This chapter comes with some very big warnings. From the very beginning of the chapter to the very end, it is full of warnings not to be deceived. If this was such a big problem 2000 years ago, how much bigger is it now? We need to heed all of these warnings because just like the Thessalonians, we also have others trying to deceive us in every step of our lives.
To be able to keep from being deceived, we must first know the truth. In John 8:31-32, Jesus says, ‘“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”’ According to these verses, the very first thing we need to do to keep ourselves from being deceived is to hold to Jesus’ teaching. To do this, we need to first know what Jesus taught and to obey it. When we hold to the teachings of Jesus, we are really his disciples. Then, we will know the truth and the truth will set us free.
In 2 Thessalonians 2:13, Paul writes that the Thessalonians were “saved… through belief in the truth.” The Thessalonians not only knew the truth, they also believed it. For this reason, they were saved. We also can be saved when we know the truth and choose to believe in it. But, if you choose not to believe in the truth, there are serious consequences.
In verse 13, Paul writes, “[S]o that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” It is a matter of life or death, whether or not you believe in the truth. If you believe in the truth, you can be saved and have eternal life in the kingdom. If you do not believe in the truth, however, you will be condemned and will perish.
Verse 15 says, “So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.” Paul has told us what our choices are. The choice to believe in the truth or to not believe in it. He urges us, then, to stand firm and hold fast to the teachings. When we hold fast to the teachings, we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. It’s not a trivial decision! It is life or death, so choose the truth!
-Kaitlyn Hamilton
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
How can you be sure you are not being deceived?
How are you following Jesus’ teachings, not the pastor or creeds or traditions, but following Jesus’ teachings?
I don’t know about you, but to me, it feels like the world is really divided right now. More divided than we’ve been in a long time. Liberal vs. Conservative. The liberals call the conservatives Fascists or Nazis, the conservatives call the liberals Communists. We are divided between theists and anti-theists, or some would divide us as racist or anti-racist. Still, others would divide us as binary or non-binary, pro-live or pro-choice. Living in perpetual states of division is stressful, painful, and exhausting. In the words of Rodney King during the L.A. racial riots of the early 1990’s “Can we…can we all get along?”
That’s kind of what Paul was saying to the Galatian Christians. There was division going on in their Church. Paul taught them that we are saved by putting our faith in Jesus Christ as the son of God who died for our sins and whom God raised from the dead. This salvation is open to everyone who believes, young or old, male or female, Jew or Gentile (non-Jew). As Paul was traveling on his mission to other places in Asia and Europe to share the message of Jesus Christ and the Gospel of the Kingdom of God with as many as he could, he received reports that people had come into the Churches in Galatia insisting that Gentile believers must begin practicing Jewish law in order to be saved.
Paul was pretty angry with the Christians there who were being led astray by the teaching of these “Judaizers” (people who insisted that Gentile Christians must practice Jewish Law in order to be saved). Paul calls them fools and victims of witchcraft for allowing themselves to be taught something so clearly contrary to the gospel that he preached to them previously.
Paul goes back and shows from the Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament) that even back in the time of Abraham God made his plan very clear. God always planned to bring salvation not only to the Jews who were descendants of Abraham but also to Gentiles who were not biological descendants of Abraham. Paul shows that God called Abraham long before the Ten Commandments and Ceremonial Laws were given to the Jewish people. As Jews, they were always recipients of God’s grace. The Law was never a precondition to them being chosen as God’s covenant people. Paul wants it to be clearly understood that for the Gentiles they are brought into God’s chosen family not on the basis of observing Jewish ceremonial law or even moral law, but on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ.
In Christ, old barriers and divisions come falling down. We all become a part of the one family of God through Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter our nationality, our age, our sex, our citizenship status or our righteousness according to the law. What matters is that we come to Jesus Christ and have been clothed in Jesus Christ.
