Matthew 19:16-26, ‘And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” 17 And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 Then he *said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; 19 Honor your father and mother; and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man *said to Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.
23 And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 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.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” 26 And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”’
The Young man was asking Jesus, whom he thinks as a prophet or a Messiah, ‘Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?’ Jesus says, ‘If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’ Then, when the young man asks Jesus, ‘what am I still lacking?’, then Jesus says, ‘If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’ The spiritual progress and the growth – it begins by keeping the commandments, and then going on to becoming complete by keeping our treasure in heaven and so, we can be able to follow His commands fully.
Psalms 19:7, ‘The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.’
When we start our spiritual walk, we are simple. We are naïve and simple, foolish and fall into temptations very easily. God wants us to grow from being simple to wise.
Psalms 119:130, ‘The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.’
The Word of God gives life to our heart. As we walk with God, the Word shines in our heart and gives us understanding. As we hear the Word, we absorb as knowledge and when it changes our heart, we begin to have life. It is symbolic to a remote control, which is used to operate a machine. We can’t use the machine, if we keep analyzing the remote control, but only when we use the remote control, the machine becomes useful to us.
Psalms 119:96, ‘I have seen a limit to all perfection; Your commandment is exceedingly broad.’
There is a limit to all the ‘perfections.’ The Word of God is expressed to us in the form of Jesus Christ. In Him, there is no limit to perfection. The more we begin to look at Him, walk with Him, we would grow more in our spiritual life – in understanding, in divine love. In Jesus, the perfection is not ‘100 percent’ but infinity! His commandment is exceedingly broad!
V21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
Ephesians 4:13, ‘until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.’
Perfect means perfect and also being mature. The Greek word for ‘perfect’ means both. As we begin to grow in Christ, we begin to mature.
Matthew 12:35, ‘The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.’
There is a good treasure and the evil treasure in our hearts, depending upon what we value or what we think is valuable, is our ‘treasure’! What Jesus was saying to the rich young ruler was that he needs to exchange his treasure (his possessions) with what is required! These treasures may include our hobbies, gaining knowledge in our technical areas etc. When we come to God asking for help, He will draw us away from those treasures and draw us towards Him.
Genesis 2:9, ‘Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’
God placed these two trees in the middle of the garden to test Adam and Eve. The tree of knowledge of good and evil looks like a good thing to be able to know and understand what is good and evil. But what we see in
Genesis 3:22, ‘Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”’
God wanted Adam and Eve to have a pure life of God. God made them in His own image. He gave them a choice to eat from tree of life. There was something that man did not have, but after eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, ‘man has become like one of Us’, God says. God kept something away from man, though the man was created in His image. God was testing Adam.
Jesus talks about eternal life in John 17:3, ‘This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent’
Jesus was praying and was telling His Father about His disciples. The eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ. Holy Spirit is helping us in knowing God and Jesus Christ little by little. When we know God and follow Him, His spirit works in us, changing our hearts, showing the evil that is there in our hearts – the resentment, anger, jealousy. We know the difference, when we see Jesus, we realize how far away we are, by looking at Jesus, and comparing with our nature!
2 Peter 1:4, ‘For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.’
Let us hold on to the precious and magnificent promises, so that by them we become partakers of the divine nature. Let us desire to have the love that Jesus had towards us and others. Let us love the Lord and each other and also value each other.
May God bless us.
