Luke 18:18

Luke 18:18–43

4/28/2012

Click here to read today's passage on Bible Gateway.

Luke 18:31
“See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished."

So what did the prophets write about Jesus? There are many lists you can find that tell you prophecies that Jesus fulfills, but I like this one for it's comprehensiveness and actually putting the text of verses in the list. The formatting isn't great, but take some time to check it out!

Prophecies Fulfilled [1]
File Size:	135 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

[1] http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/prophchr.html

Ina

4/28/2012 04:26:29 pm

I recently read a short book called "How Good is Good enough?" by Andy Stanley. He basically talked about how in order to inherit eternal life, its not by the good deeds that we do but by basically accepting Jesus as our savior. I also heard a sermon saying that first God forgives, THEN we do good deeds. And I saw that in the story of the 10 lepers, how Jesus heals them first and THEN does the one Samaritan praises Jesus. But for some reason in the story of the rich ruler in todays reading it seems as if Jesus is telling him to "follow the commandments" instead of accepting him as his savior...is this contradictory to what I read?

Thanks!

Greg

5/1/2012 04:19:15 am

Good question. I would echo the commentary here:

Will this man prefer what earth can give him or what heaven offers? This is not a test of works but a probing of his heart, an examination of his fundamental allegiance. Jesus is asking, in effect, “Are you covetous, and is your security in God’s call or in your possessions?” Jesus has already taught that one cannot serve God or Money (16:13), so the reply is designed to see which the man prefers. In sum, Jesus wants to know if his faith is in the things of the earth or in the way of God. (Bock, 468)

This isn't a "good works for eternal life" passage - it's a "cost of discipleship" passage. The man says he wants eternal life, but we find out that he wants it on his own terms. Jesus challenges his priorities and the man fails the test. The commandments question is telling as well because through it we learn that the man thinks that he has it all - he is already righteous.

Also, I see this passage as a contrast to the story that comes just a few verses later: Zacchaeus. In that story, the character does exactly what Jesus asks the rich ruler to do, but without being asked! So you have a contrast: the man who thinks he has it all and is righteous, but unwilling to give up riches to follow Jesus and gain eternal life, and then the man that knows he's a sinner willingly giving up his riches because his heart has been changed by Jesus. I think if we take the two stories together the purpose behind both of them becomes more clear: a heart that inherits eternal life is demonstrating in the kind of actions Zacchaeus does. The kindgdom of heaven is worth giving ANYTHING. Anway, I think the two stories aren't about "this one is saved because he shows it by __________", but like you said above - those that are changed by Jesus demonstrate that they are changed. The ruler isn't willing to do anything other than perform religious obligation; the true cost of discipleship drives him away.

I think that the important thing to realize here too is that if this had been a different person, Jesus would have said something different. This man treasured money above eternal life, but it could have been something different. Food? Music? It can be almost anything that our heart treasures above God. The question is, if Jesus asked, would you be willing to give it up? That doesn't mean that He WILL ask, just that the question is a good test of where the allegiance of our heart lies. That's the issue with the rich ruler.

Josiah

4/29/2012 08:13:28 am

Wow, an entire list of prophecies that Jesus must have follow to be the Messiah.
Ina, I am not an expert, but the 10 commandments were a base start, an example, laws for the Israelites. Jesus probably said this to say how only god is good, and how rare someone would really keep all the commandments. Jesus also said something about a new commandment that Christians should follow. Since he saids that he follow all 10 commandments, he tells him of his flaw to restate the fact that no one is good but god, and how eternal life is not inherited, (as in you can't earn it) but a gift.

And yes, when someone accepts god and Jesus into their life, then they will end up doing good deeds. Don't expect that god will love you more by doing your good-deed-of-the-day.

Comments are closed.

Luke 18:18–43

Archives