The Handicap of Wealth

The scripture reading today comes from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 18.

Luke 18 · chapter mention

Please follow along in your bulletins.

Now they were bringing even infants to him, that he might touch them.

And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

But Jesus called them to him, saying,

Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them.

For to such belongs the kingdom of God.

Truly I say to you,

Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child, shall not enter it.

And a ruler asked him,

Good teacher, what must 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 I have kept from my youth.

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.

But when he heard these things,

He became very sad,

For he was extremely rich.

Jesus,

Seeing that he had become sad,

Said,

How difficult it is

For those who have wealth

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 person

To enter the kingdom of God.

Those who heard it said,

Then who can be saved?

But he said,

What is impossible with man

Is possible with God.

And Peter said,

See,

We have left our homes

And follow 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 more in this time

And in the age to come

Eternal life.

This is God's word.

Okay.

How's everybody doing?

Good.

Wow, that's

That's a good first good.

Sounds good.

I think.

Hey, we are

My name is Tobin Miller.

I'm a

Teaching pastor here.

One of the pastors.

I met

At least five people

For the first time

Today

As I creak

As I walk on here.

I must be gaining weight

Or something.

And so

If you're here

For the first time

You are in for a treat

Because we have been here

For about two years

A little over two years now.

And we have been going through

The gospel of Luke.

We just figured

Well, what do we start

What do we do

When we start a church?

Let's just stick with Jesus.

And so

Jesus is a good thing.

And so

We've been looking at the life of Jesus.

And we've been going through

The gospel of Luke

For about two years.

And

It's interesting

When you walk in Christ's footsteps

That you

You don't get to choose

What you're going to teach on.

Sometimes you teach on things

That are very

Intense.

In the last couple weeks

And months

We've talked about hell.

We've talked about

Heaven.

We've talked about judgment.

We've talked about accountability.

We've talked about

Wealth.

We've talked about

Making good choices.

We've talked about

The gospel.

We've talked about how

There is a fake gospel

Out there

That often

We

Are attracted to.

It's a gospel

That shows us

How we can

Repair ourselves.

It's a gospel

That says

If you do this

This and this

Then you're going to be good.

