December 4, 2016
Pastor Frank Bowden

Sermon Notes

I’m going to tell you a medical term that, if you are a patient at the hospital, a doctor’s office, or any healthcare facility, you don’t want any part of this particular thing. For the doctors, nurses, or healthcare techs in the room you’ll know all too well what I’m about the say. Before I tell you what this word is let me tell you what it does and how it affects people. The CDC estimates that 1 in 25 hospital patients each year in the US will deal with this particular issue. In 2014, the New England Journal of Medicine published results of the survey they did on US acute care hospitals. They excluded all other types of healthcare facilities and just looked at US acute care hospitals. What they found was startling. They discovered over 722,000 cases of this. The next thing that they learned was that 75,000 patients died during their hospitalization because of this thing. This probably has you asking, “Frank, what is this thing because you’re right. Whatever this is I don’t want any part of it, especially if 75,000 people are dying from it when they’re in the hospital.” That’s true. You don’t want any part of this thing if these numbers are accurate. The term is nosocomial infection, also known as health-care associated infection. Basically what it means is this. You go to the hospital with illness A and while there you acquire a new infection B that wasn’t at all present before you got to the hospital and in most cases doesn’t have anything to do with why you’re there to begin with it. It’s almost like you go to the hospital because of a heart attack and while you’re there you get a UTI. The important thing to remember is the way nosocomial infections work is those germs are in the air at hospital. You didn’t bring those in with you. With all of the different types of nosocomial infection how do we fight this thing? They manifest themselves in so many different ways. We see it in different forms such as: pneumonia, meningitis, or surgical wound infections. Here’s the point. You go to the hospital with the expectation that when you leave you are in better health and better condition than when you first arrived, not worse and certainly not with something that you didn’t have to begin with.

Today in the book of Luke, we are going to read about a man who is probably one of the few people in Scripture that had a meaningful interaction and who left Jesus in a worst heart condition then before he met Jesus. If you’re new here, we’ve been studying through the book of Luke and we are in chapter 18. My hope is as we read through the story of this young man that we can learn some things that maybe he got wrong that you and I need to get right when it comes to the eternal condition of our heart and our soul.

1. Have a right understanding of Jesus

Luke 18:18-19
18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must 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.

Jesus and his disciples are on the road toward Jerusalem and Luke tells us that a ruler comes to Jesus. We don’t know a lot about who this guy is as Scripture really doesn’t tell us who he is specifically. If we were to look at all three synoptic accounts of this in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we would learn a little bit about this guy. If we read Matthew’s account, Matthew tells us that this man was young. He still had a lot of his adult life ahead of him. Mark describes how he came to Jesus. Mark describes that he ran to Jesus, fell at his feet and asked this question with earnesty and with sincerity. Mark also tells us that Jesus looked at him and he loved him. We see some genuineness in this man’s question. We see some genuineness in his running up to Jesus. Luke tells us he’s a ruler. If you look at the term “ruler” it is not specific to anything. It is not really telling us a certain role or position that he is in. It is really telling us that he’s just in the position somewhere that has authority, influence, and power. Maybe he was a ruler in the synagogue. Maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he was a civil community leader. Maybe he wasn’t. He could’ve been a Pharisee. Maybe he wasn’t. What is important is that he had authority, power, and influence.

All three synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) tell us that this man was rich. He was extremely wealthy. So, what does this young, influential, wealthy man ask? He asked Jesus a pretty serious question, “Good Teacher, what do I need to do to inherit eternal life? What do I need to do to get to Heaven? What do I need to do to make myself right with God?” Those are pretty fair questions, right? I don’t see anything wrong with him asking this. I am sure many of us in this room have asked the same thing at one time or another in our life.  He wanted to do what probably many of us want to do and that is to make sure we’re on the right track to Heaven and to salvation.

