47 19.13
Notes
Transcript
INTRODUCTION
SLIDE 1 Even if you’ve never read the poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost you are probably familiar with it. Frost ends the poem stating:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
This evening I want you to consider two roads – two possible routes one might take in our walk with God. SLIDE 2 Bill Thrall suggests the two roads are marked as “Pleasing God” and “Trusting God.” Each day we choose which road we will follow. The road we choose will affect our motives which in turn drives our actions. We choose the road we will follow by asking the question, SLIDE 3 “Which of these best reflects the relationship I want to have with God?”
Thrall tells this parable about the path he chose. I’ll give the Reader’s Digest version.
In the end, I choose the path marked Pleasing God. The Trusting God path just seems too, well, passive. I am
determined to please God because I long for him to be happy with me. I’ll discipline myself to achieve this
life goal. I know I can do it and I will do it this time. I will please him and he will be pleased with me.
In time I come to a door with a sign that reads Striving to Be All God Wants Me to Be. I open the door by turning the knob of Effort. As I enter this enormous room, a hostess greets me and says, “Welcome to the Room of Good Intentions.” I like the ring of this name. I also like being perceived as someone who is well intended. There’s an enormous banner on the back wall that reads, Working on My Sin to Achieve an Intimate Relationship with God. People in this room have made it their goal to be godly. They display sincerity, perseverance, courage, diligence, full-hearted fervency, a desire to please God, and a sold-out determination to pursue excellence. Yes, this is the place I’ve been looking for. Oh, I’m going to make him so happy. One day
soon, we will be close. I just know it! So, I start investing more effort into sinning less, and I feel better . . . for a while. But the more time I spend in The Room of Good Intentions, the more disappointment I feel. Despite all my striving, all my efforts, I keep sinning! In fact, some days I’m fixated simply on trying not to sin. I seem to never be able to get around to doing things to please God. It takes all my energy to avoid doing those things
that displease him! Other days I can’t seem to do enough. I never get through my list of things to work on. It feels like I am making every effort to please a God who never seems pleased enough! I carry an overwhelming sense of guilt because I have to hide my sin – from everyone in the room and from God. Gradually, almost imperceptibly, the road of Pleasing God has turned into What Must I Do to Keep God Pleased with Me?
And I leave the Room of Good Intentions and retrace my steps back to fork in the road, this time taking the road marked Trusting God. It still seems a bit vague though. All I ever heard in the Room of Good Intentions was that I have to “sell out, care more, get on fire, shape up, and tighten up.” This road doesn’t seem to give me any of that. This road is definitely less worn than the other one. Eventually I spot a door with a sign above it: Living Out of Who God Says I Am. What in the world does it mean ? It can ’t mean what I think it means! Where’s the part where I get to prove my sincerity? Where are my guidelines? When do I get to give God my best? The doorknob reads, Humility.
Suddenly everything snaps into focus. I’ve tried so hard, I’ve supplied all the self-effort the other room demanded, yet received nothing but insecurity and duplicity. I’ve run out of answers, run out of breath, run out of ability, and so I cry out, God, if anything good is to come out of this whole deal, you will have to do it. I’ve tried. I can ‘t. I’m so tired. Please God, you will have to give me the life I am dreaming of. I can ’t keep doing this anymore. I’m losing confidence that this life in you is even possible. Help me. You must make it happen or I am
doomed. With those words I turn the doorknob.
Inside another hostess welcomes me saying, “Welcome to The Room of Grace.” As I walk further into the room, I notice a huge banner on the back wall. This one reads: Standing with God, with My Sin in Front of Me, Working on It Together.
SLIDE 4 Those really are the only two choices we have: Pleasing God and Trusting God. So often we think the Christian life is about pleasing God when what God wants is for us to trust him. If you don’t believe me read Hebrews 11:6. SLIDE 5
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)
In other words, the way to please God is by trusting him. If our primary God is to please him we will never trust him. If our primary goal is to trust him we find out that he is incredibly pleased with us. Pleasing God is actually a by-product of trusting God.
So, which road will you take? I cannot over emphasize how important this decision is. It’s a decision we make every day and it affects all that we do. We must see that trusting God is the right path to take.
SERMON
Turn with me to Matthew 19. After talking about living in a right relationship with church members in chapter 18, and having a right relationship with your spouse at the beginning of chapter 19, the chapter finishes by talking about how to have a right relationship with God.
Video
Our passage starts with some parents bringing their children to Jesus, presumably to be blessed. The disciples didn’t have time for that though. I’m not sure what they were in such a hurry to do. However, it should remind us that the culture had little time for children. Jesus, however, had time for everyone. He had time for the Pharisees and teachers of the law. He had time for fisherman, and tradesmen. He had time for the tax collectors and sinners. And he had time for children. It’s another picture of the love of Jesus for everyone, not just a special few.
