Presentation 31
Presentation 31
Introduction
How good are you at asking questions that
are of vital importance? Many will attend a
job interview armed with countless
questions... yet they are still able to avoid
asking life’s big questions; "Why am I here?
What is the purpose of life? How can I get to
know God? Can I be sure of life after death?"
Thankfully, there are brave souls like the
young ruler in our story, who are prepared to
ask important questions. Perhaps he would
not have been so brave had he anticipated
Jesus’ reply. Often, in our approach to God,
we are not given the answers we hope for.
Presentation 31
A Crucial Question
In v17 we encounter one of life’s big questions,
"What must I do to gain eternal life?" The
questioner was concerned about his spiritual
condition and his relationship with God. His arrival
must have come like a breath of fresh air to Jesus.
Here was a genuine enquirer . He had not come to
complain or criticise, to test or entrap.
We are not told what motivated his enquiry! But we
know that God has a way of writing questions on the
blackboards of our minds, which otherwise would
not see the light of day. That can be an intensely
disturbing experience!
Presentation 31
A Crucial Question
Many seek to escape from such questions by diving
into a sea of alcohol or drug abuse or, by incessant
activity at work or, involvement in a mad
roundabout of hobbies and social events. Others
seek to avoid these questions by losing themselves
in religious ritual and service.
A number of people seek psychiatric explanations
for the distress that God’s questioning produces in
their minds.
The rich young ruler did none of these things. He
revealed a good spiritual sense of direction by
bringing his question to Jesus. "What must I do to
gain eternal life?” It was a crucial question!
Presentation 31
A Profound Misunderstanding
Jesus replied by gently clarifying an obvious
misunderstanding. It was clear that this young
man had a superficial view of goodness and so
Jesus asked, "Why do you call me good...?"v18
Jesus was not denying his own absolute
goodness but he wanted to know if this man
was using the word "goodness", loosely and
thoughtlessly. Did the ruler understand, what
real goodness was in God's sight? Jesus knew
that if a man holds a superficial view of
goodness, then it will affect the way in which he
thinks about himself.
Presentation 31
A Profound Misunderstanding
This young man clearly thought he was, "a good
chap, a commendable person". But like so many
people today he had never truly begun to
measure his life against the absolute goodness
of God. We tend to allow our understanding of
goodness. To be shaped by the society in which
we live and by the people who surround us. We
like to be able to say, “Compared to John Smith I
live a very good life”. But no society can be an
absolute guide for morality and, if we take time
to think about it, we need a reference point for
goodness that lies outside of ourselves.
Presentation 31
A Profound Misunderstanding
Let me illustrate. The story is told of a man who stopped
outside a clockmaker's shop every morning on his way to work
to synchronized his watch with a large clock standing in the
shop window. One day, the owner of the shop asked him what
kind of work he did. Rather sheepishly, the man told him he
was the timekeeper at a local factory, one of his tasks was to
ring the closing bell at 5 o’clock every evening. As his watch
kept poor time, he synchronized it each morning with the clock
in the shop window. The embarrassed clockmaker replied,
‘Unfortunately this clock doesn't work very well either, so I
adjust it every time I hear the factory's closing bell!'
When men set their moral compass according to current social
trends they gradually loose touch with ethical integrity?
Goodness is diluted!
Presentation 31
A Profound Misunderstanding
Jesus pointed the ruler to the commandments citing
only those that dealt with human relationships...
Would he realise that Jesus had asked him nothing
about the commandments that dealt with his
relationship to God?
Now the commandments cannot be kept perfectly.
Indeed, part of their original intention was to convince
us of our lack of goodness, as God measures goodness.
The young man thought he had kept God’s
commandments perfectly. ‘all these I have kept since I
was a boy’. Like many of Jesus’ contemporaries he
would have externalised the commandments. Jesus
consistently applied them to our thoughts and the
attitudes in our hearts.
Presentation 31
A Profound Misunderstanding
Did this young ruler feel smug about his goodness?
After all he wasn't a murderer, a bank-robber, an
adulterer - he was ‘a good man’. He was no rogue! He
was earnest, sincere, religious, devoted and doubtless
was held in high esteem by the community. There was a
lot that was very attractive about him.
Now Jesus ‘looked at him and loved him’v21, but there
was something missing. Something that amounted to
everything. His life was self-centred rather than Godcentred!
I imagine that he was hoping, as many today hope, that
Jesus would say, ‘You have nothing to worry about on
the strength of your moral performance you can be
sure of eternal life’?
Presentation 31
A Profound Misunderstanding
What a shock he must have got, when Jesus
delivered his knock-out blow. Jesus did not
contradict the man's reply as he could have done.