Jesus could have answered him directly but instead Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good?” I find this interesting. Jesus was questioning this man’s understanding of him and here’s why. In Jewish culture, you would call a Rabbi teacher or master but not ‘good’. ‘Good’ was a word that the Jews reserved for describing God. It was extremely unusual for a Jew to call a Rabbi good. That’s a term that they used solely to describe God because only God was truly righteous, truly good. You wouldn’t call another man or another rabbi that. If you were to do that, in essence you are also saying that man was God. Jesus is calling that into question when he says, “I hear what you just said but do you really understand what you just called me?” What this man did with ‘good’ is what you and I do with the word ‘love’. Talking with your coworkers or family about a new restaurant. You went there and the food was awesome. You may say you loved everything about it. You come home later that evening to your four-legged children. Your dogs greet you at the door and you say, “I love you! I’m so glad you’re here. You’re my best friend!” You have a really weird interaction with your animals telling them how much you love them. At some point your real children come up to you and you interact with them throughout the night. You tell them how much you love them. Later your spouse comes up to you and you tell that person how much you love them. Then at some point you tell Jesus throughout the day that you love him too. Throughout the course of this day you’ve used use this word ‘love’ in so many different ways and meanings. In essence you’ve cheapen the word and cheapen the meaning of the word especially when you attribute it to Jesus. Jesus was testing this man’s claim. “You call me good but do you believe me to be God?” is really what Jesus was asking.

This is a question you have to settle in your heart. Who is Jesus to you? Is he God or is he the superficial character that you believe in? I think we need to have a little fun with this this morning. If we’re honest, maybe many of us believe in a Jesus that doesn’t exist. Have you ever heard of John Lennon Jesus? All you need is love, that’s all that really matters. Just love and peace and spirituality. You know this Jesus don’t you?  I would call this Jesus ‘can’t we all get along Jesus’. Can’t everyone just love everyone? You believe what you want to believe over here and you believe what you want over there. We can all just love each other and be friends. What about Zig Ziglar Jesus? You’ve probably heard of him. You’re created to succeed! You should just call yourself winner. All you have to do is just picture it, believe it, and achieve it. I would probably call him prosperity gospel Jesus. What about this childhood favorite Jesus? Mr. Rogers Jesus. We all want to be careful not to hurt anybody’s feelings, make sure we love everybody, and treat everybody fairly. Don’t do anything to offend everyone because in reality we’re all his special little flowers. I would call this the politically correct Jesus or the we’re all Jesus’s children Jesus. We’re all part of God’s family. Let’s not make anyone mad. What about the Richard Simmons Jesus? You’re doing a great job. You can do it,e just believe in yourself. You’re beautiful! You’re strong! Everything you need to succeed is already inside of you. You don’t need anyone else. My personal favorite is the genie Jesus. We love genie Jesus because he’s sitting up in Heaven just waiting for us to ask whatever we need and then we just have to say the three magic words ‘In Jesus’s name’. As long as we include those words at the end of every little request, he’s going to give us whatever it is that we ask for. This is the ask and you shall receive Jesus.

All of these Jesuses and the many more that we didn’t name have two very important things in common. One, a lot of people believe in them. Two, they don’t exist. They’re basically the adult version of an imaginary friend which we’ve given the name Jesus to. That’s what Jesus was getting at when he called him good. There’s only one Jesus. The Jesus revealed to you and I in Scripture. The Jesus that God’s word describes as Son of God, the Christ. The Jesus that the Bible describes as Redeemer, King of kings, righteous Judge, Bread of Life, Good Shepherd, Great I am, and the Resurrection and the Life. This is the real Jesus. He’s not karma Jesus, sports Jesus, vegan Jesus, career Jesus, racist Jesus, butler Jesus or as in the case of this young man today not good teacher Jesus. It is imperative to our soul that we have a right understanding of who Jesus is. Who is he to you? That’s a question that you have to answer. This is something this man had wrong that we need to get right.

