Below is the link to the audio
http://www.messy-spirituality.com/sermons/ObtainingPerfection.mp3
Matthew 19:16-31
16 Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” the man inquired.
Jesus replied, “ ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
28 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. (NIV 1984)
Below is the link to the audio
http://www.messy-spirituality.com/sermons/ObtainingPerfection.mp3
I don’t know about you all ……but as I started to read this, I found that I can say honestly, I have not kept all of the commandments that Jesus stated. Noooo, don’t worry, I have not murdered anyone. I know at times I have not honored my father and mother, nor loved my neighbor as myself. This can be very discouraging while reading this. Having great wealth, well that is not a problem I have today, nor do I foresee that anytime in my future.
Each of you has helped our family tremendously while we are at seminary. Our family just cannot express how much all of the prayers and thoughts mean to us. I have to tell you prayers and thoughts are invaluable while we are away from you all. Financially, I have to say I was really taken aback by the generosity of this congregation and the friends you all invited. I know you are generous and prove it time and time again in your prayers, talents, your time and possessions. I know of seminary students who come from congregations that worship over 300 people on a weekend and they have received no financial assistance, no letters, no email, and no reminders of any sort that anyone is thinking or praying for them.
I want to look at this text a little deeper today now. I went into the Greek translation; yes that Greek class is coming in handy. In Greek and properly translated in our NIV Jesus tells the man of the things he should be doing. A little more clearly emphasized was the Greek in that it shows this as future tense. So it applies to tomorrow and the day after that, etc etc.
Did you all catch the response from the man? He replies in the past tense of “I have kept”. Was he was missing the point here, it was today and going forward always. This can be next to impossible to do. Not only that, did anyone else catch what appears to be a lie the man said to Jesus? It was the same words, “I have kept”. I don’t know of any teenager that honors their father and mother all of the time, nor even an adult. To honor, you do so when you are with them and away from them. I find it hard to believe that this man has never dishonored his parents. Come on, really? I am surprised Jesus did not come back and say, “What ya talking about man?” Did you catch the other potential lie that is revealed in verse 22? The man is sad, because he had great wealth. Hummm, is he sad because he has so much wealth that it was going to be difficult to sell the possession and give to poor, which sure had to be a lot of wealth. Or was it he just did not want to give to the poor and rely upon wealth as his god? I am not sure which it is, we really cannot infer from the text. What I think I can safely infer is that he must not have loved his neighbors as himself if he really has so much wealth to give away. I really cannot say what the real issue was, however, there is a problem here for sure. Either way, it appears that he lies to Jesus when he said “I have kept” when referring to the commandments.
We next hear that it will be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. By the way, this applies to women to, just in case any of you women think there is a loop hole here. 
Upon hearing this the disciples were astonished. Having wealth was often seen as God having favor on you and therefore the idea being wealthy and not having eternal life, just seemed to be a bit strange. If God favored you with all this wealth, why would you not also have eternal life?
Now we hear, works of man, following the law, anything done by man will not make it possible to be saved. Ouch! Now what do we do???? That is the whole point; we do not DO because God does it for us in God’s Son. Following the Law, is doing works and doing works is does not lead perfection and therefore does not lead to eternal life.
I had a long facebook conversation that is still continuing, involving faith, grace and works this last week. The idea of having to do works, the need to do works, now becomes a law. The person(s) I have been conversing with have been insistent that works need to be done and in doing so they enhance faith. Now I very well believed that what was being written was that works will be done because of faith. However that is NOT what was being conveyed. What I was most concerned about was the idea of enhancing faith by works, thus the idea that we can make our faith grow or be enhanced by works of our own. Faith is imparted upon us all by the Holy Spirit, the only thing we do is choose to ignore this faith and thus reject what God has given us through the Holy Spirit or not ignore and let the Spirit work on our faith that has been given to us. If we do not reject the faith, then the Spirit continues to work in and upon us. It is because of the faith given to us, not by our own works or abilities that we then respond to the grace imparted by God upon us. That response is by doing works but even God is the one that helps us to do the works because it is God’s works that God has in mind for us that we do. It is not that we have to do works but we will want to do works. Doing works does not enhance our faith, does not make us perfect and certainly does not gain our salvation. The Holy Spirit gives faith to whomever and whenever the Spirit wants. We have nothing to do with this and in such, we cannot enhance it either.
