Today’s message comes to us from Matthew chapter 19. It is the story of the rich young man who meets Jesus. It is about the things we value – our possessions. Right and wrong attitudes. Worldly and biblical attitudes. It is a story that starts with a question about how to obtain eternal life, and turns into a lesson on the potential power of possessions over mankind. As such, it has become one of those bible stories where the central character (in this case the rich man) serves as a warning about wrong perspectives that lead to misplaced priorities that result in bad choices.
So we are going to take a look at this story today, elaborate on it, follow it, and see what truths and practical ideas we can glean from it.
As I was preparing this message, I have to confess that it made me take a long hard look at my own priorities regarding the things I own and my attitudes toward them, and I hope it will do that for all of us this morning. I would like for us to begin today by reading Matthew Chapter 19 starting at verse 16. Feel free to follow along with me in your bibles as I read it. (Matthew 19:16-29.)
The Rich Young Man
16Now 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, 19honor your father and mother,'[d] and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'[e]"
20"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
21Jesus 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."
22When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24Again 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."
25When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"
26Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Let’s Pray (say prayer)
? Thanks
? Open our eyes and our hearts
? Help us to desire an understanding of your word that is more than surface level
? Thank you for your Son Jesus who suffered the pains of the cross to bring us to that which is true treasure – namely a relationship with you.
Ah… money and possessions! Money is an interesting thing, isn’t it? It will make many people do things that they wouldn’t otherwise do.
Recently the phenomenon of America’s love for money was documented in a book called “The Day America Told the Truth”. Americans were asked: “What are you willing to do for $10,000,000?”
The statistics are frightening:
? Would abandon their entire family (25%)
? Would abandon their church (25%)
? Would give up their American citizenships (16%)
? Would leave their spouses (16%)
? Would withhold testimony and let a murderer go free (10%)
? Would put their children up for adoption (3%)
? (some of you with children may be thinking that that 3% is bit LOW! :-)
But the point is… People are willing to do many things for money.
Today’s bible story illustrates a man who had a LOT of money.
Now there is nothing wrong with having possessions. They can be a great blessing from the Lord when handled properly (which we will get into momentarily). But in contrast to the prosperity theology preached by some televangelists claiming that God wants us to be happy with our worldly pursuits at ALL times AND have everything we want at ALL times, Jesus gives us an abrupt lesson today regarding our attitude towards those things we call OUR possessions.
So let’s step back into our scripture reading and begin to highlight some important points.
Near the beginning of this story, the rich man is asking what good thing he should do to obtain eternal life…. and we see Jesus’ response…
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, 19honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself."
Jesus is of course making reference to the ten commandments here, but in his response to the rich man, I find it interesting that Jesus focuses at this point on only SOME of the ten commandments. Essentially, those that outline appropriate relationships between people (the “person-to-person” commandments if you will)…
? Murder
? Adultery
? Theft
? Bearing false witness
? How to treat your parents and neighbors
But in answering the question regarding how to get eternal life, Jesus leaves out the first commandments which have to do with our relationship with God. Why? Well, let’s read on…
In the next verse … the rich man says…
20"All these I have kept," …………….. "What do I still lack?"
ALL THESE I HAVE KEPT? (I tend to think Jesus knew this response was coming).
At this point, Jesus could have said “Oh really?” Have you REALLY kept those man-to-man person-to-person commandments? Have you really been GOOD all your life according to just this subset of biblical standards? Jesus could have said “Don’t you remember what I said back in Matthew chapter 5 that
? Hatred is equivalent to Murder in God’s eyes. Have you ever hated someone? Or…
? Looking lustfully at someone is equivalent to Adultery in God’s eyes. Have you ever lusted when you were at home – alone – watching “Jerusalem Cable TV”.
? You are asking for GOD’S GIFT of eternal life based on your good works, so let’s measure you by GOD’S STANDARD. Are you really as worthy to enter heaven as you think you are?
YOU SEE: There really are two ways to get to heaven (before you stone me for heresy, let me explain).
1) Repent of your sins and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
2) Follow the commandments. ALL COMMANDMENTS. Be absolutely perfect in all you think, say, and do. Following the letter, spirit and intention of the Old Testament Law. At all times.
But Jesus doesn’t go down this route. He bypasses the claim of the rich man that he has kept and fulfilled the Old Testament Laws. Instead Jesus sets all that aside and cuts to the heart of the matter -- which is that this rich man values something else more than he values God. So Jesus tells the man (and in so doing tests the man’s heart) he says….
21 "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." And the man went away sad, because he was very wealthy.
