Wake Up! We have Unfinished Business

 

Read Mark 10:13-22

Revelation 3:1-3

So, let’s get to it.

I told the session before I left that I would not be available to fill the pulpit for the first six months of the year. We had some travel planned, and that was part of the reasoning, but not the main part.

For years, I longed to see ministries kick into gear. Some did. Many stalled in the red zone.

I was very pleased that VBS was reconstituted years ago, produced good fruit, and stayed strong, and will continue this year.

In the last couple of years, the growth of our older youth has become noticeable and has clearly brought glory to God, as many have come to embrace God’s words. The fact that I am proud of them pales in comparison to the glory they bring to God.

But there were more times when there was a need or a challenge, and the most we did was talk about it.

I informed, analyzed, challenged, presented alternatives, and on occasion, provoked, hoping for action. I realize that many of you associate the word provoked with anger. You can be provoked to anger, but you can also be provoked to action. It’s that inertia thing again.

What else could I do?

I could leave. I could get out of the way. Your leaders and potential leaders and disciples needed something more from me, my absence.

Three years ago, I gave a general notice that I would leave sometime between the end of 2025 and the end of 2027. I was thinking that the end of 2026 would be the most likely, but the end of last year was the right choice.

I have watched from afar as that vacancy has been filled in different ways. I am not talking just about the pulpit. Many are moved to action. I hope more will be.

I realize that sometimes my assessments are unique and not shared by many others. I am glad I made the Spring Presbytery in Fort Worth this year.

A theme among the denominational representatives prevailed across many reports. It was to repent.

Repent for what?  I repented. I’m saved. So, repent for what?  Repent for talk without action. Across so many functional areas, the message at the last meeting of the Red River Presbytery was the same.

Jesus did not say that the wise man puts his words into conversation. He did not say that the one who put his words into the most posts gets the most points.  He said that the one who puts his words into practice is the one who builds his house on solid rock.

We as Christians in general, and I can talk specifically as Cumberland Presbyterians, talk a lot but do little. We need to repent of that, and repentance requires action.

Repentance is more than just turning away from the ways of the world. It is turning away from everything that is not of God and leaving all of the worldly junk behind, without getting a claim ticket to come back for it later.

The denomination is on the precipice of fully embracing that faith without works is dead. We acknowledge it. Will we act upon it?

We are at what could be the tipping point of the next great awakening. But to embrace that faith without works is dead requires some action from us, from us all, or it’s just more talk.

The rich young man went away sad because Jesus told him to sell all that he had, give the proceeds to the poor, and follow him. This was a pick up your cross and follow me moment.

To which we—Americans—often retreat to the position that this was just about this one rich man. It doesn’t apply to everyone, not to us regular folks in any case.

You would be correct. It does not apply to everyone, but it very much applies to you and just about everyone who lives in this country.

You may not have a lot of money in the bank, but you are richer than the young man in this account in so many ways. The first and perhaps most important way is comfort.

For all the money and possessions that this young man had, he couldn’t turn on the bathroom light with the flick of a switch.

He couldn’t turn on a faucet and step into a hot shower whenever he wanted.

He couldn’t kill the afternoon watching Netflix or reels on his phone.

He couldn’t say, “Let’s make a quick trip to OKC and catch a movie.” That wasn’t a day trip.

He couldn’t one click his purchase and have it there the next day or two.

He never knew the thrills of Taco Tuesday or Throwback Thursday, or watching a grandchild smack a ball into the outfield on his phone while the kid is in another town.

Make no mistake that we who live in this country are as rich as this young man who had many possessions. We are rich and the words of Jesus that we find in Mark 10 apply to us.

Before Jesus told this rich young man to sell everything he owned and give the proceeds to the poor, we find these words. They are among my favorite words, and we see them in verse 21.

Jesus looked at him and loved him.

Jesus saw that the man practiced the big-ticket items of the Law but that something was in the way of him being complete—perfected if you will.

