What Will It Cost Me

The passage of the Word we are looking at today is familiar to most of us who have been active in the Church for most of our lives.

It is from the Gospel according to Matthew – chapter 19, an looking at verses 16-26.

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.”

This same occasion is recorded in Mark and Luke.

You may recognize this passage as being about a young man who we often refer to as “the rich young ruler.”

As I said earlier this is a familiar Bible account and we might think we know everything about it. We might assume there is nothing in the life of this rich young man that applies to us personally.

There may be several things about us that we don’t think we are.

First, we may never consider ourselves as being rich. There are always people who have more material things than we do.

Second, as we grow older, we know that we are not young. Isn’t it strange that when we were teenagers, we tried to convince other people that we were mature?

Then after several years we came to the realization that we were getting older. And, we may even believe we have become old before our time.

Third, we truly have little authority. Children often complain that their parents are unfair and that no one ever listens to them.

Husbands complain that their wives don’t respect them.

Wives complain that they don’t have the same rights as men.

On the job someone else always has more authority than we do.

The result is that we never see ourselves as having any authority over anything or anybody.

So, how does this rich young ruler’s life apply to ours?

Why did he come to Jesus? There may be three separate reasons he came to Jesus.

1.     First of all, Mark (chapter 10) tells us that Jesus is saying good-bye to the people of that city.

2.     He has been teaching and preaching and changing lives.

The rich young ruler must have been standing at the edge of the crowd gathered there. He may have stood there for days listening to Jesus teach.

There may have been a battle growing inside of him thinking – “I really want to go and talk to this man Jesus.”

 The young man heard that Jesus spoke with authority and was not like any other teacher he had heard before.

I think he realized that he may never have another opportunity to see or hear Jesus again. So, he knew he needed to go and talk with Him. The Word say that he RAN to Jesus and knelt before Him and asked Jesus: “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

He realized that this may be the only opportunity he would have to speak to Jesus. He knew he had to take advantage of the time – so he ran to Jesus.

He saw in Jesus a quality of life that he did not have, but that he realized he really wanted and needed.

He must have thought – “Jesus has something I would like to have. But I don’t know how to get it.

He saw something in Jesus that was in a sharp contrast to his own life.

His life was filled with responsibilities of his position as a ruler. He had to make important decisions about matters important to his position.

He noticed that Jesus was always at ease and confident as He approached the crowds. He was able to cope with every situation that arose.

This young ruler must have thought – “I want to be like that man.” So, HE RAN TO JESUS.

We might ask – how did he muster up enough courage to do that?

He was a man of honor and prestige. He had a reputation to uphold.

By the world’s standards Jesus should have been coming to him.

But this ruler was running to Jesus to ask Him the most important question anyone could ever ask:

“What shall I do?

What good thing can I do, that I might inherit eternal life?”

Notice Jesus didn’t give him a direct answer immediately.

Instead, He asked the man a question. “

“Are you familiar with the commandments?”    The man asked, “Which ones?”

Jesus: “The Don’ts: murder, steal, commit adultery, bear false witness.

Honor your father and your mother, love your neighbor as yourself.

This rich young man was a good Jew and, as expected, he would say: “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”

Let’s step aside here for a moment to look at something pertinent to this young man’s claim that he has done all he needed to.

There is a writing which is not included in the New Testament known as “The Gospel According to the Hebrews. Although not included in the New Testament, its account gives us certain valuable additional information.

Here, in part, is what it says: “The second of the rich men said to Him, “Master, what good thing can I do and live?”  The answer: “Go and sell all that you own and give it to the poor, and --- come and follow Me.”

The rich young man was not pleased with that answer. He claimed to have kept the law, which was true in the legal sense, but in the Spiritual sense it was not true, because the whole attitude to his fellowman was wrong – his attitude was truly selfish.

This man was so shackled by his possessions that nothing was going to cause him to give them up.

The lesson here is this:

If a man sees his possessions as given to him for one reason – that is, his own comfort and convenience, then his possessions are a chain that binds him, and they come to no good.

On the other hand, when a man sees his possessions as a means to help others, then his possessions are his crown.

Jesus gave this man a prescription:

He didn’t ask him to give for a particular project - material needs of the church, etc.

Jesus is saying:

“Give before the things you possess, begin to possess you.”

He is saying: “You are on a dangerous precipice in life and your wealth is about to master you. Give it away before it ruins your life.”

Jesus could have asked the rich young ruler to finance His ministry and the ministry of the Apostles. And he might have been happy to do so.

The rich young ruler could have said, “Here, Jesus, take this money. Buy horses and chariots to travel in. You will have enough money to travel around the world preaching your great message to millions of people.”

But notice – Jesus did not ask this man for one single penny for Himself.

Rather He told him to get rid of it before it possessed him and corrupted and controlled his life.

So, what did this young rich man do after hearing Jesus speak to his situation?

Luke says this:

“When he heard this, he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.”

A few minutes earlier he had run to Jesus. When he heard Jesus’ answer to his question – “What good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?”

After hearing Jesus’ answer to his question, he was extremely sad.

So now he slowly walks away from Jesus. He turns his back on Him. He rejects the life Jesus wants to give him.

And Jesus says to His apostles,

“It is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle that it is for a rich man to get into heaven,”

The real question is:

“How can anyone be saved?”

We cannot save ourselves. We cannot save another person.

But what is impossible for us --- is possible with God.

God can, and will save us when we come to Him, deny ourselves and follow His plan to salvation.

God is continually knocking on the door of our hearts.