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What Are You Holding Onto? · In the Stillness Podcast

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  Hey y'all it's friendly. Happy Friday.
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  We have made it to the end of the week and I hope y'all are
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  all doing amazing. I do want to say I know there's
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  a winter storm coming through parts of the South, I'm in Texas
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  so I hope that y'all stay safe and stay warm and soak up just
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  being inside this weekend. But today I'm going to be
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  walking through the passage of of Matthew chapter 19, verses 16
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  through 30. This is the story of the rich
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  young man, or you might have heard it, rich young ruler.
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  And it's one that really presses on the heart.
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  But it's one of those stories that I think is a great
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  invitation for us to slow down. And I really want y'all to ask
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  the Lord before I go into reading it, Lord, is there
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  anything in my life that I'm holding tighter than you and ask
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  Him to reveal it to you as you're listening?
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  So I'm not going to read the entire passage for the sake of
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  time like yesterday, but I am going to read some key verses
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  that I want y'all to hear and then paraphrase the heart of the
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  story. So verse 16 it starts just then
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  a man came up to Jesus and asked teacher, what good thing must I
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  do to get eternal life? Why do you ask me about what is
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  good? Jesus replied, there is only one
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  who is good. If you want to enter life, keep
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  the commandments. Which ones he asked and Jesus
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  replies with six out of the 10 commandment, 10 commandments.
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  And The thing is that Jesus when he asked this, he already knows
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  this man has kept these commandments.
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  So then this young man, he goes, what do I still lack because
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  I've he's kept all of these and Jesus answers, if you want to be
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  perfect, go sell your possessions and give to the poor
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  and you will have treasure in heaven.
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  Then come follow me. And the young man, he walks away
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  sad because he's not willing to give up his money and his
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  wealth. So Jesus turns to his disciples
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  and he says, truly, I tell you, it is hard for someone who is
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  rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven.
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  And his disciples are shocked because they are like, well then
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  who can be saved? They've elevated the wealthy.
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  And Jesus looks at them and says with man this is impossible, but
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  with God all things are possible.
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  So I want to skip down to the final verse, verse 30.
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  Jesus says, but many who are first will be last, and many who
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  are last will be first. So my takeaways, what really
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  stands out to me is I think it's interesting because Jesus does
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  not immediately challenge what the man loved most.
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  And obviously Jesus knows what he loves most, but he lists
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  these commandments that while they're still important, they
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  didn't actually touch the deepest place in this man's
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  heart. So when Jesus tells him to sell
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  all he has, he is shining a direct light on what the man's
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  weakness is. And The thing is, money was not
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  just something that this young man owned.
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  Money owned him. It had become his idol and his
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  little G God. That's what I like to call
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  anything that is not God, it's a little G God.
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  And so Jesus was not saying that the man could earn salvation by
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  selling everything. When he uses the word perfect,
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  he's not talking about our idea of perfection.
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  He's talking about being complete, justified, and whole
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  in the Kingdom of heaven. So this man was ultimately
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  violating the greatest commandment that Jesus gave us
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  in Matthew 2237. This is to love the Lord your
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  God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your
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  mind, and even violating the commandment in Exodus 23 that
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  says you shall have no other gods before me.
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  So it's important to say this clearly that Jesus is not
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  necessarily calling every believer to go get rid of
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  everything and just be irresponsible.
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  Obviously, practically, we have to survive.
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  We have families that need to be cared for, but God is calling us
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  to steward what he gives us rightly and wisely.
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  And parables and stories that Jesus is using, they're not
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  meant to be taken quite literally, but they are meant to
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  be taken seriously. So I believe that this is a call
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  to obedience. We are taught to sacrifice
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  whatever God asks us to sacrifice.
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  If you think back to the story of Abraham, God asked him to
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  place Isaac, his promised son that he had prayed for.
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  He asked to place Isaac on the altar.
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  And Abraham, he is a man of faith, as Scripture tells us,
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  and it was credited to him as righteousness because God had
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  every single part of his heart, Abraham, he was willing to do
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  this. And later he was greatly
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  rewarded. And this rich young man's faith,
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  The thing is, it was built on what he had done, but Jesus was
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  calling him to an entirely new foundation of his belief,
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  humility, surrender, and a full dependence on God.
