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#3
Sell Everything You Own
Matthew 19:16-26
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
One of my favorite TV shows has an episode where the main character’s uncle dies. The uncle wanted to be buried with all his favorite things: baseball cards, old trophies, the helmet he wore in battle—well, you get the idea. He has so much stuff in his casket they spend most of the 22-minute episode trying to figure out how to close the casket without breaking anything.
I enjoy this episode because it is just so silly. We know these things won’t be with us when we die, nor will they matter; yet, some people in the world have been buried—or plan to be buried—with their possessions. No, it’s true, we “can’t take it with us,” but it can still be easy to get wrapped up in all our stuff. The things we own are not what bring us closer to God, but in some cases, like with the rich young ruler in Matthew 19, those possessions can tear us away from Him.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
Matthew 19:16-20
16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” 17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “ ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
We know three things about the man who came to Jesus: He was young (v. 20). He was rich (v. 22). He was a ruler (Luke 18:18). He may have been a leader in the synagogue. Many religious leaders questioned Jesus with the intent of trapping Him somehow, but we have no hint of that with this young man. He even called Jesus “Teacher,” and he seemed willing to learn from Him.
What he wanted to learn could be seen as a universal question, one even you may have asked at some time: “What good thing must I do to get eternal life?” This young man was trying to secure his way into heaven through the practice of good deeds. It is clear from his answer in verse 20 that, in spite of his actions, he sensed in his spirit something different was needed. I picture him standing next to Jesus and the disciples, writing instrument in hand, waiting for Jesus’ profound answer.
Jesus challenged his way of thinking with a question, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only One who is good.” This is our first sign that what matters is not the good we do but the One who is good. The problem comes when we think we can be good in order to gain a right standing with God. We donate to charities. We volunteer our time to great organizations. Overall, we are kind and good people. But we’re sadly mistaken if we do these things in our own version of the “Get into Heaven To-Do” list.
Jesus gave the young man the checklist he was looking for. Jesus used these six commandments because they would have been familiar to this Jewish man. Most of these six commandments come directly from the Ten Commandments and involve other people. When it came to behavior, the man had done well. But he knew this was not enough. He was still missing something.
The young man may have outwardly obeyed these commandments but his obedience seems to have been out of obligation. Simply obeying the commandments was not enough. God doesn’t just want our outward acts. Are our acts good? Maybe. Probably. But our acts don’t always reveal our hearts. “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Prov. 4:23). Our hearts determine our motives and actions, and God wants our hearts to obey His call.
Matthew 19:21-22
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Want to be perfect? OK. Here is what you do: Sell your possessions. Give to the poor because your treasures are in heaven. Follow Jesus. Easy, right?
If Jesus asked you to sell everything you owned in order to follow Him, could you do it? The house. The car. The TV. Your great grandmother’s box of correspondence with your great-grandfather. The crib that’s been passed down from generation to generation.
Jesus was asking the young man to make an enormous sacrifice. He wasn’t just to sell his possessions; he was to give away the money from the sale! All of it. Gone. But let’s not get stuck on the possessions.
Giving up our possessions is not the point of this story. The Gospels record no other time Jesus called anybody to do that. In following Jesus, Zaccheus gave away half of all he owned and paid others four times what he owed them (Luke 19:1-10). In His parable of the minas (or talents), Jesus called us to use what we have wisely for His kingdom (vv. 11-27). So why did Jesus make such a radical demand of this young man? Jesus knew the man loved his worldly possessions more than he loved Jesus.
To follow Jesus is to place Him far above everything in our lives. If those things get in the way of our full devotion and commitment, get rid of them.
I have a few friends who left lucrative and powerful jobs to follow God’s call to vocational ministry. Their trust was not in their own abilities or in the jobs they were doing. Their trust was in Jesus. They trusted Him enough to know He would provide for their families.
The rich young ruler would’ve known that too, had he not walked away. He couldn’t do it. His heart was too wrapped around his possessions to give them all up. To him, what he owned was so important that it kept him from truly knowing the Lord.
