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INTENSE CHRISTIANITY (LESSON 7)
PHILIPPIANS 3:1-14
1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not
grievous, but for you it is safe.
2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.
3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus,
and have no confidence in the flesh.
4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath
whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:
5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the
Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law,
blameless.
7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ
Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung,
that I may win Christ,
9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his
sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I
may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
In seeking for an example of the intense Christianity that we are examining, it occurred to me
to use the rich young ruler as a case study. We will consider Mark’s account of his encounter with
Jesus.
MARK 10:17-31
17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and
asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is,
God.
19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not
bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
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21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy
way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven:
and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that
have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto
them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!
25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into
the kingdom of God.
26 And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be
saved?
27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with
God all things are possible.
28 Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.
29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house,
or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the
gospel's,
30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters,
and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
31 But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.
Of all the people who ever came to the feet of Jesus, the rich young ruler is the only one who
went away worse than he came. And yet he had so much in his favour! Certainly he had manners
and morals, and there was enough desire in his heart for spiritual things that he ran up to Jesus and
bowed at His feet. In every way, he was an ideal young man; and when Jesus beheld him, He loved
him.
In his account of this incident (Luke 18:18-30), Luke uses the Greek word archon to describe
the man. The word literally means “a first one.” It speaks of pre-eminence. Matthew, in his account
(Matthew 19:16-30), uses the Greek word neaniskos to describe the man. Neaniskos is a relative
term which may be used of any age between boyhood and middle life.
With all of his fine qualities, the young man was very superficial in his views of spiritual things.
He certainly had a shallow view of salvation, for he thought that he could do something to earn or
merit eternal life. This was a common belief in that day among the Jews. In John 6:26-29 we read
the following: “Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because
ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat
which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall
give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that
we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that
ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”
It is still a very common belief today among both unsaved and saved persons. Most people
think that God will one day add up their good works and their bad works; and if their good works
exceed their bad works, they will get into heaven.
Behind this good-works approach to salvation is a superficial view of sin, a superficial view of
human beings, a superficial view of the Bible, a superficial view of Jesus Christ, and a superficial view
of salvation. Sin is rebellion against the holy God.
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It is not simply an action; it is an inward attitude that exalts man and defies God. Did this young man
actually think that he could observe a set of rules and perform a few religious works and settle his
account with the holy God? Is that what we think?
The young man had a superficial view of Jesus Christ. He called Him “Good Master”
(Teacher), but we get the impression that he was trying to flatter the Lord; for the Jewish rabbis did
not allow the word good to be applied to them. Only God was good, and the word must be reserved
for Him alone. Jesus was not denying that He was God; rather, He was affirming it. He just wanted
to be sure that the young man really knew what he was saying and that he was willing to accept the
responsibilities involved. The man is summoned to contemplate the absolute goodness of God, and
to measure himself by that supreme standard.
This explains why Jesus pointed the young man to the Law of Moses: Having fixed the
standard of goodness, the Lord proceeded to rehearse the divine precepts which to the Jew were the
highest expression of the will of God. He wanted him to see himself as a sinner bowed before the
holy God. We cannot be saved from sin by keeping the Law as the following passage clearly
indicates:
GALATIANS 2:11-21 (NEW LIVING TRANSLATION)
“But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong.
When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile Christians, who were not circumcised. But afterward,
when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of
criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. As a result, other Jewish
Christians followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. When I
saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the
others, ‘Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why
are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions? ‘You and I are Jews by birth,
not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles. Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus
Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right
with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be
made right with God by obeying the law.’ But suppose we seek to be made right with God through
faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean
Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I
already tore down. For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped
trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with
Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the
Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless.
For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.”’
The Message renders the passage as follows: “Later, when Peter came to Antioch, I had a
face-to-face confrontation with him because he was clearly out of line. Here’s the situation. Earlier,
before certain persons had come from James, Peter regularly ate with the non-Jews. But when that
conservative group came from Jerusalem, he cautiously pulled back and put as much distance as he
could manage between himself and his non-Jewish friends. That’s how fearful he was of the
conservative Jewish clique that’s been pushing the old system of circumcision. Unfortunately, the rest
of the Jews in the Antioch church joined in that hypocrisy so that even Barnabas was swept along in
the charade. But when I saw that they were not maintaining a steady, straight course according to the
Message, I spoke up to Peter in front of them all: ‘If you, a Jew, live like a non-Jew when you’re not
being observed by the watchdogs from Jerusalem, what right do you have to require non-Jews to
conform to Jewish customs just to make a favorable impression on your old Jerusalem cronies?’ We
Jews know that we have no advantage of birth over ‘non-Jewish sinners.’ We know very well that we
are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we
know? We tried it — and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen!
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Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the
Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good.
Have some of you noticed that we are not yet perfect? (No great surprise, right?) And are you ready
to make the accusation that since people like me, who go through Christ in order to get things right
with God, aren’t perfectly virtuous, Christ must therefore be an accessory to sin? The accusation is
frivolous. If I was ‘trying to be good,’ I would be rebuilding the same old barn that I tore down. I would
be acting as a charlatan.