Later in Galatians Paul will talk about what it means to crucify the flesh and to live according to the spirit and produce virtuous actions by the spirit, but the fruit is a result of salvation, not the precondition to being saved.
The only true way to end division in the world is by becoming one with Jesus Christ through faith.
-Jeff Fletcher
Questions for Discussion:
1. What are the kinds of things that divide Christians and Churches today? What action will you take to help remove divisions where you worship and serve?
2. Why is it important to understand virtue as a result of salvation rather than as a precondition to salvation?
The following story is based on a Poem by Loren Eiseley called The Star Thrower:
Once upon a time, there was a man walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn’t dancing, but instead, he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.
As he got closer, he called out, “Good morning! What are you doing?” The young man paused, looked up and replied, “Throwing starfish into the ocean.”
“I guess I should have asked, “Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?”
“The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don’t throw them in they’ll die.
“But young man, don’t you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can’t possibly make a difference!”
The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves. “It made a difference for that one!” https://starthrower.com/pages/the-star-thrower-story
How do you save the world? One starfish at a time. That seems to be how God does it. When you look at the history of salvation as revealed in the Bible, God often begins the work through a single person. When God decided to create one special nation who would enter into a personal, covenant-based relationship with Him, He began with one man, a man named Abram (later Abraham). God entered into a special bond with Abraham and promised to make him into a great nation that would eventually bring blessing to all the earth. Abraham was the father of the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people. Israel’s mission as God’s people was to be a light to all the nations of the world.
Israel struggled to fulfill that calling from God and became very inward-focused. They elevated their unique relationship with God and emphasized their “set apart” status, worn as a badge of superiority. They lost the mission imperative that God first gave to Abraham.
God always had the heart to reach all people, not just descendants of Abraham by birth. When the time came to expand his relationship with all humans and open the doors of salvation to the nations not descended from Abraham, God again started small. Through one man, Jesus of Nazareth, God’s only begotten Son, God would open the doors of salvation to people from every nation.
It was difficult for many of Abraham’s descendants to grasp that in Christ, God was extending his saving hand to all people. One of the issues the early church wrestled with was “what is necessary for one who is not a descendant of Abraham, not from the nation of Israel, to do to become a member of God’s chosen people?” The church agreed that they needed to be baptized into Jesus Christ and be obedient to Christ as their Lord and observe the basic commandments to not worship idols, not steal, kill, commit adultery or misuse the name of the Lord. But still, for many of the descendants of Abraham who had lived separated lives, eaten special kosher food, and not shared meals with Gentiles, it was very difficult for them to imagine embracing those Gentiles, whom they had previously considered to be nothing better than dogs, as equals in the sight of God.
While Peter, James, and the other Apostles continued to make their primary focus on sharing the message of Jesus Christ died and risen and coming again as King with their fellow Israelites, the Apostle Paul was called by God to bring that same message about Jesus to the Gentiles. Through Paul’s preaching and missionary work, God’s kingdom was expanding to include people from every nation, and language on earth. God made it clear to Peter in a vision that the dietary laws that they followed as Jews and the physical act of having all males circumcised were not to be a requirement for Gentiles coming into the Church. You didn’t have to become a Jew in order to become a Christian. But this did not sit well with many Jewish Christians who found it challenging to let go of those old prejudices and barriers.
Paul’s letter to the Galatians was written to correct his fellow Jewish Christian and convince them to change their attitudes and practices in relation to Gentile Converts. When they tried to make the Gentiles become Jews when they became Christians, Paul called this a “different gospel”. They were creating unnecessary barriers to salvation.
Do we today put up unnecessary barriers to salvation for people who are outside of the Church? Sometimes we place our cultural preferences and traditions in the same category as the message of Jesus Christ and require others to jump through those hoops in order to be accepted into the Church. When we create extra requirements beyond the basic teaching of the gospels and expect people to meet our cultural expectations in order to be saved, we are preaching a different gospel and keeping people away from Jesus and his saving love.
