As I say, I might have rebuked this disciple, but Christ did not. He didn’t belittle Peter for asking and He didn’t deny anything. Was it because the question was honest and contained no sin? Was it because the Holy Spirit lead Peter to ask this in order for the Lord to provoke some thought in us? Jesus acknowledged the disciples’ sacrifices and reiterated that there ARE rewards for serving Him. Some of those rewards are temporal and almost immediate, but others are mysterious and future.
For me, this scripture raises more questions than it answers, and perhaps that was the Holy Spirit’s intention. A sanctified imagination and a healthy curiosity about eternity are not evil. They may increase our love for Heaven and the God of eternity. Hopefully they don’t destroy our ability to serve the Lord properly while we still remain here on earth.
First, let’s consider the DISCIPLES’ SACRIFICE.
We can only do this in a general way, because we don’t have many specifics. On the surface, we might say that none of the twelve sacrificed as much as the Lord asked of this young man. But that might not really be true. We know nothing about some of those men – Bartholomew, Simon the Canaanite, James son of Alpheus. One or two of those men might have been as rich as the man who walked away, or they might have been paupers begging on the streets of Capernaum. We know that Peter, John and their brothers had their own fishing business. So that could have meant that they lived in middle-class society. But there is some doubt that there was a middle class in any society before a hundred years ago. They could have been living from hand to mouth, counting every fish they caught.
And perhaps that is a part of the lesson. “Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?” Is the Lord is concerned about the actual size of anyone’s sacrifice or gift to Him? He watched the widow in the temple drop her two tiny mites into the treasury box. “And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.” Isn’t the Lord more interested in the condition of the heart and the DEGREE of the sacrifice, more than He is the value of the coins or the size of the check? You may give the Lord sizeable wads of cash, but if you are not giving with joy, then the Lord isn’t going to bless you as much as the widow giving what she can out of her social security check. “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” Paul had a special affection for the saints at Philippi and Thessalonica, because they were sold out for Christ. He told the church in Corinth – “Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.” I have no doubt that most of Christ’s first disciples gave themselves to the Lord most cheerfully.
Can we be at all specific about what they sacrificed? Matthew gave up his profitable tax business and his relationship with the Roman government. Peter, James, Andrew and John in some way gave up their fishing business. Was it sold? Were the boats leased or loan to neighbors or nephews and cousins? They were able to return to those boats later, so we don’t know what sort of arrangement was made. Were they still receiving some of the income from those boats? Many of those men were married, and in order to serve the Lord, like hundreds of other missionaries, they had to leave their wives and children for weeks or months on end. For a while Peter’s mother-in-law was sick, did he wonder every time he left on another preaching tour, whether he would see her again in this world? Did the parents of any of these men, turn their backs on them, because they had begun to follow Christ? “Ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake,” and sometimes that hatred came from family members. Oh, these men had suffered much and they had sacrificed a great deal.
But what have any of us given up for Christ, other than some of our old sins? Did you quit your high-paying job when you were saved, because it conflicted with the principles of Christ? Did your parents spit on you and cast you out of their house and out of their lives? Or perhaps they did, but it wasn’t because of Christ – it was because of the your mean spirit and your poor imitation of Christ. How many of you have gone to some poverty-stricken mission field, with only a quarter of the financial support that you really needed.
Second generation and third-generation Christians often have no idea of the sacrifice that their parents made for the Lord and for their children’s benefit, and as a result those third-generation Christians bear very few of the characteristics of saints. For example, they pray very little, because they have never really suffered or been in want. They sacrifice nothing themselves; but they expect the blessings of sacrifice. And they serve hardly at all. Is this why American Christianity is to poor and shabby?
The twelve original disciples had forsaken all, and followed Christ. They had followed Him into hatred and persecution; they had joined Him in poverty and hunger. “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” And the disciples knew that for a fact. The disciples had followed Christ all those miles into Phoenicia, Syria and Judea and now Perea. They had joined him on cold mountain tops and out into the hot eastern deserts. They had truly and literally had followed the Lord into storms of nature and storms of people. But what have we done? Do the remaining verses even apply to the poor imitations of Christian disciples that we are? In some ways, probably not, but in other ways, absolutely.
Jesus spoke of the DISCIPLES’ REWARDS.
They come in two different packages – the future and eternal, and the here and now. “And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” I won’t try to suggest that there isn’t a lot of argument, debate and confusion about this verse. Some of it, even though coming from exceptionally good men, is ludicrous. For example, one eminent Baptist scholar says that verse 28 is talking about the church. Other than that I won’t take time to unexplain what others have said.
