Most men are pretty confident… in their work, personality, abilities, marriages, golf game and maybe even that their favorite baseball team is going to win the pennant this year. Men are also pretty confident when it comes to spiritual matters. Perhaps this comes out of an American desire to be self-sufficient. We often want to come to God on our own terms rather than come to Him on the terms He has already laid out. As long as I’m in church on Sunday, God can’t expect more out of me than that. I watch my language, don’t cheat in my business, and am faithful to my wife. Not bad stuff, but what is that one thing that you protect more than anything else?
When a relationship is broken, the only way to get back into a right relationship is to follow the remedy of the offended person. It works in real life because the repentant offender asks, “What can I do to make it up to you, for the bad thing that I have done to you?” Then hopefully the offended person will tell this person what is needed. Do we approach God the same way? Not really. We have offended God on a regular basis and then expect Him to approve of whatever we are willing to do in order to come back to Him on our own terms. We get out our list and tell God we will stop doing items 3, 6, 7, and 12, but the rest of my list is off the table. These are my terms. You should be pleased that I have made these concessions.
In Luke 18:18-30, there is a story of the Rich Young Ruler. Actually the “Rich Young Ruler” is not a guy we find in the Bible. Bible teachin’ pastor say what? He’s sort of a compilation of three stories in the synoptic gospels. Matthew tells us he was young (Matthew 19:22), Mark tells us he was a man with property (Mark 10:17, 22) and Luke mentions he was a ruler who was extremely rich (Luke 18:18, 23). It’s all the same story told from different perspectives. Mark and Luke don’t deny that he was young. Mark and Luke don’t deny that he was a ruler. An most of us would agree that property owners have a tendency to be rich.
People tend to believe that there may be a single act that could be done in order to secure one’s salvation… and this guy wanted to make sure he had done it. Jesus gives a short list of things that are good in God’s kingdom economy (Luke 18:20), and this guy was confident that he had been faithful (Luke 18:21). In reality, he failed miserably. He claimed to be a keeper of the commandments, but failed the first one, to have no other gods before Me (Exodus 20:3). Jesus goes straight to the point and so will I… in all the seemingly good that is a part of your life, what is the one thing that you have failed to do in order to follow Christ? If we don’t get started out on the right track, we end up lost at a totally unplanned destination. This guy was so sure, so confident, that he did not see the error of his way.
Jesus told him to sell all he had and give it to the poor. I have to admit that there is a tendency to think that Jesus is offering an alternate plan of salvation, to buy your way in, but look at the actual statement (Luke 18:22). At the end, Jesus tells him to “come, follow Me.” That’s the kicker. We can do a lot of good stuff on a regular basis but if we are not following Jesus, learning from Him, becoming a disciple of Jesus or a Christ follower, we are no different than the rich young ruler.
Now it’s self-examination time. What is your one thing? What prevents you from being sold out to Jesus? Have you become his follower, or just a believer? How are you growing spiritually and passing it on to others or to your children? Have you come to God on His terms rather than trying to come to Him on your own terms?
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