-Jeff Fletcher
Questions for Discussion:
1. What can the young man in the Star Thrower teach us about going about the overwhelming task of rescuing the world from sin?
2. What are some unnecessary barriers to salvation that you have observed in church or in your own witness to unbelievers?
Chapter 15 of Mark reaches the climax of the story of Jesus, but of course not the end. It’s the pivotal part where the prophecies he had been teaching of his death and sacrifice for our sins will come to fruition. No doubt, you’ve heard this story a thousand times, and for good reason. This event, the sacrifice of the lamb, is the only reason we are allowed to undeservingly reach salvation. What’s more impressive is that this story, just like virtually every other parable and sermon Jesus gave, can be interpreted to apply multiple lessons to our lives.
For instance, when bombarded by accusations and insults from the chief priests, Jesus stood firm in his teaching of remaining non-confrontational. “But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.” Mark 15:5. Jesus is able to remain non-confrontational when all he had to do was respond with a single truthful testimony. He refrained, knowing that all of humanity needed his sacrifice, as God willed it. Could you remain truthful and non-violent when the worst of life is hurled at you? How about when what’s being said is so obviously false, yet they won’t back down?
“’What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?’ Pilate asked them. ‘Crucify him!’ they shouted. ‘Why? What crime has he committed?’ asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, ‘Crucify him!’” Mark 15:12-14. Here, the people are accusing Jesus only on the basis of rage. There is no reasoning behind their decision, only malice. They refuse to listen to any voice of reason, as they are blinded by their own lust for destruction. Don’t be deceived by the masses and be sure to think critically for yourself. Never take someone else’s words as absolute truth without a grain of salt.
Nowadays, especially with the internet, people are more connected than they have ever been in all of human history. We see news quicker, respond quicker, think less, and react according to what we think other people would want. Whose opinion is the only one that ultimately matters? God’s, of course. Just like the members of the court who accused Jesus in an effort to please themselves, we lose sight of the only thing that matters. What’s worse is that we mock Jesus in our stupor as well; just like the court of those who crucified Jesus.
“They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’” Mark 15:17-18. They mock him for they do not know who they mock. Do you mock Jesus with your words or actions?
Mark 15:31-32 says, “In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. ‘He saved others,’ they said, ‘but he can’t save himself! Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.’ Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.” They mock the power of Christ because they do not believe what they cannot see. Even other people condemned to die with him are heaving insults at him because they cannot see beyond themselves or their own understanding. And look what it did—it sent our only hope of salvation into the most miserable state a person can physically endure.
“And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’—which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” Mark 15:34. They sent Jesus into this state, and it is by their actions that they will be condemned. Jesus was blameless and had every right to scream from the depths of his soul at the nature of his torture. Do you ever feel that God has forsaken you? Sometimes it seems like He has left us because we don’t see His guiding hand. Be thankful for the things that you have and do not need and be thankful for the things you do not have but do rightfully deserve as a result of your sins.
Mark 15:39 says, “And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, ‘Surely this man was the son of God!’” Only after seeing it can they believe, because although they see, they do not look. Remember not to be led in your thinking by the masses, for they do not know the manner of which the things they speak. Take heart in your suffering, for the true prize still awaits.
-Mason Kiel
Application Questions
How are you at staying truthful and non-confrontational when you are wrongly attacked?
Here at the Oregon church we have really been focusing on evangelistic outreach. No other word puts quite the fear in the heart of a Christian like the world evangelism. There are many anxieties that come with the idea of evangelism: sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. There is the fear of rejection. There is the worry that you might look foolish. There is maybe a concern that you won’t say the right things. Maybe there’s a worry that you don’t know enough about the Bible and therefore you aren’t qualified to reach out to people about Jesus and the kingdom. There is just a lot of worry that goes into it.
