Utter Dependence

Good Enough

9.4.22 [Luke 18:18-27] River of Life (13th Sunday after Pentecost)

One of the most powerful keys at any stage in life is asking good questions. Of course, asking good questions is key in the classroom. You don’t know what you don’t know. And there’s no better way to figure out what you don’t know than by asking good questions.

Asking good questions is crucial when you’re seeking professional help, too. It’s important to ask good questions when you’re trying to choose an insurance plan, buying a new home, develop investment goals, or a treating a serious health issue.

Asking good questions is essential in developing relationships, too. When your child is moody and mopey, good questions can mean the difference between everyone’s mood being soured or moving past whatever thing they’re dealing with. Good marriages, good friendships, and good working relationships are all built on good communication. And the most powerful key to that is good questions.

That’s why our Gospel text is a little puzzling. It’s filled with many good questions, but it can leave us with more questions than answers.

It begins with a young ruler a good question to the right person. Yet, he goes away (Lk. 18:23) very sad instead of being (Lk. 18:26) saved. Let’s take a look at his good question, first. Luke tells us (Lk. 18:18) A certain ruler asked Jesus ‘Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’

Now people who are convinced that you cannot do anything to be saved—like we are—but know from the Scriptures that all people are saved (Eph. 2:8) by grace alone (Eph. 2:8) through faith alone (Jn. 3:36) in Christ alone, might jump all over him asking "What must I do?" Do? You can’t do anything. (Eph. 2:1) You are dead in your trespasses & sins!

True enough. But Jesus begins with the first word—good. To us, this word might seem like a throwaway. We might think he is just buttering Jesus up a little bit before he asks his question. But Jesus sees this word good as critical to this man’s understanding. Jesus responds: (Lk. 18:19) Why do you call me good? No one is good, except God alone. Then Jesus rolls through a good number of the commandments. The order is strange, I suppose. 6,5,7,8, and then 4. But the young ruler doesn’t skip a beat. (Lk. 18:21) All these I have kept since I was a boy.

Here, we want to pump the brakes again. Jesus taught that (Mt. 5:21-28) hatred and lust are the same as murder and adultery. How can you claim you’ve never sinned once in thought? In front of Jesus?

But Jesus doesn’t jump all over that either. Instead he says: (Lk. 18:22) You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have. Give it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.

What a hard thing! Not to remember, but to do. Most are relieved that Jesus has not given them this command. It went above & beyond the Law of Moses. We can understand why this was (Lk. 18:24) hard for this rich ruler to do. We get why (Lk. 18:23) he went away very sad.

But now, we are the ones with questions. Why did Jesus mandate that this man sell all he had & follow him? He didn’t give anyone else this command. (Lk. 8:39) Some wanted to follow him and he told them to go home. Why was Jesus so hard on this rich ruler?

When we have questions like this, it's good to search the Scriptures. Throughout the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, the two books of the Bible written by Dr. Luke, rulers were not great guys. They (Lk. 23:35) sneered at Jesus as he died on the cross. They (Acts 4:5-8) arrested the Apostles. Rulers were most likely Pharisees who also served on the Jewish ruling council known as the Sanhedrin—the very group that would condemn Jesus to death.

So maybe, we might think that Jesus wasn’t too fond of the guys (Lk. 9:21-22) he knew were going to reject him as their Savior and demand his death. After all, that’s what any of us would do!

But this is where we rely on the full testimony of the Bible. The Gospels of Matthew and Mark also record these events. We are told, that as Jesus gave him this hard command, (Mk. 10:21) Jesus looked at him and loved him and still commanded something hard. So what does that tell us? Jesus has hard words for those that he loves.

So we shouldn’t be very sad when Jesus has hard words for us. And he does. He says to us (Lk. 18:18) No one is good. We have our own way of saying something similar. Nobody’s perfect! But that’s not the same thing that Jesus is saying, here. He is saying, point blank, you and I are not good enough. That reality ought to make us very sad.

Like this man, we can point to a host of good deeds we think we have done and a bunch of sins we think we have never committed, but we’d we wrong. On our own, we are not good enough.

Each of us has harbored hate in our hearts. We've let lust linger in our minds. We've bent & massaged the truth to make ourselves look good or someone else look like the bad guy. We've cheated others & not always given those in authority the honor & respect they deserve.

