At the church
where I serve we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled “Invite”. During
this series we are looking at several events from history where Jesus engaged
and invited those who were far from Him to follow Him and live in relationship
with Him. During this series, we are going to discover what Jesus said to
invite those who were far from Him to follow Him and live in relationship with
Him. During this series, we are going to discover how Jesus said what He said
to invite those who were far from Him to follow Him and live in relationship
with Him. And as we go through this series, our hope and prayer is that God
would move by the power of the Holy Spirit in our heads, hearts, and hands in a
way that equips and empowers us to follow the example
of Jesus when it comes to inviting those who are far from Jesus to follow Jesus
and live in relationship with Jesus.
This week I
would like for us to pick up where we left off last week by looking at an event from history that is recorded in a
section of an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke.
Last week, we looked on as Jesus told a parable, which is an earthly story
designed to reveal a deeper spiritual truth, that was directed to those in the
crowd who trusted in what they did for God in order to be right with God.
The target
audience for this parable were those in the crowd who compared what they did
for God with what others did for God and looked down on others as being of
little value and worth because their performance for God did not measure up to
how they performed for God. After telling the parable, Jesus then made a statement
that many people may not realize comes from the Bible. “for everyone who exalts
himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Jesus told
this parable to point to the reality that everyone needs the message of the
gospel. Both religious people and irreligious people need the message of the
gospel. Jesus point was that
the gospel is neither religion nor irreligion. Instead it is something else
altogether. Religion makes law and moral obedience a means of salvation, while
irreligion makes the individual a law to self. The gospel is that Jesus pays
the penalty of our disobedience, so we can be saved by grace.
The problem is
that there are people who do not see their selfishness and rebellion that
separates them from God and therefore do not realize that they need to change
the trajectory of their life that is moving away from God back to God. That is
why Jesus would point such self-righteous religious people back to the commands
of God, so that they might become aware of their rebellion and need for rescue.
And it is in this context after Jesus had told this parable that we are going
to jump into this event from history together, beginning
in Luke 18:18:
A ruler questioned Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to
inherit eternal life?"
Luke brings us
into this event from history by explaining that as Jesus finished telling this
parable; and as Jesus engaged young families who were bringing their babies to
Jesus so that He might bless them and pray for them, a ruler engaged Jesus so
that he could ask Him a question. This ruler, who would have been considered a
leading political and social figure in the Jewish culture of Jesus day, 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.
And this is a question
that has been asked by humanity throughout history. You see, there is something
within us that recognizes that there is more to this life. And that recognition
leads us to seek and search for answers when it comes to what is beyond this
life. And this ruler, who grew up with a knowledge of God, wanted to make sure
that he knew what he had to do so that he would be with God for all eternity in
Heaven.
You see, word
had reached this ruler that Jesus was a teacher that seemed to have all the
answers. Jesus was not only able to answer all the questions that the religious
leaders were asking Him; Jesus was asking questions that the religious leaders
were not able to answer. So, as far as this ruler was concerned, Jesus was a good
teacher that would be the natural choice to ask this question. Luke reveals for
us how Jesus responded to the ruler’s question in verse 19:
And Jesus said to him, "Why do
you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.
Luke explained
that Jesus responded to the ruler’s question with a question of His own: "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God
alone.” Jesus basically asked
the ruler three questions is one question. Jesus basically asked this ruler
“How do you define goodness? What is true goodness?” And “Why are you calling
Me good?” Now a natural question that arises here is “Well Dave,
why would Jesus respond to the ruler that way? Why answer his question with a
question?”
The reason why
Jesus responded to this ruler the way that He did was because Jesus wanted to
question and challenge this ruler’s
view of goodness. You see, in the Jewish culture of Jesus day, just as it is
today, people tended to view good on relative terms. We tend to view good on a
sliding scale, don’t we? You know what I mean. We may look at our life and rate
ourselves as an 85 on the good scale. We see someone that we work with and find
ourselves saying, that guy is only a 70 on the scale, I am better off than he
is; but that guy, well he is a 90 and I am not nearly as good as he is.
However,
before the ruler could answer His questions, we see Jesus redefine the concept
of good by revealing the reality that God is the only source of true goodness.
But why would Jesus do that? Why would Jesus redefine that ruler's concept of
what good is? The reason why Jesus redefined good for this ruler was so that He
could challenge the ruler’s view of who He was. Jesus is basically asking 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 was, in essence, asking the ruler if he
believed that Jesus was God.
Now I want us
to take a minute and imagine ourselves in this event from history as this
ruler. I want us to take a minute and place ourselves in his shoes. You have
heard the word on the street about Jesus. You have heard that Jesus is an
amazing teacher that can answer any question and that asks questions that no
one else can answer.
And you have questions.
You have questions because there is something within you that senses that there
is more than this life. You recognize that there is a God and you want to make
sure that you are with God for all eternity in Heaven. So you approach Jesus
and ask Jesus what you need to do to make sure that you will be with God in
Heaven because you believe that Jesus is a good enough teacher to provide you
the answer to that question.
And instead of
answering your question, Jesus asks you a question. Instead of immediately
answering your question about being right with God, Jesus asks you what your
standard of goodness is, and if you believe that He is God. You are this ruler.
What would you be thinking? How would you be feeling? How would you respond? If
you were this ruler, wouldn't you be caught off guard? However, before the
ruler could answer Jesus question, Jesus continued to engage this ruler by
beginning to answer his question in verse 20:
"You know the commandments, 'DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT MURDER, DO
NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.'"
Luke tells us
that 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. In a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of our
Bibles called the book of Exodus, God had given the Jewish people a series of
commands that were designed to reveal His nature and character and the nature
and character that the Jewish people would need to posses in order to live in a
right relationship with God, which the Jewish people referred to as the Law. In
Exodus 20, God began to give Moses what would become known as the Law by giving
Ten Commandments that were written on two stone tablets to be taken by Moses to
the Jewish people.
When Jesus
quotes 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 is
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”. Jesus was attempting to help this ruler see
that he did not measure up to the standard of goodness that had been defined by
God. Luke then reveals how the ruler responded to the answer that he received
from Jesus in verse 21:
And he said, "All these things
I have kept from my youth."
Now this
ruler’s answer, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today,
would have sounded something like this: “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.”
Now, while
Luke doesn’t tell us what Jesus was thinking at that moment, don’t you wonder
what Jesus was thinking at that moment? I mean, I wonder if Jesus was thinking
“Really. Are you going to try to tell me that you have never broken any of those
commandments?” I wonder if Jesus was thinking “this guy must have missed my
sermon on what constitutes adultery and murder, because, if he would have been
at that sermon, he would have answered differently.”
However, 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 searching and shopping for answers to
his question.
However, this
ruler was oblivious to the reality that he was in desperate need for the mercy
and forgiveness of God. This ruler was oblivious to the reality that he was the
subject of Jesus previous parable. This ruler missed the point of Jesus
previous parable and the point of Jesus statement that only God is good. After
all, the ruler thinks that he is pretty good as well, doesn’t he? “All of these
things I have kept from my youth”. And Jesus loved this ruler and his desire to
search and shop for answers to his question.
Tomorrow, we
will see Luke reveal for us how Jesus responded to this ruler and his answer…
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