We continue today on our 40 day journey through the season of Lent as we walk with Jesus to the cross and to resurrection. During our Lenten journey we have been focusing on Jesus’ teachings on the way to the cross from Luke’s gospel. This is the section from Luke 9:50 until his arrest and death in Luke 22. As we have discovered many of these teachings of Jesus are difficult for us. Jesus taught on repentance, that we need to turn away from our sin to a new way of life in him. Jesus taught that following him was necessary but difficult, we must be willing to place him as our top priority, above all else including family, work, and possessions. We have looked at the father-like love God has for his children. God loves both his children who remain in the family as much as he loves the lost sons and daughters who have left him to follow their own path. His hearts desire is for all children to come home, receive forgiveness, and receive their inheritance as his children. Jesus came to seek and save all that are lost. Last week we saw how God cares about the poor and the result of loving money more then God as the rich man discovered the terror of hell.
1. Eternal life is about trusting not doing
The first thing we read about in this weeks teaching is some parents trying to bring their children to be touched by Jesus, perhaps they wanted Jesus to bless their child. But his disciples told them not to bother, they thought Jesus was too busy for children. We have to understand that in Jesus’ day children were not valued as highly as they are today. But Jesus saw what his disciples were doing and he called to the children and said, “let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t have their kind of faith will not enter the kingdom of God (18:16-17).” What kind of faith does a child have? [Get answers from congregation] They trust with total dependence. When dad throws them up in the air, they believe dad will catch them. If God said so, it is true. If Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so, then Jesus loves me. Simple faith, yet profound faith in Jesus. If Jesus died so I can live forever with him than it is true. They have not been corrupted by the doubts, fears, and evil of the world.
Based on Jesus’ words, let me ask you this, what does a little child have to do to enter the kingdom of God, eternal life? Do they inherit eternal life because they give away lots of money to the poor? Do they inherit eternal life because they come to church every week? Do they inherit eternal life because their parents are Christians? Not according to Jesus. According to him a little child inherits God’s kingdom because they have a simple faith in God and wanted to come to Jesus. In other words the little children didn’t have to do anything, they simply trusted, they had faith. Jesus said, if we have that childlike faith in him, we too will inherit eternal life.
NIV Luke 18:17 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
In the crowd that day was a rich ruler who must have been disturbed by what Jesus said about having faith like a child, perhaps because he had always been taught that the kingdom of God is received based on what you do. Follow the Torah, God’s commandments, and so on. So he asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life.” All that faith stuff is great for children, but really Jesus, what’s the bottom line, what does God want me to do to inherit eternal life?
This has been the greatest confusion of people around the world for ages. People intuitively know they are created to live forever, and they know God is in charge of that decision, and so they want a nice formula for eternal life. Do x, y, and z and God will unlock the pearly gates to let you into his kingdom. Doing the right things on earth is like having the secret password. But this is what separates virtually every religion on earth from Christianity. Religions are about doing, but Jesus came to die on our behalf so that it was already done for us, we just need to trust in him and what he has done for us with childlike faith.
Recently I have been reading a book on the Muslim faith (Unveiling Islam by Caner & Caner), and according to this book it is their belief that eternal life is received by doing five things: believe in Allah (that is God) and Mohammed his prophet, pray five times a day, give to the poor, celebrate Ramadan (month long fast celebrating the receiving of the Koran), and make a once in a lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca (birthplace of Mohammed). Do all of these things and Allah might save you if it is his will. In other words there is no certainty that even if you do all of these things you will receive eternal life, or Paradise as they call it. The only alternative to this option is if you die while fighting in Jihad, holy war, against Allah’s enemies. For example the radical Muslims, like the terrorist who bombed our country on 9/11, believed they were dying in holy war against Allah’s enemies, which for them is us, Americans. The Koran promised that those who die in Jihad will automatically receive eternal life no matter how bad of a life they have lived on earth.
According to the Bible, eternal life is not about what you do because it has already been done by Jesus Christ. You can follow every one of God’s commandments to the “T,” go to church every week for your entire life, give all of your money to the poor, and you will still not earn a place in heaven. We cannot be saved by our own achievements. Jesus’ point about the children was that it isn’t about what you do, it is about faith. Eternal life is a gift God gives us which we receive by faith when we trust in Jesus and what he did for us.
