BE then DO - Part 3

Dan Schilling & Michael Blue examine Matthew 19 to look into the dangers of "doing" without "being" with Jesus. This is the third episode of a 3-part series. Our desire is to free you from the bondage of feeling like you are "not doing enough" for God. #ThriveinChrist

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Dan Schilling: 0:07

Hey, welcome to the FeedSheep podcast where we help you hear God's voice, follow his lead and thrive as a disciple. I'm Dan Schilling. And I'll be one of your guides. Now let's get into today's topic. Hey, welcome to the FeedSheep podcast. Thanks for tuning in, hey, we're gonna pick up where we left off, this will be part three of our discussion of be, then do I believe this is a really important topic, because for many of us, like the rich, young ruler around, look at here, this episode gets so caught up in the doing versus the beat. Guilty. So I hope this will be an encouragement to you on your journey to hear, follow, thrive. Tune in. Well, and this is where I want to kind of transition now to, to your point here, you know, like what happens when, when we try to add more to it or try to get things and we become much like this young man who comes to Jesus, it's in Matthew 19, is where we're gonna go next here. And this, again, some pastors say, the rich young ruler and you think, Gosh, I mean, he's rich, he's young, and he's ruler, he's probably on the front of Christianity Today magazine back then, right? I mean, like, this guy's got a lot going for him, you know, he's got wealth. He's got power, he's of influence. He's a ruler. He's got youth, he's got energy and life. And obviously, based on what we're gonna hear in a second, he's seems like he's pretty obedient. So he's doing pretty good stuff. And then we're going to see how Jesus and he interact with one another. And we're going to break this down a little bit. So let's get started here. I'm gonna start reading here. Switch this one, here. Here we go.

Michael Blue: 1:50

All right. All right, verse 16, 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 is only one who is good. But to answer your question, if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments, which ones the man asked, And Jesus replied, You must not murder you must not commit adultery, you must not steal, you must not testify falsely. Honor your father and father and mother, love your neighbor as yourself. I have obeyed all these commands, the 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 will have treasure in heaven, then come follow me.

Dan Schilling: 2:35

Alright, so let's talk about can break it for just like talking about this for just a second. This is one of my favorite passages, because where you and I came from in the world of teaching people about what the Bible says about money, this is a key strategic passage. And so, and some people struggle with this, right? When they hear like, oh, man, is Jesus calling me to do something like, do I have to go sell everything I have, and give it to the poor. And so what we're gonna see here is, you know, the guy comes to Jesus, and there's probably something going on in his heart. And that angst or that issue in his heart, is it something's not fulfilling. So he's doing a bunch of stuff, but he's still not fulfilled. So he's coming to Jesus trying to what I would say, trying to find some, maybe some peace or some, like, gosh, like Jesus, you know, what good deed must I do? To get eternal life? And Jesus was a buddy, you know, don't ask me what's good. If you want to know what's good, you know, if you want to get turned live, obey the commands guys like, well, which ones? And then Jesus says, Well, don't drink smoke Jew or date girls who do not he didn't say that. But you know, he, he gives him some of the basic rules, right? Like don't murder, don't adultery, No stealing. And what's interesting is the guy's response was he says, I've obeyed all these commands, to which I could say, Jesus can say, wait, wait, buddy, wait a minute. Like, did you miss the sermon on the mount that I just got done teaching a while back here, because I said that murder isn't what you do. It's really what you think. Right? And that adultery is not what you do. It's what you think. And so could Jesus have rebuke rebuked him or you know, like, say, wait a minute, buddy, like you're still murdering, you're still in adultery. But he didn't call him on those sins. He actually says well, if you want to be perfect, and that term there when I was studying several years ago is not without fault. So he didn't say if you want to be perfect, like you got nothing wrong with you what he's if you want to bring it the term actually means to bring it to completion. Like if it was a tire, you know, and you wanted to bring this thing make it whole and circular round so it didn't, you know, thump went goes around or like a spoke it was missing, like you got to put all this together. So bring it together. And then it will roll nicely. If you want to be perfectly you want to bring it into Completion, your your heart, go sell what you have, you know, give that money away, and then you know, you'll have treasure in heaven and come follow me, which is really, again back to the here, follow thrive. Gs was he was hearing, he had the invitation to follow like everybody else did. What we're going to see is that he didn't say, oh, man, praise God, what a great idea. I'd love to come just be with you. Because what was the problem was he was still trying to figure out what he needed to do. So, Michael, give us your thoughts.