In modern vernacular, this young man made it to services, even stayed awake for the message, only got up to go to the bathroom twice and once was during a song he didn’t like, and surely made the required trips to the temple with the required offering or sacrifice. He checked the blocks but never knew the heart of the God of love who was behind his directives.

Something was in his way. That something was his possessions—his stuff—and evidently, he had a bunch of it. I’m guessing he had more than one Connex box.

Do we need to sell everything we own?

Yes! If our possessions, our comfort, our anything has equal status with God in our lives, it’s got to go.

More than likely, it is not money or stuff that is in our way, but our reluctance, complacency, or hesitation to put God’s words into practice.  We are comfortable just talking and not acting.

What we need to get rid of in our lives is our complacency and desire to live unchanged by the gospel. We must discharge our desires to make the words of Jesus fit into our comfort zones.

I was blessed to watch the movie, “A Great Awakening.” It is the story of George Whitfield coming to America and spiritually awakening its people—our forefathers—a few decades before our independence and the writing of our Constitution.

Just over 47 years ago I received my degree in Political Science from the Oklahoma State University, but I learned a couple of things about Benjamin Franklin that I didn’t know before, trusting the film was faithful to the facts in most matters. Most notably that this God-fearing man came to receive Jesus as Lord late in life.

Franklin was always a God-fearing man, but he had systems for righteousness—ways to be right with God. He was his own Pharisee. His mantra, his code was his comfort zone and professing Jesus as Lord would take him out of that comfort zone.  I won’t spoil the movie for you.

I also took to heart this story related by Whitfield as his own, but there was a little license with that as the historical documents note that Whitfield attributed it to someone else.

I'll tell you a story. The Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 1675 was acquainted with Mr. Butterton the actor. One day the Archbishop . . . said to Butterton . . . 'pray inform me Mr. Butterton, what is the reason you actors on stage can affect your congregations with speaking of things imaginary, as if they were real, while we in church speak of things real, which our congregations only receive as if they were imaginary?'

'Why my Lord,' says Butterton, 'the reason is very plain. We actors on stage speak of things imaginary, as if they were real and you in the pulpit speak of things real as if they were imaginary.'

On the 90^th anniversary of pronouncement of Fake News—Google George Orwell and the Spanish Civil War—let’s commit to speaking the truth. That truth resides in God’s word.

We need to quit acting like God’s word is just one proposal among many to consider or that it might be true.

We need to repent of knowing what God tells us to do and doing nothing, or doing something else, or just talking about it.

We need to repent of thinking if we build it, they will come—not to knock that movie—and embrace, go and make disciples.

We need to speak the truth as if it were the truth for it is the truth. We speak the truth in a spirit of love, not worried that the truth might offend someone. It’s the truth.

Know it.

Speak it.

Live it.

Your measure of faith was sufficient to receive the gift of salvation. It’s all from God. You just had to receive it by faith.

We like that part, and we should, because we could never receive salvation by the way we live, yet having received grace by faith, so many  have parked their faith on the shelf.

Faith is not a one-and-done deal. Salvation is a done deal, and if you are content in having received grace by faith and having your faith parked on the shelf for the rest of this life, why are you listening today?

If you are listening today and have no intention of putting our Lord’s words into practice, what’s the point?  It’s just a placebo. Well, it felt good to hear God’s word. It feels good to talk about God’s word. Don’t ruin it by asking me to put those words into practice.

I am preaching mostly to the saints—to the saved. I’m not trying to get most of you to the altar to profess your faith. You have been there. I am talking about picking up your cross daily and following Jesus.

That’s a whole ‘nuther deal.

I’m not talking about doing all the right things so you can get into heaven. I’m talking about doing things—the right things--the right way because heaven has already been gifted to you. I am talking about responding to the love of God that we know in Christ Jesus with action.

I’m not talking about talking about the words of Jesus—thought they are worth discussing when you awaken, go to sleep, go to work, or in anything else you do. I’m talking about putting his words into practice.

