Matthew 19:16-30 - The Cost and Benefits of the Kingdom

Turn to Matthew 19.

The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 19.

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

Pastor Doug is away today with his wife Royal, seeing Royal's family.

Look forward to having them back next week.

A special welcome once again to those who might be visiting today.

I'm going to read this passage here in Matthew 19.

And after I read it, if you're thinking, you might think, aha, he's really preaching a Black Friday message today.

Very shrewd.

Very well done.

That's actually not why we're in this passage.

We are going through the book of Matthew, this whole gospel together, and we've been working through it a section at a time.

So last week we were in the earlier portion of chapter 19, and we happen to be here today.

But if the shoe fits, wear it.

Matthew 19, verses 16 to 30.

Matthew 19:16–30

That's our text for today.

Matthew 19, 16 to 30.

This is God's word.

Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?

Why do you ask me about what is good?

Jesus replied.

If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.

Which ones?

The man inquired.

Jesus replied, Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.

All these I have kept, the young man asked, What do I still lack?

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.

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, Who then can be saved?

Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

Peter answered him, We have left everything to follow you.

What then will there be for us?

Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

And everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or fathers, or mothers, or children, or fields for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much, and will inherit eternal life.

But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

Lord, teach us to love being lowly under your word, that we might receive all the wealth that is here in it for us and for our souls this day.

In Jesus' name, amen.

So in the last two chapters of Matthew, twice Jesus has urged people to become like little children to receive the kingdom.

But he is asking them to give up their status, to give up their clamoring to be somebody in the world, and to become as insignificant as a little child, to see their need, their helplessness, their dependence.

That puts you in a place to receive the grace of Almighty God.

Think of Job.

Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I will return.

That kind of vulnerability and helplessness.

Matthew and Mark and Luke all share this teaching of Jesus in regard to children in the kingdom.

And then all three of those gospel writers talk about this story right here, the rich young ruler, right after that.

That's interesting, isn't it?

That right after this instruction from Jesus, let little children come to me, for to such as these belong the kingdom, right after that, they give this account of this young man.

And sadly, our passage for today is not a story where someone listens to Jesus and becomes like a little child.

Rather, on our account, we find just the opposite.

He's a young man, he's wealthy, he's probably successful, he has many possessions, he perhaps has prestige.

He's called, in another gospel, a ruler.

And he loves it.

He loves what he's accumulated.

He loves it more than Jesus.

He's not willing to divest himself of his possessions and position and value God's kingdom more than anything else.

What about you?

What about me?

Do you think it's easy to enter the kingdom of God?

Jesus says it's hard.

Verse 23, it's it's hard to get into the kingdom.

Now, Christ is not saying we've got to somehow mound up a lifetime of our own works, and that will be the ticket that gets us into heaven at the last day.

But if we're going to be a true follower of Jesus, we have to be ready to give everything up.

And that is very costly.

Jesus is not just something we tack onto our lives like an accessory.

It's not like triple A membership.

You know, you paid the price, you got it there.

If you ever need it, you can pull it out.

You probably won't need it.

Triple A membership is not going to keep you from focusing what's on most important in your life, your family, your work, your friends, your hobbies, your Jesus is not like AAA.

It's not an accessory or something we have in store in case we need him.

Jesus says, No, you have to be willing to give everything up to value me and my kingdom more than anything else in the world.

You just have to let go.

And it's hard to let go.

The title for the message today is Giving It All Up for the Kingdom.

And there's four main headings we'll work through.

Number one, the question of the kingdom.

Number two, the cost of the kingdom.

Third, the power of the kingdom.

And then fourth, the blessing of the kingdom.

So, first the question of the kingdom.

Look again at verse 16.

We find it there.

This man comes to Jesus and asks him in verse 16, Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?

That's the man's question, eternal life.

And Jesus responds in verse 21, he speaks about having treasure in heaven.

Then in verse 23, Jesus talks about entering the kingdom of heaven.

Verse 24, he talks about entering the kingdom of God.

These are all different ways of describing the same reality.

Jesus is not saying, some people that get eternal life get rewards in heaven.

And some of those people get into the kingdom of heaven.

And then some of those, it's not teared.

Those who make it into the kingdom of heaven make it into the kingdom of God.

It's a different way of talking about the same reality.