It's the gospel

That you hear

Most often

I did

Growing up

Was a gospel

Of self-help

And we're trying

As Alfie said

That the goal for us

Is to

To look at

What is the gospel

And preach on that

And teach on that

And to talk about that

And I gotta be honest

With you guys

That if I do that

If we do that

And

You don't get bothered

Sometimes

Then maybe

You're not

Listening to

The gospel

If you hear

Christ's words

And it doesn't

Bother you

Sometimes

It doesn't

Freak you out

If it doesn't

Disturb you

If it doesn't

Challenge you

If you can just go

Well that's cool

And you walk away

Then maybe

Maybe you're not

Hearing

What God

Wants us

To hear

In his word

The message

Of the gospel

Should in one way

Crush us

And show us

That God

Wants something

So great from us

Far beyond

We can ever

Imagine

But the message

Of the gospel

Should also say

That God

Wants to give us

Something so amazing

And so great

Greater than

Any treasure

We could ever

Get here on earth

And so if you

Don't come away

And listen sometimes

To those things

I wonder if I've

Done a good job

Because today's

Passage is

Challenging

It's intense

It's challenged

Me the last month

As I've continued

To look over this

I have had choices

To make

Do I preach this

And just preach it

Like anesthetically

And this is what it says

And this is what I do

Or do I look at my life

And say

What about you Tobin

What are you going to do with this

How are you going to deal with this

How is this going to change you

Am I going to come to you

And be a hypocrite

And not talk about things

That I have to deal with

In my own life

Or am I going to say

Wow this is

This is really hard

And it's challenging

And it's amazing

You know to start this

Sermon off

I was

Went to a website

Which is very interesting

And so I'm going to make

Some assumptions here

Which might get me in trouble

Well I hope they don't

Get me in trouble

I went to this website

And on this website

It allows you to type in

How much money you make

Every year

And then it compares you

To the rest of the people

In the world

You ever seen that

It's pretty amazing

They have like

Five billion and a half people

In their average salaries

And all these things

And so you can go in

And you can type on this

It's free

They don't ask you

For any information

They're not going to

Call you up later

And say hey

You make a lot of money

Can you donate to

What we're doing

It's nothing like that

It's just this

Matter of fact thing

And you can go on there

And you can type in

So I typed in

My salary for this year

And it popped up

And it said that

I was in the top 4%

Of all the people

In the world

The top 4%

Now and I realize

That if I'm in the top 4%

Then all of us

Are in the top 4%

Some of us are in the top 1%

But I just realized

Okay if I'm

If I'm in the top 1%

So I'm going to go

On the assumption

That we all are wealthy

In here

That we all are

That we all are

We all are rich

We have resources

Available to us

That we all have

These issues

I'm also going to go

On the assumption here

As I read scripture

And read this passage

That we all have

Some kind of problem

With wealth

And riches

And the Bible says

That we are blinded

To our blindness

Have you ever heard

That before?

