This week we
are looking at an encounter that an individual had with Jesus that is recorded
for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke.
Yesterday we looked on as a ruler stopped Jesus to ask Him a question. This
ruler, who would have been considered a leading political and social figure in
the Jewish culture of the first century, asked Jesus "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life?"
In other
words this political and social leader was asking Jesus “What must I do to be right with God so that I can be
with God in Heaven?” This political and social leader was looking past this
life and was wondering what would happen to him after this life. And this
political leader wanted to be in a position that he could experience life with
God in Heaven.
We looked on
as Jesus responded to this ruler’s question with a question of His own: "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God
alone.” Jesus responded to this ruler the way that He did was because Jesus
wanted to question and challenge
this ruler’s view of goodness. Jesus redefined good for this ruler was so that
He could challenge the ruler’s view of who He is.
Jesus was
basically saying to this ruler “so you believe that I am good. Well the only
source of true goodness is God. So since you are calling Me good, do you
believe that I am God?” Jesus is, in
essence, asking the ruler if he believed that Jesus is God.
We looked on
as Jesus continued to engage this
ruler and his question by quoting the 7th, 6th, 8th,
9th and 5th commandments of the Ten Commandments that God
had given the Jewish people through a man named Moses. When Jesus quoted the 7th,
6th, 8th, 9th and 5th commandments,
these commandments are all horizontal in nature and deal with our relationships
with others as we live in community with one another.
Jesus was
basically saying to this ruler “You know the answer to this question because
God already answered this question. Remember the Ten Commandments that God gave
Moses? Remember all those commandments that deal with how you treat others. You
need to keep those commandments”.
We looked on
as the ruler basically said to Jesus “All of those commands I have followed and
obeyed since I was a child. I haven’t slept with someone else’s wife. I haven’t
killed anyone. I haven’t stolen from anyone. I haven’t lied to anyone or about
anyone. I have always treated my parents well. If that is the scorecard; If
that is all I have to do, then I’m good with God. If that is all I have to do,
I’ll be in Heaven.”
Today, as we
jump back into this event from history, while Luke does not tell us what Jesus
was thinking at that moment, in another account of Jesus life in the Bible
called the gospel of Mark, Peter gives us a glimpse into the mindset of Jesus
at that moment. In Mark 10:21, Peter tells us that Jesus looked up at this
ruler and felt a love for him.
You see,
this ruler genuinely wanted to be right with God. This ruler genuinely wanted
to be with God in Heaven. This ruler was genuinely seeking and searching for
answers to his question. And Jesus loved this ruler and his desire to seek and
search for answers to his question. Luke then reveals for us how Jesus
responded to this ruler and his answer in verse 22:
When Jesus heard this, He said to him, "One thing
you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and
you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
Luke tells
us that Jesus basically said to this ruler “Well there is one thing in your
life that is deficient when it comes to your relationship with God. There is one thing that ought to be present
in your life that is not present in your life. In order to be right with God
and be with God in Heaven, you just need to sell all of your possessions and
give them to those who are without possessions. If you would sell the abundance
of treasure that you have accumulated for yourself here on earth in order to
help those who are here with you on earth, you will store up treasure in
Heaven. The after you do that, you need to come follow Me.”
Now to fully
understand what Jesus is saying to this ruler, we first need to understand what
Jesus is not saying to this ruler. Jesus is not saying that being rich or
having lots of possessions is bad. Jesus is not saying that being poor gets you
into Heaven and being rich keeps you out of Heaven. And Jesus is not saying
that you get into Heaven by being generous to poor people.
Instead,
Jesus here was challenging the ruler, who was rich, to give
up the one thing that was in competition with Him in terms of devotion and
worship. Jesus is challenging this ruler here because Jesus knew that how we
handle our treasure reveals what we treasure. Jesus is challenging this ruler
because Jesus knew that this ruler treasured his treasure more than he
treasured Jesus.
By calling this ruler to follow
Him, Jesus was asking him to follow
him as His disciple. So Jesus here is calling this ruler to make Jesus large
and in charge of his life instead of making his treasure large and in charge of
his life. Jesus is calling this ruler to follow Him instead of following His
treasure. You see, what ought to be present in this rulers life that was not
present in this rulers life was that Jesus was to be large and in charge of
this man’s life. What was deficient in this man’s life was that this man did
not trust Jesus as his treasure. Instead this man trusted and treasured his treasure.
Friday, we
will see how this ruler responded to Jesus answer and discover a timeless truth
that can occur when we encounter Jesus...
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