Our passage makes that clear.

However, in this question and what Jesus says, there's a present reality and there's a future reality.

We've seen that over and over again in the book of Matthew.

There's a sense in which the moment we truly follow Jesus Christ, we have eternal life.

But there's a sense in which we'll experience the fullness of it later, the last day.

When we trust in Christ, we enter the kingdom of God.

We're citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

And yet we can pray, Lord, let your kingdom come.

There's going to be a greater reality and a final experience of that in the end.

And this man seems earnest to get hold of eternal life.

And the way he phrases the question is a very common way people phrase this question.

What good thing must I do?

It's a common assumption.

The Quran says to those who believe and do good deeds, has Allah promised forgiveness.

In the Jewish tradition, which this man probably was coming out of a Jewish tradition, the Jews did speak about God's grace, but they also mix that with good works when it came to earning favor with the Lord.

Some of you come from church traditions where they will read the Bible and the service, they'll speak of the work of Christ, but it's also necessary for you to be baptized and to say certain prayers with certain words a certain number of times.

And those things kind of work together to accumulate your salvation.

Even people that aren't religious at all, if they think there's some kind of afterlife and you ask them, so how do you get a good afterlife?

The most common answer you'll find is, well, you have to do enough good things.

So the man's question is a perennial question, and it's a logical question, right?

If you think I'm gonna make it into eternal life by doing good things, what good things?

How many good things?

And a lot of traditions don't really answer that.

It's kind of like, well, you'll find out in the end if you did enough.

That's a difficult way to live if you're really believing that.

In our own culture, um, I think people don't live with that kind of pressure on them because they've already figured out in their own mind how many good things do I need to do?

Oh, just more than that guy and that guy, so I'm probably good to go.

They've excused themselves.

But the question here is a very common question.

And then notice how Jesus responds in verse 17.

He responds with a question himself.

Jesus loved to do that, he does it all the time.

Why do you ask me about what is good?

Wasn't Jesus listening?

The man just said why he asked about doing good things.

So why does Jesus come back with that question?

Well, the Jesus goes on to say, there's only one who is good.

See, Jesus is already shaping the conversation.

Sometimes we come with a question and we've already got an answer in mind.

Perhaps that's what was going on with this man here, because he clearly later he thinks he's done enough good things.

So he's wanting affirmation.

But Jesus is already shaping the conversation through his response to this man.

If you're thinking good things get you eternal life, then you need to go which good things, but who determines that?

It's not you and what you determine it to be, or this person or that person.

And the man calls Jesus a teacher.

He's got some respect for Jesus, but it's not just what any teacher thinks.

If you want to know what good is required, you've got to go to the one who is supremely good.

You've got to get the answer from God Himself.

So Jesus is pushing this man and his question back towards what God actually has revealed.

And then Jesus answers.

He doesn't say I'm unworthy to answer.

He answers the question after saying, God alone is the good one who can answer the question.

What does that say about Jesus and who he is?

He's no mere Jewish teacher.

He's not just a nice guy, he is the very good God come down in the flesh to give God's instruction to humanity.

So that's the question about eternal life.

And that brings us to the cost of the kingdom, the next heading for this morning.

The cost of the kingdom is in the first place keeping the law.

Look at verse 17.

Jesus says, if you want to enter life, obey the commandments.

Jesus, come on.

Don't you know that you can't work your way to heaven?

You gotta tell them to believe.

Why would you say that?

Aren't we Protestants?

Don't we know, unlike Muslims or Jews, or Roman Catholics or others, that good works can't actually save you?

Why does Jesus say that here?

Because this man hasn't really seen his need yet.

He's not in a position to truly believe when he hasn't actually recognized his dire childlike need for God.

And what Jesus says is accurate.

If Adam and Eve had obeyed in the garden, wouldn't they have retained eternal life?

Doesn't the old covenant say, do this and live?

So the man's right about the need for good works, and Jesus affirms the need for good works, and that's the whole problem.

What we need, we can't do.

He'll say later in the passage, Jesus, well, if you want to be perfect, that's what we need.

Not just better good works than the worst guy on our block.

We need a perfect life of lawkeeping, and we can't do it.

Paul says that in Galatians chapter 3, verse 10, all who rely on observing the law are under a curse.

Galatians 3:10

For it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law.

