Following Jesus Beyond Worldly Measures
We all have friends and family members who are accused of being competitive, and we have friends and family members who claim that they are not. But both groups tend to enjoy that moment when they win the board game, the card game, the award, get the bid, or get the contract on their new home. Winning means you beat the competition and came in first place. Winning generally feels better than losing and is especially better than coming in last.
Whether we want to admit it or not, we tend to gravitate towards winners. General managers of professional sports teams tend to hire coaches who have winning records. Employers like to hire people who have proven records of success. Churches like to hire pastors of growing churches. Investors like to invest in companies that are gaining market share and are making money. We like to get behind those who are or are moving towards being the best.
So what are we to do with the words of Jesus in Matthew 19:16-30? Here was a young man who was winning by many different measures. He kept the commandments and apparently had some measure of financial success. We don’t know how he became rich, but we do know that he was doing well according to the standards of the world and of the religious culture. I suspect he would have been a good candidate to join both for profit and nonprofit boards.
But when this rich young ruler asked Jesus what he needed to do to have eternal life, Jesus told him to sell his possessions and give them to the poor. Suddenly, this young man had a crisis of faith. Would he keep his money, his status, and his comforts or give them up? Would he follow what would clearly be acceptable by the world’s standards or choose the path Jesus offered? He chose the standards of cultural winners.
Jesus commented to his disciples that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. The disciples were confused and asked Jesus who then can be saved? Jesus responded, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Peter, wanting to be on the same side as Jesus, quickly outlined that he and the others had given up everything to follow Jesus. And Jesus said that those who give up houses and family and status for him would receive a hundred-fold return. He ended this teaching, saying:
“But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
As Jesus obeyed his Father’s will, the trappings of success according to culture of the day began to fall away. There was a time, even just a week before his death, when crowds cheered for him. Crowds love winners. But when he died on the cross, only a handful stood by his side.
Choosing to follow Jesus requires that we surrender the preferences of culture and the measurements of the world. Lord, today we struggle with the temptation to measure our lives by the ways of the world. Fill us with your Holy Spirit, that we might be obedient to you, even to the point of being disregarded by the world in order that we might live faithfully according to your call to follow you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Matthew 19:16-30 ESV
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