KHƯỚC TỪ LỜI KHUYÊN CỦA CHÚA - Mục sư Dương Quang Thoại - Ma-thi-ơ 19:16-26 – 21.08.2024

Matthew 19:16-22 – REJECTING THE LORD'S ADVICE 16 And behold, one came up to him and said, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to have eternal life?" 17 Jesus answered and said to him, "Why do you ask me about good? There is only one who is good. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." 18 He asked, "Which ones?" Jesus said to him, "Do not murder; Do not commit adultery; Do not steal; Do not bear false witness; 19 Honor your father and mother; and, "Love your neighbor as yourself." 20 The young man said to him, "I have kept all these; what do I still lack?" 21 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." 22 But when the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. This is a very special story. Combining the accounts of all three Gospels will give a complete picture of this story and character. Matthew 19:16-22; Mark 10:17-22; Luke 18:18-23. Matthew says this is a young man, Luke says this is a government official. The question and answer in this story help people to understand the difference between right and wrong in religion. The young man seeks eternal life, but asks me what good works I must do. That shows that he does not understand anything about salvation by grace! But it is because of that way of asking that Jesus intentionally leads him from "relying on works" to helping him realize that he cannot rely on works. God did not list all 10 commandments, but focused on the commandments in the relationship between people. An interesting detail is that Jesus listed the order of the 6th to 9th commandments but put the 5th commandment last. What did he mean? It is possible that this rich young man did not fully practice filial piety towards his parents, so He put the 5th commandment last for the purpose of emphasis. The young man thought he had kept the law. Legally, he was right, but spiritually, he was not. Because his entire attitude towards his fellow man was completely selfish. God put him in a challenge to reveal the nature of selfishly keeping the commandments. God's teaching is like a scalpel that wants to cut off the tumor of greed for wealth. Whoever loves wealth only for his own enjoyment is bound in the chain of selfishness. Whoever uses wealth as a means to help others, that wealth is his crown. The word eternal aionios does not mean to last forever, it means to be like God, to belong to God, to have the same nature as God. God's great nature is to love and to give. So the essence of eternal life is to be like God in love and giving, not to outwardly follow the law. Following God means serving with kindness those for whom He died. We will find the kingdom of heaven in loving treatment of all people. The young man went away sad because he loved wealth more than the poor, loved himself more than anything. Whoever loves riches turns away from God Matthew 19:23-26 – THE DANGER OF WEALTH 23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for a rich man 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 man to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?” 26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Camel and the eye of a needle (can be said to be the Golden Gate of Jerusalem) but there is also another explanation: Camel kamelos, and the ship's anchor rope is kamilos, the pronunciation is often misheard due to the e and i sounds, so maybe God said the ship's anchor rope is threaded through the eye of a sewing needle, which is also an interesting image. (1) Wealth makes people think they don't need anything anymore. (2) Wealth ties people to the world. Matthew 6:21. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." - If all desires and loves are here, people will never dream of another heaven. (3) Wealth pushes people to selfishness. The bottomless greed makes the rich want to be richer. But many rich people believed in Jesus and changed, such as: Zacchaeus, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus.