Transcription

Connor
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Chris
Good morning and welcome to the Bible, guys.

Jeff
Good morning. It’s good to be at the Bible guys.

Chris
Yes I’m Chris.

Jeff
Oh, that wasn’t for me.

Chris
Oh no I was saying to them.

Jeff
Oh I thought you were welcoming me to the Bible guys.

Chris
Oh well, no, you are a Bible guy.

Jeff
Oh, I know, but I thought you were saying welcome.

Chris
Actually, I’m a Bible guy, and this is my faithful companion, Jeff.

Jeff
It’s so funny when you do that. Yeah.

Chris
So, um, so, anyway, listen, we’re gonna jump right into it because we have a lot of scripture today, okay? And so we are going to do a segment called Where are our listeners from? Oh, these are fun.

Jeff
Yeah.

Chris
So we’re gonna read a couple sentences and see if you can guess, uh, where this might be. So I’ll read number one. It says there are termite hills that are the size of a house in this place.

Jeff
Have you ever seen termite hills that big? Yes, yes. It’s amazing. It’s huge. Okay. Uh, it is home to Africa’s big five lions, leopards, rhinoceroses, elephants and the African buffalo.

Chris
So now they know it’s the continent of Africa.

Jeff
Yes. It’s not. Uh, so that could be any.

Chris
Anywhere.

Jeff
That’s right.

Chris
Right. And how many countries are there in Africa?

Jeff
Not, uh, it’s not Ohio, right?

Chris
Right. Uh, by the way, it’s 5050 something.

Jeff
5050 something. Four maybe 57.

Chris
Uh, number three, there are more than 72 languages spoken just in this country alone.

Jeff
Wow. That’s 72 languages. That’s how they get anything done. I don’t even know. It’s because they have a a common language. Swahili is the common language. Okay. It is. Uh, it’s home to half of the Victoria Falls, which are magnificent. Have you seen them? No, I’ve seen them, like on video, but I’ve never been there. Yeah. Bucket list. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. So what country is it?

Chris
It is. Doo doo doo doo Zambia okay Zambia.

Jeff
Hey, everybody listening in Zambia. It’s so cool. Yeah I have a friend who lives in Zambia. I have a couple of friends who live in Zambia actually. But, uh. Yeah, Victoria Falls, that’s where, um, uh, David Livingstone died. Remember? Doctor Livingstone, I presume? Yeah. That’s right. Yeah. So he was a great explorer and missionary. He died in that area. Victoria Falls is, uh, right near, um. Livingstone is the name of the town there.

Chris
Wow

Jeff
Yeah.

Chris
That’s amazing. Yeah. Well, that’s very cool and humbling that we have people in Africa that listen to the Bible guys.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, people all around the world we have. I can’t remember how many countries now we’re at, but it’s it’s dozens of countries. Yeah. That’s pretty crazy I know.

Chris
But but hey, thanks guys for listening. Seriously, it’s really cool.

Jeff
I think most of the time they just tune in and go, what are these crazy Americans going to talk about today? Right. So that’s it. Well, good. Well, thank you guys for listening. And uh, hey, you let us know where you’re from and where you’re listening from. It’d be really cool. You can send us an email. Uh, send us an email at info at Bible Guys. Com the Bible guys.com the Bible guys.com.

Chris
Yes.

Jeff
So that’s awesome.

Chris
Well we’re going to jump right into Matthew 19 Mark ten. And Luke 18 all three telling the same story, same story.

Jeff
Jesus speaks to the rich young man, which is a very precious story. I think the way that Jesus deals with this issue. Someone came to Jesus with this question, teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? Why ask me about what is good? Jesus replied, there’s only one who is good. But to answer your question, if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments. Which one? Asked the man? Jesus replied, you must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself. I’ve obeyed all these commands, the young man replied. What else must I do? Jesus told him, if you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you’ll have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus says to his disciples, I tell you the truth, it’s very hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. I’ll say it again it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples were astounded. Then who in the world can be saved? They asked. Jesus answered. They looked at them intently and said, humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible. Then Peter said to him, we’ve given up everything to follow you. What will we get? Jesus replied, I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel and anyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property for my sake, will receive 100 times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. But many who are the greatest now will be the least important. Then and those who seem to be least important now will be the greatest then.

