Matthew 19 Part 2

Children

Matthew 19:13–15 ESV

13 Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, 14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And he laid his hands on them and went away.

Parents were bringing their children to Jesus to be touched and prayed for. The children were not big enough to run to or interrupt Jesus, these were small children - Luke called them infants:

Luke 18:15 ESV

15 Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

They were being brought for dedication and special blessings. It was a demonstration of their believe in God and that Jesus was the Son of God - it carried special meaning with the parents. Even though Jesus was not “popular” with the “religious” leaders, they still wanted Jesus to bless their children.

But...

There will always be opposition to children’s ministry. Even the disciples were against it! Why? Because they thought there was more important things to take care of. But let me be very clear:

(1) A child who is brought to Christ grows up learning love: that he is loved by God and by all who trust God. He matures year by year knowing that no matter how evil some people may act, he is to love even those who do wrong. He learns that he is to help sow the seed of love upon earth.

(2) A child who is brought to Christ grows up learning power and triumph: that God will help His followers through all; that there is a supernatural power available to help, a power to help when mother and dad and loved ones have done all they can.

(3) A child who is brought to Christ grows up learning hope and faith: that no matter what happens, no matter how great a trial, he can still trust God and hope in Him. God has provided a very special strength to carry him through the trials of this life (no matter how painful). God has provided a very special place called heaven where He will carry him and his loved ones when he faces death.

(4) A child who is brought to Christ grows up learning the truth of life and endurance (service): that God has given him the privilege of life and of living in a beautiful earth and universe; that the evil and bad which exist in the world are caused by evil and bad people; that despite such evil, he is to serve in appreciation for life and for the beautiful earth upon which God has placed him. He is to work and work diligently, making the greatest contribution he can.

(5) A child who is brought to Christ grows up learning trust and endurance: that life is full of temptations and pitfalls which can easily rob him of joy and destroy his life and the fulfillment of his purposes; that the way to escape the temptations and pitfalls is to follow Christ and endure in his work and purpose.

(6) A child who is brought to Christ grows up learning peace: that there is an inner peace despite the turbulent waters of this world; that peace is knowing and trusting Christ.

Let the children come to me. If children were that important to Jesus, they’d better be that important to the church.

I’ve Done All These Things...

Matthew 19:16–30 ESV

16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, 19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Good Master, I have done all these things… yet i want to know how to be saved and inherit eternal life.

How many of us have asked the same question, how come we have done all these “things”, but still feel lost?

Jesus answers these questions. The first step to entering God’s kingdom is to seek eternal life. The rich young ruler demonstrated how we should seek eternal life. He did exactly what we must do when we wish anything: seek it. We are to seek eternal life just as the rich young ruler did. But in seeking, there is a critical step to be taken: we must go to the right source. This is exactly what the rich young ruler did: (a) he approached Christ, the Source of eternal life; and (b) he asked, that is, confessed his need.

He knew eternal life existed. He knew there was a life in heaven. He didn’t know how to access it. He did a rare thing. He openly confessed his eager concern for eternal life. Few of the rich would ever confess an open concern as he did, and few of the young would ever consider it important enough at their stage of life. He lacked and had need, and he knew it and confessed it openly. He was seeking for inner peace and a sense of completeness, for a satisfaction which his wealth and position had not given him.

To receive eternal life, one must confess the need, seek out Christ, and seek it. He was making a distinction between life and existence. To receive eternal life is to enter life; to really live as one should live; to live just as God intended life to be lived; to live full of love, joy, and peace (Ga. 5:22–23). He was saying what Scripture proclaims time and again—that man without Christ does not have life. He is not living; he is only existing. He is in a state of death (always dying) and is separated from God, the Source of real life (Ep. 2:1; 1 Jn. 5:12). He was teaching eternal existence. Man does not cease to be; he continues on and on. The only question is, does he continue on in a state of life, living eternally, or of death, being separated from God eternally? To receive eternal life means that a man “enters life,” a continuation of life. To remain as he is means that a person continues on just existing, existing in a state of death, that is, being without God in this world and existing without eternal life. He was teaching that heaven is another world—a real world in another dimension of being, an eternal dimension. It is wholly different from the physical and temporal dimension of this world. Note: there is to be “treasure in heaven” for following Christ, eternal treasure.

He called Jesus “Good Master.” By Master he meant Good teacher, good Rabbi, acknowledging that Jesus was an honorable person to be highly regarded. But he saw Jesus only as a highly regarded teacher. He did not consider Jesus to be the Son of God. He perceived Jesus to be only a mere man, not God. He thought Jesus was a man who had achieved unusual moral goodness and by such had become a Good Master, one capable of teaching the truths of God and life.

He asked, “What good thing shall I do?” He had a religion of works not of faith. He thought he could secure eternal life by being good. If he could just keep some great rule and live a clean life, then God would accept him. He believed that his acts of morality and good works piled up a balance sheet, making him acceptable to God.

Christ had to correct these two errors. He attempted to do so by asking a pointed question, “Why callest thou me good? there is none good, but one, that is, God.” He was saying to the young man, “God alone is good. No man is good, not in comparison to God, not even good enough to stand before God in righteousness. If I am but a mere man, a good teacher, then I am not good and do not have the words to eternal life. But if I am God, then you can address me as good, and I do have the words to eternal life.”

The great misconception of man is that man is good—that the basic core and the raw nature of man is good—that man …

• can be good enough to secure God’s approval.

• can do enough good works to make himself acceptable to God.

There has to be a change, a complete and thorough change, of our being—a transformation, a new birth—before we can enter God’s presence. Realistically, no man nor anything else can transform man so that his body becomes perfect and his acts become only good. No man has or ever will have the power to perfect his body and behavior to live perfectly, permanently and eternally. In our present bodies, we come short of God’s glory and we die.