In so doing, you never have to worry about:

·       Integrity

·       Fidelity

·       Speaking the truth in a spirit of love

·       Living in the light

·       And the list goes on…

I am talking about never thinking, I’m doing too much church stuff. I’m doing too much for the Lord.

I don’t mean getting sucked into every activity on the church calendar—though for some, that's their daily bread. Some have been called and ordained as elders and should have more skin in the game in the ministry and life of the body. They received and accepted a call from God to be ordained as elders and should put more time and effort into this than most of you.

But today I am talking to everyone about feeling the gentle nudge from the Spirit or the still small voice of the Lord leading you, and you saying, I’m already doing enough. I hear you, Lord, but would you recheck your metrics? I think you will see that I’ve done my fair share and more.

If that’s your situation, if you don’t want to play the antiphonal game with God—He calls and you answer, then go buy a cross, a crucifix like the Roman Catholics have with Jesus hanging on the cross. I love our cross without Jesus nailed to it.

He is not there. He is risen. He is risen indeed. He is not on the cross or in the tomb. He is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for you and for me.

Amen! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

But go get you one of those crosses and keep it handy for those times you are ready to dismiss the calling of the Lord upon your life, and you want to say, I think I’m doing enough already.

When that time comes, say those words to Jesus hanging on the cross and tell him how much you are doing for him and how that surely must be enough. I want you to devalue what Jesus did for you on the cross in your conversation with the image of him hanging there. See if that doesn’t change your perspective.

You might be doing a lot to bring glory to God’s name, but do you remember the precondition to the directions of Jesus to this rich young man? If you want to be perfect, if you want to be complete, if you really want some life out of life, then…

If you want to be complete…

If the saints are too busy or burdened to put our Master’s words into practice, how do we expect the lost to hear our words, or believe them because our lives belie the words of our Master?

Remember these words quoted earlier between the archbishop and the actor. This is Butterton’s reply to the archbishop.

We actors on stage speak of things imaginary, as if they were real and you in the pulpit speak of things real as if they were imaginary.

It’s not just the preachers that need to treat the truth as the truth, but every disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How do we do that? We put his words into practice.

How do we do that? We sell everything that we own—or discard everything that supplants the place of God. If it is in the place of God, it’s got to go.

We cast off everything that hinders and run our race of faith fully for him.

We pick up our cross daily and follow Jesus.

Do we act like Jesus Christ is the most important person, relationship, and entity in our lives? Do we act like Jesus is truly number one?

No!

I say emphatically, no! Do not act like Jesus is at the very top of the list of what matters in your life.

Live like it! There is no acting, just fidelity, for he is the One who is most important in your life. Everything else that we love must be no closer to the number one spot in our lives than a distant, a very distant second.

But, but, but we know this. So, what do we do?

I go to the words of Jesus to the church at Sardis and to the church universal.

Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.

The church that we know in our time has unfinished work. You have unfinished work. We have unfinished work.

We have unfinished work!

What do we do?

“Wake up, sleeper,

    rise from the dead,

    and Christ will shine on you.”

Go all the way back to Isaiah and see how long God has been calling his people to awaken.

Arise, shine;

For your light has come!

And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.

For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,

And deep darkness the people;

But the Lord will arise over you,

And His glory will be seen upon you.

And Paul has something to say on the matter as well.

And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

Take all these commands to awaken in the context of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”

Do not go through life with a business-as-usual attitude. As long as it is called “Today”, you are called to action. You know the truth. Now is the time to live it.

What could keep us from that? What is the root cause of complacency?

Sin’s deceitfulness.

God’s got it covered. He will just get someone else. I’m doing enough. Those people aren’t doing anything. Sin’s deceitfulness will make you deaf to God’s call upon your life.

God’s sheep know his voice and will do what God requires of them. His disciples will put his words into practice. We will all be Doers of the Word.

So, what’s that mean?

Cast off everything that hinders, and complacency needs to go first.