Chris
Wow, there’s a lot in there.

Jeff
Yeah there is. Mark, chapter ten verse 17 says, As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down and asked, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Why do you call me good? Jesus asked. Only God is truly good. But to answer your question, you know the commandments. You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother. Teacher, the man replied, I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young. Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. There’s still one thing you haven’t done, he told him. Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. This amazed them. But Jesus said again, dear children, is it very hard to enter the kingdom of God? In fact, it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples were astounded. Then who in the world can be saved, they asked. Jesus looked at them intently and said, humanly speaking, it is impossible, but not with God. Everything is possible with God. Then Peter began to speak up. We’ve given up everything to follow you, he said. Yes. Jesus replied, and I assure you that everyone who has given up house, or brothers or sisters, or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the good news, will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, property, along with persecution. And in the world to come, that person will have eternal life. But many who are the greatest now will be least important than those who seem least important. Now will be the greatest.

Chris
Then that’s it.

Jeff
Nope. We also have Luke 18.

Chris
Oh yeah, well, that’s it for that one.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it says Luke 18. Verse 18 says once a religious leader asked Jesus this question, good teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life? Why do you call me good? Jesus asked him, Only God is truly good. But to answer your question, you know the commandments. You must not commit adultery, you must not murder. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother. The man replied, I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young. When Jesus heard this answer, he said, there’s still one thing you haven’t done sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor. You will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. But when the rich man heard this, he became very sad, for he was very rich. When Jesus saw this, he said, how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. In fact, it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Those who heard this said, then who in the world can be saved? And he replied, it is impossible for people, for what is impossible with people is possible with God. And Peter said, we’ve left our homes to follow you. Yes. Jesus replied, and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God, will repaid many times over in this life, will have eternal life in the world. To come. Now it’s done, now it’s done now. That’s it.

Chris
So, um, Holy Christmas, there’s a lot there. So, uh, when I was very young in the faith, you know, I was 15 when I became a Christian, I, uh, decided to, uh, you know, read through the Old Testament. Um, I had one of those Gideon Bibles, you know, those little, um. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Testaments. Yeah. And I remember reading it in, uh, study hall. I remember study hall. Yes, I do, and, uh, and I remember reading this verse. You went to study hall? Yeah. Right. Wow. Uh, and I remember reading this verse and I thought, okay, if Jesus is talking literal it’s easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle. Right? And I actually picture it a camel. And I pictured a needle because my mom sewed a lot. So there was needles all over our house. Right? Right. And even the biggest needle, which had a bigger I still could not fit a camel through it. Right? And so I thought, why is Jesus using something that’s impossible as a visual aid? Right. So but did he mean to say, did he mean that speak into it?

Jeff
Well, uh, well, so some people say he doesn’t mean the eye of a needle, right? As in a literal needle. But he’s talking about the camel gates. Yes. Right where they would force the camels to get down on their knees and and squeeze through. Yeah. And, uh, there was a lot of reasons for that. Part of it was to avoid contraband. It forced the camel guys to not be smuggling because they’d have to take everything off the camel in order to scoot through that, that needle. And everybody knew that camels had a hard time making it through that space. It would take a long time. It slowed the process down to be able to come into the city. But it was, uh, one of the ways that the government was able to tax everybody, make sure nothing was being snuck into the city on the camels. Right. Uh, so, uh, that may have been what he’s talking about, as opposed to the eye of a needle actually being the eye of a needle. But it could be. Either way, it’s really hard, right?

Chris
Right. Right, right. Yeah. So I, I, uh, I’ve always thought of it as an eye of a, of a of a sewing needle. And then, uh, knowing that, uh, hearing later on that there was that, you know, referred to as the gate being the needle and the camel going through it. I thought, well, that makes a lot more sense to me. Yeah.