That we are blinded

To our blindness

That wealth

And richness

And things

And stuff

Come in

And they actually

Blind us

To how blind

We really are

And so I'm going to

Go on the assumption

That every one of us

In here

Has something to learn

From God's word

And every one of us

Here has to learn

From this passage today

And my prayer

Is that we would not

Be blinded

That God would

Open our eyes

In his book

Richistan

Which is a very

Fascinating book

It's a guy

Wall Street Journal

Reporter

His name is Robert Frank

He was trying

To

Richistan

R-I-C-H-I-S-T-A-N

He was trying

To define wealth

And riches

In the world

And this is what

He came to

As he looked at it

He goes

The definition

Of rich

Or wealth

Is very subjective

What I found

Is it's usually

Twice as much

As your net worth

And so if you

Make one dollar

You would not

Consider yourself rich

But the person

Who makes two dollars

Would

You'd consider them rich

If you make

A million dollars

You don't consider

Yourself rich

You would consider

The person who

Makes two million dollars

Rich

If you make

A billion dollars

You would not

Consider yourself

Wealthy or rich

You would consider

The person who

Makes two billion dollars

Wealthy

And rich

He went on

And he says

It's a safe

Assumption

That the amount

Of money

That you think

That you really

Need

To live in life

Is more than

You actually do

He says

It's a safe

Assumption

That the amount

Of money

That you think

You can give away

Is less

Than what you

Could really give away

He says

It's a safe

Assumption

That if we

Are in Hong Kong

That we are

Dealing with

Some of these

Issues

And that money

Blinds us

Today's passage

That you heard

Read is a passage

That is in three

Gospels

Matthew, Mark, and Luke

They're called

The synaptic gospels

It means they're the same

And it always goes

In the same way

It goes four stories

It's a story

Of this publican

Official wealthy guy

And a tax collector

And they're praying

In church

And they have

Very different responses

It's a story

Of the children

Which you heard read

It's a story

Of this rich young ruler

Who comes

To talk to Jesus

And it's a story

Of a blind man

Who finds Christ

Who finds the gospel

And they're always told

In that order

It's one week out

In one week

Jesus is going to

Walk into Jerusalem

And he knows

What's ahead of him

He knows it's the cross

He knows it's sacrifice

He knows it's

Going to be very

Very difficult

And so he's leaving

A trail of messages

And sermons

For us

And for his disciples

And what it means

To walk with him

He's been in this village

For a while

We're told

In Matthew, Mark

He's been in there

For a while

And he's been teaching

And he's been blessing

And he's been healing

And he's been curing

He's been doing

All these things

And now's the time

For him to leave

And as he gets up

And he starts to leave

The village

All the women

In the village

Everyone starts to

Bring their children

To Jesus

And they want him

To touch him

And they want them

To pray for him

And they want him

To bless these children

We're told in verse 16

That when the disciples

Saw this

They were frustrated

But come on

Jesus has more

Important things to do

Than deal with children

I mean

He's

He's the Messiah

He's going to change

He's going to bring power

He's going to bring

Totally new culture

And society

He doesn't have time

To mess with children

And Jesus

We're told in verse 16

And 17

He calmly

Kind of rebukes them

He's a little frustrated

With them

In the Greek

And he says

Hey don't hinder the children

Because such

Are these

Who belong to the kingdom

Of God

And then he makes

This amazing statement

He says

Hey unless you

Come to the kingdom

Of God

Like one of these

Infants

Then you're not

Going to make it

How does a baby

Come

To the kingdom

Of God

Well physically

They come

Because they're just

Carried

They can't walk

They can't do anything

They're just

Carried

They come

Internally

And physiologically

Because they have a need

They need to be fed

They need to be changed

They need to do something

And so he's saying

Unless you come

To the kingdom

Like this

Totally dependent

You won't come at all

Verse 18

And a ruler

Asked him

So this ruler

Comes up

And this guy

He is amazing

He has it all together

He would be the guy

That you would think

Wow this is

This is our dream

This is the Hong Kong dream

The ruler comes up

And no one stops him

They see him

Walking up

Into the church

And they put him

In the front row

They see him walking up

To Jesus

And they push people aside

And they let him

Come up to Jesus

And what do we know

About this guy

Well he's the exact

Opposite of a baby

He comes into the room

And no one stops him

No one questions

His qualifications

He's young

He's rich

He's powerful

The word archon

Which is the Greek

For power

It means he's the head

So he's either

