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This week we are completing our study of Chapter 18. Please read verses 18:22-43 every day this week and, if possible, use a different translation each day, asking God to open your eyes to fresh revelation from His Word.
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Luke 18:22-23 (New International Version)
‘When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.’
The epistle of James is a wonderful letter and is filled with so many practical instructions on how to live a Christ-like life. Chapter 5 looks at how to deal with rich people and wealth in particular. It’s clear that being wealthy is not a sin but it certainly produces some significant hazards to a godly life. One of these difficulties is, quite surprisingly, selfishness. One would think that if someone had an abundance of riches that it would be easy to part with some of it. Well, think about how many people there in the world who do all they can to avoid paying tax. It seems that the more money someone has, the more difficult it becomes to give it away. Selfishness takes a hold and engenders a love of money that we all know is the root of all evil.
Much debate has been had about our verses today and in particular, whether Jesus was teaching a salvation based on works. At first glance it may seem that Jesus is instructing the young man to do something and that those actions will provide eternal life. If the instruction is to sell all he has and to give it all to the poor, what would that man then trust in for his well-being? Jesus goes on to say ‘Follow me’. THAT is the key to this verse. Jesus is telling this man that he should TRUST Jesus for everything. Leave go of the wealth and place his trust in Jesus. The message is no different than it is to all of us today: Come to Jesus in complete surrender and trust him in every area of our lives. The Gospel that Jesus is preaching here is exactly the same as has been preached for the past couple of thousand years.
This man was unwilling to place his trust in Jesus and would prefer to keep his faith in the money that he had acquired. You may think that Jesus is being quite harsh and that surely He could have demanded less from this man. There are so many men in the Scripture who were rich and yet God didn’t ask them to give up their wealth. However, when we look more closely at those men, we see a familiar thread in all their characters – they were all obedient. For example, Abraham was very rich and yet was prepared to sacrifice his son. It is this obedience that is so lacking in this very rich young man. The bottom line in all of this is that the man not only possessed great wealth, it seems that the wealth had possessed him also.
Today, let us all give some thought to any areas of our lives that we haven’t completely surrendered to God. True freedom is found inside complete surrender.
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