To Inherit Eternal Life

Luke 18:15-30

Key Verse: 18:22

“When Jesus heard this, he said to him, ‘You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’”

            Last week Jesus said to the Pharisees, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” Through Jesus, we learned that the kingdom of God comes to us when we accept Jesus through repentance and by faith because wherever Jesus, there is the kingdom of God.

            In today’s passage, a ruler comes to Jesus to ask how to inherit eternal life. This ruler must be a noble man as he had such a strong desire to inherit eternal life unlike many other people. Let’s hear what Jesus taught this man.

I. Like a little child (15-17)

            Look at verse 15. People were also bringing their babies to have him touch them. Perhaps the babies that the parents brought to Jesus were little children like little David and little Haeun. From a parent’s perspective, the children were precious, adorable and sweet. But from the viewpoint of other adults, they were just annoying. Especially, in those days in the Jewish society, people valued the children less as they make practical contribution to the family. So the disciples rebuked the parents by saying, “How dare you bring your kids to our master Jesus? He is very busy!”

            Then how did Jesus respond to the coming of the children? In verses 16 and 17, Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Jesus loved  children and rebuked his disciples for their legalistic and heartless attitude toward children. Jesus wasn’t too important or too busy for the little children. So rather than pushing them away, he invited them to come to him. Here, we learn two lessons from Jesus.

First, we learn that the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Jesus tells us that the kingdom of God belongs to those who take on child-like attitudes. What does “child-like attitude” mean? When Jesus said, “…the kingdom of God belongs to such as these,” he was referring to children’s total dependence on God, our Heavenly Father. Compared to children, adults are proud and they hardly depend on God even if they are in great need of God’s help. But children, in their inability and helplessness love to come to Jesus for help.

Second, we learn that we must receive the kingdom of God wholeheartedly like a little child.  In verse 17, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”  The heart of a child is pure; it is not crooked like that of many adults. And with their pure heart, they receive the kingdom of God with absolute faith. Once an evangelist D. L. Moody prayed to God for rain during breakfast with his family because the land was too dry. Then after prayer, one of his children was looking for an umbrella as he was leaving for school. Moody asked him, “Son, why are you looking for an umbrella since we have such a shiny weather?” Then his child replied, “Daddy, didn’t you pray to God to give us rain today?” Children are like this. So Jesus said, “anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” May God help us to have absolute faith like children when we come to him. We many believe and welcome the kingdom of God like little children. 

II. A ruler and the kingdom of God (18-30)

            Look at verse 18. “A certain ruler asked him, ‘Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’” A certain ruler came to Jesus. According to Matthew gospel, this man was a wealthy young man. As we know well, the world where we are living is a harsh world. But this man overcame himself and worked hard in order to be a successful man. He studied hard and excelled all his peers and finally became a ruler. Many people of the world who love fame and wealth would like to become like this man. However, the fact that this man came to Jesus in order to ask him about eternal life tells us a different story. He was like  Nicodemus who came to Jesus to ask about the meaning of his life during night. Many people around him envied this man. However, the more he climbed up the stairs of success, the greater felt he the emptiness in his soul.

            What did Jesus say to him? Look at verse 19. “’Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered, ‘No one is good except God alone.’”  As we know, Jesus is the Son of God. As the Son of God, he was good. But Jesus did not allow the young man to call him “good teacher” because he wanted to teach the man true concept of good.

In the past and present, people have endeavored to know what good really is. Some thought that power is good. Others thought that courage is good. Still others thought that conquest is good. Then these people became conquerors of the world like King Nebuchadnezzar and Napoleon Bonaparte.  were some of them. In history, there was a man who said, “Noble morale is good.” Thus he became the ancestor of philosophy. His name is Socrates. The man said to Jesus, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” When he said so, his words imply he was a good man along with Jesus. And as a good person, he should have assurance in the eternal life. But he was greatly mistaken in his understanding the concept of good. As Jesus teaches us, no man is good because all men are descendants of Adam who disobeyed God’s command. As a sinner, all men in great need of God’s mercy and grace.  But our God is good and he is our good Lord. In Psalm 135:3, a psalmist  says, “Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good.” Psalm 136:1 also says, “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good.”

