'Surprised by Jesus' Devotions | Day 2: Disobedient Obedience
Read Matthew 19:16-30
In Matthew 19, we are told of a young man who comes to Jesus eager to attain eternal life. He asks Jesus, “What good deed must I do to have eternal life?” Jesus responds by giving him a list of commands to which the young man replies, “All these I have kept.”
Here was an obedient young man. He feels assured of his goodness through his good deeds and comes to Jesus hoping for the secret of obedience for eternal life and Jesus instead gives him the surprise of what is really required of this young man: obedience from the heart. The young man has kept all the observable outward commandments, but has yet to turn to the heart. This young man was blinded by his obedience…thinking that he was good and attaching that goodness to his outward obedience, but Jesus takes him right to the thing this young man was unwilling to surrender: his wealth. Jesus shows him his material possessions are acting as his god and he must repent wholeheartedly and turn to the Lord.
I wonder whether somewhere along the way you have been given an artificial picture of the Christian life. Maybe you have been taught (as I was) that the gospel is what bridges the gap between us and God, and that once this gap is bridged we ‘move on’ to obedient discipleship — punctilious quiet times, regular witnessing, dutiful church involvement, faithful tithing. The gospel message that ‘Christ died for our sins’ (1 Cor. 15:3) initiates us into Christianity and then fades into the background in relevance. Or maybe you were taught that we should continue with the gospel but, somehow, its fire burns less brightly in your heart and mind than it once did.
The trouble is that moving on or moving away from the gospel is precisely the opposite of how the New Testament portrays the Christian life. The portrait of discipleship painted by the New Testament is that our first discovery of the gospel is the inauguration of an entire life of increasingly sensitized wonder at this grace. The gospel is not the runway to the Christian life — getting us off the ground at conversion and landing us in heaven at death, but irrelevant in between. The gospel is the engine — getting us off the ground, landing us, and keeping us in the air all along.
We’re not too different from this rich young ruler in Matthew 19. We, too, forget that we can’t qualify ourselves into God’s kingdom through obedience, but rather must acknowledge our disqualification. We can’t make it by ourselves. And as the rich young ruler shows us, sometimes it is our very obedience that can keep us from fully living into the grace of God. Heaven is not won with obedience, it is given freely. Jesus surprises us with surprising grace.
Reflection Questions:
Are you more tempted towards unrepentant disobedience or graceless obedience? How can you invite the Lord in to search your heart and lead you towards a right view of obedience?
How would you articulate the gospel to an unbelieving friend? Take a moment and preach that word to your own heart.
Are you tempted to “get over” the simple and profound truth of the gospel? How could you practice living a more gospel oriented life?
A Short Prayer:
Lord, thank you for your surprising grace that meets me in my disobedience and my obedience. I confess my need to you and the fact that I have nothing to offer you. Thank you for accepting me as I am and providing your grace and salvation as a free gift to all who believe. Help me to obey, not to earn your grace, but as an offering back to you because of your abundant grace you have bestowed upon me. Amen.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.
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