A lot of the fear and anxiety that comes from sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with people is that we can make it about us. Look above at what was said about the fear of sharing the gospel: every fear and anxiety that was mentioned about sharing the gospel is because we focus on how it affects us. We make it about our rejection, or our feelings or our knowledge. God has made the gospel so simple and yet we can be so afraid of it. And when I say we are afraid, I’m talking about me too. Just because I’m a pastor doesn’t mean that I don’t have fear and anxiety about sharing the gospel. You don’t need a PhD in theology to share the gospel with people. You don’t need to have a deep understanding of Levitical dietary laws, or a complete understanding of ancient Greek. The gospel was made understandable so that no matter who we talk to they can grasp it. We tend to make it more complicated than it has to be.
Paul makes this very point in 1 Corinthians 2. He says: “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).
Paul was an extremely well educated man. He was well studied and well read. He knew the Hebrew Bible in profound detail. He was someone that could have really made the gospel presentation more complicated than it should have been. But instead of making a mess of things he says to the Corinthian church that he didn’t come with lofty speech or wisdom. He decided to know nothing besides Christ and him crucified. What Christ accomplished on the cross is of chief importance. Christ died as a substitute for you and me and he rose on the third day. He did this so that one day we can be in the kingdom of God forever. The components of the gospel are easy to remember this way: the kingdom, the cross and the resurrection. The other doctrines of the Bible are important but only believing the gospel is what saves us. The good news of the kingdom of God and our entrance being purchased by the death and resurrection of Jesus is what matters above all else.
Paul continues in the section by saying that we don’t use lofty wisdom and persuasive arguments in order that we aren’t relying on the wisdom of man. Wisdom is important, but ultimately the best and truest wisdom comes from God. The gospel is simple in order that we can fully rely on the power of God to work through us to share to those around us. God is saving the world through His gospel and we should want to be a part of that.
We don’t need to make the gospel more complicated than it is. The simple message of the death and resurrection of Jesus purchasing our gift of eternal life if we believe in him is as easy as it gets. Sharing the gospel doesn’t have to be scary either. It comes from the concern and urgency of wanting people to be in God’s kingdom. It comes from the outpour of our lives as a demonstration of the saving power of God working wondrously through us. Let’s choose to know nothing but Christ and him crucified and share that to a hurt and broken world. Let’s be the people that God works through to reconcile His creation back to Himself.
-Nathan Massie
Application:
To remember that the gospel has been made simple so that we can share with everyone: the kingdom, the cross and the resurrection.
To realize that God is the one who is working through us to share the gospel to the world. It’s His power and not our wisdom that makes the gospel effective.
To realize that the gospel is the power of God and it is of chief importance since believing the gospel is what saves us.
To pray about our anxieties and fears about sharing the gospel and to ask God to give us the strength to share even when we are afraid.
To recognize that when we share the gospel we are making an eternal difference in the life of the hearer.
One of my favorite childhood stories is The Sneetches by Dr. Suess. It tells the tale of two groups of the same fictional creature that are cliqued together by the presence and the absence of a green star on their bellies. Those with the stars participate in exclusive events, while those without are excluded. More conflict follows, and you’ll love how it ends — But don’t take my word for it. Be warned there may be spoilers ahead.
Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. – Romans 10:3-4
Christian of the 21st century have the tendency to be the star-bellied sneetches, or the modern-day pharisitical Jews. We are really good at identifying each other through our branding, participating in exclusive events together, and making sure others know they are not on the same level as us. We believe through family heritage, denominational existence, or culture perpetuations that we have increased in value and rarity like a fine wine. By comparison, we may look at others struggling with more physically or mentally identifiable sin, rolling in the hot mess of their struggles, and working through the consequences of poor choices, and keep them on the outskirts because they are a little too rough around the edges. Be informed. We all are the same sinful species.
For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him – Romans 10:12
Again I say, woe to you, Christian. You may be in a different position, but it is like comparing one steaming pile of muck to another. We are rotting stacks of stench that stink, stank, and stunk. Polishing one pile of manure doesn’t make it more appealing than the pile to the left or right. However, one thing is true. With age, compost makes some pretty fertile soil. In this process of breaking down, we come to terms with who we really are in Jesus Christ and can grow the seed of the Kingdom of God.