Sell everything that is taking the place of God. Just give it to Christi’s or Mission House or Judah House. If it’s taking the place of God in your lives, it’s got to go.

Discharge your doubt. Speak the truth and live it.

Wake up! The time of his coming draws near.

And one last thing, for now: OK, one last thing in three points.

The day is coming when you will have your next pastor. Remind him or her that you don’t need to be coddled. Tell your next shepherd to:

1.    Preach the word. Don’t try to see what we like. Just preach the truth. Don’t sugar coat it. If I need to sell all my stuff, then tell me.

2.    Disciple us. Don’t coddle us. Don’t find the lowest common denominator. Don’t lower the bar. We might have to put more steps in the process of making disciples, but don’t forsake it. Disciple us. Challenge us to be complete.

3.    Here’s one that goes back to my observations when I began. Tell your new pastor, “Try to keep up.” That’s right, challenge your next pastor, whom you will love dearly, to keep up. You are on your way to being overcomers. Look around you. We are on our way to another Great Awakening. Don’t give up being an integral part of that up for anything, especially comfort or complacency. You don’t breathe a sigh of relief when you get your new pastor. OK, the search committee can for a couple of hours, but don’t lose the momentum that you have now and are growing into in your service and discipleship.

Tell your new pastor to hit the deck running because you are not slowing down.

But for you, if it is in the way of your discipleship and evangelism, get it out of the way. Sell it. Discard it. Give it away. Kick it to the curb!

What might be in your way of keeping God in first place in your lives might just help someone else make it through the day or week.

Probably more than our money and stuff is our comfort. We so value our comfort in this nation.

Paul said that he could be content in all circumstances, and so can we. That’s not the same as being comfortable or complacent in every situation. We are content if we have a little or a lot, but we don’t do complacency. We don’t do slothfulness.

When the Spirit moves us or we hear that still small voice leading us, or the written word of God judges your thoughts and attitudes, failure to act in the way God is leading is sin for us.

Pick up your cross every day and do the things that we know God wants us to do. No excuses.

You can’t do too much for God.  You can’t out give God. And when he prompts us to act, we don’t go away sad because we might have to give up something in this world—of this temporary lodging facility—to give up something that is not eternal.

We respond with great joy in putting his words into practice.

When you talk to your next pastor, tell him or her to challenge you because you want to be a part—a big part in a small Oklahoma town—of the next Great Awakening.

If we will get off of our behinds and put his words into action, we might see this next Great Awakening in our time.

The times ahead may look dark but light is coming. Help bring that light, the truth, and faith in God through Christ Jesus to everyone you know.

Whatever you have to give up—money, things, comfort, status, or anything else that is encroaching on that number one spot—will seem like nothing compared to what is in store for us.

Eye has not seen and hear has not heard what the Lord God has in store for us. Discharge what is in your way and embrace the glory to come for we have unfinished business.

Wake up, for we have unfinished business.

Amen.  

Even when I don't want to...

 Read Mark 10:17-31

At last, we get to a person of status in the world coming to Jesus and falling down before him. How do we know the man had status.? If you read the full pericope, we find that the man had great wealth.

And here he was before Jesus, giving proper reverence. Finally!

The man begins the conversation with the words good teacher. It sounds like an appropriate greeting. It least acknowledges that Jesus was a teacher—a rabbi.

But Jesus focused on the word good. Why do you call me good? Only God is good.

Now Jesus had told many that he and his Father were one. Did this man know that talking with Jesus was the same as talking with God?

Jesus did not send the man packing because he called him good. In fact, he heard the man’s question and answered it. What was the question?

It was “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

That question bears some exploration. Let’s consider the infinitive in the sentence: to inherit. He didn’t say earn. It didn’t say win. He didn’t say achieve. He didn’t say to discover.

He said, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

What must I do to inherit eternal life? Inherit is different from earning or winning or achieving. Typically, the inheritance goes to an heir.