Eph. 2:8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
If salvation or eternal life is a gift from God by faith then why didn’t Jesus just say that to the ruler, rather than telling him that following the commandments was the way to eternal life (do not commit adultery, do no murder, etc)? I believe Jesus responded as he did to the ruler’s question, not to get him to do something, as much as it was to expose where his faith really was. He was revealing where the rich ruler’s heart truly was. His heart wasn’t for God, it was for money, power, and status. He was hoping that by doing certain things, following the right formula; perhaps going to synagogue every week, following the letter of God’s commands, he could earn enough frequent flier miles to get a one-way ticket to heaven, but what Jesus revealed through his response was that the ruler didn’t have child-like faith. If he had child-like faith, when Jesus asked him to give all of his possessions to the poor and follow him he would have done it. With child-like faith the ruler would have trusted that Jesus would take care of all his needs, that he didn’t need money, power, status, or control over others. He just needed to trust in Jesus and follow him.
Two stories later in the Bible is the story of another wealthy man named Zacchaeus. You know Zacchaeus, he was “a wee little, and a wee little man was he, he climbed up in the sycamore tree for there he wanted to see.” Zacchaeus was a wealthy chief tax collector who gathered money his money, as all tax collectors did, through deceit and extortion. When Jesus came by and called him down from the tree and invited himself over to his house for dinner, Zacchaeus made a promise right then and there before the entire crowd. Zacchaeus promised to give half of his possessions to the poor, and to pay back four times the amount of anyone he had cheated. While the rich ruler couldn’t even give a dime away to the poor, Zacchaeus, without being asked, gave away half of his possessions and then some. What was Jesus’ response to Zacchaeus, “Today salvation has come to this house.” Zacchaeus inherited eternal life, not because he gave his money away, but because he had childlike faith in Jesus, and giving his money away was a sign of his repentance from the wrongs he had done. Faith is the answer, not doing.
Jesus was not saying that all people have to give all or even half of their possessions to the poor. However child-like faith means we put Jesus first, and surrender everything else to God. If God asks for us to do something, we trust him and we do it. Whether it is giving money to the poor, serving our neighbor or church in love even if it is a sacrifice of our time, or following God’s commandments.
2. Faith – simple but challenging
Having a childlike faith is simple but not easy. One time I read a quote from the late Fred Rodgers (you know Mister Rodgers), he said, “Christian faith is simple but deep, while what the world offers is complex and shallow.”
After the rich ruler walked away sad because he couldn’t give up his possessions to the poor and follow after Jesus, Jesus said to his disciples, “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.” Child-like faith is simple but not easy because we have doubts, fears, sinful pasts, selfish desires, reputations, and possessions which block the way of our trusting in God’s gift and following Jesus. We don’t know if we can give these up and follow Jesus. .
The disciples, who had given up everything to follow Jesus, wondered, “who then can be saved?” If it is impossible for the wealthy to be saved, then no one can. It was believed in Jesus’ day that wealth was a sign of God’s blessing, therefore if someone, like the rich ruler, was wealthy surely God favored them and they were more likely to enter the kingdom of God and eternal life. However the reality Jesus was trying to teach was that it wasn’t about wealth or even following commandments. It was about faith, trusting in and following Jesus.
Jesus responded with something all of us need to be reminded of, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” While we human beings cannot achieve salvation on their own, it is possible with God. If we take the first step of faith by trusting in Jesus, God does the work inside of us. He begins to remove the barriers of doubt, fear, reputation, or whatever it is, as long as we take the first step in faith.
3. God rewards his faithful followers – v. 29
Jesus said those who come to him in childlike faith and give up something to follow him will be rewarded.
Luke 18:29 "I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life."
Perhaps you had to give up your reputation, a relationship with a friend or family member, possessions, because they held you back from childlike faith in order to follow Jesus. He promises us here that whatever we lose to follow him, he will multiply and give back both in this life and in the age to come.
One of the rewards we gain in this age is new relationships. When we trust God in faith we gain a new family because we become part of the family of God. These new brothers and sisters are bound to us by God’s spirit. They say blood is thicker than water, in other words that family ties are closer than any other, but according to Scripture, the spirit is thicker than blood. We are tied together through God’s Spirit to our spiritual family, our brothers and sisters in Christ because we have been adopted into God’s family. In other words you gain much more than you lose. You may lose family relationships or friends, but you gain a loving, caring family I the process.
Another reward in this life is the fruits of God’s Spirit. Only through God’s Spirit do we receive gifts like love, joy, peace, patience.
However the greatest reward God gives us is eternal life. We get to live with God forever.
Do you trust in Jesus with childlike faith, or is something getting in the way (doubts, reputation, possessions, relationship)? Do you need to give something up this morning to follow after Jesus?
Perhaps you have already given up something, remember Jesus’ promise, no one who has given up anything to follow him will fail to receive many times as much in this age and in the age to come. God will bless you for your childlike faith and following after Jesus.
