THIS IS HARD FOR THE RICH
Matthew 19:20-23 NKJV
20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
23 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
There has always been some confusion in the church concerning money. Money is important, and we need money to live. Money also provides more choices and more opportunities to be a blessing to other people. But the church seems to have challenges knowing just where to stand on the issue of money. What is too much? What is wrong? Does being rich hinder someone from being saved?
Our verses for today have been interpreted in many different ways. A rich young man comes to Jesus with a sincere desire to pursue eternal life. This young man asked Jesus what he needed to do, and Jesus instructed him to keep the commandments. The man asked which ones, and Jesus goes to the basic commandments. Don’t murder, commit adultery, lie, or steal. Love your neighbor as yourself and honor your parents. Notice Jesus did not go into many of the washings or ordinances that the Pharisees and religious leaders had created. He pretty much stuck with the foundational commandments found in the Ten Commandments.
The young man said he had kept these commandments ever since he was a young boy. And then Jesus dropped the bomb on him: if you want to be perfect. Perfect meaning morally right, complete, and lacking in nothing. Perfect has also been used to mean mature. Jesus was not talking about being sinless and never making a mistake, but rather being a whole, mature, spiritually sound individual. If you want to be mature and level up your spiritual life, sell your stuff, give it to the poor, and come follow Me. Jesus was giving this man an opportunity to be one of His disciples. Not the twelve, but remember Jesus had many that followed Him. At one point, He sent 70 out to the nations.
So, the young man had a chance to discover real spiritual life, but he couldn’t get there. He was not able to part with his stuff, even if it would mean life on a different level. He could not make the jump. The scriptures said he had a great amount of possessions, but actually, the possessions had him.
We do not typically see Jesus asking wealthy people to liquidate their assets in order to follow Him. And this is my opinion on the request Jesus made. This is Alan, not Bible, thinking that Jesus wanted to see how much this young man wanted eternal life. How much did he want the kingdom of God more than a place in the kingdom of man? You are certainly welcome to disagree with me; and we can hash it all out when we get to heaven. Jesus said it was hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. The money in itself was not the problem. The problem was in trusting the money. People who have a lot of money find it easier to put their trust in the money instead of trusting in the Lord.
Please note that any billionaire can receive Christ anytime they humble themselves and acknowledge their need for a Savior. The challenge is in humbling yourself when you have a lot of material things. It’s too easy for a rich person to believe that their money defines them and makes them invincible. And it’s easy for the rich to love money. And the love of money leads to all kinds of problems.
Can a person be rich and still trust in God? The short answer is absolutely. Paul wrote to Timothy and told him to direct those who are rich in this present age to not be proud and trust in their riches. They were instructed to do good and share from their resources. Paul never instructed Timothy to tell the rich to sell all their stuff if they wanted to be saved. Or to give all their resources away in order to enter and operate in God’s kingdom.
The Lord knew that riches make it more challenging to follow Him because it’s too easy to trust in the riches. So by asking the rich young man to liquidate and give to the poor, Jesus did a heart check on this guy. Sadly, the rich young man did not pass the test.
PRAYER
Lord, I can have money and still trust You. You are my Lord, not money.