He did not drive the commandments inwardly as
he had done on other occasions. Think of the way
that he told his hearers in Matthew 6. that if they
hated their brother, they had broken the
commandment not to kill, and that if they looked
lustfully after another woman, they had
committed adultery in their hearts.
Instead, Jesus said, "You still lack one thing, sell
everything you have..." thus immediately
identifying the real stumbling block in this man's
life - his unhealthy attachment to his wealth.
Presentation 31
A Profound Misunderstanding
His attachment to his wealth had caused him to break the tenth commandment
not to covet, and the first commandment that requires us to give God first place in
our lives and the second commandment that forbids the worshipping of other
gods. There was a god in his life that he prized more than even a relationship with
the true and living God, 'he had great wealth’ v22.
Jesus is not teaching that wealth in itself
is wrong, but in this case, it stood as the
great competitor for a heart allegiance
that rightly belonged to God. One
sentence was enough to reveal to the
young man, the truth about himself. A
truth that had remained buried under
the surface of his life for years.
Presentation 31
A Profound Misunderstanding
It is surely no accident that all the gospel writers, who
record this incident, do so immediately after Jesus’ words,
"I tell you the truth anyone who will not receive the
kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it" v17.
The qualities of childlikeness to which Jesus referred
include a dependant and trusting spirit. But this young
ruler would not relinquish his independence. He refused
to trust Jesus with his future. He would rather live
independently of God than cultivate a dependant,
childlike relationship with him. His wealth guaranteed his
independence. He put his trust, not in God, but in his
wealth. As long as he had money he saw himself as
master of his own destiny.
Presentation 31
Searching Instruction
Jesus was not surprised when the young man
turned his back and went away sorrowful cf. v2425.... Jesus knew the power that material wealth
could exert. Possessions can gain such a hold on us
that instead of being our servants they become our
masters. We begin to live for what we own and trust
in what we own to deal with all our problems and to
give us security for the future. And so Jesus says,
‘it is easier for a camel to go thro the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.’
Some try unnecessarily to soften the radical nature
of Jesus’ metaphor by saying it is a reference to the
camel gate in Jerusalem. The only way for the camel
to get through was to unload it!
Presentation 31
Searching Instruction
Jesus vivid metaphor quite understandably causes the
disciples to ask, “Who then can be saved?” The rich man
thought he could save himself and by his moral
performance and so secure eternal life. But what he
couldn't do was change the tide of affection and the bias
of his heart which drove him away from God. He could
not thread the needle! This is the human dilemma!
People can long for eternal life but yet are aware of
being driven remorselessly further and further away
from it. Jesus answers his disciples question saying,
"What is impossible with men is possible with God“
v27. God can transform the tide of human nature.
Man cannot save himself. Salvation is a miracle of
grace. God does what man cannot!
Presentation 31
Searching Instruction
Some think Jesus treated this man harshly. He was a
powerful leader, a good man to have on your side! Why
not make an exception, lower the standards and make
room for such a man? Because Jesus loved him! True
love is neither, indulgent nor, afraid to correct.
Therefore, Jesus did not shout out, "Come back, I’ve
changed my mind".
Love tells the truth and so Jesus exposed the young
man’s defiant independence of God. This ruler needed
time to ponder the superficiality of his own goodness,
for only then, would he be prepared to exercise a
dependant childlike trust in God for salvation. I would
like to think that after mature reflection he did put God
first in his life.
Presentation 31
Searching Instruction
The story of this young man is powerfully relevant in a
society that has made a god out of wealth. Whether it
is the pursuit of the American Dream or the Dubai
Dream, for many the accumulation and possession of
wealth is all-absorbing. We are reminded here that in
this life we can possess everything but if we do not
posses Christ, then we possess nothing of value.
When the young man turned his back on Jesus he
demonstrated that his arithmetic was flawed.
He could not grasp this simple equation:
Possessing everything - Christ = Nothing.
“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world,
yet forfeit their soul?” Mark 8v36
Presentation 31
Conclusion
Can we identify with the rich young ruler who
brought a serious question to Jesus? Do we think
that we can make ourselves good enough for God?
Does Jesus’ answer disturbs our lifestyle and
challenges the first love of our life? Will we also go
away sorrowful and return to a life of trivial
pursuits? For life, without an eternal dimension, is
precisely that! Or, will we with childlike trust commit
our lives to Christ. He died on the cross in order that
abundant, eternal life might be ours? Will you ask
God to bring about the spiritual transformation of
which Jesus spoke? ‘With man this is impossible,
but not with God, all things are possible with God.’
Presentation 31