When Will God Get You?
By James Pruch
July 14, 2007
Luke 18:18-30
A ruler questioned Him, saying, “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. “You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.’” And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. And Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! “For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” They who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But He said, “The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.” Peter said, “Behold, we have left our own homes and followed You.” And He said to them, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life.”
I was sitting in a seminar called “Being a light in the workplace” at Denver Christmas Conference this past January. As I looked around the room at wonderful, smart Christian students who would one day be lights in the corporations, industries, and institutions of America, I contemplated the struggle I had been dealing with about what I wanted to do with my life. I was at a crossroads of wanting to figure out what to do after college. At this particular point in my life, I was in utter and complete surrender to Christ, however, I still was in that mode of graduating and making it big in the business world. I wanted to go into public relations. I could have made seventy thousand dollars after five years in the business. But still, I didn’t feel called to that. I sat in this seminar and I said to myself that I could not live my life in corporate America, being content to live life for myself and being the standard ‘middle-class’, suburban American that is hammered into us in our culture. I started to imagine myself as a Christian who just followed the “Christian” rules and showed up everyday at work, trying to have a ministry there, and then going home at night and doing it all over again, attending church once a week and not really living a life of ministry. I didn’t like that picture of my life. I wanted a fulfilled life; an ‘un-wasted life’ as John Piper would put it. I wanted to live a life where I wouldn’t live in temptation to gain material possession or live out my greedy nature, rather, I wanted one in which God would receive the glory in everything. I had to ask myself, “When is God going to get ME?”
I winced at the thought of putting on a suit and tie everyday-along with a mask over my Christianity-and sit in an office all day long counting pennies and selling something I didn’t believe in. I made a decision that week in January to go in full-time Christian ministry and since then, God had broke my heart to be prepared to walk away from anything in order to follow Him. I know many people in this room are not called into ministry, and that’s okay, but for me, to truly follow God, in order to really know Him and make Him known, I had to give up my dream of going into public relations. I had to give up my dream of making money and accumulating a comfortable life. But my question to you people right now is what are your plans for your time, your energy, your possessions, your wealth, and your life? When are we going to realize that God is not content with getting our tithes and our offerings? When are we going to understand that obeying rules in the Christian life simply doesn’t cut it? When are we, as Christians, as people who name the name of Christ as our Lord and Savior going to understand that God wants us? He wants our lives. When is God going to get us?
In America today, as many pastors I have listened to have said, the one great tragedy of Christians is that they think this world is “it”. Let me tell you right now, this world is not it. It is going to burn; we will come and go; one day we will die and face our Creator. In his letter, James said that we are but a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow. We are told many times in the New Testament that this world is not our home. In 2 Corinthians 5 Paul says that to be home in this earthly body is to be absent from the Lord; he would rather have us be absent of these fleshly bodies and be home in heaven with Jesus. Please know that I am speaking not off the cuff out of frustration toward our twisted culture. Instead, I speak as a 21-year old man who has dealt with greed and lived a wasted life and been convicted to know that this world is not my home! I speak from experience of God regenerating my life to show the fulfillment in living for His kingdom and not my own. I speak with the demonstration of power in the Holy Spirit, not with persuasive words, as 1 Corinthians 2 says. I come to you humbly and out of reverence for our Lord Jesus Christ. This message is just as much for me as it is for you today. Jesus talked about money more than anything else in His sermons. He knew people would wrestle with the tangible, temptations of this world as opposed to the invisible, unknowable promises to come in eternity. So, now I ask everyone here: When is God going to get you?
In our text tonight, Luke 18:18-30, we see a man Jesus interacted with that struggled with this bizarre philosophy that Jesus preached. If you have a Bible, please turn with me to Luke 18:18-30.
We can have a fulfilled, abundant life that is glorifying and pleasing to God if we are immersed in Jesus’ teaching of leaving everything we have to follow Him.
