultural missionaries work on learning a language?

Our internal speedometers are being conditioned to the quickening pace of modern life with its rapid flow of technological innovations. So, in our “age of accelerations,” pressing questions relate to speed – not only for effective Christian mission but simply for healthy Christian lives. Will we be driven by the hurried pace of our world? Or, with the help of God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, and His church, will we find a more timeless (and human) pace for life and mission – a pace that has produced health and fruit across the ages?

In his book Missions: How the Local Church Goes Global, Andy Johnson says this: “The work of ministry and missions is urgent, but it’s not frantic.” That’s good, and the same is true of the Christian life and of the health and growth of our own souls. So, let’s sit together at the feet of Jesus, and consider the pace and patterns of His life and ministry. He wasn’t idle. But neither was He frenzied. From all we can tell from the Gospels, Jesus’s days were full. I think it would be fair to say He was busy, but He wasn’t frantic. He lived to the full, and yet He didn’t seem to be in a hurry.

In Jesus, we observe a human life with holy habits and patterns: rhythms of retreating from society and then reentering to do the work of ministry. Even Jesus prioritized time away with His Father. He chose again and again, in His perfect wisdom and love, to give His first and best moments to seeking His Father’s face. And if Jesus carved out such space in the demands and pressures of His human life, what might we learn from Him, and how might we do likewise?

Now, we have only glimpses of Jesus’s habits and personal spiritual practices, but what we do have is by no accident, and it’s not scant. We know exactly what God means for us to know, in just the right detail – and we have far more about Jesus’s personal spiritual rhythms than we do about anyone else’s in Scripture.

And the picture we have of Christ’s habits is not one that is foreign to our world or our lives and personal experience. Rather, we find timeless and transcultural postures that can be imitated and applied by any follower of Jesus, anywhere in the world, at any time in history. So, what might those be? Let’s look at three.

Jesus Retreated and Reentered

Jesus made a habit of withdrawing from the world and the engagements of fruitful ministry, and then reentering later to do more good. And the same should be true of us. The healthy Christian life is neither solely solitary nor constantly communal. We learn to withdraw, like Jesus, “to a desolate place” to commune with God (Mark 1:35), and then we return to the bustle of daily tasks and seek to meet the needs of others. We carve out a season for spiritual respite in some momentarily sacred space to feed our souls, enjoying God there in the stillness. Then refilled, we enter back in to be light and bread to a hungry, harassed, and helpless world (Matthew 9:36).

For Christ, “the wilderness” or “desolate place” often became His momentarily sacred space. He got away from people. He regularly escaped the noise and frenzy of society to be alone with the Father, where He could give God His full attention and undivided heart.

There is, of course, that especially memorable instance in Mark 1. After “his fame spread everywhere” (Mark 1:28) the day before, and “the whole city was gathered together at the door” (Mark 1:33), Jesus took a remarkable step the next morning. He was up before the sun and slipped away from town to restore His soul in secret communion with His Father. “Rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed” (Mark 1:35).

Given the fruitfulness of the previous day, some of us might scratch our heads. What a ministry opportunity Jesus seemed to leave behind when He left town! Surely some of us would have skipped or shortened our private spiritual habits to rush to the demands of the swelling masses. How many of us, in such a situation, would have the presence of mind and heart to discern and prioritize prayer as Jesus did?

The Gospel of Luke also makes it unmistakable that this pattern of retreat and reentry was part of the ongoing dynamic of Christ’s human life. Luke 4:42 tells us that Jesus “departed and went into a desolate place” – not just once but regularly. Luke 5:16 says, “He would withdraw [as a pattern] to desolate places and pray.”

So, also, Matthew 14:13. After the death of John the Baptist, Jesus “withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by Himself.” But even then, the crowds pursued Him. And He didn’t despise them, but here He puts His desire to retreat on hold and has compassion on them and heals their sick (Matthew 14:14). Then after feeding the five thousand, He withdraws again to a quiet place. “After He had dismissed the crowds, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray” (Matthew 14:23).

This leads to a second principle – and not just that He withdrew but why, for what purpose? What did Jesus do when He withdrew?

Jesus Withdrew to Commune with His Father

He got away from the distractions and demands of daily life to focus on, and hear from, and pray to the Father. At times, He went away by Himself to be alone (Matthew 14:23; Mark 6:46–47; John 6:15). His disciples would see Him leave to pray and later return. He went by Himself.

But He also drew others into His life of prayer. The disciples had seen Him model prayer at His baptism (Luke 3:21), as He laid His hands on the children (Matthew 19:13), and when He drove out demons (Mark 9:29). And Jesus brought His men into His communion with His Father. Even when He prayed alone, His men were often nearby. “Now it happened that as He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him” (Luke 9:18; also Luke 11:1).

Jesus Taught His Disciples to do the Same

Jesus didn’t only retreat to be alone with God. He also taught His disciples to bring this dynamic of retreat and return, communion and compassion, into their own lives (Mark 3:7; Luke 9:10). In Mark 6:31–32, Jesus invites the disciples to join Him, saying, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” Mark explains, “For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.”

The same is true in the Gospel of John, as His fame spreads, Jesus retreats from more populated settings to invest in the disciples in more desolate, less distracting places (John 11:54). And in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches everyone (including us) not only to give without show (Matthew 6:3–4) and fast without publicity (Matthew 6:17–18), but also to find our private place to seek our Father’s face: “When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:6). The reward is not material stuff later but the joy of communion with God now, the excitement of fellowship in the present, in the secret place.

Like last week, I want close on a personal note, I want to ask you about your pace and your patterns. First, your pace, ask yourself, “How deeply do the world’s assumptions and expectations about speed and productivity and busyness affect my life? How hurried is my life?”

Second, your patterns. How about rhythms of retreat and reentry? Do you get away daily to commune with God in His Word and prayer, in an unhurried, even leisurely way – resting, restoring your joy, feeding your soul in the grace of His presence? And what are your patterns or rhythms of life for retreating from the noise of the world to focus on and hear from the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, and then come back to meet the needs of others?

In his excellent book, Recapturing the Wonder: Transcendent Faith in a Disenchanted World, Mike Cosper explains the value in persevering through the difficult realities of practicing solitude.

Solitude has a learning curve. It’s a practice we embody, and like anything worth doing, our first efforts will be pained. The “terror of silence” (as David Wallace called it) will tempt us away from the quiet.

We will long for email, to-do lists, a sink full of dishes, the unread messages on our phone – anything that can turn our attention away from that quietly simmering something that makes solitude so troubling. So, we practice solitude like a beginning violinist; we practice poorly. But poor practice – marked by a wandering and restless mind – isn’t bad practice.

Done with some regularity, it can become rich. We can discover a space in our hearts and in our world where the Lord meets us. As we’ll see, it’s the beginning of the end of our religious efforts, a chance to face both the reality of our spiritual poverty and the wealth of God’s spiritual blessings.

Spiritual Disciplines (Fasting) – Matthew 9:14-17

• March 4, 2024
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Matthew 9:14-17

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Matthew 9. We’re beginning a little 4-week Lenton series that I’m calling Spiritual Disciplines. Now, if you’re not familiar with what a spiritual discipline is, let me give you the answer that theologian and author, Donald Whitney, provides in his classic book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life.

He says, “[S]piritual disciplines are those practices found in Scripture that promote spiritual growth among believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are habits of devotion, habits of experiential Christianity that God’s people have practiced since biblical times.” In other words, spiritual disciplines include scripture reading, prayer, fasting, worship, serving, journaling, evangelism, silence/solitude, repentance, forgiveness, confession, and so forth. This morning, we’re going to consider fasting.

Unfortunately, most of the fasting that we do today is related to medical treatments. But that’s not always been the case. A manual of church instruction from near the end of the first century, the Didache, says, “Let not your fasts be with the hypocrites, for they fast on Mondays and Thursdays, but do your fast on Wednesdays and Fridays” (7:1). In other words, the early church sought to distance itself of the emptiness of fasting without losing the value of the practice.

Epiphanius, a bishop in Italy in the 5th century, said, “Who does not know that the fast of the fourth and sixth days of the week are observed by Christians throughout the world?” And a guy that most of us have heard about, a man named John Calvin had this to say about fasting:

“Let us say something about fasting, because many, for want of knowing its usefulness, undervalue its necessity, and some reject it as almost superfluous; while, on the other hand where the use of it is not well understood, it easily degenerates into superstition. Holy and legitimate fasting is directed to three ends; for we practice it either as a restraint on the flesh, to preserve it from licentiousness, or as a preparation for prayers and pious meditations, or as a testimony of our humiliation in the presence of God when we are desirous of confessing our guilt before him.” (Institutes, IV.12, 14, 15)

As we continue this season of Lent, I want to turn our attention to the words of Jesus on fasting. Does He teach us to fast? Or is it part of the old wineskins left over from the Old Testament that has no place in the new, free, celebrating people of God? And I’d like to conclude by challenging some of you to join me in fasting for the next several weeks. Let’s read Matthew 9:

14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

“Lord, what we know not, teach us; what we have not, give us; and what we are not, make us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Richard Foster, who wrote the book Celebration of Discipline, said, “[Jesus’ words in Matthew 9] are perhaps the most important in the New Testament on whether Christians should fast today.” So, let’s give close attention to this text and ask the Lord to teach us what we should know and what we should do in regard to fasting.

Why Didn’t Jesus’ Disciples Fast?

In Matthew 9:14 the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked why His disciples didn’t fast? So, evidently Jesus’ disciples were not fasting while He was with them. And Jesus answered with a word picture. He says, “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they?”

With those words, Jesus teaches us two things: one is that fasting was (by and large) associated with mourning in that day. It was an expression of broken-heartedness and desperation, usually over sin or over some danger. It was something you did when things were not going the way you wanted them to. But that’s not the situation with the disciples of Jesus.

Here’s the second thing Jesus teaches: The Messiah has come and His coming is like the coming of a bridegroom to a wedding feast. It’s too good to mingle with fasting. So, Jesus was making a tremendous claim for Himself here. In the Old Testament, God had pictured Himself as the husband of His people Israel (Isaiah 62:4f.; Jeremiah 2:2; 3:20; Ezekiel 16:8; Hosea 2:19f.) and now the Son, the Messiah, the long-awaited One has come and He claims to be the Bridegroom. This is the kind of partially veiled claim Jesus made about His identity with God. If you had ears to hear, you could hear it.

This is so stunning and so glorious and so unexpected that Jesus says, “Look, you can’t fast now – not in this situation. It’s too happy and to spectacularly exhilarating. Fasting is for times of yearning and aching and longing. But the bridegroom of Israel is here.” After a thousand years of dreaming and longing and hoping and waiting, the bridegroom is here! So, the absence of fasting among the disciples was a witness to the presence of God in their midst.

So When Will They Fast?

But then Jesus said, “But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” That’s the key sentence: “Then they will fast.” When is He referring to?

