What Am I Lacking

If you have been in the church for any length of time – as most of you have – you will be familiar with the passage of Scripture, we are looking at this morning.

Matthew 19:16-26 is the familiar Bible story of the Rich Young Ruler.

This story is also recorded in Mark and Luke, as well as here in Matthew.

And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Then he said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother; and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.

And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Now, since none of us here is a rich young ruler – you may be thinking jhow could this part of the Word benefit me in any way.

But let’s see where we can learn something about why this passage is recorded, not just in one of the Gospels, but in three of them.

You might think – this is so familiar to me that I can just zone out for the next few minutes.

You may assume that there is nothing in the life of this young ruler that applies to my life.

I read recently that someone said that there are four things about us that we don’t think we are.

And because this young man is described as being rich, we might assume that what Jesus tells him doesn’t apply to us because we are not wealthy.

And, at some point in our lives we may not relate to the story because it concerns a young man – and some of us can no longer even pretend that we are still young.

Also, we may believe that this story doesn’t apply to our lives because we don’t possess a great amount of authority over many people as this young man did.

But this man that Jesus talks about here is rich – he is young – and he is a ruler.

Most of us are none of those things.

But as we look at this encounter of this rich young ruler as he comes to Jesus we need to look at the reasons he came to Jesus.

Why did he come to Jesus?  He had questions. He was a Seeker.

1.   What good thing shall I do?

2.   Which laws do I need to keep?

3.   What do I still lack?

The account of this story in Mark (10:17-31) tells us that Jesus has been teaching the crowds, and this rich young ruler must have been in the crowd listening.

He no doubt recognized that Jesus spoke with authority.

Verse 17 tells us that this young ruler ran to Jesus and knelt before Him and asked, “Good teacher, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

READ the conversation between Jesus and the young man (17-22).

The young man was a good Jew, so he answered as any good Jew would --- “I have kept all these. What do I still lack?”

He did not like the answer Jesus gave him – “Go, sell all that you own, and distribute the money to the poor – and then – come and follow Me.”

How did Jesus’ answer impact the life of the young man?

Here are Jesus’ responses to the young man’s questions:

1.   Keep the commandments.

• Eternal life requires obedience.

• Christ is the Way to the Father.

• Duty and Obedience, in Faith, are the way to Christ.

2.   Concerning life, chastity, wealth and truth, relationships, and the law of love – the royal law – James 2:8-9 – “If, however, you are:

Fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. But, if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.”

3.   Sell and Give

• Follow Me

• Prefer the treasures of Heaven

• Embrace Christ – let go of the world.

• Devote self entirely to Christ – conform to His pattern of life and behavior

• Keep His laws

• Love and Depend upon Him

The rich young ruler found that the way of following Jesus was more than he had bargained for.

He had sought a change – but a much less radical change than the one that Jesus called him to.

His love of the world and the riches he had accumulated or inherited was greater than his desire to follow the life and the reward of heaven that Jesus offered to him.

So, he went away sorrowful – the Scripture – Matthew 19:22 – says the young man went away sorrowful, grieving – not repentant – but sorrowful -  because his love of his riches was greater than his love for Jesus Christ.

He was honest in his refusal – but still lost because of his reluctance to accept the salvation Jesus offered – because he treasured and worshipped his material wealth to be greater than living a life in Christ with the hope of eternity with Him.  

The sin of reluctance to accept the opportunity to spent eternity with Jesus is widespread in the world today.

And, most often, the reason is the same today, as the rich young ruler’s reluctance to follow Jesus –

• People don’t want to give up the life they live in the world, and the material things – or wealth they enjoy – dictated by the whims and devices of the world.

This answer was not what the man expected. He was looking for some good work he could do to be accepted by Jesus and to inherit eternal life.

There is a name for that kind of salvation – it is known as “works salvation”.

It is the idea that I can do a certain amount of good works – to my fellow man or to God – and I will have salvation.

He didn’t want a radical change in his lifestyle. He wanted to retain his love of the world and his riches. So, he went away sorrowful --- not sorrowful that he had rejected Christ, but sorrowful because his money could not buy his salvation in Jesus Christ.

Eternal life is based on an attitude of loving and sacrificial generosity to our fellowman --- reproducing God’s attitude of love and care to our fellowmen brings eternal life --- happiness, joy, satisfaction, peace of mind, and serenity of heart.

God requires all --- rich and poor --- to surrender all to Him.

He does not require to sell all we own today; but He requires us to use what we have for His honor and glory.

Love to God is expressed in good toward men. Self-denial and self-sacrifice for the good of others.

To follow Jesus is to have the mind of Christ – to do God’s will as Jesus did.