Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler (Luke 18:18-23 and Mark 10:17-27)

The account of Jesus and the rich young ruler is sobering (Luke 18:18-23 and Mark 10:17-27). The rich young ruler looks zealous, humble, and sincerely interested in spiritual matters. But he was willing to walk away from Jesus because earthly wealth meant more to him than heavenly wealth. Read, listen, or watch this material from Your Finances God’s Way to learn more. https://youtu.be/a3DW9WFj3S8 The account of Jesus and the rich young ruler is sobering (Luke 18:18-23 and Mark 10:17-27). He walked away because of his earthly wealth. Table of contentsWhy Didn't Jesus Preach the Gospel to the Rich Young Ruler?Not Courtroom LawyersWe Would Be Justified by the Law If We Kept It PerfectlyWe Must Be Justified by Faith Because We Can’t Keep the Law PerfectlyThe Rich Young Ruler Is the Opposite of Little ChildrenFollowing Jesus Requires RepentanceDo We Need to Sell All that We Have and Give It to the Poor?Giving Up Earthly Treasure for Heavenly TreasureJesus Loved the Rich Young RulerJesus Isn’t Chasing Us DownRiches Choked Jesus Out of the Rich Young Ruler's Life The problem with greed is not so much seen in our possessions, but rather what is possessing our hearts. Sermon, Greed’s Graveyard, Luke 12:13-21, June 16, 2019. Randy Smith. Read on to see how the rich young ruler's possessions possessed his heart. Luke 18:18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The parallel account in Mark 10:17 says, "As [Jesus] was setting out on his journey, [the rich young ruler] RAN UP and KNELT BEFORE HIM." The rich young ruler sounds: zealous: he ran up to Jesus. humble: he knelt before him. respectful: he called him Good Teacher and seems to think highly of him sincerely interested in spiritual matters: he asked one of the most important questions we can ask: What must I do to inherit eternal life?" He believes in God and he wants to go to heaven. Jesus responded... Luke 18:19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. Jesus isn’t saying he isn’t good, and he isn’t saying he isn’t God. Instead, He’s saying there’s only One who is good and that’s God. If the rich young ruler calls Jesus good, he must also recognize he is God. Or another way to say it is, if the rich young ruler doesn’t recognize that Jesus is God, he shouldn’t be calling him good. Luke 18:20a You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, The seventh commandment. Luke 18:20b Do not murder, The sixth commandment. Luke 18:20c Do not steal, The eighth commandment. Luke 18:20d Do not bear false witness, The ninth commandment. Luke 18:20e Honor your father and mother.’” The fifth commandment. Apparently, when you’re Jesus, you can put the commandments in whatever order you want! Why Didn't Jesus Preach the Gospel to the Rich Young Ruler? If you weren’t familiar with this account, or in other words, if you didn’t already know how Jesus answered the rich young ruler’s question about inheriting eternal life, what would you expect Jesus to say? What would you say if someone asked you about inheriting eternal life? "Repent and believe!" Our minds can go to Paul and Silas receiving this question from the Philippian jailer… Acts 16:30 [the Philippian jailer] said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 [Paul and Silas] said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” So, why did Jesus respond this way? Was he describing another way to be saved? I’m not trying to sound irreverent, but did he forget the gospel? And believe it or not, this isn’t even the only place Jesus responded this way! This account has similarities with the lawyer who tested Jesus. Luke 10:25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” The similarity between the lawyer and the rich young ruler is they both asked the same good question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The difference is they had completely different motives: The rich young ruler asked to learn. The lawyer asked to put [Jesus] to the test. He wanted to trap him and make him look bad. Not Courtroom Lawyers When you read about lawyers, don’t think of courtrooms. Instead, think of the way lawyers in our day study the law for a living, and the lawyers in Jesus’s day studied the Mosaic Law for a living. Even priests and Levites didn’t know the law as well as them because they spent so much of their time performing sacrifices and serving in the temple. The NIV and amplified Bibles say "expert in the law" versus lawyer. In the NKJV and NASB there’s a footnote that says lawyer could also be translated as "expert in the law." If anyone who could contend with Jesus in a debate, it