Some have suggested that Jesus was referring ONLY to the several days between His death and resurrection. They would fast just for those days. But that’s very unlikely. For several reasons. One is that the early church fasted after the resurrection. For example, in Acts 13:1–3, we read, “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.” And fasting is mentioned in other places in the New Testament (Acts 14:23; 2 Corinthians 6:5; 11:27). So, it can’t be just a few days.

Others have suggested that in Matthew 25:1–13 Jesus pictures His second coming as the arrival of the bridegroom. In other words, the Bridegroom is taken away until the second coming of Christ. Arthur Wallis takes this position in his book God’s Chosen Fast: “The time is now.” In essence, Jesus is saying, “Now, while I’m still here in your midst as the Bridegroom, you can’t fast, but I’m not going to remain with you in this fashion forever. There will come a time when I return to my Father in heaven. And during that time, you’ll fast.” Well, that time is now.

It’s true that Jesus is with us in the person of the Holy Spirit. But Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:8, “We [would] prefer to be absent from the body and at home with the Lord.” In other words, in this age there’s an ache, and a longing, a homesickness inside every Christian that Jesus is not here as fully and intimately and as powerfully and as gloriously as we want Him to be. And that’s why we fast.

A Patch of Unshrunk Cloth and New Wine

But then Jesus says something very crucial in verse 16–17. He says, “But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. Nor do men put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out, and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

The patch of unshrunk cloth and the new wine represent the new reality that has come with Jesus. The kingdom of God is here. The Bridegroom has come. The Messiah is in our midst. And that’s not merely temporary. He’s not merely here and then gone. The kingdom of God didn’t come in Jesus and then just vanish out of the world.

Jesus died for our sins once for all. He rose from the dead once for all. The Spirit was sent into the world as the real presence of Jesus among us. The kingdom is the reigning power of Christ in the world subduing hearts to the king and creating a people who believe Him and serve Him. The Spirit of the Bridegroom is gathering and purifying a bride for Christ. All of that (and more) is the new wine.

Old Wineskins Can’t Contain the New Wine

And Jesus says, “The old wineskins can’t contain it.” What’s the old wineskin? Well, in the context, it seems to be fasting. It seems that fasting is what is meant by old wineskins. Remember, fasting was inherited from the Old Testament and it had been used as part of the Jewish system of relating to God. Now, Jesus says, the old wineskins of Judaism can’t contain the new wine.

So, what do we do? In verse 15 Jesus says that we will fast when the Bridegroom is gone. And in verse 17 He says that the old fasting cannot contain the new wine of the kingdom. What do we do?

New Wine Demands New Fasting

My answer is that the new wine demands new fasting. Years ago, I wrote in the margin of my Bible beside this text, “The new fasting is based on the mystery that the Bridegroom has come, not just will come. The new wine of His presence calls for new fasting.”

In other words, the yearning and longing and ache of the old fasting was not based on the glorious truth that the Messiah had come. Mourning over sin and yearning in danger was not based on the great finished work of the Redeemer and the great revelation of Himself and His grace in history. But now, the Bridegroom has come. In coming, He struck the decisive blow against sin and against Satan and against death.

The great, central, decisive act of salvation for us today is past, not future. And on the basis of that past work of the Bridegroom, nothing can ever be the same again. The wine is new. The blood is shed. The Lamb is slain. The punishment of or sins is executed. Death is defeated. The Bridegroom is risen. The Spirit is sent. The wine is new. And the old fasting mindset is simply not adequate.

What’s New About the New Fasting

What’s new about the fasting is that it rests on all this finished work of the Bridegroom. The yearning that we feel for revival or awakening or deliverance from corruption is not merely longing and aching. The first fruits of what we long for have already come. The down payment of what we yearn for is already paid. The fullness that we are longing for and fasting for has appeared in history and we have beheld His glory. It’s not merely future.

We have tasted the powers of the age to come, and our new fasting is not because we’re hungry for something we haven’t tasted, but because the new wine of Christ’s presence is so real and so satisfying. The newness of our fasting is this: its intensity comes not because we’ve never tasted the wine of Christ’s presence, but because we’ve tasted it so wonderfully by the Holy Spirit and we cannot now be satisfied until the consummation of joy arrives. We’ve got to have all that He promised. And as much now as possible.

So, I urge you to join in, not because you haven’t tasted the new wine of Christ’s presence, but because you have – and you long, with a deep joyful aching of your soul, to know more of His presence and power in our midst.

A Challenge to Fast

To that end, I want to challenge each of you to take one day (just one day) this week and work a fast into your daily schedule. I know that many of you can’t fast all day because of medications that you’re taking for various things. If that’s you, then I want you to consider fasting for one meal or consider fasting from something that isn’t food: maybe social media, maybe TV, maybe that cup of coffee in the morning – something that you can consciously give up for the purpose of praying to God or identifying with His suffering and
sacrifice.

Trust me; skipping coffee will help you appreciate the cross. It’s silly, I know, but you’ll be surprised how little you think about the agony of Jesus until you miss your coffee. Seriously, take those little moments of fasting, from whatever it is you’ve determined to abstain from, and meditate upon Jesus in the Garden, mediate upon how He felt in the Upper Room (knowing that He was going to be betrayed), think about the false accusations of the late-night trials, think about the scourging (oh, the scourging), think about the long and arduous walk down the Via Dolarosa (“the Way of Suffering”), mediate upon the hours Jesus was on the cross. That little spiritual discipline, as imperfectly and as inconsistently as you apply it, will nevertheless heighten your love for Christ and what He accomplished for you at Calvary.

To the rest of you, when you fast, when you skip that meal, when you take time away from the computer or the phone, I want you to offer prayers for specific people who you know don’t have a relationship with Jesus. And I also want you to pray that God would soften your own heart towards them – that He would give you the boldness and the courage and a creative and unique way to encourage them in the gospel. How cool would it be, if by our deliberate fasting and praying over these next several weeks, that on Easter we had a harvest of souls for the kingdom? If nothing else, hopefully, our hearts will be renewed and refreshed with the joy of our salvation. Let’s pray.

“Our Father and our God, You designed us in such a way that we might require food and water for daily life. And yet, in the midst of that need, You also call us to deepen and strengthen our faith by growing closer to You. Help us, we pray, in the coming week to take the time and discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness and holiness – that You might renew our faith and bring others to faith in Christ Jesus. Lord, as we turn our attention to Your table, would we receive the gift that You gave – Your body and blood – as a reminder that indeed the Bridegroom is coming again and we long for that day. For we offer this prayer in the name of Christ. Amen.”

Mission Spotlight – Rodrigo Rodriguez

• March 4, 2024
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Rodrigo Rodriguez

Mountain Hill is honored to support several missionaries, evangelists, and ministries in sharing and showing the love of Jesus to the unredeemed and unchurched.  One of those missionaries is classical guitarist, Rodrigo Rodriguez, and his wife, Mary.  Rodrigo refers to himself as a “musicianary” – a combination of missionary and musician.  You can watch Rodrigo’s personal testimony and story by following this link:

https://youtu.be/ZA-_COAUIs8?si=C5VYNac32kxSEQYK

What Is Your Life? – James 4:13-17

• February 20, 2024
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James 4:13-17

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to James 4. We’re concluding this little series that I’ve called 7 Questions God Asks of Us, and we’re looking at the question: “What Is Your Life?” Let’s walk through this text together, see the picture of God that’s here, and how James says it should affect us.

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” – 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

“Our God and our Father, we bow before You this morning. And we thank You for Your grace and goodness to us. We pray that as we think about what the Bible says, and as we think about the issues that are raised by our question, that You will help us to be honest, that You will help me to be clear, and that by Your grace and goodness You will enable us to be responsive. Bless us and help us, then, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

I would venture to say that nothing is more characteristic of a Christian than a desire to do the will of God. It doesn’t mean we always do it, but the desire is there; and when we fail to do it, there’s a sense of shame. The psalmist said, “I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:8). And if, as Ezekiel said, the law of God was to be written in the heart, and if as Jeremiah identified it in the new covenant, the law was written in the inward part, then it must be true that if I’m a new creation, God has planted His law within me; He has planted therefore in me the knowledge of and the desire to fulfill that law. So, we can safely say that it’s a mark of a believer that he or she desires to do the will of God.

The psalmist also says, “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God!” (Psalm 143:10). It’s as if he’s saying in one place, “I want to do it,” and in another place, “I’m not sure I know how. I delight in doing it; teach me specifically how.” Basic to one’s relationship to Christ then is doing the will of God. Is that your strong desire, today? Do we want to do the will of God?

There are four possible attitudes toward the will of God that flow out of this text. And the first one, I’m calling the foolishness of ignoring God’s will.

FOOLISHNESS OF IGNORING GOD’S WILL

There are some people who just flat out ignore God’s will. They live as if God wasn’t even around. His will isn’t even on their radar. It’s not something that occupies any of their thoughts. And we meet them in the illustration of the businessman in verses 13-14.

James begins by using language to catch their attention: “Come now…” That means, “Get this.” That means, “Listen up.” So, in a very abrupt and a very forceful and a rather insistent way, James says, “Now I want you to get this, and I want you to get it good.” And then he uses the illustration of a typical Jewish merchant.

Many of the Jews in the ancient world were traders, as they are today. They were businessmen and they were very successful. As towns sprung up in the ancient world, or as they flourished and grew, or as they became the trade route towns where there was the intersecting of people from various countries, they became focal points of business. And a strategizing businessman would set out to do his trade in a hot spot where he could succeed and lay out his plans. All of that makes sense. Today, if you’re in business, especially small business or retail-oriented business, you seek to do the same thing.

The merchant has constructed his entire plan of operation, but there are no contingencies. Notice, “Today or tomorrow we will go in to such a city, such-and-such a city. We’ll stay there a year, we will do our business, and we will make money.” That’s pretty confident talk, isn’t it? That’s typical non-contingency self-designed planning.

First of all, they choose their own time. Remember, this is a hypothetical situation, but notice how they chose their time: “Today or tomorrow.” Basically, saying you choose your own time, the time that you affirm. Secondly, you choose your own location, “we will go into such-and-such a city.” Thirdly, you choose your own timetable, “and we will stay there for a year,” or literally the Greek says, “do a year there.” And then you choose your own operation, “and we will do business.” So, they choose their own time, their own location, their own timetable, their own operation, and even their own objective: “We will make money. We will make a profit.”

Now in and of itself, that kind of planning is NOT sinful. There’s nothing ethically wrong with planning like that. In fact, Proverbs 21:5 (along with others) says, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.” So, I don’t think, in and of itself, there’s anything immoral or unethical about it. There aren’t any spiritual principles violated in that verse by anything that’s said. In fact, any businessman worth his salt ought to have some kind of plan, right? The issue here, then, isn’t in what’s said, rather, it’s in what’s not said; that’s the problem. And what’s not said is that there’s no thought of God.

Today, we might call that practical atheism – living your life as if there’s no God. The foolishness of ignoring the will of God. Planning your life as if God doesn’t exist, even though you might actually believe He does. And believe me, there are folks who believe God exists, but don’t include Him in their plans.