2. Identify the real sin

The second thing that we learn from this young man and his time with Jesus is that we have to identify the real sin. This is what Jesus is good at isn’t it? Showing us the real sin that’s the issue.

Luke 18:20-21
20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” 21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”

Now Jesus really begins to start the process of answering this question for this young man, “What do I have to do to inherit eternal life?” In doing so, Jesus gives him this list of laws. They include five commandments: the 7^th, 6^th, 8^th, 9th and the 5^th. If you read Matthew’s account of this, Matthew also includes the second of the two greatest commandments: love your neighbor as yourself. Look closely at what all these commandments have in common. If you put them all together, you’ll notice they all have to do with one’s interaction with someone else. How man treats his fellow brother. How we interact with people. What is interesting is why would Jesus use these laws and not any of the other laws? All of these laws are dealing with horizontal relationships. Relationships between me and you. Why wouldn’t Jesus call this guy into question with his relationship with God? If we really think about it, this is probably the easier of the laws to right away judge whether not he kept them. It is pretty straightforward, you ask the man, “Have you murdered anybody? No. Okay. Have you stolen anything? No. Can anyone verify that this has stolen anything? Have you lied? No.” These are pretty easy things to judge right on the surface.

There is a reason why he started with these. He started to pick at this man’s own self-righteousness. He knew if he started with these this man would’ve been really sure of himself in regard to these laws. It was a no-brainer for him to say, “I’ve not broken any of these. I’ve kept all of these laws.” The implication is really big. By saying he kept those laws he was saying he kept all of the laws that these represent. He probably said that and didn’t even realize exactly what he was saying that he kept all the laws not just the ones that Jesus mentioned. Jesus could’ve picked any of the first that dealt with the young man’s relationship with God. Jesus could’ve dealt with that man on that level right away but instead he was going to expose that in a different way. Jesus wanted to use the laws that deal with our relationship with one another to show this man that actually he hasn’t kept these commandments. The man had a serious issue of love toward other people. He had an issue with how he saw his fellow brother or sister. Jesus had already challenged the man’s understanding of the word ‘good’ to God. Now he’s going to start to challenge this man’s understanding of his heart and his love toward others. This is Jesus slowly peeling back the layers of sin to get to the root of the issue. As Jesus peeled these layers back it reveals how this guy views other people. It also really clearly says how he views God.

I want you to notice how this young man responded to Jesus when he said, “Yeah, I kept all these commandments from my youth.” Look back at his response. He was very sure of himself wasn’t he? Isn’t it ironic to you that he’s saying, “I’ve kept all these so there is no issue.” Yet he’s asking Jesus, “What do I have to do to get to Heaven?” I think him just asking this question is showing just the slightest bit of insecurity. He might be really, really sure of himself but he’s still asking the question which tells me maybe he isn’t so sure of himself. It also tells me that there is something deep inside of him that is telling him that he’s wrong. You think you’re good. You think you’re right. You think you’re doing everything but there’s that little thing inside that’s just not quite agreeing with it. Do you hear what he is really saying about himself? This is what he is saying about himself that he just said about Jesus not two breaths before. Now he is calling himself good. Now he is calling himself good the same way that he just addressed Jesus as good Teacher.

Let’s assume this guy is the real deal. Let’s assume that he is a model citizen and he’s kept all of these laws just as he said. Let’s say he’s kept them perfectly. Sure he’s good. He’s got it all together. Right? Except the superficial view he had of Jesus’s goodness now he has of himself. He believed in God. Yes, he did everything he could to please God. He was passionate about spiritual things. He was sincere in how he kept the law. He had high morals and ethics. He did all of that. By cultural definition of the word today this man was good but this also reveals that he’s got a superficial view of sin. There’s a heart issue at stake here not just how good that we’re living life. That’s why Jesus is going after him with these commandments. This is why Jesus presents these laws to him first. Not to teach that there’s salvation through the laws. Jesus isn’t teaching salvation through works. Let’s be clear about that part because we know elsewhere in Scripture specifically in Ephesians where it talks about salvation is not through works or the law but salvation is a gift of God’s grace received through faith. Jesus is doing something here with this law and treating it like a mirror. Jesus is showing this man, “Here’s the law. I want you to look deeply into this law and it will reflect back at you. You’re going to see that you really don’t measure up as good as you really think you do.”