1. It is NOT good enough just to follow rules
18 A ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.
20 “You know the commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery, do not muder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother.’ “
21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”
The first thing to notice in this passage is that the ruler calls Jesus “good”. Jesus plays a little game with this man by asking “Why do you call Me good?” Jesus is asking a trick question. If only God is good and Jesus is God, then Jesus is saying to this man, “Do you know who I am? If you knew who I was, you would truly call me good.” Jesus is saying, “If you knew that I truly am God, you wouldn’t just say I’m good, but you would really follow me. Right now, you would follow me.”
This man says that he has kept all these commandments. We, of course, know that James 2:10 says that anyone who has kept the whole law, yet stumbled at one point, is guilty of breaking the whole law. What Jesus is getting at here, isn’t following laws. He’s building up to having mercy, love, and compassion. In Matthew 9:12-13, Jesus is eating with sinners at Matthew’s house. The Pharisees are outraged at Jesus and He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice.’” Jesus makes it clear that He DOES NOT WANT you to sacrifice things for the sheer essence of giving something up. Rather, He wants you to be merciful. Jesus wants us to love and be sympathetic. Christianity, my friends, is not a formula or equation. It’s a way of life. This ruler did not understand that.
Secondly, the Law reveals sin and brings about death (Romans 4:15). Without the Law, we would know no sin. But the pursuit of the Spirit gives life. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:6 that “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” This letter is the letter of the law, it is what most of the people in this United States think they have to obey in order to get to heaven. This is wrong; God’s Spirit gives us life.
2. Store up your treasures in heaven
22 When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
24 And Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!
25 “For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
These words from Jesus are hard words. They are uncomfortable words to hear. In America today, we are cultured to think that living a nice life, raising kids in the suburbs, driving an Escalade and having a three car garage should be our desire. What Jesus says here is “Sell it all and don’t even bother to keep the profit. Give that to the poor, too. If you do this, you’ll have your reward for you in heaven. And oh yeah, come follow Me!” How many of you when you hear something like this put your tail between your legs, shrivel up, step back and say, “I don’t want that. I want to be rich. I want to be taken care of. I want to have the car, the house, the clothes, and the country club membership. My parents expect that of me. My friends will have it. I want it.”
Most of us are visiting San Diego for this summer. This is not our home. I am living in the Santa Clara motel. I am not buying a TV, pictures to hang, drapes, couches, or whatever. I am not even vacuuming the carpet. Why? Because it’s not my home-Nebraska is my home. In the same way, earth is not my home. I should not be investing in this earth if I know that one day I am going to stand in front of my God and give an account of how I lived my life. I want to hear, “Well done good and faithful, son! You have been faithful with little, now I will put you in charge of much! Come and enjoy your master’s happiness!” I do not understand how a Christian can live their life accumulating possessions and living for the bigger, better dollar knowing that one day they will die and it will all be for naught. Get this if you don’t get everything else: one day, everything we have in the next life will reflect how we managed what God gave us in this life.
In high school, I did a research project on “The American Dream” and what we wanted ten years down the road. I wanted a family, of course, but I also wanted to be in marketing or public relations. I found out a PR consultant could make a bunch of money. I wanted to live in the nice part of town. But I talked nothing about ministry or living for Christ in any fashion. I was prepared to live an unfulfilled life of buying and playing with earthly toys. Thank God that He got a hold of me.
In Randy Alcorn’s book, The Treasure Principle, he says that “You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.” That means that nothing we have or do on earth will go with us to heaven. But if we invest it wisely and honor God with our lives and money and possessions, we are sending those eternal blessings ahead of us to the next life. What’s more important to you: your stuff or your life and eternity? When is God going to get you?
What if Jesus walked into this room right now and looked you in the face and said, “Leave it all-right now-and come follow Me!” Would you be able to do it? Guess what, He’s asking you right now. When will God get your life? God doesn’t really need our stuff, does He? He already owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He doesn’t really need our money, does He? Does God really need our energy. He says thanks, but what he wants to know is if you are going to follow Him, today. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not the next time we do an outreach or have a night of reflection. Right now. For those of you who aren’t followers of Jesus, it’s not the next time you step into a church. It’s tonight.
