10.23.22 Luke 18:18–30
18 A certain ruler asked Jesus, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one—God. 20 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony. Honor your father and mother.’ ” 21 “I have kept all these since I was a child,” he said. 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 23 But when the ruler heard these words, he became very sad, because he was very rich. 24 When Jesus saw that the man became very sad, he said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! 25 In fact, 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.” 26 Those who heard this said, “Then who can be saved?” 27 He replied, “What is impossible for people is possible for God.” 28 And Peter said, “Look, we have left our possessions and followed you.” 29 He said to them, “Amen I tell you: Anyone who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will most certainly receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come, eternal life.”
Lord, Increase Our Faith - For Total Dependence on You
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” I love the fact that the man is searching and he wants to know the answer about eternity. It’s hard to get people to think beyond the here and the now. What if you die today? Where will your soul go? Most people don’t think about such things. This is a great question he asks Jesus.
The jailer at Philippi asked a similar question. “What must I do to be saved?” But his situation was different. He had just witnessed an earthquake. He thought the prisoners had escaped. If they had escaped, he would have been put to death. He was about to kill himself, until Paul shouted at him not to hurt himself. This rich ruler wasn’t asking with such desperation and fear. He was asking with confidence and comfort.
Paul told the jailer to believe in Jesus and be baptized. He didn’t tell him to do anything. But here Jesus told the rich ruler the exact OPPOSITE. He laid out the Ten Commandments to him, then told him to sell everything he had and give it to the poor, and then come follow Him. He made it impossible for him. The rich man leaves very sad, and Jesus doesn’t seem to do anything for him but slam the door. It almost seems mean and cruel.
Why didn’t He just say to the rich ruler, “No worries! I got this! I’ll save you.”? Because the rich ruler actually thought he could EARN his inheritance. This man was convinced he had KEPT the law, when he really hadn’t. While slamming the door of heaven on the man, He was trying to show him that his way was completely wrong. He would need a miracle to be saved. He would have to be saved by grace, through faith in Jesus, not by works. The man wasn’t ready for that. He needed the door to be slammed in his face.
His wrong view of salvation stemmed from his wrong view of God. It stemmed from his wrong view of what good and evil are in the eyes of God. We tend to associate goodness with being nice and tolerant. But nice people aren’t always good. If you have a nice judge, he or she might be afraid to sentence criminals, so that they end up back on the streets doing more evil. Their niceness will only lead to more evil if they can’t make strong judgments on evil. And that’s what we’re witnessing in our society today. Everyone wants to be nice and tolerant, but when niceness and tolerance promotes wickedness and evil, then it’s no good at all.
Goodness is also a bit hard to gauge from a human point of view. Think of George Floyd. You have one group of people looking at George Floyd and saying, “He was a gentle giant. He read his Bible at home. He prayed with the people he was staying with. Yes, he had a drug problem, but he was trying to get better. Deep down he was a good guy.” Yet another group would see how he did drugs, resisted arrest, robbed a woman, and tried to use counterfeit money and say, “He had plenty of chances to get his life straight. Look at his criminal record. He may have tried, but he didn’t try hard enough! He was clearly a bad guy.” From a human perspective someone can also be good and bad at the same time. Paul said the same thing of himself.
But sometimes we can use that as an excuse for sin, so that our confession isn’t really a confession of sin in sorrow but just an admittance of weakness in defensiveness or pride. “I’m not gonna lie. I am what I am. God’s going to have to accept me as is.” That’s not how God works or thinks. He isn’t impressed with a prideful confession. That’s not good. God's standards for good are much higher than what we call good. “Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one—God. God isn’t satisfied with good intentions or trying hard. He’s holy. He doesn’t lessen His standards just because we are sinful. He doesn’t accept failure of any kind. James confirms this in James 2:10, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” He’s GUILTY. He deserves to be punished.
And if you’re going to talk about doing good and working for eternal heaven, then this is not just relative to what I THINK should be done. It isn’t a matter of opinion. It’s a matter of what GOD says is right and wrong, as listed in the Ten Commandments. Jesus lays that out for the rich ruler as well. Even that can be deceiving, as Jesus showed that even LOOKING lustfully is adultery and calling a vile name can be equated with MURDER in God’s sight. But the rich ruler truly THOUGHT he had kept these laws. And maybe we do too when we find ourselves praying or going to worship or giving our first fruits, living seemingly solid Christian lives? We forget how holy God is and how sinful we still are. We think of ourselves as generally “good” people. But Jesus says in Luke 17:10, “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ This is the way it is. We may not like it, but that’s how God says it.
So Jesus does the most loving thing He can do for this rich ruler. He tells him to do something He KNOWS the rich ruler won’t be able to do. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. (Maybe he was excited at this point? I only lack ONE thing! What is it!?!) Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Jesus told the man to give up everything that made him who he was. He was a rich ruler. If he gave up his riches, he wouldn’t be rich. If he followed Jesus, he would no longer be a ruler and he would no longer have power. He would be a follower. Jesus would be his master and his king.
But when the ruler heard these words, he became very sad, because he was very rich. 24 When Jesus saw that the man became very sad, he said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! 25 In fact, 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.” 26 Those who heard this said, “Then who can be saved?” 27 He replied, “What is impossible for people is possible for God.”
