Jesus and the Law (2.0)

Big Idea

Tension: How does Jesus use the law?

Resolution: To show the rich young ruler his own sin, and in doing so, show him that love for him compels true obedience.

Exegetical Idea: Jesus uses the law to show the rich young ruler his own sin, and, in doing so, to show him that love for Christ compels true obedience.

Theological Idea: The law shows us our sin and thus salvation in Christ, who motivates us to true obedience.

Homiletical Idea: The law reveals our need for Christ. Our joy in Christ engenders true obedience.

Outline

Introduction: One of the earliest struggles in my Xian life is what we today would call sanctification. Like, I don’t think there’s anyone here who has doubts about what the Bible says about murdering… it’s bad. And even if we delve into what the Bible says about murdering, okay, behind it is anger. And so I would hear that Jesus says, don’t get angry because that’s murder. And I would probably do okay for about a day, and then I would lose my cool. And so I’d end up having to justify why my anger was justifiable so I didn’t feel so guilty because I lost it. But then, because i was patting myself on the back for not being angry, I would let my mind wander or linger and end up dwelling on things that were wicked. And I would justify it by looking at those idiots who lost their cool and think, “Well, at least I’m not like them.” And after awhile of living that way, it just gets so exhausting. And, in the meantime, there’s still all these moral instructions in the Bible, and I would just end up feeling so exhausted. So, I think sooner or later, most Christians begin to wonder, isn’t there a better way? And I think the way that we see in our passage today shows us that indeed there is a better way, a more freeing way, a more satisfying way, a way to obey Jesus and a way that works.

1st Use of the Law: Law as Acquaintance

Ruler: Luke notes that this man is a Ruler. Now, what exactly he means by this is unclear. In the Roman society, the top 10% of wealthy citizens were known as Equestrians. And they would use their wealth to build vast patronage networks. Lending people money or giving them gifts so that they woudl be indebted or obligated to them. These people were known to use money to obligate politicians, leaders of families, guilds, armies, and even religious people. Now, we do not know if this man was an Equestrian. But what we do know, is that in this time, money was king. And this guy would have had a lot of it. When the Rich Young Ruler comes to Jesus and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life, he is trying to get Jesus in his debt. He is happy to give Jesus money if Jesus will testify that he is a genuine believer. He wants to put Jesus in his debt.

Recognizes the law is good: Yet, even with this suspect motive, he recognizes that Jesus teaches what is good. He recognizes that the law is good. That it is life-giving, and that there is somethign valuable. It is telling that this ruler wants to be known as good.

Restraining Evil: This is why we say that the Law is an acquaintance. Because even unbelievers, deep down in their heart, know that the Law is good. They want to keep it. They have suspect motives. But there is something about it that rings true in the heart of every person. THis is because every person is created in teh Image of God. And even though when Man fell, that image was corrupted, it was not cut off. It was defaced but not destroyed. Effaced, but not erased.

Viz: Originally, many of the New England Colonies copied the 10 Commandments. The Christians who settled here were Puritans, people who wanted to purify the Church of England and continue the work fo the Reformation. This was so striking that when Alexis De Tocqueville came to the United States to write his magisterial Democracy in America, that he commented that they were copied verbatim out of the Divine Writ. In fact, evne though today, the culture of New England has rejected much of its Christian past, it is stamped by the morality of the Ten Commandments so much so that some historians call it “secular puritanism.”

Law as Enemy

No one is good except for the one God: a reference to the Shema. A fulfillment of the first four commandments: Have no other gods before me, no graven images, do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, keep a Sabbath to the Lord.

Second table of the law: “love your neighbor as yourself.”

“Adultery” (7)

“Murder” (6)

“Steal” (8)

“Bear false witness” (9)

Honor your father and your mother (5)

Sell all you have distribute it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven

Jesus uses the 10th commandment, do not covet to expose his heart (Luke 12:15)

Is the man coveting? He is willing to sin to get stuff. That’s coveting.

Jesus presses the issue beyond a surface obedience, to a heart obedience.

The man had come to put Jesus in debt to him, Jesus tells him that he needs to be in submission to him.

How difficult it is for a Rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Why? Because when you are wealthy, it is incredibly difficult to keep yourself from breaking the 10th Commandment. If Jesus was talking to a lawyer, he would have used the commandment about lying. The point isn’t that he’s rich, the point is that the law exposes our heart.

Idolatry

Of course, this all comes back to the basic sin of idolatry. It is worshipping stuff. That’s why Paul says Greed is idolatry (Col 3:5)

How can I tell if I have an idol in my life? Notice how the man is “very sad”. He’s not just kind of sad. His world is rocke,d he is devastated, he is totally destroyed. Because whne you have staked your soul on your idol, when you are asked to lay downthe idol, it feels like you lose part of yourself.

Points me to Christ

“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” - Now, what he’s not saying is that if you just stretch out a camel really far you could do this. He’s saying it is impossible because the rich person cannot keep the law not to covet. This applies to every person.

Then who can be saved? The crowds understand this and pick up on it. They get what Jesus has just done, and they wonder who can be saved.

What is impossible with man - Jesus acknowledges their concern. Nobody. Nobody can be saved by the law. This is exactly what Paul notes that hte Law itself says (Gal 3:10)

Possible with God - But God can save.

How can God do this? How can God make what is impossible for us, namely salvation through the Law, possible? If everyone who does not keep the law is under God’s curse, how can God save us? Well only if Christ himself bears the curse. (Gal 3:12-13)

Good Teacher - Why do you call me good? Look back up to vs. 19. Jesus isn’t saying that he’s not God. What Jesus is actually saying is that he is not just a mere good teacher. And he is curious if the ruler is willing to accept this. The law was always meant to lead us here, it was always meant to lead us to Christ.

Notice how this passage is only a few verses after the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee...

Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector: Look back to Luke 18:9-14...

Zaccheus: Look over in your Bibles to Luke 19. Just a few verses later. There we have the story of Zaccheus… “Salvation has come to this house today since also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” What is impossible for man, a rich person being saved because he cannot keep the law not to covet, is possible with Christ.

Law as Friend

We have left our lives and followed you: Notice the word “home.” The word here is idios from which we get our English word idiosyncratic. And it kind of menas “the essentials.” We have left what is essential to us. They left everything they owned, their whole lifestyle, to come and follow Jesus. In other words, they kept the law when the rich ruler didn’t. They didn’t have anything other than Jesus.

Anyone who has left it will not receive many times more in this time and in the age to come… What could be worth more than one’s family. Now, here we have two things that seem to be contrary. ON the one hand, it seems like Jesus is saying that he’s going to reward me. But on teh other it sounds like he’s saying that I’m going to lsoe everything. How does that work? It means that I am rewarded through the loss. Because the more that I give up to follow Christ, the more I am rewarded wtih Christ. It means that when I say no to the world to get Jesus, I find out he was more than worth that decision.

This time and teh age to come: This means that I can experience CHrist now. I can be blessed by his word and his presence now. I can do this now. And it will be even more in the future.

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Phil 1:21)

The law is a friend because it helps me know what to say no to so that I can say yes to Jesus. It is a helpful guide, a coach, as I spend my life to get more of Christ. The law ultimately tells me what I can give up so that I can get more of God.

Application:

Don’t think you love Jesus more than you do.

Do think that Jesus loves you more than you know.

There is nothing which you could possibly desire which would be more satisfying than Jesus.

Conclusion: Zaccheus