The head of the government

Of that city

In that area

Or he's the head

Of the synagogue

Just like

Just as we're told

Later on

Nicodemus is the archon

He's the head

So he's very

Very powerful

He's religious

He knows the Torah

He knows scripture

He's moral

He has this incredible idea

Of this is what I do

And this is what I don't do

He's respectful

He comes to Jesus

And he addresses him

In a way that

Jesus has never been addressed

Ever before

And never again

I mean he's sincere

His heart is sincere

Everything about him

Is amazing

No one looks at him

And says

Don't come here

Everybody wants

To be like him

Everybody wants

Their sons

To end up like him

In Hong Kong

Everybody wants

Their daughters

To marry him

I mean he is

The perfect

Person

And he comes to Jesus

With this question

Which is very interesting

And he asks this question

And basically what he asks

In this question is

How do I know

If I'm good enough

How do I know

If I've done enough

How do I know

If I'm good

He addresses Jesus

As good

Which if you were in there

In that culture

Because there's a lot

Of things going on here

We don't have time

To talk about everything

But there's cultural

There's theological

There's historical

There's all these things

Layered upon him

But the minute he said good

Everybody would have

Because no rabbi

In the history of the world

Has ever been called good

There's never in the writing

That a rabbi

Is called good

You would never call

A teacher good

You would only call

God good

And so the minute

He said good teacher

Everybody would have

Perked up

And would have been

Asking a lot of questions

Is he trying to

Smooge up to this guy

Is he trying to

Make his self

Look really good

Or does he believe

That Jesus is the Messiah

Does he believe

That Jesus is God

I mean this question

Is really interesting

He basically asks

This question

How can I achieve

Eternal life

On my own efforts

His focus is the future

And he wants to know

From Jesus

What can I do

Right now

What can I do

To secure my future

What can I do

What can I sign off

What can I build

Can I build a synagogue

And put my name on it

Can I build a school

What can I do right now

So that I know

I can stick that

In my back pocket

And well I got that

Going for me

When I go to heaven

But now I can just

Live my life

The way I want to live

And that's the question

He's asking

He's saying

What do I need to do

Right now

So I don't have to

Stop worrying about

Things

What is enough

What do I have to add

So that I can be safe

What do I need to do

And I think that

That's the question

We all ask today

Kind of isn't it

We often ask this question

What do we need to do

What do we need to add

To our life

What do we need to

Subtract from our life

If you're like me

You're asking the question

What do you need to

Subtract from your life

What do I need to not do

So that I'm more

Acceptable to God

And so he asks this question

And Jesus

It's very interesting

Because Jesus just kind of

Throws out all the evangelism

Books out

Because the minute you said

What do I need to do

Except eternal life

Everybody pulls out

Four spiritual laws

I do

And say well this is what you do

God loves you

He offers a wonderful plan

For your life

You're a sinner

Repent of your sin

And you get to heaven

Woo

And angels are rejoicing

That's what we do

Right

That's what we've been taught

My whole life

But Jesus doesn't do that

When he breaks all the rules

He treats the person

As an individual

And not as a task

And Jesus says

Well why do you call me good

Because everybody knows

Only God is good

The underlying message

Behind this is

Do you think that I'm God

And if you think that I'm God

Then you're going to obey

Everything I say

Right

Because you're going to obey

What God has to say

You're going to do that

And we're told in the verses

That the ruler is silent

He doesn't say anything

He's kind of dumbfounded

By Jesus' response

Culturally he's dumbfounded

Because it should have

Gone like this

Good teacher

What must I do

To inherit eternal life

And Jesus should have

Replied to them

Oh fabulous

And amazing

Leader

This is what you need to do

I mean but Jesus doesn't

He skips all that

Talking and passing

The business cards

He just goes right

To the heart

And so everybody

Would have been looking there

And going wow

This is really weird

This is

Something's going on here

And so Jesus

Then he basically

In verse 20

He just

I'm just going to

Walk through this for you

And we're going to

See where we're going to go

Is I'm just going to

Walk through this

And then I want to

Share with you

Three things that God's

Been showing me in my life

And then we'll talk about

What we do as a church

But in verse 20

He just lists out

The Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments

The first four

About how we interact

With God

This way

The last of them

Are how we interact

