What Jesus Expects from His Followers -- a study of Matthew 19:16-30
- mww
- 16 hours ago
- 18 min read
Updated: 21 minutes ago
What are you not willing to give up to follow Jesus?
Bible Study Ideas and Commentary for Matthew 19:16-30
This famous encounter with a wealthy young man became an opportunity for Jesus to explain what wholehearted allegiance to God really means. There can be nothing you would not give up to follow Jesus because there was nothing He did not give up to save you. That means we should have complete trust in what He has commanded and promised.
With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. (19:26)
When We Studied This Passage Before
Once again, Lifeway is repeating an earlier lesson. Here are my notes from before:
Here is what you will find in that post:
Topic: getting ready for retirement
Topic: tip-of-the-tongue syndrome
Topic: American Protestants and the "Self-Made Man" *
Wealth in Ancient Jerusalem
Camels and needles
Wealth and Christianity
That "self-made man" topic is critical to understanding how some of the members of our churches will respond to what Jesus says in this week's passage.
Captain Overconfident
Where do you tend to overestimate your abilities? We all have our blind spots where we are overconfident in ourselves. (If you Google this, you'll immediately find lots of people who believe that overconfidence is even necessary for human survival. Don't tell that to anyone on the Titanic.) Maybe you rely heavily on your "intuition". Or you like to take certain risks. Or you think you have a really good grasp on certain subjects.
My personal favorite overconfidence stat (it's technically referred to as 'illusory superiority' by the true nerds) is that 73% of all drivers believe they are above average. So, what about you? Where do you tend to be overconfident, and where has it gotten you into trouble?
If you've not thought much about this, you might want to watch this video which is based on the profound line, "Overconfidence has been implicated in almost every big disaster."
In this week's passage, we have an appearance by the most overconfident person in the Gospels (non-Peter category) -- the "rich young ruler". His overconfidence in himself probably got him into eternal trouble.
Wealth and Salvation
Yes, here's another "rich young ruler" idea. I haven't found good recent studies of this topic, so I'm just making anecdotal points based on older data. But the data is not the point -- our perception of the data is the point.
Most of us think about the relationship between "money" and "religion" (or "religiosity") in terms of this Wikipedia chart from 2012: the wealthier a people group is, the less religious they are --
Noting that at least some analysis suggests that wealth has a lesser impact on "religiosity" here within the United States -- God And Mammon: An Exploration Between Income And Religion -- why do you think we think that's true?
(The "God and Mammon" article is a 2022 follow-up to the 2015 numbers I shared in my previous post on this passage.)
In this week's passage, Jesus tells us why we should think that way -- "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" -- so the question then needs to become, "Why would Jesus say that?"
Hopefully, some of your group members will call back to what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount -- "you cannot serve both God and money" -- but if they do, you want to drill down on the all-important "why?". Why might wealth be such a hindrance to Christianity? (Don't worry, we'll talk a lot more about this below.)
What Must I Do to Be Saved?
This week's passage involves the famous question, "What good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?" The semantics are important, and we'll talk about them below, but for this topic idea, I'm suggestion the more generic question -- what does the "average person" think they need to do to be saved?
It's the most important question anyone could ask, and I know you've talked about it and listened to others talk about it. What do people around here seem to think?
Our pollster friend Barna, now at Arizona Christian, did a study about this back in November. Here's his summary:
Americans typically believe that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave is not sufficient to secure their eternal salvation. Instead, they believe that experiencing eternal peace and joy requires a blend of personal works and God’s grace.
For the purposes of this topic, I'm focused on one specific finding: 53% of self-identified Christians agreed with the statement "a person who is generally good, or does enough good things for other people, will earn a place in Heaven".
Unbelievable. What are churches teaching?
If the first part of this topic didn't get the juices flowing, maybe this will. Read that bolded line, then ask something like, "What are the 'good things' people think they need to do to get into heaven?"
Our churches need to clearly and carefully present the truth of the gospel. If we are not clear and careful, the people around us will develop all sorts of wrong ideas that might have eternal consequences.