Jesus exposes this man’s true priority by asking for a personal choice. The man thought he could earn his way into heaven by keeping the commandments and doing good works. He was of course wrong. The Old testament law is a mirror to show us that we are NOT capable or worthy of entering heaven based on our good works! Jesus then shows the rich man how far off the mark he was, by exposing his true hearts desires. He gives him a choice to abandon his grip on those temporary worldly things that he values more than God and to INSTEAD follow Jesus.… and gain TRUE treasure.
This is really a snapshot of the offer that all of us are given in Jesus. To repent of the love of the things of this world and follow Christ instead.
Imagine how this man’s life would have changed. How his eternity would have changed, had he taken Jesus up on his offer. But it was not to be. His priority was his worldly possessions, and he chose to follow them -- instead of seeking first the kingdom of God.
DID HE OWN HIS POSSESSIONS, OR DID THEY OWN HIM?
ILLUSTRATION: In the ninth century AD, the emperor Charlemagne who had ruled most of Europe during his life – DIED at the age of 72. In his will, he had ordered that he be buried in the vault of the cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle. His body was embalmed, clothed in imperial purple, seated on a throne, and placed in a tomb all paved with gold coins. With a royal crown on his head, a scepter in his hand, a sword by his side, and an open Bible on his knees… the great Emperor now dead sat on a throne, and the vault was closed. Charlemagne had prescribed all this in his will, and had given strict orders that his tomb should never be opened. But one of the later German emperors, wishing to retrieve the crown, and other priceless objects, had the tomb opened. The sight the workmen saw was startling. There was Charlemagne’s body in a sitting position, clothed in the most elaborate of kingly garments. On his knee lay the Holy Scriptures with his cold, lifeless hand open to Mark 8:36: "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
Charlemagne was a man who during his life had control of ASTONISHING wealth, yet left a final legacy pointing out to all -- the very temporary nature of possessions.
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The bible talks more about possessions than it does about ANY OTHER TOPIC. Christ talks more about money and possessions – than heaven and hell combined. Why does the bible place such an emphasis on worldly goods? Because there’s a fundamental connection between our spiritual lives and how we think about and handle possessions. We may try to divorce our faith and our finances, but God sees them as inseparable.” The pursuit of STUFF has the very great ability to distract and derail us from God and His purposes.
In America, none of us are immune from the deceptive lure of money and possessions.
In fact, It is well known that America’s favorite pastime which used to be baseball… then football… is now CONSUMERISM!!!)
? We borrow money we don’t have to …
? Buy things we don’t need to …
? Impress people we don’t like …
We have turned possessions into a national craze. The wealthier our country gets, it seems the more we want. It is a never-ending cycle. Now Jesus knows that we need things (as he said in Matthew chapter 6), but if we are not very careful, if we do not pursue HIM FIRST, we will find that the primary focus of our life becomes our possessions for our purposes.
Perhaps you may be thinking, I’m not rich like the man in today’s story, so this doesn’t really apply to me. I don’t have much at all. In fact, if money talks, all it ever says to me is “GOODBYE!”.
Let me tell you though, you are rich. In fact, let’s take just a moment to compare ourselves to the rest of the world. Compared to the other 6 billion people on this planet, here is how we stack up:
? If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.
? If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.
? If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the one million people who will not survive this week.
? If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
? If you can attend church meetings without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion in the world.
Compared to the rest of the world, we are astonishingly rich and we have much to be thankful for. We also have the obligation to have a biblical understanding of how we should use the resources we do have.
Well the story of the rich man is of course an example of the wrong attitude towards money and possessions. So, what would be a right attitude?
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What should be our position regarding possessions?
I think the answer begins with an understanding of the “unspoken commandment” in the story of the rich man. Let’s expound this morning by examining the commandments that Jesus used to expose the rich man’s incorrect attitude. And by doing so, perhaps help us realign our priorities with God’s priorities. The “unspoken commandments” of Matthew Chapter 19, is found in Exodus chapter 20 verses 1-5a.
Exodus 20:1-5a
And God spoke all these words:
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
"You shall have no other gods before me.
"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
“You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God,
In the time of Moses… The Israelites had just come from Egypt, a land of many idols and gods. Because each god represented a different aspect of life, it was common to worship many gods in order to get the maximum number of blessings. When God told his people to worship and believe in him, that wasn’t so hard for them-he was just one more god to add to the list. But when he said, "You shall have no other gods before me," that was difficult for the people to accept. But if they didn’t learn that the God who led them out of Egypt was the only true God, they could not be his people-no matter how faithfully they kept the other nine commandments. That’s why God made this his first commandment and emphasized it more than the others.
“You shall have no other gods before me.”
This was the young rich man’s biggest blindspot (not his only blindspot). He had GREAT WEALTH … MONEY, property, possessions, servants, certainly more than he could carry around. [PAUSE … I KNEW I COULD FIND A PLACE FOR THAT SLIDE]. But he had allowed something (in this case – possessions) to become his priority and take the place of God. Wealth is meant to be a blessing from God, not a substitute.
