In that great challenge to evangelism just before His ascension, known as the Great Commission, Jesus commanded that His disciples disciple others. They were to lead them to faith through the preaching of the gospel, bring them into the fellowship of the church through the initiatory rite of baptism, and then, within that fellowship, continue to teach them all that Jesus had commanded them. He promised that He would be with them always as they did this.
2. Certain blessings. It is not only the greatness of the blessings promised by Jesus that encourage us in His service. Their security encourages us too. The young man turned away from Christ because he was unwilling to part with his possessions, but it is an irony of the story that he turned from possessions which were certain to possessions which were at best uncertain. Maybe he lost those possessions before the year was out. Maybe his gold was stolen. His lands could have been taken. As in the prodigal’s case, his friends could have grown cold and abandoned him.
Although this text should not be misused to teach that every Christian is going to be well-off, nevertheless, the text is a great promise, and it does have to do with earthly relationships and material possessions. At the least, it means that the true follower of Christ will not lack for any good thing (“My cup overflows,” Ps. 23:6) and that, in normal circumstances, a Christian will be blessed with earthly goods abundantly. Personally I am convinced that Jesus gives us every good that He can possibly give us without rendering us unfit for His work or destroying our souls. The reason why many of us do not have more is that the Lord knows we would misuse it.
