Barriers to the Kingdom

Matthew 19:16-26

July 25, 2004

 

The biggest barrier to Christ's kingdom sits comfortably between the ears. Few people, perceiving the reality of life beyond the grave, think nothing of eternity. It is a subject regularly laid at our doorsteps by the daily obituaries confronting the human obsession with life. Though we scarcely admit it, each breath we draw brings us nearer to eternity in facing the Creator and Sovereign of this world. That double-fist sized "gray matter" works overtime to soothe the conscience and avoid squaring with the teaching of Scripture regarding eternity. Yet everyday, the heart beats toward this destiny.

 

Such was the case with one person that shows up in three of the Gospels. We call him "the rich young ruler." All three Gospel writers testify that this man was rich. Luke tells us that he was a "ruler," which likely means that he was a leader in his synagogue (Luke 18:18). Mark tells of his reverence as he knelt before Jesus (Mark 10:17). All give the impression of his genuineness and seriousness concerning eternal life. But he faced barriers to the kingdom that he did not realize.

 

The same is true with many religious people. Some stumble over their religious practice and never make it into the kingdom. Others stumble over their diligence in following the commandments. Still others cannot get over the barrier of their inability to deliver the soul from spiritual darkness. Some have so many things in life that they construe this as God's favor upon them, and thus fail to recognize their spiritual barrenness. So absorbed are they in their concepts of eternity and spirituality that they stumble over the plain teaching of the gospel. The story of the rich young ruler proves to be contemporary, indeed!

 

What is the basic message in this personal encounter between the young man and Jesus Christ? It does show the futility of trusting one's own righteousness or ability for salvation. It also reminds us of how strong the lure of "things" can be in our lives. But primarily, the story is a message about grace. Eternal life comes only through the grace of God. Do you really believe this? Or is grace a nice religious term that you feel comfortable using but have not known in practice? Consider this story as we ask the Holy Spirit to search our minds and hearts concerning the certainty of eternal life.

 

I. Man's delusions

 

We have no fly-by-night fellow in our story. Here is an earnest man, desperately concerned about his eternal destiny. It is not that he has been outwardly guilty of the worst that man can do. He was morally respectable - a good example in the community. He had every appearance of a man blessed by God.

 

Yet, he knew something to be wrong inwardly - but could not put his finger on the problem. He hoped that Jesus could shed the light needed to remove the doubts and the gnawing consciousness of something so wrong, that his eternity was in question. His anticipation seems to be for a quick, decisive act that would put him into spiritually safe territory. He was not ready to embrace the radically different life that Jesus called for.

 

1. One's ability to achieve righteousness

 

The question the young man asked Christ is quite telling. "Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?" He poses a simple solution: surely there is some action to take or some deed to accomplish or some gift to make that will acquire eternal life. Brought up in a legalistic setting, this man probably had the impression that if I do this, this and this, then God will make an even exchange of eternal life. Very simple, he thought, but he just could not discover what the "good thing" was that he needed to do.

 

Many find themselves in the same position. And so you have people entering the ministry, giving large sums of money for good causes, volunteering for service in the church, taking vows of poverty, forswearing different vices - all with the expectation that this is the "good thing" necessary to "obtain eternal life."

 

The whole premise falls flat when we come to the Scripture. Sin has its certain consequences; an exchange does take place for sin resulting in death. But not so with eternal life: "for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23). One is the consequence of sinfulness, the other comes through grace; one is justly earned, the other is freely given by the kindness of God through Christ. Yet this man thought that eternal life was something that he could "obtain" by performing particularly good deeds.