You're cursed if you don't do it all, and everyone is cursed.

What's the conclusion?

Nobody does it all.

That's the that's the it's not it's not the the chat the problem is not with that idea of law keeping.

The problem is thinking you can do it when you can't.

So Jesus wisely exposes this man's real heart and his real situation.

He exposes human sinfulness, Christ does in different ways.

Earlier in Matthew, he had said, if you're angry with someone in your heart, it's as though you've committed murder.

And here he puts his finger on this young man's particular problem, his covetousness, his idolatry.

And so, and just a note for us as we think about evangelism, it's not a passage primarily about techniques on evangelism, but notice how Jesus wisely approaches each person individually.

Here, he recites the Ten Commandments.

That's a wonderful way to engage someone.

He doesn't always do that.

He approached the woman at the well, not exactly the same way.

He approached Nicodemus not exactly the same way.

So there's a core message of the gospel that remains the same, but in terms of the person's need and what's going to probe their heart, we want to pray God would give us a wisdom and a discernment to rightly bring out their own sinfulness, but then the glory of who Jesus is and how he can perform the impossible.

Back to this young man.

What Jesus tells him here is not that he actually had to do a bunch more things, he just had to give some things up.

And he couldn't do it.

It's like the monkeys that have the fruit in the jar and they they won't get their hand out of the jar because they won't let go of the apple.

That's that's this young man.

He's giving him a test.

So Jesus is not saying, and this is important this time of year, he's not saying at the last day, God's gonna look at the receipt of all your charitable giving, and he'll tally it up, and if it just makes it up enough, you get into heaven.

That's not the point of what's going on here.

But he's giving this man a test to expose what's really going on in his heart.

It's not that money is inherently wrong, but it's what are you trusting in?

What's the love of your heart?

Are we really that different in our struggles?

You know, just think for a moment.

How many of you have been kind of eagerly waiting for me to say, okay, it's not literally you have to give up everything?

That would have been hard.

If that's what you're waiting for me to get to, what does that say about your heart and what's most important to you?

Right?

There's a skit from several years ago, and the people that produce this are not Christians, but uh in this skit, there's like a living room and there's a prayer circle.

People are kind of dressed up like, you know, middle, upper class Americans, and they're praying, and one person's praying, Lord, we beseech you for the poor and the downtrodden.

Oh, Lord, show us your will so we can do your work.

And everyone in the prayer circle is saying, Amen, amen.

And then all of a sudden a light shines down onto the circle, and you hear this voice.

I've come to answer your request.

The people are all excited and they're looking up.

Now listen carefully.

Sell everything you have and immediately begin service to the poor.

And you can see the excitement on their faces kind of fades.

And they're looking around at each other.

Someone finally says, uh, just to clarify, everything?

Yes.

Rid yourself of all earthly possessions.

And they're looking around at each other.

And finally, one person says, Oh man, this house is haunted, and they all run out of the house.

Sometimes when non-Christians make fun of Christians, they do a good job, you have to admit.

Yeah, you say you're all about giving things up and caring for others, but you're just like all of us.

You just care about your stuff.

That's what you really desire.

And Jesus puts his finger on that heart issue here in our lives.

In verse 22, the young man leaves and he goes away sad.

But Jesus doesn't pull any punches.

He doesn't call after him and say, I'm just kidding, you don't have to give up everything.

Just at least try to come to church on Christmas.

He doubles down in verse 23 with his disciples on the cost.

I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

It's hard to make yourself nothing and admit your helplessness.

If you're here today and you're a Christian, you might think, it's impossible, but isn't it impossible for anyone?

Aren't we all dead in our trespasses and sins?

And yes, the Bible teaches that.

But if I can put it this way, it's extra impossible for the rich.

They have even more stacked up against them.

It's even easier for them to trust in their accomplishments and not trust in Jesus Christ.

And this warning should really land, it should weigh on our hearts because almost everyone in this room, if not everyone, is fabulously wealthy.

What do you mean?

I'm not in the highest tax bracket.

Our family only has one car.

I might even have to have my child take out some loans for college because I can't pay for it all.

In the grand scheme of history, that's that's a little bit like King Hiram of Tyre saying, Well, I'm not rich like Solomon.

I mean, but compare our economic condition with cultures across time and history.