Jeff
Because it’s really hard. It’s not impossible, but it’s really, really hard.

Chris
Right, right. It’s very difficult. And, uh, it takes a long time and there’s. And it’s just. And it’s exhausting. It’s exhausting. Yeah. Yeah. And so. Yeah. And that makes more sense to me. But either way, you’re right. It doesn’t. I don’t think it necessarily, uh, has huge implications whether it’s one or the other, whether Jesus was being, you know, uh, what what’s the word superlative, you know, in his, in his illustrations or whatever, um, or whether he was being literal. Uh, the point is, everybody would have known about that gate in Jerusalem, right? So it wasn’t like he was being vague there. Right? Right. So they could have pictured either way or both. He may have chosen to use this as a both. You know, it’s not either or. It’s it’s both ways is what he’s talking about there. Sure. Because he does choose camel.

Jeff
He doesn’t say it’s easier for a cow to go through the eye of a needle. Right, right. So that was the camels gate that that’s how they write, right?

Chris
Which is why I have a tendency to believe.

Jeff
It seems to be that that’s probably what he’s referencing. But anyways, I’ll tell you why I love this. And I mentioned at the beginning, I love it. I love the fact that in Mark, which is interesting, the other two don’t say this, but in Mark um ten verse 21 it says looking at the man. Jesus felt genuine love for him right after this young man said, Jesus, I’ve I’ve obeyed all those laws since I was a kid and not true. I think he did. I think that’s what he’s saying. I’ve never. So. So here you have. Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie. Don’t cheat on anyone and honor your father and mother. It would be possible that the guy never committed those six sins, right? And so for him to go, Jesus, I, I I’ve obeyed all these commands since I was young. Ever since I knew those commands, I’ve tried to obey them.

Chris
That’s an interesting take, because because I’ve never received it that way. And here’s why. Because if you compare the Gospels, they list the different commandments, right. So, Mark, uh, Jesus is quoting commandments and they’re different than the ones that Matthew records, and they’re different than the one that Luke records don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t testify falsely honor your father and mother.

Jeff
And then he says, love your neighbor as yourself. That’s the only difference in Matthew, right?

Chris
Right.

Jeff
What’s the difference?

Chris
There’s a couple of different ones. There’s a couple of different ones. So in other words, all I’m saying is, all I’m saying is there’s not it’s not exactly the same. Yeah, yeah.

Jeff
Which means that he, he’s quoting the Ten Commandments is what Jesus is quoting.

Chris
And because Moses tells us that the Ten Commandments aren’t given to us to prove to us that we can actually obey them, but actually to to prove to us that we cannot obey them. Right. Like it’s impossible to obey them. So to

Jeff
Not just the ten. Jesus doesn’t say the Ten commandments are given. He said the law, all the all the law, which is 610 commandments. Yeah. So I think it’s possible he could have kept the ones that Jesus quoted.

Chris
And what I’m saying is, I never read it that way because Jesus is saying, you know, the commandments. Yeah. And just because he lists a certain few in one book and a certain few in the other book, what he’s saying is, you know the law, you know the commandments. And, and then and what this guy is saying is, he’s saying, I’ve kept all of these. And to which I’m saying, ain’t no way.

Jeff
I guess what I was saying is I was I was taking it that this young man was taking the words Jesus said, literally, literally, those ones, those those recorded. And then Jesus loves this guy, genuinely loves him. He’s like, this is this is I think the guy was incredibly sincere. Yeah, it was his sincerity. And Jesus appreciates the fact that this guy’s not he’s not playing the Pharisee. Yeah. He’s not like, look at me He’s Jesus. Just tell me what I need to do that Jesus, tell me what I need to do. I want to go to heaven so bad. Tell me what I need to do. Jesus. Well, what do you believe? You believe you keep the law. You go to heaven. So keep the law. Well, what’s what laws? Well, you know, and he starts naming the Ten Commandments because Jesus wasn’t saying, that’s how you get to heaven. Jesus is saying, that’s how you believe you get to heaven, right? Right. Because Jesus was already saying, why are you calling me good? Only God’s good. Jesus was sending a message to this kid, I’m God, right? That’s what that’s what. He was sending a message. And this kid was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Rabbi, uh, tell me the rules. What are the rules I need to keep? And then he loves this young man. Um, and then he says, okay, there’s still one thing you haven’t done. That’s why I think Jesus in all three books say that. Right. There’s one thing I think Jesus is acknowledging. This is a really moral young man that’s tried really, really hard. Yeah, right.

