Seeing Jesus in Matthew: What's Wrong with the Rich Young Ruler?

We are continuing on in Matthew chapter 19. So you got hopefully Bibles in front

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

of you or you have your own.

Or I'm also going to put all the references up here on the slides.

If you just want to sit back and relax, that's fine too.

But Matthew chapter 19, this is actually kind of the second week in this section.

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

Last week, we met a man. We never get his name. We don't know what his name

is, but he's known like you're probably the little heading in your Bible says

the rich young ruler, right?

That's how he's been referred to for a long time, this man. He's a rich,

young ruler. And he's called that because he's rich, he's young, and he's a ruler.

Or if we want to put that kind of in modern language, he's responsible for his

household. He's a head of his household.

So he makes the decisions for his extended family, for not only his own kids,

his own spouse, but probably his mom because probably his father died because he's young.

Young people weren't rich because there wasn't Bitcoin yet.

Or credit cards, you know, the ways that young people get rich or think they are rich.

So, so he's, he was probably, his father died. And so he's just a person who

has a lot of wealth and also a lot of responsibility. He used a ruling over his household.

We looked at him and we talked about him and we thought a little bit about him and the gospel.

And it was, you know, I thought it was a pretty good message.

So you could go back and listen to it. Right.

But we looked at his conversation with Jesus in detail last week,

but just to kind of catch us up, because it's part of the context of what follows.

This rich young man comes to Jesus and he asks him a question.

He says, teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

And there's some back and forth. Again, you can go back and listen.

And Jesus ends his conversation with this man this way. He says,

if you want to be perfect, go and sell your belongings, give to the poor,

and you will have treasures in heaven. Then come follow me.

And when the young man heard that, he went away grieving because he had many possessions.

Before we get into this, I just want to say, when you go to a church and the

pastor starts talking about money, you're probably thinking,

is he going to ask me for money at the end of this? And I just want to tell

you, I am not going to ask you for money at the end of this.

So you can relax. It'll be fine. We're just going to read the Bible and learn,

and no one's going to ask you for money.

There's not a bait and switch going on here. So what is happening here?

Well, again, we talked extensively about the conversation last week,

But in a nutshell, Jesus isn't after this guy's money.

Jesus doesn't necessarily want to make rich people poor. He doesn't want to make poor people rich.

Jesus doesn't want something from this man, but he does want something for this man.

He wants him, for him, the same thing he wants for you and for me.

He wants us to become people who can receive the kingdom of God,

who can grow into spiritual maturity.

That is what he is after in this conversation,

And Jesus recognizes that this man is just not in a place to do that.

He's not in a place to trust in Jesus. He's not in a place to follow after Jesus.

He recognizes that there is an issue in his life. So what is that issue?

What is in the way? Well, Jesus perceives the problem. And as the man walks

away sad because he doesn't want to do this thing that Jesus asks him to do,

he points out the problem with remarkable clarity.

Jesus said to his disciples, continuing on the passage, Truly,

I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.

And again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the

needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.

See, Jesus sees this man. He knows some things about him, either through his

spiritual insight or just like you can figure it out. He knows that he's rich.

And it's not that Jesus, again, it's not that Jesus hates wealth or wealthy

people, but Jesus understands something.

He has this insight that he makes really clear that riches are an obstacle to,

as he says in his words, entering the kingdom into growing into faith.

He knows it so certainly, and he knows that we will probably think,

nah, he knows it so certainly that he says it twice in two different ways that

it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom.

And he gives us this image of a camel going through the eye of the needle.

And some people think this is an illustration to some in particular,

get in Jerusalem. And some people think it just means what it means.

It would be a very crazy thing to have happen.

I don't really have an opinion, so you can go and do what you want.

But the point is, he says it twice because he knows our reaction is just going

to be like, that can't be right.

And so he reminds him, he says, certainly it is true that it will be difficult

for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. So what is going on here?

