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You could call this story an epic “Opportunity Lost.”
You talk about a guy presented with a once-in-a-lifetime golden opportunity, an opportunity that he squandered. An opportunity that he squandered Badly. And. Sadly.
As you will hear in this PODCAST, we’re talking about an offer rarely made, and shockingly dismissed.
A young man who burst on the scene like a blazing comet streaking overhead, only to flame out and fall out of the sky to come crashing and burning to earth.
What a story!
One thing’s for sure. Jesus never took a class on Personal Evangelism. Because, to be honest, Jesus Broke. Every. Rule of personal evangelism in this very personal encounter.
Here you have what we call in our contemporary Christian culture a seeker coming to Jesus to ask Him one question. THE question. The single most important question.
A softball question that any one of us could answer.
His question?
“What should I do to inherit eternal life?”
This young man asked Jesus exactly the right question, to which Jesus gave him exactly the wrong answer!
Or did He?
Don’t fault me for asking that. Jesus’ own disciples thought that Jesus gave him the wrong answer. Check it out:
The disciples were “astounded and astonished” when they heard Jesus’ answer. (Matthew 19:25)
All this guy needed to do, all that Jesus needed to tell him to do, was to pray a “Jesus, come into my heart” prayer, right? Yet, by the time Jesus got done with him?… The young man walked away.
In the words of the noted Lutheran New Testament scholar, R.C.H. Lenski,
“Picture him: an exemplary young man in early manhood, fine and clean morally as the phrase now goes… wealthy… with a strong religious bent… a pillar (in the community)… Where is the church that would not give him a prominent place?… Yet all this is in the eyes of Jesus… worthless.”
Yeah verily, I will add, so worthless that Jesus offended him. Lost him. Drove him away.
Know why?
Well, let’s begin by reading Matthew 19:21,
Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
The craziest thing about Jesus’ answer to this young man is that it had absolutely nothing to do with money. Salvation… eternal life in heaven with God… these things have nothing at all to do with money. In this man’s life, finances were a secondary issue.
The primary issue is obedience.
And salvation is very much about obedience.
So, let’s find out what we know about this particular young man Jesus is talking to, based on what is written about him in three of the four Gospels.
First, he was a young man (Matthew 19). When they met, Jesus was probably about 33-years-old, which puts this man most likely in his mid-to-late twenties.
Secondly, we know from Mark’s account that he was extremely wealthy (Mark 10).
Third, Luke uses the word “archon” in describing him, which means he was a ruler or at least a community leader (Luke 18).
Finally, Mark includes the details that this rich, young ruler was both eager and respectful (he came running up to Jesus and he knelt before Him).
As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17)
All these qualities seem to be the perfect recipe for someone any pastor would like to meet at an altar call!
But, was he obedient? After all, this is a story about obedience, not money.
And this story is in perfect harmony with Jesus’ teachings, beginning with the first sentence of His most prominent and possibly first sermon:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)
Jesus’ entire Sermon on the Mount, as well as his answer to the rich young ruler can be reduced to that single sentence.
You see, the answer to what can we do to gain eternal life is this: NOTHING.
We need to be poor in spirit, absolutely without pride. It doesn’t matter how hard you may try to follow God’s commandments, you will fall short every single time, and will therefore desperately need God’s forgiveness.
But, what does “poor in spirit” look like? It looks like Peter in Luke 5:8
When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.”
It looks like John in Revelation 1:17
When I saw Him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead.
It looks like the prophet Isaiah when he said:
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:5)
It’s all about being humble enough to obediently live out God’s will in our lives, and bending our own will so that it is identical to His.
But, take a look at how Jesus wrapped up His Sermon on the Mount:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
You could claim to be a Christian. You could memorize thousands of Scriptures and know every word to every worship song. You could call Him Lord. But, only those who actually obey God will enter into heaven.
Yet, by very definition of “poor in spirit”, we know that it is impossible to obey Him perfectly. Therefore, Christian living is not about perfection in our lives. It is only about the direction of our lives.
When we become committed Christ-followers, we make a life-altering decision to no longer live in rebellion to God’s will. We say to Him, “I want to obey You!”
THAT is the issue: Obedience.
This is why Jesus said in John 14:15,
“If you love me, obey my commandments.”
So, if Jesus were standing in front of you… in the flesh… and He gave you a clear command: “I want you to do THIS”. I’m talking about a crystal clear commandment, without any room for error or misunderstanding of what He meant. Would you obey or sadly walk away?
This leads me to when the rich young ruler ran up to Jesus, knelt before Him and asked…
“Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” (Matthew 19:16-20)
When it came to following God’s commandments, the young man was not poor in spirit. Instead, he claimed to be perfect in obedience – proud in spirit. He didn’t think he needed God’s grace. He just wanted to avoid hell.
Yet, despite his claim that he had kept all of God’s commandments, Jesus told him that he lacked obedience
21 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 key words there are “follow me”.
This young man should have been dancing with joy. After all, Jesus only said the words “follow me” to a precious few people. Jesus was inviting this guy to become an apostle! Those are the words He used to call Peter, Matthew, and the others.
But instead, he turned down Jesus’ invitation and walked away.
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. (Matthew 19:22)
This harkens back to the first of God’s Ten Commandments:
You shall have no other god before Me. (Exodus 20:3)
This guy was declaring that he had kept all of God’s commandments… when, in actuality, he hadn’t even gotten past the first one! His money was his false god that got in the way between him and obeying Jesus.
And, like this rich young ruler, there is often one special thing in each of our lives that gets in the way of us following Jesus. It may be something very different than money. God knows your heart. He knows THE thing that would keep us back and He tests us to get that thing – whatever it may be – out of the way.
With Peter, it wasn’t money, it was his obsession with the Romans.
For John, aka the “son of thunder”, it was his hate. As a result, before he died, John wrote more about love than all the other Biblical writers combined.
Paul had to give up everything that defined his life. He was a Pharisee and had all the power, wealth and prestige that went along with being a respected Pharisee. As he put it:
I have given up everything else and count it all as garbage. All I want is Christ 9 and to know that I belong to him. I could not make myself acceptable to God by obeying the Law of Moses. God accepted me simply because of my faith in Christ. (Philippians 3:8-9)
So, if Jesus puts his finger on something, let us not walk away, but obediently follow Him with our lives to salvation!