Recently, the Lord has really pumped me up on some killer truths about the centrality of the Gospel, and I really felt urged to share this one in particular. Most of you have heard/read the account in the New Testament where the rich young man approaches Jesus and asks, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17-31).
Lets take a closer look at the Scripture:
___________________________________________________________
“Why do you call me good? Jesus answered. “No one is good – except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said, “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
___________________________________________________________
Let’s stop here and evaluate the themes and ideas that are running through this account so far: Moralism, Money, and the Gospel.
Moralism:
In order to pick out moralism from a text, you must look closely for man’s efforts, achievements, and lifestyle as a vain means of warranting worth, favor, and blessing in the eyes of God. In fact, most moralism in the Bible comes from religious practice that is void of joy in God—one that emphasizes parameters and not God. We first see moralism in the plead of the rich young man, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” I place a special emphasis on “do” for a reason because it shows us that he believes his own actions and deeds will be enough for God’s acceptance… or at least, he is starting to doubt it. Maybe because he keeps trying to earn God’s favor, but is still feeling lost; hence his reason for coming to Jesus for advice.
In fact, we can see this reality even more clearly in the next couple of verses where Jesus responds to him, “You know the commandments: (and lists them all off)”. And the young rich man responds, “all these I have kept since I was a boy”. This is a clear indication that the man has been living with a moralistic mindset for his entire life. Feeling as though he has to prove himself before God; again, this is a frame of mind is captivated by moralism, and is not the Gospel.
He followed the law out of compulsion (moralism), because he knew he had to or should. Indeed, he was completely unaware of God’s grace – that we will always fall short; for, we do not soothe or avert God’s wrath by our ‘good deeds’. His wrath is coming anyways because He is fully just and we have valued other things more than Him (the definition of sin); but Christ took God’s wrath that we deserved, and God’s love and favor was graciously given to us in the Gospel. Therefore, we no longer should feel like we have to please God in order to gain His favor – on the contrary, His favor is poured out on us full because of Christ – therefore, there is no sense in obeying the law under compulsion – but rather, we obey because we have been awakened to the value of God. In fact, all laws implicitly and ultimately point us to the immeasurable value of God, and how joy in Him trumps any joy that could come from our valuing of other things.
So far, this story paints a dichotomous picture that illustrates the difference between a life constrained by moralism and the life Jesus offers in the Gospel.
Money:
And Jesus responded, “Go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven”. Couple things to mention: First of all, is Jesus saying that in order for us to follow Him we must give up everything we have and give it to the poor? No. The heart of Jesus’ message is that in order to follow Him, we must see Him as more valuable than anything we own, and when we weigh the scales with money and God, it is gloriously and blatantly obvious that you want to follow Him because you see in Christ a greater worth than any sum of money could ever amount to. Jesus was testing the rich young man. Essentially, Jesus was exposing the heart of the rich young man: that he loved money more than God, and found his security, worth, and pleasure in money instead of God… [in fact, maybe he turned to money as his savior, since he was not receiving enough security, worth, and pleasure by his religious lifestyle. I would even argue that moralism and the love of money coexist quite often.] …Like Jesus said, “you cannot serve both God and Money. Either you will hate one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other” (Mt 6:24).
Another thing: is this saying that money is bad, evil, and sin? No. It is the love of money that is the root of all evil (1 Tim. 6:10). This young rich man loved money and the comforts and luxuries and sense of security it gave him – he trusted the power of money to give him something he can only and truly find in God. Indeed, though he was wealthy and possessed much, we know that he still lacked security, worth, and hope because he came to Jesus – pleading and asking Jesus what he had to do to get the real thing.
And if you’re reading critically, you might say, “Well…. If he does give up all he has, won’t that qualify as a good deed, and so guarantee his eternal salvation…meaning, that salvation can be attained by works?” And, I would say, No. Jesus was saying that the man’s actions would ultimately prove his heart. His actions would reveal whether or not he viewed God as more valuable than riches. And so, the act of doing what Jesus said (sell all he has and give to the poor) would be proof of total surrender to Jesus, proof that the man counted Jesus as his treasure, and not his wealth.
Gospel:
The Gospel is depicted by Jesus as the most glorious reality to ever be devoted to – in fact, Jesus says that it is so valuable that “Anyone one of who follows Me must take up his cross and follow Me. Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Mark 8:34-35). In this passage, Jesus presents the Gospel as exceedingly more valuable than riches can ever offer – in fact, later on in the passage, Jesus even says, “no one who [follows me] will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, and fields – and with them persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life” (v. 30).
It is also important to note that though the rich young man was oppressively bound to moralism, Jesus “looked at him and loved him” (v. 21). Jesus’ grace in the Gospel snaps the compulsory need we feel to prove ourselves to God, by trying to warrant His grace or favor. In this case, Jesus loves – not because He is pleased by this man’s efforts of morality, but simply because Jesus loves him where he is, and so beckons him to “follow Me”.
But let’s continue, and finish analyzing the rest of this passage; in fact, we’re just now breaking the surface:
___________________________________________________________
Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard is it for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard is it for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who, then, can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man, this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
Peter said, “We have left everything to follow You!”
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus responded, “no one who [follows me] will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, and fields – and with them persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.”
_____________________________________________________________
Moralism:
The first bit of moralism I can sense in this passage is in the implications of the disciples’ question, “Who, then, can be saved?” Now, on the surface, this might not seem like a ‘moralistic’ statement per say. But if you look in the context of that question, you will realize that they are basically asking, “well, if this young rich man followed the law for his entire life, but won’t follow Jesus because Jesus asked him to give up his entire wealth, then who can be saved? The standards are incredibly high! Jesus requires perfect obedience of the law for one, and also, we would have to give all our money away?” Again, the disciples are associating salvation with works, deeds, personal achievement, etc, which stems from a mindset of viewing God through the contaminated lens of moralism.
Money & Gospel:
But Jesus says, “With man, this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God”. Jesus is referring to salvation in response to the disciple’s question about how people can possibly be saved – especially in light of those impossible standards. But accordingly, Jesus speaks the Gospel and destroys the notion of moralism: “With man, this [salvation] is impossible; but not with God; all things are possible with God” – meaning that only through the Gospel – God’s divine work on our behalf – we can be saved. He does the impossible for us which we could never achieve for ourselves. And what He has done for us is at the price of God’s Son – something so valuable, that when measured to money, it makes the richest of men seem utterly bankrupt. And Peter realizes this – he recognizes that the disciples have left literally everything to follow Jesus. And Jesus affirms to them the great wealth of the Gospel in the following verses, “no one who [follows me] will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, and fields – and with them persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.” That is no prosperity Gospel of returned wealth – but it is a guarantee that we will find the strongest of camaraderie on the road to Calvary, and a plentiful harvest of whatever He sees fit for making His name known.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Well, that concludes the blog – I know it was long, but for those of you who stuck with it, I hope that it provided a comprehensive, Gospel-saturated viewpoint of this passage, and so encouraged you in the Lord.
Because of the Gospel, for the sake of the Gospel
