Sermon - Matthew 19 - Rich Young Ruler - Littleby Baptist Church - August 11, 2019
Last week as part of our walk-through Jesus’ life, ministry,
and teachings we looked at the parable of the lost son. We focused on the Robe
that wrapped the son in the father’s love. This is the same as each one of us
being wrapped in the saving Grace of our Savior Jesus Christ. Then we looked at
the ring that symbolizes the son being restored to the rightful place and
through our faith in Jesus we have been restored to our rightful place as a
child of God. Then the sandals showed us that as new creations we are no longer
of this world. As followers of Christ we need to leave our sinful ways behind.
We can no longer walk in the mire; we need to walk along the new path that God
has laid before us.
This morning we are continuing our series and looking at a conversation that Jesus had with a rich young ruler.
Matthew 19:16
“16 Just then someone came up and asked him, “Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?””
The young ruler approached Jesus and asked what he had to do to earn his way into heaven. Here is a man who had heard enough about Jesus or some of his teachings and thought highly of Him. He must have believed that Jesus had the answers, but really did understand the message.
The young ruler was still looking for that perfect way to demonstrate his personal righteousness, he was looking for a checklist of deeds, a task list, some specific work that would guarantee him access to the kingdom of God. He was trying to earn what Jesus was offering.
Matthew 19:17
“17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” he said to him. “There is only one who is good. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.””
‘there is only one who is good.’ Meaning perfection is required to enter the kingdom of God, and there is only one who is capable of doing that. If you want to earn your way into the kingdom, you need to live perfectly like Jesus lived. To drive the point further and to put it into a way that the young ruler would understand, Jesus told him to keep the commandments..
Matthew 19:18-20
“18 “Which ones?” he asked him. Jesus answered: Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; 19 honor your father and your mother; and love your neighbor as yourself. 20 “I have kept all these,” the young man told him. “What do I still lack?”
The young ruler thought he had found a path that he could follow, a list of things to do when Jesus mentioned following the Commandments. Jesus rattled off several of them and the guy was excited as to the best of his knowledge, or at least of what he wanted to admit to, he had followed these.
The rich young ruler understood that something was still missing, so he asked Jesus what he was still lacking. Jesus gave him the answer, but I don’t this it was what he wanted to hear.
Matthew 19:21
“21 “If you want to be perfect,” Jesus said to him, “go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.””
This is where it gets REAL. Where the rubber meets the road.
You could say Jesus is calling the rich young ruler out. This guy loved all the things he had and was looking for the easy non-committal way of achieving righteousness. He thought following the rules was enough, but Jesus was saying let go of the things you do and the things you own and follow Him.
He asked and Jesus answered. If the rich young ruler wanted to be truly righteous, he needed to let go of everything and follow Jesus.
Selling what he had and giving the proceeds to the poor was not going to save him. The salvation was going to be the gift of grace given to Him by our Savior Jesus in response to the rich young ruler choosing to follow Jesus no matter where it led.
Philippians 3:7-9
“7 But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith.”
Paul’s letter to the Philippians is telling us that if you put all the things in this world on one side of a scale and righteousness from God based on faith in our Savior Jesus Christ, the scale would be lopsided. The value of knowing Jesus as Lord and following Him, surpasses the value of everything the world has to offer.
The question before the rich young ruler was simply, was He going to hold onto his ‘things’ or was he going to jump in and follow Jesus. Was he going to continue to try and follow some rules or was he going to truly follow Jesus?
This was the moment of truth for him. Was he going to go all-in or fold? The rich your ruler had to decide if he was going to truly follow Jesus or walk away. There was no halfway measure, it was all or nothing.
In 1 Kings 19, Elijah tapped Elisha on the shoulder to follow in his footsteps as a prophet of the Lord. Elisha was a farmer and took his oxen and slaughtered them, they used the wood of the yoke and plow to cook the meat. With these actions he was declaring that he was no longer a farmer and there was no turning back. He was going to do what God called him to do.
This was the type of commitment Jesus was asking of the rich young ruler and each of us. We are not called to go sell, give away, or burn all of our possessions, but we are called to follow Jesus without using a safety net. We need to give Jesus our All!
Matthew 19:22
“22 When the young man heard that, he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.”
The rich young ruler was not willing to go all in. He did not understand that this one gift that Jesus was offering made all of his wealth worthless. He did not understand that he could not pay enough or do enough to earn his way into the kingdom of heaven. The only path to achieve what he was seeking was to follow Jesus.
Matthew 19:23-24
“23 Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.””
If we put in trust in wealth, things, actions, or just about anything else we are putting our faith where it does not belong.
Faith in money, a long list of good deeds, being a good person, expensive education, Biblical knowledge, rituals, temples, or anything other than our Savior Jesus will not allow you to enter the kingdom of God.
Matthew 19:25-26
“25 When the disciples heard this, they were utterly astonished and asked, “Then who can be saved?” 26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.””
Faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus, choosing to follow Him, is the only way to enter the kingdom of God.
It is not something we can achieve on our own, as Jesus said, ‘with man this is impossible.’ There is nothing we can do to earn it.
All you can do is to trust in Jesus and follow Him at all costs. Are you going to choose Jesus over everything else?
God Bless,
Robert
This morning we are continuing our series and looking at a conversation that Jesus had with a rich young ruler.
Matthew 19:16
“16 Just then someone came up and asked him, “Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?””
The young ruler approached Jesus and asked what he had to do to earn his way into heaven. Here is a man who had heard enough about Jesus or some of his teachings and thought highly of Him. He must have believed that Jesus had the answers, but really did understand the message.
The young ruler was still looking for that perfect way to demonstrate his personal righteousness, he was looking for a checklist of deeds, a task list, some specific work that would guarantee him access to the kingdom of God. He was trying to earn what Jesus was offering.
Matthew 19:17
“17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” he said to him. “There is only one who is good. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.””
‘there is only one who is good.’ Meaning perfection is required to enter the kingdom of God, and there is only one who is capable of doing that. If you want to earn your way into the kingdom, you need to live perfectly like Jesus lived. To drive the point further and to put it into a way that the young ruler would understand, Jesus told him to keep the commandments..
Matthew 19:18-20
“18 “Which ones?” he asked him. Jesus answered: Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; 19 honor your father and your mother; and love your neighbor as yourself. 20 “I have kept all these,” the young man told him. “What do I still lack?”
The young ruler thought he had found a path that he could follow, a list of things to do when Jesus mentioned following the Commandments. Jesus rattled off several of them and the guy was excited as to the best of his knowledge, or at least of what he wanted to admit to, he had followed these.
The rich young ruler understood that something was still missing, so he asked Jesus what he was still lacking. Jesus gave him the answer, but I don’t this it was what he wanted to hear.
Matthew 19:21
“21 “If you want to be perfect,” Jesus said to him, “go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.””
This is where it gets REAL. Where the rubber meets the road.
You could say Jesus is calling the rich young ruler out. This guy loved all the things he had and was looking for the easy non-committal way of achieving righteousness. He thought following the rules was enough, but Jesus was saying let go of the things you do and the things you own and follow Him.
He asked and Jesus answered. If the rich young ruler wanted to be truly righteous, he needed to let go of everything and follow Jesus.
Selling what he had and giving the proceeds to the poor was not going to save him. The salvation was going to be the gift of grace given to Him by our Savior Jesus in response to the rich young ruler choosing to follow Jesus no matter where it led.
Philippians 3:7-9
“7 But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith.”
Paul’s letter to the Philippians is telling us that if you put all the things in this world on one side of a scale and righteousness from God based on faith in our Savior Jesus Christ, the scale would be lopsided. The value of knowing Jesus as Lord and following Him, surpasses the value of everything the world has to offer.
The question before the rich young ruler was simply, was He going to hold onto his ‘things’ or was he going to jump in and follow Jesus. Was he going to continue to try and follow some rules or was he going to truly follow Jesus?
This was the moment of truth for him. Was he going to go all-in or fold? The rich your ruler had to decide if he was going to truly follow Jesus or walk away. There was no halfway measure, it was all or nothing.
In 1 Kings 19, Elijah tapped Elisha on the shoulder to follow in his footsteps as a prophet of the Lord. Elisha was a farmer and took his oxen and slaughtered them, they used the wood of the yoke and plow to cook the meat. With these actions he was declaring that he was no longer a farmer and there was no turning back. He was going to do what God called him to do.
This was the type of commitment Jesus was asking of the rich young ruler and each of us. We are not called to go sell, give away, or burn all of our possessions, but we are called to follow Jesus without using a safety net. We need to give Jesus our All!
Matthew 19:22
“22 When the young man heard that, he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.”
The rich young ruler was not willing to go all in. He did not understand that this one gift that Jesus was offering made all of his wealth worthless. He did not understand that he could not pay enough or do enough to earn his way into the kingdom of heaven. The only path to achieve what he was seeking was to follow Jesus.
Matthew 19:23-24
“23 Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.””
If we put in trust in wealth, things, actions, or just about anything else we are putting our faith where it does not belong.
Faith in money, a long list of good deeds, being a good person, expensive education, Biblical knowledge, rituals, temples, or anything other than our Savior Jesus will not allow you to enter the kingdom of God.
Matthew 19:25-26
“25 When the disciples heard this, they were utterly astonished and asked, “Then who can be saved?” 26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.””
Faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus, choosing to follow Him, is the only way to enter the kingdom of God.
It is not something we can achieve on our own, as Jesus said, ‘with man this is impossible.’ There is nothing we can do to earn it.
All you can do is to trust in Jesus and follow Him at all costs. Are you going to choose Jesus over everything else?
God Bless,
Robert
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