True Goodness: Wealth, Idolatry, and God's Grace

Now a certain ruler asked him saying, good teacher what shall I do to inherit eternal life, and so Jesus said to him why do you call me good no one is good but God. You know the Commandments do not commit adultery, do not murder do not steal do not bear false witness honor your father and your mother. [00:23:40]

And he said all these things I have kept from my youth, so when Jesus heard these things he said to him you still lack one thing sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow me. But when he heard this he became very sorrowful for he was very rich. [00:51:36]

And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful he said how hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God, for it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And those who heard it said well who then can be saved but he said the things which are impossible with men are possible with God. [00:77:49]

In one sense this young man was wise Beyond his years because he realized that no matter what he did or how hard he tried he would never be able to keep his youth, no one does, no one can. He also knew that with respect to his wishes he was subject to the fluctuations of the worldly markets and vulnerable to the thief who would come and steal from him. [00:347:24]

He knew that he did not control his future absolutely, he knew he did not have security that would last forever now we don't know how much he knew about Jesus we don't know whether he had heard Jesus preach or seen him perform Miracles but I suspect from the context of this account that he must have heard Jesus preach and probably on more than one occasion. [00:407:31]

Jesus knew very well that this man did not know very well who Jesus was, Jesus knew that the Rich Young Ruler did not know that he was asking this question of God incarnate, from the young man's perspective Jesus was merely a sagacious human being, but a good one, Jesus no no no no, call me good you don't have the first idea of what goodness is. [00:588:06]

We're still used to flattering ourselves as being good people, at least we're not as bad as the next guy, we're still back there in the temple like the Pharisees saying I thank you Lord that I'm not like that wretched tax collector over there and we disobeying the teaching of the Apostle Paul Judge ourselves by ourselves and judge ourselves among ourselves and therefore not we're not wise. [00:653:94]

God judges Us by his own standard of Holiness the Mandate he gives to his creatures is this be holy as I am Holy, he doesn't lower the bar of judgment to accommodate us he doesn't grade us on a curve he grades our goodness according to the Eternal standard of his own nature and when we are judged according to that standard we miss it by Omaha, we fall short far short of the glory of God. [00:696:18]

Jesus does not set down a rule that everybody has to embrace poverty to be a follower of his, God did not require of Abraham that he divests himself of his possessions, Joseph of Arimathea was welcome in the kingdom of God without giving away his wealth, and so why does Jesus give this commandment to this man, well if I can guess a little bit I think it's this the man it just said. [00:997:98]

The man said, I'll do anything to inherit the kingdom of God Jesus, I'll give all my money to the poor, that's not what happened, no, when the young man heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich, I used to teach a course in communication at the Seminary and talk to young men who were having aspirations of writing books or speaking publicly and I said wouldn't you write something or speak. [00:1078:38]

He ran to Jesus, joyous anticipation, he walked away from Jesus, totally disappointed, what would you do if Jesus said the same thing to you this morning, would you say yes Lord, but would you head for the door, weeping, this man kept his money, and they lost the kingdom, the stupidest transaction he ever made in his life, his value system was absurd, we should be able to give everything we have. [00:1170:90]

Jesus answered the things that are impossible with men, are possible with God, it's not just riches but it's good works and good intentions, none of yours are good enough to get through the I'm a needle, impossible to work your way into heaven, but what's impossible with us is possible with God that's one of the greatest definitions of Grace that Jesus gives us that God's grace does for us what we cannot possibly do for ourselves. [00:1349:10]