Michael Blue: 5:45

Yeah, I mean, I just see the thinking about the Sermon on the Mountain how much this ties into it with with the instructions about murder and stealing and how he had qualified those who said, you know, you've heard it said, But I say to you, yes. And even in the Sermon on the Mount, where he says, where you're where your treasure is there, your heart will be right. We call it the treasure principle. And, and, and the instruction is, you know, it's to store up treasures in heaven is that instruction there? And so he tells this guy what to do to inherit eternal life or to have treasure in heaven. Yeah, just to sell his possessions and give them away not to give them to Jesus, or Judas, whoever is holding the purse, but to give them away to the poor and then come, come follow. And, you know, I just read this, and it hinges so much on do I value following Jesus? And how much do I value following Jesus? Yes. It's a tough, it's a tough, tough passage. Well, seems like a tough command. Right?

Dan Schilling: 6:43

Yes. Well, and again, I think just to clarify, this, for folks listening today are watching is, I don't believe this is a blanket command. I don't think it's everybody has to, you know, go take your stuff tomorrow, line up at the, you know, place the auction house, sell it all, and then take the money down to the local food pantry or wherever and give, give it all away. Right. But I do believe is calling each of us willingness to say, Okay, I'll, I'll go wherever you want me to go. I'll do what you want me to do. And if it is something that you can't do, I'm willing, knowing that he's not calling us to a life of poverty, necessarily on this earth, but he's calling us to a life of destiny. And that, even when the the disciples, we're not going to get into all that today, but even Peter after this, he's like, so what's in it for us? I mean, like, we've given away everything. Jesus, like reminds him, hey, following me does have a cost, but but the return on investment is out of this world. So don't don't think about what you're losing. Think about what you're gaining. And that gaining going isn't stuff that gaining is the intimacy thing. intimacy with Me the intimacy of walking, being with me on this journey.

Michael Blue: 8:08

I've got I've often taught this and contrasted it with this, the little parable, I guess you could say, where Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a man who discovered his treasure in the field. Right? And then his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, so he can buy that field. And I think that if you walk through the two passages, the people are the same. They're, you know, they have, you know, they're looking for eternal life. They're looking for the kingdom of heaven. It's offered to them. And the cost is the same. It's everything. You have to sell everything you have come in here and come take this treasure, but I oftentimes have read that story and said, Well, yeah, that's great. He gets this treasure, right? In my mind, I think of treasure chest with gold and jewels and all that. And this other guy, all he got was to walk around in a dusty, dry area with a bunch of guys. And some women, some stragglers a following. I mean, like, a weight that was the son of God that he got to walk with. And so it's it's to me, they're very similar. We look at them differently. I've seen them differently until I realized that this is the same offer, once joyful, and the other will see here doesn't respond with such joy.

Dan Schilling: 9:19

Yes, well, let's let's go ahead and get down to that. I'll see the guy's young man's response here in verse 22,

Michael Blue: 9:26

instead, but when the young man heard this, he went away, sad, for he had many possessions. And then Jesus said to His disciples, I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. I'll say it again. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. The disciples were astounded, and who in the world can be saved? They asked. Jesus looked at them intently and said humanly speaking, it is impossible, but with God, everything is possible.

Dan Schilling: 9:55

Yes. And so again, I think this continues to highlight What we're talking about here is he went away sad, because Jesus just didn't give him a list of things to do. Actually, he did give him something to do. They have one pretty big thing to do one pretty big thing to do. But it really wasn't an invitation to do. I mean, he didn't say that. But he said, you know, this is a way of, of a means of coming to follow me. So here what I'm saying, because there's something that's keeping you from intimacy, the intimacy with Me, and I believe it's your stuff. And I don't think Jesus was I believe, he'd say, I know, because he's Jesus, right? He knows what the problem is going on inside of us. And so he was trying to help this young men separate himself what had become the lord of his life, which was his stuff, which many of us, me included, could say, you know, this is an issue. This is hard when God starts asking me for things like, wait a minute, and I've said this for years, Michael, it's easy to say that God owns at all until he asked for the keys. Right? And you're like, Whoa, that was my wealth. And that's the problem here. This is he went away sad, because he had great wealth. This version says he had many possessions, he had a lot of stuff. But the problem was, it actually, it wasn't that he had the stuff is actually that the stuff had him write the stuff had his heart, and Jesus knowing it was trying to help draw him away from that thing that was keeping his heart from being intimate with God. And then he says, I'm gonna tell you, it's hard for a rich person, not just this guy. But across the board. Yes, it's hard. It's hard for them. Why? Because when I acquire great wealth on this side of eternity, my heart gets linked to those things. And that for many of us, many of us who are listening today, this is like, their step back, buddy, you're stepping on my toes, I'm stepping on my own toes, right? This is this is a, this is a reality for us. And I don't want to find myself on the wrong side of the needle. So to say, you know, like, it's easier for a camel like I don't want I don't want to be on the wrong side of this, that I want to be following the good shepherd through that narrow gate through that narrow needle, I if you will, and knowing that it's not going to happen on my own, like, he's the one that's going to lead us he's the one is going to help us separate ourselves from those things that are keeping us from intimacy again. So he's not looking for us to do he's looking for us to be and that being may lead us to do things, especially with the finances and the wealth and possessions that He's given us that may look odd or funny to other people in the world. And I know you and I both have common stories of things that God asked us to do that others would say, man, you're crazy. But it wasn't done as a doing exercise. It was done as a result of being with him.