This is the man who runs his own life, this is the woman who runs her own life, foolishly ignoring God and showing utter disrespect for His sovereignty; no contingencies at all. And the fatal flaw, frankly, is presumption. How do you know you can do it today or tomorrow? How do you know you can get to that city? How do you know that you can stay that long? How do you know you’ll be able to do business? How do you know you’re going to make money? You don’t! But you plan as if you know everything. You plan as if you’re omniscient, omnipotent, and invulnerable. That’s presumption.

Life is complicated. Life is hard. Circumstances and plans and people and all sorts of other factors have a way of changing without warning. Rather we ought to remember Psalm 37:3-5 “Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will act.” Give your life to the Lord; give your future to the Lord. So, the first thing about ignoring God’s will is that it manifests itself in disaster, because you’re ignorant.

Secondly, your fragile. Notice verse 14 (our question), “For what is your life?” Now, I want you to see the shift. We’re so familiar with this verse that we often don’t recognize it. Think about it with me. If I asked you the question, “What is your life?” most of us would respond by saying something like, “It is… [fill in the blank].” Right? “What’s your life?” “Well, it’s… [pick your description].” But that’s not what James says. James says, “For what is your life?” And rather than say “it is…” he says “you are…” Do you see the shift? Do you see how James personalizes the answer?

And what does he call our lives? A mist. A breath. A vapor. A smoke. A breath on a cold day that’s visible and then gone. That’s all we are – steam that’s appearing for a little time, and then vanishes. The Greek term is actually atmis, as in atmosphere. What he’s saying is this, “You and I, we’re so temporary. It’s coming to pass that we’re going to die very soon.” And like the rich man in Luke 12 it was going to be the next day, or even that evening.

Life is so brief. Life is so short. And James is saying, “Ignoring God’s will is not only foolish because you are ignorant of the future, but it’s foolish because you’re so frail, so vulnerable, so fragile. How ridiculous to plan as if you were eternal, to plan as if you were almighty, to plan as if you were all-wise and all-knowing.”

Go back to the oldest book in the Bible – the book of Job – and in chapter 7 we find statements like this: “As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he that goes down to Sheol.” In other words, our lives are like a cloud that moves across the sky and vanishes; so temporary, so passing. The foolishness of ignoring God’s will.

ARROGANCE OF DENYING GOD’S WILL

Second, is the arrogance of denying God’s will. Not only are there those people who presumptuously ignore the will of God, but there are those who arrogantly set up their own will as superior to God. They may even know that God is there. They acknowledge Him. They may even know that God has a will and a purpose, and that He’s sovereign; but they deny it in practice.

They’re not only practical atheists, but they’re self-theists, if you will; they’ve made themselves into God. They may consider that God has a will. The first group didn’t consider that God had a will at all, they didn’t even consider God. These people may consider it, but they don’t think it’s as important as their plans. Their plans are the most important.

And you know something? Even as Christians, we can fall into this. Boy, we can stumble into this sin. Although it’s not characteristic of our nature at all times to disregard or to seek to push the will of God aside, it can happen. There’s a will that God has for every dimension of our lives. And yet, Christians can sometimes arrogantly put certain parts of their lives above God’s will.

Let me give you one example that’s prevalent in our society today. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 says, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.” Christians of all ages and all walks of life have sometimes been arrogant enough to sweep aside that dimension of God’s will in subjection to their own desires. It’s not something that Christians do all the time. It’s not a dominating and ongoing part of our nature as believers to live that way, but it can happen. Think about King David, or Samson and Delilah, or King Solomon and his many wives and concubines. And sexual sin is just one dimension of our lives that Christians can arrogantly deny God’s will and put our own will above.

Let me give you one other dimension of our lives that God has a will for, and all of us are guilty of denying God’s will on this one and putting our own will above His. You ready? 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Yet, all of us – at one time or another (or perhaps frequently) – have exhibited the arrogance of denying God’s will by being angry or bitter or resentful in our circumstances.

Back to our verses. Notice verse 16 and see how James speaks about the arrogance of denying God’s will, “You are boasting in your arrogant bragging.” The word that’s translated “bragging,” or in some versions “boasting,” is a word that originally referred to the idea of wandering about. Notice what he says at the end of verse 16, “All such boasting is wicked . . . all such arrogance is wicked.” The word “wicked” is used of Satan who is ho ponēros, the Wicked One, the original sinner who sought to replace God, who said, “I will be like the Most High God. I will ascend into the heights,” the one who sought to usurp the throne of God. He was the original ponēros, the original Wicked One. But when you and I exalt our wills over God’s will, then we’re like Satan, ponēria, wicked. That’s what God thinks of our boasting.

So, the first attitude James notes is the foolish attitude of ignoring God’s will all together. Then there’s a second group, who arrogantly deny God, and live their life flaunting it in His face. The third attitude is to disobey God’s will.

DISOBEYING GOD’S WILL

Look at verse 17. Here’s the person who knows there’s a God, who affirms there’s a God, who knows God has a will, who knows God’s will is supreme, and yet who disobeys it? They agree that God is there, they agree that God’s will is supreme, they wouldn’t be in the first group of people – those who foolishly ignore God’s will – and they wouldn’t be in the second group – those who arrogantly deny God’s will – but they just flatly don’t do it.

Verse 17 is a truism or an axiom, “So whoever knows the right thing to do” – that is, to do God’s will – “and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” Here’s the person who believes in God, and believes God is supreme, and knows God has a will, and just doesn’t do it. This person possesses the knowledge of God and His will; they understand what’s good, what’s morally excellent, what’s worthy of honor; he knows what’s right. I think all of us have found ourselves in this category from time to time. We know and believe in God, we know God is supreme, we know what His will is, and we just flatly don’t do it.

The classic illustration of this is God’s very own prophet – a guy by the name of Jonah. Remember him, the prophet who took a short ride really on a long fish? Jonah knew God’s will; it couldn’t have been clearer, “Go to Nineveh and preach. Go to Nineveh and preach” (Jonah 1:1, paraphrased). Yet, he turned around and went the opposite way from God, and God made him pay. You can’t flagrantly, openly violate the will of God without consequence.

So. you have three possible negative ways you can treat the will of God. One, you can just foolishly ignore it as if there were no God at all. Two, you could acknowledge there is a God, but that your will is supreme to His will. Or, three, you can acknowledge there is a God whose will is supreme and just not do it. Those are not the things that characterize a believer. They may pop up from time to time, but they aren’t the consistent position of Christians to God’s will.

What characterizes a believer is found in verse 15, and this is the positive side. You ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” Isn’t that good? That’s pretty practical stuff, isn’t it? I mean, your life is blessed when you acknowledge God’s will. And that’s our fourth point: the blessing of acknowledging and obeying God’s will.

ACKNOWLEDGING AND OBEYING GOD’S WILL

If you want to live life the way God intended, then you put God at the center of all your plans. The true believer is the one who seeks divine counsel. The true believer is the one who has a heart to obey the counsel he seeks. And sure, there are times of disobedience. Sure, there are times of disregard and even defiance against God’s will. But down deep in our heart is that longing to do that which His will dictates. Submission to divine authority, submission to divine will, submission to divine providence is basic to the life of a believer. The bottom line is this: Christians accept the lordship of Christ over all their plans.

And so, James says, “If the Lord wills… If the Lord desires… If the Lord permits, then we’ll live and do this or that.” God controls life. God controls birth. God controls death. Look, Job said, “The Lord gives, and the Lord (what?) takes away” (Job 1:21). The Lord does it. Preaching to the highly sophisticated Areopagus in Athens, Paul said, “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). The Lord sets the boundaries. It’s Jesus Christ who has the keys of death and hell. And so, life and death are in His hands.

And so, James says, “If God desires, we shall live; and if God desires, we will do this or that.” All subjects of life fall under His will. All people in life fall under His control. All events in life fall into His calendar. All circumstances fit somewhere in His plan. So as believers, we should be marked by a sort of constant commitment to the contingency of the will of God. No matter what we’ve planned, no matter what we pray, no matter what we set out to accomplish, always with the flexibility that says, “If the Lord wills.” That’s how we live. What a wonderful thought.

I’ll close with this. Henry Ward Beecher, that great preacher of old, put it this way. He said, “Imagine a man building a house, and the man building the house decides to build it by his own plan rather than the plan of the architect. And so, the man proceeds to build, and the architect comes to check on the progress, and there’s no relationship between the two plans. The result is absolute chaos.” Henry Ward Beecher said, “So it is in building a life. God is the architect, and a man would be an absolute fool if he decided to build it any way his whims dictated.”

God has designed how life is to be built. And if you’re a true child of God you’ll find yourself enamored, settled on, and committed to seeing God build your life the way He wants to build it. It doesn’t mean, as I said, that we’re perfect; we’re going to fight it from time to time. But that’s the underlying desire of the heart. The message of James is simple: live your life in the will of God. That’s what God wants to do in you. That’s what Christ died to make possible in you. That’s what the Holy Spirit wants to energize in you, that you would do His will. And God is working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Do you desire to do the will of God? If the answer is yes, then you belong to Him. Or maybe you would answer and say yes, but you’ve never been saved. Perhaps you feel your heart is reaching out in faith to Him, today. Do not put it off any longer. Come, and repent, and receive God’s free gift of grace. All of us must take a look at our lives, and our hearts, and ask: are we constantly denying God’s will, ignoring God’s will, disobeying God’s will, or are we obeying God’s will? May we not only desire to do the will of God, but may we faithfully follow through and accomplish it for His glory.

“We thank You, Father, for this rich and practical portion of Your Word. We bless You for the constant richness that we enjoy as we sit at the feet of the Holy Spirit, who is our teacher through the pages of the Bible. Help us to be desirous of Your will in everything. Help us to do Your will from the heart, to do all of it all the time, and to know that that’s what the Spirit of God is doing in us; and give Him all the credit, for He provides all the strength. Thank You, in the name of our Savior. Amen.”

Do You Think I Came to Bring Peace? – Luke 12:49-53

• February 12, 2024
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Luke 12:49-53

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Luke 12. We’ve been in Mark’s Gospel and Matthew’s Gospel; next week, we’ll conclude this little series in the epistle of James with the question “What Is Your Life?” But this morning, we’re looking to the 12th chapter of Luke’s Gospel – to a very interesting and confounding question posed by Jesus: “Do you think that I came to bring peace?”

Popular perception, in the world, concerning Jesus, is that He was a man of love who came to bring peace, that His message was peace on earth, that He demonstrated peace through love. That’s sort of the pop idea about Jesus that we hear from the world, and why not, it’s reinforced during the Christmas season, right? We read Isaiah 9:6-7, which says, “For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end.” And who can forget the angels’ announcement to the shepherds, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!” (Luke 2:14).

But the text in front of us today begins with a statement that seems absolutely contrary to those notions. Jesus is offering us another reason for His incarnation. In fact, His explanation for His birth, in these verses, is not just difficult, it’s shocking. Think about some of the other reasons that Jesus gave concerning His birth. He said, “I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). He said, “I came not to be served, but to serve, and to give My life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45). During His trial, before Pontius Pilate, He said, “I came to bear witness to the truth, and all who are of the truth hear My word” (John 18:37). On this occasion, however, He gave another reason for His coming, and it’s one that is astonishing to hear.

