The list-makers of religion are everywhere!
There is no end to all the “rules of righteousness” generated by man to deem
one as spiritual and another as worldly, saved or lost! Have you ever noticed that being
a part of some fellowship is usually based upon “do nots” (legalistic,
ritualistic) or “doughnuts (loose, relaxed)?” By the way, having standards does
not automatically make a fellowship guilty of legalism. Love, the agape-kind, does have certain standards that natural affections do not.
Many desire rules in order to feel
spiritual in the keeping of them, but Christianity is not about a bunch of
manmade rules; it runs deeper than that because its focus is on a personal
relationship with God, not about checking off some arbitrary list of religion –
“Do this, and you are spiritual.” I am convinced that most religious folks want
a check-off list to be considered “spiritual” and feel good about themselves, “I’m
a good person!”
Do you remember this incident in
Scripture of a self-righteous young man thinking that he had it all together and approached Jesus with a question on eternal life?
(Mt 19:16) …, Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have
eternal life?
(Mt 19:17) So He said to him, Why do you call Me good? No one is
good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the
commandments [Did this young man recognize and
acknowledge that Jesus was deity? No. The only person who ever kept all the
commandments of God perfectly was Jesus.].
(Mt 19:18) He said to Him, Which ones? Jesus said, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU
SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE
WITNESS,
(Mt 19:19) HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER, and, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR
NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.
This guy did not
consider himself a murderer, adulterer, thief, prevaricator, dishonorable to
his parents, or unloving to his neighbors. However, if he was an orthodox Jew
of the times, I might question the honoring of his parents or loving his
neighbor (cf. Mk 7:9-13; Lk 10:29-37), but I will give him the benefit of the
doubt, given the lack of data.
(Mt 19:20) The
young man said to Him, All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I
still lack?
Let’s stop right there for a moment. Reflect
on that question for it is profound; it is the centerpiece of his confidence – What do I still lack? I am of
the opinion this man assumed he lacked nothing further and considered himself a
viable candidate for eternal life! In actuality, he was spiritually blind
having determined for himself what constituted salvation. It is par for the
course of the spiritually blind (Jdg 21:25; Prov 16:25).
(Mt 19:21) Jesus said to him, If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you
have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come,
follow Me.
(Mt 19:22) But when the young man heard that saying, he went away
sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
This young man had it all together, yes? Be
careful what you ask for, right? Jesus is not saying that being rich is a sin. It
is what it does to you where the sin enters the mix. I am of the opinion few can
handle riches properly in a manner pleasing to Yahweh.
Such was the case of this young man who
came to ask Jesus about eternal life (cf. Mk 4:19, choke the word). He wanted Jesus to
validate his righteousness! He was young, rich, pumped and motivated in doing
the right thing, What do I still lack? I wonder if young billionaires today ask that question rather
than reaching the pinnacle of the pyramid of social strata rather quickly and
asking, “Is this all there is?” I would say, “Yep, without Jesus who is a
greater authority than you or me; this is all there is, vanity of vanities.
This impoverished soul that came to
Jesus wasn’t even close, What do I still lack?! My thoughts are “Jesus, that is what you lack, sir; the one
and only Person that could revolutionize your life for eternity! That’s what
you lack! For only Jesus can bridge the massive chasm between you and heaven;
nothing else can.”
Keeping rules was not going to get him
where he needed to be; money cannot purchase priceless. This is an illustration
of religion. It can never bridge the gap between God and man. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through Me (Jn 14:6).
That’s a standard
worth taking a stand over! Indeed, it is restrictive, but the Creator God is
calling the shots, not us. He is providing the salvation, the cure for man’s
terminal illness, sin. Works provide no immunity from the penalty of sin.
This rich young man wanted his cake and
eat it, too, only to bluntly discover that you cannot serve God and money (Mt
6:24). If money does to you what it did to this young man, you “probably” will
never see glory. Ironically, he was staring face to face at the Cure for his
spiritual blindness!
The tragedy here is this young man went away (NKJV) the same as he came to Him (NASB): rich and lost.
If he had been poor and articulated the same thing to Jesus, he would have gone
away the same as he came to Him: poor and lost.
(Mt 19:23) Then Jesus said to His disciples, Assuredly, I say to you that
it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
(Mt 19:24) And again I say to you, 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.
(Mt 19:25) When His disciples heard it, they were greatly
astonished, saying, Who then can be saved?
(Mt 19:26) But Jesus looked at them and said to them, With men this
is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
These last four verses tell it all; it
is impossible for the rich or poor to self-redeem oneself. Salvation is not in keeping
with some tradition, keeping the Mosaic codes, being moral and ethical, being good
and helpful; it is none of these things. Jesus was not giving this misguided
young man additional rules (v21); rather, He was exposing this man’s sin that
was keeping him from redemption – covetousness.
He had it all but eternal life and
literally walked away from Jesus with nothing though he was rich in the eyes of
the world (cf. Mk 8:36). If he never took Jesus up on that cure of what he
lacked, upon closing his eyes for the very last time, he left it all behind, as
we would say, every penny of it. He realized, or maybe he didn’t, that for him,
his treasure was in the here and now and esteemed to be of far more value than having treasure in heaven. He may have even thought in
his sorrow upon hearing the words of Jesus,
“Give all my wealth away to the
undeserving and follow Jesus as a poor man myself? That is nonsense! Who does Jesus
think He is anyway?! I could have financed His efforts!”
This young rich man through unbelief turned
his possibility into impossibility (2 Cor 4:4). He could not reconcile at that
moment after hearing the words of Jesus on what he lacked was to sell what you have and give to the poor, for it is said that he had
great possessions. Eternal life for him was not
as important as temporal life; he went away sorrowful without eternal life. He was not a victim but a volunteer to remain
spiritually blind and without hope in the world.
This man literally missed the forest for
the trees. That’s exactly what spiritually blind folk do. When you are born
spiritually blind, you are spiritually blind to the truth. It takes Jesus or
the Holy Spirit to shed some light on it as He did with this rich young man,
but he was carried away with the cares of this world, his world. As believers,
we are in the world but not of the world.
Do you have it all figured out like this
rich young man? Based upon Scripture, if you don’t have the Holy Spirit living
within you, you are lacking in a very serious way and may not even know it (Rom
8:9); it matters not who you are or who you are not, what you have or what you have not. Spiritual blindness is far worse
than any COVID. Why is that?
All are infected by sin from birth (Rom
5:12), and the spiritual mortality rate of this sin sickness is 100% (Rom
6:23a). Should a believer die of COVID, spiritually, he or she will be with
Jesus forever because they were justified by faith. Should an unbeliever die of COVID, he or she will be eternally
separated from God for all eternity by rejecting the remedy for his or her sin. This is why spiritual death (or
separation) is worse than any COVID.
The cure for spiritual death is only received through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom 6:23b; Eph 2:8-9; Titus 3:5). The cure is available to all. <><
The cure for spiritual death is only received through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom 6:23b; Eph 2:8-9; Titus 3:5). The cure is available to all. <><
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