Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Camels, Needles, and Riches

Episode Date: August 11, 2023

Jesus said an awful lot of hard things. And in the story of the rich young ruler, Jesus says two hard things: he says our understanding of riches and our understanding of moral goodness are wrong. The rich young ruler is not only rich, but he’s also a man of exquisite moral character. Yet, Jesus sends him away. Jesus turns our common notions about wealth and goodness on top of their heads and he gives us new ones—ones that are explosively in contradiction with what the world thinks, but ones that, if we obey them, have the power of God exploding in our midst. Let’s look at these two principles. Jesus tells us 1) something new about wealth and 2) something new about moral goodness. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on June 3, 1992. Series: Hard Sayings of Jesus (1993). Scripture: Mark 10:23. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to Gospel in Life. This may sound strange at first, but in many ways Jesus is an upside down Savior. He came not in strength, but in weakness. He came not to gain power, but to give away power. As a teacher, then, he spoke in a way that turned people's expectations on their heads, calling people to lose their lives to gain them, to die to themselves so they can truly live. Some of his teachings can be difficult to understand

or accept. Today Tim Keller is teaching through one of the hard sayings of Jesus, showing us that while Christ's teachings aren't always easy, they provide the answers to having a meaningful life and a relationship with him. After you listen, please take a few seconds to rate and review our podcast. Your review can help others to discover our podcast and experience the hope of the gospel.

Now here's today's teaching from Dr. Keller. Let's not move into Ephesians. How about that? For January and June, we like to take the pastors like to take a theological theme and divide it up and preach on it. And it's typical in the church calendar after Christmas to study the ministry and the teachings of Jesus. Jesus was a great teacher and he had an awful lot of things to say which were hard. There's a number of places where his disciples say, master, this is a hard saying.

What we're going to look at at both morning and evening services, kind of as a break, is to look at a couple of these hard sayings each week, every morning and every evening. Now I actually have smuggled two hard sayings in this particular story, this particular account, but I like to read you from Mark chapter 10, and I'm going to be reading from verses 17 to 31. This is the account of Jesus' interview or encounter with what's the man called the rich young ruler. I'm going to read it and we're going to try to extrapolate from it principles for our own lives and hearts.

Mark 10. As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. Good teacher, he asked. What must I do to inherit eternal life? 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. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples,

how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples were amazed at his words, but Jesus said again, children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God, the disciples were amazed at his words, but Jesus said again, children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. 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. 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.

And Peter said to him, we have left everything to follow you. I tell you the truth, Jesus replied, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or fathers or children or fields for me and the gospel, will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age, Holmes, brother, sister's, mothers, children and fields and with them, persecutions.

And in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last. And the last first. This is God's word. We can't cover all of that, but isn't that you know hard saying? There are two, two common notions that are turned on top of their heads in this passage. What most people think about moral goodness and what most people think about riches and wealth are completely stood on their head. This rich young man is both wealthy, materially and wealthy, morally. He's not only rich, but he's also extremely decent and moral and upright, a man of exquisite moral

character. Jesus sends him away rejected. See, there's two principles that come right against everything we are taught in the world. The first principle is, in verse 25, it is harder for a camel to go through the eye of an eagle than for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. And the second principle is in verse 18. Why do you call me good? No one is good, but God himself. God alone.

Jesus says, you're understanding of riches and you're understanding of moral goodness are wrong. He turns these two common ideas that the world accepts and holds on top of the head and he gives us new ones and these two principles, the Christian, the biblical understanding both of wealth and of moral goodness are dynamite. I call them dynamite very literally because on the one hand they're dynamite in that they're explosively in contradiction with what the world thinks. For you to grasp these things and hold on to these things means that you're going to have to unlearn things that you've learned for years. It's explosive. It creates a conflict to actually take these teachings

into your own life. But also, these teachings are dynamite, because if you obey them, the power of God explodes in your midst, explodes in your heart, the power of God. If you obey any group of people that obey these two statements and obey these two principles, find God's power exploding with love and joy

and their midst and in their lives. Let's look at them. Jesus tells us something new about wealth and something new about moral goodness. First, the first principle, basically, is that He tells us about the great, great danger of spiritual wealth., great danger, a spiritual wealth, the great danger, spiritual wealth.

