CHRISTIAN ETHOS IN ACTION – “Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (Matthew 19:21).
The phrase “if you”, as it applies to you (and me) as a disciple of Jesus, appears one hundred twenty-four times in the English Standard Version (ESV) of the New Testament.
First, we will be confronted with various situations and circumstances from the Bible and, we will discover how we are to respond in these examples. Secondly, I have personalized (rephrased) our study verses for you to memorize. By this, we can bring the Gospel to life as we go and defeat sin along our way.
Today we, as Christians, are confronted with questions about how we should deal with matters such as obtaining eternal life, the commandments of God, perfection in character, treasure in heaven, the requirements in following Jesus.
Matthew 19:21 – Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect (complete in all its parts, full-grown, of full age, especially of the completeness of Christian character),
go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
IN CONTEXT
“And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. (Matthew 19:16-22)
REPHRASED and personalized to memorize:
I said to Jesus, “What do I still lack?”
“Jesus said to me, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS – KNOW THE RIGHT THINGS TO DO
This young man asked, “what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” This is a common misconception, for many, about salvation. If it were that simple, it would certainly be a cheapened grace and a trivial and ineffective salvation – which would be no salvation at all.
Ephesians 2:8-9, informs us that, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Salvation is by God’s Grace (that is, unearned and ‘un-earnable’ favor) through our faith (a belief and a trust in Jesus that is so complete that we are willing to surrender our way of thinking, acting and living and to follow Jesus in His ways.) Then we will walk in the ‘good works’ God prepared ahead of time. And you will have treasure in heaven
It’s all about Him – and we are the beneficiaries of such a Great God and of His great salvation!
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
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