This Week's Big Idea: All Authority Means All Faith
Last week, we covered the Great Commission (out of order because of Easter), and I hammered Jesus' use of "all" --
all authority
all nations
all things ("everything")
all time ("always")
This concludes that theme that Matthew has been building through his Gospel -- there is no such thing as "partial Christianity" because Jesus is not a "partial Savior". He paid it all, so He demands all from His followers.
And that gets into the meat of this week's passage. The rich young ruler who wanted to dot all of his i's and cross all of his t's had one thing (at least) in his life he was not willing to turn over to God: his wealth. Jesus immediately identified that one thing to make a point:
The rich young ruler was willing to trust God with all things except his wealth. God expects us to trust Him with all things. Period.
And that brings me to a study that Lifeway just released.
25% of churchgoers agreed with this statement: "“During difficult circumstances, I sometimes doubt that God loves me and will provide for my life”.
Read that again.
The study's director noted that a lot of metrics have improved among American churchgoers over the years they have done this study, but not faith. He rightly believes this is a real concern. "It is healthy to acknowledge our doubts, but it is also beneficial to not stay there." Having doubts -- over and over -- in God means we haven't been taught properly about God and/or we haven't built our relationship with God.
Think about what we all just shared in our Easter services -- the reminder of what Jesus Christ did to secure our salvation. At First Baptist, we read this passage:
31 What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? (Romans 8)
Doubts mean that we don't fully trust God. Just like the rich young ruler didn't fully trust God. That man turned away from Jesus because of his doubts. What happens in our lives when we doubt?
This is such an important topic. I hope your group will have the opportunity to help one another confront their doubts and work through them.
Where We Are in Matthew
We took last week out of order, so we need to remember two weeks back when we covered the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant at the end of chapter 18. That ended the section of Matthew's Gospel that focused on the rising tensions between Jesus and the establishment. The transition is Matthew 19:1.
When Jesus had finished saying these things, he departed from Galilee and went to the region of Judea across the Jordan.
For Matthew's narrative, Jesus is now travelling south to Jerusalem, which He will enter in chapter 21 (Palm Sunday). But along the way, He has some very important things to say. Matthew groups them around the theme of "life in the kingdom".
The meaning of marriage (19:3-12)
The value of children (19:13-15)
The place of wealth (19:16-30)
“Wages” in the Kingdom (20:1-16)
Predicting the passion (20:17-19)
Suffering and service (20:20-28)
Healing two blind men (20:29-34)
Here's what I said in my previous post on the passage:
If you don’t have a right view of marriage or children, you don’t understand the Kingdom. If you don’t understand sacrifice and reward, you don’t understand the Kingdom. If you think you’ve earned anything and don’t simply throw yourself on the mercy of God, you don’t understand the Kingdom.
Everything just keeps getting ratcheted up more and more. This week's passage is event #3 on that list.
Part 1: What Do I Do to Be Saved? (Matthew 19:16-22)
16 Just then someone came up and asked him, “Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?” 17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” he said to him. “There is only one who is good. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 “Which ones?” he asked him. Jesus answered: Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; 19 honor your father and your mother; and love your neighbor as yourself. 20 “I have kept all these,” the young man told him. “What do I still lack?” 21 “If you want to be perfect,” Jesus said to him, “go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard that, he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.
I'm immediately going to start with an aside.
Aside: Comparing with Luke.
18:18 A ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone."
That's enough of a change in the use of the word "good" that some people have accused either Matthew or Luke of making a mistake. It's actually a very interesting study, and we don't have time to go into it. My guy D. A. Carson wrote an entire article about this. He concluded that "good" was likely attached to "teacher" (Luke), and Jesus' response was, "Why do you ask Me questions about what is good?" (Matthew). In other words, the meaning is the same in both, but the writers arranged the words to bring out the themes they best remembered from the event.
Back to the lesson.
Matthew calls this man "young" (v. 20), Luke calls him a "ruler" (18:18), and both call him wealthy.
Per my aside, we can conclude that the young man believed he needed to do something "good" to earn God's favor, and he believed that Jesus was a "good" teacher who could answer the question.