It's easier for a camel to go through the Ivan Needle and for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. If you've been around Bible teaching for long, you've heard a lot of people do some interesting explanations of what that means. I've heard people say, well, the word camel is, the word needle is actually not talking about a literal needle, it's talking about a particular opening or doorway

in a city wall, which was hard for a camel to get through, but not impossible. I've also heard people say, and maybe you've heard these two. The Greek word for camel, which is camel-os, not too tough, is it? So you've already learned a little bit of Greek, so all you got to do is continue. Sounds a lot like the Greek word for rope, which is camelos, K-A-M-E-L-O-S versus K-A-M-I-L-O-S. And so somebody says, well, you know, obviously some scribe made an error or maybe even they misheard Jesus.

And really what it's saying is not that it's hard to for a camel to go through and I have an eel, but for a rope to go through, you know, the needle which is hard but not impossible. And of course, those are silly things. They're trying to get out under the weight of it. Jesus is trying to tell you something that's impossible. That's the whole reason that the apostles are absolutely astonished. Why they astonished? Because Jesus has given them an example which is impossible. Now the reason the apostles are so totally astonished is because Jesus is telling the apostles that the more money you have, the more spiritual dangers there are for you.

And that cuts right against what the common understanding of wealth was in that day. And I'd like to show you to some degree, a common understanding of what it is today, to some degree. See, in Judaism at the time, your wealth was an indication of God's favor. If you were prospering financially, it means God must like you because you're a good and upright person. And if you were not prospering financially, if instead you were in the throes of financial distress or you were becoming impoverished at the time, the idea simply was, well obviously you're not living right.

You know in the sound of music that there's one of the more modeling songs I think in it, there's a place where I'm in Christopher Plummer and Julia Andrews find one another and they're about to be married and they realize, oh, their lives are going to be so happy. They sing a very strange and modeling song but it gets the point across, remember? It says somewhere in my youth or, I must have done something good. Anybody remember that song? It's a pretty forgettable song, actually. But they're looking at each other and say,

somewhere in my wicked, miserable past, I must have done something good. Why else would this wealth be coming to me? Why else would this material blessing be coming to me? And of course, when Job, that great man in the Old Testament who was a very wealthy man, when he loses all of his wealth, his friends, Elephad, Bill Dad, and Zofar come, and they sing the reverse. They actually take the song and turn it inside out. They say, Job, you've lost all of your money. You are now poor man.

Somewhere in your youth or childhood, you must have done something bad. That's what they're saying. Read the early sections of Job, and you'll see they came in, and they said, look, Job, if you're doing well financially, it means God likes you, because you're living right. If God, if you are not doing well financially, it means that therefore God must not like you. And therefore you must be, there must be something wrong with you. They must have done something bad. Now we, I hope many of you know what happens in the book of Job.

The reasons that Job has lost his money are due to evil forces in the world. The world is a broken place, the world is full of evil forces. And therefore, sometimes you lose them through calamity, through oppression, and so on. Of course, you can grow into poverty through sin. Of course, you can get into it through gambling, of course, you can get into it through a lack of wisdom. Of course, you can get into it through laziness, sloth, and so on. But that's not the only reason the Bible tells us, because the world is full of evil forces.

And the reason that Job has waxed poor is because of those evil forces and because God had a purpose in Job's life for that suffering. And at the end of the book of Job, God is angry with the friends of Job, who sang somewhere in your youth or childhood, you must have done something bad. And God comes to them and condemns them, and says, Joe, better pray for you,

or I'm gonna get you. Which is another sermon. Why did he do that? But anyway, the point is, he comes and says, Job prays for you so that my wrath is turned aside. The point, neither the simplistic idea that if you're doing well, God must like you,

nor the idea that if you're doing well, you're a wicked oppressor. You know, the left and the right have a tendency to oversimplify the issue of wealth. If you're wealthy it's because you're working hard and you're diligent, right? That's one way of looking at it. The other way of looking at it, if you're wealthy it's because you've taken that money, you've taken all that wealth away from other people. So if you're wealthy you're always an oppressor. Both of those approaches are unbiblical.