What is Jesus's problem with wealth?

We're scratching our heads. It's a little funny, though, that we do scratch

our head because for us to even ask this in the way that I think oftentimes

we do, like I sit with people all the time and we talk about money.

You read a lot of stuff that Jesus says about money, and he talks about money a lot.

You kind of wonder, what is his obsession with money? Why does he think it's such a problem?

But for us to wonder about this as much as we do, I think is a very modern thing to do.

Because actually, historically, if you read the church fathers and people before

modern times about money, they understood perfectly well the downsides of wealth.

And we have trouble comprehending what could possibly be wrong with lots and lots of money.

Like the 4th century church father, John Chrysostom, who taught Bishop of Smyrna,

I think, somewhere in Turkey, He explains the problem of wealth this way.

He says, The person who desires to be rich has only inflamed it further,

and he still does not even stop.

Even if he's acquired 10,000 talents, he desires just as much again.

And even if he obtains that, he again reaches for more, wanting even the sea

and everything in it to become gold for him.

He is mad with a strange and terrible kind of madness, one that can never be

extinguished in this way.

John Chrysostom sees with great clarity. The church has seen with great clarity.

Jesus sees with great clarity some of the challenges that come along with wealth.

The church has always understood, these people have understood,

that Jesus' warning is not about riches themselves, but what riches can do to the heart.

The danger of the desire for great wealth, what that does to the heart.

It's not morally wrong. I think this needs to be said. It is not morally wrong

for you to want to have enough wealth.

That is actually a good and commended thing in life. Like we are to ask God for our daily bread.

He doesn't want us to go without anything. It is not wrong to want to have enough.

It is not a problem to want a degree of comfort in your life.

Of course you want that. It is not evil or problematic to want to have enough

to be generous with other people.

Of course, we want to be people who can supply the needs of others.

That's absolutely a biblically commended thing over and over again.

But universally, the challenge is knowing when enough is, knowing when to stop.

And that's because it is hard, because of this thing that John Chrysostom describes,

it is hard to satisfy a desire for wealth.

It is hard to both have wealth and to be content.

Contentment and riches are just a difficult thing to hold together.

And the church fathers understood and Jesus understood that that is true because

they have a very clear understanding of what the inner life is like.

They understand the complicated way that desire works in the heart.

And I think modern people, we have become very ignorant of what goes on in our own hearts.

We think we're good people or bad people. That's our understanding of the inner life.

But biblically and what the church has understood for a long time is that actually,

there's a lot more going on in our souls.

James 1, 14 and 15, James talks about what's going on inside of me and inside

of you. He says it this way, each person is tempted when they're drawn away

and enticed by his own evil desires.

And then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is

fully grown, it gives birth to death.

Biblically, we have this understanding that there's so much going on in your soul and in my soul.

Sin is the result of these inner dynamics of desire.

The problem in my soul, the problem with my sin, it has the same roots.

I am full of lots of desires.

To be a person is to be someone who has desires, to have wants.

We direct our energies and our attentions and our hopes somewhere.

You will. Everyone does. You can't help but do it. It is constantly what's going on.

But as much as I can desire a good thing, I can also desire things that are evil.

Anyone else? Anyone else experience this? You know, sometimes I just wake up

and I want a cheeseburger.

And then I have a cheeseburger. And then you know what? I want another cheeseburger.

I don't need a second cheeseburger. I might have need the first one.

Me and my wife have this debate.

Right. But like, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, like there is something

within me that doesn't care about what's good for me. I just want what I want.

I am oftentimes enticed by evil desires and so much more.

Like I know cheeseburger, it's not that serious, but like how many things,

how many times have you just gone back to the same thing over and over and over

again? And you know it, you call it evil. You know, it is not something that's good for you.

And yet you still want it. you still have this inward struggle.

That's the life. That's the inward life. That's the life. My heart is always wanting something.

