Bible Passage: Luke 18:18-30
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: October 23, 2022

Bulletin October 23, 2022

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

The matter at hand in our text this morning is a biggie.  In fact, it is THE biggie.  People can be busy and concerned about many things in life, but finally, this is the one every person must deal with.  There is no avoiding it.  In the end, this is the only thing that matters.

What is this matter?  It is the matter on the mind of the man who came to Jesus and asked, What must I do to inherit eternal life? (v. 18)  How can I live forever?  How can I access life-after-death?  And not just a gloomy existence in some dark “underworld,” but life, a better life than this one!  How can I go to heaven?  That is the matter on the mind of the man in our text.  That is the matter on the minds of many.

Jesus loves the man in our text.  That is a detail Mark records for us in his record of this conversation.  Jesus looked at the man and loved him.  (Mark 10:21) Jesus wants this man in heaven!  Jesus wants this man to have the answer to the question.  And so Jesus Gets to the Heart of the Matter.

This event takes place while Jesus is on his way up to Jerusalem for the final time.  On the road, a man approaches Jesus.  The man is eager to see Jesus!  He runs to Jesus (Mark 10)  His approach seems humble.  He gets on his knees before Jesus (Mark 10).  We are able to gather more information about this  man from the parallel accounts.  The other Gospels tell us he is rich.  Matthew uses a word for him that was used of men falling between the ages of 25-40.  He is called a ruler by Luke (18:18), likely of a synagogue.  He is by all accounts, an upstanding guy!  He was a good son, a faithful husband (if married), dad-of-the-year (if he had children), an honest businessman, a good citizen, a good neighbor, and very respected in his synagogue.  The put-together man!  Mr. Wonderful!

Yet something troubles him.  Good teacher, what shall I do in order that I inherit eternal life?   For all his decency, he senses there must be something more to “put him over the top.”  Notice his question.  “What must I do…”   He is an achiever, a do-er.  That “I will” attitude has gotten him far.  He senses that Jesus has the secret that would “put him over the top.”

But Jesus will also answer the man’s question as he put it to Jesus.  So you want to be a “do-er”?  Do the commandments!  Jesus goes to the Second Table.  He mentions the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, Commandments.  We might say it was a “loving set-up.”  Mr. Wonderful takes the bait.  I have kept all these since I was a child. (v. 21).

Now Jesus is ready to get to the heart of the matter.  You still lack one thing.  Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then, come, follow me.  But when the ruler heard these words, he became very sad, because he was very rich. (v. 22-23)  Like a skillful surgeon, Jesus makes a caring, and a careful, cut that exposes the man’s problem.  There it is!  There is the problem!  Do you see it?  It is the man’s heart!   This man was convinced he had kept all the commandments.  But in reality, he had not even gotten past the first one.  The man was in love!  But it wasn’t with God, it was with his money.

But as every surgeon cuts in order to heal, so also with Jesus.  Jesus wanted this man to see who he truly was, to see howhe truly was.  He needed to see that he wasn’t “this close heaven,” just one more good work away!  He needed to see that his heart was all wrong and he desperately needed a Savior.

The same is true for you and me.  My heart is as messed up as this man’s.  Yours, too. The Bible tells us,  The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?  (Jeremiah 17:9)  How true that is!  We are by nature like that person we see who repeatedly gets into one horrible relationship after another.  We wonder, “Why do they keep doing that?”  Yet that is the human heart.  By nature we get into one bad relationship after another.  We love everything except the one who most deserves our love.  We love power and prestige and popularity and pleasure and our pocketbook.  Not one of which can get us into heaven.  Jesus’ incisive words to the rich man cut us too.  Can I, could I, walk away from it all and follow Jesus?

No, I can’t.  It is impossible.  My heart is too sick, too corrupt.  Beyond cure.  Impossible for me to fix.  I cannot save myself.  But Jesus says in our text, What is impossible for people is possible for God. (v. 27)  God is able to get this sinner, these sinners, into the kingdom!  God is able to get us camels through the eye of a needle!

Follow me, Jesus said to the rich man.  There is the call of Gospel, the call of discipleship.  “Me.”  Jesus.  The One through whom God has done the impossible!  Where all possibility runs out for man, God is just beginning.  In Christ, God has done the impossible.  He has found the way to remain just and yet admit sinners into the kingdom.  Christ Jesus is the Rich Young Ruler come to save the rich young ruler! Jesus did what was impossible for the rich young man – or any of us – to do.  He “sold all he had” – and all that heaven had was his!  He left all to take the nature of a servant.  And with his Father, his neighbor, and riches all in their proper place in his heart, he lived and served.  And he humbled himself to death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2). And he has become our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. (1 Corinthians 1:30)  In Christ, God has done what we could never do!

At the heart of salvation is the heart of God, the Son of God made flesh.  God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)  With hearts made new by this love, with hearts made willing by this grace, we follow Jesus.

Amen.