Why? Because Christianity is always more sophisticated than its alternatives. It's always more nuanced. It never gives you the bad answers that all alternatives to Christianity give you. Instead, what we're told is that wealth can come and can go because of matters outside of your control. But the one thing the Bible is constant about is wealth is a more spiritually dangerous position to be in than poverty. It's more spiritually dangerous.

There was a man years ago, there was a book written called the Christian Directorate. A man who wrote it was a man named Richard Baxter. He wrote it in the 1600s. He was a Puritan and he was a tremendous thinker. And he wrote a book called The Christian Directory, which was basically a total guide to how to live a Christian life. And what he would do is he would say, here's what the Bible says about people who were in this or this condition. And one of the things he did was he said, here are the things that if you happen to be wealthy, you better understand from the Scripture. And this is what he says.

He says, ordinarily, riches are far more dangerous to the soul than poverty. And a far greater hindrance to the apprehension of eternal life. Christ gives you so many terrible warnings about riches. And so describes the folly danger in misery that comes from them in Luke 12, 17 to 20, Luke 16, 19, this is a quote, 21, Luke 18, 21 to 23, Romans 13, 13, 14, 1st John II,

and on humility and self-denial is always necessary for the salvation of a human soul, but it's more difficult in your case. And what it backstarts saying is not that it's good to be poor. In many, many ways, there's tremendous spiritual danger to the poor, and he's got a whole chapter on that, too. But what he says is something that Jesus says, and we can't get out from under it, and he says money has tremendous spiritual dangers attached to it. Look how he gets that across. First of all,

the young man comes and seems to be saying, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? He expects Jesus to talk to him about theology or about morality. He comes and he says, and we'll get back to this in a minute. He comes and says, Teacher, I have a very good man. I honor God. I obey the commandments. I'm a very morally decent man. I'm seeking God. And yet there's something missing. Now this is always true of anybody who's good, but we'll get to this later. He basically comes and says, I've done everything, but is there anything I'm missing?

Is there anything I've left out? I'm not sure I have eternal life. He's not sure. And people like him are never sure. I've tried my best, I've tried my best, and I'm not sure, what do I have to do in order to find eternal life? And he expected Jesus to talk intellectually about certain theology. Ah, my young man, the problem is

that theological you don't understand this. Maybe he thought he was going to talk about morality or good deeds. There's one thing you have to do. Instead, Jesus starts talking to him about money. And the reason Jesus talks him about money is because he's a wonderful counselor. Jesus always gets personal. And he always tends to look into your heart and to find the unvarnished truth about you and to show you the oozing wound that is always at the center of your soul. He takes to the

young man and starts talking to him about money. He says, one thing you lack, give away Give away everything that you own. Sell it to the poor and then follow me. Then you'll have eternal life. What is Jesus saying? There is no place in the Bible, no place. Anywhere else that we are commanded to go into voluntary poverty, to give away everything. Jesus is not pointing. He doesn't quote a scripture, does he? He doesn't say, as it says in the law,

give away everything to the poor. It doesn't say that anywhere. Instead, what is he doing? He's after this man because it's his attitude toward wealth, which is the controlling, besetting, idle in his life. You know, in some translations, after the young man is going controlling, besetting, idol in his life. You know, in some translations, after the young man is going away, and if you have an old King James translation,

you'll see it. In some translations, when they say, what's going on here, Jesus says, how hard it is for them who trust in riches to inherit eternal life. In 1 Timothy 6, verse 9 and 10, he says, Paul says, those who want to get rich fall into a trap. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

And so what Jesus is saying is the trouble with this man is not as money as such. The man is not as money as such. The problem is not as money as such, because when he talks to Zacchaeus, he tells him to give away half of his money to the poor to pay off his debts. And other times when he talks to Nicodemus, he doesn't bring up money at all, who is also very, very wealthy. So it can't be, it's the money as such. Rather, it's the man's attitude toward his money.