If you were out in the parking lot on your way into church this morning, and somebody asked, “Why do you think Jesus came to this world?” – I doubt any of you would have answered by saying, “I think Jesus came to this world in order to bring fire on the earth.” That’s the last thing we would offer for why Jesus came, but that’s what He said in this text. These are the words of Jesus. Let’s read them (Luke 12:49-53):

49 “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is My distress until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

I remind you that this is not the imagination of Luke from antiquity, but the inspired record of the actual words and teaching of Christ Himself. Remember, He said that He “spoke nothing of His own authority, but only on that which the Father had given Him” (John 12:49, paraphrased). So, the words you’ve just heard, as distasteful as they may be to your ears, come to you from God Himself. I urge you to receive them with the fullness of His authority. Let’s pray.

“Father, every time we come to the text of holy Scripture, we plead for Your assistance, because the things revealed therein are too high and too wonderful for us to discern correctly without Your aid. In this hour, we ask that You would condescend to our weakness and the frailty of our understanding, the resistance of our wills, the stiffness of our necks, the callouses on our hearts; break through all of these and give us ears to hear what Your Son says to His people. For we ask it in His name. Amen.”

Now, let me give you just a little bit of background. If you go back to Luke 12:1 he tells us that Jesus was speaking to many thousands of people, probably tens of thousands of people. So many people were gathered together that they were stepping on each other. Many of those gathered had already made up their minds concerning Jesus, but He was still the greatest curiosity in existence and the most profound teacher who ever lived. And so, He attracted massive crowds, even though most of the people stood by their leaders. On the other hand, some of those gathered were apostles. They had come to follow Jesus (by faith) and had been called to ministry. Some of them were the 70 who also had been sent out to minister for Him. Some of them had become believers and there were some who were just still open to hear more.

And the nature of the message that Jesus was proclaiming in Luke 12 is essentially a call to salvation. It’s a call to come to Him, to come into the kingdom of salvation, to receive the forgiveness and redemption that He brings. It’s an evangelistic invitation. It starts in verse 1 and it runs all the way to verse 9 in chapter 13.

First of all, He says you have to turn from the dominating influence of the false teachers in your false religion. You’ve got to get away from the liars and the deceivers (vss. 1-3). Then He says you have to stop fearing men, stop fearing the retribution that comes from men when you step out of your religious environment, and fear God who can destroy your soul and body in hell (vss. 4-7). You must also confess Jesus before men as your Lord and Savior (vss. 8-10). You must trust your life into the hands of the Holy Spirit because you’ll be facing persecution (vss. 11-12). You must reject the love of material things (vss. 13-21). You must turn away from preoccupation with the world and you must pursue with all your heart the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ (vss. 22-34), and you must do it with urgency because verse 40 says, “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Luke 12 is a strong message from Jesus. It’s direct, and the die has already been cast for most. Israel has no love for her Messiah. Israel has no desire for His kingdom. They have no interest for His type of salvation. They have no longing for His grace. They have no desire for the forgiveness He offers. The blindness of their minds through their own ignorance and the deception of their false leaders, has manipulated them sufficiently into a state of rejection that they will unite in murdering their own Messiah. That’s the background.

And it’s on the heels of this message and invitation that Jesus says He comes to bring division. Instead of uniting people in His kingdom of blessing, He divides them, and He divides them both in time and eternity. The text before us is a turning point in Luke’s Gospel. From now on, the warnings begin to dominate. The urgency is ratcheted up. Let’s look at the dividing event, dividing eternity, and dividing time.

Dividing Event

First of all, the dividing event. Verses 49 and 50: very powerful statements, very dramatic, very insightful into the heart of our Lord: “I have come to cast fire upon the earth and how I wish it were already kindled but I have a baptism to undergo and how distressed I am until it’s accomplished.” You read that and you scratch your head and say, “What’s He talking about?” I’ll tell you what He’s talking about. He’s looking at the one event that will separate all humanity, one event that divides eternity and time, one event that separates everyone into two categories. What is that event? (A: His death on the cross.)

Look at the language of verse 49, “I have come.” You say, “What’s the big deal with that pastor?” Well, let me show you. If you take that phrase and trace it through the Bible, whenever it comes out of the mouth of Jesus, He’s giving us part of His mission. For example, “I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). I have come not to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:16). I have come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). I have come to be a light (John 12:46).” Often, Jesus repeats why He’s come and each time you see that phrase, it’s another vantage point on His mission. Here, He says that He has come “to cast fire upon the earth.”

Now, fire is a picture of judgment. That’s in the Old Testament and the New Testament. For example, Isaiah 66:15 says, “For behold, the LORD will come in fire, and His chariots like the whirlwind, to render His anger in fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire.” Or here’s Joel 2:30-31, “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.” The prophet Amos speaks about the fire of God’s judgment falling on Judah and Moab and Gaza. And the last book of the Old Testament, the prophet Malachi talks about God coming in fiery judgment, but the Jews believed that the fire would fall on the Gentiles and that the peace would come to them. They never expected that the Messiah would come and the fire of judgment would fall on them. It’s the fire of judgment.

But it’s not only a fire of judgment; it’s also a fire of purging. In John 3:18, Jesus said, “Whoever believes in [Me] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” Fire consumes what is combustible and does not consume what is noncombustible. It purifies the noncombustible and it destroys the combustible and so the coming of Jesus is a fire. To those who believe in Him, it purifies. To those who reject Him, it consumes. It’s a fire of judgment and a fire of purification.

Jesus is talking about His death, because in the next verse, He calls it a baptism. Jesus was getting at the reality that the fire of the Father’s wrath would not merely touch Him and harm Him a little bit or singe His hair, but rather He would be immersed in it. He would be inundated by it and swallowed up by God’s wrath, which was meant for you and me. He’s looking at the cross, and He’s wishing it was over. Jesus is anticipating the dividing event. He’s pressed between the suffering and the purpose, between the anticipation of the pain and the plan, between His own will and the Father’s will, but He never wavered – “[N]ot My will but Yours be done.” “I’ve come to cast fire and it’s going to be kindled by the cross and that’s going to set the fire of judgment.” That will be the dividing point. That is where all men are divided. All men are divided at the cross, both in eternity and in time.

Dividing Eternity

Second, let’s look at dividing in eternity. “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” To understand this, we have to go back to the previous passage. Backing up to Luke 12:42, Jesus, told a parable. And He said there was a master who left. And this depicts the Lord, and he’s coming and you don’t know when he’s coming and he has given his servants responsibility. Verse 42 describes a faithful servant who does what he’s supposed to do and distributes the responsibility that he had and when his master comes back, he’s blessed and verse 44, the master puts the servant in charge of everything. This is a picture of somebody who’s ready when Jesus comes. This is a picture of somebody who obeys the gospel.

Jesus is describing a person who does what the Lord tells him to do, who’s obedient to the gospel, who makes the most of gospel opportunity and he’s ready when the Lord comes and he’s blessed and rewarded eternally. This is one who believes in Jesus Christ. This is one on this side of the cross and the resurrection who believes in His death and His resurrection, who confesses Jesus is Lord, who believes in his heart that God raised Him from the dead. These are the faithful.

But Jesus’ coming was also for the fall of some. Remember Simeon in Luke 2:34, when he’s talking to Mary, Jesus’ mother? He says, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel.” So, there are those who rise. They’re the faithful. But there are also the unfaithful. Again, in the parable just before our text, verses 45-48 describe the servant that’s unfaithful. He has little interest in his master’s return. He lives in defiant rebellion, even beating the other servants and living for himself.

So, you see, the cross divides everybody. You’re either with the faithful or you’re with the unfaithful. You’re either bound for heaven or you’re bound for hell and hell will always be punishment, always cut off from the life of God, always void of peace and joy and satisfaction and fulfillment, to whatever degree it’s experienced. The cross is the dividing point of all humanity, but it also divides for all eternity – in heaven or in hell. What you do with Jesus Christ on the cross in His death and resurrection determines your eternal destiny.

Dividing Time

Let’s conclude by looking at dividing in time. Verse 52, “For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three.” Just like earlier, let me take you back to the phrase that begins verse 52 – “For from now on…” That’s another one of those phrases that Jesus used frequently to signify something. He used it back in Luke 5:10 when He said to James, John and Peter. He said, “From now on, you will be fishers of men.” “From now on” sort of signifies the way it’s going to be. Luke 22:69, Jesus, anticipating His ascension, said, “From now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of God in heaven.” From now on. This is how it’s going to be, “in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three.”

The cross is a dividing event. It divides in eternity, but it also divides now. It divides in time today. John 7 says, “And there arose a division in the crowd because of Him.” John 9:16, “There was a division among them.” John 10, “There arose a division again among the Jews.” He divided everywhere He went. And Jesus went further to describe just how far this division in time goes. It’s happening today (not just in eternity, but in our lives today) and more specifically, it happens all the way down at the most intimate and personal level – the family. Jesus was quoting, to some degree, the prophet Micah (again). Listen to Micah 7:6, “for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.”

The personal testimony of one former pastor, theologian, and author reads like this:

I remember the first week I became a Christian, I came home assuming a joyous response would be forthcoming. I said to my mother: “Mom, guess what? I became a Christian this week.” She said, “You’ve always been a Christian,” as if being a Christian meant being an American. I said, “What I mean is that I’ve come to know Christ as my Savior.”

My mother had no clue what I was talking about. By the grace of God, she came to know, but in the meantime, my sister, cousins, uncles, and aunts did everything but disown me because I committed my life to Christ. That act cost me more friends than anything else in my life. I was shocked at how intense the hostility and animosity was toward Christ. You see it in the world every day and you even see it in the church. (Testimony of the late Dr. R.C. Sproul from a sermon titled The Dividing Christ.)

The cross is the great dividing event and at that point, we’re divided. We’re divided for eternity, and we’re divided in time, and He calls for sinners to choose blessing and reward in heaven rather than cursing and punishment in hell. He calls for you to make the break no matter what the cost might be in this life, and if it’s some consolation, and indeed it should be, I have some good news for you. Peter said to Jesus in Matthew 19:27, 29 “See, we have left everything and followed You. What then will we have? . . . Jesus said, “I say to you this, that everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake shall receive many times as much and shall inherit eternal life.” That’s good news. It’s worth the forsaking because you get eternal life. Oh, and not only that, you get us. You get the body of Christ. You get many brothers, many sisters, many fathers, many mothers, many children, and you get many resources that are supplied by the family of God.

What Will It Profit a Man? – Matthew 16:24-28

• February 5, 2024
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Matthew 16:24-28

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Matthew 16. The last few weeks we’ve been in Mark’s Gospel, and I told you that there were some parallel passages in Matthew and Luke, well this is one of them. As you find your spot, you’ll notice that Matthew 16:13 begins Peter’s great confession, which we already looked at in Mark’s Gospel. So, we’re in one of those parallel passages, but the verses that we’re going to be concentrating on this morning begin with verse 24.

