- Nov 10, 2013
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Proclaiming the gospel can be difficult as times, and sometimes I try to see how to boil it down to the essential message. Here are three verses that I think sum it up:
"The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" Jer.17:9
Jeremiah presents the state of fallen depraved humanity succinctly in that one insightful verse. The next two verses are a quite concise description of the process of salvation:
"And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ "Luke 15:5,6
We are found, and lifted up from our cast state of deceit, and given the gift of repentance. We are known by God Who reveals and presents the kingdom. What else is there to do except abandon this fallen world which is quickly passing away? This isn't to say that we turn our back on the damned, but that we make our way into the kingdom by proclaiming the kingdom, and there is no room for anything else in the kingdom. Everything else is garbage. Anything that can be stolen is worthless trash to be discarded.
Therefore: "whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple." Luke 14:33
Luke is not suggesting that forsaking all of one's possessions will lead to salvation or that it is a means of salvation. He's pointing out that those who have discovered the kingdom are incapable of holding onto anything else. It's like that trap for monkeys where they grab the nut in the jar, but can't free themselves from the jar without letting go of the nut first.
We can't work for God and Mammon. We can't put God first and then Mammon. It's one or the other. It's not a matter of prioritization. It's a choice. Let go or be trapped. Eternal life or eternal damnation. For those who discover the kingdom, it's a "no-brainer". There is no choice at all.
"The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" Jer.17:9
Jeremiah presents the state of fallen depraved humanity succinctly in that one insightful verse. The next two verses are a quite concise description of the process of salvation:
"And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ "Luke 15:5,6
We are found, and lifted up from our cast state of deceit, and given the gift of repentance. We are known by God Who reveals and presents the kingdom. What else is there to do except abandon this fallen world which is quickly passing away? This isn't to say that we turn our back on the damned, but that we make our way into the kingdom by proclaiming the kingdom, and there is no room for anything else in the kingdom. Everything else is garbage. Anything that can be stolen is worthless trash to be discarded.
Therefore: "whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple." Luke 14:33
Luke is not suggesting that forsaking all of one's possessions will lead to salvation or that it is a means of salvation. He's pointing out that those who have discovered the kingdom are incapable of holding onto anything else. It's like that trap for monkeys where they grab the nut in the jar, but can't free themselves from the jar without letting go of the nut first.
We can't work for God and Mammon. We can't put God first and then Mammon. It's one or the other. It's not a matter of prioritization. It's a choice. Let go or be trapped. Eternal life or eternal damnation. For those who discover the kingdom, it's a "no-brainer". There is no choice at all.