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  So I just want to say that anything that we give up in this
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  life with an open heart, it will be repaid a hundredfold in
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  eternity. We honestly cannot even fathom
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  the blessings that God has prepared for those who love Him
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  and fear Him on this side of eternity with our full hearts so
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  loving God entirely. This means using our money and
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  our entire lives in honorable ways.
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  So I want to give y'all a heart check that I had to ask myself
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  personally, how do I spend my money and just reflect on this?
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  But yes, we have practical needs and God wants us to be provided
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  for. He is our provider.
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  He wants us to enjoy life. It's so clear in scripture.
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  But I had to ask myself, OK, am I spending more on my own
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  pleasures than investing in the Kingdom?
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  So for me, I know there have been times where I've spent
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  money on unnecessary shopping that I really did not need, when
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  maybe I could have been giving it to a ministry or giving money
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  to support somebody go out, going out to another country in
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  missions or maybe even buying a meal for a homeless person on
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  the street. So I just want to ask you all,
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  what are ways that you could give back more?
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  And in the story the disciples, they're shocked by this teaching
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  because in their culture wealth was praised, the rich were
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  elevated and everything revolved around what people had.
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  Y'all does this sound familiar? I I think it might but when
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  Jesus says with man this is impossible, but with God all
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  things are possible. This is a common phrase that we
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  might hear or common verse. But he's reminding us that God
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  can save anyone. No one is too far gone.
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  Salvation comes by faith. It doesn't come from our riches,
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  from our rituals or works. It is plain and simple by faith.
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  And this connects actually very closely to what we talked about
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  yesterday about forgiving without limits and the verse
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  that says whoever is forgiven little loves little.
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  Because I believe once you truly understand and realize how much
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  God has sacrificed for you, you can't help but be willing to
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  sacrifice. You're all for Him.
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  He gave up his one and only son. He asked Abraham to do this, but
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  God actually gave up his one and only son.
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  And y'all, Jesus is our living hope.
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  We would not have hope right now without him.
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  It is God's breath breathed into our lungs.
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  We would not be where we are or have a life to come in eternity
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  if it were not for Jesus. And our lives are the greatest
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  sacrifice that we can even bring to His altar, our ultimate
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  reward. It's not wealth, it's not
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  comfort. It's God with us, Emmanuel.
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  It's his presence, his spirit that he is gifted us and his
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  power within us. So yes, Scripture tells us there
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  are heavenly rewards for faithful, obedient service and
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  justice here on this earth right now.
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  But consider that earthly reward.
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  It's not always promised, because if it was, this might
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  lead us or tempt us to do things from wrong motives or for wrong
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  reasons. So I just don't want us to trade
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  eternal, lasting rewards for temporary earthly ones.
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  Guys, let this be a reminder for me and for y'all.
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  Live for what matters. Sacrifice now for the gifts to
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  come. You may experience rejection
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  from friends, from family, but it's for glory later.
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  And obedience, I assure you, will not fail to be rewarded.
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  God wants our whole hearts. So a closing challenge before I
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  head into prayer is just two questions to sit with.
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  Don't rush through them, but consider them honestly.
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  One, is there anything in my life that I would not be willing
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  to give up if God asked me to right now?
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  And I know this passage is about money, but not just money.
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  Think about a job, a relationship, my own comfort, my
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  time, or my plans. And 2:00 AM I living for
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  temporary rewards here on earth or eternal rewards in heaven?
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  Am I investing more in my own comfort, or am I investing more
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  in the Kingdom of God? So let those questions just sink
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  in as we pray. Dear Lord, thank you so much for
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  loving us 1st and forgiving everything You had so that we
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  could truly live. Would you examine our hearts,
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  God, and reveal and bring to light anything that we're
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  holding on to more tightly than You?
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  Lord, we do not want to cling to anything more than we cling to
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  You. Would you form us in a willing
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  and obedient spirit? God, lead us into a deeper
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  surrender. Would You help us to rest in
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  confidence that Your ways are good, Your plans are perfect?
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  Father God, fix our eyes on eternity.
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  Would You give us the courage and the boldness to follow you
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  100% no matter the cost or the sacrifice right now?
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  Lord, we desire you more than anything that this world has to
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  offer. We praise you, we honour you, we
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  give you this day, We ask this all in your name, Jesus.
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  Amen. OK, well that is today's
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  episode. Hope you all enjoy it and that
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  the Lord tends to your heart personally and I will see you on
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  the next one.