This is one of Jesus’ teachings on the cost of discipleship. It’s a passage that you won’t likely hear preached at some churches, because all they want you to hear is that God wants you to be healthy, wealthy, and prosperous. And even I have to admit that I’ve walked a fine line between offering Jesus and salvation as the way to be happy, the way to have abundant life, the way to know peace, the way to have all your problems solved? I’ve been guilty at times of preaching and teaching that to know and follow Jesus will make you a better husband/wife, a better parent/child, a better employee/employer, a better athlete, or whatever. And if you and I aren’t careful we can wind up advertising Christianity as getting without giving and gaining without any of the pain.

But I submit to you that viewing our relationship with Jesus Christ as simply “getting” is to prostitute His divine intention. Yes, to come to Jesus Christ is to receive, and keep on receiving forever and ever. But there’s pain before the gain and there’s a cross before the crown and there’s suffering before the glory and there’s sacrifice before the reward. And I believe that’s what our Lord is teaching us in this critical passage.

This is one of those hard sayings of Jesus – not hard to understand but had to embrace and live by. It’s one of those passages that Mark Twain had in mind when he said, “It’s not the parts of the Bible that I don’t understand that give me the most trouble, it’s the parts of the Bible that I do understand that trouble me the most.” So, follow along with me as we read Matthew 16:24-28:

24 Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay each person according to what he has done. 28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

“Our gracious God and Father, we thank You that You have assembled us in this place. We thank You for the words we’ve been able to sing already, written so long ago and yet with such abiding relevance to our lives today. We thank You that You haven’t left us alone but that You have come to us in the person of Your Son, Jesus. We thank You for giving us the Holy Spirit, who ‘will guide us into all truth’ (John 16:13). We also thank You for the Bible – that we can read it and apply our minds to it. And we pray, as we think about this particular question, that You will help us. Help me as I speak so that I might be clear and concise. Help each of us as we listen that we might understand, and by Your mercy that we might believe and obey the Bible and live in the very power and life that it offers. We ask this humbly and expectantly in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Let me quickly give you the roadmap this morning. I want you to see the headings that we’re going to consider. In verse 24a I see “the call.” In verse 24b, I see “the condition.” In verses 25-26, I see “the calculation.” Finally, verses 27-28, “the compensation.” The call, the condition, the calculation, and the compensation. Let’s start with “the call.”

The Call

“Then Jesus told His disciples…” One thing, for sure, that we can say about who these disciples – there were some who were true believers. They had already forsaken houses and lands and family and fishing nets and tax tables and all the rest to follow Jesus and they were true followers of Jesus, and yet, they needed to have this call reiterated in their own hearts. They needed to hear this teaching again. Eleven of the twelve disciples were true followers, yet Jesus issued this call to them again that there might be a reaffirmation in their hearts as to what they had chosen to do in following Him. So, the call begins by going to those of us that would say, “Yes, I’ve accepted Jesus as the Lord or my life. Yes, I’ve made a profession of faith. Yes, I’ve been baptized for the forgiveness of my sins. Yes, I’m a Christian.” The call goes to us first – so that we don’t get caught up in a day-to-day routine of spirituality that loses sight of the central demands of discipleship. It’s a call of reminder.

But we also know that there was one of the twelve that was not a true follower. His name, of course, was Judas. And we also know that as the crowds would gather and listen to Jesus there would be many who would listen out of mere curiosity, and many who would come simply to be a part of the crowd and they needed to be saved. So, this call that Jesus initially directed to His disciples was also applied to those that would listen, those that would give ear to His teaching, those that might begin to follow after Him. I think of Colossians 2:6, which says, “[A]s you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.”

This was an open-ended invitation. Yes, it was a call that was reiterated to the disciples, but it was also a call that was extended to the masses. It was offered to anyone and everyone. It was offered to those in the crowds and hearing His voice, and it’s also a call that’s extended to anyone here today that would like to follow after Jesus and be His disciple. If that’s you, then you have a decision to make – you will either embrace this call and respond to this call or you will turn a deaf ear and turn away, but at this very moment this is the call of Jesus to follow in discipleship.

Well, that’s the call. If you’re already a follower, then hear the reminder. If you’re not a follower, then receive the call and respond in faith. That, then, leads to “the conditions.”

The Conditions

This is not some mystical experience that we, in some random way, follow after Jesus. No, Jesus defines for us, very specifically, the conditions of following Him. Remember, it’s the One who issues the call that gets to set the conditions. And those of us that answer the call must receive the conditions as they’re issued.

The first condition is found in the very next part of verse 24, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself…” No small task, to be sure. Jesus starts with a doozy. We must seek to deny ourselves (daily), deny our pursuits, deny our wishes, deny our ambitions, deny ourselves completely. Folks, if you haven’t already noticed, that’s hard. “We are not our own, we were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, paraphrased). We need to be reminded of this. It’s not about me. It’s not about what I want to do. Part of our faith in Jesus is to always remember that I must die to myself. And we can only hope to achieve that by relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, by remaining in the Word (daily), by crying out to God in prayer, and by understanding that we are to be in submission to Christ.

Second, we must “take up [our] cross…” This phrase has been picked up and used by those of us in the body of Christ, and unfortunately, we’ve misused it. Taking up a cross isn’t living with an unbelieving husband. It isn’t having a nagging wife. It’s not a dominating mother-in-law. It’s not an addiction that we struggle with or a rebellious child. And it’s certainly not a lawn mower that won’t start, although I’ve heard preachers equate it with such a thing. Taking up a cross literally means to pick up the instrument of one’s own death. That’s what it meant in the first century, and while we don’t live in a society that practices public crucifixions, nevertheless it means crucifying ourselves. As Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). To take up our cross means that we subject ourselves to humiliation, to jeers, to criticism, to mockery all for the sake of Jesus.

As one pastor and author put it, “We must be cross bearers and not merely cross wearers. We are either abandoned to Christ or abandoned by Christ. We cannot have a crown without a cross, religion without repentance, blessedness without brokenness, salvation without sacrifice, church without commitment, heaven without holiness, and prosperity without adversity.” We must take up our cross.

Last, we must “follow [Him].” True faith and true discipleship mean following in the steps of Christ. The picture that I want you to have in your mind is following someone in the snow, or following someone in the woods, or following someone as they step on the rocks and cross a river. You’ve been in those situations (no doubt) where it’s easier and clearer and safer to simply follow in the steps of the one leading. I’m thinking about the simple task of walking to the car after it snowed. Someone takes the lead and they walk to the car, and I literally step where they stepped. Or think of someone hiking and crossing a river. They stepped here and then there, and then over there and they crossed successfully and safely. You’re literally taking the same path and the same steps they took. In many instances, when we’re following in this manner, we’re not even looking ahead. We’re literally just watching for the next footprint. That’s what I imagine it to be like. Jesus doesn’t tell us every step He’s going to take, we simply step in His steps. By faith, we follow Jesus. By faith, we seek to be obedient to His Word. By faith, we pray and listen to the Holy Spirit’s direction.

“If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” Those are the conditions. And now “the calculation.”

The Calculation

We need to do some math. We need to add this up carefully, and the youngest and least educated among us can do the math. It’s simple. “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” It’s addition by subtraction. Many of you know the struggles of selling a home.  Real estate agents, consultants, even home buyers will tell you that getting rid of clutter actually makes things better.  It’s in line with the “less is more” concept.  It’s gaining by losing. It’s the paradox of discipleship. You have to give up to gain. You have to die in order to experience life. There has to be a crucifixion if there’s going to be a resurrection.

Think about this for a minute. If you and I try to navigate this life on our own, if we try to be the master of our fate and the captain of our souls – as the old poem Invictus goes – if we seek to preserve and protect and save ourselves from all perils and harms and find our way to calmer and safer waters on our own, we’ll ultimately lose our lives. If we’re relying solely on ourselves, then we’ll lose our eternal souls in the darkness and emptiness of hell. But, if we let go of the control of our lives for the sake of Christ, then we’ll actually find life in Him. It’s strange, I know. In the end, if we forsake ourselves in the pursuit of Christ Jesus, then we will ultimately find abundant life, eternal life, supernatural life. It’s part of the paradox of the Christian life. How often do we hear this expressed in the Bible: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12), or “many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first” (Matthew 19:30). “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Jesus then reasons with us in verse 26, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” This is hypothetical and hyperbolic, of course, but Jesus is simply making a point in the most obvious way. All of us live relatively puny little lives in the grand scheme of things. I don’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings, but there really aren’t any “big shots” here today. We all know ourselves well enough to know that we’re just common folk. Sure, the neighbors might think highly of us. Sure, our friends might have lofty visions of us. If all else fails, surely our dogs think we’re the best humans they’ve ever seen. But we’re not that special. We all have our sins and brokenness. We all have our weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

Now, let’s just pretend (and that’s all that this is) that we could actually gain the entire world, that we could somehow and someway, have access to every pleasure, every treasure, every desire that we could ever want – we could travel in the most luxurious planes and cars, we could vacation as long as we liked at the most opulent destinations, that there was really and truly absolutely nothing that we couldn’t obtain or experience, that the world really was our very own playground, but in the process of gaining all of that we lose our very soul. What do we have? We have nothing. I mean, what’s a dead man who owns everything? He’s a dead man. And even worse, an eternally dead man.

And to state it another, Jesus alters the scenario just a bit and says, “Let’s just say you did, indeed, own the whole world, could you buy back your soul with it” (Matthew 16:26b, paraphrased)? The answer, of course, is no. Why? Because you and I aren’t the owners of our souls. We aren’t the creators of our souls. God is. Therefore, the only natural response is to abandon our lives and give them to Jesus Christ, where we’ll be rich forever. Do you remember our recent study in Philippians, where Paul echoes, in very concrete and dramatic fashion, the very thing that Jesus is saying here? Paul writes, “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:5-8). That’s the attitude, that’s the mindset, that’s the view of our lives in relationship to following Jesus.

The call, the conditions, the calculation, and lastly, the compensation.

The Compensation

While I want to challenge us, I also want to encourage us. That’s a tactic that Jesus often employed – challenge followed by encouragement. If you will cross the line with God, if you will release the emergency brake of your soul, if you’ll go for broke with God, if you’ll live a life of sacrifice and submission and surrender to God, then I want you to know that God will reward you one day. God will give you the crown of righteousness, and He will more than make it up for every step of faith that was taken in His name. Jim Elliott, one of five missionaries that were killed when trying to evangelize native peoples in Ecuador, said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot gain in order to gain what he cannot lose.”

Look at verse 27, “For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay each person according to what he has done.” Now, I know that many of you are scratching your heads because people like me are constantly preaching and droning on and on about the fact that we are saved by faith and not by works, and yet this sounds like we’re saved by works. Not so. Let me explain. In our zeal to preach salvation by faith alone through grace alone, sometimes we’ve downplayed the fact that there is still a judgment that everyone will undergo. The Bible is clear that everyone – believers and unbelievers – will be judged.

