Before you can follow Jesus

MasterYourLife said:

"Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

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MasterYourLife said:

Rich is having more than you need.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.

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Do you follow these rules? Have you given all you have to the poor?

Hammster said:

It’s still the law. The gospel frees us to follow freely.

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Yes, its a command that we delight in for the sake of having Christ and follow freely considering it a joy and a blessing to count all things as loss.

Carl Emerson said:

I asked "Where is scripture does it say Jesus is the Law?

You replied as above.

Maybe try again... you are looking for a scripture that says Jesus IS the Law.

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I've seen what there is to see...you are looking...happy hunting!

MasterYourLife said:

"Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

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Your interpretation doesnt work... For if I sell all and give to the poor......then the poor would be in the same position that i was in before giving.....I'd be hindering them from following Christ.

However, we must sell all and give to the poor before following.......But to understand how to do this....we must first acknowledge that we dont already understand how.

The thing that hinders us from knowing the truth is the same thing that hinders those who use verses like this against the rich.....the love of money.

When we lose our love of money, we will see more than material possessions and money in these scriptures.....

Sabertooth said:

That was Jesus' prescription for a particular person (due to his materialism). Applying it to everyone does not fit with the rest of the counsel of Scripture, such as Proverbs' advice on financial management.

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we must eat the whole book. There is nothing in it that does not apply to me......nothing that I can push of as being only for the one in the story.......for if it were only for one person centuries ago, the holy spirit would not have lead anyone to write it down for the lasting of ages.....

Danielwright2311 said:

Jesus told that guy to sell his possessions, just him.

Why?

Because he loved his money more then people, no treasures in heaven for him.

See? he was still going to heaven, But with no treasures.

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He Told the guy what He told him, for US. We all have something that is hindering us......something that we refused to give up..... We wont be able to see it unless we can take our mind off money and physical possessions....

RaymondG said:

the holy spirit would not have lead anyone to write it down for the lasting of ages.....

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Whenever the Bible seems to be in conflict with itself, it always comes down to context.

"Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." Romans 12:6-8 NKJV

Sabertooth said:

That was Jesus' prescription for a particular person (due to his materialism). Applying it to everyone does not fit with the rest of the counsel of Scripture, such as Proverbs' advice on financial management.

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The message in it is for all who want to follow Christ. The message of Jesus in this whole context is this: If anyone wants to follow me, then one must treasure me above all things.

Sabertooth said:

Whenever the Bible seems to be in conflict with itself, it always comes down to context.

"Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." Romans 12:6-8 NKJV

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I believe that whenever the bible seem to conflict with itself, it always come down to interpretation.

God is not the author of confusion.......... The carnal mind cannot understand the things of the Spirit....for it is foolishness to him. But it still tries....and comes up with things that seem right... It is up to us to decide whether to be lead by spirit or flesh.

In the end we do give up all wealth to be with Christ. Thus, Christ was right. To be with Him we MUST give up all wealth. While we live, we keep our wealth but Christ awaits us at death.

MitchW said:

In the end we do give up all wealth to be with Christ. Thus, Christ was right. To be with Him we MUST give up all wealth.

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And who do you think is going to provide the money for missions, the church, to feed the hungry and find the homeless shelter if we do?
Indeed, if we give up ALL our money, we will soon become one of those who relies on others for help. Other people - probably non Christians - would have to feed our families, and so on.

MasterYourLife said:

"Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

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We all have to basically put Christ first in our lives, over our money and luxuries....

Matthew 19:22 When the young man heard this, he went away in sorrow, because he had great wealth.

He chose his luxuries instead of following Christ. Luxuries first, Christ 2nd (or 4th)....

See?

He wanted to have luxuries at the center of his life, and only add a little good deeds on the side, secondary, as needed, like for extra credit.

If you put Christ first, center, primary, then all you have is ultimately put into service to Him.

In that moment for that rich young man, he was facing the choice of whether to follow Christ (literally no less(!), but for us it's the same kind of choice...), or not. He chose something else instead of following Christ.

Jesus told the rich man to sell everything and give it all away because the place in the mans heart that his possessions and wealth had.

You see this in the fact that the man went away sad, his wealth had a higher importance to the man than God.

Jesus did not deal with every rich person the same.

To one He said sell everything and follow Him.
Mark 10:17-31

To another He said salvation has come to him.
Luke 19:1-10

Not everyone is called to give up everything. God calls us to remove only that which has a place in our hearts above Him.

Abraham and Isaac for example.

God didnt take that which Abraham cherished most, his son.... but He DID call Abraham to place that which he loved most on the alter before God.

IF you hold someone or something above God, you have an idol in your heart and God MUST weed that out of your heart (Usually by physical removal, but not always) so that He has first place in your heart, where He belongs and where He can work in you without limits.

IF the rich young man had been like the rich man spoke of in Luke, the removal of his wealth would likely have not been needed. It is willingness to lay it down and leave it to God, whatever "it" is...

God wants your obedience, not your stuff... unless your stuff gets in the way of your willingness to submit ro Him.

For you can not serve two masters.

If you have something you place before God, anything above God is your maater.... as long as that remains first in your heart.... you can not serve God.

Matthew 6:24

MasterYourLife said:

"Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

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This is probably the best article I read on the topic.

Is giving up all material possessions a requirement for being a true Christian?
(Note: You may have to use an E-reader add on within your browser to read it; The font is kind of small).

As for the Law:

Well, I believe we are under a New Covenant with New Commands.
For Hebrews 7:12 says the Law has changed.
We are to follow Jesus and His followers.
For the Law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17).

Also, see my signature that is at the bottom of each of my posts.

MasterYourLife said:

"Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

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Some of the poor are not righteous, but are lazy. The diligent are less likely to suffer poverty.

Proverbs 6:6-11 World English Bible (WEB)
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard.
Consider her ways, and be wise;
7 which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,
8 provides her bread in the summer,
and gathers her food in the harvest.
9 How long will you sleep, sluggard?
When will you arise out of your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to sleep:
11 so your poverty will come as a robber,
and your scarcity as an armed man.

There is also the story of the Good Samaritan who helped a man who had been beaten, stripped of his possessions, and disabled by violent robbers. The Samaritan traveling on the desert mountain road from Jerusalem seventeen miles to Jericho had enough money and resources to help the wounded traveler and he did. Jesus told his audience this Samaritan was a good neighbor.

Having much and not sharing is a problem.

I think the point has to do with the reality that we really do not possess anything...at best, we are stewards of what is His...including our own bodies.

So maybe He was leading the young dude to really consider what he would like to possess.

*Because if He doesn't possess it ..it will burn...

MasterYourLife said:

"Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

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When Christ came to me and later was truly born again, I wanted to give everything away. However, my wife was not where I was at that time. I gave away something of value and she retrieved it. Since in marriage two become one, that was her right. However, I definitely understand what it feels like to want to give away all of your belongings. You absolutely know that Christ has you and that you will be taken care of. That does not mean that you can sit on your tail and expect your needs to fall from Heaven. It is a joyful time when you absolutely know Christ and what Born Again really means.

Apart from the debate about Christians and wealth, the OP said that we have to give up our wealth before we can follow Jesus. Implication, we have to DO something to be able to follow Jesus; those who don't have any wealth presumably won't be able to become a disciple, ditto those who are homeless, sick, poor etc.

MasterYourLife said:

"Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

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If you want to be perfect. But, unfortunately Jesus is not on earth at the moment.

Hammster said:

If Jesus commanded it, it’s the law.

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Jesus said you must be born again.