INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• Over the past couple of weeks we have been looking at the Clash of The Titans, the battle between God and the gods we serve.
• This week we are going to examine a god this world has to offer that many people bow themselves down before, the Titan of Success.
• I mean who does not want to be successful? When My 7th grade math teacher Mr. Day would ask us what we wanted to be when we grew up, my friend Kevin who by the way is also a minister used to tell him that we aspired to be one of the whino’s on the courthouse steps in town because we would not have to learn math.
• Jeff, what could possibly be wrong with wanting to be successful? Should we aspire to be a loser?
• Well, not exactly and as far as there being anything wrong with being successful or desiring to be successful, there is nothing wrong with that either, as a matter of fact I would encourage you to strive to be successful in whatever you do in life.
• It is a bit like pleasure, there is nothing wrong with seeking pleasure in life, BUT when life BECOMES about pleasure, then Houston, we have a problem!
• There is nothing wrong in being successful until that is what comes first in life.
• The other issue with success is how do you define what being successful means?
• We have to be careful not to let the gods of this world take first place in our lives. Many people have sacrificed everything at the altar of success.
• Men and women have lost their families in the pursuit of the Titan of success, fathers who have offered up their children at the altar of success.
• Being successful is not a bad thing until it becomes your god. The Titan of Success offers a lot of perks. Materialism, prestige, position, and power are some of the big perk this god offers to those who worship at its altar.
• Today we are going to look at an encounter that Jesus has with a young ruler who has been worshipping the titan of success and until this encounter with Jesus he did not even know he was doing it.
• This young man will be confronted with a choice, the god of success or the true God.
• Who we decide to serve is 100% our choice; let’s examine the dilemma this young man finds himself in.
• The dilemma this young ruler faces is the same one we face each and every day.
• SLIDE #2
• Luke 18:18–21 (HCSB) 18 A ruler asked Him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 “Why do you call Me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good but One—God. 20 You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother.” 21 “I have kept all these from my youth,” he said.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. The real need. (18-21)
• Wow, this is shaping up to be an interesting exchange.
• Here a young man with power, prestige and a decent amount of wealth. It seems like he is living the Israelite Dream.
• For the standards of the day, he looks to be one of those others envy. It seems like this young man is a nice man also, I mean he is coming to Jesus because he needs something.
• I believe unknowingly this young ruler has been worshipping the god of success. He had all the trappings of success; I mentioned some of those trappings a moment ago.
• Let’s think this through. Let’s bring it to today for a moment.
• Imagine having achieved whatever you define as being successful. We see a lot of seemingly successful; we live in a prosperous country.
• I remember when I was very young wanting to be a draftsman like my dad, because that is what my dad did, that is what I wanted to do.
• My dad told me that I should not want to be a draftsman because they do not make a lot of money.
• So as I got a little older I figured my job was just to make a lot of money. If I could live large I would be successful and happy.
• I would have it all.
• There are a lot of folks who live under the illusion that success in itself will bring happiness.
• They work hard, they go to great sacrifice and they eventually achieve their goal, but when they get the goal, something is not quite right, something is missing, something is lacking.
• As we ponder what is missing, many times we surmise that the feeling that something is missing is that we do not have enough so we gear up to gain more.
• Maybe we fall into one of the snares that the titan of success lays out for us, we see someone else with something better or nicer than what we have.
• Bigger house, nicer car, younger wife or husband. Then the god of success gets a deeper hold on us, the circle continues, it never ends.
• Remember, I am not saying success is bad, it like the other gods of this world do their real damage when we put them ahead of God.
• Let’s get back to our text.
• This young man is smart in one way, he knows he is lacking something, with all he does possess; something is missing, so he comes to Jesus.
• Notice in verse 18 he asks Jesus…
• SLIDE #4
• A ruler asked Him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
• Why would this young ruler ask such a question unless living the Israeli dream was falling short and leaving him dissatisfied?
• Notice the emphasis of the question. What must I DO to inherit eternal life? The word INHERIT means to possess or enjoy. The word implies everlasting happiness.
• This young man for all he had was not happy he was missing something.
• If material things and success in itself brought happiness, everyone or maybe most who are in that position would be fulfilled.
• This young man may have been a self-made man, he achieved it all on his own and done it all on his own. So he knows something is missing so he wants to know what more HE COULD do so he could inherit eternal life.
• Suffice to say this man was searching.
• Jesus responds in verse 19…
• 19 “Why do you call Me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good but One—God.
• That is an odd answer? Why would Jesus seemingly chastise this young man searching for answers?
• In truth He is not. Jesus is asking him a question. The real question is this, do you see me as simply a man or do you see me as God?
• The title with which the ruler addressed Jesus is one reserved for God.
• For us to be able to understand our REAL need, we need to decide how we see Jesus, just as the young man would have to decide.
• If Jesus is just a man, then keep doing what you are doing because there is nothing better waiting for you, there is no real reason to quit serving the god of success.
