Help! I’ve got it all

Help! I’ve got it all Luke 18: 18-­‐30

Sunday 22nd May 2011 Theme: We will never be truly fulfilled loving anything other than Jesus

 Key Text: “come, follow me.”

Introduction In our consumer-­‐driven society it can be so easy to believe the lie that lasting happiness and fulfilment may be found in money and possessions. Although we know this is not true we do need to guard ourselves against ‘money’ becoming ‘Money’ with a capital M! If money & riches truly made a person happy then America would be the happiest place on earth! Millionaires would be full of joy. But are they? Let’s hear what some of them have said about it:

John D. Rockefeller declared: “The poorest man I know is the man who has nothing but money.” He also said: “I have made many millions, but they have brought me no happiness.”

W.H Vanderbilt: “The care of $200,000,000 is enough to kill anyone. There is no pleasure in it.”

John Jacob Astor: “I am the most miserable man on earth.”

Henry Ford: “I was happier when doing a mechanic’s job.”

Andrew Carnegie: “Millionaires seldom smile.”

Jesus is concerned for us because He knows how easily we can be enticed away from following Him and trusting by the lure of materialism. This, of course, is a form of idolatory. He knows, also, how vulnerable we to worry over such matters as food bills, price of clothes, rent or mortgage payments, pensions etc. He wants us to trust Him rather than be constantly anxious and fearful. Jesus wants us not to be mastered by anyone or anything, He wants us to put Him first so that we may find lasting fulfilment and reign in every area of our lives. In our reading today we meet a rich ruler. Although he had everything this world could offer he still knew he was missing something. He was also concerned that whilst he had treasures in this life how could be sure he has treasures in the next! With this worry on his mind he comes to Jesus and asks: “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” [v18]

1. No one is good Jesus’ reply is direct: “No one is good—except God alone.” [v19] It would seem that Jesus’ first response was to counter any assumption that the ruler may have had that anybody, other than God, could be worthy, or good enough, to inherit eternal life. The man was correct, of course, in calling Jesus ‘good’ for He is ‘Immanuel’ – God with us. The bible is quite clear that none of us is righteous. Paul wrote: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” [Romans 3: 23] We may compare ourselves to very wicked people, murderers and terrorists, etc and think we are okay. However, our comparison should not be against the world’s worst, but against God’s best; when we compare ourselves with Jesus, we see how far short we fall. This is why Jesus draws the ruler’s attention to the 10 Commandments for they helpfully reveal to us where we need help to change. We might wish that the 10 commandments were like an exam – “attempt any 3!” But James wrote: “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking it all.” [James 2: 10] The ruler’s considered evaluation of his own life was that he had kept all the commandments since he was a boy. Jesus, however, knew better. Although outwardly the man appeared to keep the rules yet inwardly he was enslaved. Not what Jesus said to him: “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” [ V22]

2. Where is your treasure? Jesus said: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. [Matthew 6: 20, 21] With this simple call upon his life the ruler was found out! For with regard to the first 2 commandments he was in trouble! 1. “You shall have no other gods before me. 2. “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them” And he was probably struggling with the 10th also: “You shall not covet.” [Ex 20] Jesus declared “Where your heart is there will be your treasure.” and told us not to lay up treasures on earth but rather to lay up treasures in heaven. You may ask: “How can I lay up treasures in heaven?” Well, perhaps to help us here we may ask another related question: “How does a person lay up treasures on earth?” We would suggest that it is by living to accumulate things on earth; buying better and bigger material things, cars, appliances, furnishings, houses; by saving for security and feeling the power of having money. To lay up treasures in heaven would seem to include giving them away to God’s kingdom and God’s use. Jesus is saying you can live to accumulate things on earth OR you can live to accumulate valuable things in heaven These two purposes are diametrically opposed to each other Jesus seems to be saying that a person cannot do both! And the rich ruler was in danger of missing everlasting joy and fulfilment by preferring to pursue material things rather than to follow Jesus. He had it all and yet he had nothing of lasting value! It says: “When he heard this he became very sad.” His love of money stopped him from loving God with all his heart.

3. What stops you from following Jesus Note that it wasn’t enough to sell up and give to the poor . That would indeed be to invest in heavenly treasures but the whole purpose of Jesus encounter with the man was to free him so that He could follow Jesus. Following Jesus is the only true treasure Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” [v24,25] Jesus chooses to use the smallest opening found in the home – the eye of the needle -­‐ to make us see how impossible salvation is by any human means, with all the possessions a rich man may have. But for the poorest and the humblest person who puts Jesus first and chooses to follow him Jesus then promises rich rewards: “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.” [v29, 30]

Summary No one is good enough to gain eternal life. Eternal life is found only in following Jesus. We can invest in treasure on earth that will fade away Or we can invest in eternal treasures by giving to God and His kingdom We need to beware of anything that would prevent us from following Jesus “He who provides for this life but takes no care for eternity is wise for a moment but a fool forever.” John Tillotson

Let’s pray: .