Sermon Tone Analysis

“Behold, a man came up to him, saying, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’

And he said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good?

There is only one who is good.

If you would enter life, keep the commandments.’

He said to him, ‘Which ones?’

And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

The young man said to him, ‘All these I have kept.

What do I still lack?’

Jesus said to him, ‘If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’

When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

“And Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.

Again I tell you, 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.’

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, ‘Who then can be saved?’

But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’

Then Peter said in reply, ‘See, we have left everything and followed you.

What then will we have?’

Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

But many who are first will be last, and the last first.’”

[1]

Do you “own” anything?

Do you own your house?

Your car?

Your clothing?

Your bank account?

All assets, minus our liabilities, comprise what financial consultants speak of as our net worth.

However, the question asked is do you actually own these things?

Or, are you merely a steward, holding the possessions of another until you are required to give an accounting of your stewardship?

The Christian Faith teaches us that we actually “own” nothing, if we are frank.

We perhaps hold material goods for a brief time; and then we are compelled to surrender the things of this world to others who will hold or administer those same possessions for a similar brief moment.

This truth may be hard to accept; yet it remains true that, “we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world” [1 TIMOTHY 6:7].

This knowledge sets the stage for a study of the doctrine of Christian stewardship, which is closely related to the issue of how one is born into the Kingdom of Heaven.

How one handles possessions entrusted to her or him reveals a great deal concerning that individual’s understanding of the grace of God, and even about the individual’s comprehension of God.

Ultimately, there are only two ways that can lay claim to providing a path to eternal life.

Either man can, through his own effort, merit acceptance by God, or man is utterly dependent upon the mercy and grace of God.

Either we will be saved through our own efforts—through character manifested or through deeds we perform, or we will be delivered by the mercies of God without any effort on our part.

Emotion does not enter into the equation, except as the heart is stirred following the New Birth.

The account before us tells of a rich young man who asked Jesus what was necessary to inherit eternal life.

Doctor Luke identifies him as a “ruler” [LUKE 18:18].

Consequently, almost every sermon speaks of him as “the rich young ruler”; and the sermon today will not deviate from that standard.

What is certain is that he was young and he was wealthy.

This man was a man of culture—perhaps a nobleman, almost certainly a member of the upper class.

I believe that any of us would have considered this young man to be a good man.

At least, such a conclusion seems abundantly evident through his interaction with Jesus.

When the young man asked what was necessary to secure eternal life, the Master reminded him of the need to keep the commandments.

“Which ones,” was the natural rejoinder.

There are, as you perhaps know, over six hundred thirteen positive commandments.

The Master specifically pointed to the fifth through the ninth commandments as recorded in the Decalogue [cf.

EXODUS 20:12-16].

Then, He added the second Great Commandment [see MATTHEW 22:39].

Note the young man’s eager response: “All these I have kept” [MATTHEW 19:20].

Luke again adds the qualifier that the young man contended that he had maintained these laws from boyhood.

Though we recognise them, few of us are able to name these commandments, much less say that we have kept them.

To maintain that we have obeyed the commands of God over an extended period excludes most of us, if that is necessary for eternal life.

The only reasonable conclusion from this exchange is that we are compelled to acknowledge that this was undoubtedly a fine young man—truly a benediction to the loving training he had received in his parents’ home.

He was conscientious and considerate.

He was also careful to keep the Law and he was consecrated.

Nevertheless, he was lost.

How could this be?

If this young man was not saved, can anyone be saved?

Witnessing the exchange between the Master and this fine young ruler, this was the precise question raised by the disciples.

*AT ISSUE IS ETERNAL LIFE.*

The young man asked Jesus what was necessary for eternal life.

Asking this demonstrated that he recognised a great truth concerning eternal life.

Only a fool deliberately blind to reality would deny that there must be more than this moment we call now.

Almost everyone anticipates that there is life beyond this moment.

All the great religions of the world look beyond the moment to an unseen world.

Whether adherents of those religions imagine repeated reincarnation until they have achieved perfection, or whether they imagine wandering as eternal shades, or whether they think of rivers of honey and seventy-two virgins waiting for them, all the false religions of the world look forward to something.

Likewise, the irreligious and the casually religious are virtually united in anticipating that there must be something more than this moment.

There is a definite, if undefined, anticipation of some sort of life beyond the moment.

Perhaps there are flashes of this possibility that briefly disquiet the soul when we are aware of some grievous error in judgement or as result of some deliberate misdeed.

At other times, there is an uninvited yearning for rest and security in a life beyond the present.

The possibility cannot be casually dismissed even by the most ardent atheist that there is a life beyond the present.

As Christians, we know more about that eternal life than do others.

The One who gives life has provided us a revelation concerning that life.

He conquered death and emptied the grave of its terrors, and now He offers to all who will receive it the gift of eternal life.

Indeed, we who have believed are destined to be transformed into His likeness and to live forever with God, and the change began for each of us at the point of the new birth.

Therein lies the great tragedy of our day.

While almost all people look for life beyond the moment, they are ignorant of the expression that such a life of necessity must exhibit.

Eternal life is not simply a matter of length of days or of unending existence; it is rather associated with the concept of being prepared to enjoy Him who gives life.

Since the Creator is holy and righteous, all who will enjoy Him eternally must themselves be holy and righteous.

These truths are evident from multiple passages presented in the Word.

“[Concerning] the resurrection of the dead.

What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.

It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory.

It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.

The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.

As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.

Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” [1 CORINTHIANS 15:42b-49].

Again, Scripture pointedly states, “Little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we will be like him, because we shall see him as he is” [1 JOHN 2:28-3:2].

This rich young ruler is to be commended for knowing that there was something better than the life he had known to this point.

This is saying a lot since he was a fine young man as we have already seen.

Perhaps you, as was true of this young man, recognise that there is something more than growing up, growing old and dying.