Possible with God

To inherit eternal life with Jesus forever, we need to set aside and sacrifice anything in our lives that would prevent us from following him whole-heartedly.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever explained the graphic for our sermon series in the Gospel of Luke. You can see it’s shaped like a flip book with different colors corresponding to different parts of the book. Yellow is for the birth narrative. Blue is for the section of Jesus baptism in preparation for ministry. Orange is for Jesus public ministry, which began in Luke 4:14 and has been going ever since. So, that’s two chapters of birth, two chapters of prep so far, 14 chapters of ministry. So if you don’t remember blue and yellow, I do not blame you. It’s been a while. I bring it up, because we’re almost to the place where we’re going to switch to green. In chapter 19, verse 28, Jesus enters Jerusalem and begins the final week before his death and resurrection, the final week of Jesus ministry and the few weeks following his resurrection constitute five and a half chapters of the Book of Luke, so you can see how important that time in Jesus ministry is. It really commands a large portion of of the gospel. But before we get there, two things are going to happen. First, following Easter, the preaching team and I will begin a new series through the spring and summer preaching the letter of First John. And if you’ve never heard the letter, you’re in for a treat. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s one of the most deeply transformative books in the Bible, in my opinion.

Before that, over the next few weeks, as Jesus closes in on Jerusalem, which is what he’s been doing through the book, right? He’s been walking toward Jerusalem this entire time. But before he gets there, he’s going to have some interactions with some individuals. We’re going to meet three of the most famous people in the Gospels. The rich ruler. The blind beggar. And Zacchaeus. And I know what you just did in your head. I know as soon as I said, Zacchaeus. All of you Sunday school kids just went the wee little man. That poor guy. That poor guy. How he’s remembered. We won’t get to Zacchaeus until this fall. The blind beggar will be in just a couple of weeks. But today, Jesus encounters the rich ruler. The other gospels call him the rich young ruler. But Luke focuses only on his wealth. I believe that’s because Luke has a special thematic approach in his gospel to wealth and poverty. That’s something he appreciates, something he really wants to focus on. Luke doesn’t care so much that this young man that we encounter today is young and brash. He cares that he has a lot of wealth and that wealth is holding him back. And I’ve gotta to say, this is a big concern for us in Rochester, too. At least it should be.

When you think of the idols of the heart that could prevent people from following Jesus in Rochester, Minnesota. Money is at or near the top of that list. The median household income in our city is 89 to $92,000. That’s the median. So you take all households in America take the middle one, right? All households in Rochester take the middle one. That’s 80 to $92,000. That is 45% above the national average. And that, by the way, is in a nation that is richest in the world. So stack all the nations up, put United States on the top, put Rochester 45% above that. If you don’t think it’s possible that this wealth could mislead us away from Jesus, you’re not reading the Bible very closely. I’m not saying it must, or it will mislead us and become an idol. But if you think we don’t need to be careful about that, you’re being spiritually naive. Our passage today is a cautionary tale of spiritual ruin. It’s one man’s journey into shipwreck because he refuses to let go of the wealth that has gripped his heart. But it’s also Jesus explanation for how it’s possible for spiritually weak people like you and me, who are navigating through our world of idols to be saved despite our own failings. So while there is a tremendous amount of caution and warning in what we’re about to read, there’s also a way forward that is vital and it’s life giving to those who receive it to inherit eternal life with Jesus forever. We need to set aside and sacrifice anything in our lives that would prevent us from following him wholeheartedly. The very first of the Ten commandments that God gives to his people is to make sure that we have no other gods before him. This passage shows us what that looks like lived out.

We’re in Luke chapter 18, verse 18 today, so you can turn your Bibles there if you have your Bibles with you. Jesus is going to have three conversations. First, he’s going to talk to this rich ruler, and then he’s going to talk to the crowds who are listening to that conversation. And they’re going to get pretty nervous about what Jesus has to say to this ruler. And then he’s going to talk to his disciples. Here’s how it starts. “And a ruler asked him, ‘Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’” So here’s someone in a position of power, probably some sort of an official or a leader in the community who would like to know from Jesus how he can be sure that he will receive eternal life. Calls him a good teacher. Now, that doesn’t mean that he thinks that Jesus is good at teaching. That means that he sees Jesus as someone who is morally good. He’s a keeper of God’s law. This would be a very respectful way to address any rabbi, any teacher or religious leader at that time.

