SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/22/2023 9:09 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-5 “The
Poverty of Riches”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matt. 19:23-26
Message of the verses: “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 "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." 25 And when the disciples heard this, they were
very astonished and said, "Then who can be saved?" 26 And looking
upon them Jesus said to them, "With men this is impossible, but
with God all things are possible.’”
I want to begin with another story found in the book
of Luke, 12:16-21 to illustrate again how the rich are really in poverty: “16 And He told them a parable, saying, "The
land of a rich man
was very productive. 17 "And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What
shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 "Then he said, ‘This
is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I
will store all my grain and my goods. 19 ‘And I will say to my soul,
"Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take
your ease, eat, drink and be merry."’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very
night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have
prepared?’ 21 "So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is
not rich toward God." As I was
listening to the sermon that goes along with these verses in Matthew 19 John
MacArthur answered the question “what shall I do” by stating that he could have
given some of his crops that he had stored to the poor, something that would
have been a much better idea.
MacArthur
writes “Every possession a person has is by the provision of God and ought to
be used to His glory. Even Christians
run the danger of being sidetracked and trapped by their possessions, giving to
God only what remains after they have accumulated what they want and fulfilled
their own plans.
MacArthur
goes on: “All that may explain why it is
so hard for the rich to enter God’s kingdom but why it is impossible is a
completely different issue—and is the whole point here.
“The
young ruler was not a denouncer of Christ but a seeker who wanted eternal life,
who wanted kingdom citizenship. But the
flaw was that he thought he himself had the resources to procure it. That is the point here.”
Mark
has a parallel account of this story and in that Jesus makes clear that the
impossibility of enter the kingdom by any humanly devised or empowered means
extends to everyone, not just the rich.
Here is what we learn from Mark and that is after the disciples
expressed amazement about His statement concerning the wealthy, Jesus then said
“The disciples were amazed at
His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard
it is to enter the kingdom of God!” We once again want to talk about the rich
young ruler’s problem, which was not totally about his money, but he did think
that his wealth and his own ability would get him into the kingdom. However Jesus said it is so hard for anyone
to get saved on his own terms and by his own efforts that it is absolutely
impossible. The poorest of the poor had
no better chance to gain eternal life by their own efforts at being righteous
on their own, as that is impossible for a person has to have the very
righteousness of God and that can only come through the death of Jesus Christ
who died for the sins of the world and that is only available when a person
realizes that he is a sinner and can do nothing on his own to earn eternal
life, but throws himself on the mercy of God who has made it possible by
sending His Son to pay for our sins, but we have to admit we are a sinner, and
then accept what Jesus did for us on the cross.
Repentance is a part, a big part of receiving eternal life, as that must
come along with accepting the free gift through Jesus Christ.
3/22/2023 9:41 AM
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