And so what he says to him, is he says money at his self is not a bad thing, but it's become your trust. It's become the thing that makes you feel like you got a place in the world. It's become your defining factor. It defines you. It's what makes you who you are. It's become your identity. We've got to get rid of it or you and I can't do business. Now, see, it shouldn't be a total

surprise. We talk a lot about sex and money. Sex and money all the time, sex and money. There's a marriage break up, it's sex or money. Everybody's lowering their voice over in that corner. Why? They're talking about sex or money. And they don't want anybody else to hear. What is there about sex and money? This is what there is about sex and money. They were both invented in Genesis 2. They go way back together. In Genesis chapter 2, when God is making us human beings, He does two things. First thing He does, well, it's difficult to know the order, it depends on Genesis 1 or 2.

The two things He does is number one, He gives Adam and Eve to each other. He says, it's not good for you to be alone. I want the man, the woman, to be together. They're sex. And then he gives two Adam and Eve both the world. He says, I now want you to have dominion over the world. Take it. Cult it, care for it. Be gardeners, you see. I want you to, I've given you the created order, the created world for you to keep as a trustee. I want you to cultivate it, I want you to care for it.

So the two things that God gave, in the beginning, Adam and Eve gave Adam and Eve to each other at sex, and then he gave them the world and that's money. Yes, that's money. Because you know what money is? Money is power over the created universe. The more money you have, the more of the world you control. Money is a matter of control. Money is a matter of control. When Adam and Eve were put on the earth, God gave them control. If I hire somebody, you know, and I'm the CEO, I hire somebody, and I put that person over department, I give them control of that department. It's not control without accountability. There's

accountability to the board. There's accountability to the supervisors. There's accountability to the stockholders. But the point is, you have control. And of course, the higher your rank in the company, the more you control. The more people answer to you, the more you've got control. What do you think money is? The more money you have, the more of the world you control. The more things you possess, the more you have to the more of the world you control, the more things you possess, the more you

have to take care of. Because you see, money is something that has to be taken care of, what money is, is it brings into your power more things for you to take care of. That is one of the reasons why money actually gives us so much dignity and satisfaction. It gives us dignity and satisfaction because it gives us things to take care of. And we were originally built for that. Why do you think prison is so traumatic? Why do you think prison is so dehumanizing? It's to humanize them because you're stripped of your possessions. Why is it that strict communism, or another way to put it,

is extreme collectivism has utterly failed? Why? This isn't a political sermon. This is just a historical point. Why has extreme collectivism, the idea that nothing do you own, but everything we own? You control absolutely nothing.

We as the people control everything. Why is that completely failed? For the same reason the prison is a hard place to be. They were both forms of prison and ultimately the people in charge in extreme collectivism eventually of course became oppressors anyway. The point is that you've got to own things, and you've got to have some possessions to have dignity. Now, the same reason that sexuality is also so powerful, it was invented in the beginning and who you are as a male or a female, and the relationship, the sexual relationships are also very, very important

because they're intrinsic to our humanity. That's the reason why under the influence of sin, money and sex are so powerfully evil. Abraham Kuiper once put it this way. Abraham Kuiper was a Dutch theologian. He once said, would you rather be in a room with a rabid horse or rabid mouse? Well, you'd rather be in a room with a rabid mouse. Why?

You see, the greater the being intrinsically, the worse the destruction, and the evil if that being goes bad. There's a lot of things about human existence that have been touched by sin, but money and sex are intrinsic to who we are as human beings. Under the influence of sin, they so quickly and so easily become idols. Now we've talked about idols before. In fact, and when we're going through Ephesians chapter 2 in the beginning, we talked about what they were. Human sin always leads your heart to create idols. What's an idol? An idol is a good thing that we decide to turn into a God.

An idol is a good thing that we put in the center. What more natural than things like sex and money, things that were invented in the beginning, things that are intrinsic to our humanity, things which of course are tremendously satisfying. But under the influence of sin, as a way of keeping out from under God's power and authority, so that we can keep control.

We look at money or we look at sex and we say, if I have that, then I'll be worthwhile. Let me put it this way. Money should be our dignity, but under the influence of sin, it becomes our definition. Money should be our dignity, but under the influence of sin it becomes our definition. For many in our culture today, biblical Christianity is a dangerous idea, challenging some of their

deepest beliefs. In her book Confronting Christianity, 12 hard questions for the world's largest religion. Dr. Rebecca McLaughlin explores the hard questions that keep many people from considering faith in Christ. Tackling issues including gender and sexuality, science and faith, and the problem of suffering, McLaughlin shows that what seems like roadblocks to faith in Jesus can become signposts to a relationship with Him. Confronting Christianity is our thank you for your gift to help Gospel and Life share the love of Christ with people all over the world. So request your copy today at GospelandLife.com-slashgive. That's GospelandLife.com-slashgive.

