Scripture Reading:

• Mark 10:17-31
• Luke 19:1-10

Opening Prayer:

Father God, we thank you for the honor and the privilege we have to gather here this morning to give you our offering of worship and praise. I pray that as we enter into this time of preaching, that you would give me words to speak. I pray that you would open up hearts and minds to receive your word. May all that is said and done be for your glory. Amen. 

Introduction:

If I were to make a list of the least popular sermon topics, I believe that “money” would be towards the top of the list. It is true that the Bible has a lot to say about money and how we should and shouldn’t use it, but while this sermon involves two wealthy men who encountered Jesus, this is not going to be a sermon about wealth, generosity, or wise money management. This is going to be a sermon about what it means to have our hearts transformed by the love of Jesus, and why so many people unfortunately miss out on the blessing of Christ. 

The Rich Young Ruler:

Let’s begin by looking at the rich young ruler in Mark 10. While on his travels we read that Jesus encountered a young man who seems to have everything a young man could want. He had wealth, a good reputation in the community, and when Jesus points the young man to the Law of Moses the young ruler declares that he has kept the commandments since he was a youth. If we take all of this at face value then we see a near perfect picture of success; a young, wealthy, well respected, and morally upright young man. What could this young man lack? 

He comes to Jesus seeking one thing: 

“Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Mark 10:17b, ESV

Mark 10:17b, ESV

The rich young ruler was seeking assurance of eternal life in the Kingdom of God. This is a good thing to seek after, but notice the assumption that he makes in the question. “What must I do…” shows that he assumes, like most people in his day, that there was some achievement or some level of righteousness that he could obtain to receive membership in the Kingdom of God. He had sought to live a righteous life, but he wanted to know for sure that he had done everything necessary. The rich young ruler did not want to leave anything off of his to-do list. 

Jesus picked up on this and answered the young ruler’s question with another question, followed by a list of commands taken from the Ten Commandments given to Moses which formed the basis of the Law of God. 

“Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’”

Mark 10:18-19, ESV

When I preached on this passage a few months ago during our Heart of a Disciple series, I pointed out that Jesus’ first question “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone” was a test that the young man sadly failed. Jesus was essentially asking the young man the question that this sermon series was named after “Who do you say that I am?” At the same time he was asking the young man “who do you say that you are?” 

If you remember last week, Peter received the call to become a disciple after he acknowledged both his sinfulness and Christ’s holiness. Here this unnamed man of wealth and renown is given the same opportunity, but sadly misses the mark. 

“Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”

Mark 10:20, ESV

Even though Jesus has already said that “no one is good except God”, this young man continues to point to his good works as evidence that he is worthy of eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Sadly this is not at all an uncommon way of thinking even today. 

Whenever the topic of gospel assurance comes up, my go to questions is an inversion of the question that the rich young ruler asked Jesus. I ask them “If you were to die in your sleep and find yourself face to face with God, and He asked you ‘Why should I let you into my Kingdom?” How would you answer?”

Almost every time I ask that question the answer I get is similar to the one that the rich young ruler gave Christ. They point to good things they have done or bad things they haven’t done. Only one time can I remember hearing the right answer, which is “because of what Jesus has done for me.”

Jesus pointed the rich young ruler to the ten commandments, but if you know your ten commandments then you may have noticed that Jesus skipped a few of them. Jesus pointed to the commandments that dealt with how we should live towards our fellow man

“Honor your father and your mother… You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet…”

Exodus 20:12-17, ESV

But Jesus skipped over the commandments that dealt with how we should live towards God. 

“You shall have no other gods before me… You shall not bow down to [idols] or serve them… You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain… Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Exodus 20:3-4, 7-8, ESV

The young man was a man of great reputation, well loved in his community, but his great wealth blinded him to the idolatry that was in his heart. He was a good man who loved his neighbors well, but did he truly love God and desire to follow Him? Whether the rich young ruler realized it or not, he had broken the very first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3), in more than one way. 

First, Jesus told the young man that “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18), but the man still pointed to his own goodness for his hope of salvation. He was either making God out to be a liar, or he was claiming to have achieved a level of goodness that would put God in his debt, both of which are blasphemous claims. 

Second, when Jesus hears the man’s claim to self-righteousness, he tells the young ruler,  

“You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Mark 10:21, ESV

I don’t want to downplay how difficult it is for a rich man to give up what was probably a hard earned fortune, but I can’t help but want to call this rich young ruler a rich young fool. Jesus makes it clear that if he would turn from the idol in his heart (for this man it was the idol of wealth) and give his life over to God, then he would become a disciple of Jesus and be welcomed into the Kingdom of God. Sadly the fool chose his money. He would rather be comfortable in this life than to find the eternal happiness that comes from the peace and favor of God. 

Now the question that always comes up is whether or not Jesus is telling us that we have to give up all our treasures and comforts to follow him, and the answer for most of us will be “no.” This is not a command that Jesus gave to every disciple, and we see examples in both the Old and New Testament of individuals who were both wealthy and faithful.

The real question we need to ask is whether or not God is first in our hearts. If there is anything in your heart that you would choose over God, then that is your idol. It doesn’t have to be wealth, it can be anything. There are some things that are just sinful and we should do away with them, but most things in life are morally neutral in and of themselves. They exist for our enjoyment and for the benefit of others, and if we use them properly then we honor God in their use. It is only when something that is not God takes priority over God that the good thing becomes sinful, and it is better to destroy it or throw it away than to let it take you away from God. 