Initially, the man ran to Jesus, fell on his knees, and was ready to do anything to secure his place in heaven (Mark 10:17). Well, almost anything. The young man wanted eternal life, but not at that cost. Ultimately, it was his possessions that owned him. And with that, he missed out on something far greater.
Matthew 19:23-26
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” 26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Jesus made a profound statement to His disciples as the rich young man walked away—and He uttered it twice: It’s hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom. When the disciples heard this, they were confused. People commonly believed wealth was a sign of God’s blessing. If a person was rich, he was thought to be the perfect candidate for heaven. On top of that, this ruler was a great guy by anyone’s standard. He obeyed the Law and was respected by people.
So why is it so hard for the rich to enter heaven? So long as their wealth takes priority, they lack the relationship with God that He desires. They depend on what they have instead of depending on God. That’s true for us too. When we find our identity in Jesus and not in the things of this world, we experience:
- Freedom. When we trust and follow Jesus, the chains of bondage break, allowing us to live in freedom. We no longer have to live in anger, bitterness, self-doubt, and rage.
- Peace. The peace we seek and desire comes from Jesus—and only Jesus.
- Joy. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:13).
The rich young ruler missed all this. We cannot be “all in” for Jesus while obsessing over the things we own. It’s impossible to have the mind of Christ when our thoughts are consumed with our financial portfolio. Our relationship with God should be the center of everything upon which we set our hearts.
LIVE IT OUT
Having wealth isn’t wrong unless it gets in the way of our relationship with Christ. Choose one of the following applications:
- Trust. If you’ve been trying to be good and moral in order to gain a good standing with God, acknowledge the futility of it. Trust Christ and be obedient to His Word as a response to His grace in your life. See the inside cover of this book for help.
- Audit. Walk through your home and look at the things you own. Review each line of your financial statement. What do these possessions and purchases say about what’s important to you? Consider ways you can use these things for God.
- Sell. Sell what you don’t need or give it away. If you have possessions that consume your time in an unhealthy way or tempt you to focus on anything but Christ, sell it. Don’t let anything come between you and following Christ.
God may not call all of us to give everything away, but He does desire that He be at the center of our lives. Let’s make sure that’s the case in our lives!
Hope to see everyone on Sunday!
In His Love,
David & Susan
Teacher's Notes:
Hope to see everyone on Sunday!
In His Love,
David & Susan
Teacher's Notes:
Click Here to Watch Art Linkletter
One of the all-time great entertainers was Art Linkletter. For many years he had a television show in which he interviewed children, and their answers to his questions were often quite amusing. Linkletter’s father was a Baptist preacher, so he liked to ask children questions about church and the Bible. One time he asked a little girl what her favorite Bible story was. She said her favorite was the story of the rich man and the beggar (Luke 16:19-31). She told how the beggar went to heaven, but the rich man did not. Art Linkletter asked her, “And what does that story teach us?”
The little girl replied, “Rich men go to hell.”
Our lesson this morning says that we have a tendency to see wealth and prosperity as a sign of God’s favor. This notion was expressed by some as early as the Book of Job. We see it still today in preachers and televangelists who say God wants us to be financially rich. We hear a different message from Jesus Himself.
Life is not about financial abundance and prosperity.
Blessing from God is tied to a heart of obedience, not a financial portfolio.
SELL EVERYTHING YOU OWN
Matthew 19:16-26
16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” 17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “ ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” 26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
If Jesus did ask you to sell everything, what would be the one thing hardest to give up?
- Anything you love so much that it would be ridiculously hard to let go of sounds like something you love more than Jesus.
Is Jesus saying that rich men go to hell?
What do we know about this man who came to Jesus?
- He was young.
- He was rich.
- He was a ruler (Luke 18:18).
Was anything wrong with his question: What good thing must I do to get eternal life?
- Isn’t this a universal question, one even you may have asked at some time: “What good thing must I do to get eternal life?” This young man was trying to secure his way into heaven through the practice of good deeds.
How did Jesus challenge the young man’s way of thinking?