So, what is it that God wants from us to be perfect? Nothing we can do for ourselves. God wants us not to ignore the faith that the Spirit has given us. Have faith in God’s only Son, Jesus Christ, that by His death on the cross, suffering and resurrection, we are justified in the sight of God’s eyes. Some might ask, “what if I have ignored God’s faith that God has given me, is it too late?” No, it is never too late. God’s grace comes to us in the sacraments of Baptism and Communion. Each time we come to the meal, God’s grace is again imparted upon us. Once baptized, we are new creatures created by God. Even then, if we fall away from God, Martin Luther says that the life preserver from the baptismal boat is there waiting for us upon repentance and we can be pulled back aboard the boat. Another way of receiving God’s grace is through confession, forgiveness and absolution. Those that are truly repentant will be absolved of their sins and God’s will see them in God’s grace as perfect
So, in the end God wants to see us through the grace that he imparts upon us, so that on the Day of Judgment, Jesus Christ, our advocate can present us to God as a good and faithful servant. One who is perfect and worthy of inheriting eternal life.
We all fall short and will never obtain perfection. Thank goodness, God loves us no matter what.
Pax et Bonum, my brother. Let us begin with some of what we are in harmony about, for there is much of that. For example, how important indeed it is for us to know that it is never too late to turn to God – right up to the final moment of our earthly life. Just as the father of the prodigal son looks off in the distance in anticipation of his son’s return and then runs out to greet him, so too our God will run out to meet us if we only we turn toward Him – responding, as it were, to the impetus of the Holy Spirit calling us.
It is also wonderful that through His Church, God provides the sacraments to be conduits of His gift of grace. It’s not that we get some quantifiable amount of grace from each sacrament as if it were Pez from a dispenser, of course. It’s more like helping us clear the pipeline so that the grace more easily flows to us, or rather that we are more receptive to it.
And there is no question that faith is a gift.
With all that we have in common, can the remaining chasm between us fail to be bridged? May it not be so!
In my effort to bridge the gap I must contend with your choice of the word “enhance” versus “nurture,” the word I used. You see, words mean things. The word enhance conveys the idea of adding value. As you characterized it above, no wonder you would be concerned. Certainly no works of ours make God’s gift of faith more valuable. You see, we agree.
However, nurture is different from enhance. Nurture conveys a sense of furthering the development of something.
Now I ask you, can our faith grow? Has your faith grown? Would it be a stretch for me to presume you answered “yes” to those questions?
Next I would ask you, how does faith grow? Does it grow by sleeping in on Sunday, reading trashy novels, or other secular pursuits? Or does it grow by participation in the sacraments, reading the bible, praying, helping others, and so on? Again, would it be a stretch for me to think you would choose the latter course? Those things are works, my friend.
Even so, we still agree that those things do not “make our faith grow” as you point out above. I would say that those good works more “allow” our faith to grow. We can stifle the work of the Holy Spirit within us by filling ourselves with other things, like the rich young man placing more value on worldly possessions, or sin. Or we can foster our faith by cooperating with the Holy Sprit and His impetus toward good works.
Faith comes from the church (communion of saints, church universal, etc), where the sacraments are properly administered and the gospel is preached. Faith is from the Holy Spirit by the will of God and there is nothing I can do to enhance, nurture or otherwise do for faith. For if it is my works that have anything to do with faith, it would be through death in sin revealed in the law as that is all humans are capable of in free will is to sin. Though I know the difference my human nature, now fallen, can only be culpable of wanting to and being part of sin. It is the law that identifies our sin.
Being human I want to do all that is sinful as this is what my condition draws me to. Sleeping in on Sunday, reading trashy novel and other secular pursuits. Faith does grow because of God’s interaction with us through the Spirit in the sacraments and hearing the gospel.
If doing works is a sacrament, then faith would be increased. If the gospel is heard while doing works, the works its self did not increase the faith but the Spirit in the gospel not the action of works. Hearing, or communication of the gospel I believe is better said, can be done in the Bible. However, again the act of reading is works and it is the Spirit in the gospel that again works for faith. Anytime we do action/works because of a need/want or anything of appearance that is outside of the Spirit moving in us, it is works. Lest we be very careful that reading the Bible in isolation, outside the church (communion of saints, church universal, catholic church) can lead to a false gospel, not one of the true and only God.
Yes my brother, we agree in many ways. Yet differ in this concept it would appear on the surface. The concern is when we speak of, look for, do or otherwise concern ourselves of works, there is the danger of doing works for the sake of us doing them in exchange. Once we exchange the works, we have sinned and are dammed. Yet, on the other hand, to not be aware of these works and potentially latch on to “cheap grace” is just as much a danger.
Therefore, all we can ever do is look towards Christ for what has and is done for us in God the Fathers’s only Son. When we fall away, as we will do daily be repentant and seek absolution so that God once again sees us in God’s grace as perfect.