Luke

What Will We Get?

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What Will We Get?

Luke 18:28-34

Last Sunday we studied the encounter of the rich young ruler with Jesus Christ.  From the human point of view he looked like the perfect recruit.  He was young, so he had plenty of energy, enthusiasm and ideals.  He was a ruler, showing that he had a lot of influence, and clout within his community. He was powerful and prominent. He was also extremely rich. No doubt he could have helped a lot to finance Jesus’ ministry. And, on top of everything else, he was a very moral individual. He believed in God, in the Scriptures, and in the judgment to come. From his youth up he had sought diligently to keep all of God’s commandments.

Furthermore, he ran up to Jesus, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”  He asked the right question, came to the right source, and came the right way. He came running, showing his eagerness and zeal to find the answer to his question. He came humbly, bowing in the dust at Jesus’ feet, publicly asking a question which could seriously damage his reputation in the community. Everyone else thought he must have already obtained eternal life, being so moral and so wealthy (an obvious sign that God’s favor was on him). No, let me ask you, when was the last time a rich, young, powerful and moral individual ran up to you, knelt before you and eagerly asked what he could do to inherit eternal life? I mean, this is an evangelist’s dream! If Jesus doesn’t get this guy into the kingdom, we think something must be seriously wrong with His evangelistic methods, right? In most churches today, Jesus would flunk Evangelism 101. He doesn’t immediately tell him that God loves him and has a wonderful plan for his life. He doesn’t immediately tell him about God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness. He doesn’t even tell him that eternal life is a gift. Instead, Jesus tells him to abandon his god of wealth, give it all away, and then come and follow Him.

As I said last week, we always emphasize the part about selling all his possessions and giving them to the poor.  However, I don’t think that is the part we should be emphasizing. I think the really important part was, “Come, follow Me.” This wants eternal life. Well, eternal life is only in Jesus Christ. If this man is to obtain eternal life, he must have Christ. He must be vitally united to Christ. He must come and follow Christ. However, he will never have Christ as long as his heart is fixed on his riches. Remember the illustration of the 5 year old kid whose hands are full of candy, and his rich uncle is offering him ten $100 bills, but the little boy doesn’t want the money, because he can’t take it without dropping all his candy! It was as if Jesus was saying to him, “You want eternal life? OK, here I am. But, before you can have Me, you have to let go of everything else.”

Well, this young man went away very sad, because he was unwilling and unable to give up his riches to follow Christ. The simple truth is that it was impossible for him to give them up. Why? Because he saw more worth and value in his riches than in Christ. He loved his money. You know, that is the truth about every lost person. He loves his sin, and doesn’t value Christ. And, it is impossible for him to be saved, until that changes. And guess what? That will never change until God regenerates him, takes out his heart of stone, and gives him a heart of flesh, opens his eyes, and gives him spiritual life. When that takes place, the lost sinner will see a far greater worth and value in Christ than in anything in this world, and he will run to Him, attach himself to Him, and follow Him.

The disciples asked Jesus, “then who can be saved?” Jesus answers them, “No one! The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.” No one can be saved if it depends on them. That is because of the condition of their heart, their nature, and their desires. You see a person who loves money can’t not love money. A person who thinks something is ugly, can’t see it as beautiful. We can’t not love what we love, and we can’t love what we don’t love. We can’t choose to give up what is supremely valuable to us for something that we perceive as worthless. The Bible says that the leopard can’t change his spots, and the Ethiopian can’t change the color of his skin. Likewise a lost man can’t change his heart. Only God can do that… and God can do that!

So, to this man who runs up to Jesus, kneels down, and earnestly asks what he must do to inherit life, Jesus responds to forsake all and follow Him.  The rich young ruler wasn’t willing to give up all his possessions and follow Christ. He wanted eternal life, but went away empty-handed.

At this point, good old Peter pipes up in Luke 18:28, “Behold, we have left our own homes and followed You.”  In Mt. 19:27, Matthew adds him saying, “what then will there be for us?” The New Living Translation puts it, “What will we get?” And this question gives Jesus the opportunity to teach His disciples what they can expect if they forsake all and follow Him.

This morning I want to answer two questions:

1. What Does It Look Like For Us To Forsake All To Follow Jesus?
2. What Can We Expect When we Forsake All To Follow Jesus?

1. What Does It Look Like For Us To Forsake All To Follow Jesus?

Missionaries.  I believe the primary application here is to missionaries. In Jesus’ disciples’ case, they had literally left everything to follow Jesus. They temporarily left their wives and children, fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters. They left their homes and farms. They left their businesses. They forsook it all. Today, missionaries must do the same thing. Most of the time they will take their families with them, but they must leave their homes, parents, brothers and sisters, friends, jobs – everything! Jesus’ teaching here has a very special application to missionaries. You know, friends, we need to be praying that the Lord will raise up and send out more and more missionaries until every unreached people group in the world has heard the gospel. There is a huge need for people who will be willing to abandon everything to bring the gospel to people who have never heard it before.