Elsewhere Jesus would say,

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Matthew 6:24, ESV

Again, money is not evil unless it becomes your master, but if anything other than God has mastery over you be assured that it is a tool of Satan.  Jesus’ disciples had a hard time understanding what had just unfolded before them. He tells them that it is difficult for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom (v 23), even going so far as to say that “with man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God” (v 27). 

The temptation of wealth is that it is possible to reach a level of wealth where one no longer feels the need to trust in God, and that is dangerous for the soul. I can still remember times in my life when my greatest wish was just to have enough money where I wouldn’t have to think about it constantly. It took me way too long to realize that in some ways I was idolizing financial independence. I wanted the security and peace of mind that I thought money would bring, but I needed to realize that money was never meant to be my security and my peace. A passage of scripture that changed my perspective forever came to me from the book of Proverbs: 

Give me neither poverty nor riches;

    feed me with the food that is needful for me,

lest I be full and deny you

    and say, “Who is the Lord?”

or lest I be poor and steal

    and profane the name of my God.

Proverbs 30:8-9, ESV

How many of us could pray that in and mean it? Now again, I don’t want to overstep by saying it is wrong to be wealthy. It is not a sin to be wealthy anymore than it is a sin to be poor, but as the proverb shows us there are temptations that come with each. It is better to do what Jesus taught his disciples:

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Matthew 6:33, ESV

The Rich Little Man

Whenever I teach about the rich young ruler, I like to point out another wealthy man who encountered Jesus. If you grew up going to church as a child, you probably are familiar with the Sunday School song about Zacchaeus, the wee little man who climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus passing by. Luke tells us that Zacchaeus was indeed a man small in stature, but he was also a man with great power and wealth. Zacchaeus was “a chief tax collector and was rich” (Luke 19:2). The fact that Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector is an important detail. 

The rich young ruler was a wealthy man, well respected in his community, and having the reputation of being a morally upright and outstanding citizen. Zacchaeus, on the other hand, was a wealthy man who made his money by overtaxing people and swindling them out of their hard earned wealth. If you hate paying taxes today, you would really have hated it in the ancient world. There is a reason that you often see the phrase “tax collectors and sinners” used in the gospels as a way to describe groups of people that one would not want to be associated with. 

From what we are told, Zacchaeus wasn’t looking to speak to Jesus, he just wanted to see him as he passed by. His short stature made it difficult to see over the crowd and so the tiny tax-collector found a sycamore tree and climbed high enough into the tree to see over people’s heads. 

In a moment that shocked Zacchaeus, and probably everyone in earshot, Jesus calls out to the chief tax collector. 

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 

Luke 19:5, ESV

It was seen as a great honor in that day to have an important person visit your home. This is why we are told that Zacchaeus “came down and received him joyfully” (Luke 19:6)  while the people grumble amongst themselves saying, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner” (Luke 19:7). 

The rich young ruler saw himself as a great man, and saw Jesus as a good teacher who could give him the one thing he lacked. Zacchaeus understood he was a sinner. He just wanted to see Jesus, and was shocked to find that the Messiah wanted to be his friend. 

Look at Zacchaeus’ response, 

 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 

Luke 19:8, ESV

Jesus did not ask Zacchaeus to do this. Zacchaeus willingly chose to repent of his dishonest gains and to change his ways. He parted freely from his ill-gotten wealth because he had experienced the grace of God and wanted to live a life that reflected his new friendship with God. 

Jesus then tells Zacchaeus, 

“Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Luke 19:9-10, ESV

What made the difference? I believe that people always act in accordance with their real view of God. We can claim to believe a lot of things about God, but the truth of what we believe comes out in the way we live our lives. 

What did the rich young ruler believe about God? He believed that God was a God of rules and commandments, because he sought to keep the commandments of God from his youth. However, he did not believe that God would provide for him if his money left him. His actions proved that he trusted more in himself and his wealth than he did in God. The rich young ruler understood faith as a system you work to get what you want from God. 

What did Zacchaeus believe about God? Apparently he was a child of Abraham (a Jew) who had enough faith to climb a tree when he heard the Messiah was traveling through his town. At the same time he was a wealthy man who, by his own admission, swindled people out of their money to fill his pockets. If a man grows rich from fraud and lying, what does that say about his view of God? But after encountering Jesus, Zacchaeus realized that faith is not a system you work, but rather a relationship with a God who comes in love to work in you. Zacchaeus learned what he rich young ruler failed to see – eternal life in the kingdom is not something you get by doing and saying all the right things, rather it is what happens when God gets a hold of you and transforms you from the inside out. 

Both had an encounter with Jesus, but one went away sad while the other rejoiced and was changed forever. I hope this morning that you have come to know the joy of salvation that comes from knowing the love of God in Christ. If this morning you realize that you need to come to meet with Jesus, maybe for the first time, I would love to talk with you during this time of decision, after the service, or sometime during the week. I would encourage you though, not to leave this sanctuary without committing in your heart to take that step of faith and begin that journey. Let us pray.

Prayer of Decision: 

Father God, we thank you for the testimonies of the rich young ruler and Zacchaeus. I pray that we would not be like the rich young ruler, who saw you as a means to an ends and left disappointing. Instead I pray that, like Zacchaeus, we would see that you are the very thing we seek. Help us to understand your love, your grace, and your mercy. Let this transformation be more than just new thought in our minds, but let this love overflow into our lives through our words and our actions so that all would know that we have encountered you. Bless us Lord we pray, Amen!