Michael Blue: 12:59

Right? Yeah, I get this picture in my head as you as you talk about steward and you know, God owning it all and till he asked for the keys and I you know, picture like, you know, as we think of steward, we think of a maybe a kingdom, or mansion, something like that. And it's as if the owner walks back in and says, Hey, you know, thanks so much for watching over what? What I gave you to watch over? Here's a match. I want you to get towards the whole thing.

Dan Schilling: 13:27

Yeah, like what I think yeah, I

Michael Blue: 13:29

mean, even as a steward, you'd be like, Wow, that seems that seems wasteful. Like why why would I do that? Look at what we can do with this kingdom? He said, No, no, you know, here's a torch here's my good torch it and so I think that kind of is I think about that picture. That's I think a lot of times our reaction was like wait, okay, you don't no longer you no longer know what's best for this you're at you're telling me to do something that is a really bad idea. Or wasteful? And there's no torch it

Dan Schilling: 14:03

Yes. Well, and then you will see here that again, he's he's not he's not concerned about these temporal things, right. He's concerned about us and our heart and because even the disciples hear this teaching and I point out there's like, we talked about how words matter. It says here that the disciples were astounded at one thing that I read years ago said that it actually is the same feeling that you have when you hear about someone who is near to you that dies suddenly and you didn't like it like it literally takes your breath away you're like oh my gosh, you know astonish somebody was actually say, and so it says it was never been one of those like, like took their breath away teachings like something he said, like, oh my gosh, then when I like well, then who in the world can be saved? Like who in the world can be redeemed or have their life turned around? I mean, like this guy. He's the epitome of what we're thinking we're striving for right? Rich Young Ruler. I mean, this guy's got it all going on. And just like No, he doesn't have it all going on, because he's not with me. He's got a lot of things he's done right that he, you know, maybe outcomes, but he's still missing something. And what he's missing can't be achieved on his own. And that's why I believe he says, humanly speaking, it's impossible. You can't enter through that narrow gate. You can't go like a camel. You just can't do it. Apart from me, as we said, last time that you can do nothing. It's impossible. But with him, abiding in Him when we're with him, then it's possible. And so for many of us, when we hear this where they can, oh, my gosh, I could never do that. And you're not you're right. You can't. And this is what I believe what God's wanting for us in this process is really just to confess, I can't do this. I can't do this on my own. I can't carry all this pressure this weight and and do this like this guy. Because as he went away, sad, he was right. Back it I can't do it. Right.

Michael Blue: 16:13

Now, yeah, it's what I would, and mark in the same story, and talk about how it's impossible with us. But with God, it's it is possible. It says in there when when they're having the center axis is Jesus looked at him and loved him. And then he spoke the words to him. And that's not in the Matthew version of it. And I don't think it's because it's not true. There's some that think it's because the rich enrollers actually Mark and Mark knew that Jesus loved him. And so he threw it in there as the intimate detail. Right? We can talk about that at some other time that yes, yes. But the idea is that this wasn't a command of I'm so tired of people ask me these questions here. Here's something that you'll never do. Like, just Quit bothering me until you're ready to fight. This was actually a loving response to it was probably a genuine question that the guy didn't like the answer to. Yes, says he went away sad. But I always like to point out that the invitation was to follow Jesus. I mean, I mean, think about if we if you believed he was the Son of God, he just invited you along the journey. Right? Said, Hey, come on. Come walk with me. Come eat with me. Come lay your head next to me when we sleep. Come see, when I wake up in the morning, and maybe I'm a little tired and how I handle people come be with me. And he's like, but he asked me to give up so much stuff.