Look in verse 24. Here, Jesus looked at this man and most likely had compassion on him. Jesus was probably just as sad as He was upset. I can see it my mind. This rich man has tears in his eyes. He is torn. He is devastated. He wants to go sell it all yet he is extremely sad because he is filthy rich. He gets an outline for what to do from the savior of the world and he can’t follow it. Jesus says how hard it is for a rich man to enter heaven. Why is this? Is it impossible? No. But Jesus says in Matthew 6:24 that no one can serve two masters. That is what’s truly impossible. Get it right now people! God is unseen and eternal. Money is tangible and temporal. They do not mix. And from personal experience, I’ll let you in on a clue: money will most often win. Unless you are completely broken and convicted, our selfish, humanness will always cause money to triumph in our lives.
Know this, Jesus is not preaching salvation by works, nor am I. What Jesus is saying, however, is that if you want to be a true Christian, if you want to live a righteous life, then you need to give it all up for God. Giving it all up means giving God you as well. It means saying, “Here I am, God. If you want me to sell everything, I’ll do it.”
I was driving home from school this past May and I was on the highway, headed home, I thought to myself, “Everything I own is in this car. And you know what, I could do with less.” That’s not to make much of me, that’s to glory in God for what He has done in my life. I had a computer, some clothes, speakers, a tennis racquet, some books from my personal library, and pictures. That’s it. And I know that some of that stuff, I could live without. Praise God for that.
Jesus goes on to say that it is so hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Why is this? The reason is that rich people have a hard time understanding their weaknesses in order to humble themselves and say, “I need a savior and I can’t do it by myself.” People with superior talents, gifts, or anything else deemed as special are in the same boat. It is easy for a broken person who is homeless and poor to say, “I have nothing left, I might as well try God.” But, if someone is rich, their world is their stuff. That is ‘it’ for them. You can choose right now; what is ‘it’ for you?
3. God will reward you for leaving it all for Him
26 They who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”
27 But He said, “The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.”
28 Peter said, “Behold, we have left our own homes and followed You.”
29 And He said to them, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,
30 who will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life.”
Look at verse 26. These people question Jesus after He said, “It’s hard for a rich person to get to heaven.” They said, “Who can be saved if a rich person can’t?” Evidently, the thinking in Jewish culture was the same as the United States today. The rich people had it made. The rich people were the ones expected to be successful in this life and the next. These people who heard Jesus’ remark could not believe that anybody could be saved if it was hard for a rich person to be! Isn’t that what people, in general, think today? Don’t people think that the rich, famous, and talented have the fast track to eternal life? When are we as Christians going to deny that way of thinking. Sometimes when we see someone who lives like that, as a Christian, I might say, “Well, you know, they have everything they want now, but it doesn’t mean a thing for eternity.” But then slowly, I start getting sucked into the trap of materialism and thinking that this world is all there is. We need to turn from that.
Notice in verse 27 that Jesus said, “The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.” In other words, Jesus is saying, “Yeah, it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven, but it’s still possible, because God can do anything.” God is never too big to ignore what we consider as problems. Jesus here is implying that God has taken care of our salvation. We don’t know how it works, but it works. We can’t comprehend God’s grace, but we have faith that God does, right? That’s what Jesus is saying.
Peter, in verse 28, makes an interesting statement. “Behold, we have left our own homes and followed You.” “Behold” means “to pay attention to; take notice of; to consider.” Peter asks, “Hey, uh, Jesus, what’s in it for us since we have abandoned everything?” You have to love Peter’s guts. I mean, Jesus just ruined some rich guy’s day by telling him to sell all his stuff and then Peter has the nerve to ask, “What’s in it for us?” Let’s look deeper at this question. We know from scripture that Peter had a father-in-law. So, that means, Peter hade a wife. That means Peter left his wife, and since he is a Jew, he most likely had children, so he left them too. How many of us would leave a spouse if Jesus said, “Follow me. No questions asked, just follow me!” WOW! I can’t imagine that happening. I can’t imagine leaving my house and everything I’ve know to follow someone I had never seen before. But that’s what these disciples did. What’s in it for them? We’ll find out in just a minute.
