The Rich Young Ruler

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

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I hope people around you feel deeply encouraged this morning.

We're continuing in our series, part two of Eternal, and today I invited a guest, a friend, Mark Sleighaugh.

He is the founder and the lead strategist of ministry renewal.

He's actually been incredibly helpful for us as a church over the last three years to our leadership council and our staff coaching and consulting us when it comes to generosity, strategic formation, and a capital campaign.

Before Mark stepped into and founding this ministry renewal, he actually was a pastor for 16 years.

He was a youth pastor, he was a lead pastor, and he also was an executive pastor.

So he understands firsthand what's going on in the life of the church.

The reason I asked Mark uh to speak today is he has a unique perspective in his work all across the country when it comes to generosity and how God wants to work not just for today but for all of eternity.

And so would you give, by the way, he also hails from uh Florida, so um he's not used to this really wonderful weather.

Um so would you give a warm welcome to Mark Sleibon?

Yes, it is uh it is not humid enough for me today.

It is uh it is wonderful to be here.

Thanks so much for uh for being such a gracious host.

It's been wonderful to be with you.

Uh yesterday, my wife uh Deborah, my wife Deborah, texted me about a piece of mail that was received.

And uh she knows that I don't like mail, I don't like I don't like filing mail, I don't like paying the bills, I just wish that we didn't have to have mail.

I just don't like mail.

Anyways, this piece of mail was somewhat important because it was from the homeowners association of our neighborhood.

And essentially, this piece of mail was telling me you need to trim your ugly palm tree.

I have a palm tree that I have ignored and uh it needs it needs to be trimmed.

I need to, I need to do it, I just don't want to do it.

Can you relate to that?

Like, I just don't want to deal with it.

And uh I knew that if I let it go long enough that the HOA would probably would probably send me a letter.

I think I have 30 days, or they're gonna hire someone and put like a 50% markup on the fee and they're gonna charge me for it.

I just I just don't want to deal with it.

I mean, I gotta borrow the ladder from the neighbor.

I've got to get up a little bit higher than I'm comfortable being on a on a ladder.

I just don't want to deal with it.

It's remarkable to me, although it shouldn't be, that God continues to bring me into moments that teach me perhaps the lesson I do not want to be taught, and yet I know that I need.

And uh as I think about like that idea of like, I don't want to, I don't want to deal with that stupid palm tree.

Um I know that there are times where God wants to bring us into a better place, and he understands the resistance of our hearts, and he looks at us and says, I love you, I've got you, but we need to we need to talk about this.

We're gonna look at Luke chapter 18 today, and this is uh in keeping with this series of eternal Luke chapter 18, verse 8, verse 18, uh talks about the rich young ruler.

Luke 18 · chapter mention Luke 18:8

Uh throughout the morning, I'm going to share with you uh several stories that have impacted my life concerning biblical generosity.

Uh, and as I share some of these stories, perhaps uh you will have the opportunity to reflect and um uh look at those events, those times in your life where you have been informed or inspired into your own biblical generosity and what what the Lord has taught you in those uh in those spaces.

And so my first question for you I mean, this is just you've probably never had an opening question like this in a sermon.

How do you shop for pants?

Like when you go shopping for pants, what like how is that process?

When I travel um by myself for these work uh situations, there are um there are times for me, like essentially I get uh I get on a plane, I jump in a rental car, I go meet with a team, I work with them, we we accomplish great things, I get back in the rental car, go to the hotel, go to sleep, get up, get on the airplane, and whatever the next thing is.

And sometimes my kids will ask me, like, oh, did you go see this, or did you go do this?

I'm like, no, I didn't even know that that existed in that town, but maybe next time.

And so when I'm doing that, I really uh I really like to be like uh what's the right word?

I'll I'll use efficient.

I like to be efficient.

And so when I'm traveling by myself, when it comes to dinner time, like I want to be fast.

So like maybe it's Jimmy John's or something, because they're freaky fast, at least that's what they say, right?

And so I'll get I'll get my sandwich and I can eat that while I'm driving to the next thing.

This one particular instance, you can go ahead and show the next slide.

I I have a uh uh uh illustration of several instances that have uh shaped my view on generosity.

Uh in one of those instances where I was grabbing dinner uh so I could be fast, across the plaza was a department store.

A department store that is within just a couple miles of of where you are here.

Uh but I saw the department store, I'm like, oh, I can get I can get a pair of khakis in there.

I really need a new pair of khakis.

And so I went in and grabbed the the size that I thought I would need, wouldn't try them on, like, oh perfect.

I come back out and they have navy, exact same size.

It's like two for one.

Like there's gotta be some guys you can relate to this, right?

I'm in and out of this department store in like seven minutes.

This is just efficiency.

This is great.

She slides the first pair of pants, and the price comes up on the reader.

Oh, I don't know that I've ever paid that much for pants before.

She slides the next pair of pants, the same price comes up.

And what was really like only just you know 17 seconds or so began this very long conversation in my head about like, like, are we sure you need to spend that much money on a pair of pants?

And then there wells up within me this like this argumentative, defensive, like, I'm a grown man, I got a checking account, I'm paying with my debit card, I can buy what I want, and like there's this argument in my head going on.

And at one point I remember thinking, like, who am I arguing with?

Like, what is why am I so mad about this?

So I go out to my car and I throw the bag in my trunk.

This particular work trip was uh it was all driving, so I wasn't on any plane, so it was my own car, so I threw it in my in my trunk, and that bag stayed in my trunk for five days before I told my wife what I did.

So finally I'm like, okay, hey, Deborah, I was, you know, when I was at that that trip last week, I bought it, I bought a pair of khakis.

Oh yeah, you needed some new khakis.

That's great, awesome, let me see them.

And so I grab them, I bring them, you know, show them to her.

Oh well, wait till you see the receipts.

And she's like, Oh, uh, well, let me see what I can do.

And so she took both pairs of pants, the receipts, she did her Deborah magic, and she came back from this the uh in our town.

We have the same department store.

She came back with the pair of pants, a couple pairs of socks, and a shirt, and paid less than what I had paid for my.

I don't know, Deborah's got magic.

She's just amazing.

She knows the deals.

She had a coupon or whatever it was.

I love that my wife said, Yeah, you needed pants.

That's great.

And she didn't like say, What a moron you are because you spent this much money on pants.

Oh, you need pants.

Let me see if I can if I can make this better.

But why was I so angry?

Why was I like, oh, I can buy what I want to buy?

Where did that come from?

And God just started peeling back the layers of how have you money, how I how have you my money?

Like, what's that what's that possessive pronoun you got going on there, Mark?

Like, what's that?

My money?

And God just really started to say, hey, why do you why do you view this this way?

Why do you have this attitude about about money and how you you know how you spend it?

Now, I I mean, I'm glad I have pants, I'm glad you have pants, all that works in our favor here.

But the attitude that I had going into that was just, you know, it surprised me, and then God started working on it.

And so even as we continue this pathway into following Christ, it is again remarkable to me that at times uh He uh teaches me things that I may not want to deal with, but I need to deal with.

Um in light of eternity, if we lived in that light of eternity, what if we all shopped for pants differently?

What if we leveraged our days for eternal weight and significance that there is more to life than having more in life?

I invite you if you're uh if you have your Bible, if you have a device that you're gonna read from Luke chapter 18 this morning, go ahead and flip to that and we're gonna read beginning in verse 18.

Luke 18 · chapter mention

Uh give me just a second here.

Verse verse 18.

A certain ruler asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Why do you call me good?

Jesus answered.

No one is good except God alone.

You know the commandments.

You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony.

Honor your father and mother.

All these I have kept since I was a boy, he said.

You can write in there or in parentheses, well, I'm a good person.

I have kept these since I was a boy.

I'm I I know I'm a good person.

Verse 22, when Jesus heard this, he said to him, You still lack one thing.

Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.

Then come, follow me.

When he heard this, he became very sad because he was very wealthy.

Jesus looked at him and said, How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.

Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.

Those who heard this asked, Who then can be saved?

Jesus replied, What is impossible with man is possible with God.

And Peter said to him, We have left all we had to follow you.

Truly I tell you, Jesus said to them, No one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and in the age to come eternal life.

In this passage where we have identified this rich ruler, uh, I want to make a couple of uh notes about uh this passage in the book of Matthew and in the book of Mark, there is a parallel passage that talks about this same encounter.

Uh in one of the passages, it uh I believe it's Matthew, where he uh he references him as being young.

Uh in this culture, someone who had wealth, someone who had that status, just to be described as a rich ruler, uh, he would have he would have curated that life, he would have had that status of being someone who had accumulated some wealth.

And in many ways, that was perceived as a very good thing.

That was not perceived as a bad thing to be to be uh perceived as rich.

But now when we look at rich, I want to say to you being rich, being wealthy, having that uh uh description, that's relative.

You're gonna drive by uh some house today that's nicer than yours.

You're gonna drive by a house that is not as nice as yours.

And if we do all that comparison, see there's a trap, there's a problem with being in that place of comparison.

Let me also just add to this as as I as I uh am at the front side of this conversation.

Uh I appreciate the full context of scripture when it talks about money and finances and how we deal with all of that.

Uh and let me say to you that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

That is right out of scripture.

Uh God owns all of that, and he is not wringing his hands saying, Oh man, I hope Mark gives his$50 today.

What am I gonna do if Mark doesn't give his money?

God is not worried about me giving money.

He's worried about my attitude about my money.

And so as we look at this rich young ruler, I want to bring to you today, uh, let me look at it, uh, let me look at this next slide here for a second before I get into kind of main points.

I took some time a couple of years ago and took an inventory on the moments that have really shaped how I view biblical generosity.

And I'm gonna share some of them with you.

You see the the pants are on the are on the illustration.

But I really viewed younger in life, I view I viewed extraordinary generosity with this like wow, why would someone do that?

Did someone really like wow, that's crazy?

And through the progression of that, uh, and not necessarily in a straight line, but meandering my way through and understanding what God wanted to teach me about generosity, I get to a place where I would now ask, well, why wouldn't I do that?

Why wouldn't I change my life in order to give to the things of the kingdom so that more could happen for other people and bless other people?

I'll get to more of those stories here in just a moment, but let me dive into uh money has great spiritual danger attached to it.

Let me talk about that spiritual danger for a few minutes.

Money provides access, it provides opportunity, it provides options, uh, good and potentially bad, but also potentially addicting.

Uh the power and the addiction that the high sense of like, ooh, that was cool.

It's addicting to be able to have the influence and the access and the opportunity that the money brings.

In Matthew chapter 19, uh, which is that parallel passage to this, uh, and describes the ruler as young, um, this young ruler has accomplished much by cultural standards.

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

And yet, despite that curate curated life of achievement, there is this lingering, nagging restlessness in his soul.

That when he comes to Jesus, who's known as a good teacher, he asks him, like, how do I get eternal life?

I've done these things.

I'm a good person.

How do I get eternal life?

He wouldn't ask that question if he had fullness of spirit.

He wouldn't ask that question unless there was an emptiness in him that has not been fulfilled by all of that wealth that he's accumulated.

Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

There's a transactional language that he brings to it.

What must I do?

How do I get this?

How do I acquire this?

What is the equity that I need to put in so that I receive this eternal life?

Jesus immediately disrupts the transactional language and he says, Why do you call me good?

Jesus pushes back on the good description, on the definition of what is good and who is good, because the rich young ruler came to him and said, I'm a good person.

I have done all these things, I have followed these commands.

No one is good except God alone, Jesus says.

True goodness is rooted in the nature of God.

His holy love and his holy light is where goodness is sourced.

Jesus pushes the ruler to look beyond his own resume, his own curated life, and confront the absolute holiness of God.

Money has spiritual danger attached to it.

Well, and you say, Well, how is money spiritually dangerous?

How dangerous is this?

That's like, how hot is it?

Should I touch it?