And what Jesus understands is that wealth in particular can inflame unsatisfied

desires. And so I'm always struggling with this discontentment.

And the problem with.

That, beyond just discontentment, the problem with that is that it disrupts

my relationship with God.

To constantly be wanting, to constantly be dissatisfied is disruptive of your relationship with God.

Proverbs 30, 8 through 9, kind of like a life verse for me. I've come back to

this one for a long time. It says this, keep falsehood and deceit,

deceitful words far from me.

Give me neither poverty nor wealth, good desires.

Feed me with the food I need. Otherwise, if I have too much,

I might have too much and deny you, saying, who is the Lord?

Or I might have nothing and steal, profaning in the name of my God.

The risk on the side of too much is relational disruption you guys heard of

Dave Ramsey you know who Dave Ramsey is yeah because you have a Facebook so

you know who Dave Ramsey is right he's on there all the time or at least mine

actually just probably just mine,

because Dave knows I'm broke no that's a joke I'm not I'm just.

I'm sorry I can't help myself when a good joke presents itself that's one of my evil desires,

Sometimes. Anyways, he has this saying, it's actually like, it's like a really

helpful saying about his approach to budgeting, his approach to budgeting.

He sums it up in this little saying, he says, when it comes to your income,

you need to have every dollar have a job.

Every dollar needs to have a job. So before you get your paycheck,

you need to already have decided where that money is going or else it will go,

wherever, right? It will not go where you intend it to go.

And that's good advice. Every dollar should have a job.

But here's the problem. And I think I have a slide. The problem with riches

is that we have this desire within us, a relentless desire to delegate to our

dollars, things that are God's job.

Like I want to make my dollars eclipse God's purposes in my life.

That is always like, I don't want to have to trust you, God.

I don't want to have to rely on you for my daily bread Because I want to have

enough in the bank For three years of daily bread And then I won't need you

for at least three years Right?

I want that very much I have, and I think most of us have,

A natural But just because it's natural doesn't mean it's good But a natural

desire to eclipse God With our money It is easy to go From wanting to have enough

for today To wanting to guarantee what happens tomorrow Which we would just call control,

It is easy to go from wanting to provide for your family, a good thing,

a noble thing, to wanting your family to have more than all the other families

in town, which we call covetousness.

It is easy to go from thankfulness to God, like an attitude where things come

and we receive them with thanks.

Thankful that he provides for you in his kindness and according to his grace

to a kind of self-congratulatory arrogance that you are getting what you are owed

and you get to decide what to do with it all.

Because of the evil desires within our heart, it is easy to forget about God when we have much.

We rely on money to do what God says he is going to do for us.

And that is exactly what both you and I would do given time and opportunity.

Given time and opportunity, because of the way we're made, we will tend toward

this. Unless we do something about it. Unless we have an awareness,

which is exactly what Jesus is talking about. here.

Jesus knows all of this, and so he calls this man,

he sees this man's heart, he calls this man to follow him, and what he's doing

in the midst of that, he is confronting the way this man's desire for wealth

is standing in the way of him receiving the kingdom, growing in faith, growing into maturity.

It stands in the way of his relationship with God, and the disciples are really

surprised by how clear and definitive and punchy Jesus is being in this moment.

They say, They gather around him.

They are, it's Matthew 19, 25. It says, they were utterly astonished.

And they asked, then who can be saved?

And Jesus looked at them and said, with man, this is impossible,

but with God, all things are possible.

Man, the disciples are having a lot of trouble with what Jesus is saying here and what it all means.

They are surprised by how intense it seems and how really countercultural it

seems, particularly in their time.

But Jesus, like in the midst of their dismay, he holds out hope.

He gives them reason to hope.

Even though this man goes away sad, I think there's plenty of hope for him,

plenty of reason for us to hope for him in the future.

