Can salvation come by obedience?
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| English: This is a map of first century Iudaea Province that I created using Illustrator CS2. I traced this image for the general geographic features. I then manually input data from maps found in a couple of sources. Robert W. Funk and the Jesus Seminar. The Acts of Jesus. HarperSanFrancisco: 1998. p. xxiv. Michael Grant. Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels. Charles Scribner's Sons: 1977. p. 65-67. John P. Meier. A Marginal Jew. Doubleday: 1991. p. 1:434. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
As Jesus approached Jerusalem to initiate the great crisis of history, a certain ruler asked Him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18). By asking what he must do, the ruler was focusing attention on his own good works and superficial obedience to God. If he had asked, “How may I be saved?” Jesus might have immediately told him to put his trust in Him and follow Him. Instead, Jesus kept the man’s attention on the question of whether it is possible to earn heaven by good works.
Jesus replied by latching onto the phrase good teacher. Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good—except God alone” (v. 19). This question forced the man to look to the highest standard of obedience: God Himself. Can any sinner measure up to this standard?
Jesus continued by rehearsing for the man some of the Ten Commandments, and the man replied by saying that he had obeyed these from his youth. Then Jesus told the man to sell all his possessions and give to the poor, and then follow Him. This is not what the rich man wanted or expected to hear from Jesus.
What was Jesus doing? We know He was not laying down a permanent law for the church because both the Old and New Testaments show that stewardship of private property is an important principle in the kingdom. Jesus was simply starting with the first commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” When we study the Hebrew text, we discover that this command means that no other gods are to be set up before God’s face.
Jesus challenged this man to apply the first commandment personally. His idol was wealth. Jesus also warned him to stop trying to earn his salvation. In order for this man to give up everything and follow Jesus, he would have to trust Jesus alone. Sadly, he was unwilling to do so.
God claims us totally. Think of the things you would not want to give up. God may never ask you to surrender them, but He surely wants you to consider doing it. After all, when you die, you won’t be able to take them with you. Ask God today to reveal those things you have idolized and to help you set them in their proper place.