I want you to notice something here, because it’s a pretty big correction for younger Christians. I suppose it could be really Christians of any age, but typically it’s younger Christians I talked to who are swayed by so-called progressive Christianity. I have theologically liberal friends in my life. You probably do too. Who will say things to me like Jesus didn’t really care about eternity? The gospel isn’t really about who’s in and who’s out of of heaven. Say something like that. Well, first of all, Jesus cares deeply about our eternal destination, as we’ll see here in a moment. He says that you should sacrifice everything to secure it to make sure you have it. But the other thing that I want you to notice is that other people were very interested in learning from Jesus about their eternal destiny. The people around Jesus came to him to ask him about what was going to happen when they die. What the ruler says here is nearly identical to what the lawyer asks Jesus back in Luke chapter ten, right before Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan. So people wanted to know from Jesus where they would end up when they die, and how they can make sure that their eternity is with God. Now, if Jesus had just slapped those questions down and he said, well, you know why? Why do you care so much about eternity? Everything’s about right here, right now.

Okay, well, then that’s fine. If that’s what he did with it, then we should probably stop talking so much about eternity. But Jesus doesn’t do that at all. In fact, his answers elevate eternity to the highest place. And he says, now that it’s at this highest place, you should start living your life right now in light of that eternity. You should look forward to seeing what God has for you once you die, and that should affect what’s happening to you today. So, if you’re tempted to minimize the place of eternal life in heaven and hell and salvation from sins in your theology, please understand Jesus didn’t. Jesus didn’t. You’re listening to the wrong source, if that’s what your theology says. Listen to Jesus. “And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.’” Now, at first glance, this might sound like Jesus is admitting that he is sinful and that he’s less than God. But that’s not what he’s doing here at all. Notice he doesn’t deny what the ruler is saying. He’s asking the ruler why he’s calling Jesus morally good, and he’s pointing out that only God could be completely morally good. People are sinful. God is not. Is this ruler calling Jesus God? He’d be right if he was. He’d be correct. But Jesus knows that the ruler is not calling him God. Jesus knows that this ruler thinks goodness is the answer to his question. So, by saying Only God is good, Jesus is setting the ruler up for the correction that he’s about to give him. And I know that that sounds a bit complicated, but it’s really no different than when you’re at a funeral and people go on and on about how good the deceased person was. Surely, you’ve been to a funeral like that before. They just go on and on. What a good man. What a good lady. They’re so, so good. And the more you hear about this, this goodness and how this person is surely in heaven. You start to think to yourself, are we equating these? Are we drawing an equation between these two things? Are we saying the goodness led to being in heaven? Is this cause and effect in the minds of the people here at the funeral,

Jesus challenged that only God is good. Is the start of an argument to overturn this man’s bad theology. And you can see what he’s doing and what he says next. “You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother.'” Now, if you know your Bibles well, you know something fishy is going on here, right? This guy just asked about eternal life and Jesus starts listing off commandments. He starts listing off rules. Things that you’re supposed to do. That doesn’t sound like Jesus, does it? Jesus. We know from Scripture Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. Jesus said, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel will find it. Jesus’s theology of salvation and eternity is unquestioningly centered on faith, and trust in him alone says it all the time. And he’s going to make that clear here. The next thing he says. So, what is he doing here? What is this? Answering a question about eternal life with a list of commands. It seems to imply that Jesus is sort of suggesting that by following these commands, you could get to heaven. Again, we have to look at this very closely. Jesus is not saying that keeping these laws is the way to eternal life. In fact, nowhere in all of the Bible, including the Mosaic Law itself where these commands are found. Does it say that obedience gives us eternal life? What this is meant to do is show this ruler how far short of God’s standard that he’s fallen. Jesus is holding up a mirror to this guy’s face, and he’s saying, you know what you’re supposed to look like, right? You know what? It’s supposed to be, right? The ruler should have looked at this mirror of the law and realized, Uh-oh, I’m not doing too good here.

I’m not doing very well as compared to what God has said. But here’s his response. “And he said, ‘All these I have kept from my youth.'” His response is, I’m good. I’m doing great. I’m good. Just like you. Jesus. I’m good too. I’m a morally upstanding keeper of the law. I have been for a really long time. I’m faithful to my wife. I don’t steal from people. All my wealth. I got through hard work. I don’t lie to people. I’m doing awesome. Just ask my mom, who I honor. Right, right. I’m doing so good at this. Now, if this is starting to sound familiar to you, it’s probably because it’s exactly the same argument as the Pharisee praying in the temple in Jesus parable just a couple of passages ago. The only difference here is that instead of going on and on about how good he is, the ruler here just gives a blanket statement about how he’s got all of the law covered. But there’s something going on inside this guy. There’s something going on here. There’s a question that’s stirring in his heart. He doesn’t have the confidence that Jesus Pharisee in the parable had, because why is he asking Jesus about this at all? If he had full confidence in his goodness, why is he asking if he’s so convinced he’s got eternity covered with his goodness.

Why? Why? Talk to Jesus. It’s because he wants confirmation. He wants confirmation. He’s a good man who needs a good teacher to sign off on his goodness. That’s the way in, right? Jesus. That’s the way we get it, right? I just have to be really good at keeping God’s law like you. And then I get to go to be with God in heaven, right? Right. Jesus. You know, there’s so many people in and around the church today who believe, deep down in their hearts that it’s their pursuit of goodness that God accepts as entrance into heaven. And their pursuit of Jesus is similar to this ruler. What they want from Jesus is to sign off on their goodness. He wants. They want the Bible to just give them hope that they’re doing pretty well. They looked at the Bible like this man looked at the commandments. It’s a checklist of moral goodness, and instead of seeing how far short they’ve come when they look at this, they actually see achievement. I said, wow, I’m really doing doing pretty well based on the rules that I find in this book.

Listen to how Jesus corrects this, because it’s vital for understanding true, eternal life. “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.'” “When Jesus heard this”. Those words tell me that that Jesus is using the ruler’s own response to determine where this conversation needs to go. If the ruler had said something like, “I’ve failed at these commandments”, “I haven’t measured up to God’s standard”. Probably Jesus would have gone in a different direction. He probably would have encouraged him to confess his sins and be forgiven by God and come to follow him with the rest of his disciples. He’s been talking to sinners like this throughout this entire gospel, throughout all the Gospels. This is the way Jesus talks. But since the ruler heard the list of commandments, and he gave himself a clean bill of health all the way back to his childhood, Jesus now is going to change it up by calling him out on an area where he’s likely to fail. So, okay, you think you’re looking pretty good as far as the law is concerned. Here’s the thing you lack. Here’s the thing you lack. Go sell all your stuff, give all the money to the poor, and come follow me. What does he lack? He lacks discipleship with Jesus. It’s the same answer that he gave to the disciples. Come. Follow me. You want eternal life, come follow me.

Jesus was never building an argument for eternal life through obediently keeping the law. He was simply setting this guy up so that he would see his own need for Jesus. Listing off the commandments didn’t do it. So, he changes it because it didn’t trigger the conviction that it was supposed to trigger. So, Jesus says, well, how about this go get rid of the stuff that’s holding you back. Leave it all behind and then you’ll be freed up to come. Follow me. So now this ruler has his answer, right? That’s what he wanted. He wanted eternal life. And Jesus says, here’s how you can get it. He needs to follow Jesus. But there’s some wealth that’s getting in the way first. So what will he do? “But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich”. Jesus says, you can absolutely have eternal life. It’s yours. You can have it. But you’ve got one major roadblock. Your wealth has its tentacles wrapped around your heart, And the ruler proved it. He was sad. Think about what Jesus just did. Think about what just happened. Jesus threw open the door of eternal life. He said, here it is. The way was very clear that the necessary steps all laid out for this guy. And he responds like someone just came and popped his balloon. He’s sad. He’s mourning. The answer to eternal life. Why? Why is it because he has to follow Jesus? No, actually, that’s not the problem. It’s because in order to follow Jesus, he can’t bring along his great wealth.

The wealth is what captured his heart, not Jesus. The wealth was his God, so Jesus never could be. This guy didn’t want treasures in heaven. He wanted the treasures that he could give to himself with his money and also eternal life. He wanted both. He wanted the life he was living with all of his riches and joy and luxury and everything that he could give to himself. He wanted all of that stuff. And he also wanted eternal life. And Jesus is clear on this church. He’s our Savior and he’s our God, but he is not going to share first place in our heart. Jesus is not going to share first place in your heart in order of rank. Christ and the mission of the Kingdom of God is first. Everything else is down the line from him and everything else must be submitted to him. Anything that competes in your heart and prevents you from a total love and obedience to Christ. Anything that would hold you back from his call on your life is an idol, and it has to be dealt with. And I know that’s hard to hear in a crowd of relatively rich people by national standards and elite wealth by worldly standards. Some of you have generational wealth. Some of you have self-made wealth. Some of you have both. Would Jesus say the same thing to you? Would he say this to you? Let me ask you are you sad to hear this too? If your initial reaction is to be very sad to hear that your wealth might be an idol in your life, then it probably is. Imagine that Jesus made the same demand to you right now. Same thing said the same thing. It’s all your stuff. Give it to the poor. Follow me. What emotion would that cause in you? What would stir? What would come bubbling up in your heart if you said the same thing to you right now? Are you sad and unwilling like the ruler here? Do you become defensive? Are you starting to think through all the objections as to why you really are an exception, that this really doesn’t apply to you. Is that what comes out?