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. – Romans 10:9-10
Our eyes shouldn’t be focused inward on our marshmallow roast, but rather outward, leading others to the saving conversations about the grace of Jesus Christ. There are so many who already know Christ but are ashamed to try to live more abundantly because of the odor their life is currently putting off. It is good to remind them you’re a decaying mess too. Love like Jesus. The bigger the trash-fire, the greater the compassion, cause Lord knows we need it too. The same creatures with the same Lord.
-Aaron Winner
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
What stood out to you most in today’s chapter and devotion?
Have you ever been guilty of a “better than…” attitude? Is that a good way to attract more people to become followers of Jesus? How can you improve?
How pretty are your feet? Re-read Romans 10:12-15. How and where can you take the good news beyond your saved little circle/clique to the hurting world who is just like you?
Romans 5 is the chapter to flip to anytime you or someone you know finds yourself questioning how the whole world could possibly be saved through the sacrifice of one man. Why is this the way God chose to go about doing things? What makes this plan the best one? Romans chapter 5 makes much of this clear. One man’s righteousness justified the sins of every man, because this was the most powerful act of love God could have demonstrated.
“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:7-8
The world being saved through one man also brings God’s plan full circle, as sin was brought into the world through one man, and so the world will be justified by the sacrifice of one man.
“Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:18-19
God’s act of love was not conditional; it was not a result of anything we did or could ever do to deserve it. Christ died while we were still sinners, so that we, as sinners, may be justified and partake in the promise of the Kingdom, when God brings His world back to eternal divine perfection.
-Isabella Osborn
Discussion Questions:
Why was God’s intervention necessary in order for us to have a real relationship with Him?
Would it be hard for you to to make the kind of sacrifice God made for us?
How would you describe the poetic nature of God’s plan, from the Adam to the Christ; from being inescapably doomed to being set free?
In continuation from chapter 2, Romans chapter 3 describes the dire predicament we, the human race, find ourselves in. We are hopelessly lost, together guilty of every evil. And not one of us is truly good. Not one of us is righteous, not one of us deserves to be saved.
“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20
These verses are pretty devastating. Ever since Romans 1:18, Paul has been making it clear that this world is in a gruesome state of being. Jews and Gentiles alike, we all are held accountable for our actions, and we all fail miserably at living up to God’s standards.
But then comes the good part. The system God put in place doesn’t require us to earn anything. We couldn’t possibly earn the gift of salvation on our own. That’s why it’s a gift. Salvation and a relationship with our Father is not something we get for being good – no one on earth is “good,” not by God’s definition.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” Romans 3:23-25
This is such a powerful verse. Jesus is the only way to righteousness, eternal life, and ultimately, God. And we can only accept Christ (and God’s gift He gives to us through Christ) by faith. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” And in Acts 4:12, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, declares, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” 1 Timothy 2:5 also lays it out pretty clearly, saying, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” The list goes on and on. God clarifies in abundance throughout His word that as messed up as we are, He wants us to be saved, and Jesus is the way He’s given us to receive salvation. It’s not by our own goodness or worthiness, for none of us are good or worthy.
As one final note to think about today, this ↑ does not in any way contradict what the last couple of chapters have expressed. In order to accept this gift, we also have to live in accordance with God’s word. Obedience displays both our appreciation and acceptance. Constant disobedience and rejection of God, neglecting the whole repentance part, only stores up His wrath for the day of judgement (Romans 2:3-11). It is such a joy to be loved by a God who so tremendously desires to have a relationship with His children, and provides an amazingly in-depth book of guidelines to receive His promises and live both now and forever in fellowship with Him.
Discussion Questions:
As discussed in verses 5-8, how does our unrighteousness show the righteousness of God?