They put the plate down in front of you at the restaurant.

Be careful it's hot.

The first thing you do is you touch it.

Why do we do that?

The accumulation of money brings satisfaction, pride, self-sufficiency, or at least the illusion of it.

Greed is a problem, so is hoarding.

Uh as much as I've seen people who were chasing money so that they could buy the next thing, I've also experienced those who are doing everything that they can to protect the portfolio balance at all costs and never spending any money to the detriment of their family.

In any of those situations, who is God?

Is God Yahweh?

Is Yahweh God?

Or is my money God?

Am I God?

Am I trying to have money serve me, or am I trying to use my money to serve God?

We all have our protected financial area.

We all have that thing that we have like given ourselves justification and permission to spend money on.

Let me see if maybe I can uh offend all of you in one swoop here, okay?

Um whether it be shoes or cars or gear for the hobby or purses or fishing gear, like all the things, right?

I would never spend money on that.

And then the other person looks at what you spend your money on and says, I would never spend money on that.

I have a friend who his garage is stocked better than Bass Pro Shops.

And I'm just like, man, don't you?

It's just one fishing pole and like three worms.

That should do it, right?

Um but I have my thing.

And this is totally gonna like I'm I'm totally exposing myself here and like I you're I'm totally you're gonna be, I get it.

Strategy board games are my thing.

And I um see that they they I'm such a sucker.

They you you have these strategy board games, and that's the base, the base game, right?

Then you've got to get the expansion.

And you can't not have the expansion, you must have all of the expansions because you need to experience the fullness of the of all that is designed in that strategy board game.

I had a my brother-in-law has a strategy board game that I do not have.

And we've talked about it, I'm like, I'm considering it, like maybe I'll get that one.

And he offered his to me because he's like, I've I've played it through, I don't want it anymore, I need to get rid of it.

And he's like, I'll I'll give it to you.

And I thought about it a little bit, I'm like, you know what?

There's eight more expansions on that, so I'm just gonna like pass.

I'm not gonna do it.

So sometimes I have to, I have to put a cap on that, right?

You would never buy strategy board games, you would never buy fishing gear, but what is that thing, right?

What's that thing that you would spend your money on?

The dollar amount of those items are not as important as the position of the heart.

It really doesn't matter how much the pants were, it doesn't matter the cost.

And honestly, I think since then I have purchased pants that were more expensive than those.

But what was the attitude?

What was God trying to uncover in my heart as a result of what that instance taught me?

Absurd sacrifice and generosity for the kingdom.

Once I looked at that and said, Why would you do that?

One of the most generous people I know, and not just limited to finances, uh, one of the most generous people I know, he and his wife were so loving, so giving, so just they were the kind of people you love to be around and could not wait until you were around them again.

They were just such wonderful people.

And uh there were several times where I was at breakfast with him or lunch or we were having coffee, whatever, we were interacting, and and someone that he knew would come in and they had a problem, and he would be like, Hey, take my car, just just go ahead, I'll get another.

My wife will come get me or something.

I'll make Mark take me home.

Just go ahead and take my car.

And he would do stuff like that frequently where he would help people out.

One time he told me that he and his wife had made a decision years ago that now it come to fruition that they were reverse tithing.

They were living off of 10% and giving away 90.

Now, many of you in the room are doing exactly what I did, and you started doing math.

How much do I need to make in order to live off of 10%?

And when he said that to me, I'm like, no, that's not what you meant.

Yep.

And he said, years ago, they had made that decision.

You can't wake up today and say, oh, today's the day we're gonna do that.

We're gonna flip everything upside down in our finances.

They made that decision years ago and just took step after step to where they could be in that position.

Can you imagine like being blessed in such a way that they could do that?

And I don't think it's by accident that God unleashed his blessing on them because of the decision that they made.

Why would you do that?

And my friend said, why wouldn't I do that?

So there is danger, there's spiritual danger in uh money.

How, if so, how can I escape this danger?

Well, there's good news.

It's simple, but maybe perhaps not easy.

