July 17, 2005 - Matthew 19.23-30

(Back to Study Home Page)    (Back to Sermons for 2004-2005)
(Back to Sermons Home Page)   (Back to Shultz Home Page)

If we are willing to leave all and follow Jesus Christ, in the end what will we have?

INTRODUCTION:

1. We left Matthew relating the story of a wealthy young man who had come to Jesus wishing to know how he cold be saved.

1. Because he did not understand the advantages, he refused the invitation of Jesus to be his disciple.

2. His concerns for his possessions was a valid one but easily resolved if he were willing to shift his orientation from things to people.

(Top)   (Back to Study Home Page)    (Back to Sermons for 2004-2005)
(Back to Sermons Home Page)   (Back to Shultz Home Page)

MAIN BODY:

1. Jesus now uses the experience to teach a very important lesson, not only for his disciples, but for all of us.

1. "It is hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven."

2. Before jumping to conclusions we ought to consider what it means to be rich.

3. Riches are relative.

1. Riches are relative because of pride and prejudice.

2. Writing about the spiritual ups and downs of Israel, Paul said:

⁶Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. ⁷Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play." ⁸We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. ⁹We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. ¹⁰And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. ¹¹These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. ¹²So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall, (1 Corinthians 10:6-12, NRSVA).

C. S. Lewis once said:

"Christ said it was difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of Heaven, referring, no doubt, to riches in the ordinary sense. But I think it really covers riches in every sense - good fortune, health, popularity and all the things one wants to have. All these things tend - just as money tends - to make you feel independent of God, because if you have them you are happy already and contented in this life. You don't want to turn away to anything more, and so you try to rest in a shadowy happiness as if it could last forever." ⁽¹⁾

3. If you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.

4. Riches are relative because of what has been accumulated.

5. Riches are relative because the desire for riches may take precedence over all other desires.

Here is Hannah Whitall Smith, 1832-1911 ⁽²⁾: "The ambition of most Christians...is to have a vast number of things; and their energies are all wasted in the vain effort to get possession of these things. Some strive to get possession of certain 'experiences'; some seek after 'ecstatic feelings'; some try to make themselves rich in theological 'views' and 'dogmas'; some store up a long list of works done and results achieved; some seek to acquire 'illuminations,' or to accumulate 'gifts' and 'graces.' In short, all Christians, almost without exception, seek to possess a store of something or other, which they fancy will serve to recommend them to God and make them worthy of his love and care."

6. Riches are relative because riches may stand for what is considered to be important even among the poor.

Adam Clarke in his commentary on this passage makes this observation:

A rich man, in my opinion, is not one who has so many hundreds or thousands more than some of his neighbors; but is one who gets more than is necessary to supply all his own wants, and those of his household, and keeps the residue still to himself, though the poor are starving through lack of the necessaries of life. In a word, he is a man who gets all he can, saves all he can, and keeps all he has gotten. Speak, reason! Speak, conscience! (for God has already spoken) Can such a person enter into the kingdom of God? ALL, NO!!! ⁽³⁾

(Top)   (Back to Study Home Page)    (Back to Sermons for 2004-2005)
(Back to Sermons Home Page)   (Back to Shultz Home Page)

2. Jesus adds a comment that really gets the disciples attention.

²³Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴Again 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."

1. The absurdity of the picture of the camel and the needle were well-understood by the people of Jesus day.

1. A camel in Media dances in a cabe; a measure which held about three pints. ⁽⁴⁾

2. No man sees a palm tree of gold, nor an elephant passing through the eye of a needle. Because these are impossible things. ⁽⁵⁾

3. "Rabbi Shesheth answered Rabbi Amram, who had advanced an absurdity, Perhaps thou art one of the Pembidithians who can make an elephant pass through the eye of a needle; that is, says the Aruch, 'who speak things impossible.'" ⁽⁶⁾

2. The disciples are deeply concerned now about the nature of salvation for they ask the question:

1. "Who then can be saved?"

2. What does this mean for us?

3. Jesus seeks to help them in this thoughtful process by pointing out:

"For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible."