• However, if we decide Jesus is God, then we are ready to deepen our faith.
• Jesus needs to know if this young man is really ready go find the answer if he is ready to go into deeper water with his faith.
• Now we get to verse 20. Jesus tells the young man he needs to keep the commandments, and Jesus only gives him five, they all deal with this ruler’s relationship with his fellow man.
• Now even if this man could keep the commands he could not earn eternal life.
• Jesus gave these to the young man for a reason.
• I can sense the young man’s frustration level rising, he thinks he has been doing these things. In verse 21 he proclaims he had been keeping these commands since his youth.
• He is not boasting he is dissatisfied and frustrated, HE IS DOING THESE THINGS YET HE KNOWS SOMETHING IS MISSING!
• Now Jesus is going to give this young man the actual answer to his dilemma!
• SLIDE #5
II. The actual answer. (22-27)
• Let’s look at verses 22-27
• SLIDE #6
• Luke 18:22–27 (HCSB) 22 When Jesus heard this, He told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” 23 After he heard this, he became extremely sad, because he was very rich. 24 Seeing that he became sad, Jesus said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 Those who heard this asked, “Then who can be saved?” 27 He replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”
• Jesus, with all the love He had gave the young man the actual answer to his problem, Jesus knew what the man was lacking.
• There is some good news if you think about it, Jesus said YOU STILL LACK ONE THING!
• WOW! Only one thing! I mean if Jesus were speaking to me, I would be thrilled if we were dealing with only one thing!
• Well the bad news for the young man is that Jesus cut right to the heart of the young man’s emptiness, his dissatisfaction with life.
• Jesus went straight for the real god this young man was serving.
• This young man was faced with a tough choice, leave the god he was really serving and follow Jesus OR stay empty and dissatisfied and continue following his true god, success.
• This young man was hoping Jesus would give him the answer. Well Jesus did and the young man could not bear the thought of leaving his god because his god had been good to him materially.
• Now is Jesus condemning wealth? No, He is condemning putting it first, relying on it instead of God.
• SLIDE #7
• 1 Timothy 6:9–10 (HCSB) 9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
• Does this not fit what just happened?
• Well the disciples are watching this all unfold right before their very eyes.
• Jesus says “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
• Talking about rocking the world view of these men. The Jewish people believed that material wealth was God shining on you, evidence of divine favor. In some cases yes, that can be true, but not always.
• Does not look like it worked out too well for this young man does it?
• Things are getting uncomfortable for the disciples about now, I wonder if they had visions of riches and wealth in the future?
• Well, look next, 26 Those who heard this asked, “Then who can be saved?” 27 He replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”
• They are wondering who can be saved? Jesus says with God all things are possible!
• Their hopelessness turns to hope.
• Let’s look at verses 28-30
• SLIDE #8
• Luke 18:28–30 (HCSB) 28 Then Peter said, “Look, we have left what we had and followed You.” 29 So He said to them, “I assure you: There is no one who has left a house, wife or brothers, parents or children because of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more at this time, and eternal life in the age to come.”
• You got to love Peter. You know if someone is going to say anything it will be him.
• Peter says to Jesus, hey we left it all to follow you!
• SLIDE #9
III. The genuine blessing. (28-30)
• Jesus responds to Peter.
• Consider this. Jesus asked the young man to give up his god, his wealth, his god of success definition of success so he could follow Jesus, yet he elected not to.
• Why would he give away all he had to follow Jesus, what is in it for him?
• Peter looks at what he did; he wants to know what is in it for him!
• I think we sell Jesus and salvation short when we just think of the issue of heaven, as wonderful as it will be.
• When people wonder why they should give up the god they are serving to follow Jesus, the thought of eternal life does not really move the needle too much especially if a person is young.
• As we get older, eternal life gets to mean more because when we are young we do not think we will die or get old or look old.
• Look again at what Jesus says, He just does not say follow me and you will go to heaven. Look at what He says.
• SLIDE #10
• 29 So He said to them, “I assure you: There is no one who has left a house, wife or brothers, parents or children because of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more at this time, and eternal life in the age to come.”
• Yes eternal life is an awesome part of what you receive from Jesus, but He also says…
• who will not receive many times more at this time,
• That empty feeling, that hole in your life, that feeling that something is missing will go away in Christ!
• Your life here and now will have purpose, your life will have meaning, your life will mean something.
• You will know you are special to God!
CONCLUSION
• The rich young ruler had a choice, leave the god of success and follow Jesus or stay with his god and forsake Jesus.
• You have a choice to make also, what will it be?
• The sad thing for this young man is he thought his stuff that his god was giving him would make him happy and satisfied EVEN though the history of his life did not bear that out.
• In your life without Jesus, it not all the sudden going to become fulfilling no matter what you get.
• If you are not fulfilled and satisfied with life now, no material possession with give it to you. You will always long for more.
• What this young man was seeking, Jesus offered, he turned Him down.
• Will take the offer today?