We encounter people like this all the time. Good, moral, and decent people who if you talk to them know how to answer these types of questions. When you compliment them on being such a good person they’ll say, “I was raised in church my whole life. Mom and Dad took me to church a lot. I’ve stayed plugged in. Mom and Dad really enforced into us the values of right and wrong, being honest, and having integrity.” You hear these kinds of things from them. They hold responsible jobs. They pay their taxes. They obey the law and only go 5 miles an hour over the speed limit.  They are good people. They are law-abiding citizens. They are faithful in their marriage. They give to charities. They give time to service, maybe they serve the with scouts or coach a Little League team. In all accounts they are good people. They are the type of people that you would want to be neighbors with. However, even good people need the Gospel. A former pastor said, “Believe it or not, Christianity is not about good people getting better. If anything, it is good news for bad people coping with their failure good.” It’s not a matter of being good enough because our goodness can never amount to the goodness of Jesus Christ. It doesn’t even compare. It doesn’t matter how much you give or how right you try to live. There will always be that deficiency. We learn from this young man we have to have a right understanding of Jesus first. Who is Jesus to us? We also have to identify the sin that is deep inside our heart that separated us from God. Also we learn from this man that you have to remove the obstacles to salvation.

3. Remove the obstacle to salvation

After we gain a right understanding of Jesus and identify the real sin in our life, we have to remove the obstacles between us having a relationship with Jesus.

Luke 18:22-34
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will 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 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth 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 person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” 27 But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” 28 And Peter said, “See, we have left our 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[a] or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.” 31 And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. 33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” 34 But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

Notice the language and his emotion to his riches. He became very sad to extremely wealthy. His sadness was of the level of his wealth. He was like, “Oh my goodness!  Are you kidding me right now? I can’t possibly do this. You know how much I would actually have to give away.” He was incredibly sad.

Jesus didn’t confront this man with the issue that he kept the whole law. It is almost like Jesus let that one skate on by. Jesus didn’t bring up the fact that this man said he kept the whole law perfectly. Instead Jesus probed a little bit deeper by saying, “You say kept the whole law. If you want eternal life, there’s one more thing I need to do. I need you to follow me. In order to follow me, I need you to sell everything that you have and give it to the poor. If you want eternal life, that’s what it will cost you.” This isn’t a universal command for us today, so don’t read that into the text. Nor is this salvation by philanthropy for this young man. That’s not what Jesus is saying. In reality Jesus is called this man to faith, “You really want eternal life? It comes through me and not through the riches or wealth that you have.  It’s not through the goodness in which you live this life. It comes through me and I’m giving you a call to faith. If you want eternal life, come and follow me.”

Remember that list of laws that Jesus mentioned a few minutes ago? The action that Jesus calls this man to completes that list because it touches on that 10th commandment that he left out. The 10th commandment is against coveting. Now Jesus had touched the real sin issue of this man. Jesus knew this man. Jesus knew he was greedy. Jesus knew that he was an idolater. Jesus knew he was more attached to his power, influence, and riches then to the idea of obtaining eternal life. Jesus was calling him to faith. He was trying to see how willing the man was to give up everything that he had to do that.