Surrender and sacrifice, surrender your will to the Lord and sacrifice for others.

Uh there is much to be made in this passage that we read in Luke chapter 18 about the uh the eye of a needle, a camel.

Luke 18 · chapter mention

There is uh there is some notations that would say that in the city of Jerusalem there was a smaller gate that they called the eye of a needle, and that a camel could not really fit through it unless it like took off all of the uh all of the baggage and everything that they had on the camel, and it got down on his knees and you know kind of crawled through.

Maybe, but you understand the illustration, right?

A camel cannot go through the eye of a needle.

So how can this be?

Because if someone who is rich is blessed by the Lord and they can't get into heaven, then who can?

Remember, this started with the rich young ruler asking, How do I get eternal life?

I've done all these things.

I'm a good person.

How do I get eternal life?

Who then can be saved, verse 26?

And Jesus replied, What is impossible with man is possible with God.

Why wouldn't I do that?

Why wouldn't I change my life?

Why wouldn't I spend differently so I can give differently?

Several years ago, I apologize, it's not it's not humid enough here for me.

Hold on.

Several years ago, uh, our youth pastor, his name is Johnny.

Uh, Pastor Johnny was telling me a story about Audrey.

And Audrey was a girl in our youth group that had gone to uh the high school missions trip to Nicaragua every summer of high school.

And it was her senior year, and she was wanting to go to Nicaragua again.

And Audrey's mother, who was not a follower of Christ, uh, told her, You are not going to Nicaragua, you are not sending letters to family to ask for money again, you're not asking all of our friends and co-workers for money to go on, you're just not you're not going this year.

And Audrey was like, Audrey was very, very broken by this because she wanted to go and serve the people of Nicaragua.

And so as Pastor Johnny is telling me this story, like, you know what, you know what I'm getting ready for, right?

You know, I want to jump in on this and then I want to help.

And as Pastor Johnny is telling me this story, he said, uh, yeah, last night I told our small group about it.

And in our small group, we we got enough money to send Audrey on the trip to Nicaragua.

And I was like, oh, I missed.

I wanted to be in on that.

I was like, how do I get on Johnny's speed dial the next time that this needs to happen?

I wanted to be in on that because Deborah and I said, How do we help people experience this?

How do we put ourselves in a position where we are ready to respond to what God wants to do?

And since then we have had those opportunities.

Why wouldn't I do that?

Why wouldn't I spend differently so that I can give differently?

When Jesus hears the ruler's response, he looks at him and he says, You still lack one thing.

Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.

Then come follow me.

Jesus tells him to give his wealth to the poor.

In the biblical world, there is some uh there is some interpretation about the word used here for poor, that essentially it wasn't about those with zero dollars in their bank accounts, so much as those in need that are in your community.

Who is beside you that has a need?

Who is beside you that could benefit from you serving and giving to them?

And by telling the ruler to sell his possessions and give to the poor, Jesus was demanding that his status be divested, that his uh that his curated life would now be dispensed among those that he was around rather than just be huddled up and hoarded for himself.

Now, if you have in front of you, if you have your Bible that you've been following along, whether it's a device or physical Bible, I want you to look at Luke chapter 19.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

Look at the next chapter.

Because I don't think it's by accident that in the next couple of paragraphs, Luke has the uh the account of Jesus meeting Zacchaeus.

You know the story of Zacchaeus?

The tax collector who had cheated so many people.

And when he met Jesus and Jesus confronted him, Zacchaeus had a complete opposite reaction to Jesus' confrontation than what the rich young ruler did.

Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, he was despised, uh, he was extorting people, and he had a reaction to Jesus' challenge that became one of celebration, of repayment to those that he had stolen from, and even beyond that.

The rich young ruler chose his temporary status over eternal solidarity.

He chose his golden prison over a release that could benefit all those around him.

The rich young ruler looked at that and said, Why would I do that?

In the passage, I want to challenge you with one final question.

Did you notice the other rich young ruler?

Jesus.

In the past couple of months, something has come alive to me that I wish I had time to unpack for you more about what God is bringing into my heart about this.

