Mathew 19 Lesson

THE LOVE OF MONEY

Greed is a powerful tool of the Devil.

If we do not work to keep our priorities straight, the love of money can turn into a stumbling block that puts our very souls at risk!

In Mathew Chapter 19, a  rich young ruler asked Jesus:

• “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” – Mathew 19:16

 Jesus answered:

• “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” – Mathew 19:17.

The rich young ruler and Jesus had a discussion, and then Jesus (who knew the man’s heart) zeroed in on the man’s problem. 

The young man’s love for money was a distraction to the man, and he was under the impression that he could somehow earn his way into Heaven.

Jesus, knowing the man’s heart listed six commandments that He told the man he needed to follow:

1. You shall not commit murder,
2. You shall not commit adultery,
3. You shall not steal,
4. You shall not bear false witness,
5. Honor your father and mother,
6. Love your neighbor as yourself.

The man’s response is thought-provoking. 

He replied to Jesus:

• “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” – Mathew 19:20.

There are two concerns with the rich young ruler’s response:

1. He seemed to think that he had kept these commandments perfectly, which nobody except Jesus will ever be able to do.  We know from 1 John 1:8that this is not possible: “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.”  The man was deceiving himself, as we sometimes do.
2. The man said that he had kept all the things that Jesus listed, but still asked what he was lacking.  He believed that if he could fix the things that he was lacking, he could somehow earn his way into heaven.  This line of thinking is in direct contradiction toEphesians 2:8-9which says, “For by grace you have been saved throughfaith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;  not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”   We cannot work our way into heaven.  It is our belief in Jesus that allows us to be saved by God’s grace.  Romans 10:9says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

REMOVING STUMBLING BLOCKS FROM OUR LIVES

Once we identify our shortcomings, we need to get to work on correcting them.

One of the best ways to do this is to eliminate the stumbling blocksin our lives that cause us to sin.

This means change.  

Getting right with God may mean that we no longer frequent the same places we used to or have the same friends. And that is ok.  

Once we commit to following Jesus, our purpose in life is to do two things:

1. Glorify God,
2. Serve others.

And if there are any distractions in our lives that are preventing us from doing these two things, we need to remove them for the sake of our souls!

Jesus said:

• “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire.   If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.” – Mathew 18:8-9.

CONCLUSION

We all have stumbling blocks and things that tempt us to do the wrong thing in life.

In the case of the rich young ruler, it was his love of money that was preventing him from being right with God.

Whatever our shortcomings are, they are not worth losing our souls over.

We need to identify these stumbling blocks so that we can remove them from our lives. If we need help to do that, we need to ask for help.

We will end today’s lesson with the following words spoken by Jesus:

• “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?  For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” – Mark 8:34-37.