The Rich Young Ruler and the Call to Live Simply

The concept of The Barefoot Investor is essentially figure out what your life goals might be, figure out what you want out of life, and then make your money work for you to achieve those goals. Now, in one sense, we would say that's an anti-gospel to one sense. I mean, being wise and healthy and thinking about money is good. But just setting our goals for our life and trying to achieve those goals is not what a Christian is called to do. [00:06:10] (26 seconds)  #LifeGoalsVsCalling

I want to walk carefully in certain places, but to be fair, I also want to walk boldly when we need to be challenged, because I think the big challenge with this is we do need to be challenged. The person who lies to you the most is you. That's classically. We justify things in our own hearts and minds, and so we want to be careful. [00:08:47] (23 seconds)  #TruthChallenge

If the poverty line is set on what it costs to survive, you can see in Australia the gap between minimum wage and poverty is actually quite significant. That is to say, even if you are living on the minimum wage in Australia, you are in the top 10% of earners in the world. If you think of the top 10% people in Australia, you would think that's the wealthiest of wealthy. If you are earning median, you're in the top 1% of earners in the world. [00:12:36] (32 seconds)  #GlobalWealthPerspective

In an ideal world, we want both wealth and Jesus. In fact, this whole passage is so difficult for us to think about because it's such a difficult thought experiment for us. If I asked you the question, if you were given the decision, Jesus or, you know, and you get rid of everything you own, give it all away, that's what this man's told, to be faithful to Jesus or to stick with your wealth. It's impossible, it's almost impossible to say, I'd definitely choose Jesus. [00:15:34] (35 seconds)  #FaithVsWealthChoice

Anyone who doesn't receive the kingdom like a child will never enter it. [00:21:29] (5 seconds)

The ideal way to come to Jesus is dependent on him with an openness to him like a child. In fact, it's the very thing that causes the danger of wealth. One of the things we see in this passage is, and I think almost surprising with Jesus, is Jesus constantly pointing out the danger it is for wealthy people to be pulled away from the kingdom. [00:22:00] (33 seconds)  #WealthAndControl

``Often the danger is that wealth hides more of the problems than poverty does. So we face some of those challenges in our perspective generally. But more importantly, Jesus wants to say, the very thing that draws us to wealth is the very thing that draws us away from Jesus. And that is our ability to control our lives. The very thing that draws us to that control is the very thing that leads us to want to arrogantly assert our independence from Jesus. [00:24:03] (37 seconds)  #FaithNotWorks

It's not some sort of works-based religion that says if you give to the poor, you will receive salvation. The story, this story, is the exact opposite. It's because you are trying to do works. Your very question, what must I do to be saved? That very question is the problem that this man faces. And so Jesus says how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. [00:24:56] (33 seconds)  #WholeLifeCommitment

The good news is it's not about our works, it's about putting our trust in what Jesus has done. And so the very thing that draws us to wealth is the very thing that draws us away from Jesus. Jesus wants us to depend on him and he wants us to give our whole heart, our whole life to him. [00:26:04] (24 seconds)  #GodOwnsItAll

One of the things that he challenges on in The Barefoot Disciple is purely that idea of our approach towards wealth. He says, we often act more like owners than we do like managers of what God has given us. So the theological idea is that God gives us everything. Everything comes from him. He owns it all and he has just gifted us a portion to use in our life and to use for his glory. [00:28:45] (33 seconds)  #ConsumerCycleBreak