Rich Young Man

12-22-2009
Rich Young Man

Our society leads us into the thought process of, “what’s the price?” While many things can be bought, eternal life doesn’t have a temporal price tag. In other words, the only way to an eternal life in heaven is to put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. As we dive back into the book of Matthew, we read the following in chapter 19:16-22:

“16Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
17"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
18"Which ones?" the man inquired.
Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19honor your father and mother,'[a] and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'[b]"
20"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
21Jesus 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."
22When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

This man thought if he did the right things, he could earn his way into Heaven. Salvation does not come from good deeds, rather, good deeds are a byproduct of understanding who Christ is, and the price He paid for us! There are 10 commandments, and only six are listed. The six listed are all relational. In other words, all six commandments listed have a relational relevance.
In order to go against one of these six commandments, it involves us wronging another human being. When this wealthy individual was asked to sell everything and give it to the poor, Jesus had hit on the man’s weakness. He was holding onto his wealth. We are reminded that the temporal means nothing. Bottom line we need to be focused on the Kingdom of God and not the Kingdom of ME!

Application:
1. Read Matthew 19:16-22
2. Where’s your focus?