Even though you and I are so prone to the challenges that come along with wealth

to the blindness that come along with health there is lots of reason for hope

because with God nothing is impossible,

and we have God himself among us speaking to his people wanting to call them on

to move past sin grow into maturity he's paid the price for them he's created

a place he's sending his spirit upon them he's calling them to deal with what's

going on in their hearts.

And so it might be impossible with man, but since God is intervening,

since God is at work, there's hope.

It goes on. Peter responded to him, picking up verse 27, Peter responded to

him, see, we've left everything and followed you. So what will there be for us?

And Jesus said to them, truly I tell you in the renewal of all things,

when the son of man sits 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 and brothers or sisters or fathers or mothers

or children or fields because of my name will receive a hundred times more and

will inherit eternal life.

But many who are first will be last and the last first.

I think the disciples' reaction here is really funny because they are,

like I said, astonished and they have this serious question.

But then all of a sudden the light bulb goes off in Peter's head.

He's like, ding, wait a minute.

We've already done this, Jesus. We've already left everything for you.

Doesn't that mean that we're winners?

Doesn't that mean that we're on the good side of this very serious thing?

It's like he didn't realize it before. I think it's really funny.

They've been living out their faith in this way.

I mean, you know, is this the standard? Well, who knows? We'll talk about that in a second.

But they understand, we've given up a lot for you, Jesus. And he asked about it. He asks about it.

And Jesus paints a picture of the internal impact of their trust,

of their faith, of their making room for the kingdom in their lives.

Jesus says, yeah, it's a really good thing.

He talks to these disciples about how because they lived out their faith,

they're going to have this eternal ministry along with Jesus when he returns

and he renews the world and he sets up his kingdom,

where he's going to bring all things new they're going to have a part,

in this future picture of what the world is going to look like,

Jesus says it's not like you're just giving things up and it's going to be terrible

there is great reward on the other side and we'll talk about that in a second

because I don't want that to sound the wrong way.

But he explains that that good news, right? He has particularly good news for

these disciples who are being called to something.

And he explains that that good news extends down to anyone who's like following

after Jesus, growing in the kingdom.

He says, everyone who's left houses or brothers or sisters or fathers or mothers

or children or fields because of my name will receive a hundred more and will

inherit eternal life. Just like a quick comment on, especially the familial stuff.

Jesus isn't saying like, oh, families don't matter. But understand the situation in this man.

He's just like, I am responsible for all of these people.

And by proxy, my wealth is responsible for caring for all these people.

So there's no room for God in the midst of all of that. There's no room for

God's care for these people that he feels responsible for.

He's taken all the weight upon himself, taking what is a natural good desire

that he should be a provider.

But he's also just saying, but I also need to be the guarantee.

He's stepping into something that God wants to do for people.

I mean, like anyone who's taken on the weight of earning money,

you know, husband or wife, you know, some people arrange their houses differently.

It's fine. But, you know, if you're a breadwinner or a co-breadwinner in a family,

like there is a sense that like my children depend on me.

And that's true. But what Jesus makes clear to this man is that.

It actually depends more on God than it is more on you. And a lot of maturity

is just as saying, you know what, my best plans won't actually yield the best

results. God's best plans always yield the best results and he can take care

of my family better than I can.

But how many times are we just so worried and anxious about tomorrow?

We're just scrambling and anxious and striving,

instead of just surrendering our responsibilities over to the Lord,

not being irresponsible, like continuing on in the good things,

the things we're called to provide, but also just understanding that there's a limit to my abilities.

I don't think Jesus is calling us to abandon family. I don't think that is what he's saying.

But he is saying is like, we have all these things, money shows up as responsibilities

and weights, and we need to shift that responsibility onto God.

I think he's saying that. I also want to make clear about one thing I think

he's not saying, because it's

easy to read this and think Jesus is saying something he's not saying.

I don't think Jesus is saying, that God's love for you or your relationship,

like you're going to heaven, depends on you giving your wealth away.

I don't think that's, like, if you read this, that's not what's being said.

