He loved the material, not the spiritual. He wanted eternal life only as an add-on to what he already possessed. Whatever Jesus was offering was going to cost him his pride and it was going to cost him his possessions, and the price was too high, even for eternal life. But there are very evident things here that become crystal clear to us. He didn’t equivocate, he didn’t argue, he just walked away. He never questioned the truthfulness of what Jesus said. The bottom line is he wanted eternal life but not enough to give up his pride and his possessions.
THE RICH YOUNG RULER HOW TO
As I said, there were perhaps many more things said in the dialogue, but all we need to know is here, to know how to confront a shallow seeker. There was just one detail that really mattered, and Jesus nailed that one. The question was: What was more valuable to him? God and the life to come or his own will and the present life?Īnd whatever might have been the details of this encounter - and it was certainly longer, perhaps, than the record we have here - the details aren’t really important. He was offered a choice between himself and God, between fulfillment here and now and fulfillment in the life to come.
This young man failed the greatest test of his life.
And the central point of this encounter is that proud, selfish people - no matter how much they may say they want eternal life - are not prepared to receive it. Here we learn from the life of our Lord the reality of how to deal with a selfish, shallow seeker who in this case is extremely religious. After all, didn’t Jesus say it is a narrow gate and few find it? It is a great struggle and few win it? It is a costly choice and few pay it? Superficial interest in eternal life must be confronted. This is a real encounter between Jesus and this man recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke because it deals with such an absolutely critical issue for us to understand. This is not a story that Jesus invented, as He often did. He went away grieving for he was one who owned much property.” “Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, ‘One thing you lack, go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow me.’ But at these words, he was saddened. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’ And he said to Him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.’ Verse 17, “Speaking of our Lord Jesus as He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him and asked Him, ‘Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. This account of Jesus’ meeting with a young man is so definitive that Matthew records it and so does Luke, and we’re looking at Mark’s history of the same encounter. And we have an example of that in the text before us. But if the truth were known, that’s really not the case. On the outside, and even by their own confession, they may appear to be legitimately religious, really pursuing the things of God.
THE RICH YOUNG RULER FULL
The truth of the matter is the world is full of superficial religious people. But maybe they’re the most shallow of all.
They would say they’re seeking the kingdom of God. There are lots of selfish seekers.Īnd by the way, I’m not just limiting them to sort of secular psychological areas. However, the offer must come on their terms. The truth is there are lots of people who want a more satisfying life, a more fulfilling life, and if you throw in heaven, all the better. Romans 3, the Bible says, “No man seeks after God.” The world is full of dishonest seekers. The truth of the matter is the world is full of seekers. We might assume from that that the world is full of seekers and that we just need to find out the angle of what they’re seeking and provide it somehow for them and that will draw them to salvation. We even have ministry defined for us as seeker driven and needing to be seeker friendly. We hear a lot today in the contemporary evangelical church about seekers. I’ve entitled this particular event “The Tragedy of a Selfish Seeker” - “The Tragedy of a Selfish Seeker.” Mark, who tells the story of Christ along with Matthew and Luke and John, has written this great history that we have been enjoying now for well over a year. Open your Bible now to the tenth chapter of the gospel of Mark - the gospel of Mark.
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