You can account for inflation, all of that.

The reality is pretty much all of us here are really, really wealthy.

And that's dangerous.

It's not inherently wrong.

So this is not, I'm not preaching against industrialization or technology or capitalism.

I love my flush toilet.

I'm grateful for it.

You probably are too.

But that comfort and economic success, I don't have to get up and start a fire in January, I just hit a button and it's warmer in my house.

That that comfort can lead to a heart that has a vice grip on comfort and stuff and possessions.

And that's deadly when it comes into our heart in that way.

Matthew 13, if you remember the parable of the soils, Jesus said there was a seed that fell among thorns, and he explains it.

The seed that fell among foreigners is the man who hears the word.

But the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

Matthew 6:24, no one can serve two masters.

Matthew 6:24

Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and money.

And the disciples get the gravity of Christ's warning in verse 25.

They're not they're not biologists, but they understand, okay, a camel through the eye of a needle, who can be saved?

And they might even be thinking, well, the wealthy, I mean, look at the great things they would do for the kingdom.

If if the wonderful wealthy, if they can't even be saved, how could anyone be saved?

And that brings us to our third heading, the power of the kingdom.

So we've got this question of eternal life entering God's kingdom.

We've got the cost.

What about the power?

It is impossible for man.

But verse 26 with God, all things are possible.

There it is.

God does what we can't do.

Where it's impossible for humans, God Himself makes a way because of who he is.

Start with the good works.

Good works are necessary for salvation, and that's our problem.

If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.

There's only one good person who has perfectly kept God's law.

That's our Lord Jesus Christ.

Did you ever wonder why the incarnation?

If God wanted to forgive people, why does he just forgive them?

And answer is, and a Bible answer is, well, God is just.

If he just kind of overlooked sin, that wouldn't be just.

Okay, then, so why didn't Jesus just come and and as a man and suffer and die and rise again?

Pay the price for our sins.

This time of year, you're going to be seeing mangers in front yards.

It's kind of weird if you think about it.

Go to Garden City and there's a barn in someone's front yard.

But why the manger?

Why the the baby?

When the young man speaks of keeping the commands, one of the passages in Mark says, All these I have kept since I was a boy.

Now he was wrong about that, but he was right about what he needed.

He needed a lifelong pursuit of obedience.

That's one important reason why our Lord took on human flesh and was born as a baby.

He was tested and tried for a lifetime, and he perfectly kept God's law throughout the entirety of his life.

Think of Jesus as a young boy in the temple.

I must be about my father's business, and yet he's at the same time submitting to his earthly parents, loving God with all of his heart, loving that human authority, his parents, loving him as he would love himself.

We need the substitutionary life of Jesus just as much as we need the substitutionary death of Jesus.

Isaiah 59, the Lord looked and was displeased, there was no justice.

So his own arm worked salvation for him, his own righteousness sustained him.

He put on righteousness as his breastplate.

Galatians 4, 4 and 5.

When the time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under law.

Jesus lived under this law-keeping obligation that we all failed at, and he didn't fail at all.

He redeemed those under law that we might receive the full rights of sons.

Romans 5, 19.

For just as through the obedience, the disobedience of the one, speaking of Adam, many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous.

Christ has done for us what we can't do for ourselves.

We see God's power on display in the law-keeping life of Christ as our substitute.

And then we also see God's power on display, the power of the kingdom, when someone becomes a follower of Jesus.

All this man had to do was relinquish his idolatry and trust in Christ, trust in Christ's work for him.

And he couldn't do it.

He didn't want to value that.

He didn't want to turn.

The theological word is repentance, to turn from our own way and to receive the Lord and to trust his way.

He was cleaving to his possessions with that kind of love.

It's hard for us to admit we're wrong.

It's hard for a child to admit they stole a cookie, much less for us to come before the God of all the universe and say, Yes, I'm a sinner through and through.

But with God, all things are possible.

The implication here is God can change people.

The story with Nicodemus comes back to mind.

You have to be born again.

Nicodemus, how could that happen?

Well, the Spirit gives life.

God can do what humans can't do.

Or think of Acts chapter 11, where Peter's describing what happens with Cornelius, and the people hear it, and they say in Acts 11, 18, so then God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.

Acts 11 · chapter mention

Don't put anyone beyond the grasp of God's redeeming mercy.

