Too Big to Enter
Notes
Transcript
We are going to dive right into Matthew 19:13-30, so turn with me as we read.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
Kids are Small
Kids are Small
At first is seems like this passage has 2 fairly unrelated parts.
After answering some questions about marriage, divorce, and singleness, little children are brought to Jesus.
His disciples show the attitude people of the time had toward children, seeing them more as a nuisance and as a blessing.
But Jesus’s response is the focal point of the passage:
A whole sermon could come out of these 3 verses on the importance of our care for our children and the Church’s role in helping them to know and follow Jesus.
And that is a really important and needed message, but I don’t think it was Matthew, or Jesus’s intention for us to focus only on that application.
Notice Jesus words “the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” or “of this kind or sort belong the kingdom.:
Like in Matthew 18, Jesus is pointing to the children as an example of the kind of faith and posture one must have to get into the kingdom of God.
It seems Jesus is using their size as an illustration, especially when we see the broader context of the passage.
Look down at Matthew 19:24
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.”
What a picture huh, a huge camel trying to squeeze itself through the eye of a needle.
It isn’t hard to see Jesus’s point, right?
A camel can’t fit through a needle, and there are things in us that will keep us from fitting into the Kingdom of God.
Jesus is comparing the “size” of kids with the “size” of a man who everyone assumed would fit just fine.
A Rich, Young, Ruler
A Rich, Young, Ruler
Matthew tells us he was young (vs 20) and rich (22), and Luke tells us he was a ruler of some sort.
If you were going to rank someone in the 1st century who would be considered blessed by God; a young, wealthy, and powerful person like this fella would have made the top of the list.
His position, his prosperity, and his power were sure signs that God was blessing him.
And then we get a picture of his lifestyle and behavior…he was a discipline and devoted fella too.
That is probably where all those blessings came from. He was born good, worked hard, and did what was right. He had everything going for him.
And yet, he comes to Jesus with what seems like a genuine question, not a test or an affirmation.
Mark tells us the man “knelt down” before Jesus, a sign of respect and humility.
It seems there was a feeling of inadequacy in the man, like something wasn’t complete or whole about his life and his approach.
What is revealed in this rich, young ruler is that he was simply too big to get through the gate.
There were 3 parts of him that made the a saving relationship with Jesus inaccessible to him.
And these three things are also the things than keep us from Jesus too…let’s look at them.
1) Our HEAD is too big.
1) Our HEAD is too big.
It all starts with his greeting.
The word “good” is the important word here. Jesus picks up on it.
In Mark and Luke’s account, the man actually calls Jesus “Good Teacher” which is loaded with meaning.
He didn’t believe yet that Jesus was the Messiah and he sure didn’t believe that Jesus was God made flesh.
He believe He was a teacher of the law, a Rabbi, and a particularly GOOD one.
Good meaning both that he believed Jesus to be skilled and wise in His teaching, but also morally good.
You would think Jesus would take this as a compliment, but He sees beyond the words to what he truly believe.
He saw Jesus as someone that could help him reach the next level, to shore up the last few things that were keeping him from being his best self.
He considered himself to be quite a good person.
Especially in comparison to those around him and considering all the blessings he had received in life.
But this Jesus fella, he seemed to be just a bit further along than him, a bit more in tune with the law, a bit more good (I know that isn’t good English).
But his understanding of good wasn’t right, especially his own goodness.
He had made goodness something that could be attained, something that could be accomplished through effort and discipline.
But Jesus tells him, “No one is good except God alone.”
His head was too big, you see?
Like the rich young man, we prefer a God who is small—a God we can manage, predict, and control.
We want a God who is only a slightly bigger, slightly smarter, and slightly better version of us.
But the God of the Bible is something altogether different.
It’s like the British philosopher Evelyn Underhill said, “If God were small enough to be understood, he would not be big enough to be worshipped.”
Jesus is confronting his understanding of his own goodness in comparison to God’s.
God is not just better than us, he is the definition of goodness,
He is Holy, set apart and in a category all on his own.
“It's only in the face of the holiness of God that you fully realize that sin is more than a list of bad behaviors and more than breaking a set of abstract rules. Rather, sin is a disastrous condition of the heart that causes us to willingly and repeatedly rebel against the authority of God and do what we were never intended to do. — Paul David Tripp
If we don’t understand that, then our heads are too big to find Jesus.