But it's easy to read this and think that is what's being said because he has

this little phrase, many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

Question for you. Who was the first person to church this morning?

It was me. But I work here. so that's so who's the second person at church today

who the person who doesn't work here and it was justin where's justin and it

was justin's birthday on friday everybody give give justin a birthday

i forgot i forgot and so this is me making it up for this is me acting out of guilt,

this is this is so this is an evil desire,

like i feel bad that i forgot your birthday.

And now i'm being defensive gosh okay all right anyways,

back on track. Okay. So yeah. So Justin was the first person here today.

Who was the last person here today?

No, I'm just joking. We're not going to play that game.

Oh, is it cement? All right. Well, glad you're here. Okay. But let me ask you,

first person here, last person here. Are you both in the room?

You're all in the room. So Jesus isn't saying who's in and who's out.

He's just saying who's first and last. And you know what?

Some people get here early. Some people get here late, but everybody's here.

He's talking about everybody who's here, but what happens after that?

Which is, you know, it's not unserious, but it's not as serious as,

hey, do I have to perform to a certain level of giving my money away in order

to earn my way into the kingdom? No.

Like, you're here.

You have a relationship with Jesus because he did all the work.

He paid the whole price. He died for your sin before you had any interest in him whatsoever.

He said, I love you. And so I am going to sacrifice myself to take away the

thing that separates you entirely from me.

And then I'm going to, as I'm going to offer myself up to you as this gift.

And all you have to do is respond in faith and just say, I want a little bit of that Jesus.

And then he takes care of the price, and then you're in.

But just because that is true, and that is true, like salvation is based on

what Jesus does, and us, by faith, making something of that doesn't mean that

there isn't more for us in the Christian life in terms of maturing.

Jesus is not trying to say that unless you give enough stuff away, you can't go to heaven.

But he is saying that those who make room for the kingdom of God to come more

and more in their lives, they have a reward. It's an eternal one.

And he's calling disciples to actually participate in their spiritual growth

through trusting more, through growing in faith,

through growing through the difficulties that come along with recognizing what's

in my heart and giving those things over more and more to Jesus.

But it's amazing to me how quickly we are as believers, especially in the American

church in 2026, to believe that Jesus just wants to forgive us and then wants

no further relationship with us.

That is not true.

He wants to do more in our lives. He wants something for us.

When the whole, like, it's amazing to me because like, if you read the New Testament,

it is screaming at you, screaming at you to do something more with this grace, to grow into maturity.

What God wants for us is what he wants for this rich man.

It's the same thing that Paul wanted for the Galatians when in Galatians 4.19,

he says, I am suffering labor pains for you until Christ is formed in you.

Paul is not saying, I want you to get saved. He's saying, you are already saved,

But God is doing something great.

He is forming himself in you. He's growing you into maturity.

And so Paul, as a pastor, he's always encouraging Christians to grow,

to make much of the life given to them by Jesus and to do something with it.

Jesus was always encouraging his disciples to mature.

He'd already made them his disciples. He already loved them well.

He already made them a part of his plan.

But he's always saying, just keep going. Trust me more.

And they did that progressively through their lives.

The life that we're called to is a life of following Jesus and becoming more

like him day by day, trusting him more.

The life of walking in the spirit, turning from the flesh, making more room

in your life for the kingdom to come and enjoying it along the way. It's a delight.

It's not always easy, but it's a delight.

It's been a while since we had a Dallas Willard quote, so I'm here to rectify that.

It's now understood to be part of the good news that one does not have to be

a life student of Jesus in order to be a Christian and receive forgiveness of sins.

This gives a precise meaning to the phrase cheap grace, though it would be better

described as costly faithlessness.

And I like that a lot. When we fail to understand the call that we have to see

Christ formed in us, to be growing as disciples, to mature and to grow, then we are,

failing to step into the best parts of the life we have with God.

All the good stuff we're just leaving on the table. And that.

