SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/23/2023 8:53 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-6 “The
Poverty of Riches”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
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."
The following is not
what Jesus is teaching here: He is
not teaching how hard it is for rich people to get unhooked from their riches
and bow their knees to Him in humble faith.
What He is saying is how impossible it is for them or for anyone else to
be saved by self-effort of any kind. So
what He is saying in effect is the same thing God said through the Mosaic law,
and that is that it was humanly impossible to live up to a single one of the
Ten Commandments or to the two great commandments that are found in both Leviticus
19:18; and Deut. 5:6 and then repeated by Jesus in Matthew 22:37-39. Both the Ten Commandments and also what is
found in the verses we have just mentioned were there to show people the
impossibility of keeping those laws. I
want to quote from Matt. 22:37-39 and comment on it a little: “37 And He said to him, "’YOU SHALL LOVE
THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL
YOUR MIND.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “The second is
like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’” I probably have mentioned this in other SD’s
but as I look at what Jesus is saying as He repeats the greatest law is first
of all it reminds me of the cross as the first law of loving God is the veridical
piece of the cross going up to God and the second is the horizontal as we love
those around us. These two laws also
speak of the two parts of the Ten Commandments as the first part speak of our
responsibility to God and the last six represent our responsibility to people. As we look at these laws we certainly can
come to the conclusion that Salvation has always been impossible by human
effort.
Let
us now look at what Paul wrote to the Romans in 3:19-20 “19 Now we know that
whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every
mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; 20 because
by the works of the Law no
flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes
the knowledge of sin.” I have one more
verse that Paul wrote to the Romans that also gives a function of the Law, and
this one may surprise you a bit: “The
Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased,
grace abounded all the more,” (Rom. 5:20).
John MacArthur writes: “Jesus declared that all works-righteousness,
which is the basis of every manmade religion, is worthless, affirming what
Jeremiah had written hundreds of years earlier:
‘Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good who are accustomed
to do evil’ (Jer. 13:23). Every human
being since the Fall is by nature ‘accustomed to do evil’ and therefore unable
to do good in any way that is acceptable to God. No one can save himself any more than he can
change the color of his skin or that a leopard can change his spots.
“Jesus
was not separating out the rich as being more inherently far from the kingdom
than other people but was pointing out that their riches on the one hand were a
formidable barrier and on the other hand that their money gave them no advantage
at all, though they might be able to buy more sacrifices, give more alms, and
make more offerings at the Temple.”
I
think that it is true that wealthy have the tendency to be selfish and
self-centered. In many cases the rich
spend their time in enlarging, protecting, and enjoying what they have, and
consequently they have little time or concern for the interests or welfare of
others. MacArthur tells the following
story: “I once talked with a man who had
worked for several multimillionaires. He
said that they had three things in common:
they not only were rich but were capable of getting even richer, they
were eccentric, and they were extremely selfish and self- centered. Although there were exceptions, those
characteristics are generally universal.
Like the self-indulgent rich man who was oblivious to the diseased and
destitute Lazarus who laid outside his gate hoping to have a few table crumbs
(Luke 16:20-31), the wealthy are inclined to be interested only in themselves.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I believe that one of the things that are
seen between the lines of these verses we are looking at is not to have your
money own you but use your money to bring glory to the Lord. Money cannot control you or you will be in
trouble spiritually.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to be a good steward of the things
that God has entrusted me with, and be thankful.
3/23/2023 9:33 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment