KINGDOM LIVING
Eternal Life and Eternal Reward
Matthew 19:16-30
Jerry A Collins
SCC
v What does it take to get into the kingdom of god?
v What kind of commitment does Jesus ask of us?
v Where should we look for our rewards?
Don’t put the cart before the horse we have heard often said. The meaning; Don’t reverse the accepted order of things. Don’t
put that which is second, first. Here is a story of a man who attempted to do
just that. He is the rich young ruler. The essence of his problem is revealed
in his question to Jesus in vs 16 Teacher what good thing shall I do that I
may obtain eternal life? There are a number of things wrong with this
question but the main one:
YOU CANNOT EARN LIFE BEFORE RECEIVING IT 16-22
First, he perceived Jesus to be a
teacher and of course Jesus was that. However, Jesus was also much more than
that. Until this rich young ruler could perceive Jesus as God’s Son, the
eternal life he wants remains beyond his reach.
Second, his concept of ‘good’ was
misguided at best. He understands eternal life to be something he can merit
with a good deed—maybe a huge good deed—one up on anything in the Law. Maybe a
super-size deed! So is there some good deed he could do besides keeping the commandments, that would guarantee his place in the kingdom?
This concept of goodness clouded his whole perception of Jesus, of the nature
of eternal life, and of even himself. These perceptions had to be corrected or
he would remain far from this kingdom.
Third, at the core is what we
could call a self-righteous perspective. He is certainly not humble and
trusting, as Jesus sated earlier one had to be to gain entrance into this kingdom—look
at vss 13-15. Since Jesus was a good teacher (Mk
10:17), the ruler believed Jesus could provide the answer to how he could earn
this ‘eternal life’, a life approved by God, and one that guaranteed his access
into it.
This
is the fundamental problem with the gospel. It forces people to have to humble
themselves and admit they are not good, nor good enough to merit the
THE KINGDOM IS NOT EARNED BUT ENTERED INTO BASED ON GRACE THRU FAITH
Jesus
says two things here:
1.
The One who is good—God—defines what is good. Only God
is good, Jesus says. That being the case there are 2 implications (a) Jesus
could not be good unless He was God. He called Jesus the good teacher in Mark
10. (b) The young wealthy ruler himself was not ‘good’ either if only God is
good. But neither of these implications seem to dawn
on him.
2.
So obey the commandments then if you want to display the goodness to get you
into the kingdom, Jesus says. Of course, by keeping the law one would normally
face his shortcomings—that is, his sin. Jesus instruction is designed to
uncover the arrogance and self-righteous attitude lurking underneath this guy’s
question. He asks, which
ones? Vs 18. He is still considering how he can
earn his way in. He still has not gotten hold of the implications Jesus’ answer
provided. Jesus enumerates several of the commands and adds
love your neighbor as yourself. By
now, it should have been convincing. Does he get it or not?
3.
Here is self-righteousness in all of it’s stark
reality. The guy has just blown by the evidence that should have convicted him.
Of course he has not kept these commandments. No one has! But he is blinded by
his arrogance. And so are your neighbors! He
is not good but he is self-righteous. He had it all wrong and the darkness
his blindness delivers is dark indeed.
4.
Mark says at this point, Then Jesus
looking at him, loved him 10:21. How and even why Jesus loves him is beyond
our comprehension but this does reveal the heart of God for sinners for God so loved the world that He gave His
only begotten Son. Jesus love for this guy motivates him to take the ruler
one step farther—and one step closer to the kingdom. Perfection is the standard
Jesus says to him vs 21. The answer is to come by
faith and in order to do that he must sell everything, give it to the poor, and
have treasure in heaven—and follow Christ. This is what he really needed
because he had more faith in his money than he had in Jesus. Actually, what he
perceived would get him into the kingdom, suspecting that his wealth could be
tapped in some way for a generous act of benevolence that would earn him God’s favor, was the one
thing keeping him out of the kingdom! Jesus made it very clear that entrance
was through a narrow gate and few would find it. That through Him is the only
way into it. This man unwilling to trust Christ’s words, and heed His call of
faith, left grieving. It would have been a leap of faith for him to adopt a
different view of Jesus—that would have meant He was divine. If he had done
that he would have been born again. He owned a lot, unwilling to surrender what
he trusted in—his wealth. Zaccheus was a wealthy man
but when called by Jesus he spontaneously volunteered to do what this ruler was
unwilling (Lk 19:5-9). Zaccheus
was not saved by his new-found generosity but that willingness was evidence
that he received Jesus gladly and Jesus said of him today salvation is come to this house. For anyone like the rich
young ruler, pride will be the obstacle to salvation. Admit your sin, trust
God.
REWARD IN THE KINGDOM IS EARNED
BY THE FAITHFUL 23-30
Hard for the rich to enter 23-24 Jesus conclusion is that it is impossible for the
rich to enter the kingdom trusting his wealth. The camel and needle picture
that impossibility. So at the get go this rich man’s efforts were worthless and
fruitless. So are yours
Who then can be saved? 25-26 The
disciples shared the common OT idea that God blessed the righteous with wealth
as Abe, Solomon, Job. If rich people in God’s favor can’t get in who can?
Salvation was hard for the rich man because he trusted in his riches. But the
disciples need not worry because salvation is always a miracle of God
anyway—what’s impossible with men—to gain entrance into the kingdom,
is possible with God—grace through faith in Christ.
We have left all
27-20 In
answer to the disciples question, Jesus extends the promise of rewards to all
who make sacrifices to follow Him. Here is the cost of discipleship. They are
paying a price and will further. Jesus said their reward would be in the
regeneration—that is, in the resurrection (Titus 3:5). On earth, their
assignment would be making disciples while being persecuted and rejected. But
in the kingdom they would be judging the twelve tribes of
1. Eternal life is impossible to attain, not just
difficult, because we cannot keep God’s perfect standard. But what is impossible
with man is possible with God thru the cross.
2. Eternal rewards are based on leaving everything of
worldly value behind.