2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”

Romans 14:10-12 says, “Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So, then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”

Many Christians think that only unbelievers will be judged. That’s not true. We are redeemed from the punishment and eternal separation from God by our faith in the completed work of Jesus Christ. That’s indeed true, and yet Christians will be judged in order to receive rewards that will then be laid at the feet of Jesus in thanksgiving and worship for all that He has done.

At the turn of the 20th century, a couple left NY and traveled to Africa in order to be missionaries and bring the gospel to the heart of the African continent. After 45 long years of ministry the time finally came for them to retire. As they returned home, they wondered whether any of their family, any of their supporters, any of their church friends would come out to welcome them home. Unbeknownst to them, on this same ocean liner was President Theodore Roosevelt, coming home from an African safari. As the ship pulled into NY harbor they saw throngs of people, the military band was playing Stars and Stripes Forever, there was confetti and tickertape everywhere. As the crew lowered the gangplank, this retired missionary couple saw President Roosevelt emerge from his luxurious estate and be welcomed home to tremendous fanfare.

Well, when it came time for the couple to disembark, there was no one left. All of the people were gone, and the road was littered with confetti and tickertape. They got a hotel room for the night. Later that evening, the husband was a bit depressed and disheartened that no one had turned out to welcome them home. And his wife said, “Sweetheart, remember that we’re not home yet.”

Our reward is not of this world and our reward is not the applause of men, but rather is of another world and will be realized when the Son of Man comes with His angels in glory. In that day, every deed that was done in genuine faith, every deed that was done to please the Father, every cup of cold water, every slander and criticism taken will be rewarded. And those who have denied themselves by the power of the Holy Spirit and taken up their cross to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ will hear those words we all long to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your Master” (Matthew 25:21).

If I had another point (and I don’t), it would be “the confirmation.” See, I believe that verse 28 is Jesus’ confirmation of the compensation He just mentioned. If you continue reading Matthew and flip to the very next chapter (17:1-8), then you’ll discover that three of the twelve (Peter, James and John), did not taste death before they witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus. In a sense, they did indeed see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. Folks, we can count on God to deliver on His promises. He is faithful. None of us will ever be short-changed by following Jesus. It may cost us something today, but trust me, trust God’s Word – the benefits for tomorrow are literally out of this world.

“Lord, help us to learn the paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the crushed spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to really possess everything, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive.

Lord, we know that we can’t see the stars in the daytime but they’re there. But when the night comes, they shine so brightly. Help us find Your light in our darkness, Your joy in our sorrow, Your grace in our sin, Your riches in our poverty, and Your life in our death. We would be crucified so that we live, yet not us but Christ.

We pray for those that don’t know You today, that they would open their hearts, they would say no to the passing world and yes to eternal life, that they would never think to purchase their soul with earthly gain or to profit if they were to gain the whole world and lose their soul. And, Father, for those who already claim Christ, help us to know that this is the way we came to You: destitute, desperate, without resource, begging, mourning, meek, hungering. And we affirmed Your Lordship in those days, and we said we’d commit loyal obedience at any price, so hungry were we for salvation. May we be true to that commitment.

Father, help us to be faithful disciples, self-denying, cross-bearing, loyally obedient, until we see Jesus face to face, to receive the crown that will be cast at Your blessed feet. We thank You that Jesus is coming, and we know it because He gave us His table and told us to celebrate it until He comes again. And we have hope.”

Who Do You Say I Am? – Mark 8:27-32a

• January 29, 2024
• Pastor
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Mark 8:27-32a

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Mark 8. We were in Mark’s Gospel last week and we’ll continue there again today. Mark chapter 8. You can also read the parallel versions of this story in Matthew 16 and Luke chapter 9; it’s covered variously between the three sections, but all affirming the same truth. This morning, I will be reading from verse 27 through verse 32a – essentially the first sentence of verse 32.

This section of Mark’s gospel includes his account of what is called the “great confession,” the Caesarea Philippi confession given by Peter. The larger version of this account is found in Matthew’s Gospel.

Just as a side note, it’s striking to me that Mark’s version is so short, considering that he most likely received it from Peter. You would kind of figured that Mark’s version would be longer and more involved, since he was a traveling companion of Peter, but not so. After all, you might recall that Peter was very clear in his own writing that he wasn’t dealing in the realm of invention, but rather with real events and real stories and real details. “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” (2 Peter 1:16). But despite that, Matthew’s account (not Mark’s) is the longer one.

Now, if you want to read the Gospel of Mark – you can probably do it in less than two hours – and you will be blessed for it. And when you do, it will become very apparent that when people came in contact with Jesus of Nazareth, their reaction to Him was seldom, if ever, the kind of reaction that is customary today, which seems to be polite neutrality. In fact, when you read the Gospels, you find that Jesus inspired devotion in people; people were prepared to die for the things that Jesus said. He inspired fear in people; they were awestruck by His words and by His deeds, and they recoiled from Him. And in certain instances, and increasingly towards the end of His life, He inspired hatred in people. So, they loved Him, they feared Him, and they hated Him, but it’s hard to find anybody saying, “I’m fairly neutral about the guy.” When they considered His words and deeds, they were full of wonder. Let’s consider, now, Mark 8:27ff:

27 And Jesus went on with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told Him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered Him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And He strictly charged them to tell no one about Him.

31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And He said this plainly.

“Again, O Lord, we look to You as the Author of this sacred text, and as the One who, by Thy Spirit, gives illumination, so that we may understand it fully. Grant, O God, that we will have eyes that behold these things, not dimly or vaguely, that when we look at Christ, we may perceive Him in all His glory. For we ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

The book of Mark is divided into two parts. The first half devotes itself to the account of Jesus’ Galilean ministry in and around the Sea of Galilee. And the second half (starting here) moves to Caesarea Philippi, which is even further north than the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee. Don’t confuse Caesarea Philippi with Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast. Caesarea Philippi is 25-30 miles north of the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It’s at the base of Mount Hermon. It was a smaller Caesarea that Philip the Tetrarch established to honor Caesar Augustus, so Caesar’s name and Philip’s name are attached to it: Caesarea Philippi.

At this point in time the disciples have been with Jesus for about 2 ½ years. Two-and-a-half years of divine revelation. Two-and-a-half years of miracles. Two-and-a-half years of school. Two-and-a-half years of the most profound teaching imaginable and unimaginable. Two-and-a-half years for them to see everything they needed to see and learn everything they needed to learn. And now comes the exam – Jesus changes the pattern of rabbi and student, where normally the students are constantly asking questions of the rabbi, here the rabbi interrogates His students. He says to them in this pop quiz: “What’s the scuttlebutt? What are people saying? Who do men say that I am? Who do they think that I am?” And, as usual, we’re going to break this down into three part: 1.) what do they say [that is, the people, the crowds], 2.) what do you say, 3.) and what does Jesus say.

What Do They Say?

“What’s the word on the street, boys?” See, the disciples moved amongst the crowd, they mingled in the marketplace, they would be the kind of individuals who would be picking up the sort of things that were being said. And so, they report to Jesus: “Well, we have our ear to the ground. We hear the gossip. We hear the back-fence communications. Some people think you’re John the Baptist.”

How could it be John the Baptist? He was dead. He had his head chopped off. Don’t you remember back in Matthew 14:1-4 and Luke 9:7-9, that Herod, who chopped off his head, when he heard about Jesus going everywhere, doing all these miracles said, “John the Baptist has come back from the dead?” Back from the dead. That seems to be the popular notion because you couldn’t deny that Jesus was a prophet. You couldn’t deny that He was a miracle worker. So, maybe He was a resurrected John the Baptist. So, the disciples said: “A lot of them think you’re John the Baptist because you are a prophet like he was.”

“Others think you’re Elijah.” Now, why would some think that Jesus is Elijah? Well, at the very end of the Old Testament, in the book of Malachi, God makes the promise that Elijah must return before the Day of the Lord and before the Messiah comes. And you remember that Elijah is the one (in the Old Testament) who didn’t die but was instead taken up in the chariot of fire into heaven. Jesus is getting so much attention that the people are buzzing, whispering, “Maybe this is Elijah who was to come, or one of the prophets.”

Here, in Mark’s account, it’s just prophets [generic]. In Matthew’s account of this story the prophet Jeremiah is also mentioned. Why would they pull Jeremiah out? Well, there was this bizarre tradition among the Jews at this time that Jeremiah, in anticipation of the Babylonian captivity, realizing what was coming, went to the temple and took the altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant – took them away and put them somewhere at Mount Nebo. And according to the tradition, before Messiah returned, Jeremiah would return, and he would go get the altar of incense, and he would go get the Ark, and when he recovered the ark, then Messiah would come in His glory.

So, there were all these possibilities, but they were all wrong. But here’s what they all had in common; they knew Jesus had to be a prophet; they knew He had to be from God. But they were also convinced that He couldn’t be the Messiah. Not possible. Absolutely not possible. Why could He not be the Messiah? Because they had a very highly developed, messianic concept. In their minds, the Messiah was a political ruler; had military power; going to overthrow Rome; destroy all Israel’s enemies; bring blessedness to Israel, prosperity to Israel, permanent peace to Israel; elevate Israel to be the greatest nation on the face of the Earth; all other nations are under the shadow of Israel; righteousness flows.

They took all the messianic prophesies of the Old Testament – the desert blossoms like a rose; Isaiah’s prophecies about the character of the kingdom, all of that; the promises to David all fulfilled; the promises to Abraham all fulfilled; the promise of the new covenant to Jeremiah; the salvation of Israel fulfilled – all of this was their understanding of Messiah. And so, they couldn’t get to the point where they saw Jesus as the Messiah because He didn’t fit that. He wasn’t a military leader. He wasn’t a conqueror. He wasn’t a destroyer of armies. He didn’t look like a king. He didn’t act like a king. And so, they come up short.

Perhaps your thoughts and opinions about Jesus mirror the crowd? “Hey, man, I don’t know. I think He’s whoever you want Him to be.” That seems to be the temperature of today’s society, right? Jesus is whoever you want Him to be. There’s no right or wrong answer. Whoever you want Him to be is just fine. Or maybe you’re like Vaughan Roberts who describes his own impressions before becoming a Christian in his book Turning Points: Is There Meaning To Life? He writes, “I had a vague idea of a rather weak figure . . . who went around being nice to everyone. He had long permed hair, [wore Birkenstocks] and a permanent smile – fine for those who like that kind of thing, but not really my cup of tea.”

Wrong answers thrived then, and they thrive today too. That’s question number one on the test. It’s as if Jesus just completely dismisses them and says, “Okay, okay, that’s fine; but now the big question.” It’s also the big question for you.

What Do You Say?

So, Jesus says, “Thank you for letting me know what the people on the street are saying, but let me ask you,” and He looks His disciples in the eye, and He says to them, “What about you? Who do you say I am?” A very personal question, isn’t it? If you pause and try to imagine the scenario, it’s almost as if there’s not another single person around. It’s like that argument in school between you and another student. The teacher or the principal or the guidance counselor pulls you into the room and says, “Ok, what about you?” No friends around for you to look to for help. No parents around to hold your hand. Just you and the teacher. Right? (You never got called into the principal’s office? You mean, I’m the only one that had that kind of rebellious streak?) It’s just each disciple and Jesus.