Is the idea that evil is justified if it brings about good a biblical idea? What would Paul’s response be?
If the gift of grace is free, then why must we accept it and live for a purpose greater than ourselves?
It’s a beautiful thing to read of the Israelites’ obedience regarding the Passover meal and God’s subsequent command to continue observing it through the generations and to teach their children about the significance of it.
24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’”
It is a powerful story of salvation and it is worth telling and celebrating. I love that we as Christians can mirror this celebration of God’s beautiful provision of salvation through the observance of Communion. The salvation at the original Passover was temporary and specific and only pertained to being shielded from that particular plague of death at that specific point in time. Thanks be to God that the salvation offered through the Passover Lamb Jesus Christ is not limited to a specific group of people in a specific time in history. It is a free gift with an eternal reward that is open to all of mankind who choose it.
While God’s provision for salvation is so beautiful and worthy of celebration, we would be remiss if we did not recognize those who fall in the shadows outside of God’s protection of salvation. I can’t help but imagine what a terrifying time it was for the Egyptians as the angel of death struck the households that were not protected by the blood of the Passover lamb. Verses 29-30 give us a glimpse of the sounds of that night,
29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.
As I read that passage and experienced compassion for those not covered by the blood, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the pressing urgency there is to reach out to those today who are not covered by the blood of the ultimate Passover Lamb Jesus Christ. As the Israelites were instructed about how to avert sorrow and disaster being brought upon their household by covering their doorposts with blood, we need to help others find the way to salvation by being covered with the blood of Jesus.
May we be challenged to revisit the story of the Passover with a new set of eyes and a heart full of compassion for those who need to hear the greatest story ever told.
-Kristy Cisneros
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
Do you feel a sense of urgency for the lost? If so, pray to God to instruct you on how to increase your effectiveness in reaching others. If not, pray to God that He will change your heart in this regard and give you a newfound sense of urgency and compassion for the lost.
The Israelites were saved from what by the blood of the Passover lamb? Describe as fully as you can. Christians are saved from what by the blood of Jesus? Describe as fully as you can.
How can we make sure we are covered by the blood of the Lamb? How will we make sure we – and our children – do not forget? Who do we know who is not covered by the blood of Jesus?
“And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”(Matt.19:26)
This is a verse we hear as encouragement incredibly often. From hearing someone reference it, to seeing it posted on social media. But until recently, I hadn’t dug into the meaning behind this verse.
This verse comes from the story of the rich young ruler- a story I had heard before, but never knew it’s correlation to Matt. 19:26. A young man approached Jesus and asked him what he must do to be saved. Jesus responds with, “Keep the Commandments”. After this, he asked Jesus which ones are the most important and Jesus responds with, “You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother and you shall love your neighbor as yourself”(Matt.19:18, 19)
The man says he’s done all these things but he is still lacking, and asks what he must do, and Jesus responds to him by saying, “Give up your wealth.”
The man is much grieved by this, and Jesus tell his disciples that it is nearly impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom. They ask, “Then how can one enter?” To which Jesus responded,
“With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
I believe this deeper understanding in context gives the verse a completely different connotation. It is that we are sinners, we are broken , and we are not worthy of the kingdom; but with God, and his amazing glory, we may enter.
-Julia Simon
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
How does wealth and material possessions get in the way of our relationship with God and even our salvation, or entrance into eternal life? What did the rich young ruler love most? What does Jesus say we ought to love? (in this passage and any others)
Besides wealth and things money buys, what else can get in the way? Is there anything you are holding onto too tightly, making it more important to you than entering the Kingdom of God?
What is impossible for people? Does this mean we should give up and not try to follow the commandments? What is possible for God? Does this mean everyone will enter eternal life regardless of what they have loved? Why or why not?
The disciples had given up much to follow Jesus and Jesus said they would be rewarded. What have you already given up? What might God be asking you to give up?
Seek Grow Love 