1. We cannot save ourselves.

1. We have neither the intelligence nor the power.

2. If you doubt this conclusion simply look at the world in which we live.

3. In these circumstances to be saved is impossible.

2. Salvation requires a new concept of life.

3. Salvation requires a new orientation of one's life.

4. We need to come to a better understanding of the differences between false riches and the true riches.

1. We learned about true treasure in Matthew 6.19-21

¹⁹"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also, (Matthew 6:19-21, NRSVA).

5. Jesus said: ²⁶..."For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible."

(Top)   (Back to Study Home Page)    (Back to Sermons for 2004-2005)
(Back to Sermons Home Page)   (Back to Shultz Home Page)

4. Peter then asks another question.

1. To put it in the vernacular, "What's in it for me, for us?"

²⁷Then Peter said in reply, "Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?"

2. We decide to be a Christian.

1. We seek with the help of the Holy spirit to develop a life of faith, love, and hope.

2. We are content with what we have, which may not be very much.

3. What's on it for us?

3. Peter and the disciples understood that the Messiah was to reestablish the kingdom in Israel.

4. They had hopes of being in position of political power.

5. Jesus is asking Peter to take the long view.

5. What is the long view?

²⁸Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. ²⁹And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life. ³⁰But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first, (Matthew 19:28-30, NRSVA).

1. This statement is not for the disciples only, it is also for you and me.

1. Peter proclaims in 1 Peter 2.9

⁹But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, (1 Peter 2:9, NRSVA).

2. John writes in Revelation 3.21

²¹To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne, (Revelation 3:21, NRSVA).

2. The vision of Jesus is greatly expanded beyond the current concept of the disciples.

1. We are the children of God, the adopted children of God.

2. We are the heirs of Abraham with all the rights and privileges of the family.

3. Listen again to verse 29.

²⁹And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life.

(Top)   (Back to Study Home Page)    (Back to Sermons for 2004-2005)
(Back to Sermons Home Page)   (Back to Shultz Home Page)

CONCLUSION:

"In the depths of the depression of the 1930's, a government agent visited the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. The federal government was making small allotments to impoverished farmers for stock, feed and necessary equipment. The agent came upon a mountain woman who lived all alone and tried to grub a living from two acres of land. She had no floors in her cabin (save for the packed earth) and just a few sticks of homemade furniture. Daylight streamed through chinks in the cabin walls. The agent looked around and then asked, 'If the government gave you 200 dollars, what would you do with it?' The woman weighed the question for a moment and then replied, 'Reckon I'd give it to the poor.'" ⁽⁷⁾

1. This woman was poor, yet she was rich.

1. She was rich with the riches of the grace of God.

2. She was rich with the promises of further riches.

2. I have heard some of my colleagues describe heaven as "Pie in the sky, by and bye."

1. It is not pie in the sky.

2. It is real.

3. The full reality we do not yet comprehend, but we will comprehend in all its fulness.

3. Here is a refrain worth memorizing: ⁽⁸⁾

May thy rich grace impart
Strength to my fainting heart, my zeal inspire;
As thou hast died for me,
O may my love to thee
Pure, warm and changeless be - a living fire.

1. C. S. Lewis, Answers to Questions on Christianity, C. S. Lewis: Readings for Meditation and Reflection (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1992), 103.

2. --As quoted in Martin E. Marty, Context, 1 December 1994, 2.

3. Adam Clarkes Commentary on the New Testament, Electronic STEP Files Copyright © 1999, Parsons Technology, Inc. Cedar Rapids, Iowa

4. Adam Clarkes Commentary on the New Testament, Electronic STEP Files Copyright © 1999, Parsons Technology, Inc. Cedar Rapids, Iowa

5. Adam Clarkes Commentary on the New Testament, Electronic STEP Files Copyright © 1999, Parsons Technology, Inc. Cedar Rapids, Iowa

6. Adam Clarkes Commentary on the New Testament, Electronic STEP Files Copyright © 1999, Parsons Technology, Inc. Cedar Rapids, Iowa

7. Hal Brady, Dallas, Texas, 29 September 1991, quoting Harold Koh, The Tinsel and the Hay, (Nashville: Tidings, 1968), 77.

8. Ray Palmer (1875)

(Top)   (Back to Study Home Page)    (Back to Sermons for 2004-2005)
(Back to Sermons Home Page)   (Back to Shultz Home Page)