"Eternal life" in that Jewish context referred to "a life approved by God that gained access to God's eternal kingdom". In other words, an equivalent to what most people today would think of as "salvation" and "heaven".
Jesus clearly says that God alone is good -- something the man would agree with -- and says nothing about His relationship with God, though He forces the man to consider the implications of what he just asked.
The way Matthew describes this encounter makes us realize how not humble this man is. First, we have to consider the story Matthew put immediately prior to this one:
13 Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 Jesus said, “Leave the little children alone, and don’t try to keep them from coming to me, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 After placing his hands on them, he went on from there.
Jesus has just said that the kingdom of heaven ("eternal life" this to man) belongs to the humble little child. This man just comes up to Jesus and sets himself in Jesus' path. Second, this man presumes that he can earn eternal life. This is that "irrational confidence" I mentioned at the top.
Jesus' initial response cuts to the heart of the man's arrogance and misunderstanding -- God has already answered this question. God's answer is the only answer. The man has grossly erred by pressing the subject with Jesus in the first place. But because this is a great opportunity to teach important things about salvation to the entire crowd, Jesus "plays along".
Some people have argued that Jesus' answer promotes salvation by works. Absolutely not. Jesus is leading this man to the answer he already knew but was trying to ignore. (Namely, that the man simply can't keep all the commandments.) In a Jewish context, what "work" would earn salvation? Keeping God's commandments, of course. That was the answer the young man was expecting and hoping for. But the crux of the young man's hope is this bizarre follow-up question: "Which ones?"
What a strange question. Which ones? Which ones? In other words, the young man knew he couldn't (or wouldn't) keep all of the commandments, so his hope was that God had a short list of "strictly necessary" laws. And as long as he kept those, he would be okay.
[Note: this might lead to a valuable discussion in your group about Christians who want to observe only some parts of Christianity, but save that for later. This young man was not so different from plenty of people who attend our churches. They want to be affirmed in what they are doing, not challenged by what they aren't doing.]
Jesus again obliges. Why would Jesus play along like this? Because He knew that the man knew the answer, and he was hoping to hide from it, hoping that a "good teacher" would justify him in his own failures. Jesus gives the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and fifth commandments, followed by "love your neighbor as yourself" (the "second great commandment" 22:34-40).
"Great! I've done that! Yay me!" But he already senses that Jesus is leading him somewhere. Either that answer is too easy, which makes him nervous, or that answer is harder than he thinks, which makes him nervous. And that's why he asked, "What else?"
There are two important observations. We usually catch one but not the other.
#1: The "Two Tables" of the Ten Commandments
Our church has been in a sermon series on the Ten Commandments -- what do those specific commandments have in common?
Right. They're all part (or representative) of the "second table" -- the part of the law about how we treat one another. On their surface, they seem pretty easy to keep, right? This man sure thought so.
Usually, what we call attention to is the fact that Jesus omitted anything from the "first table" (how we relate to God), and the fact that the man thought he could be justified before God without paying any attention to the "first table" of the law was quite damning.
And let's be clear -- a lot of professing Christians in America right now would agree with the young man. Remember the "What Must I Do to Be Saved?" topic I suggested above. Lifeway discovered that half of professing Christians believed that "a person who is generally good, or does enough good things for other people, will earn a place in Heaven".
Why do you think people focus on their social behavior when it comes to salvation?
Well, at least to this guy, it was the easiest for him to demonstrate.
Or so he thought.
#2: Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
The truth is that we don't actually need to make that first observation. We don't even need to appeal to the Sermon on the Mount -- "if you are angry with your brother, you have already committed murder against him in your heart". No, Jesus just presented the young man with a scenario of "love your neighbor as yourself", and the man couldn't do it.
Let's be clear about this: "love your neighbor" does not mean that you have to give everything you have to the poor. (We'll cover this more below -- there's nothing wrong with being wealthy!) This young man is the only person in the entire Bible who is commanded to do this. Why? Because Jesus knew he wouldn't do it.