With our brothers and sisters

Like this

And so he just lays out

Those things

This is what you need to do

This is how you

Live righteously

This is how you do these things

And the ruler answers him

In a very very unique way

Again if you were there

And you heard this

Your draws would have dropped

You would have been

Freaking out

Because he said

Well I've already done that

What else you got for me

I've already done all those things

I've already added all those things

I've already kept those things

He said I've kept those things perfectly

I've kept the law perfectly

From the time I was bar mitzvah

At 12 to 13 years old

I've done it perfectly

And everybody would have

Looked at him and go

Wow that is a huge

Assumption

Because as far as we know

Only Abraham

And Moses

And maybe Aaron

Kept all the law perfectly

And you're putting yourself

Up there with Moses

And Aaron

And you said you kept

All the law

And people look at this guy

And they go wow

He's blinded to his blindness

He doesn't see his heart

He doesn't see what's going on

In his life

He doesn't understand

What's happening there

In verse 22

The passage says

In the gospel of Mark

It's very unique

When you get a chance

To go back and read

Matthew 19

Mark 10

And Luke 18

They're all the same stories

The passage says

That Jesus

Looked at the young ruler

He doesn't rebuke him at all

He doesn't come back

And say okay come on

You know you're not like Moses

He doesn't

Because Jesus

Doesn't want to call

Through a program

He's looking at

This guy's heart

He's dealing with this guy

As a person

As an individual

He's dealing with us

As people

So Jesus says something

That he never says

To anybody else

In the history

Of scripture

In the Greek

It says when he looked at him

He felt love for him

His heart was drawn

Towards this young ruler

And then he says this

Okay

Well one thing

You still lack

One thing you need to do

You just sell everything

Give it to the poor

And then follow me

Jesus has said that twice

One time there's a dinner party

In Lazarus house

And Martha and Mary

Are there

And Martha's busy

And she's crazy

And she's doing all this work

In Luke 10

We've already studied it

And Mary's just sitting there

Watching Jesus

And Martha comes up

And she complains about Mary

She says Mary's not doing enough

She's not doing everything

That's happened

I'm doing everything

How come I'm not doing

All these things

And Jesus looks at Martha

And he goes

Martha

Martha

One thing you lack

Your focus isn't on me

Look at Mary

And so he says

The same thing

To this young man

One thing you lack

And we're told

That when he heard this

He became very sad

In Greek the word is

He became grieved

He became deeply despaired

His face dropped

And he walked away

Because he was extremely rich

He was in the top 4%

Of the wealth

Of all the world

Jesus in verse 24 and 25

Says how difficult it is

For those who have wealth

To enter into the kingdom of God

Is easier for a camel

The largest thing they know of

He's given hyperbole

Okay

But he's saying it's impossible

He's saying it's easier

For a camel

To walk through the smallest thing

They know of

A needle

Than for a rich person

To enter the kingdom of God

He's talking about impossibilities

In my house

He would have said

It'd be easier for

A Krispy Kreme donut

To walk through our household

And survive one day

With my kids

Than for a rich person

To enter into the kingdom of God

That's how

That's Tobinism right

That's what he would have said

That's how he does it

But he says it in such a way

And what I want to end our time with

I want to talk about

Really just

Throw out some things

God's been teaching me

And I want to talk about

How we can do this

What we need to do

How

Because we're all

These rich young rulers

So I know your first time here

You go wow

He's talking like he knows everybody

And I'm hoping I know everybody

And I hope that you know my heart

And you know

That I'm the most

Broken person

In here

This man

Is the only person

In the gospels

Who comes to Jesus

With a need

And he walks away

Worse

Than when he came

Every other person

In the gospels

When they come to Jesus

They have their need met

Something happens to them

They change

And their life is changed

But this person

He walks into Christ's presence

He puts out his performance

He asks what he wants to do

And he walks away

Deeply grieved

He walks away sad

He walks away burdened

He walks away

With his face down

He can't look at anybody

Why is that?

Why is that?

I think one of the reasons

He comes in there

And he walks away grieved

Is because he comes in there

And he says

This is my faith

This is my religion

And Jesus takes it

And he just

Crashes it

He says

Faith

Religion

Isn't about doing

It isn't about attaining

It's not about doing

One more thing

It's not about

Making yourself

Look really good

We all struggle with this

Don't we?