            Look at verse 20. Jesus continued, “You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'"  In this verse, Jesus mentioned God’s five commandments out of his Ten Commandments. These commandments are all related to loving our neighbors. Jesus mentioned him of these laws because he saw to love one’s neighbor was a practical way of loving God.

What was his answer? He said, "All these I have kept since I was a boy."  Wow! What an answer! We know that it is not easy to keep even one of God’s commandments even for an adult. But this man said that he had kept all the commandments since he was a boy. Children love to play. Especially these days they love to play video games. But this man spent all his time memorizing Moses’ law from age 6. He also overcame worldly desire and rebellious mind of teenage and struggled hard to live an upright life.

                                 What was Jesus’ response? Look at verse 22. “When Jesus heard this, he said to him, ‘You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’”   In this verse, we learn that this ruler was a very selfish man. This man did everything for the purpose of fulfilling his selfish ambition. Superficially, he seemed to obey God’s law but it was only a superficial one. When Jesus said, “Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.”, he wanted the man to keep the spirit of the law. What then is the spirit of the law? The spirit of the law is love. For example, among Moses’ Ten Commandments, the first four commandments are about loving God and the next six commandment are about loving one's neighbors. So in John 15:13,14, Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” We must know that as God’s children, our life is not just try to live a good life. We must know how to go further. As God’s children, we must know how to make all effort to serve others with God’s love. When we do so, we will find ourselves fulfilling the spirit of law, thus loving our God with all hearts in practical way.

            Jesus said to the man, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.”  When Jesus said, “Sell everything and give to the poor,” it does not necessarily mean, in order to inherit eternal life he has to become a person as poor as a crow. It means that he must give his first priority to God in living a daily life. It also meant that he must put his hope in the kingdom of God, not on earth. Jesus said, “Sell everything….Then you will have treasure in heaven.” There are two kinds of treasures; one is the treasure on earth and the other is treasure in heaven. The treasure on earth is temporal and it gets corrupt and disappears someday. But the treasure in heaven lasts forever. It is our living hope. In 1 Peter 1:3,4, Apostle Peter says,  “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you,”

            We must know that, as God’s children, we are heaven-bound people, not earth-bound people. And according to Saint Matthew, we are treasure hunters. In Matthew 13:44-46, Jesus said in his parable,  "The kingdom of heaven is like  treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. Then he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” Here in Jesus’ parable, “treasure” refers to eternal life. And those who have the assurance of having this eternal life are only peaceful and joyful and generous and loving. They give themselves fully in the service of God without any calculation and they grow in the image of God day by day because of this.

            In the last part of verse 22, Jesus said to the man, “Then come, follow me.” This was Jesus’ invitation of the man to himself. While living on this earth, we can encounter many kinds  of invitations. However, we must know among all invitations, Jesus’ invitation to himself is the most valuable and privileged one for it is the Savior’s invitation.

            How was the man’s response? Look at verse 23. “When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.” Truth is very expensive and falsity is cheating and it is fleeting. Jesus uncovered the man’s falsity and challenged him to sell everything and follow him. Now, the ruler had to be wise enough to make a decision of faith, being worthy to have eternal life. But he loved money more than Jesus and God’s truth. As a result, he lost eternal life. Jesus was sorry for this man. Look at verses 24-25. “Jesus looked at him and said, ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 

            We are living in a money oriented society. Many people want to be rich. They wan money in the morning; they want money in the evening, and eve  in their dream, they want money. However, we must know that money cannot make man happy, but the living hope in the kingdom of God makes him happy.  Therefore, we must make all effort to overcome the temptation of money. Money itself is not evil. However, we must learn how to deny our greed for money. 6But godliness with contentment is great gain. I Timothy 6:7-10 says, “For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

            Look at verse 26-30.  “Those who heard this asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus replied, ‘What is impossible with men is possible with God.’ Peter said to him, ‘We have left all we had to follow you!’  I tell you the truth,’ Jesus said to them, ‘no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.’ To the eyes of his disciples, the ruler was a kind of perfect man. So when they saw the man failing to inherit the kingdom of God, they despaired a lot. They said to Jesus in unison, Who then can be saved?” Jesus said to them, "What is impossible with men is possible with God. Here we learn that it is impossible for man to have eternal life with his own effort but when we come to Jesus as we are and believe in him, God gives us eternal life.