Faithlessness is costly. Not eternally costly. It's not like you're going to

be not in heaven anymore.

I just don't believe that. But it costs you something spiritually.

It costs you something spiritually.

Okay, I'm not sure if I should share this image, but I'm going to do it anyway.

Trying to be saved while continually resisting Jesus' call to grow is like trying

to figure out how little you can eat without dying.

It's not a good game to play.

You don't need to find that line. It's not a line that needs to be discovered.

Remember this we talked about last week? The kingdom of God has come among us.

Like life and joy and peace and satisfaction is here.

It's set before us in Jesus. And the invitation is to feast,

to make much of it, to go into the kingdom, to grow in trust,

to abound in everything he calls us to.

Not to sit there and say, thanks, Jesus, but I'm not hungry.

Because you're starving. You're starving.

So this rich man has this set before him, but he says, I don't like that. And.

He goes away sad and he goes away unsatisfied. It says he goes away grieving.

He's longing for more. He's come to Jesus, like we talked about last week,

because he understands and recognizes there is a lack in his life.

He's been doing the religious thing.

He's been seeking God. He knows a lot about God. He says, but something is missing.

And Jesus lays out a path to how to grow, how to progress, but he goes away

grieving because he can't imagine the cost of discipleship.

He can't imagine what it would be like to pay that.

So instead, and this is the thing, instead of paying the cost of discipleship,

he pays the cost of faithlessness. He goes away grieving.

He wins the prize, which is lastness.

And you know, it's not like it's not like this is needs to be a competition

some of you guys hear lastness and they say not me,

i'm gonna beat all you i'm not that way i don't care about being last right

but in the end like like i don't want to have competition but it's like just

like there is a better invitation,

okay so getting to application what do we do with this is the application everybody

has to go sell everything.

It's just clearly and patently not. Jesus did not give that commandment to everybody

who came to him. Lots of people throughout the Gospels are coming to Jesus. This is the only man.

I mean, I guess the disciples kind of did it, but he didn't even have to tell

the disciples because the disciples were fishermen and they were just like,

we don't really have much anyway, so it's fine.

Right? But this man is the one who's told he has to do this.

So it's not a blanket command for everybody.

He said that to this man, but not to everyone. So what do we do with that?

What do we just say? Oh, that's just for him. It has nothing to do with me.

Well, no, I don't think so. I think we do have to do something with it.

We need to recognize that Jesus is, as a good teacher, which is what the man

calls him when he comes up to him, he's doing what good teachers do.

He is giving this wealthy man a spiritual exercise, if you will,

just like a teacher assigns you a math problem to grow and develop your skills

at the thing that you're called to do.

This is like a spiritual exercise. Or to use the kind of historic Christian

word, a Christian discipline.

And I know that word discipline is weird, but you know what we call,

what Jesus called his followers? He called them disciples. Why did he call them disciples?

Because they were people who were being taught to do the practices,

the disciplines that Jesus did. To pray the way that Jesus prayed,

to organize their life the way Jesus organized his life.

He taught the way contemporary rabbis, teachers in his days, taught.

Disciples came, spent time with him, and then they modeled their lives after him.

So Jesus is giving this man a spiritual discipline, a spiritual exercise as a teacher.

Jesus knows the heart and he knows the great capacity that all of us have to

be blind to the things that we are attached to, the things that we're anxious

about, the things that we are worshiping.

And how they're different from what we say we're worshiping and what we're valuing.

He knows that we are blind to the stuff that actually drives and motivates us

in our own hearts. Like if you had to make me make a list of what things are

really, really at the heart. Like, I mean, if you asked me 20 years ago, I would have had no idea.

Here, now I have probably somewhat of a better idea.

And then 20 years from now, I'll say I had no idea then.

Because I am blind to what's going on in my heart. I am blind to the desires.

And so much of my life is organized around being distracted from an awareness

of what's going on in my heart. That's what the modern world is.