What's the difference? Only one of, only one of degree. Money is a fine thing. Money gives us a sense of dignity because we're able to cultivate, we're able to own, we're able to take care of things with money. If you notice that, you can take care of things with money and you can't take care of things, if you don't have any money. And the more things you have to take care of and the more things you have to manage,

the more you sense that human dignity coming. But under the influence of sin, the Bible says, that wonderful dignity turns into idolatry. And money becomes an idol. And money becomes a God. How do you know whether that's happened to you? Now in this man's life, obviously Jesus goes right to the center and says, money is the idol. It's the controlling thing.

Unless we break its grip on you, I can't deal with you. Obviously Jesus goes right to the center and says, money is the idol, it's the controlling thing, unless we break its grip on you, I can't deal with you. But in all of us, even if it's not the controlling idol, to some degree or another, it's cursed by sin. What are the signs of idolatry of money? Well, Richard Baxter in that book, the Christian directory mentions these. One is, if you find yourself often envying people

who've got more, if you find yourself regularly worried about it, now look, I know there's seasons, there's times in which you need to worry about money. But if you find that it's just, it's a base note of your whole life, whether you have it or whether you don't have it, whether you have a lot of it or whether you have very little of it, if you're a kind of person

who always feels like you don't have it, whether you have a lot of it or whether you have very little of it. If you're a kind of person who always feels like you don't have anything, if you're the kind of person who always anxious, Matthew 6 talks about that. Matthew 6, if you look carefully, you'll see worry over what's going on in your life, worry over food and drink, worry over what you're putting on, worry over money and averis are linked together because they're built out of the same thing. Another sign of, you might say, idolatry of money, money having too much control over you is a clear bias and

making relationships with people on the basis of how much money they've got. A clear bias. You don't see that at work in your life, you don't see that at working around you. Or here's another way to put it, a person who tends to be either very much a spender or very much a miser. Both kinds of people are essentially people with whom money has become too important. Or I'll give you the better test. And this is a biblical test. In the Bible, in the old and throughout,

there is a rule of thumb given to us to tell whether or not we're generous in God's eyes. The rule of thumb is the time. The Bible says is the normal biblical standards for what a generous person is, is the 10% of your income you give away. You give it to people who need it. You give it to the poor. You give it to the church. You give it to charity. 10%. The Bible says that's a biblical standard. If you can't tie, listen, if you can't tie, it

means either you're too spend thrifty or you're too miserly and money has too much control over you. If you can't tie this because you're living beyond, you're spending too much money on your lifestyle, or else you've got plenty of money and you're just too tight with it. If you can't tie that the idea of giving away 10% appalls you, money has got more control over you than you want to have. It ought to have. Somebody says that's unfair. I know people who really are just living hand-to-mouth. How can they tithe?

Listen. I know there's seasons. I know there's times in which you can't tithe because the Bible also says, oh no man anything and if you've got a bill to pay, you pay the bill. You see? And you have to work yourself out of a certain tight squeeze so you get into the place where you can be more generous. But please don't say or don't think

that what I'm saying is unfair to the poor, or to the hard working poor, the working class person, all statistics show that the less money you have, the more you give away. All statistics show that the less money you have, the more you give away. All statistics show that the less money you have, the greater percentage goes to charity. Everybody knows that. You can look at it, you can look it up. All the research shows it.

