Feb 04
What’s it cost you?
Posted by Jody | Posted in God Stuff | Posted on 04-02-2010
Following the rules seems to be the hardest thing to do.
A lot of us think we have it figured out. I mean we follow the rules, go to church, we’re a good citizen, etc… Along with this we might even be followers of Christ. So what else is there? Is there anything else I should be concerned with. Have I made it? From this point on does it just keep getting better by making sure that my sinful nature stays checked?
Listen to what Jesus had to say;
18 A ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 “You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY , DO NOT MURDER , DO NOT STEAL , DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS , HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER .’” 21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” 22 When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 23 But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 24 And Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! 25 “For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 They who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”
Luke 18:18-26
Along with following the rules comes the sacrifice. You see it was easy for this guy to follow the rules and because of his cushy lifestyle he didn’t have to sweat too much. Then Jesus dropped the bomb on him and basically said that following Him would have to cost something.
Where are you at? I don’t think this means that having things is bad but you have them for a purpose. Your ’stuff’ belongs to God anyway. Are you ready to give it up? When you serve does it cost you anything? Is there a level of discomfort that comes with it? Or is it easy for you to serve because your life is cushy?
Jesus seemed to put a big emphasis on it (eternal life), shouldn’t you?
Interesting thoughts. I think the focus of the passage is really in verses 18 and 27, though. The question the man asked was how he could have eternal life by something that he did himself. He wanted to be justified by his own obedience to the law. In this, he was in error.
The bible says “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” Galations 2:16. This man wanted to be justified by keeping the law, and if he had actually kept all the law, he would have eternal life because death and hell is the penalty for sin. God, who is just, would never punish someone if he had not sinned. But this man was a sinner, as we all are. Did he REALLY honor his father and mother his entire life? Really? Had he really never lied? Or lusted after a woman (which is also adultery according to Jesus)? Of course not. Even if this man DID sell everything he had, he would not have merited eternal life unless he REALLY had kept all of the rest of the law.
When Jesus told this man to sell all he had and give to the poor, Jesus wasn’t saying that we are saved by giving up our possessions. He was showing this self-righteous man that he HADN’T kept all the law. How is he loving his neighbor as himself if he is wealthy and his neighbor is poor?
It’s impossible for man to be justified by his own efforts, as those in verse 26 pointed out. If perfect obedience to the ENTIRE law is what is required for salvation, who could be saved?
That’s why verse 27 is so important: But [Jesus] said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”
It’s impossible for our own efforts to save us, ever. Salvation is ONLY possible by the unmerited grace of God. Salvation is a FREE gift that is paid for entirely by the work of Jesus Christ. If willingness to give up something was required for salvation, salvation would cease to be a free gift. As Romans 11:6 says, “And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.” If we must do something to be saved, we are no longer saved by grace, but by our works.
But we are saved by our faith, not by our works. We aren’t saved by giving up our material possessions, or being willing to give up our material possessions. We are saved by the grace of God only by giving up our own efforts at being justified by what we do and calling upon the name of the Lord for salvation. Jesus isn’t teaching that we can be saved by giving everything we have to God. He’s teaching that we can’t be saved by even our best efforts.
Being a disciple, of course, does cost us. If we’re faithful, it will cost our time, our money, our lifestyle, perhaps even our lives. But we aren’t saved because we’re faithful, we’re saved because God is faithful to those who put their trust in Him. The only difference between those who have eternal life and those who don’t is whether they have believed the gospel. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13.
I know you’re not suggesting that we are saved by our works, of course. But over the years I have heard a lot of false teaching about this passage by people who claim that our salvation is dependent upon us “being willing to give up everything for Jesus.” Ironically, I’ve never heard anyone teach that who actually had sold everything he had and given it to the poor, though they always claim they are “willing” to, lol.
Yeah Josh, that’s what is alluded to here. The guy was trying to show Jesus I am close to God because of what I have done. And because of the things I have done I have a lot.
So when Jesus tells him to get rid of it he throws the guys religious efforts out the window.
My other thought in writing this was to simply show that sacrifice is not the same as giving. We can get caught up in the ‘look how much I give’ thing sometimes but it never bothers us. We can be great givers monetarily to our church or a cause. But what about the things that could cost us sweat and time?
Unfortunately this guy was probably standing there with a bunch of other good doers and Jesus used it as a teaching example in front of them. (I don’t know this for sure)
Thanks for letting me know your thoughts.