The Richest of Idols

I am confident that the majority of you know the story of Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler, therefore I won’t take the time to add it to this post. However, I would highly recommend grabbing your Bible and opening it to Luke 18:18-30 to read the story before continuing reading here. (While you’re at it, why not read the whole chapter?)

The most common points I have heard drawn from this passage is that riches are a hindrance to entering heaven, God can do what is impossible for man to do, and God will repay those who sacrifice for Him in this life. However, there are numerous other rich principles to be learned from these verses, a few of which I shall attempt to draw out this morning in hopes of giving you a greater understanding of what Christ is getting at when he talks to this worldly young man.

The first is by no means something that I saw on my own. I think it was John Piper who drew it out in one of his sermons on the book of Romans. The ruler asks addresses Christ by saying, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus’ first response is not to answer the man’s question, but instead to challenge him with a question of his own. “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” Do you see the line of logic there? It’s essential to grasp this so easily missed point if we are to see what is behind the rest of Christ’s reply. Christ’s challenge to the young ruler is this; If God alone is good and you desire to call me “good teacher” then you must acknowledge me as God. He strikes immediately at the young man’s root problem; he does not properly acknowledge God. As Romans says, “although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him” (Rom. 1:21).

This theme continues as Jesus questions the ruler about the commandments, purposefully leaving out what Jesus himself declares to the most important of God’s commands. (Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself). The young ruler declares that he has kept the few commands that Jesus chooses, readily ignoring the ones that are missing. What of the commands, “you shall have no other gods before me,” or, “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below”? (Exodus 20:3-4)

Though he leaves them out in his recitation, Jesus does not ignore them. Instead, he addresses them in his next sentence by striking directly against what this rich ruler had set up as god and idol in his own life. “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Jesus does here what we so often fail to do. He recognizes and confronts the idols that had been set up in this man’s life. As a result of it, the man walks away sorrowful because of his desire to cling to his idol. We know not whether he ever did as Jesus commanded. But the fact that the man didn’t sell all he had and follow didn’t bother Christ, instead, Jesus immediately turns and declares the power of God to do what is impossible in response to those who were amazed at the difficulty of entering His kingdom.

Oh, that we would have that kind of confidence in God! So often our fear of people turning and walking away from our invitation keeps us from confronting them with their own idols. We strive to present the goodness of God in the gospel without telling people that there are things they must leave behind. Multiple times the Lord declares things like, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” (Matt 8:22); “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me…whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”Matt 10:37-39). It is clear from the Gospels that to follow Christ has a high cost. Let us then learn from Christ’s actions that it is paramount to identify and reveal this earth’s idols as the futile things they are. Only then, once they have been shown the worthlessness of this earth in comparison to the “surpassing greatness” of God will people be transformed into men and women who are willing to follow Christ as he commands.

Here, in closing, I will insert something that should be obvious to anyone who knows the heart of God and the heart of Christ. The way we reveal and confront idols is not to be vindictive or as if we were better than those to whom we speak. It was not long ago that we were no different than those people who are now so captured by what they have set before themselves as their earthly gods. Only by the Grace of the Lord have we had our eyes opened to see the foolishness of trusting in money, people, fame, or any other thing of this world. Our presentation is to be one of hope and greatest joy, as a man recently freed from captivity returns to help others gain freedom. Remember, Christ died to make a way for we rich, worldly idolaters to see God as He is; infinitely precious and more to be desired than any other thing.