A friend of mine had been involved with schools in various ways for many years. But what he really wanted was to become an administrator. Finally, he became the headmaster of a private school. A few months later, we were talking about things. His new job was as fulfilling as he’d hoped. But it was also more demanding than he had imagined. Sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for, because you just may get it.
This very thing happens to a young man in Matt. 19:16-21. It’s a text which concludes with a call from Jesus to “follow me.” On Sunday mornings we are exploring similar texts and what they tell us about following Jesus. In this text we find a young man who wants to follow Jesus. But when he gets what he asks for it’s not what he had anticipated.
16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” 17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” (Matt. 19:16-17 TNIV) In Matt. 19:20, 22 we learn this man is a “young man” with “great wealth.” This young wealthy man asks, what good thing must I do to get eternal life? What he wants is eternal life.
What he means by “eternal life” may not be what we mean. We tend to think that eternal life is “heaven.” That is part of eternal life. But in the Gospels, eternal life not only refers to a future life with God in heaven, but to a present life with God on earth. Eternal life is something we experience now.[i]
This man is not just asking how to get to heaven. He’s asking how to follow God and Jesus in a way that brings about the life on earth God intended.
What is Jesus’ response? If you want to enter life, keep the commandments. Jesus points him to Scripture. Everything he needs to know about following God and Jesus and thus receiving the full life God intends is found in the commandments.
As we’ll see, this conversation leads deeper and deeper into an investigation of what it really means to follow Jesus. But at this point, here’s what it means to follow Jesus: to submit to wisdom from above. To live the life God intended means most fundamentally to look to Scripture for guidance about that life. It is to admit that the best life is not the life where we make the rules. We submit to wisdom that comes from God.
Stephen Carter writes about a cartoon from The New Yorker magazine. It shows a boy doing a math problem on a blackboard. He writes “7 X 5 = 75.” He’s written the wrong answer. But the boy turns to his teacher and says, “It may be wrong, but it’s how I feel.” And Stephen Carter writes, “There, in a nutshell, is the problem with the post-secular university. Faith is dead, reason is dying, but ‘how I feel’ is going strong.” [iii]
There is a tendency to base beliefs on how we feel, on what’s right for “me.” But Jesus argues that to follow God, to have eternal life, we have to admit that how we feel is not always right. We have to admit that we need wisdom from outside ourselves. We need the commandments.
But there’s more to following Jesus: 18 “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, ” ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ “ (Matt. 19:18-19 TNIV) The Jews said there were 613 commandments in the Old Testament. And this man wants to know if all of them carry the same weight, or are some of greater importance than others?
Notice that Jesus doesn’t say: “Which ones should you keep? Why, all 613.” Instead, Jesus prioritizes. He doesn’t give the man 613 commandments. He gives the man six. Six commandments best summarize how to have the full eternal life God wants us to have.
Thus, following Jesus goes beyond merely submitting to wisdom from above. It means submitting to wisdom that is summarized in a simple set of priorities. Following God, following Jesus, is not mindlessly obeying hundreds of Scriptures. It’s committing yourself to a way of life that can be summarized in a few commandments.
The staff at Highland has just finished reading a book called Simple Church.[iv]
The authors find two kinds of churches in America: “do-it-all-churches” (that’s my language not theirs) and “simple churches.” Do-it-all-churches focus on doing every activity they can invent. Their church calendar is filled. If you asked “do-it-all-churches” what it means to be part of their church, they’d say, “Well, it means to come to the marriage workshop, and the financial seminar, and the study of 1 Peter, and the church picnic, and the…” And the list would go on and on. By contrast, simple churches focus on doing a few things. They’ve identified a handful of priorities. They believe nothing is more important than those priorities. And if you asked a simple-church what it means to be part of their church, they could answer on one hand.
Some tend to think in “do-it-all” terms when they think of what it means to follow God or Jesus. Following God and Jesus means to do this, and this, and this… And on and on they go. Jesus, however, indicates that following him is more of a simple matter. It comes down to a few simple priorities.
But notice the six priorities Jesus points to. The first five come from the Ten Commandments. Parts of the Ten Commandments are “vertical.” They have to do with our vertical relationship with God. The other parts are “horizontal.” They have to do with our horizontal relationships with other people. Jesus focuses here on those horizontal commandments: valuing human life, being faithful to our spouse, not taking what belongs to others, not lying, and honoring our parents. Jesus says that following God and Jesus is best summarized by these horizontal commands which focus on loving others.
Jesus also points to what is later called the second greatest commandment: love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus chooses not to summarize following God and Jesus with the greatest commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind. Instead, he summarizes it this way: love your neighbor as yourself. So, following Jesus is not simply embracing wisdom from above that is summarized in a simple set of priorities. It’s submitting to divine wisdom that focuses specifically on loving others. It’s all about how we treat others.
