Chapter 35. What about our possessions? Most evangelicals have swallowed wholesale the competitive accumulation of possessions. George Verwer. Do not look at the lives of other Christians to learn how to spend your money; rather, look to the Scriptures. William Law. One day, a young man approached Jesus with a question. In itself, that was nothing unusual. Lots of people approached Jesus with questions. However, the answer Jesus gave to this particular young man has bothered Christians enormously for centuries.
Let's read the account together. Now, behold, one came and said to him, "Good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" 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." 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, honor your father and your mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." The young man said to him, "All these things I have kept from my youth; what do I still lack?" 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." But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
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, 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." Matthew 19:16-24. Jesus' answer makes everyone squirm. "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." Let's analyze this statement. It actually contains three separate directives.
One, go, sell what you have. Two, give to the poor. Three, come, follow me. Let's first focus on go, sell what you have. Here Jesus bids this young man to dispose his soul of material things. We shouldn't imagine that Jesus is singling out this particular rich man, for Jesus says something very similar to all of us. "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:26-27 and verse 33. Disposing our souls of things. Nineteenth-century Scottish pastor and author George MacDonald made some penetrating observations about this young man, which I've condensed below. This young man was probably thinking, "There's nothing like this in the law.
Why should I have to give up all I have?" But in return for eternal life, was it really that hard to let dead things drop, to turn his back on Mammon and follow Jesus? Yes, for him it was, and most of us are no different. Jesus wanted to set this young man free and make him a child of the kingdom, an heir of eternal life, for he was a slave. After all, a man is in bondage to whatever he cannot part with. Jesus could have taken this man's possessions from him. However, there would have been little benefit to that.
Jesus wanted him to voluntarily enter into freedom and life, delivered from the bondage of Mammon. Money is power in this world. This man's possessions gave him a position of importance, which was of value in his eyes. He knew people looked up to him. He liked to be looked up to. He looked up to himself because of his possessions, forgetting that possessions are but tools, and poor tools at that. To part with his wealth would be to sink to the level of his inferiors. Why should he not keep it?
In the final analysis, it is inconceivable that it could be easy for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. In contrast, there is no kingdom of this world into which a rich man may not easily enter. In fact, if he is rich enough, he can be preeminent in most earthly kingdoms. A kingdom into which it would be easy for a rich man to enter could surely be no kingdom of heaven. I don't mean that the rich man necessarily belongs to the kingdom of Satan, yet he is especially welcome in Satan's kingdom.
However, in the kingdom of heaven, he will likely be one of the least, if he is there at all. To climb the stairway to eternal life, this rich young ruler had to, in effect, throw aside his shoes. He must walk barefooted into life eternal. However, rather than do so, rather than stride free-limbed up the everlasting stair to the bosom of the Father, he would rather keep his precious shoes. He felt it was better to drag them about on the earth than to part with them for a world where they are useless.
But how miserable his precious things, his golden vessels, his embroidered garments, his stately house must have seemed when he went back to them from the face of the Lord. What about us? Look at the multitude of professing Christians who are possessed by things as by a legion of devils. They are in good standing in their churches.
Their lives are regarded as spotless, yet their endless desire is to heap up, to turn the abundance they have into even more, to add house to house and field to field, to bury themselves deeper and deeper in the ash heap of things. To be sure, they do not sell Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. On the other hand, they are not willing to buy him with all that they have. Things can never really be possessed by the person who cannot do without them.
The fact that we are unwilling to part with our things demonstrates that we do not possess them. They possess us, and it is not only the rich who are under the tyranny of things. Those who are poor, yet are unhappy with their lack of things, are slaves as well. George MacDonald. Why Jesus taught what he did. Just as in George MacDonald's day, prosperous modern-day Christians find Jesus' teachings about money and material possessions among his hardest, and so the temptation is to explain away Jesus' words.
But if we struggle to obey this commandment, we simply need to be honest about it before God. If we're serious about the kingdom life, we need to work to dispose our souls of material things. For most of us, this is next to impossible in our own power. However, with God's power, it can be done. The starting point is to try to understand why Jesus gives us this commandment. Jesus' compelling motive for giving us any command is his deep love for us.
So remember that he doesn't give his commandments concerning money and material possessions to be harsh or unkind. He's not trying to make the journey difficult for us. It's just the opposite. He's trying to make the journey feasible for us. He is interested in our eternal welfare. The reason Jesus bids us to detach ourselves from material things is because it's not possible to serve him and also pursue riches.
He explains, "No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon." Luke 16:13. Those statements are not a commandment. They're something much stronger. Jesus is stating the facts of reality. No one can love two things diametrically opposed to each other. For example, suppose a young Christian man is engaged to a woman. The date of their wedding has already been set.
However, he meets another young lady to whom he is more attracted. What can he do? He has to make a choice, doesn't he? He can't have both women. Either he will have to break his engagement to the first woman, or he will have to break off his relationship with the second woman. It's the same way with Christ and Mammon. Most of us are already engaged to Mammon when we receive Christ's invitation to follow him. So we have to break our betrothal to Mammon if we want to begin a permanent relationship with Christ.
We simply can't have a binding relationship with both. If it were feasible, perhaps Christ would allow us to have both, but it simply is not possible. Any more than a man can be betrothed to two different women. Exclusive devotion. Producing fruits on the vine requires a complete commitment to Christ, a commitment that leaves no room for other masters. Even earthly masters often require as much. Shortly after graduating from law school, I was hired by a local company to be their corporate attorney.
During the interview, the company president told me that if I accepted the position, this could be my only job. I wouldn't be allowed to take on a part-time job on weekends or evenings. I couldn't try to establish a small law practice on the side, even if it was only after hours. The company wanted my exclusive devotion, which I agreed to. I soon learned that there were no after hours. The company expected to own me. In fact, they not only wanted my body and mind, but my soul as well.
The company had to come first over my private life, my marriage, my church, and anything else that might compete for my heart and soul. It was not a harsh or unpleasant company to work for. However, working there required my complete devotion, devotion no Christian should give to his employer. If worldly employers can expect exclusive devotion from their key employees, how much more can Jesus expect it from us? There is a big difference, however. Worldly employers demand exclusive devotion for their benefit.
They aren't thinking of what's best for the employee. In contrast, Jesus requires exclusive devotion for our benefit. He doesn't need us. We need him. He wants us to inherit eternal life, and he realizes there is no other door to it except through complete surrender to him. After all, neither Jesus nor his Father has any desire to populate heaven for all eternity with beings who can't appreciate heavenly and eternal things.
In the end, heaven is going to be inhabited only by beings who want to serve God alone, and who will be happy doing so. If you find it miserable right now to give exclusive devotion to Christ, things aren't going to change after you die. If material things attract you now more than spiritual things, it will be that way after the resurrection. Look at Satan. He had all the eternal things he needed at his fingertips.
Yet, even though he was a spirit creature, he found earthly things more attractive than heavenly things. He wanted to possess mankind and the kingdoms of this world instead of eternal things. Janet, the diet coach. Melanie Fudge is fighting obesity. Recently, her doctor told her that she is pre-diabetic. He explained to her that this means she is at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Melanie also has high cholesterol and elevated triglycerides, so she is at increased risk of developing heart disease.
Since her health is at risk, Melanie's doctor encouraged her to hire a diet coach to help her control her eating. He recommended Janet Jones. Following this recommendation, Melanie hired Janet Jones as her diet coach. Janet is both a registered nurse and a certified clinical nutritionist. She has helped numerous clients lose weight. As a result, Melanie has complete confidence in her.
At their first meeting, Janet explained that if Melanie is going to lose weight and keep it off, she is going to have to completely change her eating habits. There's no point going on a crash diet to lose weight because Melanie won't be able to stick to such a diet long term. Permanently losing weight requires a complete lifestyle change. For this first meeting, Janet has asked Melanie to bring a list of all of the foods in her cupboards, refrigerator, and freezer.
After reviewing the list, Janet gently but firmly explained to Melanie that all of the cookies, chips, candy, ice cream, soda, chocolate bars, white bread, pasta, hot dogs, and a number of other foods would have to go. Not surprisingly, Melanie protested that she couldn't possibly live without those things. Janet explained the reality of things. She will have a hard time losing weight if she continues to eat those kinds of food.
And if her cupboards and refrigerator are stocked with those foods, she will find it nearly impossible to resist them. Melanie's health and life are at stake. It's no different with Christ. Referring to the parable of the sower, Jesus explains, "He who receives seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful." Matthew 13:22.
So Jesus' interest here is that we don't forfeit eternal life because of the deceitfulness of riches. That's why he bids us again and again to dispose ourselves of our wealth and not to chase after money and material possessions. The story of the incompatibility of riches and the kingdom life has been written in the sad lives of millions of Christians. During the first 300 years of Christianity, the vast majority of Christians were poor and many were slaves, yet they were alive and vigorous spiritually.
Living the kingdom life was the norm, not the exception. However, once Christianity was legalized and became respectable, even desirable, the situation changed almost overnight. The wealthy and powerful flocked to the church and eventually controlled it. Within a generation, living the kingdom life went from being the norm to being the exception. The principle has been the same with spiritual movements throughout the centuries.
When the members of a new spiritual movement are mainly poor, embracing the kingdom life is common. However, once the members put down roots and begin to prosper, spiritual apathy sets in. This happened with the Mennonites in Holland, the New England pilgrims, the Quakers, and the Moravians. They were all members of spiritual movements with incredible energy and a strong spirit of self-sacrifice. Yet, as soon as material prosperity came to those groups, their lights dimmed.
Jesus isn't being harsh or purposefully trying to make things difficult for us. He knows how reality works, and he cares about our eternal good. But what exactly did Jesus mean when he said, "Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple"?