The Rich Young Ruler

Mark 10:17-27
Length: 19:17

This is a message given on October 11, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.

The Rich Young Ruler

As Jesus makes His way to Jerusalem a rich young man stopped Him and asked Him a question. Even though this man was young and rich, his question to Jesus appears to be sincere. It isn’t a trap like the questions we see from the Pharisees, it is simply an honest question.

In fact, the Scripture tells us the man knelt before Jesus and appealed to His integrity by calling Him a good teacher. This young man asks the question that everyone wants to know the answer too. “What must I do to inherit eternal life.”

There are really only two types of religious systems. One where you earn your way to eternal life and the Christian way of accepting salvation through Christ. The Jews were taught the legalistic way of earning your salvation by doing good works.

Right away, Jesus questioned the young man about the reason for calling Him good. “Why do you call Me Good? No one is good except God alone.” By saying this Jesus challenged the young man to think about who Jesus really was.

Since only God is Good, was the young man prepared to affirm Jesus as God? Only after understanding this will the young man be able to understand the answer Jesus is about to give. Jesus goes on to say, you need to obey the commandments.

This was a typical Jewish response. The Jews were convinced that a person gained favor with God by their own good behavior. All of the commandments Jesus states are commands with interacting with other people, not necessarily God.

The young man hears the answer and responds by saying, “Yeah, I’ve heard that many times before and I obey those commands. What I am still missing?” Again, this was a sincere response by the young man. He probably has externally obeyed those commandments, but internally his attitude and motives may not have always been right.

He feels something missing. He knows that none of his previous good deeds have earned him eternal life.

So, Jesus tells this man to give away all of his possessions and give the money to the poor. By saying this Jesus was not making either philanthropy or poverty a requirement for salvation. Rather, Jesus was simple exposing the young man’s heart.

See, this young man thought he was innocent, but in reality he loved his possessions more than others. More importantly though, he refused to obey Christ’s direct command by simply walking away.

This young man chose earthly riches instead of obeying God and receiving eternal life and heavenly riches. He would not submit to the Lordship of Christ. He went away sad, because the price was too high for him. He loved his wealth more than God.

Every disciple of Jesus Christ is called to follow Him in faith. But sometimes there are obstacles that stand between us and Jesus. We must remove those barriers in order to be faithful to Him.

For this young man, the barrier was money. For others it might be their family or their business. Just because the obstacle is different for us, it doesn’t make the demand any different.

We live in a materialistic society today. We need to remember that God owns it all, He just lets us use it while we are here and we are to use what we have for His purposes.

This young man goes away sad, still looking for a way to gain salvation and keep his money. That is the way a lot of people still think today. However, we know that is not how salvation works.

In order to be saved, you must receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You must make a choice as to where you will focus your time and attention. On earthly pursuits or Godly ones?

As Jesus watches this young man walk away, He turns to His disciples and says “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

This was a shocking statement to the disciples and the crowd. The Jews believed that wealth was a gift from God, which indeed can be true. But wealth could also be a curse. See, wealth tends to create self-sufficiency and a false sense of security. This often times leads those people with wealth to think they don’t need God or the things He provides for them. They can live life on their own.

The crowd asks, “who can be saved then?” We know the answer to that. We aren’t saved by works. We must abandon all that stands between us and Jesus. We need to trust God alone and Him completely. Salvation is God’s gracious gift to us through faith.

The story described in our Gospel reading this morning is a simple one. A man comes to Jesus looking for the answer to eternal life, but goes away sad because he doesn’t want to pay the price.

How about you? You have heard the price this morning. Jesus demands 100%, are you willing to make the commitment or will you walk away? The choice is yours.

Eternal life s more than just eternal existence, it is a different quality of life. Eternal life is in Christ alone. Those who possess it have “passed out of death into life.” They have died to sin and are alive to God. They have the very life of Christ in them. And they enjoy that relationship with Jesus Christ that will never end.

Does that describe your life? I hope so. Eternal life lasts forever, but begins right now. Enjoy it. Salvation and all its benefits come from God, both in this life and the life to come.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning for this simple story. It is laid out so well for us and so easy to understand. Help us to follow through with our commitment to you and not walk away like this young man did.

Strengthen us to keep our material wealth in check and help us to remember where it all came from in the first place. Help us to use what you have given to us, to honor you. AMEN.