In the next scene a man comes to Jesus with a question. He wants to make sure he has eternal life and asks Jesus how he can be sure. This young man realizes there is probably something missing in his life and that he can take care of it himself. “What does God want me to do? Tell me the rules and I’ll do them.” But he also believes he can do whatever it is that’s missing. He believes he has the power to earn God’s favor. He has these three assumptions: SLIDE 2
He assumed eternal life could be earned
He assumed the payment for eternal life was good deeds
He assumed he was potentially good enough to make the payment
The problem is he just doesn’t know. He isn’t certain. That’s why he’s come to Jesus. He’s tried everything he knows. He’s kept the law since he was a child – or at least he thinks he has. But he’s still not sure he has earned eternal life.
That’s the problem with a works based salvation. You can never be sure if you have done enough works. If you go down the path of trying to please God you can never be certain you’ve done enough. That’s why this young man comes to Jesus. Even though he absolutely certain he’s kept the law, he’s still not certain he’s done enough. Therefore, you just hope you’re going to heaven.
There are too many Christians that fall into this category. I’m not talking about non-Christians, I’m talking about people who believe in God and believe in Jesus, but are only hoping they might go to heaven when they die. They aren’t certain. You ask them, “Do you believe in God?” “Sure I do.” “Do you believe in heaven?” Oh yeah. I hope to go there one day.” “How do you get there?” “Just try to live a good life.” “How will you know if you’re living a good enough life?” “You’ll know when you get there.” What they’re saying is they hope the good they’ve done outweighs the bad they’ve done. They hope they’ve lived a life that is pleasing enough to God that he’ll let them into heaven.
We tell jokes about this misunderstanding of how we get to heaven.
A New York Divorce Lawyer died and arrived at the pearly gates. Saint Peter asks him “What have you done to merit entrance into Heaven?”
What does Peter have to do with someone getting into heaven? Nothing. Theologically this joke makes no sense, but people tell it because they think that might be what happens. You die, stand before the pearly gates where you’re asked, “Why should you be allowed into heaven?” But you don’t find that anywhere in the Bible.
Let me ask you a question. Does that sound like they are living by faith in the death of Jesus on the cross for their sins? Or does it sound like they are trying to earn their way into heaven? SLIDE 3 Those are the two paths: Pleasing God and Trusting God.
So this man comes to Jesus asking what he must do to have eternal life. How does Jesus respond? This is an important question. I think we’d all like to know the answer. Jesus makes a couple of comments before he gets to the answer. To make sure we get all of the answers let’s start with the question again.
SLIDE 4 The man comes to Jesus and asks, “What good thing must I do to make sure I go to heaven?” Jesus replies that only God knows about what is good so we should keep his laws. Of course what the guy didn’t know is that he was actually talking to God.
Luke tells us that the man called Jesus good and that Jesus says only God is good. That means that we are not good. Since we are not God we are not good.
The man doesn’t respond to this. He still believed he could could do something to earn his salvation. He might not be good, but if he tried be could be good enough. But that’s not what the Bible teaches. Paul wrote to the Romans: SLIDE 5
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
No one wants to hear that they’re not good, much less that they’re not good enough to go to heaven. This guy didn’t either. However, it’s an important point we all need to deal with it. You can’t get tot he good news – the gospel – until you’ve dealt with the bad news which is we have all fallen short of God’s glory and none of us is good enough to go to heaven.
SLIDE 6 Somewhere along the line the Jews had come to believe they could actually keep the law and thus earn their way to heaven. No where in the Old Testament does God say that. God did say that if they kept his law he would bless them, they would prosper and live long in the land without fear of their enemies. But God never promised them heaven if they obeyed his laws. They were saved the same way we are saved today – through faith. While we can look backward to what Jesus did for us, they looked forward to what Jesus would one day do. Salvation is always by grace through faith.
Jesus counters this by saying that only God is good. If only God is good what can we do to earn our salvation? Nothing. We can never be good enough. The man wasn’t listening though. If he’d been listening he would have changed his question, but he doesn’t. He keeps pursuing it and asks Jesus which commands he needed to keep.
Jesus then points the man to God and to his laws. If the guy wants to do it on his own merit – which he can’t achieve – here’s where he needs to start. Jesus is giving the man another chance to change his approach, but he just keeps going. He asks which laws and when Jesus specifies the Ten Commandments the man insists that he has already been keeping God’s laws.
Most people, when they hear that list of commands, is ready to admit defeat. Most people recognize their sins when confronted with them. They know they haven’t kept them. Everyone has told a lie. Everyone has taken things that didn’t belong to the them. But this man isn’t like most people. He insists that he’s kept them all.
Had he really kept all the commands of God? Looking at his actions perhaps he had. From what people could see maybe he had actually kept all of God’s commands. However, we know there is more to God’s laws than just our actions, there’s also the heart. Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount about the commands: “You have heard it said, but I tell you.” It’s not enough not to kill someone, we must not get angry with them. It’s not enough not to commit adultery, we aren’t to lust in our hearts either. God’s laws aren’t just about our actions, they’re about our intent and attitude. There’s no way the man has kept all of God’s laws.
Once again Jesus has given him a chance to back down, but he doesn’t. He asks one more time – what must I do to get to heaven?