As the young man walked away really sad, Jesus said to his disciples, “Do you see that camel over there? It would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle then it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” The disciples immediately started freaking out because they were Jews and Jewish culture taught that if you were rich that was God’s sign of blessing on you. These disciples just heard Jesus say this rich man was going to struggle to get into Heaven. The disciples were saying, “If his riches are a sign of God’s blessing, you just said that it be easier for us to take that big animal and shove it through this needle then for him to get into Heaven. What hope is there for us? We’re not rich like this man. We haven’t seen God’s blessing and God’s favor the way this man has seen it. What hope is there for us as your disciples to get into the Kingdom of God?” Now they were starting to ask the right question. Now they were starting to connect the dots to salvation by grace. Jesus said to them, “Do you know what it will cost you? I’ll tell you.  Do you want to know what the cure for your sin is because I don’t think you’re going like the answer?”

Jesus made it really plain in verses 34-34. He said, “You want to know what it costs? You want to know what it will cost you? Absolutely nothing but it is going to cost me everything.” It is almost like you go to the to the doctor next week because you’ve had a chronic cough. It’s been bothering you but you think it’s allergies or weather changes. The doctor tells you, “I have some really bad news that you’re not going to like. It’s not just a cough. You have lung cancer. You need an entire set of new lungs. The only way you’re going to get this set of lungs is if I give you mine.” It sounds crazy because there’s nothing you can do in that moment. There’s nothing left for you to give. You may ask, “Is there something else? Can I change my diet? Can I get some medicine off the shelf?” The doctor says, “No, we’re way past all of that now. You need a whole new set of lungs and you need mine.” Jesus is telling his disciples, “This is what this rich man missed. I’m paying all the costs here. It doesn’t cost you anything. I just want your radical obedience and trust. I want to know if you would be willing to give everything. Would you trust me that much?” That’s what Jesus was trying to get at with this young man and what he is telling his disciples.

Matt Papa is a Christian contemporary singer-songwriter. He sings a song called “Stay Away From Jesus” that I think is awesome. It completely slams a conditional faith Christianity that so many people live with. I want to read the last stanza of the song. I want you to see what Matt Papa is observing as he looks at Christians throughout the world and how they lived a life of this conditional faith. In the last stanza he writes, “He says be either hot or cold, you can’t serve God and gold; indifference is the road that leads to Hell; so if you’re happy in your stuff and if 10%’s enough, stay away from Jesus, he says come and follow me, lose your life and be free, you must die to believe, like a child come and see, he draws every line in love, he is good and he is just, and the words he speaks are meant to set you free, but if you think you are the Way, and in control you have to stay, then stay away from Jesus.” Those lyrics completely breakdown our ideas of conditional faith Christianity.

With this rich young ruler, we learn a couple of things. It is a warning to both the Christian and the unbeliever who wants a Christian faith that doesn’t change their values or upset their lifestyle. Jesus may never call or ask any of us to sell everything we have and give it to the poor. He may not actually ask that of us. What he will do is put his finger of conviction on any area of our life that we place above him. Maybe he will call some of you to sell everything and to give it all away. Would you trust him enough over what you have right now? That’s what he’s asking.

Next Steps

• + I realize that I’m not living in community with other believers. Today, I want more information about joining a Calvary LifeGroup.
• – I’ve been allowing _____ to take precedence over Jesus in my life. Pray that I will surrender fully to Jesus’ lordship this week.
• I recognize I cannot save myself and am in desperate need of a Savior. I put my trust in Jesus Christ today as my Savior and Lord for the first time.

Discussion Questions

1. Aside from riches, what are other obstacles you or people put their trust in over Jesus? How do they fail to fulfill the promises that Jesus declares to us in Scripture?
2. Would you consider yourself a “good person?” Good enough to gain favor with God? If God revealed a deficient area of your life, would you respond in repentance or argue to keep living the way you had been?
3. What do you think Jesus meant by “a camel going through the eye of a needle” in Luke 18:25? 
4. How would you answer the question if someone asked you, “What shall I do to obtain eternal life?”
5. Jesus questioned the young ruler for calling him “Good Teacher.” Who do you say Jesus is?
6. Pray that we would live in total dependance on Jesus and not with a conditional faith based on what we can offer.