People who make less than $15,000 a year tend to give away 4 or 5% of their income to charity. People who make over $100,000 a year tend to give away less than 1%. That's the way it's always been. people who make over $100,000 a year tend to give away less than 1% that's the way it's always been. The idea is if money under the influence of sin has become too important to you, it's fraught with spiritual dangers, and it could be, and it's possible, that money is actually the controlling idle. It could be that it's a thing that makes you feel that you're worthwhile. It makes you feel that you count. It's become

your trust. Sometimes you can't tell. By the way, it can happen whether you're rich poor or middle class. If you're middle class and money is that controlling idle, it means that you're a careerist. You're absolutely absorbed in your work. If you're wealthy and money is become your trust, it makes you proud, insensitive to other people. It makes you privatized and isolated from others. It makes you superficial. Richard Baxter and Christian directory talks about one of the tremendous dangers of wealth is the more money you have, the more superficial you get. He says this, if I can find it, he says the more money, the to get. So many rooms to adorn and beautify. That the day the year your life is gone before you know what you've lived for,

the great businesses of life is people. The great businesses of life is the Kingdom of God. If your poor, money can still be just as much an idol. What happens to the poor when money's the idol in the center of your life, it turns you into a consumer. Terrible consumers, and the poor never, if money becomes so important to them, the poor just spend it the minute they get it. They never save, they never look ahead, they live totally economically in the present. Or the poor might even go into crime, why? Because they see the oppression and they see the injustices

of the world, but they still got to get the buck. And they want the dignity that comes when they know they've got money and they've got some control. And so they get it through crime. If money is in the heart of a sinful person, to some degree, it's gonna exert those kinds of influences. But it could be the controlling influence and that's what it is here.

And so Jesus comes after the young man, and he challenges him, and he does two things, basically, to enable him to see how he could get free from the idolatry of money. And all of us have to learn from it. The first thing is, he says, he doesn't just say give away all your money. He says give away all your money and follow me. He doesn't just say give away all your money. He says give away all your money and follow me which is his way of trying to say I want you to see that if you have me you've got everything you need. For all I know if the young man had said yes,

Jesus would have done the very same thing that God did to Abraham and Isaac. You know, remember God says, I want you to kill Isaac, I want you to kill Isaac, I want you to kill Isaac. And Abraham says, that's just makes no sense. Where's the saying anything in the Bible about human sacrifice?

This makes no sense. It's nothing in the Bible about it. But I will do it if you say so. And the minute he was willing, God says, you don't have to. It was not Isaac, it was your attitude. And the same thing probably would have happened here. The rich young man could have easily said, I don't get it, I don't see any place in the Bible, but if you say so, Jesus is saying, I want you to not just get rid of your money,

I want you to get rid of your money to follow me. I want you to see that I am all you need. I've seen people, and some of you may be in this boat, I've seen people in which this is exactly what's happened to them. You have had a lot of money, and it's virtually all been taken away. Virtually all.

And in some cases it was the only way that Jesus Christ, like in this case, could snip that umbilical cord, the psychological slash emotional slash spiritual umbilical cord between you and your money. That's what he's trying to do here. What he's trying to do is he's trying to snip that umbilical cord between you and your money. That's what he's trying to do here. What he's trying to do is he's trying to snip that umbilical cord. This is not your life anymore. And I've seen people find radiant Christians, and that's exactly what's happened.

Everything's been taken away. And I've had some of them look at me and say, you know what? The earth is the lords and the fullness thereof. After all, I never really earned it. One guy once said to me, so I used to think I earned it until it was gone. Then I began to study the Scripture and I began to realize my reason I earned it was because God put me in a position to earn it. It gave me the talent to earn it. It gave me the IQ to earn it.

It was a gift all along. The Lord gives the Lord takes away blessed be the name of the Lord. The freedom that comes when that umbilical cord has been snipped. And then the other thing Jesus says, not only do you have to snip that psychological umbilical cord and change your attitude toward wealth, but then secondly, he says, the way to do that is to become radically generous.

You notice he doesn't just say completely give you way your money. In general, he says give away your money to the poor. And I think the reason for that is because there is nothing that helps your perspective more than for you to be truly involved with people with great needs. Anybody in this room who's regularly involved with people, with severe economic problems, anyone in this room who's regularly involved with people, with severe economic problems.

Anyone in this room who's regularly involved with a poor, you know how that changes the way you spend your money, I hope. You spend some time with those folks and you see how little they have and you see the brokenness in their life and you see how hard it's going to be for them to get themselves up out of that place and you try to help them. Of course, it's very expensive anyway. The way you spend your money is instantly affected. It's totally impacted.