Jesus offered the rich man an opportunity to recognize that he was not good enough in God’s sight to enter heaven, that he had not fulfilled the ten commandments as he thought he had, and that – when asked – he would not fulfill even the first commandment… which is to have no idol, possession or priority that outranks God.
Today we can allow many things – even things we don’t yet possess, but want to possess – to become idols to us. We can desire and pursue things to such an extent that they can literally choke off and block out a relationship with God.
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How would we respond if we were the rich young man in this story? If we were in his place 2,000 years ago, would you or I have chosen to follow Jesus and forsake all of our worldly possessions? Would we be willing to do it today? It is a difficult question. How deep is our commitment to God, how much are we willing to sacrifice to seek first the kingdom of God?
Now don’t worry. I am not going to tell you that you have to give all your money away to the church (unless the Lord is leading you to do that, then who am I to stand in HIS way? ? )
We know that we can’t buy our way into heaven. Jesus’ death on the cross paid the penalty for our sins and gains our entrance into heaven. The point in today’s story has to do with heart attitude. How do we ENCOURAGE a desire to seek God and his purposes above everything else AND avoid the trap of always wanting more, never being satisfied with what we DO have, and never being truly sold out to God?
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The word that should sum up a proper heart attitude towards worldly possessions is…
STEWARDSHIP.
We are called to be wise managers, not ultimate owners. This concept is God’s wonderful way of asking us to see things differently, to weigh things differently, and to live differently.
IT BEGINS WITH A PROPER… PERSPECTIVE
I Timothy 6:7 gives a wonderfully direct statement regarding the starting point – if you will – for understanding what should be a proper attitude toward worldly goods. It says simply… 7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. That’s it! That is the starting point.
? World’s Perspective – This is my stuff; I OWN it and it belongs to me, and I’ll do what I want with it.
? God’s Perspective – You own nothing; it comes from me; you are called to be my steward.
So… what is a “STEWARD”.
Concept of the steward.
1. NOT a lowly position.
2. Throughout biblical history, those who were very wealthy had numerous servants; those who were the most trustworthy were elevated to the position of “steward.”
There are many character examples of good stewardship in the bible (Daniel, Abraham, and others). One of my favorites is the short but powerful passage in the OLD TESTAMENT of Joseph in Potiphar’s house: Genesis 39:4,6 says that…
”Joseph found favor in his [Potiphar’s] eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. …6 So he left in Joseph's care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.”
From Joseph’s story we find several essential insights into the role of the steward and the proper handling of possessions:
? Nothing he put his hands on belongs to him. But although he owned nothing, he’s entrusted with great wealth. Everything that belongs to his master has been placed under his control.
? He has no status or significance but he has been charged with great responsibility. Everything that has to do with running the house falls on his shoulders.
? He is a slave and has no freedom or rights, but as the chief steward he is free to make use of the master’s property and to manage his affairs as he sees fit. Nobody but the master has more power
?
Further reading of Joseph’s story would show us that the defining quality of the good steward is TRUST.
? He proved worthy of the confidence placed in him
? Being faithful to your task
? Resisting opportunities to take advantage of your position
THIS is the heart attitude of the steward. It is the perspective of one who manages possessions for his or her master.
In the new testament…
Matthew 24:45-51 says…
"Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.”
God calls us to be “faithful and wise” servants; where he can entrust HIS enormous wealth to us – our homes, our families, our careers, our money, our possessions… TO BE USED FOR HIS PURPOSES. No matter how much we have, it truly is all HIS. Psalm 24:1 says:
1 The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.
Perspective is beneficial to us. Beginning by understanding that worldly wealth does not really ultimately belong to us, can give us a sense of freedom that no amount of greed and possessions can deliver. No matter how much we have, a proper biblical perspective can also help us to be content with what we DO have. Let me give you an illustration…
ILLUSTRATION: One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live.
They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.
On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"
"It was great, Dad."
"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.
"Oh yeah," said the son.
"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered:
"I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool but they have a bigger creek. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We have walls around our property to protect us and they have friends to protect them."
The boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."
Isn’t perspective a wonderful thing? The right perspective makes us appreciate whatever our station in life is. It puts us in our place...and helps us keep God in His!
PRIORITIES
The rich young man who encountered Jesus also missed the second component of stewardship which is “PROPER PRIORITIES”. Not only seeing earthly wealth from its proper perspective, but also understanding that it is secondary in importance to following God.
The concept of “PRIORITY” is closely tied to the concept of worship. The word WORSHIP is defined as “The reverent love and devotion accorded a deity, an idol, or a sacred object”. What “sacred” objects do we place as priorities before our devotion to God?