Did you ever wonder, “What if the rich ruler had DONE it?” What if he would have sold it all and given it to the poor? You’ve probably had garage sales before. Sometimes it’s hard just to let go of the junk, much less the good stuff. It’s not easy when you downsize and you have to get rid of some of your precious items. What would have happened to the man in the process? Who knows what effect selling and giving would have had on the man? He would have lost his power and prestige. He would no longer have felt confident about his future. He couldn’t have paid his servants any more. Would he indeed have felt more liberated in the process? Would he have been all the more motivated to put himself under Jesus? We don’t know. It’s all hypothetical. The truth is that Jesus knew that whereas the man thought he had kept the 4th through the 8th Commandments, he had never kept the FIRST. He didn’t trust God to take care of him. He trusted his riches.
So Jesus used this man’s question to not only speak to the rich ruler but to ALL the people listening, and to show them how IMPOSSIBLE it is for them to do anything to enter eternal life, not even ONE thing. It’s impossible for you and me too. That way is shut.
Jesus was actually doing a GOOD and loving thing for this man and for us. He’s saying to us, “If you want THAT way, the WORKS way, you can’t do it. You’re going to need a MIRACLE from God to be saved.” Until we start with that basis, because we are sinful from beginning to end we CAN’T be saved because we’re going the wrong way. If I told you to go to the moon by driving west on highway 10, you’d never get there. No matter how hard you tried, no matter how fast you went. You’d be going the wrong way. You’re going to need to fly there in a spaceship. There’s no getting around it. So also when it comes to heaven. He needed to know he was going the wrong way.
If the rich ruler had sold his possessions and now become a poor follower, what would he have found? He would have found that Jesus is more than a good teacher who has insights into God’s Word. He has divine powers. He raises the dead. He heals the sick. He is gracious. He is giving. He has power over demons! He can tell the future! He is the Messiah who came to save the world! If he kept following Jesus, He would have seen Him go to the cross and die. Yet he would have also seen Jesus rise from the dead, just as He said He would. The poor follower would have seen Jesus accomplish the impossible - He would do everything the Father called Him to do PERFECTLY. He would COMPLETELY pay for the sins of the world as God in the flesh, conquer Satan, and conquer death. The poor follower would have found out that Jesus actually is more than a good teacher. He is the one and only GOOD GOD in the flesh. He would have found the answer in how to inherit eternal life, through faith in Jesus.
And Peter said, “Look, we have left our possessions and followed you.” In a child-like way, Peter is excited to be following Jesus. He’s seen Jesus do all of these miraculous things. He’s heard Jesus preach. He’s been humbled by Jesus preaching and by his own foolishness. He knows he’s a sinner. That’s what happens when we follow Jesus. When we are in the presence of greatness and holiness, we soon realize how sinful we are. We say to Jesus with Peter, “Away from me. I am a sinful man.” But they also witnessed Jesus' mercy and grace. They knew Jesus was the Christ. So Peter and the disciples left it all behind, their tax collecting, their fishing, their homes. They have made sacrifices to follow Jesus. And they would make more! Peter would be crucified upside down outside of Rome. Ten of the disciples would die martyrs' deaths. John would live in exile on the island of Patmos until the day he died. They would do a lot more than most all of us will ever do.
What did Jesus say to them? You might expect Jesus to say to Peter, “You haven’t done enough either!” But Jesus doesn’t do that. He said to them, “Amen I tell you: Anyone who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will most certainly receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come, eternal life.” Isn’t it good to know that God, in pure mercy, promises a reward of grace? That even though we don’t earn salvation by our sacrifices, He still gives us rewards for our faithfulness? Why? Because He is merciful and gracious. Because He is giving and kind.
As we grow up most humans yearn for independence. A two year old proclaims, “I’ll do it myself!” They want to do things to help. And if we’re good parents, we like that! We don’t want them dependent on us for their entire lives. We don’t like depending on people for help either.
The rich ruler didn’t want to be dependent. He was doing fine with his power and his money. So he went away very sad. Even if the rich ruler gave up everything and sold it to the poor, what would this poor follower have left to give Jesus? Nothing! And that’s the point. Jesus wanted him and us to be DEPENDENT completely on Him so that he truly could INHERIT salvation and not try to DO it. It’s a lifetime battle against ourselves and our pride to realize this. Even when we do what we’re called to do as Christians in our daily lives, even this is dependent on God’s mercy and power.
It’s a sad fact of life, however, that if you live to be old enough, you return to the child-like stage. You need help clothing and feeding yourself. You can’t do it anymore. You feel worthless. Sooner or later life knocks us down. No matter how good we try to be, when we really try to follow Jesus, we realize how far we fall short, how much we really need Jesus. We want to be good parents, and we fail. We want to pray more, but we often don’t. We want to give more, but we’re too selfish. The more we try to follow Jesus, the more we recognize how we deserve nothing from God, how much we need a COMPLETE Savior, from head to toe, beginning to end.
I saw a story on the internet about a man who was a quadriplegic. Somehow, a beautiful young lady fell in love with him and married him, even though he couldn’t do hardly anything for himself. She took care of him, and she loved it and genuinely loved him. By the look on his face and the interview he gave, you could see that he enjoyed it too! He wasn’t ashamed of it or embarrassed by it. He appreciated her and loved her for it. How could he not?
Isn’t that what Jesus does for us, who has bathed and clothed us and saved us with His bloody death? Is that something to be angry about? Or in faith to rejoice over? Isn’t that what we sing about in Rock of Ages?
Nothing in my hand I bring
Simply to Thy cross I cling
Naked, come to Thee for dress
Helpless, look to Thee for grace
Foul, I to the fountain fly
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
God, increase our faith, to be completely dependent on Jesus for our salvation from beginning to end, and love every minute of it. Amen.