All Believers.  So, does that mean that Christians who are not missionaries do not have to forsake all to follow Jesus?  Now, we love to point out that Jesus didn’t tell everyone they must forsake all and follow Him. We feel like now we are off the hook. We don’t have to do what the rich young ruler had to do. His was a special case.  Not so fast! In Luke 14:33, Jesus addresses a very large crowd of people and says, “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.” Now there Jesus isn’t talking about a special situation. He’s talking about every disciple! I don’t think so. Remember Luke 14:33, “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.”  If every disciple must forsake all to follow Jesus, what does that look like in our lives today? Is there a way that we can apply this principle in our lives?  I think there is.  To forsake all and follow Jesus means at least these three things:

• Christ must come first in your life before anyone else. Just as the early disciples had to leave their families temporarily and put Christ’s interests before their own, so we must never put anyone in our lives before Jesus Christ. That’s why Jesus tells His disciples they must hate their father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters. Their allegiance to Him must come before their attachment to anyone else in this world. When Debbie and I got married, we wrote our own vows to each other. My vows to Debbie start with this: “Debbie, as I take you to be my wife, I will, by the grace of God, love and serve you more than any other person or thing in this life, except for my love and service to Jesus.” I had only been saved for a couple of years when I wrote those vows, but thankfully the Lord had already taught me that He must come first before any person. This means that if God’s Word says one thing, and that other person in your life wants you to do something different than that, guess who wins? Christ must be on the throne of your heart.

• Christ must come first in your life before your plans and dreams. We all have things we would like to do. We all have our dreams. However, often those dreams and plans are not in harmony with God’s will for your life. You might have a dream to become rich, retire early, and live the rest of your life on a million dollar house on the beach. Sounds nice, but that is probably not God’s will for your life. In verse 29 Jesus speaks about His disciples leaving family for the sake of the kingdom of God. Mark says “for My sake and for the gospel’s sake.” You see we must put the gospel and the kingdom before our own ambitions and dreams. We must be willing to forsake anything that would keep us from seeking the kingdom first and spreading the gospel. Have you ever intentionally committed yourself to do whatever God wants you to do with your life? Have you ever given God a blank check and asked Him to write in the amount? To forsake all and follow Christ must include at least that.

• Christ must come first in your life before money and possessions. Jesus speaks about His disciples leaving houses and farms. The rich young ruler failed this test. His riches came before Christ. To forsake all and follow Christ means that we are willing to use our money and possessions the way He wants us to. It means we recognize that we are not the owner of these possessions. We are merely God’s money managers. And either we are good money managers or bad money managers. So, what about you? Does Christ come before money and possessions? Does Christ control what you do with your money and possessions? It’s not hard to find out. Take a look at your checkbook or your credit card statement. How much of that stuff did you spend on your wants and pleasures and how much did you spend on promoting Christ’s kingdom and gospel and glory? If you are spending more money on your own interests and pleasures than on Christ and His kingdom, you need to do business with God in this matter. If the way you spend your money looks very much like the way the people of the world spend their money, something is very wrong.

2. What Can We Expect When we Forsake All To Follow Jesus?

The rich young ruler refused to forsake all and follow Christ. He failed the test. However, the disciples did forsake all and follow Christ. And good old Peter, pipes up and speaks for the other 11 when he says, “Behold, we have left our own homes and followed You.” Matthew adds him saying, “What then will there be for us?” The New Living Translation puts it, “What will we get?”, hence the title for this message. That rich young ruler wanted eternal life but he wouldn’t forsake all and follow Christ. But the disciples did that. You promised him eternal life if he would forsake all and follow You. So, what will we get?”  So, Jesus responds by listing some of the blessings of following Him. Jesus breaks them down in two categories – at this time, and in the age to come.  In the age to come they would receive eternal life, the very thing the rich young ruler forfeited by not being willing to forsake all. But in addition to that, there are some very wonderful blessings that the disciples would enjoy in the present age.

Now, let’s take a look at what the disciples can expect to experience when they forsake all and follow Jesus.

• A Spiritual Family. Mark’s gospel makes this even clearer than Luke’s. In Mark 10:29-30 Jesus says, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.” What does Jesus say they will receive? Houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms. In other words, He is saying that whatever they give up, they will get back. But, how is it true that they will receive houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms?  The Christian discovers when he enters the family of God, that he is now a part of a great big family. He now discovers that he has spiritual brothers and sisters and mothers and children.

It’s a Big Family. Luke says he will receive many times as much.  Mark says he will receive a hundred times as much. Whenever I travel, I discover just how big God’s family is! When I went to Belarus in 1998, I met some of my brothers and sisters in Minsk. When Debbie and I went to China in 2008, we met more of our brothers and sisters there. When I ministered in Mexico in the 1990’s, I met more of my family. In every case, I met wonderful, godly people, who had been transformed by the grace of God, and it was wonderful! Though they live in a very different country, with different customs and language, yet I see the same love for Christ and joy in Him that I see among other followers of Christ.

