Faith's Fruit

And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness,Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
(Matthew 19:16-22 ESV)

This past week the Spirit has been reminding me that the Christian life is a life of faith. The author of Hebrews tells us that "without faith it is impossible to please [God]" (Heb. 11:6). Not too long ago my pastor preached from Ecclesiastes 11 about faith's response in light of life's uncertainties. From verses 1-6 he demonstrated that faith results in bold and confident living and giving. At care group we looked at Jesus' encounter with the rich young ruler. While he had "kept" the law from an early age (cf. Lk 18:21) he still lacked something. As we discussed Jesus' answer the truth became clear to me: the young man had kept the outward forms of the law but Jesus' demand that he sell all his possessions demonstrated the true lack of the young man, i.e., he lacked faith.

While the text does not come right out and make this point for us, I think it is clear when put alongside other passages of Scripture. Apart from faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). If the young man already had faith, this new demand that Christ made of him would have been met with a much different result. We know that Simon and Andrew "left their nets and followed him" and James and John left a family business large enough to have hired servants (Mk 1:16-20). Matthew was a tax collector and Paul was a man of great respect and power. Nonetheless, all of these men and many others left their former lives and trappings when called by their Master to follow him. In short, faith looks like obedience.

Jesus' demand to "sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me" was met by sorrow because the young man did not treasure Christ as much as he treasured his possessions. Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, "Only the believer is obedient, and only the obedient one believes." Would that God would grant the genuine kind of faith that responds in obedience and joy.

In Christ,

Jonathan