“Purposeful Ownership”
May 1, 2005
Intro: Today we are going to begin a series of talks dealing with living a life that matters. We want to focus on the aspects of life that really count, and look at how we are called to oversee or “steward” our lives. It is my hope that over the next few weeks you will begin to see your life in a new light and with a purposeful focus.
The first thing we must establish in life is, who is in charge? One of the hardest things to determine is who’s accountable and responsible for things.
Harry Truman used to say, “The buck stops here.”
My mom used to say, “Because I’m the Mom!”
The key question for today is, “Who’s in control of your life?”
Today we are going to look at the issue of “Purposeful Ownership.” In other words making a conscious choice of who’s in charge.
To help us in answering this question, we are going to look at the lives of two men; one from scripture, the other from a more modern era.
“Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, ‘Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?’ ‘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.’
‘Which ones?’ the man inquired.
Jesus replied, ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and `love your neighbor as yourself.’
‘All these I have kept,’ the young man said. ‘What do I still lack?’
Jesus 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.’
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again 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.’
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’
Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’
Peter answered him, ‘We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?’
Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.’” Matthew 19:16-30(NIV)
There are several lessons to be learned from this young man’s interaction with Jesus. It is important to understand the heart of the issue and not just the surface circumstance.
This young man has it all. He is, according to tradition, around 24 years old. He is aristocratic and educated apparently in the Jewish culture. He has done all the right things but there is still a problem within. For him, life was not complete.
Have you ever asked the question:
Is this all there is?
This is the question he asked because he believed there had to be more to life than what he was experiencing.
The answer to the question is reflected in knowing you must live beyond yourself.
I. Purposeful ownership is reflected in conscious obedience.
“Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, ‘Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?’
‘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.’
‘Which ones?’ the man inquired.
Jesus replied, ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and `love your neighbor as yourself.’
‘All these I have kept,’ the young man said. ‘What do I still lack?’” Matthew 19:16-20
This young man was, in human terms living a good life. However, he knew something was missing. Jesus gives him an answer based on human relationships.
Jesus is painting a picture that life must reflect obedience.
We will obey something. Something in our lives will get our allegiance. Whatever that thing is, it owns us.
The question becomes, “What will you obey?”
II. Purposeful ownership is invested in the eternal, not the temporary.
Jesus is focusing at the internal heart of this man. He wants to get to the bottom line of the heart motivation.
“Jesus 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.’” Matthew 19:21
The word perfect means “fully developed in a moral sense.”
The young man knew he was lacking something. He had not fully developed in the deepest part of his life.
The young man was seeking eternal life and Jesus tells him that to get rid of everything else and follow him is the only way to eternity.
The eternal kingdom of God requires more than keeping commands. It requires giving God everything we have and everything we are.
If he chooses to allow us to use what he has given us, this is up to him.
“Disciples do not always lose all possessions upon conversion—but they do lose all ownership of them, for they themselves belong to a new owner.” Craig Keener
If you choose to follow Christ, you do not automatically take a vow of poverty. God doesn’t tell all believers to sell everything. But, if he does, we should choose to follow him.
There is a history of teachers making outrageous demands of their followers. In the Greek culture, students often sold all possessions to follow teachers. Other Jewish leaders made similar demands.
The intent was not to drive away followers, but to help them count the cost of being a disciple.
Jesus offered the man treasure in heaven if he followed Jesus. The man chose his treasure on earth.
“Jesus 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.’
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.” Matthew 19:21-22
Are you willing to choose the things that last forever over the things that fade over time?
III. Purposeful ownership brings eternal fulfillment.
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again 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.’
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’
Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’
Peter answered him, ‘We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?’
Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.’” Matthew 19:23-30(NIV)
In Jewish culture, financial blessing was a sign of God’s favor. So Peter and the others think, man if this man can’t receive eternal life, what will happen to us?
The lesson of the disciples is that those who sacrifice and become least in this age will be blessed and inherit the place of honor in eternity.
The rich young ruler found a life lacking fulfillment instead of a fulfilled life.
*Story of William Borden
Quotations taken from Borden of Yale, by Mrs. Howard Taylor, Moody Press, Chicago
In 1904 William Borden graduated from a Chicago high school. As heir to the Borden Dairy estate, he was already a millionaire. For his high school graduation present, his parents gave 16-year-old Borden a trip around the world. As he traveled through Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, Bill Borden felt a growing burden for the world’s hurting people. Finally, he wrote home to say, "I’m going to give my life to prepare for the mission field." Then, William Borden wrote two words in the back of his Bible: "No Reserves."