You may not have noticed, but the last law Jesus mentioned was to love your neighbor as yourself. That’s not one of God’s top ten, but it is found in the Old Testament. What does that mean? It means we are to love and do for others as we love and do for ourselves without even thinking about it. Jesus then takes this last command and gives his final answer for what this man must do to inherit eternal life – he is to sell everything he has, give the money to the poor, and follow Jesus.
What Jesus is doing is putting the man’s comment to the test. Has he really loved his neighbor as himself? If so, this would be an easy thing to do. But we read that it wasn’t. The man went away sad, unable to do what Jesus has said. He had a lot of possessions and he loved them more than he loved his neighbor and more than he loved God. The man was unable to part with his money and his possessions. Jesus is showing this young man who believed he could earn his way to heaven and Jesus was showing him how wrong he was.
As Jesus watches the man walk away he laments that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. This is another of those word pictures Jesus uses that’s a little difficult to understand today and there are several explanations.
A common explanation is that walled cities had at least two gates. The first gate was the large gate that was opened during the day. At night the only way into the city was through a smaller gate the size of door that is said to have sometimes been called the eye of the needle. It would have been impossible for a camel to get through that gate.
Another explanation is that the word camel is very similar to and would have sounded just like the Greek word for the rope sailors used to tie down a ship in dock. Imagine trying to put this large rope through the eye of a needle.
And then there’s the literal meaning. How could a camel, the largest animal common to the Jews, to fit in the eye of a needle?
Whatever illustration Jesus was using the point was not that it was a difficult task, but an impossible task. It couldn’t be done. Understandably, the disciples are left dumbfounded. They believed that wealth was a sign of God’s blessing. Having lots of money showed you were doing something right and God was blessing you. If this man, who must have been blessed by God couldn’t get into heaven how would they get into heaven? For all their lives they’d heard that material wealth was a blessing and now Jesus is saying material wealth is curse. They just didn’t understand. And now they ask Jesus a question – “Then who in the world can be saved?”
Jesus then responds with what we all need to know:
Humanly speaking, it is impossible. If it depended on people it wouldn’t happen. It couldn’t happen. But everything is possible with God.
We can’t do it. We can’t save ourselves. We can never be good enough to earn or deserve to go to heaven. If you go down the path of pleasing God and trying to make amends for all your sins you’ll always be in the red owing God more. However, if you go down the path of trusting God you will learn that with God everything is possible.
Peter, being Peter, speaks up and shows he wasn’t really listening. There are some today who insist that the lesson from this story is that we can earn our way to heaven. All we have to do is keep God’s law. Isn’t that what Jesus said? The man asked what he needed to do and Jesus told him to keep the law. That’s the argument they’ll make. What they miss is how Jesus pointed out that no one can keep the law. Jesus wasn’t encouraging the man to work more and try harder. Jesus was encouraging him to stop trying and trust him.
Others will say the way to get to heaven is to give up all you have and give every penny to the poor. If you live like the poor then you’ll make it to heaven. Isn’t that what Jesus said? “Sell everything you have, give the money away, and then come follow me.” If we want to be saved we have to give everything away and live like paupers. That’s what Peter picked up on. Peter pointed out how much they’d already sacrificed. Peter wanted to make sure Jesus knew how much they had given up to follow him. Was that enough? Did they need to give up more? Had they earned their way to heaven?
We listen to this warning about riches and wonder what that has to do with us. How many of us would count ourselves among the wealthy? But what we need to realize is that we are all rich. If I were to ask you how much you have to make in a year to consider yourself wealthy the answer is always a little more than you make. But if you go and talk to someone who makes that much money it they’re wealthy they’ll point to someone who makes a little more than they do. And on it goes. No one considers themselves wealthy. It’s always more than what we have.
Do you remember the Occupy Wall Street group that were complaining about the countries 1%? What bothered me about that group is that it’s mostly made up of people who live in the top 10% of the world’s wealthiest people. They make complain because of the top 1%, but we are all among the world’s top 10%. I can assure you there are millions of people in the world that would consider all of us to be extremely wealthy. They could live the rest of their lives on what we make in a year. More than half the world lives on less that $4,000 a year. By the world’s standards middle class is living on 4 to $8,000 a year. The upper middle class live on 8 to $18,000 a year. That means that according to world standards if you make more than $18,000 a year you are among the 7% richest people in the world. We are rich.
Jesus assures Peter and the others that they would be taken care of. But Jesus follows that up with a warning. Be careful not to become proud of what you’ve given up. Don’t be tempted to believe you will go to heaven because of the sacrifices you’ve made. That’s falling back onto the path that leads to earning your salvation. Jesus says that the first will be last and the last will be first. Those that think they’re all that and have their salvation all sewn up will be last. There will be many surprises in heaven. Those who make will not be there because of what they’ve done, but because of what God has done for them in Jesus. We need to remember that. We will make it to heaven not because of any good thing we’ve done, but because of our faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross.
SLIDE 7 More than two thousand years after Jesus was born we still fall into the temptation of believing that we must do something to get to heaven. Even as believers who have heard and believed the gospel we are tempted to take the path that leads to pleasing God when what God tells us over and over again in his word that what he wants is our faith in him. Pleasing God. Trusting God. Which path are you on?
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