Discipleship: Letting Go

Letting Go of Earthly Security

• Matthew 6:24–33 – “No one can serve two masters… Seek first the kingdom of God.”

• In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is describing serving God and money. Jesus says that we cannot serve both at the same time. What does it mean to serve money? It means that wealth and simply put, the pursuit of wealth, dominates our decisions and passions. The things we do are dominated by the passion and desire for more earthly things. Serving God is just the opposite, our passions and desires are aligned with God’s will and purposes and not for our own selfish gain. Therefore, discipleship requires us to serve God only and not be dominated by the pursuit of wealth and things.
• This also means that we should not worry about earthly things like food or clothes or possessions because Jesus knows when we stress about those things, they dominate our thoughts and we cannot be devoted disciples if that is the case. We need to seek God’s kingdom first and then Jesus says we will receive what we need. If we seek these things above everything else, we may receive them, but we are not seeking the things of God and therefore are not being disciples. This means we are giving up what we feel we are in control of. Our security is not based on earthly things as the Proverbs declare, they can be gone in an instant (Proverbs 23:4). Rather, discipleship requires devotion to Jesus and the church and our needs will be met through his power.
  
• Matthew 19:21–22 | Mark 10:21–22 | Luke 18:22–23 – “Sell what you possess and give to the poor… and come, follow me.”
  • The idea of selling everything we have to follow Jesus turns a lot of people away and prompts many to scoff or ask questions. That is precisely the point of Jesus’ statement. When a rich man asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life Jesus responds by stating he must follow the law. The rich man pleasantly responds that he has done just that. The man has followed the law and yet he still asks what more needs to be done. Jesus says that he must sell what he has and give it away to those in need, then he can truly follow Jesus and be his disciple. The rich man goes away sad because he has a lot of wealth. The question is, do we have to sell everything to follow Jesus? The short answer is no, but what would Jesus even say that. It is because when one is rich that means they have money and things, and most likely money and things take priority over spiritual matters in their life. Jesus’ point was to say that one must not have other things as priority over Jesus and the kingdom. To be his true disciple, he must be our first priority and that is very difficult when we have treasures on earth. Matthew 19:21 says that when the rich man would sell everything, he would have treasure in heaven, no longer distracted by earthly things. The rich man couldn’t be a disciple because he did not want to give up what he accumulated on earth, he cared too much about it. Discipleship could mean sacrificing things if our devotion is being taken up by material things.