The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like… A Good Teacher by Rev. Steve Baker
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uke 18:18-29 tells us of a sad story about a “certain ruler,” “a man of great wealth.” Many of you know this as the story of the rich young ruler. From all outward appearances, this man looked like he had life all figured out. He seemed to be an outstanding religious figure, doing everything right according to the law (v.21). He was well spoken, claiming to believe that Jesus is God, as he refers to Him as “Good Teacher.” So, he comes to make one request, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Many of our churches today are filled with such individuals. When they come to church, they look and sound like they belong there. Like this man, they can say, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was a child.” In other words, I’m a good person, I know Jesus is God and therefore a “good teacher.” Yet, there is something missing in their lives, and they just can’t quite put their finger on it, so they come to Jesus, come to church. But their motives are all wrong. Like this man, they come looking for something for themselves, something that will make them look and feel good all the time; so they can say, yeah, I did that, look at me! A similar scene is described in the Old Testament in Ezekiel 33:30-32. “Son of man, your people are whispering behind your back. They talk about you in their houses and whisper about you at the doors, saying, ‘Come on, let’s have some fun! Let’s go hear the prophet tell us what the Lord is saying!’ So, they come pretending to be sincere and sit before you listening. But they have no intention of doing what I tell them. They express love with their mouths, but their hearts seek only after money. They hear what you say, but they don’t do it.” (NLT) This describes our rich young ruler’s response to Jesus’ instruction for him to sell everything and give the money to the poor, then follow Jesus. For he went away sad because his heart was only after more money. He had no intention of following Jesus and His ways. Are our intentions like his, or do we really want to know the Truth from Jesus, truth that demands action at its command? A.W. Tozer tells a story of a boy overseas who had memorized Jesus’ entire Sermon on the Mount. He did it in such record time and with such
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The Connection
SPRING 2020
apparently little effort that someone called him in to find out how he had done it. “Well,” said the boy, “I would memorize a verse and then trust God to help me put it into practice. Then I would memorize the next verse and say, ‘Lord, help me to live this one too.’” This young man sought Truth from Jesus, not just to store in his mind but to put into practice. God’s Word is to be acted on and this is done by obedience and faith in the Giver of Truth. “Jesus said to the people who believed in Him, ‘You are truly My disciples if you keep obeying my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’” (John 8:31-32). Later Jesus told His disciples, “It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). In our quest to do church and be the Church, the Body of Christ, I think we can easily forget that it is His Church, and it can truly only operate properly as He is the head of it. The Church today is to be operating as the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, leads us. This Counselor, the Holy Spirit Jesus refers to in John chapters 14 and 16, is the Greek word parakletos, which also means advocate. An advocate appears as a representative of another. The Holy Spirit comes to represent Christ. He interprets, vindicates and administers for Christ in His Church and kingdom. As Jesus was with His disciples, the Holy Spirit is now in us. He is all that Christ was and is. He is “the Spirit of Truth” and “He will guide you into all Truth” (John 14:17;16:13). The Holy Spirit is our “Good Teacher” now. We, the Church, owe everything about us to the Holy Spirit. We are His creation and without Him we are powerless. We need this reminder that our churches are not to be man-managed but Godgoverned. Can we ask ourselves the hard question? Do we have more faith in the world and its ways or do we really believe God, the Holy Spirit can build our churches through a surrendered body? Rev. Steve Baker is an ordained elder and board of steward member at Covenant in Morgantown, WV.
