Bill Johnson - The Reward of Relationship With Jesus
The journey is merely a relational journey. Yes, He brings blessings, and yes, He brings prosperity; He does all those things. But it’s such an interesting journey because anyone who builds a relationship with God based on what they will gain from the relationship is actually pouring dirt into the cement, causing it to weaken to the point where there’s not a strong enough foundation to support any significant structure. Thank you. Verse 18: A certain ruler asked Him, saying, «Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?» And Jesus said to him, «Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, and that is God.» Jesus is trying to help him discover a revelation of who He is. To put it in my own words, «You’re right, I’m good, but you need to know why nobody’s good but God.» You see, the decision he’s about to make requires an understanding of who he’s standing in front of, because if he doesn’t know who Jesus is, he may not be willing to pay the price needed for the challenges God is about to bring into his life.
Verse 20 says, «You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother.» And he said, «All these things I have kept from my youth.» When Jesus heard these things, He said to him, «You still lack one thing: Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Come and follow me.» It’s interesting, «Come and follow me.» There are twelve who were allowed to follow Him, and Jesus was giving this man the opportunity to be one who could follow. I don’t know if he would have been one of the twelve or one of the seventy; I just know he had the chance to come and follow Jesus.
Here’s what you need to see: Jesus never uses the reward of following Him to entice someone. He doesn’t use the promise of eternal life; this man is concerned about wealth. Jesus easily could have said, «Listen, this is how it works: seek me first, and all these things will be added to you.» He never used the other parts of the story to get him to follow because if you follow for any reason besides simply following Him to be with Him, your foundation is fragile, and you will falter in difficult times. The walk with the Lord has many rewards and many costs, and anyone who has a foundation based on seeking to obtain will fall; they will falter.
The second thing about this part of the story is that if this man follows Jesus because of what will happen to him—that all these things will be added—he will always measure his success in his walk with the Lord by external things. It will never be measured by the relationship itself, and our seasons are dramatically different. Like Paul said, «I know how to abound; I know how to be in lack.» If we measure the season we’re in by external conditions, we will come to the wrong conclusion. The journey is merely a relational journey, and in the journey, He adds all these things. Yes, He brings blessings; yes, He brings prosperity; He does all those things. But it’s such an interesting journey because anyone who builds a relationship with God based on what they will gain from it is actually pouring dirt into the cement, causing it to weaken. There is not a foundation strong enough to hold any significant structure.
What the Lord wants from those who follow Him is the simplicity and purity of devotion that is not tied to the outcome. Now, I’m usually the one who talks about the outcome. I’m usually the one who discusses seeking first, so all these things are added; He wants you to have significance, to make an impact on the course of history, and to have dreams fulfilled. This is who our Father is. But at the beginning of the journey, it’s vital that we come with no attachments. I often describe it this way: when we come to the Lord, the Bible describes it as a straight and narrow road. It’s straight, so it’s not complicated, but it is narrow. It’s a narrow road to the kingdom; there is one place of entrance, and that is in Christ Jesus. He is the entrance to a lifetime of communion and fellowship with the Father.
There is only one way: the straight and narrow road. Many believers, once they enter the kingdom, think it’s still a straight and narrow road, and I don’t want to imply that once you’re in, you can be careless. That would be a misinterpretation. In the kingdom, it is different from the entrance to the kingdom because there are options that you didn’t have outside of it. As you approach the Father, there are no options; there’s only one way. But in the kingdom, He says to pursue earnestly spiritual gifts. He doesn’t tell you which ones, because there are options. We all have specific areas of life and ministry; we all carry a ministry of reconciliation, but all of us have unique expressions. He doesn’t try to box us in because there are options—there’s uniqueness. You can be a vegetarian, you can be a meat-eater. Thank you for the letter, Jesus!
No, but I’m serious; there are options. Paul actually talks about the honor that is supposed to exist for the person who differs. Why? Because in this kingdom, there are options. See, it’s a broad road, built so you can succeed in this journey with the Lord. He tells the rich young ruler to sell everything; the man is really depressed afterward. Verse 24: Jesus says it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. I’ve tried to picture that since I was a child; I’ve never been able to get one hair at a time through the eye of the needle. I guess it can be done, but it might take a couple of days. The disciples heard Jesus’s response; just follow this now for a moment. The disciples heard the response and said, «Then who can be saved?» Verse 26.
Verse 28: Peter says, «We left everything to follow You.» In Mark’s gospel, he explains this a little differently. He says, «I will return to you a hundred times as much as what you left to follow me, but I will return it to you with persecution.» I’m glad he mentioned persecution because it was going to come anyway, but I’m glad he mentioned it because we would be tempted to push that promise off into eternity; we would be tempted to put that in heaven. He was saying, «No, this is for now. I’m going to return to you a hundred times what you gave up, but it’s going to come with persecution.» It’s going to come; I’m going to increase the income, but I’m also increasing the taxes. See, it’s the opposition, the criticism, the betrayal that keeps you honest. We want the increase of the anointing for the prophetic so that we can be more powerful, and He says, «I want to give it to you, but the tax will increase.» I want a greater anointing for breakthrough—me too—but the tax will increase. Everything you laid down to follow Him, He celebrates, and He will return it beyond what you ever could have imagined. That’s part of the deal, but Jesus never used that reality to get anyone to follow.