Luke 18:18-30 – One Thing Missing
Let’s turn together to read the Apostles’ Creed, #8 in our hymnals.
Each of us is on a search, a quest, a hunt for that all-elusive creature called life. Even though each of us has life to certain extent, we all want more of it. More life, better life, longer life. Each of us has a desire to find life that will never decay, life that will never end, life everlasting, eternal life.
To have something that will last the test of time is a challenge. To be someone or create something that lasts forever is perhaps our greatest challenge. Woody Allen said this: “I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve it through not dying.”
Then there are some that are afraid of the thought of eternal life. They look at their own lives and can’t imagine doing the same thing forever. Who would want to live forever like this?
But that’s based on a misconception of what life is. No, nobody would want to continue into eternity the hard life that they had on earth. But eternal life is different from most of what we have experienced on earth, not just in the length of it but the substance of it. Life everlasting is worlds away from the mortal life we have now. But what is eternal life? And how do we find it?
The search for eternal life is not new. In our scripture passage today, we can see that Jesus was approached by someone wanting to know how to have eternal life, how to live forever, some 1973 years ago. Bible scholars have called this person the rich young ruler, a man who had it all. His story is found in Matthew 19, Mark 10 and Luke 18. Each version of the incident is slightly different, but I’ll use the Luke passage with the other versions supporting it.
Luke 18:18 – What must I do? What is required of me to get to heaven? Matthew and Mark say that this man, this rich young ruler, asked what good thing he had to do to have eternal life. First who was he? Well, he likely had all he wanted. By being rich, he had possessions; by being young, he had potential and possibilities; and by being a ruler, he had pleasure and power. He had it all. Except the answer to a pressing question: how to go to heaven. How do I find immortality?
Right off, Jesus evades the question; He sidesteps the issue for a minute (v19). Well, what did Jesus mean? A couple of things, likely. #1) By saying that only God is good, and by not denying that He himself was good, He was saying that He was like God. He was good. He is good. Jesus was implying that He was God.
But #2), the main point was that He wanted to affirm that mankind is not good. We like to think we are. And by earning enough brownie points, by having a good spiritual resume, by doing enough good things, we can make it to heaven. But Jesus was saying no to this. Because we were born in sin, with sinful natures, with desires to sin, and a bent towards sin, all the good deeds in the world can’t total up to erase our sinfulness. Doing good things does not change bad people into good people. Bad people need more than good deeds to have eternal life.
Jesus went on to say some good things to do, though. He listed off some commandments (v20). Mark throws in not to defraud and Matthew throws in to love your neighbor as yourself. And the man still presses on. He’s OK with these commandments (v21). He’s been doing them since he was a kid. No problem. I grew up in church, I went to Sunday school, I’ve always tried to live a good life. No problem.
But there is a problem. If the man figured he was OK with God because of all the good things he’d done, why was he asking about eternal life? Why wonder how to get to heaven if doing all the right things would get you there, if doing all the right things could give you a clear conscience? The answer? They don’t. The man knew that there was something more, even if he didn’t know what. He knew there was something else besides a good track record, even if he couldn’t put his finger on it. There was still a hole in his heart that good deeds couldn’t fill. And Jesus told him what it was: v22.
Now Jesus didn’t tell everybody this. He told Peter and John to leave their nets. He told Matthew to give up tax collecting. And He told one man to leave his father while he was dying. For Jesus the issue with the rich young ruler was not the money – it was his heart. Jesus told Peter, John, Matthew and the man with the dying father to leave what they held most dear in their hearts. Jesus wanted not so much for the man to give away his money but give it over, to give it up. He wanted this man to surrender his heart to God’s purposes and God’s plan for his life.
Well, this was hard for the guy to take. Luke writes that the man became very sad, and Jesus had a few more words to say to him. Matthew and Mark write that the man walked away sad, and only the crowd heard these next words of Jesus. Putting the two truths together, this is how I picture the scene taking place. Jesus told him, “Sell all you have. Give it to the poor, and then you’ll have treasures in heaven. Then follow me. “ This immediately saddened the man. His face fell, and he began to walk away. Now Jesus saw that this man really was seeking for answers. He didn’t like the answer when he heard it, but he was seeking. Maybe not even with his whole heart, but he honestly was seeking. And Jesus wanted to explain Himself further. He ran up from behind, and put his hand on the guy’s shoulder.
And he said what we read in v24-25. “It is so hard for people who trust in riches to get to heaven. In fact, it’s as hard to get a camel through the eye of a needle. It’s impossible to get a camel through that needle and it’s impossible to get to heaven if you love money more than God.” The man continued to walk away, and then Jesus repeated it, once, even twice to all that were listening: How hard it is!
Assuming that each story happened exactly the way it was written by each author, this is likely how the event unfolded. Do you know what that says about Jesus? It says that He is absolutely the boss. It really is His way or no way. He is lord. But, He has mercy as well. He ran after the man whose heart He just exposed. He loved him, as Mark 10:21 says. He had compassion on one who was so close, yet still missed it all. He feels the same for us. He insists on His way, and He leads us along with the hopes that we will conform to it. When we mess up on some issue, when there’s something that He wants to deal with in our lives, He insists on dealing with it before moving on to another issue. But He’s patient with us along the way. He loves us even as we reject His requirements, even as we walk away from obedience.
Then Peter, the big-mouth that he often was, speaking before thinking, blurted out (v28). Perhaps he wanted to compare himself to the rich young ruler, whose pleasures and possessions were just too much to give up for Jesus. Perhaps he wanted to remind Jesus how committed he and his buddies were. Or perhaps he really wondered if they had to give up anything else. Whatever the case, Matthew tells us that Jesus promised them rewards for following Him. He said, don’t worry about it, Peter. Following me is better by far than not following me.
Folks, it’s true for us too. Sometimes following Jesus will cost something: it could be money, but it could be time, effort, convenience, pleasures, the right to rule yourself. But Jesus promises reward for those who place Him first.
Luke continues in v29-30. There’s that phrase again. Eternal life. The rich young ruler started with it, and Jesus finished with it. Somewhere, sandwiched in between, is the key to eternal life. Did you catch it? Eternal life is found by giving your all to Jesus. The hang-up for the guy in our story was his money. It’s been said that whatever makes you stumble will be your only test. He stumbled over money. So that’s what Jesus asked of him. He asked for money, because that’s where the guy’s heart was. Jesus said somewhere else: Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Whatever is valuable to you, whatever you hold dear, that’s what Jesus wants. Not to take it away, but to get you. And when He gets you, He will give you something back: eternal life. Immortality. Life fuller, and more abundantly. Eternity in the here and now.
Probably most of you have heard my testimony. The Lord used these verses to reinforce what He was doing in my life. Being willing to leave my family for what I knew God was calling me to do: the ministry. It certainly wasn’t easy. But in time I got my family back, stronger than ever before. Plus, I have met hundreds of people that I never would have met otherwise. The Lord really did reward me 100 times as much, even in this life.
Even though the Lord made me surrender my comfort, it was worth it. And even though He also made me give up my family, I got them back, as well as a bigger and broader family of Christians around the world. The Lord has blessed me and given me a fuller life than I ever would have known if I had held back obedience to what He asked of me. What about you? What are you holding back? What is the Lord asking of you? Even on your search for meaning in this life, and eternity in the next, where is He pressing you? What is, in Jesus’ words in v22, that one still you still lack?
Deitrich Bonhoeffer – When Christ calls a man, He bids him to die.