And by the way, that’s the most important question that you’ll ever answer. That’s the most important question that any human being will ever answer: Who is Jesus Christ? Everybody on this planet is accountable to God eternally for the answer to that question. Wrong answer means hell. Right answer means heaven. Common people have answers; philosophers have answers; pseudo scholars have answers; liberal theologians have answers; Muslims have answers; Jews have answers; secularists, atheists, humanists. You name it and people have answers, but they’re wrong unless they answer like Peter. And what does Peter say?

“You are the Christ.” The fuller version reads this way: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). Peter said, “Thou art Christos; You are Messiah; You are the promised Anointed One of God who came by way of prophecy from the very beginning in the third chapter of Genesis, all the way through the Old Testament where God reiterated His promise to His people that His anointed Son would come to save His people from their sins.” Peter confesses exactly what the gospels are demonstrating.

Some of you know this, but why were the Gospels written? For what purpose did Matthew, Mark, Luke and John sit down and write these first-hand accounts of Jesus life, death, and resurrection? John 20:31 says, “…these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”  John essentially reiterates Peter’s confession when he tells us why the Gospels were written.

You would think that, with that confession, Jesus would have turned to them and said, “Finally, after all this time, your hearts have melted, your ears have been opened, you’re hearing my Word, and now you get it.” Beloved, what follows in Mark’s record and what followed in Matthew’s record is that, even though this majestic confession of faith had come forth from the lips of Simon Peter, the disciples still didn’t understand it clearly – not perfectly, why else would Peter then go on to tell Jesus that He wasn’t going to suffer? The confession was true, and it was an act of real faith when they made this confession. Matthew expands on it by recounting that Jesus pronounced His benediction on Peter, “Blessed are you” (Matthew 16:17). Let me pause there.

Do you believe that Jesus is the Messiah? When you stand up publicly and join the church, whether it’s this church or any other church, and make your public profession of faith, are you declaring to your friends and neighbors: “I believe that Jesus is the Messiah. I believe He is the Christ. I believe that He is the Son of the living God?” If you believe that, then the same benediction that Jesus pronounced upon Simon Peter is your benediction. For He would say, “Blessed are you,” because this is not something you learned in kindergarten, this is not something you learned from the newspaper, this isn’t something you learned from the secular media or social media. Human reason doesn’t get you there. Empiricism doesn’t get you there. Experience doesn’t get you there – at least not all the way. It requires divine intervention to make this confession.

That’s why 1 Corinthians 12:3 says, “No man can confess Jesus as Lord but by the Holy Spirit.” It’s a divine work. Flesh and blood don’t reveal this kind of information. If you believe in your heart that He is the Christ, you are blessed among people because God has allowed you to see His Son. Don’t ever forget that. If you’re ever downcast, if you’re ever jealous of somebody else’s status or possessions, if you ever cry unto God, “Why me?” in the midst of affliction, hear these words: “Blessed are you,” for you have been able to see the most priceless treasure there is in this world. You have been able to recognize the Pearl of great price, and if God never ever gives you another blessing for the rest of your days on this planet, you would have no reason to do anything else but crawl over glass to proclaim His glory and His mercy to the whole world. The greatest blessing a human being can ever receive is that blessing to know Him.

That’s question number two. Question one: what does the world say, what are others saying, what do they say? Question two: what about YOU? Think about this long and hard. All of us are headed for the grave. Nobody denies that death is a reality in this life. So, the question then becomes, is there life after death, and if so, how do I spend it in heaven rather than hell. Here’s the question you need to answer: Who do you say that Jesus is? Let’s conclude by looking at what Jesus says.

What Does Jesus Say?

It’s the strangest thing. It’s an odd ending to such a monumental moment. You’d expect Jesus to send them forth proclaiming this good news, but instead we get a warning, “And He strictly charged them to tell no one about Him” (Mark 8:30). What? How strange is that? You have a Messiah who is declared, and as soon as the declaration of His messiahship is made known, He says, “Don’t let the message out. Don’t let anyone know. Don’t tell anyone who I am.” How can you start a movement if you’re not going to let the word out? What are you doing? This makes no sense.

The reason He says, “Don’t tell anyone about this,” is because He’s instructing the disciples that this is not the full message. He didn’t want miracles to spread because that wasn’t the full message. He wasn’t ONLY a miracle worker. To say He’s the Messiah is not the full message. You can pronounce Jesus as the Messiah, but that’s not the full message because it’s missing the gospel, and that’s evidenced in the next verse. Don’t tell anyone. Why? Because you’ve got more to learn. Look at verse 31, “And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” The best news ever pronounced, followed by the worst news. What a blow. The last thing they would expect on the heels of such a grand moment of revelation and clarity was a death announcement. How could the Messiah of God, the Redeemer of Israel, the Conqueror of all God’s enemies suffer?

How could they ever process this? I guess they didn’t think of Isaiah 53, “He would be wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace would fall on Him, and by His stripes we would be healed.” Isaiah 53 lays it out: the suffering servant, the servant will suffer and die. And so, the bad news comes on the heels of the good news. And it’s the worst news imaginable. It’s incomprehensible. They can’t even process it. I don’t think they even heard the last part, “And after three days rise again.” He had said that before, early in His ministry, before these guys even were a part of His life, when He said, “Destroy this body, in three days I’ll raise it up” (John 2:19). Here, He says it again.

Did they know Psalm 16, that the Holy One will not see corruption, but the Lord will show them the path of life, a prophecy of the resurrection? Peter preached on that resurrection passage – didn’t he? – on the Day of Pentecost. When Peter preached the resurrection on the first day the church was born, and the Spirit came, he chose Psalm 16, which proves the resurrection. Did they not know Isaiah 53 ends with verses 10-12, that the Messiah will be glorified and exalted and lifted up after His substitutionary sacrificial death in which He dies as a substitute for transgressors? The resurrection is certain. It’s as certain as the crucifixion.

So, the bad news is really good news because He’s going to be killed, but He’s going to be killed for you. He’s going to die in your place. He’s going to be punished for your sins. Paul writes, in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake He [God] made Him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” And in Galatians 3:13, Paul says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” Finally, Matthew 16:21 says, “From that time on, Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem; suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, scribes; be killed; be raised up the third day.” I think this was daily conversation from here on out. No questions anymore about the person, but they struggled with the plan. They really struggled with the plan. The struggle was not because Jesus wasn’t clear. Please notice verse 32, “And He said this plainly.” I’d like that to be my life verse, “He was stating the matter clearly.” Clear is good. You don’t have to be a scholar to figure out what Jesus said. It’s not esoteric, mystical language. He was stating it clearly.

The good news? Jesus is Messiah, the Son of God. The bad news? He’s going to die. The good news? He’s going to rise. That’s called the gospel, that Jesus died and rose again for the salvation of all who believe in Him. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:16-18). So, I ask you again, “Who do you say that Jesus is?” There’s only ONE right answer.

“Father, when we lift our eyes, we pray that You will give us that clarity of vision – even from a distance – that we might recognize You are the Christ without confusion, without blur or doubt. We pray that You would give us eyes to see so clearly that we would be willing to let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also, that we may live based on that confession until we enter the gates of heaven. Amen.”

Why Do You Call Me Good? – Mark 10:17-23

• January 23, 2024
• Pastor
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Mark 10:17-23

We’re in our third week of this new series called Seven Questions God Asks Us. Of course, there are more than seven questions that God (or Jesus) asks in the Bible, but we’re just considering a few of them. Today, let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Mark 10. The story that we’re going to read this morning is one of those that’s recorded in each of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). We call them synoptics because they contain many of the same stories and are often in a similar sequence and might even include identical wording.

(I have to admit that every time I think about defining a Greek or Hebrew term, I’m reminded of Peggy’s satirical monologue of me for Pastor Appreciation month two years ago – and I just smile.)

Nevertheless, the word synoptic comes from the Greek word synopsis, and you’re all familiar with that – a synopsis is general summary of something. If you pause a little longer and look at the word synoptic, you might notice the prefix “syn” and the word “optic.” Syn meaning “together” or “with,” as in synonym or synonymous, and optic meaning “vision” or “the ability to see.” So, synoptic is literally “together sight,” or we might say “seeing things similarly.”

Ok, enough of the etymological word studies. But the reason I point that out is because many of us have come to know this story as the story of the Rich Young Ruler – and yet, that’s a title that’s actually a composite of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. See, Matthew (twice) refers to the man as “young,” while our text makes no mention of his age, and Luke’s account identifies the man as a “ruler.” Therefore, we’re left with the story of the rich young ruler. Also, let me just make this final distinction before we read the text. This is a real story with a real unidentified man. This isn’t a parable. Jesus taught using parables and many of His parables sounded like “real” scenarios:

“Behold, a sower went out to sow seed…” (Mark 4:3)

“[T]he kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants…” (Matthew 18:23)

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers…” (Luke 10:30)

Now, it’s possible that Jesus had specific people and events in mind when he told those stories, but not necessarily. However, in today’s text, we’re encountering a real man and Jesus. Man, you learn all kinds of neat things when you come to Mountain Hill. Well, let’s read this story:

17 And as He was setting out on His journey, a man ran up and knelt before Him and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to Him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 23 And Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”

“Father, I pray in this moment that the Spirit of God will be our teacher, that You will grant to us listening ears, that You will save us from distraction, and that we might know we’re in the presence of the risen Christ. So that, much like the disciples of old, we may say to one another, ‘Didn’t our hearts burn within us as Christ spoke to us and explained from the Scriptures all the things concerning Himself?’ (Luke 24:32). Lord, we’re not interested in hearing a man talk. What we want, what we need, is to hear the voice of the living God. Reach into our lives, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Our young man would be on most fathers’ lists of possible sons-in-law, wouldn’t he? If you’ve ever thought who you might like for your daughters as a son-in-law and you’ve considered things honestly, then perhaps you’ll agree with me that the characteristics represented in this man, although not in any particular order, are indeed attractive.

First of all, he’s prosperous. Now, we know that doesn’t matter in its entirety, but it sure helps. And the ability for someone to provide is an important thing.

Second, he was principled. He was a young man who was able to say that he’d been living by the rules. He wasn’t trying to fiddle things or dodge issues; he was a man of integrity. That, too, is attractive.

He was also personable. We pick that up from the fact that there was something about his approach and the way in which he interacted with Jesus that caused Jesus to love him (as Mark records it for us). Of course, that says something about Jesus, but it also says something about the nature of this young man – he was personable.

And finally, he was spiritual. He might have preferred to call himself religious, but certainly he was a young man who was interested in eternal life and spiritual matters.

Prosperous…principled…personable…and spiritual: not only on the list of potential sons-in-laws but also on the list of attractive prospects for most churches. Any church that was looking for a few good men to add to their ranks, to help serve in some capacity, would’ve immediately said, “Now that’s the kind of fellow we could use on one of our committees!” And the disciples were probably saying to themselves, “This dude could be one of us.”

