On my way to a pastor’s conference this last week I drove past that big lottery billboard on Hwy 400 and noticed the estimated jackpot for the Georgia Powerball is $480 million dollars. $480 million dollars! Can you imagine how that kind of money would change your life? As I drove my rental van (that I shared with 3 other pastors) 7 hours to get to my conference, I did some imagining. Even if after taxes you walked away with $240 million dollars and after donating 10% to the church, you would still have over $200 million. The interest alone would provide you a yearly income of $10 million. That is more than enough to afford you a new lifestyle. No more worrying about where the money is going to come from to pay your bills, go on vacation, or get Christmas gifts for the family. With that kind of money you could buy a new house, new cars, new furniture, new cloths, a couple of boats, and land to hunt on. You could send your children to any school they wanted to go to and afford the academic tutors required to keep them there. Imagine the kind of exotic vacations you could take. Imagine how much fun it would be at Christmas time to buy every: brother/ sister, niece/ nephew, parent/ grandparent, and close friend, a really nice gift. With that kind of money, you could take every member of Messiah to Tahiti for Christmas. It would only cost $291,390. (When I imagine I like to be very precise.)
Have you ever thought that your life would be better if only you had more money? Well, you are not alone. Playing the lottery is a massively popular $50 billion dollar business. On average Georgia residents spend almost twice as much on lottery tickets than the national average. Never mind that statistically you are more likely to get hit by lightening, or that it is more likely that you and a golf partner get a hole in one on the exact same hole, or more likely that you die in an asteroid collision, than winning the lottery. Never mind that the lottery is a voluntary tax on the poor - there is a reason why rich people are not standing in line to buy lottery tickets. Never mind that 65% of lottery winners are bankrupt in 15 years. Never mind all that. Someone has to win- right? For many people, a dollar and a dream is all that it takes to have a better life.
In our lesson for today Jesus offers a young man a better life and he doesn’t need to buy a lottery ticket to make it happen. It is an offer, by the way that Jesus extends to you as well. But first to our lesson.
17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Matthew says that he was young man[1], and Luke tells us that he was “a man of great wealth”[2]. That is why the section heading in your bible for these verses is “The Rich Young Man”. Enthusiastic, energetic, polite, and deeply religious, this young man is the kind of boy every Jewish mother wanted her daughter to marry. He was a young man of status but he recognized something superior in Jesus so on bended knee he calls Jesus “Good teacher”. The Jewish Rabbis would not allow anyone to call them “good”. Only God could be called “good”. Jesus wanted to see if the young man knew the implications of his words, “18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.” Jesus did not want the young man to be confused about whom he was addressing. Jesus wanted the young man to understand he was talking to God.
But the greater confusion in this young man was where he kept his treasure. We get a sense of his confusion in the question he asked. “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” In answering his question Jesus zeroed in on this greater confusion. In verse 19 Jesus said, “You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother” The young man continues to demonstrate his confusion when he says, 20 “Teacher… all these I have kept since I was a boy.” This is not a boast or a brag. The young man, in his limited view of sin, has kept these commandments. He hadn’t murdered anyone, hadn’t robbed a bank, hadn’t kicked a kitten. He paid his taxes, was kind to his neighbors, and likely went to synagogue on Saturdays. Most people would see him as a good man. Naturally he expects that Jesus will see the same.
But Jesus sees something different. 21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. What did it feel like for this young man to have the eyes of God upon him? To be seen like you have never been seen before. To have your soul naked before the omniscient all-seeing all-knowing eyes of God. What did it feel like to have the eyes of good examine not the features of his face but the sin in his soul?
“One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Do not misunderstand what God is saying in this verse. Money is not evil. Being wealthy is not wrong. You have heard me say this before, there are plenty of people in the Bible that were rich - Abraham, King David, Zacchaeus, Cornelius, Lydia and many others. They all had great wealth but were able to enter the kingdom of God. What is the difference between them and this young man? Jesus looked at this young man and saw, in his heart, the young man treasured the world’s wealth more than heaven’s promise. With these words Jesus was showing this young man that even though he had sought all his life to keep the commandments, he had broken the fist - “you shall have no other gods”. Jesus showed the young man what he must “do to inherit eternal life”; he must fear, love, and trust God above all things. But sadly, in verse 22 we read, “At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.”
When given the choice, the young man thought his life would be better with money than with God. His treasure was here on earth and not in heaven. That brings us to the question, “Where is your treasure?”
I don’t think that there is anyone here that bows down to a false god fashioned from gold or silver. Long gone are the golden calves, the Baals, and the pagan temples that once tempted God’s chosen people. When people look at us I don’t think they see a bunch of idolaters. Like the young man that bent a knee before Jesus and confessed Him to be good, we are God fearing Christians. We are by most people’s reconning “pretty good people”. But when the eyes of God fall upon your heart what do they see? Jesus once said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”[3] So when he looks at your heart what does he see? Does he see a heart that is content with the blessings it has been given, or does he see a heart that fantasizes about the better life that wealth could supply? Does he see a heart that trusts in God to provide, or does he see a heart full of doubt and worry? Does he see a heart that treasures God’s promises, or does he see a heart that loves money? Where is your treasure? Jesus told his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” But we know that it is not only the rich that are tempted with greed for, fantasies about, and love of money. It is not only the rich that have broken the command to have no other gods. It is not only the rich who treasure the things of this earth.
With our sin exposed, we understand why the young man went away gloomy and grieved. He had learned that he could do nothing to save himself. He had learned what Jesus would also teach his disciples when he said, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” In other words it is impossible to enter heaven with a heart that has greed for, fantasies about, and love of money.
But my friends, your God does not wish you to leave here today gloomy and grieved. When the eyes of almighty God expose the sin of your soul, they do so in love. Verse 21 told us that not only did Jesus look on the young man, but 21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. The eyes of God that look upon you, look upon you in love. In the eyes of your Savior, you see selflessness that gave up the treasures of heaven to live among the trespassers of the earth. In the eyes of your Savior, you see sacrifice that traded his heart that feared, loved, and trusted God above all things with your heart that was filled with greed for, fantasies about, and love of money. In the eyes of your Savior, you see one who surrendered himself to death that you might be given life.
Do not leave here today gloomy and grieved because you realize that you can do nothing to enter the kingdom of heaven. Leave here today instead with the words of verse 27 ringing in your ears, “With man this [salvation] is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Even the salvation of greedy, fantasizing, lovers of money like you and me is possible with God. God is able to do the impossible. From nothing he created all that is - from darkness came light. Seas have been parted. Armies have been defeated. A virgin has given birth – true God became also true man. Sin death and the devil are defeated by a cross. And impoverished sinners like you and me become saints who inherit the treasures of heaven. Do not leave here gloomy and grieved, leave here rejoicing that your treasure is in heaven!
I decided not to buy a lottery ticket this week and I have no idea if anyone was able to cash in on the Powerball. I am going to go out on a limb and assume that no one here beat the 1 in 120 million odds either. So, I suppose that means that none of us are going to be getting new houses or cars or clothes. It looks like the Messiah all member trip to Tahiti is going to have to be postponed. And it looks like we are not going to be breaking ground on the Harmon Lewis Christian Life Family Center. Too bad, it had a full gymnasium, fitness center, golf simulators, co-ed working spaces for the millennials, juice station, and a state-of-the-art education wing. But that’s o.k. Things like that would sure be fun but by the grace of God we have something better than fun, we have what the rich young man longed for, we have eternal life; in Jesus we have the treasures of heaven. Amen
[1] 19:22
[2] 18:23
[3] Luke 12:34