would be a lawyer. But Jesus responded as brilliantly and effortlessly as every other time: Luke 10:26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus told the rich young ruler and the lawyer to obey the 10 Commandments. Obey these two commands means obeying the 10 Commandments because they hang from these two. If you love God perfectly, you’ll obey commands one through four: You won’t have other gods. You won’t make idols. You won’t take God’s name in vain. You’ll keep the Sabbath rest…which we keep through resting in Christ’s finished work. If you love your neighbor perfectly, you’ll obey commands 5 through 10: You’ll honor your father and mother. You won’t murder. You won’t commit adultery. You won’t steal. You won’t give false testimony against your neighbor. You won’t covet. We Would Be Justified by the Law If We Kept It Perfectly But we know we can’t inherit eternal life by obeying the Law, or keeping the Ten Commandments, so we would expect Jesus to tell the lawyer that he can’t keep these commands to be saved. Instead, he responded the same way he responded to the rich young ruler: Luke 10:28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” Why did Jesus respond to these two men this way? He was simply answering their question! Much of his answer is contained in the word DO: Luke 10:25 The lawyer asked, “Teacher, what SHALL I DO to inherit eternal life?” Luke 18:18 The Rich Young Ruler asked, “What MUST I DO to inherit eternal life?” They thought they were saved by DOING, so Jesus told them what to DO: keep the law perfectly. If they would’ve asked “HOW can I inherit eternal life?” versus “What MUST I DO to inherit eternal life?” maybe Jesus would’ve answered differently. Maybe you’re uncomfortable with Jesus’s response because it seems like he misled them. But he didn’t. He told them one of the two ways to be saved. If you can keep the law perfectly you can be saved. And the law itself testified to this. When the rich young ruler and the lawyer responded to Jesus they quoted the law. It is less obvious, but when Jesus responded to them, he also quoted the law. He said, “Do this and you will live,” and the words, “You will live,” were frequently attached to Old Testament verses associated with obeying God’s commands: Deuteronomy 4:1 O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, THAT YOU MAY LIVE. Nehemiah 9:29 If a person [obeys your commandments], HE SHALL LIVE BY THEM. Ezekiel 18:9 [Whoever] walks in my statutes, and keeps My rules by acting faithfully he is righteous; HE SHALL SURELY LIVE. Because of this, it was well-known that if people obeyed God’s law perfectly, they would live, or inherit eternal life, so that’s how Jesus responded. But what’s the problem? We Must Be Justified by Faith Because We Can’t Keep the Law Perfectly The point of the law is to show us our sinfulness: Romans 3:20 By works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. This helps us understand what Jesus was doing with the lawyer and the rich young ruler. He was getting them to quote the law so they would see their sinfulness and need to be saved. Because none of us can do keep the law perfectly, God graciously provided a way for us to be justified, or declared righteous, by faith apart from the law: Romans 3:21 The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law…22 The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe…28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. But with the lawyer we read: Luke 10:29 But he, DESIRING TO JUSTIFY HIMSELF, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” As sad as this response is, I love the way it is worded because it reveals the alternative to being justified, or declared righteous, by faith. We attempt to justify ourselves, or declare our righteousness, which is what the lawyer tried to do. I think the lawyer knew he couldn’t keep the law perfectly, but instead of submitting to Christ, he tried to lower the bar and make it more manageable by limiting who his neighbor might be. The rich young ruler also did not recognize his sinfulness and need to be saved: Luke 18:21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” In a truly remarkable demonstration of pride, the rich young ruler claimed to have kept all the commandments…since he was a child. He believes the world’s most common lie: “I’m a good person.” Ask people why they will go to heaven and many of them will tell you they follow the 10 Commandments, just like the rich young ruler. The Rich Young Ruler Is the Opposite of Little Children The location of the account with the rich young ruler is significant. It is in all three synoptic Gospels (Matthew 19:16-26, Mark 10:17-27,