Sermon: The foremost compensation (Matt 19:29)

WHAT IS FOREMOST?
The Foremost Compensation (Matt 19:29)
pdf
Dr. Paul Manuel—2011

(This sermon is part of Dr. Manuel's sermon series: "What is Foremost?" Links to
each of the sermons in the series will be found here as they are posted.)

Whether contemplating what you will do next week, next month, or next year, it is generally good to plan ahead. This is certainly true for retirement.

Now that they were retired, Jack and Jill were discussing various aspects of their future, including how they would get by on their fixed income. "What will you do if I die before you do?" Jack asked Jill. After some thought, she said that she'd probably look for a house-sharing situation with three other single or widowed women who might be a little younger than her, since she was still active for her age. Then Jill asked Jack, "What will you do if I die first?" He replied... "Probably the same thing."

While it is good to plan for retirement, it is better to plan for eternity, and one thing you will not have to worry about is how to get by, because the pension plan is out of this world.

In the course of Jesus' ministry, he attracts many people whose interest in him spans a range from the critical to the curious to the committed. Some are attracted by what he says and want to become one of his disciples.¹ Others want his opinion about some theological matter, often more to confirm what they believe than to correct what they believe. Such is the case when...

Matt 19:16 ...a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"

Recognizing that the man's wealth is preventing his full commitment to God...

Matt 19:21 Jesus answered, "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."

This is more of a response than the man expects or wants, and...

Matt 19:22 ...he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

The event prompts some discussion among the disciples, who are under the assumption that wealth is a sign of divine favor. As it says in...²

Prov 10:22 The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.

Therefore, if anyone could be confident about his eternal security, it would be someone like this man. Moreover, such a person's privileged status in this life would certainly translate to privileged status in the next life. The man's departure, though, obviously disappointed, causes some consternation among the disciples.

Matt 19:25 ...they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"

Jesus' answer offers them both correction and comfort. It is not a person's status in this life but his service in this life that determines his status in the next life. In fact, one who serves well here can look forward to...

* XX. The Foremost Compensation

...which is receiving in the end...

• The pension from God (Matt 19:29) Please turn to...

Matt 19:29 ...everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

The closest and most enduring relationships are often those we have with family,³ and the Bible commends such relationships, especially with one's parents.⁴ God says more than once...⁵

Exod 20:12a [= Deut 5:16a; Matt 19:19a] Honor your father and your mother....

...and again...

Lev 19:3a Each of you must respect his mother and father....

Jesus chastened those who shirked their familial responsibilities.

Matt 15:5 ...you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' 6 he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

Paul, likewise, regarded with disdain those who failed to care for their kin.⁶

1 Tim 5:8 If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Christians have a responsibility to meet the needs of family members.

Changes in these relationships are often the result of a change in the family structure, especially the one mentioned in...

Gen 2:24 [= Matt 19:5; Eph 5:31] ...a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

While marriage can alter the dynamic in a family, it does not require a radical revision of the ways people are connected. It does, however, broaden the role members have in each other's lives. As Paul writes to the church at Colosse...⁷

Col 3:18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives.... 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

Marriage changes relationships, but it does not eliminate responsibilities.

So it is in Matt 19. Jesus is not eliminating responsibilities, but he is indicating a change in relationships, and several of Jesus' disciples make the very sacrifices he describes, leaving their homes, their families, and their occupations. We read earlier...

Malt 4:18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon...and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake.... 19 "Come, follow me," Jesus said.... 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. 21 Going on from there, he saw ...... James...and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee.... Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

We read in...

Luke 5:27 ...Jesus...saw a tax collector by the name of Levi [a.k.a. Matthew] sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.⁸

Later, Peter says...⁹

Matt 19:27a ...We have left everything to follow you!

The kind of sacrifice Jesus describes in Matt 19 is not for everyone, and he does not expect it from everyone.¹⁰ Jesus has many more disciples than the twelve who are present at this time,¹¹ and relatively few of those other disciples leave everything to join the rabbi's itinerant ministry. Like the situation today, most of his followers remain in their homes with their families, working their chosen occupations,¹² and there is nothing wrong with their decision to do so, because their calling is different.

When Jesus does ask a person to leave hearth and home,¹³ he must not offer excuses. Jesus is critical of any who would use family relations to avoid or delay the demands of discipleship.

Luke 9:59b He said to [one] man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." 60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."

Jesus issued the same call to another,¹⁴ who said...

Luke 9:61 ..."I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." 62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

Those Jesus calls must respond without condition. If this applies to you, then

1. Your service to God may require (entail) a great price.

Lest you think the demands of discipleship are strict only for those who leave home, consider what Jesus says about disciple-family relations in general, including for those who remain home.

Matt 10:37 Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;¹⁵

Again, Jesus is not advocating a change in family relationships themselves but a change in how disciples should view family ties. Jesus' attitude toward his own family illustrates this change.¹⁶

Matt 12:46 While Jesus was...talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you." 48 He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

Jesus was not disowning his family,¹⁷ merely indicating the relative priority of family concerns to kingdom concerns, that his disciples' responsibilities to advancing God's agenda must come first. If you do this,¹⁸ then...

2. Your service to God will return (ensure) a greater profit.¹⁹

Knowing how best to advance God's agenda is not always easy, even for families that serve God. When Linda and I were married, she thought her father's moving the family from place to place had finally ended, and she could settle down. My parents helped us buy a house in a good neighborhood and centrally located, a mile north of where they lived and a mile west of where I worked, half a mile from the church in which we were all very involved, and a quarter mile from where Linda worked. It was ideal, and my father could not have been happier, to have his family close by. That lasted for three years, until it became clear to me that God wanted me to do more. I decided to go to Bible college in South Carolina. My father protested: Surely there was a school on Long Island I could attend. He was not happy when we left and probably wondered if I would even succeed or just drop out. I did not realize how difficult it was for him to see us leave.

As we came home each year for Christmas and summer vacation, and he saw our progress, his attitude became more positive, changing from resignation to approbation, especially sixteen years later when he was able to brag that his older son had a Ph.D. He was overjoyed, though, when we decided to move back and pastor the church there. Once again, the family was together. Three years later, when we moved to Pennsylvania, he was supportive. He had seen God's hand on our lives, and he was content.

In attempting to advance God's kingdom, it is possible that family members will not agree about the proper course of action.²⁰ My father did not have the same understanding we did, but he accepted our decision, even though it was difficult for him. We did not leave a house, brother, sister, and parents thinking about how God would reward us, but He has and in more ways than we can count.

Whether God asks you to leave or allows you to stay, He will reward your service. Moreover, His reward is "completely out of proportion to the costs" (Nolland 2005:802), "a hundred times as much."²¹ The challenge is not to let other things distract you, even good things, like family. Jim Elliot (1927-56), a missionary in Ecuador, who was killed while attempting to evangelize the Waodani people, understood this challenge and wrote in his journal: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."²²

Having considered The Foremost Compensation, we will look next at The Foremost Commendation, which is hearing at last the praise from God, in Matt 25 (v. 21).

In Matt 19, Jesus corrects the disciples' assumption that a person's status in this life determines his status in the next life. It does not. A person's service in this life determines his status in the next life, and those who serve well here can look forward to The Foremost Compensation, which is receiving in the end the pension of God. So, are you giving what you cannot keep to gain what you cannot lose?

Having considered The Foremost Compensation, we will look next at The Foremost Commendation, which is hearing at last the praise from God, in Matt 25:21.

For the Bibliography and Endnotes, see the pdf here.

(This sermon is part of Dr. Manuel's sermon series: "What is Foremost?" Links to each of the sermons in the series will be found here as they are posted)