I think T.S. Eliot said the modern world is like a conspiracy of distraction.

I really like that. And he was like in the 1940s. Gosh, the conspiracy has continued.

This command is his way of showing this man, it's a spiritual discipline to

teach this man a lesson, to teach him this lesson, that this rich young ruler

is not a rich young ruler.

He is actually a young man ruled by riches.

And there's no other way to show him that except for him to ask him to give

it away and for him to go away sad and then to sit in his room afterwards and

say, what just happened to me?

And why is it that I was so eager on one moment to give my life to this person

and then suddenly I'm just walking away sad when he asked me to do one thing.

What is it about this one thing that I just could not possibly do?

What is it that was sparked in my heart that just made me want to spit that out?

I don't think Jesus cared if this guy gave it all away or gave something away.

He just wanted to show him, what's in your heart?

And like, that's what spiritual disciplines do. And so there's a lot of good

news here because yeah, he's going home.

I think he's gonna show up. So how does it apply to you?

Here's the thing. It's like, we can partake in spiritual disciplines in the same way.

You don't have to go try to give things away. But if you think about your own

life and you think, I wonder if I'm quite anxious about money.

I wonder if I'm giving to my money responsibilities that are meant for God.

There's one way to find out.

It's a really easy way. Give something away and have it be uncomfortable.

And then go and sit with your feelings about it. What comes out when you feel

like you don't have enough?

Are you anxious? Why are you anxious? You ever like...

I watch a lot of crime dramas. And I feel like I've seen it at least three times.

Where somebody gets shot and then the big buff guy...

Performs like his own surgery on himself

so he's like awake like this is obviously not real life this is kind of a weird

image but he's like awake and he's got shot and he's like by himself and so

he just gets a mirror and then he starts to remove the bullet from his own body

it's like it's like everyone would have passed out right

but this is what spiritual disciplines do for us like like we make some choices

about things that we can do and those things are like mirrors that we can see

what's going on in our hearts.

And we can start to see, oh, okay, so I gave some money away. It hurts.

Why does it hurt?

We can start to, through the mirror of the spiritual discipline,

see something that we can't see within our own selves, in our own hearts, in our own bodies.

We can start to see the anxiety that's produced, like the ways in which we just

don't believe that God actually cares for us at all.

And we think we have to bear the weight of caring for us and for our families

and doing all this stuff. Like spiritual disciplines are things that we can

do to start to, like, because if I just told you, start trusting Jesus with

your money, you'd be like, okay.

And then you just go on and do whatever you were gonna do for the rest of your

day. Because how do you trust more?

I can't say try harder at trusting, that's unhelpful. But one thing you can

do, and Jesus understood this, is that we can do things to test what's in our

hearts and find out what's going on.

It's a good thing to do on purpose as a Christian.

I think we have an attitude about our spiritual growth that's like,

well, situations will happen and I'll learn from them.

That's like trying to learn algebra by going downtown Seattle and having dinner.

You're never going to learn algebra that way. You have to sit and you have to,

in a concerted way, try to learn what's going on in the subject matter.

If you want to know what's going on in your heart with money,

you have to do some exercises and see what's going on with money.

So if you have no generosity in your life, maybe start to give.

And the first thing you're going to say is, I can't afford that.

And then the question is, oh, can't you? Well, what if you did it? What would happen?

What's the worst that would happen? If you gave a poor person $1,000 and that

$1,000 was not in your bank account anymore, what would happen?

Well, it's a good question worth thinking about. You'd probably be really anxious about money.

Would then you say, I'm going to take this opportunity and I'm going to pray

extensively about this.

And I'm going to say, Lord, would you just show me? Would I pray Psalm 139 verses 23 and 24?

Psalms 139:23

Search me, God, and know my heart and test me and know my concerns and see if

there's any offensive way in me and lead me into the way everlasting.

Remember the question that the man comes and asks, what must I do to have eternal

life? How do I get led into the way everlasting?