Therefore, it’s quite striking that when you get to the end of the dialogue, you discover that the man’s face has fallen, and he’s gone away sad. I did a quick skim of the New Testament this week. Mind you, it was quick. It wasn’t in-depth or thorough, but what I found was that there are a number of people who came to Jesus sad but went away happy. This is the only person that I could find in the whole New Testament who met Jesus and went away sad. Think about that for just a minute. Now, you had some that went away mad (Pharisees, Sadducees, Roman authorities, and the like), but only this guy came happy and left sad.

As we consider this third question that Jesus asks us, I want to outline today’s message with four words: question, redirect response, and instruction. That’s the roadmap: the man’s question, Jesus’ redirect, the man’s response, and Jesus’ instruction.

Question

Verse 17 seems to suggest that this man’s concern was so great, his interest was so sincere, that he’s virtually falling over himself as he seeks to address his question to Jesus.

You don’t rise to leadership, nor do you amass wealth unless you’re zealous, hardworking, marked by exertion and by activity (or unless you’re involved in corruption). And I believe we wouldn’t at all be surprised, if we walked through a couple of days with this young man and found out that he was just the kind of individual who was “Johnny on it.” He would be the kind of person who returned his telephone calls. He would be the sort of guy who said, “If I’ll call you at 6:00 p.m.,” then he called at six. If he said he had a book to pass on to you, then he got the book to you. That’s just the kind of man he was. And if somebody presented a challenge, he was ready for it. He’d made that part of his life. Therefore, it’s no surprise at all that when he comes to Jesus with this spiritual question, he wants to know what he had to do: “What do I have to do?” Isn’t that the question of every “go getter” – just tell me what to do.

Obviously, this guy isn’t a disinterested bystander at one of Jesus’ public teachings. Here’s a man who runs for all he’s worth. He is eager to ask Jesus the question burning in his soul, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” He comes eagerly. He comes willingly. He comes with respect and honor. He falls on his knees before Jesus, and he uses a form of address that was somewhat unusual and rare among the Jews when he says to Him, “Good Teacher,” or, “Good Rabbi.” Let me pause there for a second.

One who held the office of rabbi in the Jewish community was considered one of the most distinguished and honorable persons in the community. It was the custom of the Jews that anytime the father, the patriarch of the family, entered a room, his children were required to stand in respect for him – with one notable exception. If one of the sons became a rabbi, then the custom was that when that son entered the room, his father would stand in respect of his son because of this elevated office.

So, it’s with great respect that this young man asks Jesus, “Good Teacher, what do I have to do to inherit eternal life?” The Psalms in the Old Testament talked about inheriting life, and so often in the Old Testament the notion of inheriting life was related to obedience to the law. This man comes with that assumption that the only way he will ever inherit eternal life is by doing something that would make him right before God. I’m going to come back to that in a few moments, but for now let’s go on with Jesus’ redirect

Redirect

Notice how Jesus answers the question with a question. He says: “Why are you calling Me good? Don’t you know that there’s only One who is good, even God?”

Some of the critics of the Christian faith go to this text, and they say, “See, here is a place where Jesus denies His own deity. Jesus recognized that He too had sin in His life because He says He’s not good.” I’m quite convinced that’s not what Jesus was saying. Rather, Jesus knew that the man didn’t know to Whom he was asking the question. Jesus knew that this guy didn’t know that he was talking to God incarnate. Jesus was calling attention to this man’s superficial understanding of what goodness is, just like we do. Just like the world, it’s so easy for us to call each other good. We say, “He’s a good man, she’s a good woman, he’s a good child,” and so on without giving much thought or consideration to what goodness entails. Good is a relative term, and we use it by comparing one person to another.

We compare ourselves to each other, just as we talk about animals. I say about my dog, “My dog is a good dog.” What do I mean by that? I don’t mean that my dog has a highly refined ethical sense of propriety or that my dog knows how to make those hard decisions that righteousness requires. No, I’m just saying that as dogs go, my dog is a pretty good dog. My dog comes when I call her. She doesn’t bite the mailman. She’s barks when there’s something to be barked at, but otherwise she’s quiet. That’s what a good dog is.

So, what do we mean when we say that a man is good? We mean that compared to other people, he’s pretty good. We’re warned in Scripture, however, not to judge ourselves by ourselves or to judge ourselves against others. Rather, we understand that goodness is ultimately defined by the character of God. And where is God’s character manifest most clearly – in the law. When we judge ourselves against the ultimate standard of the righteousness of God, then we come to understand why the Psalmist and the Apostle Paul say: “There is none righteous. There is none who does good, no, not one” (Psalm 14:1, 53:1; Romans 3:10-12).

So, what does Jesus do? Where does Jesus take him? Straight to the law, and more specifically to the second part of the law – the part that deals with our interactions with one another. Let me put it this way: Jesus starts with the easy part. He says: “You know the law. Thou shall not murder. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery.” It’s important that you see where Jesus starts. Why? Because when we encounter people today, what is their typical response regarding eternal life? “I haven’t murdered anybody. I haven’t robbed a bank. I haven’t cheated on my spouse.” They start in the same place. And we need to help them understand that “goodness” is only determined and defined by the One who is Himself good – God.

Response

Suddenly this eager young man, who came rushing to Jesus to find out how to get in God’s kingdom, breathes an audible sigh of relief: “Thank goodness. Is that all? All I have to do is keep the law.” He says: “Jesus, I’ve never committed adultery. I’ve never stolen anything. I’ve never murdered anybody. I’m not a covetous person. I’ve done all of these things since I was a little boy. I was born and reared in the Jewish community. We recited the law all the time. I know the Decalogue. It’s written on my heart. I keep those commandments every day.”

You would expect Jesus to say, “No you don’t.” Jesus could’ve said, “Sir, you haven’t kept a single one of the Ten Commandments since you got out of your bed this morning.” Obviously, the guy wasn’t aware of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus explained that even if you’ve refrained from full-blown adultery, but you’ve lusted after someone, then you’ve broken the law. Even if you’ve never taken a human life, if you’ve been angry without just cause, if you’ve hated your brother, if you’ve insulted him, then you’ve broken the law concerning murder. Jesus revealed that the demands of God’s law are far deeper than the mere, simple outward obedience that’s spelled out in the law.

The rich young ruler simply didn’t understand the law. He didn’t have a clue about the depth of his own sin. And this continues to be a problem today. People don’t truly appreciate their need of salvation. They don’t view themselves as standing in opposition to a holy God – after all, except for this morning, when was the last time you heard someone use the word “holy” in the proper context? My ears are especially sensitive to it, and I can tell you that without fail it’s used as an adjective modifying any number of curse words. Whereas, in the Bible, it’s only and always used in relation to Almighty God. In fact, He is holy, holy, holy (Isaiah 6:3), and we are called to “be holy as He is holy” (1 Peter 1:16). Well, let’s look at the final scene.

Instruction

Jesus doesn’t give him a lecture. He doesn’t say: “No, you haven’t kept the law since you were a little boy. No, you don’t understand the gospel. You don’t understand justification by faith alone.” Rather, He’s trying to help the man. After the man said, “All these things I’ve kept from my youth,” Mark tells us that Jesus, looking at him, loved him. Isn’t that interesting? The young man says to Jesus – the Judge of heaven and earth who is standing right in front of him – “I’ve kept the law since I was a little boy,” and Jesus looks at him and loves him.

Why does He love him? Is it because He was so happy to finally find an Israelite in whom there was no guile, to finally find somebody in the Jewish community that did in fact keep the law from the time he was a little boy? Did Jesus love this fellow because he was so lovely? I don’t believe the rich young ruler was an arrogant man. To be sure, his answers were arrogant, but I don’t think his demeanor was arrogant. I don’t think that was his attitude. He really wanted to know, and he believed that he had kept the law.

My mind (perhaps like yours) turns to that scene of Jesus approaching Jerusalem weeping, crying out in prophetic lament, “Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and all who were sent before, how often I would have gathered you to Myself like a hen gathers her chicks, but you would not” (Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34). I think Jesus wanted to look at this man, put His arms around him, and say: “Don’t you understand? The only way you get into the kingdom is if you bring nothing in your hand. You have to receive it like a child. You can’t buy it. You can’t earn it. You can’t possibly deserve it. You have to receive it. It’s by grace and grace alone.”

So, what does Jesus do. He loves him and He moves right up to the top of the list. “Let’s put it to the test. There’s one little thing you lack. You’ve done so well all those years, but you’re going to miss this inheritance because of one requirement. All you have to do is go out and sell all that you have, give it to the poor, pick up your cross, and follow Me – then you’ll inherit the kingdom.”

Folks, if all I had to do to inherit eternal life was to get rid of all my private property, I wouldn’t wait until tomorrow. I’d give it away today, because “what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul” (Mark 8:36)? What could be sillier than to seek money, or financial security, or wealth rather than the kingdom of God?

Understand that Jesus is not setting down a universal rule for anybody to enter the kingdom of God. He’s not saying that everyone must divest themselves of all private property, enter a monastery, and take an oath of poverty. That’s not what Jesus is saying. Nor is He saying that wealth and riches are inherently bad or evil. As an old pastor friend of mine used to say, “It’s not wrong to have stuff, as long as the stuff doesn’t have you.” No, Jesus is addressing the man’s specific area of rebellion, disobedience, and unfaithfulness. “You’ve kept all the law? Let’s start with number one: ‘Thou shall have no other gods before Me.’” Jesus knew that money was this man’s god. And when Jesus hit the nail on the head the rich young ruler’s sigh of relief was transformed into a groan of despair, for the Bible says, “Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful…” That word “sorrowful” isn’t strong enough. He was downcast. In the Greek it says that he was stugnazó. He was “shocked.” He was “devastated.” And he walked away from Jesus.

The Pearl of Great Price was standing right in front of him. All the treasures of heaven and earth were in the One he walked away from. It’s like a man who wouldn’t trade a nickel for a billion dollars, but even that’s a poor analogy. He thought his own possessions were worth more than Jesus. He’d rather have had his own bank account than the kingdom of God. In just a moment we’re going to close by singing:

I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands.
I’d rather be led by His nail pierced hand

Than to be the king of a vast domain
Or be held in sin’s dread sway.
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.

The real tragedy of this story is that the only Person in the universe who could get this rich man out of bankruptcy, the only Person in the universe who could pay the debt that the man couldn’t pay, was standing right in front of him. Do you want eternal life today? Let go of what’s in your hand. Let go of those riches. Let go of your performance. Let go of whatever is holding you back from receiving the free gift of God’s grace.

That’s what the gospel is all about. Christ pays for us. He purchases us. He pays our debt. He gives to us His righteousness, which is the only thing that will satisfy the demands of God’s law. By faith, when you put your trust in Christ and Christ alone and despair of your own wealth, you let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also, and cling to Jesus. Then you receive the inheritance that you need to get into the kingdom of God.

“O God, we’re beggars who have no bread. We’re debtors who have no money, but You’ve poured out a Treasure to us in Jesus. You’ve given us the Pearl of Great Price. O God, don’t ever let us walk away from You.”