It's impossible for that person to come to faith in Christ.

It's impossible for them, as successful, as wonderful as their life is, they're not going to want to see Christ as more valuable than those things.

Don't say that.

Because with God all things are possible.

There might be some of you here today who you've lived a long life, but you know in your heart, no matter what other people think about you and your religion, you know in your heart the driving force of your life is really about your status and your possessions.

It's not about Christ.

It's not too late.

Christ has done what you can't do.

Take hold of him today.

Run to the cross, receive him, embrace him, turn from that idolatry, turn and find the Lord.

His yoke is easy, his burden is light.

In verse 22, we're told the man goes away sorrowful because he had great wealth, or some of your translations might use the word he had great possessions there.

This is a word that's not used a lot in the New Testament, this Greek word, but it's used in Acts chapter 2, where we learn this about early Christians selling their possessions, they're giving up their wealth and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Can God change that selfish heart?

Yes, he can.

That's the power of the kingdom.

Last heading for today the blessing of the kingdom.

If you've been tracking with us so far, you can think, okay, Jesus' call here is a big call to be willing in our hearts to give up everything for the sake of Jesus.

That's a big ask.

And you might draw the conclusion or idea that following Jesus, that receiving his kingdom, stepping into it, becoming a kingdom citizen, it's mainly about self-denial, about the things that you have to give up or the things that you can't do.

The disciples might have even been tempted to think that way a little bit.

Verse 27, notice what Peter says there.

Maybe not the most, most humble of responses.

Yeah, you're right, Jesus.

It's really costly to follow you.

Look at all that we've given up.

And then Peter, he has the hutzpah.

I'll use that word since he was Jewish.

It's okay.

Peter's he's got the hutzpah to say, what then will there be for us?

Jesus could have directly rebuked Peter, but he doesn't do that.

Jesus humbles the young man by telling him to give up everything.

And Jesus humbles Peter by reminding him that, yeah, you gave up everything, but what you get is way more than what you gave up.

Before we get into those blessings, let's just go back to verse 22 for a moment.

The young man goes away sorrowful.

He's wealthy, but he doesn't leave happy.

Money's not going to satisfy.

Some of you are here, you're younger people.

You may be very successful in your career one day, and there could come a day where you're looking at your life and what you have in front of you and what's behind you, and your annual salary, and you're thinking, I don't know about this Jesus person.

Is that really the most valuable thing in life I could pursue?

Before you reject Jesus, give careful consideration to the alternative.

Is the money you're making, is that really going to give you satisfaction in life?

I said before, we're we're all here really wealthy by Bible standards in terms of our economic prosperity.

Why are anxiety rates on the rise?

Why are there so many people that take medication for different depressions and things like that?

Because wealth isn't the answer.

Wealth isn't the answer.

So you need to reckon with that, but then consider afresh the claims of Jesus.

And that brings us to what Jesus reminds Peter.

As great as that cost is to give it all up for the kingdom, what you get in getting the kingdom is far surpasses anything else that you could have given up.

And Jesus ends with what is most important.

Verse 29.

See the end of that verse?

He recites these things and then says, And will inherit eternal life.

That's the question the young man had originally asked about, and that's what Jesus ends with.

Lord, we've given up everything to follow you.

What will there be for us?

You mean other than eternal life?

That that what could be greater than eternal life?

When we speak of eternal death, we're not speaking simply of annihilation or ceasing to exist.

We're talking about the conscious experience of the wrath of God forever.

But when we speak of eternal life, we're not just talking about continuing to exist forever.

We're talking about that we as humans who have eternal life get to continue to live in blessed and perfect communion with God, with the lover of our souls forever and ever and ever.

What could be greater than that?

Nothing could be greater than that.

John 17, 3, this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you've sent.

With any of these blessings, knowing the Lord Jesus, communion with the triumph God is the preeminent blessing of all blessings.

And along with that, every other blessing we receive comes as a result of our union to Jesus Christ.

So in verse 28, Jesus says that his followers will sit on thrones judging the tribes of Israel.

When is that gonna happen?

How will they do that?

Don't miss the connection right here in the passage.

When the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne.

Do you hear the connection point?

The followers sit on thrones because they belong to Christ.

And Christ sits on a glorious throne.