Chris
I agree with all of that. I believe he’s sincere. I believe that, uh, you know, when he says there’s one thing you haven’t done, he views him as sincere. I think the kid is delusional and God loves him in spite of the fact that he doesn’t realize that he’s a sinner anyways.

Jeff
Yeah.

Chris
Yeah, yeah. Yes. He’s clueless. Yeah. When he says, oh, I’ve obeyed all these. And I believe that Jesus looks at him and has I see this kid love and compassion as a choir boy and an altar boy, sure.

Jeff
And just eager to be at the church. And he loves Jesus. And he just, you know, he doesn’t love Jesus at this point. He he honors Jesus respects him, comes in, but he just wants to honor God and he wants it. And I think that there are some people that are innate, innately spiritual, even as young, young children. Oh for sure, there are that are are early on believing in a creator early on, wanting to be faithful and just not knowing. And so what he wants is the rules.

Chris
Mhm.

Jeff
And Jesus is trying to show him there. And that’s why he goes on and says well just go sell everything you got. What he’s trying to do is show him. Listen if you’re looking for rules the rules get heavier and heavier and heavier. That’s all. That’s the only thing he’s trying to show this young man at this point is it’s not possible to keep enough rules to go to heaven. He’s not saying every Christian should sell everything they have, right? Right. Oh, you want another rule? I’ll make another rule. That’s impossible. Right? That’s what he does. And he just keeps piling it on.

Chris
Well, you know, what’s interesting to me is that I believe the reason why Jesus points out that, hey, there’s one thing you haven’t done. Sell everything. You haven’t follow me. It’s not because that’s

Chris
such a priority, uh, in the list of things to do. No. Right. It’s because Jesus knew this guy’s heart.

Jeff
It was his priority, right?

Chris
So he knew his heart. He knew that he was a man of great possessions. And who knows, it could have been that the other people in the crowd knew that as well. Maybe it was a prominent like, oh, look at this guy. He’s got so much money. Uh, but it doesn’t matter because Jesus said that for the purpose of revealing this guy’s heart. So this guy walks away and so, see, one of the reasons why I’ve always thought the answer was, you know, you’re wrong, kid, is because, uh, there was the. If Jesus had a chance to turn this guy and really, truly, uh, get his heart to change, then he would have probably taken a different approach. Uh, but instead, what Jesus does is he reveals something that this kid he already knows is unwilling to do. And so this guy walks away from Jesus, and Jesus knew he was going to walk away from him. So that’s why I believe it’s more superficial. I believe it’s more like, hey, this kid’s. Yeah, he’s sincere. Yeah, he’s trying, but this kid has no level of real commitment, and Jesus already knows it. Uh, because, you know, Jesus allows him to walk away. Jesus knows that this kid is not. It’s a deal breaker, right? This kid is not going to, uh, you know, give God his possessions or being willing to sacrifice. You know, that’s that’s the deal breaker, which, by the way, is a whole nother sermon altogether. Absolutely.

Jeff
Right. Yeah.

Chris
Like like like, you know, we just did a video story at Christmas time for all of our Christmas services. And, uh, it was, uh, you know, we had we had a tremendous amount of people show up. We had 16 Christmas services between two campuses. And so we I saw this video multiple times. And part of one of the coolest parts of this video, story of this person’s story is they they trusted Christ. And then I loved how they looked in the camera and said, I decided to pray the dangerous prayer.

Jeff
Remember that? Yep, yep.