Jesus is not stupid when He says I want you to be involved with the poor. You have lost your perspective. I want you to be radically generous. I want you to be involved with the poor. I want you to snip the umbilical cord to your money. And unless you do, I can't work with you. The disciples were absolutely astonished. They thought rich people were the perfect people to have in their new church. They say, you know, we don't have very big church right now, Lord.

We've only got 12. And you know, you know, some of us are fishermen and a couple of us were just politicians and without a job now. In fact, none of us have a job now. We just follow you around. Wouldn't it be good if we had some people like this, and surely God favors this man. Look at his wealth, and Jesus looks at him and says, I can't work with you unless you see the spiritual danger of riches, and unless you begin to admit those dangers and admit how what an impact many has on you and admit how its tentacles are all through your heart

and begin to get radically generous and to get involved with people in need, and to get off your high horse, and to admit just how much it controls you. Otherwise, I can't deal with you. Now, the last thing, and it's actually something I most obviously don't have to spend, and can't spend as much time on, but there was a second,

and yet very, very important point that Jesus was making. Not only was this young man materially wealthy, but he was morally wealthy. And people think just like a rich person is certainly the ideal folk, you know, man for the kingdom of God. So in the same way, people today would consider this young man tremendously fit candidate for the kingdom of God. The young man comes and says, I have kept the commandments since I was little. I have obeyed them since I was little.

I don't lie, I don't cheat, I don't steal. I respect people. I treat them all these ways and he gives his resume. And it's a wonderful thing. But Jesus comes back and completely defies, especially, the modern understanding of who is saved. In modern times, your beliefs, your religion is not important as long as you live a good life.

Haven't you heard this before? People say, hey, everyone has their beliefs. You have your beliefs, you have your beliefs about God and religion, and we should respect one of those beliefs, but what's really important is whether you live a decent, compassionate life, a good, upstanding moral life. That's what's important.

For example, whenever somebody listens to a Christian, explain the gospel, people tend to immediately come back and say, wait a minute, are you saying that a good Buddhist is lost if he or she doesn't believe in Christ? You know, as they never say a bad Buddhist, ever. They never say, you know that Buddhist, that Buddhist, that serial killer Buddhist. Never. Why? See, what are they saying? What they're saying is goodness. Good deeds is important. What you believe is in so important.

Your view of Christ, your view of morality, your view of religion, your beliefs aren't important. What's really important is that you're a good person. Jesus completely destroys that right here. Here's a good person, a perfectly good person. He's rejected. He's thrown away. He's sent away.

Why? He looks at the young man and he says, morality and goodness is not enough. Why do you call me good? Now, Jesus is not saying he's not good if you look carefully. But he knows that the rich man is talking to a rabbi. The young ruler doesn't know who Jesus is. All he's Jesus sees, him talking to this rabbi, Jesus,

and calling this rabbi a good person. Jesus says, you know what your fundamental problem is? You don't understand, you do not understand the dangers of goodness. And this is how we have to conclude. Being rich materially is spiritually dangerous, but this is how we have to conclude. Being rich materially is spiritually dangerous, but this is even worse. Don't you see how the teachings of Christ go right against everything you've ever heard? There is nothing more

spiritually dangerous than to be morally impeccable. When this young man comes, he says, Teacher, I've done all these things, but what must I do to inherit eternal life? You know why? We mentioned this before. Anyone who has tried their very best to be as decent and to be as moral and to be as good and to be as religious as possible always feels there's something missing.

Some of you have been like that. Some of you have been goody-touches all of your life. You've been very moral, you've been very decent, and yet you do not know whether you have eternal life. Because that's the way it always is. Marlon Deeson people always sense that there's something missing. So he comes to Jesus and he says, I have an idea,

and I don't know really what's missing, what else must I do? What have I left out? Now here's what Jesus does. We always come to Jesus' way in the beginning. We expect Jesus to add something to our lives, just to give us that little push over the hump. We expect him to, you know, we're not too bad. We just need that missing part.