Jesus gives him a really good answer. Worship team can come up to her.

I'm about to finish it. There's nobody's going to be here. It's going to be

an awkward transition. Like, like...

He asks the question, the answer is here. How do we get led into the way everlasting?

We go out of our way to ask the Lord, search me and know my heart.

And then we put ourselves in situations where we can see what's in our hearts.

So we can do that with money. I mean, you can do that with a lot of things.

I'll finish with this thought. Well, two more things. We are going to be talking

about in the upcoming series, we have these become practices.

There are spiritual disciplines, things like this that are supposed to kind

of, we're doing them not to do them, not to check off a list,

but I encourage you guys to do them because they are like this.

They're showing us what's going on in our heart.

So we'll be talking about more about spiritual disciplines and these things next week,

but it's really, really important for us to be engaging in them because spiritual

disciplines have a helpful way to get us out of the modern trap that we live

in, that we tend to think of people are just good people or bad people. We try to be good people.

What Jesus says about us, because he knows what's in our heart,

is that none of us are good.

None of us have a natural desire towards goodness. We are bent away from goodness

because we just have these, our desires tend towards control,

towards evil, towards standing in the way of what God has.

And that's great news, right? Because of the gospel, because Jesus says,

and I love people just like that.

And I forgive people just like that. People who come to me like that and say,

I know how bad I am. I know how my desires are and I can't do anything about them.

Jesus says, I love people just like that. People who've recognized their need

for me and who just come in faith, empty handed to me and just receive my forgiveness and my love.

He, Jesus, adopts people like that into his family.

And then he invites people like that to become disciples. People who are growing out of that.

And whether they succeed or fail, the degree to which they're first or last

doesn't change his love for them.

His love is secure. His love is steady. But it does change the joy that comes

along with it in the process.

You might think to yourself, that sounds like a terrible thing.

I don't want to see what's in my heart.

But I am telling you, you do. You really do. I know it's hard to think about it, but you do.

There because the thing is like there are no good people there are no bad,

there there everyone's like like pretty pretty poor off like we're all called

in the kingdom we're called all called onto the same level we are all recipients

of much needed grace life-giving grace in jesus christ forgiveness in jesus

christ we're all on the same level

but there is a distinction beyond that the distinction that remains is that

there are people who are disciples,

there are people who are organizing their lives around growing into maturity

and Christlikeness. That's what a disciple does.

And then there are non-disciples who are organizing their lives around avoiding

an honest assessment of where they are.

And we're invited to be the former, the first one.

We're invited to be disciples. And there's much promise and goodness in disciples.

Along the path to coming in the context of grace and growing up into maturity,

there is this way everlasting, the way we're invited into. It is good.

It is right to have Jesus show you what's in your heart and just say,

oh, God, would you take it from me? Would you show me what I need to repent

of? Would you show me what I need to leave behind?

Would you show me the great promise of what is ahead and trusting you more and more?

And that is difficult. I am the first to admit.

That is very, very difficult. And I have spent 42 years being a pretty poor disciple, you know?

But slowly there's progress. Slowly there's progress. And I can tell you it is good.

And if so, like, look, I put up this kind of thing, disciple, non-disciple.

I just want to give you a chance while we're going to pray here.

The prayer team is in the back. We are having a prayer team here every week

from here on out. So we've got two folks in the back, Farrah and Kemi.

They'd love to pray for you. I'm going to be up here praying.

Like, honestly, sometimes,

the first step into discipleship is coming to Jesus, coming with other people,

saying, Lord, I don't know how, I don't have the strength to proceed.

I don't know the first thing.

And that's where we come together. and we can pray for each other and we can encourage one another.

So if you're just saying, hey, I'm kind of been unsatisfied.

I want more from Jesus. Like a good first step is to pray, to pray with somebody.

So I wanted to encourage you guys to do that as we worship the Lord together here.

All right. All right, let's stand together.