Jesus said to the disciples, he said, I am going there to prepare a place for you.

Recently we had our uh our son, oldest son, who does not live in the same state as us.

He was coming down to visit for uh, I think he was gonna be there for about eight, nine days with us.

And the honeydew list for Mark just kept expanding and growing.

And I'm doing this and this.

We're hustling, we're cleaning, we're cleaning parts of the house we haven't cleaned since we moved in.

Like, I don't understand what's going on here.

We are preparing, we are preparing, we are preparing.

And when our son comes home, what a party.

We were preparing a place for him.

Jesus left his father's mansions to come down and be with the poor, you and me.

We are spiritually poor.

Because we needed a way into eternal life that only he could do.

You can't say, I'm a well, I'm a good person, I keep those things since I was a young boy.

But we're still spiritually poor, and we need Christ in order to get to eternal life.

The price of the pants don't matter, the price of the shoes don't matter.

The attitude about how it's my money.

Jesus left the mansions.

He sacrificed the wealth of being with his father so that he could come here to be with the poor, you and me, so that we could have access into his status that he is divested to all of us.

Did you notice the other rich young ruler?

I know the I know the I know the within five minutes of talking to my wife today, she's you know, she's gonna ask me, how was it today?

You know, uh what was it like being there?

Because my wife is really from this area and she wanted to come, but she could not.

She's gonna ask me all sorts of questions.

I know within five minutes of that, she's gonna say something to the effect of, so when you get in the ladder from Rolando across the street, I don't want to deal with that palm tree.

It'll probably take me like 45 minutes, and I don't know why I don't want to do it.

I just don't want to do it.

For some of you, it might be, it might be this, this, this thing about money, and you say, I don't want to deal with this, God.

I want what I want about my money.

For some of you, it might be forgiveness.

I don't want to forgive that person.

They, that hurt goes too deep.

I don't want to deal with it.

God, you can go anywhere, you can talk about anything, but we can't talk about that.

I'm telling you, God is gonna bring that to your front door.

And this rich young ruler who said, I have done all these things.

I am a good person, I have kept the commandments, I should be able to get eternal life.

What is the problem?

I should be able to have this sense of fulfillment and peace.

Why can't I have it?

Good teacher, tell me what is wrong.

And Jesus looked at him in love and he said, You need to deal with the heart issue behind your wealth.

Whatever the one thing is, whatever that thing is that you're holding on so tightly that your knuckles are white, the one thing that you're hoping God does not address, the one thing about your money and how you spend it, or how you or or how you don't spend it because you're worried and you're fearful.

Whatever that one thing is, Jesus was looking at you today with love and he says, I love you, I want something better for you.

The rich young ruler walked away sad because he could not conceive a life outside of his own control.

He went back to his wealth, his status, his isolation, and it's one of the most tragic moments in scripture.

But your story doesn't have to end that way.

Today you can grab hold of the other rich young ruler who says, I have a way.

I have come so that you may have life and have life too.

It's full.

You don't need to walk in fear.

I want to pray for you.

I want to ask that uh that God would just allow his spirit to communicate to you in this moment.

I want to encourage you that this week you read Luke 19, that you read about Zacchaeus, that you would be challenged to react and respond to the Lord in a way that brings freedom and life to you.

Father, I ask that your Holy Spirit would just move in this place right now.

I ask, Lord, that uh in uh in our own hearts, you help us to see that number one, you gave your son who sacrificed everything so that we could have eternal life.

It's not from us being a good person, it's not from us uh making sure that we check all the boxes of all the rules.

It is through Christ, the one who is preparing a place for us now that we have that freedom and that opportunity.

Heavenly Father, would you would you move among us today?

Lord, for the one who's who who is struggling with the perceived, the illusion of the options that money provides.

And yet they also know it fails.

Lord, I pray that that person would just see your love today, that they would just see how you want to move in their life.

May they embrace the sacrifice that you have made.

Father, may you bring your blessing and your favor upon these people, and that as we receive your spirit here in this place, that indeed we lean into what you have for us and not run away from it.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

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