Dan Schilling: 17:48

Well, you and I both know that. This? It's not. It's not an easy road, right? I mean, this is what he was saying the other day, you know, the roads tough. It's difficult. To our flesh, it is it's difficult. And so for those you listening now to know you think, Man, this is hard, what may be hard. But it's not diff I mean, it's there's a simplicity to it, right? Come just be with me, come follow me. Don't, don't try to figure it all the things you got to do. Just start making yourself available to me. And so I want to wrap up, Michael today with a couple of weeks ago, I woke up at like four o'clock in the morning, and I could feel my heart racing. And someone later tells me that this is what an anxiety attack is. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, I'm really I woke up and my heart rate felt like I was, you know, on a full blown sprint, you know, racing inside, and knowing that that's not you know, the way I should be waking up at four o'clock in the morning, and I quickly just felt like Oh, Holy Spirit, just come you know, sometimes I'm, I'm troubled or burdened by something. I don't even know what it is. And I was reminded of that passage. And in Matthew, when he talks about this in math, it's Matthew 11. And he says, Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, I'll put it up here and I will give you rest Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you because I am humble and gentle at heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear. And the burden I give you is light. And so Michael when I wake up like that, I can't get back to sleep. And so as I'm laying there, I start thinking about this passage. I'm thinking I don't really know much about a yoke yo LK as my boys are like a yoke like no, not an egg yoke a yoke why Okay. And, and so I started watching some videos on these guys, modern day guys who have oxen and they start teaching and talking about it. and they had these two oxen and they took them to the hitching post. And they were, you know, I said as the you're loving on them, you're brushing them. And there's a relationship between the the owner and the oxen. And there's a love relationship, they, these animals actually begin to know you and you know, come up and rub and they're waiting for you to love on them and brush them. And then what he started to share with, he said, this thing that goes across their neck is called an O. and it raised about 8200 pounds. But he said, when this thing is put on 1500 to 2000 pound animals, it literally weighs is nothing to them. And so I started thinking about Wow, so when Jesus is saying, my, my yoke is easy to bear, it's not a crushing yoke or so the Old Testament about the iron yoke, like this thing that cuts into you like this is, this is not a hard thing. So, and the yoke is a symbolism of submission. And so when you put these oxen together, they're some you know, in submission. And so I've always heard a TA that Jesus was saying that we need to be yoked with him, like he's on the other side of that. Oh, and as I started watching more, he's like, oh, wait a minute. That's, I don't think that's the case. Because they said what is on the left side of the oxen that's on the left as they're together is usually the more mature oxen the older one, and he's helped training the younger one who's on the right. But off to the left, the there's, they call this person then the some coma Bo Aki, a Teamster or an aux driver. So I'll use aux driver for the rest of our time here. But that's kind of a title, this person who's off to the left. And he said that the Aux driver actually guides these oxen in three different ways, by voice by a stick called a go do a D and taps them with it, not beat taps them with it, and by proximity. And so he said, so he'll say, well, well, well, and they'll stop or he'll say, Come on the turn left, left under the term they use. And he said, if I'm, if he's far away from the oxen, they'll turn on a wide turn, if he's really close, they turn on, you know, tighter radius. But the reason why the older ones on the left is because he's closer, and he knows the commands, and he helps the younger oxen to his right. Learn. Instead, if that younger oxen when we're trying to train them, we look at their pedigree, their kind of personality traits and whatever. And we think that they're fit to be an oxen, but if once they get that yoke on, and they just start going crazy, and they don't submit to that, and that leading of that, he said, they become beef. Like, okay, like, all right. And so as I start thinking about this whole thing, and how it relates, to me, is when Jesus is saying to us, that My yoke is easy. And my burden is light, that this, this ox driver loves his oxen, and they said, they were telling me how they cared for them and brush them or whatever they said, they took them out of the woods, and they were pulling logs out of the woods, he said, we could probably tie three or four down on but really, we don't wanna do that, we're not trying to burden them. We just put one log at a time and carry it out. I just begin to think this, again, about Jesus in this is, I'm not trying to, I don't need you to do big things for me. And then the weight that you're carrying is because you think that you got to do, right, all these things, you got all these things that you're burdened by the things to do. And all I really want for you is to rest in Me to abide in and out of that abiding, that we partake in that fellowship with Him, then share that fresh bread, that encouragement that you get from me, as you abide with me, then take and share that with others. Now, Michael, I'm a habitual doer. So I got a long road to grow. I've not nailed this message down by life, but I know it's something that God's speaking to me and putting on my heart and I believe, for many of you listening, as well. So

