"Thou shalt have treasure in heaven..."

Hello! This week, the topic is on Earthly and Heavenly rewards, which covers Matthew 19:16-30 and 20:1-16. What is going on in Matthew 19:16-30 is a wealthy young man asking Jesus Christ how to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus Christ explains that he must follow the commandments. The young man then asks what he lacks, and Christ says "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me." The young man walked away sorrowful. Indications on why the young man decided not to follow the Savior include his many riches. Matthew 6:19-24 helps to further explain his choice by two verses, specifically. Verse 21 says "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." In verse 24, it says that "No man can serve two masters...Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Obviously, and sadly, that young man's heart was with his treasures. He served mammon, and even though he had a desire to serve God, his heart was not in it, and therefore, was not possible.

Blessings the Savior promised to those who make sacrifices to come to Him include receiving "an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." (Matt. 19:29)

We hear the wise words time and time again to have Christ as one's rock and foundation. I personally picture a house being built. If the foundation was Christ, nothing not of Christ could be built upon it; only good, and Christlike things. Of course, I am not perfect, but to live a life with Christ first, would mean to attempt to do that. This would mean to try every day to make sure that the things in my life are for Him and because of Him. Something that would help me remember to put Him first is to remember that, that He is first. Nothing else can or should come before it, and that I need to strive to be as Christ like as I can be every day.

This is a chart roughly describing the situation in the parable found in Matthew chapter twenty.

From this parable, we learn that if we are going to serve in God's Kingdom, we will have the same reward in the end, no matter when one started serving. This can comfort converts in the church, because even though they joined later than others, it makes no difference, just as long as they made it. If someone felt it unfair to pay each of the laborors seperately, I would explain to them that very few people are born into this church, very few people were called to labor in the early morning. Then I would explain that what would not be fair is if the people who were happened to be found later in life to be taught the gospel, or the people in the marketplace, automatically had a disadvantaged to making it back to their Heavenly Father, or being called to work in the viniard, just because they happened to be found later than others.