To enter the Kingdom of God, we must keep the commandments. Christ told the young man very simply, “Keep the commandments.” The young man asked, “Which?” By asking, the man revealed an inadequate concept of God’s law. He thought some were more important than others. He wanted to know which ones would give him life.

Christ struck at the man’s real problem. The man was failing to love his neighbor as himself, so Christ quoted five of the ten commandments, five that have to do with his duty toward his neighbor. Christ summed up all five commandments by saying, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Le. 19:18). This is what James called the “royal law” (Js. 2:8). The person who loves his neighbor will have excellent relations with all and will experience love, joy, and peace—the abundance of life. The man made the phenomenal claim that he had kept all five of the commandments that Christ quoted. Of course, as is true with all men, he had not kept them—not perfectly, not in God’s eyes, not in the spirit in which God intended them to be kept.

Each of us fall short of the glory of God, and each of us fail Him daily. What of our sins would Christ have pointed out?

You see, we must also humble ourselves. Realizing we know nothing. We have nothing. We are nothing. Without God. Christ knew exactly what the young man needed. His rejection of Christ showed this. He was hoarding wealth instead of distributing it. God had given to him that he might have to give to others (Ep. 4:28), but he was failing to love and help his neighbor anywhere close to what he should. When we deny self by giving all we are and have (1 Jn. 4:20), then and only then do we receive heaven and the treasures of heaven. To deny self, to give all we are and have, is a hard saying; but Christ demands it.

Sadly, the young man rejected Christ for three reasons.

1) Unbelief: he was not willing to entrust his life to Christ. There was some lack of belief that Jesus Christ was really God’s very own Son standing before him.

2) Self-righteousness and pride: his concept of religion was keeping laws and doing good in order to secure God’s acceptance. He felt that he had the power and goodness to make God approve and accept him.

3) Love of the world: he was rich and was unwilling to give up the comfort and possessions he had obtained. He made the fatal mistake that so many make with wealth, power, and fame.

a) He loved the things of the world more than he loved people. He preferred hoarding and extravagance, preferred living sumptuously and comfortably to helping those who were so desperately in need: the hungry, thirsty, poor, diseased, suffering, orphans, widows, widowers, empty, lonely, and the lost.

b) He loved the things of the world more than he loved the hope of eternal life.

c) He loved the position and recognition and esteem and power of the earth more than he loved Christ.

He was consumed with what he had more than what he WOULD have if he accepted Jesus. Jesus took the rich young ruler’s rejection and warned all men about the dangers of wealth. Wealth pulls a person away from the Kingdom of Heaven. It is difficult for a rich person to enter heaven. Christ made this statement because of the things that pulled the rich young ruler away. Wealth does pull a person away from heaven. There is a lure, an attraction, a force, a power, a pull that reaches out to draw us when we look at or possess wealth. There are pulls so forceful that they will enslave and doom any rich man who fails to turn and embrace God. Plainly put, the more money we have, the more money we want, and the more selfish we become.

Who are the rich? This question seriously needs to be asked of every individual in light of the great and desperate needs of the world. Every one of us needs to compare what we have with what the vast majority of the world has. The rich are persons who have anything to put back beyond meeting the needs of their own family (and by needs is meant real needs). This is exactly what Christ and the Bible say time and again. You see, the rich are any of us who have anything beyond what we need. What Christ demands is that we give all that we are and have to meet the needs of those in such desperate need, holding back nothing. This is often the great complaint against Christians, that we just do not believe, not to the point that we are willing to follow the sacrificial example of Christ. The evidence of our unbelief is seen in Christ’s insistence that we give all we have to feed the starving and to meet the desperate needs of the world, and yet we do not do it.

If a man centers his life upon the things of the world, his attention is on the world and not on God. He tends to become wrapped up in securing more and in protecting what he has. Too often, he gives little if any time and thought to heavenly matters. Wealth and the things it can buy can and usually do consume the rich.

It is extremely difficult for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God. It is so difficult that Jesus says, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Christ was saying something diametrically opposed to what they and everyone else had always thought. They had been taught (as have succeeding generations, even the church) …

• that prosperity (wealth, comfort, and things) is God’s blessing

• that a person receives and has because God is blessing him

• that prosperity is the reward of righteousness and obedience

• that God blesses a person with the things of this earth if they are righteous and obedient

But it does not align itself with being a humble and obedient servant. God’s concern is spiritual blessings, not material blessings. We are to seek Him first, and the spiritual blessings will be abundant. The only hope we have for riches…is God.

Peter’s question is often misunderstood. Peter was not being mercenary; he needed assurance. He wanted to make sure that he and the other disciples were really saved. Anyone would need assurance after what Jesus had just said: “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me” (Mt. 19:21).

Few sell everything and give it all away (v.21), and few, whether rich or poor, control their dreams and urges to have more (see note—Mk. 10:25). The disciples, as all honest men, knew this. They also knew the extreme demands Christ was making to be a true follower of Christ. They, unlike so many of us in our attempts to soften His words, understood exactly what He was saying. The extremity of His words was shocking. They could not see how anyone could be saved, and the answer Christ gave to their question about salvation said nothing to give them personal assurance: “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible” (v.26).

The disciples sensed a deep need for assurance. Had they done enough and given up enough? They thought so and were almost sure they had, but had they? Somewhat meekly Peter said, “Lord, behold [look] we have forsaken all, and followed thee. We have surrendered all to you. What shall we have therefore? Shall we receive eternal life …?” Christ used Peter’s question to teach a wonderful truth. They and all who followed Him could rest assured—they would be enormously rewarded.