Chris
And he said, and I just said, okay God, no matter what you ask of me, no matter what it is I’m in. And so think about that dangerous prayer, right? No matter what it is. So if God looks at you with tremendous love and says, okay, I have an idea, uh, right. Size your love for your possessions. And in order to do that I want you to demonstrate that by giving it away. Right. You know, and it’s like. And that’s not too far from Jesus challenging people to tithe, right? Right. Even though that’s not giving everything away. But it’s giving away 10%. Yeah, but Jesus, who says, hey, love me enough to honor me with what I’ve blessed you with. And all of a sudden there are people right now in our congregations that would turn around and go, nope, no way, I’m out. Yep. I’m out.

Jeff
Right? Yeah, yeah. So we we will speak about money 5 or 6 times a year. We receive an offering every week. We usually use a scripture. I was gonna say that’s that’s way more than what we talk about generosity throughout the year, Pepper. But we’ll have a couple of tithing messages. Yeah. And 3 or 4 generosity based kind of things. Right. Well, a couple times a year we’ll raise money for something starting new churches or, you know, building a pantry or whatever. Right? Yeah. And then we receive an offering in our service every week. Um, and we’ll usually use the scripture and talk about that. Uh, but we tell our guests, if you’re a guest, you know, feel free to leave your wallet in your pocket right.

Chris
We’re not after your money.

Jeff
Right? And even then, only talking about 4 or 5 times a year, we’ll have longtime Christians come and go. I’m leaving. The only thing you ever do is talk about money.

Chris
And I would even argue and say, we talk less about money than that. You said 4 or 5 times a year. Yeah, like I do the teaching calendar, and I don’t think we do it that much.

Jeff
Yeah. We should talk about it more.

Chris
We should

Jeff
But, um, uh, my my point is, it’s funny. As little as we, we make money a focus. Um, sometimes people, it’s the only thing they can hear, right? Because you tend to see the things you’re looking for. Right? So the thing that’s most important to you is the thing. You see this the thing you hear. And that is what this young man was experiencing It wasn’t that Jesus feels like everybody needs to get rid of their money. It was the fact that this guy couldn’t get to God because he had so much money. He was money was his only focus. Right? And this pursuit for heaven and for godly things was a secondary pursuit to his primary pursuit. And God will not be a co-pilot refuses. He’s not going to be the other one in your life. Right? Um, and so God is saying it’s all me or none of me. And for this young man, that meant it was a money issue. Could he walk past it? But for some of us, it’s the idea of getting married, right? I’m willing to sacrifice all of my morals to move in with this person because I’m afraid I’m going to lose him if I don’t. Uh, for some of us, it’s it’s our jobs. It’s our careers, it’s our children. It’s the house we’re trying to get or the the early retirement, whatever. These things can become our become the main purpose of our life. And God is a secondary purpose. He’s the other thing we do in our life, right? And God will never be. He’ll never play second chair ever, right?

Chris
Yeah. Um, yeah. That’s great. That’s great. I also think that, uh, the other sermons that are hidden in here, uh, which are, um, you know, the idea that, uh, you know, Jesus talks about sacrifice and he says, uh, in heaven, one day you’re going to get rewarded. Yeah. Like we didn’t even touch on that. Yeah, yeah. The idea that, like, Jesus is saying, like, whatever it’s going to cost you here, uh, just no, nothing compared to the reward. Yeah, nothing compared to the rewards. Yeah. So think about that. Like, you know, you mentioned before about the baseball game, was it yesterday’s podcast or today yesterday, yesterday where you talked about sacrificing. Right. And and it’s like you know there God doesn’t he’s going to reward every bit of our faith that involves sacrifice. Right. So so I believe that, uh, you know, uh, so what does Scripture say? Scripture says that nothing you do for the Lord will be in vain, right? First Corinthians 15. Yep. So just keep that in mind. Also that Jesus promises and says, if you put me first, you’re going to get rewarded.

Jeff
That’s right. That’s great.

Chris
Well, that’s a great place to end. And, uh, we will see you next time on The Bible Guys.