Was this man asking to be an heir in God’s kingdom? It is an interesting question, which Jesus goes on to answer.

Don’t murder. No side chicks If it’s not yours, don’t take it. Don’t lie or defraud. Treat your parents right. The list sounded very familiar to this young man.

He said, probably with a mix of relief and excitement, “I’ve done all of those!”

 Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I’m in for sure! Yes!

Compliance is good. Obedience is good. Following directions is good and they all put you on a good path to having a relationship with God, but they are not everything.

Jesus said to go sell everything you have and give the proceeds to the poor.  Jesus said that following the rules is good. It is important, but it is not everything.

In Mark’s gospel, we find these words before Jesus told this rich young man—some say ruler—to go sell all that he had, we are told that Jesus looked at the man and loved him.

Ouch! What kind of love is that?

It’s the kind that says you are playing by the rules but missing the relationship.

It’s the kind of love that says God is a jealous God and you can’t have another god on the side. Your wealth is your god.  My Father in Heaven is coming in second place or lower in your life and that dog don’t hunt.

You need to value your relationship with my Father in heaven over the rules for good living. They are not in conflict with each other. In fact, you can’t really understand most of what they are all about if you are not in good relationship with the one true God.

If you want to understand what God is telling you in his word, you need the Sprit of God to guide you.

The rich young man verified the assessment of the Lord. The young man went away sad because he had a big stake in this world. He had much wealth. He had a lot of stuff.

The young man went away sad.  We don’t know if he did what he was told or not. Put that on the list of things to find out in the age to come.

I’ve been working on a proposal for an orientation package in heaven. It would include excursions. One to them would be to talk with this young man to see if he did what he was told.

Did he put the words of his Master into practice? It sounds like he knew that Jesus was from God. He may not have known he was the Messiah, maybe he did, but he knew this man was from God.

And Jesus had told him to do something that he really didn’t want to do. God told him to do something that he really didn’t want to do.

We don’t all need to sell everything we have. This is not a universal call to poverty. We are not taking a vow of poverty in lieu of the hymn of invitation this morning.

We don’t all need to sell everything, but you can bet we all need to do some things that Jesus told us to do that we don’t really want to do.

Such as?

Forgive. How many of us have a person or people that we have not forgiven. Why? Because we don’t want to! Forgive.

Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing when we give.  Sometimes, we want a little acknowledgment when we give or give something extra. God says, that’s something personal between us.

God tells us to keep this between us. You want a personal relationship, this is personal.

How about love your enemy? That one is always going to be tough. It’s easier if you pray for your enemies while you are at it.

I don’t know what it is for you, but God is likely calling you to do something outside of your comfort zone. He is calling you to do something that you don’t want to do.

Do you know what it’s called when you do something outside of your comfort zone? It’s called growth, at least 95% of the time.

What about the other 5%?  Those are hold-my-beer moments that usually come with their own lessons learned.

If we are to truly grow, we need to put the words of our Master into practice, and that includes the things that we really don’t want to do.

Let me put it this way. Are you a Christian or a Christian Tourist?

What?

Do you live the words of Jesus or do you just know what he said and like to observe what people do without being on the playing field? The tourist is free to comment and advise but never gets any dirt under his fingernails from being a Christian.

Let me try it this way.  If you were accused of being a Christian would there be enough evidence to convict you?

What sort of evidence?  The kind that affirms you have put the words of your Master into practice—that evidence.  It’s hard evidence if it includes you doing what Jesus told you to do even if you don’t like it.

The disciples focused on the money and wealth part of this story which we discussed in the first service.  Today, I ask you to focus on doing those things that God told us to do with a special emphasis on those that we don’t like or don’t want to do or just those things we have been able to ignore before.

Maybe a false god is taking a prominent place in our lives and we need to kick him to the curb in favor of the one true God.

Your charge is to do the things that Jesus told you to do and don’t skip the hard ones. Don’t ignore his commands because you just don’t want to do that.