I mean we're in here

And we're feeling

A little empty spiritually

And so we want to go

On a retreat

Or we want to

Experience a new class

Or we want to get

A different gift

Of the spirit

In our life

And we feel like

If we do these things

Then we'll feel happy

We'll feel complete

We'll be at peace

Maybe Christianity

Can offer us something

Maybe this class

Can give me something

Maybe I can do something

Maybe I can add something

Maybe it's like a hobby

If I do it long enough

Then I'll feel peace

Maybe it's a retreat

Maybe it's a class

I just take the notes

Maybe it's

Something that I add

To my life

Maybe it's a religious experience

These are all the things

This young ruler thought

If I just do these things

If I can just check them

Off my list

And I can put them away

Then I'm good

Everything's going to be great

I'm going to be happy

And Jesus says no

You can't be good enough

Only God is good enough

I mean think about this

Every other religion

Every other faith

Every other philosophy

In the world

What they're going to say to you

Is you come here

And you do these things

And you'll get better

If you come here

And you give this amount

Of money

If you come here

And do this program

If you do all these things

You're going to get better

If you add these things

To your life

If you subtract these things

For your life

If you achieve these things

And Jesus looks at this

Young ruler

And he says no

You can't

You can't

You can never

Be good enough

You can never add

Something to your life

The ruler was walking

Through life

And I know you don't do this

But I do this all the time

The ruler was walking

Through life

And he was comparing himself

He was looking at his goodness

He was looking at his deeds

He was looking at how much he tithes

He was looking at how much he serves

He was looking at how big his church is

He was looking at how many people he meets

He was looking at how busy his schedule is

And he's comparing those things

And he's saying

Bad

Good

Unholy

Holy

Unrighteous

Righteous

Not too good

Really good

And Jesus looks at him

And says dude

Jesus didn't say dude

Okay

Sorry

We're in a better accent maybe

Or something like that

But Jesus looks at him

And he says no

You don't compare yourself

To people around you

You don't say I'm not rich

Because I only have one dollar

And that person's really rich

Because they have two dollars

But Jesus says

The lines aren't like this

Jesus says the lines are like this

God

Tobin

Holy

Unholy

Good

Not good

Righteous

Not righteous

Perfect

Not perfect

Jesus corrected

The lines of communication

And he said to this guy

There are not two ways

To get to God

There's not God's way

And your way

And by being good enough

You get there

Jesus is saying

There's only one way

To get to God

And that's through

Him

No matter how good you are

You're not going to be

Good enough

It's not relative

The problem that we have

The problem that the rich young ruler has

Our problem is that

We don't need more goodness

We don't need more programs

We don't need more things

To take off our box

We don't need more certificates

We don't need more degrees

We need to be able to say

I'm broken

Holy

Unholy

Good

Not good

Righteous

Not righteous

Not righteous

But Jesus says

Until we understand that

Until you understand that

Goodness isn't becoming good

But coming to God

Means that you admit

That deep in your heart

You're really not that good

And if you hold on to the delusion

That you are that good

You're going to end up like that

Rich young guy

You're going to walk away from Christ

And you're not going to have

Your needs met

You're not going to understand

What's going on

The best thing I could do

Is illustration

This is a wedding band

Christina gave it to me

If you look over there

It's a gold

It looks like a smooth gold band

But the closer you get

You look at it

And you realize

There's Hebrew writing on it

So it's not solid gold

It's mixtured gold

Or it's dug out

Right

If you got really close to it

You look at it

And you would say

Wow there's some marks on it

And there's some scratches

Is Tobin

One time actually

And then they threw it out

A six story building

Which totally freaked me out

I listened for it to clink

But there's a mark on it

From when I threw it out

A six story building

And as you get closer to it

You see these marks

But if you put this

Under an electron microscope

Dude you would see like

Valleys and cliffs

And fissures

And brokenness

And just

Not pure

Not solid

And Jesus is saying

To the ruler

And he's saying

To you and me

That that's

That's our life

In the business place

When people look at you

They see you have

Your act together

You look good

And everything's good

But then when you get

Closer to you

You talk to your wife

Or you talk to your kids

They see that there's

These little fissures there

And God says

When I look at your heart

I see incredible brokenness

In need

And the rich young ruler

Heard these things

And he realized

I can't do

I can't be

I can't add

And the Greek says

That he was depressed

He was sad

He was downtrodden

He didn't know what to do

I think another reason

The guy walks away

Is because he realized

In that moment

When Jesus asked that question

What one thing you act

When he asked that question

Jesus opened up his heart

And he showed that guy

What he really

Really worships

He showed him

What really is controlling

His life

He actually showed him

What's steering his life

He showed him

What's giving him comfort

And what's giving him meaning

And what's giving him happiness

What's giving him security

What's giving him pleasure

He showed him all these things

And in verse 23

We're told those things

Are his wealth

He's very wealthy

I mean wealth

Is such an interesting thing

Isn't it?

I mean it's interesting

And it's dangerous

Jesus talks about it

More than any other thing

The Jews in this day

When they heard this passage

And Jesus said

It's so hard for a rich man

To come to the kingdom of heaven

The disciples would have said

Hey!

Well how can anybody

Get to heaven then

If a rich man get there?

Because in their culture

The rich people

Were the blessed people

The rich people

Were the ones

Who had favor with God

They were the ones

Who built the buildings

And named the synagogues

And had the best seats

In the place

They're the ones

Who could do

They're the ones

Who could check off

They could do all those things

And when Jesus said

It's so hard for a rich man

Actually he says

It's not so hard

He says it's impossible

Everybody listening

Would have

They would have

It would have been

The most unusual thing

It would have counteracted

2,000 years of culture

They would never have

Comprehended it

They could never have

Understood it

And what he basically said

Is you can't

Be a rich person

And rely on your riches

To get to the kingdom

Of God

It's interesting

I was going to threaten

My wife to sing

And dance up here

And she said

No I cannot sing

And you are glad

That I cannot sing

But as I thought about this

I realized that

Wealth does something to us

It makes us forget

Our need

It makes us forget

God's grace

Riches make us feel

Superior

Don't they?

I mean

When I was praying

Through this

What came to my mind

I love musicals

Okay so Warren is saying

Fiddler on the roof

If I were a rich man

Because that song

Has so much good theology in it

Have you ever heard that song?