Listen to Jesus explain what’s going on here. “Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, ‘How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for.'” once again, let me say this as plainly as I believe Scripture is saying this. Your wealth might be the very thing that prevents you from following Jesus. Your wealth might be the thing that is preventing you from following Jesus. In fact, based on how seductive money is, it’s one of the most dangerous idols that exists. Every one of us is prone to worship money over God. And if you have a lot of it, the potential for idolatry increases. Now you can love money and be poor. There’s no question about that. But God’s Word warns the rich about love, the love of money far more than than the poor. And that’s because it’s much easier to become seduced and dependent on something that you have, as opposed to something that you don’t. When wealth captures your heart, there’s no room for Christ. It’s a false god. False gods are very hard to overthrow. Jesus says you’d be better off pushing a camel through a needle’s eye than to be a very wealthy person, and also a follower of Jesus that’s destined for eternity. That should. That should give everyone in here with a 401K reason to to pause. Every three car garage in this place right now should sit up and take notice of what Jesus is saying here. You see this thing, that I’ve accumulated my whole life could damn me for eternity. I could miss out on eternity with God forever because of my bank statement. Is that what you’re saying? Look, I’m not saying that Jesus is saying that. That’s what Jesus is saying. These are his words. They’re not mine. And by the way, I’m in this boat, too. I mean, I don’t own a boat, but I’m in this boat, right? If what you’re doing right now in your heart. Okay, church friends, if what you’re doing right now in your heart is you’re starting to explain away why you’re the exception, that somehow you can love money and live in luxury and pursue all your wealthy dreams and still have Jesus. You’re not hearing him. You’re not hearing him.

That error that false exceptionalism going on inside of us when we hear these things is beautifully captured in one of the most unexpected places. I love it when truth just somehow sort of pokes up through culture every once in a while. Decades ago, I think it was back in the 90s. There was a sketch on Saturday Night Live, where actor Bill Pullman played a billionaire who had gathered the world’s best scientists to research how to get a camel through the eye of a needle. This is the premise. He gathered all these guys together so that they could work on figuring out how to get this camel through this needle. And to do this, he was engineering the largest possible needles and the breeding the smallest possible camels. Saturday night live. Right. And I bring it up because the sketch ended with a line that is so great that it is probably the reason it’s hard to find on the internet. You can’t even you can’t even go to YouTube and watch it. They probably have scrubbed it because of this last line. The billionaire turns to the camera and he says, “Unless I’ve completely missed the message of the Bible, somewhere in here is my ticket to heaven.” Saturday Night Live friends, you could completely miss the message of the Bible if you try to find some other way to interpret what Jesus is saying here.

The crowd that was listening to Jesus, they understood. “Those who heard it said, ‘Then who can be saved?'” Who can be saved? If money is that seductive, creating an impossible scenario for the person who has it, how will any of us be saved? See, the people listening are now realizing that anything could capture your heart and be more important to you than Jesus. Anything could get in there. How is anyone going to avoid this trap? How can anyone love the Lord so, purely, so faithfully that they would give up literally everything in their lives to follow him. I mean, if the guy with all the wealth who’s been a great guy, a law keeper since middle school can’t do it. What shot do I have? How can any of us possibly attain the purity of heart required to please God? Totally. Well, Jesus explains. “But he said, ‘What is impossible with man is possible with God.'”

You can’t do it. The answer this morning is you can’t do it. None of us can do it. There is no person who can achieve the purity of heart and devotion to the Lord, required to enter eternity on his or her own, in his or her own strength. We’re tempted to think like this rule that we’re pretty good at being good people. But all the Lord has to do is show us where we fall short, like he did with this ruler. And then we’re right in the exact same sad situation that he was in. Our goodness is kind of like a queen size blanket on a king size bed. You ever done that before? Try to make that work, right? Sure, we’re covered in a few areas, but we’re exposed in others. Have to be. Math doesn’t work out. You’re going to be cold somewhere. It is impossible for us to overcome enough idols to kill enough sins, or perform enough good works to receive entrance into eternity. It is not just hard, it is impossible. Jesus says, we need a different way to get this done. And that’s what Jesus came to do. What is impossible with our strength is possible with God’s strength. The entire saving mission of Jesus was to make a way into eternity, where there was no way that existed before. And when we put our trust in Jesus death and resurrection on our behalf, our hearts are changed.