- With a question, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only One who is good.”
This is our first sign that what matters is not
the good we do but the One who is good.
What was the problem with the young man’s way of thinking?
- Thinking we can be good in order to gain a right standing with God. We donate to charities. We volunteer our time to great organizations. Overall, we are kind and good people. But we’re sadly mistaken if we do these things in our own version of the “Get into Heaven To-Do” list.
- When it came to behavior, the man had done well. But he knew this was not enough. He was still missing something. The young man may have outwardly obeyed these commandments but his obedience seems to have been out of obligation. Simply obeying the commandments was not enough. God doesn’t just want our outward acts. Are our acts good? Maybe. Probably. But our acts don’t always reveal our hearts. “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Prov. 4:23). Our hearts determine our motives and actions, and God wants our hearts to obey His call.
Then Jesus says, OK, you want to be perfect? Here is what you do: Sell your possessions. Give to the poor because your treasures are in heaven. Then come follow Me. Easy, right?
If Jesus asked you to sell everything you owned in order to follow Him, could you do it?
- Jesus was asking the young man to make an enormous sacrifice. He wasn’t just to sell his possessions; he was to give away the money from the sale! All of it. Gone. But let’s not get stuck on the possessions. Giving up our possessions is not the point of this story.
So why did Jesus make such a radical demand of this young man?
- Jesus knew the man loved his worldly possessions more than he loved Jesus.
- To follow Jesus is to place Him far above everything in our lives. If those things get in the way of our full devotion and commitment, then we must get rid of them.
Why would you say that it’s hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom?
- When the disciples heard this, they were confused. People commonly believed wealth was a sign of God’s blessing. If a person was rich, he was thought to be the perfect candidate for heaven. On top of that, this ruler was a great guy by anyone’s standard. He obeyed the Law and was respected by people. So why is it so hard for the rich to enter heaven? So long as their wealth takes priority, they lack the relationship with God that He desires.
They depend on what they have
instead of depending on God.
(Greg Hynds - His Story)
I have one friend who left a good paying position to follow God’s call. His trust was not in his own abilities or in the job he was doing. His trust was in Jesus. He trusted God enough to know He would provide for his families. The rich young ruler would’ve known that too, had he not walked away. He couldn’t do it. His heart was too wrapped around his possessions to give them all up. To him, what he owned was so important that it kept him from truly knowing the Lord. The young man wanted eternal life, but not at that cost.
Why is a willingness to surrender everything necessary to follow Jesus?
I. Outward obedience is not enough.
- Living decent and moral lives and being faithful in religious practice is good, but neither is sufficient to merit eternal life.
II. External obedience grows out of our internal obedience to Christ.
- The call to discipleship demands a response.
- The way to eternal life includes willingly giving up anything and everything that separates us from the Lord who alone is the source of eternal life.
III. A relationship with God is what matters, not possessions.
- A person who is unwilling to surrender to the Lord will never enter the kingdom; he will never know the gracious rule of God in his life.
- God is ready, willing and able to receive those who give up everything to follow Jesus.
- We can’t save ourselves, no matter what we do, but God can.
What would Jesus ask you to give up?
The words of Jesus come with no legalism. In fact, a person could sell all he owns and still not be fully devoted to Christ. Jesus’ words to the rich young ruler carry a message for all of us: if you want to follow Jesus, jump in with both feet. Let Him be Lord over everything in your life. As the missionary Hudson Taylor said:
Christ is either Lord of all, or is not Lord at all.
Conclusion: The way to live life to its fullest and the way of eternal life is found only in Jesus. All our efforts, right standing in the community, impeccable character, a solid reputation, religious conviction, and having an abundance of goods are not enough. We may have all those things but the essential thing would still be missing – Jesus. In the end, eternal life is a gift of God made available in the atoning death of Jesus Christ.
What was the most difficult barrier you faced in your decision to give up all to follow Jesus?
Describe how the teachings of Jesus have had a dramatic effect in at least one area of your life?
The Point: Choose Jesus or worldly wealth, because you can’t live for both.