2) Our HANDS are too big.
2) Our HANDS are too big.
The next part of Jesus’s answer would be curl the toes of most good baptist folk.
If someone came asking you how to get saved the last thing you would do is tell them to start following the laws, right?
Has Jesus read Ephesians 2? Or Romans 10:9? Or John 3:16 for than matter?! Oh wait...
We know Jesus knows know one can really follow every one of the laws to perfection. If they could then His life and death wouldn’t be necessary.
Plus, He doesn’t even mention the first few commandments, the ones about idols and not putting anything before Him.
He would have no chance with those.
Jesus is revealing the young man’s heart, much like He does for us through His Spirit, through reading the Word, and listening to sermons.
He is showing the young man that his HANDS are too big to enter the Kingdom of God.
He knew the law, and he was doing everything in his power to make sure he met the mark.
And though the worldly evidences were showing that he was doing all the “right” things, he knew something was missing.
What Jesus is showing him, and is about to get real explicit with, is that he is missing a lot more than he even realizes.
Our self-righteousness and self-reliance make us feel capable of saving ourselves.
And in turn, it makes Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection entirely unnecessary.
He came to Jesus for a quick fix, a 5-10 step program to make him a better man.
What he wasn’t looking for is a new life.
But that is what Jesus offers him.
I love what Mark records:
21 Looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “You lack one thing: Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 But he was dismayed by this demand, and he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.
Out of love, Jesus offered him salvation and freedom.
“You can stop trying so hard to save yourself and find freedom in following Me.”
“You don’t need to add anything else to your life. You need to lose it all and gain me.”
Jesus knew what Paul would writing in Ephesians 2, He would be the one that would speak it to Him.
8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
We can’t save ourselves. We can’t fix ourselves.
If your hands are tired, come to Jesus. Rest in His righteousness and grace.
3) Our HEARTS are too big.
3) Our HEARTS are too big.
How cool of a story would it have been if the young, rich, ruler had burst into tears, embraced Jesus, and said “Yes Jesus, I will follow you!”
But that isn’t the case.
Instead, he went away sad and dejected, because he was very rich.
Was Jesus asking too much?
Preachers like to dull down what Jesus is saying here, give it some qualifications.
He doesn’t mean for everyone to sell all their possessions.
He doesn’t really mean ALL his possessions, just downsize a bit.
But Jesus doesn’t say “sell it all” and the principle is absolutely transferable to us.
The young man’s wealth, position, and influence were the sources of his hope.
They were the true god’s he was worshipping.
Jesus didn’t mention the first and second commandments at first because He knew those were the one that he really needed to be concerned with.
Jesus calls him to leave his love of his worldly treasures in order to receive a much greater treasure through following Him.
His heart was too big to come to Jesus.
He love his stuff, his power, his prestige more than he loved Jesus.
They were his idols (gods he worshipped more than the God of the Bible).
“An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.”
― Timothy J. Keller
This is what Jesus is saying in the camel analogy.
When someone doesn’t see their need of a saver, then they will not be able to find Jesus, the savior.
When you can fix your own problems, deal with your own struggles, overcome your own addictions, or pay for whatever you think will make you happy, then who needs a savor?
“Idols give us a sense of being in control, and we can locate them by looking at our nightmares. What do we fear the most? What, if we lost it, would make life not worth living? — Timothy Keller
Jesus is inviting the man to receive
A greater treasure than any this world will offer.
Freedom and forgiveness, not duty and shame.
And relationship with the creator of the universe, who is far bigger and far better than our minds can ever fathom.
I love Jesus’s response to Peter’s question in verse 28.
He is telling Peter “Yes brother, your decision is worth it! Your sacrifice is not in vain. Your reward is sealed by your Father who love you!
God is offering us a better hope, a better peace, a better joy, a better version of happiness, a better perspective, and a richer life, even if we are dead broke.
Don't get too big for the kingdom.
Kids don't lose their awe and wonder.
Kids are dependent and needy.
And kids love the ones who provide for them and love them.
Be like a kid
