What good thing should I do? Why do I lack? (Mat 19:16-22)

On Friday, I got to give another talk from Matthew's Gospel on following Jesus. This one probably came accross a bit more serious or stern, than my last one.

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Welcome, thank you for having me back. Second time in one term. I love coming here, it's fun.

I wonder what you would say to someone who was keen to follow Jesus? If they asked you, “What must I do to be saved?” What words would you say to them? Maybe something about believing in Jesus, or about praying a prayer or something like that?

Today in our story, we have a guy who seems like a genuine seeker. He asks, of all people, Jesus, how to get eternal life. This is like the best evangelism opportunity there is, but in our story, the guy ends up going away sad and not saved, because of what Jesus tells him. What is going on here?

What must I do to get eternal life?

So let's start off by looking at this man’s opening question.

Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16 NIV)

This sounds like a good question. Now I know, those of you who have around church stuff can see that this question is coming at the issue wrong. Some of us may already know that you can’t do good things to get into heaven. You know, we can’t earn our way in by doing the right actions. If that were the case, then Jesus wouldn’t have had to die in our place for us. Jesus lived the perfect life for us because we couldn’t do it.

But most people don’t know this. Most people assume some sort of transactional approach to God. If I pray this thing, if I do the right tasks, or visit this special holy place, then God will be pleased with my actions. If I do some good, it will offset the bad. This guy seemed to think something like that, that there is something good he can and should do to be saved.

Jesus then answers this guy, essentially saying, “you know the rules. Keep the commandments.” Prying a bit more, the rich guys asked, "Which commandments are you talking about?" There were about 613 commandments given in the Old Testament. He wants to know what Jesus means. So Jesus listed some of the big 10. He lists commandments 5 to 9 and then gives a general one to love your neighbour as yourself.

These commandments come from God. Jesus says only God is good, so if you are looking for a good thing to do for eternal life, listen to the only one who is good and do their good commandments.

I think the guy was a little disappointed with Jesus’ answer. The guy was probably a Jew; he had grown up knowing the ten commandments and all the rest. He knew all of this. He was looking for a new answer, not an old one. He had heard this all before. So he asks quite a deep question.

Why Do I Still Lack?

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” (Matthew 19:20 NIV)

This guy has tried to do the commandments, and he thought he had done a good job at it. He was a good bloke who did well for his parents and neighbours. He hadn’t killed anyone or stolen anything. He kept the rules, but there was something he lacked, and he knew it.

In Mark and Luke, we are told this guy was also young and a ruler, while also being rich. By the world's standards, this guy has made it. He was good, he had power, responsibility, was young and was rich. He was like the high achiever. He probably was the school captain of the religious school that everyone loved, and yet in all these achievements, in all his doing good, this young guy feels like he is lacking something. He has made it to the top of the mountain, but he is not sure he has eternal life. After all of this success, why does he feel unsettled and not at peace? What else was there for him to do?

Follow me

And so then,

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Matthew 19:21 NIV)

Jesus says if you want to be perfect, which is a word that could also mean fully developed or complete (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. τέλειος). 

If you want to get rid of your feeling of lacking and be whole, then give it all away. If what you have been doing has brought about a discontent, remove it, and start again with Jesus.

You see, this successful guy thought that Jesus would give him another thing to do. A side-quest to level up his religion, so that if he could just go up one more rung of the ladder, if he could just go a little further up that mountain top, then maybe he would be satisfied. But Jesus says, get off that ladder, get off that mountain. You can’t just add a bit of religion to your life and think you are ok. Jesus wants to destroy that whole structure. Start again with Him. Don’t try and add one more thing; remove all obstacles in your life and follow Jesus. And for this guy, money was that obstacle.

And that was too much for him, so he went away sad, because he had great wealth. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t follow Jesus. He was like the anti-disciples who dropped their fishing nets and followed Jesus. He keeps his stuff and walks away from Jesus.

For some people, money can be a snag. Money gives us a sense of security and freedom. Money can buy the fancy things and the cool brand names, so we can feel better than others with our stuff. But that is all fake.

I love this quote, from this American guy, Benjamin Franklin:

“Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants.”

I love this quote because you know what they did in America? They put Benjamin Franklin on their $100 note. The guy who said money doesn't make you happy, the more you have, the more you want, they stuck him on their highest value note.

But this might not be you. You might not be rich. Jesus doesn’t tell everyone to give away all their money to the poor, he told this guy in particular, as that was what he loved more than Jesus. Jesus asks all who follow Him to depend only on Him. Last week, on a blog post I read:

What did you give up to become a Christian? What did you enjoy that you left behind for the sake of following Christ? For some it may be habits that gave you pleasure in former days, but which Jesus now forbids. For some it may be vices you indulged in, but which the Lord has called you to abandon. For some it may be lovers, for some it may be desires, and for still others, relationships with family members. But whatever it is, this much is true: none who have ever come to Christ have done so without surrendering someone or something.

Jesus says take up your cross and follow Him. To drop everything else you have. To not just see this Christian thing as an add-on in life, as one thing extra to tack on, so that you have a ticket into heaven by doing some good things (like coming here on a Friday, or going to church). No, Jesus wants to tell you to get off your own successful ladder, to not try and climb that mountain you love which you think will give you satisfaction. Jesus said give all that away, and follow him.

Treasures in heaven

And there is a promise, in v21: you will have treasures in heaven. This rich guy went away sad because he had great wealth, but he made a bad investment choice in the long run. He gave up eternal life. He gave up treasures in heaven for his own treasures on earth. He went back to all his wealth and still lacked.

We don’t think much about heaven, as we are so focused on our lives here. But in Matthew’s gospel is has been eye-opening to see that God cares about what we do in secret, and will reward us. That there are rewards in heaven waiting for us, and that some people will hear this saving message, but the worries of the world and the seduction of money will drag people away, like the guy tonight.

But that is so short-term. Forgive me if you have already seen this analogy; it is big in Christian youth groups (all stolen from Francis Chan - I had an actual rope in a bucket with a blue tip that I pulled across the room). 

Pretend this rope goes on forever; it is your timeline, which lasts all of eternity. And the blue tip is your life here on earth, about 80 or so years. You have a few short years and then all of eternity somewhere else.

And some people, all they think about is this blue part. I can't wait to travel here, to get married here, I want to finish uni here. Their thinking is consumed by just this blue bit.

What about the eternal bit? How much do we think about this bit? As what I do in this little blue bit determines where I will be for eternity. Why would I think about trying to get as comfortable, as successful, as rich as I possibly can in this blue bit, and not think about my life afterwards?

Some people may look at your life and your decisions and think you are stupid as it will affect this bit in the blue section, but I think they are stupid as their decisions affect this eternal section. When faced with Jesus, it doesn't make any sense, but people live only for their blue bit.


Following Jesus costs. Jesus is not a simple add-on, He is not some extracurricular activity. But He is someone you give your all to.

This is a costly challenge to follow Jesus, when we only think about our life down here, but it is an easy choice when faced with our eternal life with Jesus forever.



Questions:

How would you answer the question, “What must I do to be saved”?

Have you ever experienced buyer’s remorse, ie bought something that you thought would be cool, only to find out it wasn’t? (tie their answers here back into the next question)

What things in life do you want to pursue or achieve? They might not be bad things, but ultimately, how might they still leave you unsatisfied?

What have you given up in order to follow Jesus? How was it costly? How was it worth it?