Remember Tevye

He's the father

The papa

He's

Sorry

Anyway

So he's a milkman

He's delivering milk

And his horse goes lame

And so he has to walk

And carry his horse

And he's carrying

Through his horse

And he's talking about

God you made all these

Poor people

There's a couple rich people

Wouldn't it be great

If I were rich?

And then he starts singing

This song

If I were a rich man

And he sings about

What happens when you're

A rich man

He says

Everything's good

Everything's perfect

I wouldn't have to

Da da da da

I don't have to do anything

I can just relax

I don't have to worry

About anything

And the great thing is that

You know

People look at me differently

There's a sign in there

He says

The most important people

Will come in town

And call on me

They'll ask me

All these theological questions

And at the end of it

He says

Because when you're rich

They really think you know

Isn't that true?

Try this exercise

Okay so this week

You're in your business place

With a group of lawyers

And you know

What kind of law

They're doing

And so you just say

You ask them a question

About the law

They don't do

Well lawyers are really quick

Like they're like

Thinking in their mind

Okay I can't build this

I can't make any money off this

That's not my profession

That's not my line

I don't know anything about that

I deal with corporate law

You get in a group of doctors

And you ask them

A medical question

That doesn't surround

Their specialty

They'll look at each other

Sometimes

Like well you know

There's a paper written

About that

You know

I don't

Yeah I can't answer that

I don't know anything about that

That's not my profession

I don't know

But if you get in

A group of rich people

And you ask them

A question like

Why do you think

There's so many more sparrows

Flying into Hong Kong

Today than last year

They have an answer

Right

I mean when you're rich

People really think you know

They think

I'm laughing at myself

Because I walk into

Other cultures

Where I'm perceived as rich

Like Thailand

Or other places

In the middle of the boonies

And I'm there

And people ask me

These questions

That I have no idea

What they're talking about

Or how do we build this pipe

So the water comes down

At this angle

But they ask me

Because I look like

A rich person

I look like the person

Who has it all together

And I wonder

Well this is how you do it

And I don't know

How to build a pipe

Or water system

But there's something

About wealth

That makes you think

That you're smarter

Than others

Wealth makes you

Feel secure

Right

Wealth makes you

Feel secure

It doesn't make you

Think about the future

Or what happens

After you die

It doesn't make you

Think about building

Wealth in heaven

It makes you think

About building wealth

Down here

Riches can distort

Your thinking

They can make you

Think differently

They made this rich guy

Think very differently

Didn't they

He compared himself

To Moses

And to Abraham

And sometimes

You and I do also

Having wealth

Like we do

In the top 4%

Can often blind us

To our blindness

I mean money is good

Don't get me wrong

But it's dangerous

And so Jesus

Asks him this question

What one thing

Do you lack

One thing you lack

And the minute

He asks that question

He exposes

The ruler's heart

He exposes

The ruler's idols

He exposes

The ruler's God

And he sees

What he's really

Clinging to

So the question

Would be for me

Is what

Would Jesus

Say to you

As Jesus

Talking to you

Tonight

Before you go to bed

And he said

You know

There's one thing

You lack

What would be

That thing

What would be

The thing

That you have

In your heart

That if you

Weren't a Christian

You would rely

On it more

Than anything else

To make your life

Good

And acceptable

And comforting

And important

And Jesus

Is asking

The disciples

He's asking

Us

He's asking

This young man

What is it

That's in your life

That you wouldn't

Want to give away

What is it

That's in your life

That you hold on to

That you cling to

What is it

That gives you

Identity and peace

And security

What is it

That makes you

Feel in control

And if you don't

Have it

You feel out of control

I mean

I don't want to

Use names

Or examples

But we all know

People like that

Right

We all know

People that if they

Aren't married by now

Their life is out of control

And they just think

God is so bad to them

We know people right now

Who you know

If they don't have

That job security

Or that money set aside

Or that third home

That they need

To live in Hong Kong

You live in one

You rent two

They just feel like

Wow I don't have security

And things are not good

We know people

Whose health is bad

And they blame God

Because that's the one thing

They need to hold on to

