What Must I Do?
Questions for the Master • Sermon • Submitted
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· 6 viewsChrist must be Lord over all, or he is not Lord at all.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
If you have your Bibles this morning, turn with me to the Luke’s Gospel. I want to jump right into the Scripture and read one single verse. Stand with me as we read from Luke 18. This is God’s Word, and if you let it, it will change your life.
18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Pray
What a great question this ruler poses to Christ! “What do I need to do in order to inherit eternal life?” This is not the question of one looking to entrap Jesus - this is a serious inquiry. It is a fantastic question to ponder: what is it that I need to do to make sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I have eternal life?
There used to be a time where people would openly ask questions like these. I once spoke to a pastor who, while shopping at the grocery store, encountered a total stranger. The stranger asked if he was a minister, to which the pastor said yes. The next phrase out of that man’s mouth was “what must I do to be saved?” Can you imagine having the chance to lead someone to Christ in the grocery store - at their request?
You might think something like that couldn’t happen today, but I’m not so sure. I believe there is still a hunger for spiritual truth, perhaps more now than in recent years. About 8/10 people surveyed said they would be willing to talk about religion with a friend if they were given the chance. Many people find themselves asking the big questions in life, and lacking suitable answers to those questions. This is the case with the ruler in Luke 18.
We don’t know much about this ruler. Matthew tells us he’s young, but not how young. We don’t know what he rules over, or much of anything else about him. We do know, from later in this story, that he is rich. More on that later. But we also know that this ruler is asking a question that many want to ask - “What must I do?”
Now, the way that he asked this question puts the stress on his action. It’s almost like he’s asking not how to get eternal life, but what does getting eternal life require on his part. In other words, what is the price I have to pay in order to acquire the guarantee of eternal life?
Jesus has a way of getting to the root issue. But before he strikes at the heart of the matter, he begins at the surface. Look at Christ’s response:
19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’ ”
For starters, Jesus identifies a key point in the ruler’s question. The ruler calls Jesus, “Good Teacher.” That wasn’t common among Rabbis. Most Rabbis were called teacher, and very rarely was the word “good” applied to anyone other than God. So Jesus asked, “Are you sure? Do you realize what you’re saying by calling me ‘good?’”
Certainly the divine implication was known. By saying that Jesus is the “Good Teacher,” this ruler is claiming that Jesus is God, or at least so closely connected with God, that he qualifies as “good.” That is an amazing statement - a statement that seems to point to a genuine faith. He is, in effect, putting Jesus on such an elevated status that he is declaring his willingness to follow Jesus’ answer to this question.
Then Jesus digs a little deeper below the surface. And to where does Jesus point this ruler? What requirements does God’s Son impose upon the one seeking eternal life?
The Law.
That’s right. Instead of directing the ruler to some new requirement, instead of quoting the Roman Road, Jesus refers to the Second tablet of the Law. Honor your father and mother, don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t bear false witness…Jesus points to God’s commandments.
Is Jesus saying that upholding the Law is the means to eternal life? Is he actually preaching a works-based salvation? No. He holds up the Law before this ruler, bidding him take a long look into the mirror of the Law to see his own sin. The Law reflects our own inadequacies - our failures.
But look at how this ruler responds to Jesus’ answer:
21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”
He actually claims to be blameless in keeping the Law. He chooses not to see his sins in the mirror of the Law - and now Jesus will expose the sin that keeps him from having what he seeks. By the way, did you notice that when Jesus began to recount the Law - he left out the entire first tablet? He also left out one command from the second tablet - and that one command is this ruler’s greatest difficulty:
22 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.”
Now we get to the root - Jesus tells him that if he will seek eternal life, he must let go of the temporal treasures.
23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
Blah.
24 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!
25 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.”
26 Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”
27 But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
Blah.
28 And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.”
29 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,
30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Blah.