As I understand it, “regeneration” is talking, not about personal salvation, but about the rebirth of all things. It is the Millennial Kingdom when the Lord rules from David’s throne and so much of the curse is removed, or it is speaking about the eternity which follows the Millennium when there is a new Heaven and earth. I lean toward the first interpretation. I think that II Timothy 2:11-12 parallels Jesus’ words quite well. “It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:” If we sacrifice all, including our lives as we once knew them, and we follow Christ, we shall live with Him. “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us.” Those who live and serve Christ upon this earth, shall also rule and reign with him later. Revelation 20:6 reports Christ’s saints saying, “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”
During my study I noticed that some scholars got very serious about the twelve thrones and twelve tribes. Others suggested that we shouldn’t loose any sleep over the number of those thrones. Remember that one of the twelve to whom Jesus was speaking at that moment was not a Christian. Judas was eventually replaced, but was it with Matthias, or the Apostle Paul. And then don’t the verses that I just read say that we ALL shall reign with Christ? Could it be that since the Lord was speaking to twelve disciples, He spoke of twelve thrones? But if He had been speaking to a thousand of His saints He would have referred to a thousand thrones? There is much in this verse to whet our appetites, but there is not enough to thoroughly slack our thirst.
But what about the next verse – “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” I can just see the Mormons and others base-jumping off these words. “In eternity I shall have a hundred wives and they will all have hundreds of children.” But I don’t believe that this is talking about eternity; it is speaking about some of the blessings of today. My earthly parents have passed away, and in some ways I lost them the moment that I was saved. But I have had other fathers – Ken Johnson, Forrest Keener, and for many years Elmer Leroy Bynum. I can drive into a dozen cities across North America and find a home open to me and a bed there. I have children and grandchildren by the dozens – both spiritual and adopted. And I have brothers and sisters all over the world. Every disciple of Christ has these blessings, even though they may not fully appreciate or enjoy them. And then one of these days, very soon, we all will be one very large and very happy family.
But of course, eternal life is the ultimate reward – even though that is not the right word to use. It is the gift of God – not of works, sacrifices or service, lest any man should boast. I can think of two words which might summarize what Peter says in verse 27 – see if you can’t agree. He said, “Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?” Might we not say that to “forsake all” – all our things, all our efforts, all our righteousness, all our sin – is a form of “repentance.” And then might we not say that to follow Christ if done properly is an example of faith? The disciples’ sacrifice and devotion were examples of their faith and repentance in action. They had not earned eternal life – they had received it by the grace of God, and begun to experience it through repentance and faith.
There are thousands if not millions of people who say that they are Christians, and they may even speak of faith in Christ, but whose lives don’t even come close to what we see in New Testament Christians. Let me repeat a common question: “What evidence is there to corroborate your claim that you are a child of God?” I am not saying that it is, but if Matthew 19:27 was the criteria for the “inheriting eternal life” would you be found outside the last will and testament of the Lord? Consider the question. Pray about your answer.
There is one more verse in this chapter – it deals with the disciples’ CONFUSION.
In fact, it has me confused – at least as far as its application is concerned. “But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.” Some scholars apply this comparison towards the rich young ruler and the disciples. Here was a man who on the surface was one of the “first.” He was wealthy and probably somewhat powerful because of the influence that his money could buy. But as a lost man, his position would one day be reversed. Barring the future grace of God, this man will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. As I could have said last week, when I was talking about money and wealth – “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” If you set your goals on popularity, wealth and power, one day you’ll have nothing at all. But if you set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth, no true sacrifice will be unrewarded.
But was the Lord comparing the disciples to the young rich man in this verse? The context seems to me to be about the disciples – about us. Isn’t it a mild rebuke towards Peter and perhaps some of the others? Doesn’t this go back to the beginning of the previous chapter? “At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
I am not going to dig deeply into this verse this afternoon, because the first part of the next chapter may be its scriptural interpretation. But I will say this, a great many Christians have no idea what true greatness is. For example, I have been in some Bible conferences where I was appalled at the arrogant pride of some of those pastors. The number of their baptisms, the size of their memberships, the number of books that they had published gave them the idea that they were better than others. And although I couldn’t argue with their “successes,” I wasn’t convinced of their preeminence in the sight of Christ Jesus. “But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.”
As I was reading Herschel Hobbs for insight and ideas about this passage, his notes closed with a quote with which I, too, will conclude. I have no idea of the man to whom Hobbs refers, but the point he makes is right on target. “Some years ago Toyohiko Kagawa was described as the world’s greatest living Christian. When asked about this he replied that he did not know who deserve that title by God’s standard. It might be some lowly Christian woman who lived in the slums of some great city, unheralded and unsung by her fellowmen.”
There will undoubtedly be a great many surprises when all things are said and done. But surely, the humble, quiet, consistent servant of God will be blessed by the Lord “when we all get to Heaven.”