Even though he was a wealthy young man, Borden arrived on the campus of Yale University in 1905 trying to look like just one more freshman. Very quickly, however, Borden’s classmates noticed something unusual about him and it wasn’t his money. One of them wrote: "He came to college far ahead, spiritually, of any of us. He had already given his heart in full surrender to Christ and had really done it. We who were his classmates learned to lean on him and find in him a strength that was solid as a rock, just because of this settled purpose and consecration."
During his college years, Bill Borden made one entry in his personal journal that defined what his classmates were seeing in him. That entry said simply: "Say ’no’ to self and ’yes’ to Jesus every time."
Borden’s first disappointment at Yale came when the university president spoke on the students’ need of "having a fixed purpose." After hearing that speech, Borden wrote: "He neglected to say what our purpose should be, and where we should get the ability to persevere and the strength to resist temptations." Looking around at the Yale faculty and student body, Borden lamented what he saw as the end result of this empty philosophy: moral weakness and sin-ruined lives.
During his first semester at Yale, Borden started a movement that would transform campus life. One of his friends described how it happened: "It was well on in the first term when Bill and I began to pray together in the morning before breakfast. I cannot say positively whose suggestion it was, but I feel sure it must have originated with Bill. We had been meeting only a short time when a third student joined us and soon after a fourth. The time was spent in prayer after a brief reading of Scripture. Bill’s handling of Scripture was helpful. . . . He would read to us from the Bible, show us something that God had promised and then proceed to claim the promise with assurance."
Borden’s small morning prayer group was the beginning of the daily groups of prayer that spread to the whole campus. By the end of his first year, 150 freshman were meeting for weekly Bible study and prayer. By the time he was a senior, one thousand out of Yale’s 1,300 students were meeting in such groups.
Borden made it his habit to choose the most "incorrigible" students and try to bring them to salvation. "In his sophomore year we organized Bible study groups and divided up the class of 300 or more, each man interested taking a certain number, so that all might, if possible, be reached. The names were gone over one by one, and the question asked, ’Who will take this person?’ When it came to someone thought to be a hard proposition, there would be an ominous pause. Nobody wanted the responsibility. Then Bill’s voice would be heard, ’Put him down to me.’"
Borden’s outreach ministry was not confined to the Yale campus. He rescued drunks from the streets of New Haven. To rehabilitate them, he founded the Yale Hope Mission. "He might often be found in the lower parts of the city at night, on the street, in a cheap lodging house or some restaurant to which he had taken a poor hungry fellow to feed him, seeking to lead men to Christ."
Borden’s missionary call narrowed to the Muslims in China. Once that goal was in sight, Borden never wavered. He also inspired his classmates to consider missionary service. One of them said: "He certainly was one of the strongest characters I have ever known, and he put backbone into the rest of us at college. There was real iron in him, and I always felt he was of the stuff martyrs were made of, and heroic missionaries of more modern times.
"Although he was a millionaire, Bill seemed to realize always that he must be about his Father’s business, and not wasting time in the pursuit of amusement." Although Borden refused to join a fraternity, "he did more with his classmates in his senior year than ever before." He presided over the huge student missionary conference held at Yale and served as president of the honor society Phi Beta Kappa.
Upon graduation from Yale, Borden turned down some high paying job offers. He also wrote two more words in his Bible: "No Retreats."
William Borden went on to graduate work at Princeton Seminary in New Jersey. When he finished his studies at Princeton, he sailed for China. Because he was hoping to work with Muslims, he stopped first in Egypt to study Arabic. While there, he contracted spinal meningitis. Within a month 25-year-old William Borden was dead.
When news of the death of William Whiting Borden was cabled back to the U.S. from Egypt, "a wave of sorrow went round the world. Borden not only gave (away) his wealth, but himself, in a way so joyous and natural that it (seemed) a privilege rather than a sacrifice."
Was Borden’s untimely death a waste? Not in God’s plan. Prior to his death, Borden had written two more words in his Bible. Underneath the words "No Reserves" and "No Retreats," he had written: "No Regrets."
Rich Young Ruler William Borden
1) Desired to find life 1) Desired to give life
No Reserves
2)Fulfilled the “letter” of the law 2)Fulfilled the “spirit” of the law
No Retreat
3)Held his possessions to serve himself 3) Gave his possessions to serve others.
No Regrets
So, who owns your life?
