Possible with God

To inherit eternal life with Jesus forever, we need to set aside and sacrifice anything in our lives that would prevent us from following him whole-heartedly. I’m not sure if I’ve ever explained the graphic for our sermon series in the Gospel of Luke. You can see it’s shaped like a flip book with different colors corresponding to different parts of the book. Yellow is for the birth narrative. Blue is for the section of Jesus baptism in preparation for ministry. Orange is for Jesus public ministry, which began in Luke 4:14 and has been going ever since. So, that’s two chapters of birth, two chapters of prep so far, 14 chapters of ministry. So if you don’t remember blue and yellow, I do not blame you. It’s been a while. I bring it up, because we’re almost to the place where we’re going to switch to green. In chapter 19, verse 28, Jesus enters Jerusalem and begins the final week before his death and resurrection, the final week of Jesus ministry and the few weeks following his resurrection constitute five and a half chapters of the Book of Luke, so you can see how important that time in Jesus ministry is. It really commands a large portion of of the gospel. But before we get there, two things are going to happen. First, following Easter, the preaching team and I will begin a new series through the spring and summer preaching the letter of First John. And if you’ve never heard the letter, you’re in for a treat. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s one of the most deeply transformative books in the Bible, in my opinion. Before that, over the next few weeks, as Jesus closes in on Jerusalem, which is what he’s been doing through the book, right? He’s been walking toward Jerusalem this entire time. But before he gets there, he’s going to have some interactions with some individuals. We’re going to meet three of the most famous people in the Gospels. The rich ruler. The blind beggar. And Zacchaeus. And I know what you just did in your head. I know as soon as I said, Zacchaeus. All of you Sunday school kids just went the wee little man. That poor guy. That poor guy. How he’s remembered. We won’t get to Zacchaeus until this fall. The blind beggar will be in just a couple of weeks. But today, Jesus encounters the rich ruler. The other gospels call him the rich young ruler. But Luke focuses only on his wealth. I believe that’s because Luke has a special thematic approach in his gospel to wealth and poverty. That’s something he appreciates, something he really wants to focus on. Luke doesn’t care so much that this young man that we encounter today is young and brash. He cares that he has a lot of wealth and that wealth is holding him back. And I’ve gotta to say, this is a big concern for us in Rochester, too. At least it should be. When you think of the idols of the heart that could prevent people from following Jesus in Rochester, Minnesota. Money is at or near the top of that list. The median household income in our city is 89 to $92,000. That’s the median. So you take all households in America take the middle one, right? All households in Rochester take the middle one. That’s 80 to $92,000. That is 45% above the national average. And that, by the way, is in a nation that is richest in the world. So stack all the nations up, put United States on the top, put Rochester 45% above that. If you don’t think it’s possible that this wealth could mislead us away from Jesus, you’re not reading the Bible very closely. I’m not saying it must, or it will mislead us and become an idol. But if you think we don’t need to be careful about that, you’re being spiritually naive. Our passage today is a cautionary tale of spiritual ruin. It’s one man’s journey into shipwreck because he refuses to let go of the wealth that has gripped his heart. But it’s also Jesus explanation for how it’s possible for spiritually weak people like you and me, who are navigating through our world of idols to be saved despite our own failings. So while there is a tremendous amount of caution and warning in what we’re about to read, there’s also a way forward that is vital and it’s life giving to those who receive it to inherit eternal life with Jesus forever. We need to set aside and sacrifice anything in our lives that would prevent us from following him wholeheartedly. The very first of the Ten commandments that God gives to his people is to make sure that we have no other gods before him. This passage shows us what that looks like lived out. We’re in Luke chapter 18, verse 18 today, so you can turn your Bibles there if you have your Bibles with you. Jesus is going to have three conversations. First, he’s going to talk to this rich ruler, and then he’s going to talk to the crowds who are listening to that conversation. And they’re going to get pretty nervous about what Jesus has to say to this ruler. And then he’s going to talk to his disciples. Here’s how it starts. ...