I remember recently when a young married mother of multiple children stood up in our Sunday School class. She already had three young ones at home when she became pregnant. Many in our class helped her and her family with meals, child-care, errands, and the hard work of life with young ones. She stood among our class and said, “Some people say it takes a village to raise a child. We’ll, it takes this church to raise my children.” And she went on to thank people publicly for helping during the pregnancy and after the arrival of her babies. Jesus is saying that’s what following God and Jesus comes down to. It comes down to loving others.
But there’s something even deeper: 21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. (Matt. 19:21-22 TNIV) Jesus indicates that following God is not simply a matter of loving others. The young man claims that he’s kept these commandments about loving others. And Jesus doesn’t dispute him. The man has kept these commandments about loving others. Still, Jesus says, he’s lacking. Apparently it’s possible to bake a pie for a new neighbor, bring a meal to someone who’s lost a loved one, buy a present for a new mother, give blood to the Red Cross, and still miss what it means to follow Jesus.
To live the full and eternal life God desires involves not simply loving others, but taking that love to a deeper level. Jesus invites this man, and he invites us, to practice a “perfect” kind of love. This word “perfect” means “mature” or “complete.” To follow Jesus and God is to pursue a love that is mature and complete.
What does mature love look like? Jesus says it’s a love that is directed toward the poor: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Don’t just not murder. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Don’t just love your neighbor as yourself. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. That’s what it means to follow Jesus. It’s not simply embracing the divine guidance of the Scriptures which write about loving others. It’s about loving especially the poor in a deeply sacrificial way. Notice that Jesus doesn’t just tell the man to sell his possessions. He tells the man to sell them and give to the poor. This statement thus serves as the climax to the conversation. Jesus as been building up to it the whole time. Seek wisdom that comes from God. Not just wisdom in general, but God’s wisdom that guides to love others. But not just God’s guidance about loving in general-God’s guidance about loving the poor sacrificially. That’s really what it means to follow God and to follow Jesus.
It’s not just signing up in Sunday School to bring meals to that grieving family. A lot us, me included, struggle just to reach that level. But it’s more like selling your possessions and giving to the poor. That’s really what following Jesus is about.
Now if we really understand what it means to follow Jesus, we’re going to experience a little of what this man experienced: When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
If you’ve never been sad about following Jesus, you’ve probably never gotten to the core of what it means to follow. You’re probably still stuck on one of the outer levels. I know I am. Because if you really begin to embrace what Jesus means when he says “Follow me,” it’s going to make things uncomfortable. Because following Jesus is not simply about attending church, or making meals, or praying, or giving a respectable contribution. Ultimately, it’s about a costly investment in others, especially in the poor. And if you’ve never been sad about following Jesus, you’ve never quite gotten there.
But that’s not where Jesus wants to leave us. Listen to what Peter spouts off with after this conversation: We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us? (Matt. 19:27 TNIV) When Jesus said “Follow me” to Peter, Peter had to leave his boats, nets, and livelihood. He left everything and was now learning how to invest deeply in the lives of the most needy. Perhaps in this young man’s pain, Peter recognizes his own. He’s followed Jesus all the way to this center. And it hurts. But here’s Jesus remarkable response: [E]veryone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. (Matt. 19:29 TNIV) If you really live a life that is focused on loving the poor sacrificially, you may wind up losing an awful lot. But Jesus makes a promise: you’ll receive it back-one hundred times over. It may be more costly than you ever imagined. But it will also be more fulfilling than you can dream.
I am struck by two of the newest members of Memphis Urban Ministry. Dorn and Mac work with MUM in serving the poor in Memphis. Both are highly educated. Both could be very successful in more traditional ministries. But both have decided to work for MUM. And MUM can’t even pay them. Don and Mac have to raise their own salaries. They have beg and scrape just so they can work with the poor every day. I see them at our offices frequently. And I wonder sometimes what keeps them going. Now, I think I know. It’s this statement of Jesus. They are experiencing it. Serving the poor has demanded more than they might have imagined. But it’s been more rewarding than they could have fathomed.
[i]Walter A. Elwell and Philip Wesley Comfort, Tyndale Bible Dictionary (, Tyndale reference libraryWheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), 449. [ii] D. A. Carson Matthew The Expositor’s Bible Commentary with the New International Version (Zondervan, 19), 422. [iii] Stephen Carter, “When 7 x 5 = 75,” www.ChristianityToday.com (12-11-06). [iv] Thom s. Rainer & Eric Geiger Simple Church (B&H Publishing, 2006).