Your challenge is to put the words of our Master into practice, even those that we have been fighting hard for some time.  We must even do those things where our own understanding says, you get an exemption on that one.

No, we don’t!

The man went away sad because he had great wealth and it had taken the place of the one true God. The man still followed the rules but he was short on relationship with his Creator. He went through his Live the Good Life Checklist but missed the get to know the One who spoke it all into existence experience.

The man was only cheating himself out of abundant life. You have heard the quotes that the good keeps us from our best. There's a variation on this that works both ways, but for now, consider this.

This young man had it good—very good but he was missing out on abundant life in Christ—life in good relationship with God.

The question today is not so much what this rich young man did when he left, maybe he did what Jesus told him, and maybe not. The question is will we walk away sad when God calls us to do something that we don’t want to do?

The question is what will we do when Jesus calls us to do something that we just don’t want to do. Will we too be sad?

I have hated that person for a year now or is it two or ten. I can’t forgive them now.

I give what I give. Don’t be asking me for more, Jesus.

And this whole love your enemy business, that’s just too out there for me.

Let’s go back to the young man just for a moment. Before Jesus commanded him to sell everything, we read: Jesus looked at him and loved him.

Jesus told him to sell everything not as a test or evaluation but out of love.

The man wanted eternal life when he died. Jesus offered eternal life now.  Trade in your god of this world for the real God and follow me.  You have to kick the false god to the curb first—in your case that is your wealth—but then come follow me.

Do we not understand that God has good plans for us?  God has the very best in mind for us and in store for us. When will we let go of our own understanding and take on the yoke of our Master?

God has good plans for you.

God loves you.

If God tells you to do it and you don’t want to, you are fighting against your own best outcomes.  Father really does know best.

And when God calls us to something that we don’t like, we don’t go away sad. We do it with a smile on our faces knowing that God loves us and God has good plans for us.

We don’t go away sad. We step into whatever God has called us to do and we do it knowing it is for our own good and that the God who told us to do this thing also loves us very much.

Jesus looked at him and loved him, and then told him the thing he needed to hear and do the most—get rid of your false god and get to know the real God.

We will all have those moments when Jesus looks at us and loves us and tells us exactly what we need to hear and what we need to do.

Can we say these words with joy in our hearts and a smile on our faces?

Thy will be done!

God desires a wholesale exchange of everything that we seek before him for seeking him first. We can have no other gods that approach the one true God.

Do we not understand that God has good plans for us?  God has the very best in mind for us and in store for us. When will we let go of our own understanding and take on the yoke of our Master?

God has good plans for you.

God loves you.

Let us put his words into practice even when we don’t want to, with joy in our hearts and smiles on our faces for God loves us and has good plans for us.

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matthew 19 - Part 3

 

Read Matthew 19

We come to a familiar story.  A rich man came to see Jesus.  He sought him out.  He had questions.  He wanted to know what he must do to obtain eternal life. 

We skip for now the part about good teacher or what good things and proceed to the man’s question.  What must I do to receive eternal life?

Jesus noted simply to obey the commandments.

You might think that this would have been cause for celebration as the young man surely thought he had been checking the blocks all of his life, but he asked a follow-up question.  Which ones?

We should take this question as sincere.  After all, surely some of the commandments applied only to the priest or only to those in agriculture, right?

Jesus fired off some quick commandments that applied to this man, and surely to us all.

Don’t murder.

Don’t commit adultery.

Don’t steal.

Do honor your father and mother.

And love your neighbor as much as your love yourself.

The man surely was pleased by the answer that Jesus gave him.  I’ve done all of these since I was a kid, but he had yet another question.

What do I still lack?

The man might have been hoping that Jesus would say that he had checked all the blocks and would see him in heaven when his time on earth was completed.  Jesus gave a different answer.

