Rich

Thank you for reading this sermon from Christ Fellowship. I hope and pray that this sermon will be a blessing of grace and truth to you. With that said, let me encourage you not to use this sermon as a replacement for your local church. Christ Jesus did not establish his Church simply for us to consume content. Instead, He calls us to be part of a real, covenant family. 

We’re going to read two stories that can also be found in Matthew and Mark, and in all three cases the two stories are found together – one after the other. And so, it is clear to me that we are intended to read them together, which changes how we understand the second story. You’ll see why when we get there. Let’s start in Luke 18 verse 15.

15 Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

Why were they bringing infants to Jesus? Because the infant mortality rate in the ancient world was extremely high. One third of all babies died before they reached their first birthday. Half of all children died before reaching their fifth birthday. Half!!

That’s one of the most depressing things I have ever heard. And so, far from being a cute story, this was a deeply sad reality. These parents were desperate for a blessing, but the disciples don’t see this as a valuable use of time and energy. They tell them to go away.

16 But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

What a beautiful response this is… Jesus speaks to the immense value of a human being, even the smallest ones.

He speaks to the free invitation of the Gospel, that we ought not to place barriers between anyone and the kingdom of God. And He speaks to the nature of the kingdom of God – that the humble, the simple, and the most helpless people belong.

17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

Jesus says, you cannot get into the kingdom without a childlike dependence on God. And that’s the setup for the next story in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

We don’t know anything about this man except that he was rich and powerful. Some suggest that he was a member of the Sanhedrin, the great Jewish Council. That may have been the case.

But notice the stark contrast here. The disciples tell the parents to go away, when all they wanted was the possibility of a blessing that might allow their children to grow up and live a normal life.

This guy shows up looking wealthy and important and the disciples let him right on through. Surely Jesus will want to meet him. But Jesus doesn’t seem impressed. In fact, he sounds bothered by the man.

19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

“Why do you call me good?” is not a trick question. This is Biblical theology.

Jesus is quoting Psalm 14, where David writes that God looks down on the children of men to see if anyone is good and his conclusion is “not even one”.

Jesus IS God, but the rich man doesn’t know that. And so, from the beginning, this man’s understanding of himself is flawed. And his question, what must I do to inherit eternal life, it’s based on that bad theology.

The better question would have been, how can anyone inherit eternal life if no one is good? And that’s exactly what Jesus wants us to learn. But first, he plays along and gives the man an answer to his question.

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.’”

Jesus starts to list the Ten Commandments in no particular order. But the man seems to interpret Jesus.

21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”

Most of you know the rest of the story and we will read it in just a moment. But already, this man has revealed his problem. It’s not his love of money. It’s his self-righteousness.

He looks at the evidence and passes judgment on himself, choosing to believe his own assessment instead of the verdict of a holy God.

God says, “No one is good, not even you.” But this man says, “I disagree. I’m actually a pretty good guy.”

And if he believes THAT he will never enter the kingdom of God. You see, this isn’t really about law keeping and law breaking at this point… it’s about trust. Will you trust what God says about you? Will you trust what God says you need?

This is why the story about the babies comes before this one. Babies have no choice but to trust adults. They are completely helpless. They can’t do anything for themselves. They can’t feed themselves.

They can’t clean themselves. They can’t even put their own clothes on. They have to trust someone else to care for them. And that is the only way we get into the kingdom of God. And that is what Jesus is about to teach his disciples.

22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Notice, that Jesus doesn’t waste time arguing with this man about his law keeping. Why? Because all that matters in this moment is whether he will repent.

Jesus gives him a clear, direct command. Do this and follow me.

23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

24 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult 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.”

There’s a lot of debate about what that last sentence means. But there’s no way to avoid the fact that Jesus thinks rich people have a very small chance of being saved. I’m not going to sugar coat it. That’s clearly what Jesus says. It is a long shot for a rich person to get right with God.

But it’s not really about the money. It’s about trust and obedience.

It’s important to understand that wealth was seen as a sign of blessing at that time. The general belief was that rich people deserved to be rich and poor people deserved to be poor. They didn’t get that from the Bible! But that’s what people believed. Wealth was evidence of blessing. God must really love you if you have a lot of money.

And so, this man’s wealth reinforced his own self-righteousness. And he was not about to give away everything he had worked so hard to achieve, especially to people who didn’t deserve it… the poor.

That’s the core issue here. It’s not love of money. It’s not even a lack of concern for the poor. It’s pride. And this is why I have such a major problem with the health and wealth teaching that has become so common in today’s churches. They are teaching something that is directly opposed to the message of Jesus in this story.

Health and wealth teaching can keep you out of the kingdom of God if they are reinforcing your belief that God owes you something, or that He has blessed you because you’re such a good person.

Now, notice how his disciples respond to this teaching.

26 Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”

They are starting to see the point. Their worldview is crumbling. If that man isn’t good enough for God, then how can anyone be good enough for God? Bingo.

27 But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

In other words, salvation is not earned by us. It has to be accomplished by God.

But just when you think maybe the disciples are starting to understand, the extrovert of the group takes the opportunity to get some special attention from Jesus.

28 And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.”

To me, this is one of the funniest moments in the Gospels. Jesus literally just said it is impossible for us to earn a place in the kingdom of God. Impossible.

And Peter automatically responds with his own evidence. Look Jesus, we did good, right? As if he is proving Jesus wrong. “That loser couldn’t give it all up, but we did!”

You see how easily pride creeps into our hearts and how difficult it is to receive grace with empty hands. We desperately want to believe we don’t need any help.

But I love the patient response of Jesus to Peter.

29 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,

30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Why is this such a good response? Because it accomplishes two things. On the one hand, Jesus commends his disciples for their effort. He is telling them, “Good job.” You trusted. You obeyed. You followed me. And following me requires sacrifice.

But, on the other hand, this is also a tremendously humbling reply.

A few years ago, a homeless man in Boston found a backpack sitting outside a shopping mall. He opened the backpack and inside he found $42,000 in cash. Without hesitation, the man took the backpack to the police, and they were able to find the owner.

News spread quickly of the homeless man’s integrity. Another guy was so moved by the story, he started a GoFundMe. It went viral and they ended up raising over $150,000, completely changing the homeless man’s life. That’s more than three times the amount in the backpack! The reward was disproportionate to his actions.

And that is why should be humbled by the promises of Jesus in verse 30. It’s because the reward is insanely disproportionate to the sacrifices of his people! The sacrifices are great, but the reward is exponentially greater.

In both Matthew and Mark, Jesus says they will receive 100 times more than what they gave AND eternal life!

In other words, every good thought we have, every good action, every good thing we do… whatever we deserve for it is a single drop of water in the ocean of Christ’s righteousness, which is available to us by faith.

Likewise, we tend to think that Jesus was asking the rich man in the story for a lot. But it was nothing, really. All his wealth was a single drop of water in the ocean of God’s wealth. It felt like Jesus was asking a lot only because the man didn’t know who Jesus was!

This is why I think we need to be careful how we apply this story. Some people think this is a call to radical living – that we aren’t serious about Christianity if we don’t give literally everything up. But that tends to create another source of pride.

And repentance looks different for all of us. Some of you might need to get rid of some wealth to follow Jesus. Jesus knew this man’s heart and knew this was what he needed to hear. But there are a thousand different ways to trust in yourself.

Lay down your pride. You’ve got nothing to offer a holy God who owns everything. Lay it down and trust Him. Follow the King. He’s already paid it all.