We know couples

Who can't have children

And they're so angry

And their lives fall apart

Because that's their God

That's what they're hoping on

That's what

That's going to give them meaning

That's going to give them success

What is it

That one thing

That you hold on to

That if Jesus says

You need to give this up

You would say

I can't do that

I'm sorry

Because the passage

Is all about trusting him

And what Jesus

Is actually asking

The rich man is

Do you

Do you trust me

You've called me God

You've called me good

Do you believe that

Do you believe I'm in control

Do you believe I want your best

I think sometimes

We walk around

And our lives

Are out of control

Because we have this

One thing

And we cling to it

And we hold to it

And because we do

Our life is chaos

And Jesus is looking

In that ruler's heart

And saying

This is that one thing

For you

And until you give that up

Until you trust me

With that

Until you trust me

To be God

Until you trust me

To be good

Your life

Is always going to be lacking

You're always going to hurt

How are we doing

He walked away

Because he couldn't do the boxes

Couldn't take the things

He walked away

Because his heart was hurt

He realized how broken he was

He realized that his God

Was his wealth

And not really God

Even though he knew all the rules

He knew everything

If you're like me

And you read these passages

And you heard it for the first time

But I pretty much guarantee

I've probably read it about

60 times

In the last two weeks

In many different

Many different translations

I read these things

And I listen to these things

And I go

That's

It sounds really good

But that's really hard

In fact I read these things

I look at these things

And I go

That sounds

Amazing

But I don't know

If I can do that

I don't know

If that's realistic

In our world today

I don't know

If that's possible

For me in Hong Kong

In 2013

And the passage says

You're right

You can't

It's impossible

With man

But in verse 27

Jesus says

But what is impossible

With man

Is possible with God

This is a very interesting story

There's actually two

Rich young rulers

In this story

There's one young ruler

Who comes

And he has everything

And everybody loves him

And they want to be

Just like him

And Jesus comes

And he says

The one thing you lack

And when he hears that

He

Is in amazing grief

And sorrow

And he walks away

With his head

Down low

And everybody watching

Is in amazement

Because he just can't do

That one thing

He can't give up his riches

He can't give up his position

He can't give up his authority

But there's another young ruler

In this story

He came from the most amazing kingdom

Ever

Heaven

And he heard the call

He gave up all his riches

The Bible says

That he became poor

So that we might become

Rich

In a week

He's going to walk

Through the streets of Jerusalem

He's going to be beat

He's going to be stripped

He's going to be naked

On a cross

He's going to give up everything

Like the young young ruler

Was asked to do

But he's going to do it perfectly

For you and me

And the amazing thing

About that

When you read the crucifixion

Is that Jesus

Jesus doesn't tithe his blood

He doesn't just give us 10%

Or 20%

Or whatever that is

But Jesus gives

Everything

He gives everything

To you and I

Who are poor

And broken

So that we might become

His children

His brothers and sisters

Basically what Jesus

Is saying here

Is he

Trust me

Let me be your treasure

Let me be your treasure

In earth

Let me be your treasure

In heaven

You can trust me

Because I'm God

And because I'm good

How we doing?

I don't know how you feel

When you read this passage

But to me

I feel incredibly

Overwhelmed

That a holy God

Would look at us

Look at me

Give up everything

Become poor

So that I might become rich

Become beaten

So that I might be healed

Die

So that I don't have to die

Rise from the grave

So that one day

I will also

And I don't have to do anything

I don't have to tick a box

I don't have to change

I just have to surrender my life

And trust Him to be God

Father we just thank you for this day

We thank you for your goodness

In our life

We thank you for this message

Of this young young ruler

It is so challenging

And humbling

Lord I know that even now

There are people in here

Who

They don't know what to do

With this passage

And I don't know

What to do with it sometimes

Father I pray for us

Who still hold on

To

That one thing

In our heart

I pray to us

Who still try to

Tick the boxes

And do all the right things

I pray for us Lord

Who try to tick

The right

Pieces of paper

And tie the right amount

And serve the right way

Hoping that we become

Better

And more good

Lord would you speak to us now

And just show us

That that's

If we do that