What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God,
and it didn’t work. So I quit being a ‘law man’ so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me
how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified
with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or
have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you
see me living is not ‘mine,’ but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me. I am not going to go back on that. Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping,
peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship
with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by
rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.”’
The Law is a mirror that shows us how dirty we are, but the mirror cannot wash us. According
to Galatians 3:23-24, one purpose of the Law is to bring the sinner to Christ: “Before the way of faith
in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective
custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. Let me put it another way. The law was our
guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And
now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian” (New Living
Translation).
This is what it did in the case of this man. The Law can bring the sinner to Christ, but the Law
cannot make the sinner like Christ. Only grace can do that.
When the Lord referred the man to some of the Ten Commandments, he replied, “Master, all
these have I observed from my youth.” The Greek word for “observed” was used in classical Greek
as a military term meaning “to guard, watch.” As it is used here in connection with the keeping of the
commandments, it refers not only to the act of obeying them, but to that recognition of their
preciousness that leads one to carefully guard them from being broken. It means, “to take care not to
violate.” The young man was apparently relieved by the Lord’s answer. If eternal life could be
secured on so simple a condition as the keeping of the Commandments, it was his already. He did
not understand the deeper meaning of the Law and what it pointed to.
The young ruler did not see himself as a condemned sinner before the holy God. He had a
superficial view of the Law of God, for he measured obedience only by external actions and not by
inward attitudes. As far as his actions were concerned, he was blameless, but his inward attitudes
were not. It is clear from his response to the directive of the Lord that he was covetous.
Covetousness is a terrible sin; it is subtle and difficult to detect, and yet it can cause a person to
break all the other commandments. 1 Timothy 6:9-10 says, “But people who long to be rich fall into
temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and
destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money,
have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows” (New Living
Translation). Verse 21 says that “Jesus beholding him loved him.” Our Lord, upon hearing the
answer of the rich young ruler, fixed his eyes on him with a searching gaze and a love for the young
man was called out of the heart of Jesus because of the preciousness of the young man. In the
Greek, the tense implies entrance into a new condition. Jesus felt a sudden love for this young man.
Jesus showed genuine love for this man, even though he knew that the man might not follow him.
Love is able to give tough advice; it doesn’t hedge on the truth.
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Christ loved us enough to die for us, and he also loves us enough to talk straight to us. If his love
were superficial, he would give us only his approval; but because his love is complete, he gives us
life-changing challenges.
Matthew includes in the young man’s answer to Jesus, the words, “What lack I yet?” He was
conscious of his need for something more and this is always an important point in our spiritual
condition.
Looking at this young man, we could conclude that he had everything, but Jesus said that one
thing was lacking - a living faith in God, based on a relationship with God. Money was his god: he
trusted it, worshiped it, and got his fulfilment from it. His morality and good manners only concealed a
covetous heart.
Of course our Lord’s directions in Mark 10:21 are not to be applied to everyone who wants to
become a disciple, because Jesus was addressing the specific needs of the rich young ruler. Jesus
knew that the selling and distribution of the man’s property were the necessary preparations for
complete discipleship in his case. The words are not a general counsel of perfection, but a test of
obedience and faith which our Lord saw to be necessary in this particular instance.
The man was rich, so Jesus told him to liquidate his estate and give the money to the poor.
The man was a ruler, so Jesus told him to take up a cross and follow Him which would be a humbling
experience. Jesus offered this man the gift of eternal life, but he turned it down. It is difficult to
receive a gift when your fist is clenched around money and the things money can buy.
The answer of Jesus gave the young man pain which was visible on his countenance. His
hopes were dashed; the one thing he wanted was beyond his reach; the price was too great to pay
even for eternal life. The Greek word translated “grieved”, gives the picture of storm clouds
gathering. The man walked out of the sunshine and into a storm! He wanted to get salvation on his
terms, and he was disappointed.
This man wanted to be sure he would get eternal life, so he asked what he could do. He said
he’d never once broken any of the laws Jesus mentioned. But Jesus lovingly broke through the man’s
pride with a challenge that brought out his true motives: “Go and sell all you have and give the money
to the poor.” This challenge exposed the barrier that could keep this man out of the Kingdom: his
love of money. Money represented his pride of accomplishment and self-effort. He could not meet
the one requirement Jesus gave - to turn his whole heart and life over to God. The man came to
Jesus wondering what he could do; he left seeing what he was unable to do. What barriers are
keeping you from turning your life over to Christ?
If Jesus asked, could we give up our house? our car? our level of income? our position on the
ladder of promotion? Our reaction may show our attitude toward money - whether it is our servant or
our master. To the general public, the rich ruler stood first and the poor disciples stood last. But God
saw things from the perspective of eternity and the first became last while the last became first!
Those who are first in their own eyes will be last in God's eyes, but those who are last in their own
eyes will be rewarded as first! What an encouragement for true disciples!
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