It’s a Generous Family.  How do you suppose we will have a hundred times as many houses and farms if we forsake everything to follow Jesus? It’s because we have a hundred times as many brothers and sisters in the Lord who have houses and farms, and are willing to share them with us, when we have need. When I was in Belarus, I slept in the home of a godly family over there. They provided my food and transportation. When Debbie and I were in China, the believers took care of all of our needs. So, if we give up our  homes and family, the Lord is going to give you a hundred more wherever He sends you! You can’t lose by following Christ. Hudson Taylor was a missionary to China for over 50 years, and at the end of his life he said, “I never made a sacrifice.”  The Lord had given back so much to him that he didn’t look on anything he had done as a sacrifice. It is absolutely true that we can’t out give God.

So, the first thing a disciple can expect who forsakes all to follow Jesus, is that the Lord will provide all his needs, and he will use His people throughout the world to do so. God’s people will rise up to take care of you, wherever He sends you.

• Luke doesn’t give us this little tidbit, but Mark does in Mark 10:30. One of the things I really appreciate about the Lord is how honest He is with us. The Lord could have left this little bit out, but He wanted to forewarn them. He tells them that it’s not all going to be rosy. Yes, God will take care of your needs, but along with His gracious provision, you will face persecutions. In 2 Timothy 3:12 Paul tells Timothy, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” It can’t be any other way. If you have someone who has forsaken everything to follow Jesus, he’s going to run smack against the people of the world and sparks are going to fly. Two different kingdoms are going to collide. The kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of Christ.

This is why I believe persecution is inevitable here in America, if things continue down the path they are on right now. We are witnessing probably the fastest downhill slides in morality here in America that has ever taken place in the last fifteen years. With the legalizing of same sex marriage, and the normalizing of homosexuality, America is plunging down at a dizzying pace. If these moral trends continue in America, and God’s people refuse to compromise their Biblical convictions, what’s going to happen? Persecution – you guessed it. Those that don’t base their lives on God’s Word are going to try to force believers to accept and endorse immorality. God’s true people will not be able to call evil good, so they will have to suffer the consequences. All of this means that persecution is coming here in America. It won’t just be in communist countries, or Muslim dominated countries. It will be felt right here in the good old US of A.

Are you willing to face persecution to do the will of God? We may all be tested on this point in the not too distant future.

• I’m getting this point from verses 31-34. In this passage Jesus took His disciples aside privately and told them exactly what was about to happen. He told them that He was about to die, and that it wasn’t going to happen by accident. It was God’s sovereign purpose. Even the Old Testament prophets had predicted it. Jesus went into great detail. He said that the chief priests and scribes would condemn Him and hand Him over to the Gentiles who would mock Him and mistreat Him and spit upon Him. Eventually they would scourge and then kill Him, but He would rise again on the third day. What amazing detail!

This wasn’t the first time Jesus had mentioned that He was going to die. It is actually the 6^th time! Notice these five previous references Jesus makes to His impending death –  9:22; 9:44-45; 12:49-50; 13:32-33; 17:25.

Jesus did everything to explain and warn them of what was about to happen. But notice verse 34, “But the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the teachings that were said.”  Now that’s odd. It seems like Jesus is speaking very clearly and in a straightforward manner to them. Why couldn’t they understand what He was telling them?

Well, from the human standpoint, they couldn’t understand because they had their own biases and preconceived ideas, and Jesus’ statement just didn’t fit into those ideas. They believed that Jesus was the Messiah, and that He would become a political savior that would set up his own earthly kingdom. They just couldn’t understand the idea of Jesus being a suffering savior. I think all too often we are confused in the Christian life because of our preconceived ideas. Let’s admit it – we are often confused about many things in God’s Word. We don’t understand how Jesus can be both God and man in one person. We don’t understand how God can be one and yet three. We don’t understand how God can be all-powerful, and good, and yet allow evil and suffering in the world. We don’t understand how God can hold sinners accountable for their sin, when they are incapable of changing their own hearts. We don’t understand how God can allow so much suffering in our lives and love us at the same time. There is so much about God and His Word that we just don’t understand. There are certain things we will never understand about God in this life. Deut. 29:29 says “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”  As disciples of Jesus, we need to be content with what He has revealed, and trust Him in the things that are not. The mark of a mature disciples is that he trusts the Lord when he can’t understand Him.

Conclusion

My friends, what does it look like to forsake all and follow Jesus?  It looks like a person who has put Christ before any other person, any of his dreams, and any of his money or possessions. Does this describe you? Have you forsaken all to follow Jesus? Do you hate your family in comparison with your love for Jesus? Are you seeking first the kingdom of God rather than your own plans? Are you using your money and possessions on your own pleasures or the advancement of the kingdom of God?

So, what can we expect when we forsake all and follow Jesus?  Three things:  a spiritual family, persecutions, and confusion.  Oh well, one out of three is not all bad! Thank God for His spiritual family that ministers to you in your need. Pray for courage to face persecution boldly. And trust God implicitly when you don’t understand Him.

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