Christianity is never a matter of addition. Christianity is an explosive. Christianity comes in and completely destroys what you have and makes, gives you a whole new philosophy, a whole new approach, everything. Jesus completely contradicts his whole approach. What must I do? And Jesus says, you think you're obedient? You say you obeyed all the Ten Commandments? Listen. You know, the two great Commandments, all the Ten Commandments can be summarized as love God

with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. It says, fine. I'll just give you an example. Sell everything you have and give it to the poor. That perfectly, perfectly sums up both the great commandments. You see, on the one hand, he says, nothing should be more important to you than God.

Nothing more absorbing, nothing more engrossing than God. There shouldn't be anything in your life that's more exciting than God. And that means that if you have your heart and your mind so totally and grossed in God, everything in anything else will be small and trivial by comparison. And so getting rid of your money shouldn't be that hard. And loving your neighbor as yourself is a perfect way. Look at the people out there

who are needy. So he says, do you love God with all your heart, so strengthen the mind and do you love your neighbor as yourself? Are you willing to do this for me? Are you willing to put me so number one that you do this for me and the young man can't do it? What's Jesus saying? He's trying to say morality and goodness is not enough.

Take a look at a needle. Pick out a needle sometime and look at it. And it looks perfect. It looks flawless. It looks sleek. Put under a microscope and it's poked and flawed. That's true of anything. Nothing is perfect.

All depends on how close you look. No one is perfect. At the funerals, they say, all there was never a greater woman, there was never a greater man, ask the people who live with them. You look. No one is good. No one is righteous, no not one. Morality and goodness are never enough and Jesus comes in and slashes his feet right out from under him. And he says, give away all those things and follow me. What is he saying then? He's saying, I've got to be your real riches.

Young man, he says, you seem to think you've got the greatest amount of money and the greatest estate in all this region, but I want you to look at me as your only treasure. I want you to give away all your other treasure and make me your only treasure. You see, in the book of Matthew, we're told he actually says to the young man, not just follow me, but take up your cross and follow me. He makes a reference to the fact

that Jesus is taking up a cross. And he's saying to the rich young man, he's saying, I've got to be your true treasure. My life poured out must be your true treasure. Because I've done it all for you, I have to be your goodness, I have to be your righteousness, I have to be your wealth before God, or else I cannot deal with you. Jesus doesn't add a thing. He destroys the entire philosophical framework, emotionally psychological and religious that this young man has. And he builds it from the ground up.

That's the reason why Jesus, the gospel never comes in and adds, only destroys what you have and starts you all over That's the reason why nicodemus comes and it says, you know good teacher I have a few theological questions and Jesus says boom you must be born again You've got to start all over You got to make me your Lord and your Savior It's the only way Your flawed your morality and goodness is not enough Okay Has this happened to you It's the only way your flawed, your morality and goodness is not enough. Okay.

Has this happened to you? Here is Jesus. Here's what I want to know. Has he ever really dealt with you? Have you really ever dealt with him? Well, let me put it this way. Has he ever offended you and sent you away sorrowing? Has he ever shown you what's wrong with you?

Has he ever made tremendous claims? Have you ever been confronted with the real Christ of the Bible who says, you're such a wicked sinner that I had to die for you and your goodness and morality is not enough? Have you been confronted with the Jesus that looks at you and says, in the center of your life, you're in bondage. You're enslaved by the things that give you your identity. You've got to have me or you're lost.

Have you been confronted with that, Jesus? Has he sent you away offended, upset, angry, feeling like he's unreasonable? Or has he turned your life inside out and filled you with joy? Those are the only two alternatives because if you've really met him, he'll either send you away sorrowful or he'll turn you inside out and fill you with joy. But the one thing that's impossible is in difference. If you've really met him in difference is impossible. And friends, if you, if

any of you are right now, really wrestling with him, if impossible, and friends, if any of you are right now really wrestling with him, if he is sending you, if he's sending Sarwin to your life, if he's showing you the idols of your life and you're wrestling and you're mad at him, there's a lot more hope for you than anyone in this room that basically feels Jesus is a fine man, a good teacher, and I try my best to obey his laws and teachings.

You see, unless you've been offended by him or had your whole life turned around, you haven't really met him. Thank you for joining us today. If you were encouraged by today's podcast, please rate and review it so more people can discover the hope of the gospel, and thanks again for listening. This month's sermons were recorded in 1993 and 2016. The sermons and talks you hear on the gospel and life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017, while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. you