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

If you want to be perfect, if you want to be complete, if you truly want to please God, then…

There appears to be a basic threshold for entering eternal life and there appears to be something more—living completely to please God and bring glory to his name.  Some may be content to just escape the flames of hell but others will want to be perfect, complete, given over completely to God’s glory.

Jesus wrapped up this section noting that many who are first will be last and many who are last will be first.  It is as if there is an inverse relationship to treasures we claim in this world and those stored up in the world to come.

Back to the rich man.  Jesus gave him some stout direction, direction that in Mark’s gospel are preceded by the words, and he looked at him and loved him.

Give up all the things that you have placed ahead of God.  Sell everything that you have and give the proceeds to the poor.  If you really are concerned about eternity, then open a big account there. 

This was surely not what this very rich man wanted to hear.  Jesus charged him to turn away from his god of wealth for the one true God.  That was a tough trade.  We don’t get the rest of the story.  All we know is that this rich man went away sad.

There is more that we could discuss about this rich young man, but we turn now to the disciples.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

The disciples were overwhelmed but not speechless.

Who then can be saved?

Think about their question.  It was as if the words of Jesus about a rich person applied to them.  They did not consider themselves poor.  OK, they didn’t have as much as the rich guy who just walked away sad, but they were not poor.  They had houses, and some had families, and others had real property.  Some left businesses that sustained them if not just outright profitable.  The disciples considered themselves in this category of having some earthly wealth.

Sometimes we read this section and think it applies to other people.  We are surely not rich.  This applies to those people that we read about because they have so much money.  It would be easier for a camel to make its way through the eye of a needle than for those people to enter into eternal life.

But the disciples were making application to themselves. Peter chimed in.  Remember that Peter had a wife and house and even a mother-in-law. 

Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”

Would the disciples follow Jesus for the rest of their lives and come to a dead-end?  Would they be disqualified because they had material possessions?  Were they too wealthy to enter into eternal life?

Jesus told them yes, you own too much to enter into the eternal life that God wants you to enjoy.  On your own, you will miss the boat, but with God—and only with God—will you come to know life.

Stop judging eternal things by temporal metrics.  Did the disciples not remember the feeding of the 5000 and the 4000, the healing of so many, the faith of those from whom we expect little or no faith, walking on water in a storm, and the demons who were sent packing?  Quit keeping score as the world does.

Stop judging eternal things by temporal metrics. 

Remember the counsel that you received earlier. 

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Jesus reminded his followers that his Father in heaven desires to bless them.  He desires to bless us and that includes with things of material worth.  We must never let these things own us or control us, but God wants to bless us.  He wants to bless us more when we give up the things of this world for the ways of his kingdom.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.  And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

There are specific promises for the disciples and promises for all who have left material things in this world for the eternal things of the kingdom of heaven.  The heavenly return is staggering—one hundred times what was given up.  God is very generous.

God loves to bless you.  He wants to bless you with so much that your only choice is to bless others.  We can bless others materially and we can bless others with mercy.  We are provisioned to bless others.

We say that you can’t out give God.  Some can say this from personal experience.

So as far as our wealth goes, we should ask a question that we don’t find spelled out here but that applies so well.

Are we rich towards God?

Will we take what we have and use it to produce good fruit for God and his kingdom?  We will freely give that which already belongs to God and in so doing bring glory to God?

When we think of what we have, what we have given up, what is subject to moth and rust, and what is stored safely in eternity, it comes down to a simple question.

Are we rich towards God?

We should not be worried about who among us can be saved.  We know the answer.  The answer came from God the Father full of grace and truth and we know him as our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.  He desires none to perish. Our hope and our salvation are completely in him.

We know who can be saved!  We are commissioned by Christ Jesus himself to take this message of salvation to the world.  The question that we should dwell upon and act upon is this.

Are we rich towards God?

I pray that the answer is and always will be yes.  Let’s be rich towards God.

Let’s make this an affirmation.  I am rich towards God.

As we continue in this New Year seeking to do the things of God, let’s love mercy and let’s be rich towards God.

Amen.