Jesus wants complete devotion from His followers. I've we've said, there is no such thing as partial Christianity. In this case, "You cannot serve both God and money." This man had indeed been blessed in his life, but his focus on that material wealth now stood between him and God. He was unwilling to use his wealth as God wanted him to.
The way I've heard this explained is that Jesus is going to find that thing in your life that is more important to you than Him, and He will ask you to give it up. For this young man, it was his wealth. But for others, it may be something else --
Give up your job. ("You cannot serve both God and your ambition.")
Stop obsessing over your looks. ("You cannot serve both God and perception.")
Get rid of that vice. ("You cannot serve both God and sin.")
Do you see where I'm going with this? Everybody has something that is so important to them that if Jesus asked them to choose between Him and it, they'd have to think about it.
There can be no hesitation.
I know this is what Jesus meant because He said, "If you want to be perfect . . ." That's the Hebrew concept of wholeness -- your whole heart. If you want to enter eternal life in God's kingdom, you must be wholly devoted to Him and Him alone.
On our side of the cross, we call this salvation. This is what Paul meant when he wrote, "If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Rom 10:9) There is only one Lord. To confess Jesus as Lord means that He is your Lord and you have no other.
This man's wealth was a barrier between him and Jesus, which is why that's the first demand Jesus makes of the man. Until that man gives up his wealth, he will never truly follow Jesus. And because there is no partial Christianity, there is no partial salvation.
Our ultimate point is that no one can earn his way into heaven. You cannot be good enough, wealthy enough, or obedient enough. The Bible is clear that is we break just one law, we break all of it. If we're hoping to get into heaven because we've done enough good things, we are sorely mistaken. But if we cast ourselves on God's mercy and come to Jesus for salvation, He will help us take the proper measure of our lives. This young man was so close.
For your group, the question is to evaluate your life and look for things that might rival Jesus for their allegiance and devotion. According to that Barna study referenced above, half of the people in our churches get this wrong. You cannot earn salvation because you cannot be wholeheartedly devoted to God without God's help. And God does not send that help (the Holy Spirit) until you admit that you can't earn God's favor, that your sin has separated you from Him, and that you throw yourself entirely on God's mercy and grace. "Repent" means both to turn from your sin and also to turn toward God.
This man could not do that, and so he left Jesus sad. Very pathetic. Don't let anyone in your group be this person.
Fun Aside about Luke's Gospel
Note that Luke followed this story with an example of a rich man who responded rightly to Jesus' invitation: Zacchaeus! And note that Jesus didn't ask Zacchaeus to do anything.
Part 2: Who Can Be Saved? (Matthew 19:23-26)
23 Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were utterly astonished and asked, “Then who can be saved?” 26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Let's make sure we understand what Jesus isn't saying. Jesus is not saying that a wealthy person cannot be saved. Abraham was extremely wealthy. King David was extremely wealthy. Abraham and David are heroes of our faith. The wealth is not the problem. And yet, wealth can be a serious (impossible) barrier to salvation. There is no reality in which a camel can fit through the eye of a needle. (Note: Jesus referred to a "camel" and a "needle". Don't get distracted by proposals of other translations of these words.)
This floored the disciples. They understood (and most Jews did as well) that wealth could not buy salvation. But they all saw wealth -- like in Abraham and King David -- as a sign of God's blessing. If that person, who seems to be so blessed by God, is not saved, then who can be saved?
Clearly, according to that Barna research, large chunks of professing Christians today get this wrong. [Aside: prosperity gospel folks certainly teach that wealth is a sign of God's blessing.] We could show two pictures, one of an attractive person doing a good deed, and the other of someone less desirable, and ask, "Which of these is Christian?"
Obviously, we have no idea (based on a photo). But a lot of people would answer the "good deed person".
That's the same prejudice the Jews (and apparently the disciples had). Jesus was breaking their comfortable stereotype. "With man this is impossible." It is impossible for anyone to be good enough (or wealthy enough) to earn eternal life in the kingdom of God.
But!
That's such a great word here. God does not answer to our impossibilities. Man's impossibility is God's possibility. Note that Jesus did not say "definite"; God makes salvation possible, but there's another step with it.