It reminds me of a movie called “Field of Dreams” with Kevin Costner. Kevin Costner heard voices in his cornfield and he felt that he was supposed to build a baseball field. He got rid of everything he had to build this field. He left it all-all his crops, all his profits. At the end of the movie, Shoeless Joe Jackson is standing in the field and Ray (Kevin Costner) says, “What’s in it for me?” He wanted to know if it was all for not. Joe Jackson looks at him and just stares. As he walks away, Costner sees his dad by home plate and realizes he gave up everything he had to see his dad again.
This is not unlike Peter’s situation. I think I sense a little worry in Peter’s voice. I think Peter is wondering, “What if we aren’t going to get anything back? What if this is just a hoax?” How many of us have asked that as well? In Matthew 6, Jesus talks about worry. You all know the verse when Jesus says, “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?” I know somebody in this room needs to hear this right now. Somebody here needs to know that you can walk away from everything and still be okay. Somebody here needs to know that God is good and if birds get food, so will you. Somebody here has to decide tonight that “God is finally going to get me.”
Jesus said in verse 30 that there will not be one “who will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come…” The idea of rewards comes from God. There wasn’t somebody in the Old Testament that said, “If I do this, I think God will reward me.” And then God said, “Wow, that was nice of them, I’ll think I’ll bless them.” Rather, Jesus said, if you leave everything for me-house, wife, siblings, parents, kids, school, work, or anything-you will receive a blessing in this life and in the next! Jesus promises this right here. He says in verse 29 that “not one” will be without this blessing. Everyone who gives up their life for Christ will be blessed. This is the idea stressed in Matthew 6-you will be taken care of. If you seek first God’s kingdom and not your own, God will be good to you. This, of course, does not always equate to earthly, material blessing. It is not always God’s will for us to have more things or a better life. In fact, sometimes the way to glorify God best is to live with less and live a humble life.
What do you need to give to God?
What’s keeping you from giving it all up for God, right now? Are you going to be content to live that nice, wasted life as we have heard it called? I implore you, Christian, to seek God and get into the frame of mind that this world is not your home! This world, this life, everything we see is just a tease, a faint whisper of what is to come. What we know as life is really a prison. This body that we live in is keeping us from where we really want to be: in the glory of Almighty God. How are you going to manage your money and possessions? Let’s start small. Let’s start with tithing. Most of you have jobs. Are you giving to God? A tithe is mandatory by God. Are you robbing Him? How about your time? Are you setting aside more than 15-20 minutes a day to spend with your Savior? How about your energy? Are you making sure that you are getting to bed at a reasonable time on Saturday night so you can wake up for church on Sunday? Are you making sure that you are being filled with Jesus’ Spirit? Are you seeking God to use you in ways you never imagined before? How about your life? Are you ready to abandon everything to follow Christ? God may not ask all of us to give up everything we have and own to follow Him. In all likelihood, He won’t. But what if He does? Will you be ready?
In John 6, there is an incredible section of scripture that I feel speaks to this topic. Jesus had many disciples and when Jesus started to look less and less like a political king, His followers started to leave Him. These so-called disciples started to realize that Jesus’ philosophy was backward with the world. Jesus taught meekness, humility, brokenness, compassion, grace, and love. Jesus asked His twelve main disciples, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” And in verse 68, Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.”
Jesus has words of eternal life. Are we going to disperse like the other disciples when we hear words that don’t tickle our hearts and our consciences? These words of Jesus are hard words. But I beseech you to live life like this world is not all there is. Live this life in a way that would make God smile. You are going to spend an eternity in heaven. You might get 70 years if God stretches His hand of grace far enough to sustain you that long. A life in eternity seems, to me, more valuable to invest in than a meaningless 70 years here on this planet.
John Piper puts it this way in his book, Don’t Waste Your Life. “The world is not impressed when Christians get rich and say thanks to God. They are impressed when God is so satisfying that we give our riches away for Christ’s sake and count it gain.”
