5.24.2026 Entering the Kingdom

The rich young ruler wants to make a transaction when he comes to Jesus. He wants to do a great deed, make a great donation, to purchase assurance. But Jesus is not offering a transaction. He's offering resurrection. We all live in a transactional world, and so we often don't get this. When you go to a store, it's a transaction. You bring something of equal value, you exchange it for something you want, and you both leave with something you feel like is equal. Both parties walk away, presumably even. Neither owes anything to each other. But when you come to Jesus, he's not offering a transaction. He's offering resurrection. Something else entirely. [00:28:37] (42 seconds)  #ResurrectionNotTransaction

Now, when I read this, what surprised me about this, verse 23 especially, is what Jesus does not say. Read again, verse 23. Truly I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. It's surprising to me what Jesus does not say. He doesn't say it's hard for the greedy person to enter. That would make sense. He doesn't say it's hard for the dishonest or the corrupt to enter. He just says it's hard for the rich. Generally, as a category, that's intentional and it should make you uncomfortable. Because all of us are rich. Jesus consistently treats wealth not as a blessing to celebrate, but as a danger to navigate. And here's why. Wealth is uniquely effective at making you feel like you don't need saving. [00:17:49] (65 seconds)  #WealthHidesNeed

The disciples asked the right question. Who then can be saved? Who can get in? If this guy can't get in, who can? And Jesus says, With man it's impossible. Now let that land for a second. Jesus is not describing an obstacle that's merely difficult. He says it's impossible. He's describing that something humanly impossible, out and beyond human capacity entirely. You cannot get in on your own. You cannot be good enough. You cannot give enough. You cannot pray enough. You cannot change enough. The camel cannot get through the needle. That's why that image is so extreme. Not with effort. Not with sincerity. Not with litigious achievement. [00:26:10] (52 seconds)  #ImpossibleWithMan

Here's what's convicting about this particular scene for people like you and me, who spend our whole lives figuring out how to get in. We get in by being educated, resourceful. We get in by being good. We get in by religious performance. We spend our entire lives learning how to qualify to get in. We know how to present ourselves. We know how to walk into a room and establish our credibility. We bring all of that actually into our relationship with Jesus at times without realizing it. Because we keep a mental ledger. Things like church attendance, our financial contributions, our years of serving, sins that we avoid, sacrifices that we make. And underneath all of this can be this quiet assumption, God should be reasonably impressed with me. [00:05:56] (54 seconds)  #NoMeritEntrance

You know the feeling though. Something bad happens to you. A diagnosis, a lost job, a relational break. And underneath the prayer and faith, there's this growing, boiling frustration. A sense that somehow this should not go this way because you've been faithful. You showed up. And you feel like God isn't holding up his end of the deal. That's not childlike in posture. That's a negotiating posture of someone who thinks that they have something to bring to the table. But real childlike posture, independence, looks very different. It's a settled, honest recognition. You have nothing. You have no backup plan. If God doesn't receive you, you have nothing. [00:06:51] (58 seconds)  #NotANegotiation

Jesus questions the young man's question. This is something he regularly does. Because this young man is focused on his doing. And that's where many people misunderstand Jesus. Because religions are primarily about doing. But he doesn't get how much he does. Because he's never actually able to do enough to make himself right with God. Jesus is changing his perspective, getting him to see it at least. He's changing the verbs even. The man asked how he can get eternal life, have it like a possession. But Jesus tells him, you have to enter it like a journey. Jesus is trying to get his vision to look beyond the marketplace to the road of life. [00:12:26] (45 seconds)  #EnterLikeAJourney

Jesus views him as violating the first commandment because he's made his possessions a god. And he's violating the tenth commandment, which is coveting, which is why he couldn't give to the poor. See, the hardest thing for this man in his life was to sell his possessions because his biggest god was his possessions. The man's opening question, what must I do to have eternal life, leads us to consider that his god is his stuff. He's used to looking at his life through his stuff, which is why he's like, well, maybe I can come with a great donation, a great deed in order to secure eternal life from this great teacher. But Jesus is getting at his heart problem. This man doesn't see he doesn't have the right kind of relationship with God. It reveals he still loves his stuff and is trying to use God for his own purposes. [00:14:25] (57 seconds)  #PossessionsBecomeGod

Jesus, notice one more thing before we move on to the rich young ruler. Jesus doesn't reluctantly permit the children. He welcomes them. He stops. He rebukes his disciples. He lays hands on them. Matthew wants you to feel the pastoral loving warmth of this. This is not a begrudging accommodation of children. This is joyful delight. The ones who come with nothing but dependence are received with joy. Hold that image. Because in a moment, we're going to meet a man who comes with everything. He walks away dejected. And he walks away with nothing. [00:09:00] (44 seconds)  #JesusWelcomesChildren

I realized as I evaluated this, the reason I was only doing it one to two times a year was because the priority wasn't God, it was me. I was giving out of reaction to what's left rather than proactively submitting to the Lord, which in my heart meant that I was ruled by my money. And God was a very far distant tenth, probably, on my list of priorities. Now, I could rationalize in my heart. Well, I was still giving, but the heart is fundamentally the issue. It's not the amount. Jesus has everything. He can make everything. It's not about the amounts. It's about your heart. My heart was not his. [00:23:27] (43 seconds)  #MotivesMatterMore

Wealth is uniquely effective at making you feel like you don't need saving. Think about what money actually does for you. It solves problems, doesn't it? It removes discomfort. It buys options. When something goes wrong, money can help. A medical crisis. Well, there's money to spend on a specialist for that. There's relational trouble. There's a therapist. There's anxiety about the future. Here's financial planner, an insurance policy, a safety net. Now, in and of themselves, those things aren't wrong. But quietly, here's what happens in wealth. Over time, it can actually do something dangerous to you. It can convince you you are the kind of person who doesn't need saving because you can handle things with your wealth, because your resources buy you options, that you'll actually be okay. [00:19:02] (54 seconds)  #MoneyCanDeceive

These are moments when the padding, the humps, get stripped away. And suddenly, in those moments, you're praying very differently, more desperately, more honestly. Not because you become more spiritual in that moment, because you have nothing else. Wealth doesn't make you pray less because you're lazy. It makes you pray less because you think you can save yourself. That's why Jesus says it is very hard for a rich person to enter. Because it's the danger of trusting yourself. Friends, this is a text that is directly applicable to you and me. This rich young man is a mirror to you and me. [00:21:02] (47 seconds)  #StrippedLeadsToPrayer

Yet he still senses that there's something missing that he must do, verse 16. And verse 20, he describes as something he's lacking. And so he has everything going for him in his life, and yet he's not fulfilled. He still recognizes there's a gap between him and eternity. His question may also reveal in his experience, right, what must I do to have eternal life, that he's used to using his wealth and his position and his power to get what he wants. Maybe he's coming to Jesus, coming with his mind. Maybe there's just one more thing I need to do or one more donation I need to give. Even God must have a price. Jesus wants him to deal with this heart problem that he has, verse 17. [00:11:15] (47 seconds)  #HeartGapNotWealth

And a person who's quietly confident that they're going to be okay from their wealth doesn't need to trust God, does not worship God, because they're not desperate for God. That's the camel. It's not that a rich person is inherently evil. It's that they're padded like a camel, saving water for droughts. The needle's eye demands that you shed all the extra to get through. Because the more you have, the more you can't get in. Think about what it feels like to need something you cannot buy. Most of us have to go back to a medical waiting room at some time in our life. [00:19:57] (50 seconds)  #ShedThePadding