A simple truth: What we place as a priority is generally what we will worship. And what we worship becomes our god.
In the Old Testament, people looked to idols for provision, meaning, significance, and identity. (sound familiar???) Worshipers bent their knees in submission and devotion to the idols they believed could save them. When the unfaithful Israelites turned to idolatry, God asked through the prophet Jeremiah, “…where are your gods which you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble. But God made it clear that only He could save them
He already told Israel… “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God”.
God hates idolatry! He demands to be #1 our lives.
When Israel refused to worship God alone and turned to the worship of other gods, many bad things followed. Destruction, plagues, famine, war, captivity. God took his peoples’ infidelity seriously and his response was severe.
Like the people of Moses’ day – and the people of first century Israel – Our hearts are prone to wander. The bible says “bring every thought captive to Christ”. We must continually ask ourselves, “Who or what is ruling my thoughts and behavior: the Lord or an idol?” and “What are my priorities?”
1. To what did I devote most of my time in the past week?
2. Where did I expend the most energy?
3. On what did I spend the most money?
4. When I let my mind wander, where does my attention usually travel?
5. What needs might I be trying to meet that could be better met in my relationship with God
If we devote ourselves to knowing God more intimately and place him as FIRST in our lives then we will be less likely to buy into the lies of this world…. when it promises with possessions what only He can deliver with a relationship.
PERSONAL CHOICES
We have taken a look at a biblical attitude toward possessions. The attitude of Stewardship. First the perspective (not ultimately ours), the priority (God comes first), and now personal choices. This is where the rubber meets the road – so to speak – in our relationship with God. This is where what is in our hearts is shown through our lives.
Luke 16:13 "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
Our personal choices – what we do with the resources we have – truly reveals to people where our hearts are at.
There is a question (kind of an illustration) I would like to use to highlight this point. And that question is:
HOW DO YOU CATCH A MONKEY?
(I PROMISE…there is a spiritual application!)
For those of you who have never tried to catch a monkey before, let it be known that they are fast little guys. You can’t really just chase them down. So trappers created what is called a “SOUTH INDIAN MONKEY TRAP”. Simple everyday items that can be assembled in such a way as to very effectively trap a monkey. It is done by tying a coconut to a stake, cutting a small hole in the coconut and inserting a piece of bait (such as a banana or fig) deep inside the coconut. And then the trappers leave it in plain view of the monkeys. When a monkey comes down from the tree, he squeezes his hand into the small hole in the coconut and grasps the bait. But now he has made a fist and his fist is too big to pull out of the hole. But rather than release the bait and be free, the monkey is too greedy. He will wrestle with that coconut, unwilling to release the bait AND unable to get free. Even when the trappers return and approach him with a net, the monkey won’t let go of the bait. And he loses his freedom.
These four simple items [stake, coconut, piece of rope and a piece of fruit] – SEPERATELY – pose no threat to the monkey. But they can be arranged in such a way as to trap the monkey and deny him his freedom. I don’t know your situation. But I want you to ask yourself a couple questions…
• What things in your life have you allowed to become South Indian Monkey traps?
• What things are you unwilling to release, even though you know they are hurting or even blocking your relationship with God???
Understand this: The world wants you to have a mindset of GREED. It wants you to have IDOLS and possessions to Covet. It wants you on a never-ending quest for satisfaction through the accumulation of things and the abandonment of Godly pursuits. The last thing it wants you to do is to trade GREED for GOD. An interviewer asked John D. Rockefeller, one of the richest men in the world, "How much money is enough?" Rockefeller replied, "Just a little bit more."
The greed for possessions trapped the rich young man in today’s bible story. It blinded him to his true need and to the reality of true wealth… namely a relationship with God.
All of us – individually – have a personal choice and a responsibility regarding what we do with the money and possessions God has placed into our hands for the brief time each of us is here on this earth.
• Will our perspective be one of greedy ownership? Or will we understand that we are stewards called to manage possessions?
• Will our priority be to live for ourselves and what we can grab? Or will our priority be to live for God and those we can reach?
• Will we choose to obey our own inclinations and keep our riches to ourselves? Or will we obey God and be prepared to give everything (including ourselves) if God asks?
In closing, let me give you the Apostle Paul’s perspective towards possessions. Whether you have many possessions, or you have very little, the 6th chapter of 1 Timothy applies to you. Verses 6-11 and 17-19 say…
I Timothy 6:6-11 says… 6But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 11But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
17Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
God wants us to live with Him alone as our God, placing Him above everything else in our lives, making Him our center of worship and letting it show in how we live, and how we manage HIS possessions for HIS purposes. Understanding that true treasure is only found when we make following him our first priority.
Let’s close in prayer.