We are made new because of the grace that God gives to us, and he recalibrates our hearts to Christ and he becomes our Lord. He becomes the one calling the shots, giving the commands in our life. His word becomes top priority in our lives. And what happens is when you follow Jesus, when you come and you follow Jesus, the question is no longer, what must I give up to inherit the kingdom of God? The question now is how do I use all this stuff? How do I use all the stuff that God has given me for Jesus, who bought me by his grace into the kingdom of God? That’s the question now. It’s amazing what happens with wealth when you’re transformed in heart by Christ. It transforms everything. Before Christ, wealth was an obstacle. In Christ, wealth is a tool. Before Christ, money was something that you owned in Christ. Money is something that you steward. Did you know that all the money you have is actually not yours? It’s not yours. We don’t own anything. It all belongs to the Lord. He can give it. He can take it away if he’s given you a lot of it. That means that you have a lot of responsibility. If he’s not giving you as much of it, you won’t have the same results as the one who has more. But you are no less responsible for handling it for God’s glory.

If you want to know where I’m getting all of this from, you can just skip down to the next chapter and read Luke chapter 19, verses 11 to 27, where he gives a parable that explains just that. This passage, what’s happening here today is building up to that parable. But the point here is, if you are clinging to money, unwilling to to give it all for the sake of knowing Jesus, it is impossible to follow Jesus and have eternal life. But if you surrender yourself to Christ and you give everything over to the Lord. Well, then your heart is truly changed. Now you know you have Christ’s salvation and now you can have hope for eternity. It feels like a big exchange, doesn’t it? Everything to God for salvation feels like a big exchange, some of you. That’s the choice you’re facing right now. That’s where you’re at. You’re you’re in this spiritually sort of messy place where, you’re interested in Jesus, but you’re not interested in surrendering everything to him. You like his ethics, but you don’t like his answers to the big questions in life. You like the idea of eternal life, but not the cost of following Jesus. Some of you are right there. For others of you, you’re all in with Jesus. You came to the end of your own effort, and you’ve taken hold of the salvation that was impossible for you to get any other way.

So, for you. You came this morning because Jesus owns your life and all your stuff. He owns all of it. You’re not clinging to the world like a life raft anymore. You know, there’s no salvation there. And for whatever group you’re in for both the groups this morning, I want you to hear the very encouraging way that Jesus ends this teaching with his disciples. “Peter said, ‘See, we have left our homes and followed you.’ 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, who will not receive many times more in this time and in the age to come eternal life.'” `Peter points out that the disciples have done exactly what Jesus has been describing. Jesus, you’ve been talking to this guy. We’re hearing it. We are that guy. We’re the ones who we literally got up and left our jobs to follow Jesus. You know what? I love it. Jesus affirms him. He affirms them. They embody exactly what he’s talking about. He understands the sacrifice, but he assures them that they’re not leaving anything behind. Not ultimately. Sure there’s going to be some sacrifice. There could be temporary loss. Being faithful to Jesus may require some time away from family.

Might mean switching jobs might mean moving somewhere you didn’t expect to go just to be faithful. It looks different for everybody. We don’t always know what God is going to call us to give up, to be faithful to him. But what happens when you are faithful in all of those ways is you start to see the other ways that God provides. You join a bigger family, right? You move away from some family. You sacrifice that closeness, that relationship that you have with them, the joy you have with that family. You go someplace to serve the Lord and you get to be part of a bigger family in the church. And God gives new jobs. He provides new ways, and you get to see all of that. It’s not just eternity, okay? It’s not just sacrifice everything now. Live a miserable life. Someday you get to have heaven. That’s not the exchange at all. Jesus says it’s not just everything in the future, it’s now we get to experience the blessings of walking with Christ now that lead to eternity with Christ forever. And I’ll tell you this morning, church, as a guy who started to follow Jesus 27 years ago now, it’s a good deal. It’s a good deal. The sacrifices of following Jesus will never outweigh the blessings you cannot outgive God. Don’t be so consumed with earthly treasure that you miss out on all that God has in store for those who have given their whole lives to Christ. Would you pray with me?

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