Their union to him is the foundation point of the blessings that they receive.

They exercise judgment because he exercises judgment.

Paul has this fascinating verse in Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 6, 3, where Paul says to the Corinthians, Don't you know that you will judge angels?

You ever think about that verse?

I think, like, how would I know that?

I don't remember anything in the Old Testament saying that the saints are going to judge the angels.

Paul is making a theological application from teachings like this teaching of Christ here in Matthew.

You're united to Christ and you participate in all of his blessings.

He's seated at God's right hand, you're seated at God's right hand.

He's coming back in power and glory to judge.

The saints come back with him.

Isn't Jesus going to judge angels?

Yeah.

Then you're going to join judge angels because you belong to him.

Jesus speaks of his glorious judgment again in Matthew 25.

Listen to Matthew 25, 31.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.

You hear how similar that passage is to our passage today, Christ coming in judgment, sitting on the throne of his heavenly glory.

Now, I don't know how all the mechanics are going to work out.

I'm confident it's not going to be a judgment where Christ confers with us.

I'm thinking about judging Lucifer, apostate Jews, and those who've rebelled.

What do you think?

He's not going to confer with us.

Are we going to be so near him that when he pronounces the judgment, we understand that we are in that?

Is he going to let the 12 apostles read out his judgments on behalf of his body, his people?

I don't know all the mechanics of it, but again, don't miss the larger point.

We belong to Christ.

And if we're united to Christ, the blessings secured for us in him belong to all of us.

What a glory and joy that is.

Jesus describes in verse 28 this glorious future and the privilege we have as the renewal of all things.

Or some of your Bibles might say the new world.

I especially like the King James Version in this verse.

It speaks of the regeneration.

The word that's used here, another word not used very commonly, but it comes from two words that mean something like born again, in the born again days.

Now, he's not speaking in verse 28 of our own personal regeneration, our own personal spiritual rebirth.

He does that in Titus, where Titus 3.5 says that we're born again.

Here he's talking about the rebirth of the entire cosmos.

Revelation 21, 5.

Behold, I'm making all things new.

Romans 8.22, all creation is groaning in the pains of childbirth.

2 Peter 3, 13, we're looking for a new heaven, a new earth, a home of righteousness.

We'll sing a song this month.

He comes to make his blessings known, far as the curse is found.

The curse extends not just to us personally, the curse extends to the entire created order.

But there is a new world coming.

There is a regeneration, a rebirth of the whole world, where the earth and everything in it will be dissolved by fire, as Peter says.

But there's that hope and promise.

We're looking forward to a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells.

Blessing after blessing after blessing for those who are part of the kingdom.

Many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

This wealthy young man who's called a ruler in other gospels, he was important.

He was a ruler, he was first for now.

In the end, it wasn't going to be the case if he continues down the path that he left off in our story.

But what about the disciples?

They're just fishermen.

They're not important, they're not rulers, they're last for now.

But in the last day, he'll be reigning and ruling with Christ.

You see the reversals there that God has for his people?

2 Corinthians 8 9.

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich.

Is it worth giving up that heart grip on transient things?

Is it worth not caring if we don't receive all the accolades we think we should get in the home or the office or the church?

Is it worth it to give it all up for the kingdom?

Yes, a hundred times and more.

Let's pray.

Oh Lord, how we want to seize the true value of the kingdom.

Lord, how we want, because of the way that we relish Christ, the enjoyment of knowing him, of being in him, that we're not, that we're not fixed on needing the affirmation of others.

That we're we're working hard without being in the bondage of idolatry for our possessions, for our money, for the things that rust and fade away.

But the blessings we have, oh, the family of God, the houses and brothers and sisters that we've gained here when following you and the age to come that is so wonderful and almost impossible to imagine.

Yet that will be our home, this new Jerusalem.

Oh Lord, come quickly.

Lord, bring this reign and rule.

Bring the end of all things.

Bring the time when we finally enter into eternal life, forever free from the temptations of sin and forever able to perfectly enjoy you and your blessedness and all the blessings that accompany those who are united to the Son of your love.

Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of the kingdom.

Thank you that we we can say with glad hearts that we don't really give up anything in the end, for what we have in you is far more valuable.

How we praise you this morning in the name of your son.

Amen.

Let's stand it.