Michael Blue: 24:08

that's good. Yeah, I mean, to be freed from would have begun to turn the tyranny of stewardship. Right, we are stewards and we want to be good stewards but there's a tyranny I think that comes with it when we believe that our results which which implies that I think I can control my results are the thing that is being judged. versus you know, the oxen their ability to listen and just do I mean that you know, the flower was plowed or planted or whatever, based on how the ox driver was moving them not not them right ultimately and so if we let truly believe that the produce the fruit that production is, is God's, so my job is faithfulness. It's not I'm trying to come and hand this, you know, this liquid I did to God. He's like, no, no, I did that. Yeah. I guess, like what you did was was by what you did was be faithful. There are some people who who will, you'll look around and you'll be able to see their, you know, production, if you will, and there's others that you won't at all. And I think believe that those will be the same 100 fold people in many cases. I've seen so yeah, that's a good good word that the yoke is his light?

Dan Schilling: 25:27

Yes. Yes. Well, as we finish up for today, thanks for tuning in some extend time here with us just want to encourage you on your journey. And just some action steps just to begin to. First one is you're just ask the Holy Spirit to say, I need your help. I can't do this on my own, I can't, I can't go through the I can't go through the narrow gate by myself, I can't give everything away and or sell everything in follow you I just I can't do that. But the Holy Spirit, who desires to draw us into greater intimacy, right, he was left to be that comforter, that counselor, the one who leads us into truth. And he wants to lead you and I into truth, especially in this area, because it's foundational, foundational for us in the abiding, so much of the other teaching that we're going to continue to do is going to be foundational, built off of this foundation. So I just want to encourage you, on your journey to do that. The second one, really, as we talked about, how do I move from doing to being is really, it's helped me to deny myself my desire to think that I can earn my way by doing certain things. If I do this, and do this, and do this, that you'll be pleased with me. I don't believe it's about the doing. It's about a willingness to deny myself and say, I don't have to think about all the things I have to do, really is an invitation from you to be in your presence. So I want to encourage you on this journey in this process, that God's desire is not for you to things that you can do. But really the things that he wants you to be. And that's daily being available. We talked about last time just availing ourselves and you have access to me 24/7 365. I want to be in tune, I want to be aligned, I want to I want to be in alignment before I get my assignment. So helped me to be aligned to be a abiding in you. So, Michael, final thoughts before we close out today in prayer?

Michael Blue: 27:30

Yeah, I mean, I just the the refrain that we have is this is a journey that we're all on together. And I think the what we've we've probably tried to help people with is what we're still struggling to realize is that as productive as we want to be. And I think that that's a good desire, I want to be productive. I want God to use me and in whatever ways he wants and significant ways for him. But that can oftentimes lead me towards this pressure of performance. And so I become so obsessed with the results that I don't that I miss the intimacy with Him of the following. And I think that we're trying to free people that it's, yeah, we're doing we're running, we're running hard. Like we're not boxing and beating air, we're going after it. But that's not the that's not what we're called to do or be we're called to be faithful and to be to abide. And the rest of that stuff really does follow. And so we want to just get things in the right order and not be so trapped and confined and really enslaved to the results.

Dan Schilling: 28:39

Yes, but you made a great comment last episode all if this and then pray for us is that we, we, we, we aren't really thriving, we're striving. Right. And that's what I hear you saying right there. And that danger is when I'm striving for something, all the things I can do. It actually is not leading me to thrive. It's most of time leading me to death, because I'm striving so hard. Well, let me pray for us and close up. Father, thank you for today and just the opportunity to be in your presence. So I asked today that you would find us available, willing ready to hear your voice to follow your lead, and to thrive as disciples not again a tagline but truly a lifestyle that each of us walk in. We know that this is a journey and not just a destination that we reach and then we've got it down. That each day is a new, fresh that you give us. So let your mercies be new and fresh for us today. Holy Spirit, we invite you to come and speak to us and avail ourselves to you speak to us as we as we rest in your presence, whether that's in bed when we actually lay our head down or when we Have time just set apart for you whether it's morning, noon or night. So thank you for the sheep of the pasture that we are to you. Thank you for being the good shepherd. We'd like to just be in your presence with you. We love you. Thank you and praise you in Jesus name.