If you want to talk through salvation, make sure that everyone in your group understand how to be saved, I think that's always a good use of time.
Part 3: What About Us? (Matthew 19:27-30)
27 Then Peter responded to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you. So what will there be for us?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields because of my name will receive a hundred times more and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
But before Jesus can explain further, Peter jumps in from the top rope. The disciples have interpreted Jesus' words as unfair to them. They expected some kind of reward for following Him. Perhaps they thought it would be material blessing. Well, that's out the window, based on this encounter. So what's left? What reward could they receive for following Jesus?
Note: this strikes me as the same whiny response of Esau --
38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” And Esau wept loudly. (Gen 27)
It's the words of someone who believes that blessings are finite -- that there's a "pie" and everyone is trying to get the biggest slice they can.
What's the problem with that attitude?
Jesus does not rebuke the disciples as mercenaries. ("Where's the gold, Mikey?!") They have indeed made sacrifices to follow Him. (Although let's keep in mind the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard which we will study next week!) But they are foolish to believe that any sacrifice they have made could possibly out-measure the blessings they will receive.
To make them "feel better" (not sure how to describe this), Jesus gives them a peek at their future. "Renewal" refers to what we call the new heaven and earth -- the new Jerusalem described in Revelation.
And I'll be honest -- I'm not exactly sure what Jesus means here. Are these literal thrones? (It seems like it; His is a literal throne.) Are they judging the literal twelve tribes of Israel? (Yes would be the obvious next answer, rather than a symbolic representation of the church. They would be judging the people who rejected their message of salvation in Jesus.) If both of those answers are yes, this might suggest that these are 12 of the 24 thrones described in Revelation 4. BUT there is no mention of judgment in that scene, so I still think there are lots of questions.
What is not a question is that Jesus' 12 disciples will receive a special blessing in heaven. Their work in founding and establishing the church cannot be priced, and they paid for it with their lives.
[Important aside: what about Judas? Remember that the apostles "replaced" Judas with Matthias (Acts 1), so Jesus' words are true. It wasn't quite yet time to explain the coming betrayal, so Jesus didn't want to get into the weeds here.]
But this promise of blessing extends to everyone who follows Jesus. Without being literal (you can't have 100 mothers), Jesus says that the blessing will far outpace any sacrifice someone makes to follow Jesus.
You might even bring this up in your group. What sacrifices have they made to follow Jesus? My guess is that for most of them, they won't see any real sacrifices (even if they made them). They would probably take the approach that I take -- anything that I might have "given up" to follow Jesus has already turned out so much for my good that I don't even consider it a sacrifice.
But for some Christians, there are true sacrifices. And for some people who are "counting the cost" of following Jesus, they see true sacrifice on the horizon. This promise is to encourage them. There is no sacrifice they could make that God will not "repay" abundantly for all eternity. And the real blessing -- eternal life itself.
Jesus' final words in this chapter rope everything together in Matthew's narrative of chapter 19 --
many who are first will be last, and the last first
The man who thinks he has the right dominate his wife and household? He will be last. The man who thinks he is more important than a child? He will be last. The man who thinks his wealth makes him important? He will be last.
And those others? They will be made first.
What does it mean to be "first" and what does it mean to be "last"?
I think it means what we think it means, but we don't want to push it too far. This doesn't supersede the rules for salvation (that's what the "many" refers to). Basically, those who are "rich and powerful" will not be rich and powerful in heaven. Those who are "poor and lowly" will not be poor and lowly in heaven. This turns into a referendum on what we think "rewards in heaven" means, and as I've said before, "infinity plus one" is still mathematically "infinity", so we shouldn't lose a lot of sleep over rewards in heaven.
For our part, Jesus' words to us are simple. "If you are poor, don't waste your energy being envious of someone who is wealthy. Let God give you your ultimate reward in due time, and for now enjoy the many blessings of His love and grace."
To me, your emphasis will be on the faith of your learners. Where do they have trouble trusting God? What are they not willing to give up for God? Those things are barriers between them and God, and the Holy Spirit will help them knock the barriers down if only they will let Him.