But when we are confronted with these sins, do you know how we all instinctively respond? We minimize them. We downplay our culpability. We discount the pain we’ve caused. We trivialize our sins as peccadilloes or honest mistakes, never outright rebellion.

That’s why "the Jesus who loved this man" didn’t review this man’s past to show him that he wasn’t good enough. He drew a spiritual line in the sand in that very moment. Me or your comfortable, connected life. It’s so very clear what a good man would do. Sell it all. Give it to those in need. Follow the Son of God. Have treasure in heaven. But he just couldn’t do it. Instead he went away very sad.

That prompts a crucial question for us. Where do Jesus’ commands make you so uncomfortable, so upset, so distressed and disturbed that (Mk. 10:22) your face falls and (Lk. 18:23) you become very sad?

Married people, think of what your Savior commands you to do. (Eph. 5:21) Submit to one another out of reverence to Christ. (Eph. 5:22) Wives submit to your husbands in everything. (Eph. 5:33) Husbands, love your wives as you love yourself. Not submit when he proves to have great ideas. Not love her when you feel like she’s giving you the respect and the attention you deserve.

But it’s not just in marriages that God draws lines in the sand. God calls us (Lk. 17:3-4) to rebuke those we love & forgive them. He tells us (2 Pt. 3:9) Don't repay evil for evil or insult with insult. Repay evil with blessing.

God has powerful commands for how we work and rest, too. (Col. 3:23) Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as one working for the Lord, not humans. (1 Cor. 10:31) Do it all to the glory of God. God calls us to (Ex. 20:8-11) keep the Sabbath day holy. He doesn't mean to treat it as Sunday Funday, a day where we do the things that make us happy or relaxed, but as a day where we find satisfaction in the Lord who loves & saved us. It is meant to be a day when our perspective on work and life are reset by pondering the work of Jesus who has earned us eternal life. Yet time and again, when Jesus imposes his will upon our time, our talents, and our treasures, we ignore him or downplay his authority.

Our Lord commands us to (1 Th. 5:16-18) rejoice always, give thanks in all circumstances, and (Php. 2:14) do everything without complaining. Yet how many of us can claim we are doing well at any of these? We rejoice only when things go our way. We complain far more than we praise God.

Yet he is so good to us. Because he is the only one who is good. He sees our selfishness and still loves us. Jesus is the only man who is good.

God, in his goodness and mercy, recognized it was impossible for sinful people to be good enough. So God became man to be our Substitute—to be good enough in our place.

This good Jesus consistently did what we have flat out refused to do. He submitted himself to the Law and his Father’s will cheerfully. He not only knew all the commandments, he actually had kept them since he was a boy. He loved family & friends, complete strangers & clear enemies all the time, even when they were difficult. (Lk. 22:51) He blessed those who persecuted him. (Lk. 23:34) He prayed for those who insulted & executed him. He is the only one who is good enough.

God, in his goodness & mercy, did one more impossible thing. (2 Cor. 5:21) The Righteous One became sin, so that we might be made righteous. God, in his goodness and mercy, chose to heap our sins upon his own shoulders. He chose to go to the cross and experience the depths of hell so that we might have treasure in heaven. After triumphing over death, there is a clear answer to the crowd’s question: (Lk. 18:26) Who then can be saved? This is God’s answer. (Jn. 6:40) Everyone who looks to the Son, Jesus, and believes in him shall have eternal life. And Jesus will raise them up at the last day. Because Jesus was good enough, perfect in your place, you lack nothing. You have an eternal reservation in heaven. This is why we call God, good.

Only after seeing what our Savior has done can we leave here very glad, not very sad. On our own, we can never be good enough. In Christ, we are declared good. Righteous. A saint who will celebrate in heaven. Yes, you. You have been brought into the kingdom of God.

So live like it! Live like everything you do is eternally important. Bless those who insult you. Pray for the people who let you down or frustrate you. Forgive those who have wronged you. Patiently and lovingly rebuke those who have lost sight of what is good enough. Give thanks in all circumstances—even when life is hard, painful, and sad.

And when you live like God has made you good enough, when you are quick to confess your sins and forgive those who have sinned against you, when you are eager to give thanks even when times are tough, those around you will have questions. Many questions. Good questions. You have a great answer. For all their questions, point them to the best answer: Not you. Not your strength or wisdom. Jesus. Jesus. Only Jesus. Why do you live and forgive the way you do? How do you have so much hope and joy and love? Jesus. Jesus. Only Jesus is good enough. Amen.