 

What is "eternal life" that so compelled him to Christ? By life, it implies a continued existence - a very real existence rather than some kind of ephemeral, ghost-like floating in the afterlife or absorption into the soul of the universe. "Eternal" serves more to describe the quality than the quantity, though that too is figured into the term. William Hendriksen wrote, "If "life" means active response to one's environment, then everlasting life must mean never-ending, active response to the best environment of all, namely, the heavenly" [New Testament Commentary: Matthew, 724]. Jesus tells us, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3). So it is the never-ending, active relationship with the living God. Eternal life means eternal fellowship with the Godhead. It is forever being in the presence of the Creator and Ruler to know His eternal favor, to understand the riches of His grace, and to see the beauty and glory of the Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

 

Now, quite frankly, when we speak of being in the presence of one so holy and pure that the exalted seraphim before His throne cover their faces and feet because of the utter holiness of the Lord (Isa. 6:2-3), then how can anyone think that he can "obtain eternal life"? How can you, as a sinful person, do something that would push you over the edge so that you would have enough righteousness and holiness to dwell forever before the throne of God? How can one whose nature is bent in rebellion against God and whose every day drips with the evidence of sin in both acts against God's law and neglect in doing God's will, do something to remove such enmity before God?

 

Here is the delusion common to humanity: I have enough ability to achieve adequate righteousness to secure eternal life. I think that in me, in whom no good dwells (Rom. 3:12) there is sufficient ability to do enough good to merit God's eternal favor.

 

2. One's understanding of God's standards

 

Jesus questions the young man's understanding of what is truly "good." Then He tells him, "But if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments." There it is! Just keep the commandments, and all will be well! As the commandments express the divine will, the eternal moral standards for holiness, all one need do is to hold them in obedience to have eternal life. But it's not quite that simple.

 

The young man finds this puzzling, so he asks, "Which ones?" There are at least ten commandments, he figured, so which of them hold the key to eternal life? Jesus gave him the second table of the law, plus the 2nd great commandment: "you shall not commit murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and mother; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." While the young man looked for the "silver bullet" to eternal life, Jesus skips over the commands in the first table of the law, namely, you shall have no other gods before the Lord, you shall not make for yourself a graven image, you shall not take the Lord's name in vain, and honor the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Our Lord discerned the spirit of the young man in which he had an elevated view of himself and low view of God. The only way that he could truly keep the 2nd table of the law was by diligence in the first table. He didn't realize that he had neither.

 

Here is where the second delusion is evident. The young man had an improper view of God and His standards for holiness. Though unwilling to acknowledge his own sin, he thought that the living God only needed to see some great act on his part or obedience at one particular level, and then God would accept him for eternity. It is not that he denied the greatness of God but he thought that he had enough ability and personal righteousness to stand up to the divine measurement for righteousness. He looked at eternal life as though it was a business deal - a religious one, mind you, but a business deal. He could just perform the appropriate deed, and God's righteous requirements for him, as a sinner, would be met; eternal life would be his.

 

He was not unlike many in our world that fail to see the infinite holiness of God, and who imagine God as a celestial being that is a couple of rungs higher on the ladder than themselves. These dare to parade through life as though they only needed to tip their hats at God along the way, and all will be well for eternity. They fail to see the Lord as the one before whom "the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales," so that "all the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless" (Isa. 40:15, 17).

 

3. One's perception of his own righteousness

 

The delusion continued in the young man's response to Christ. Jesus identified the second table of the law along with the 2nd great commandment, as necessary to "keep," in order to have eternal life. "All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?" His response tells us more about him than we dared to know. The phrase, "I have kept," is a word that was used of keeping watch over sheep (Luke 2:8) and keeping someone under guard (Luke 8:29, 11:21). The implication is that just as the shepherd diligently watches over his sheep and the guard diligently watches over his prisoner, so I have been just as diligent in keeping all these things. I'm scrupulous in my obedience. I cannot find any breach of these commands in my life.

 

Does your heart ache in hearing this young man's response? He knew nothing of the spirit of the law - the intention that Jesus explained in the Sermon on the Mount that must own the mind and heart as well as the outward actions. God gave the law as His divine standard, not for mere outward conformity but to change the way that we think about life, relationships, possessions, duty, and responsibilities. Righteousness is not outward conformity to a set of rules; it is a completely different disposition of heart and life, a change in attitude so that the character of God is reflected in every aspect of life and thought. "All these things I have kept," betrayed a heart of self-righteousness that was far from God.

 

Curiously, he asks, "what am I still lacking?" It's the same word used in Romans 3:23 meaning, "to fall short" and of the prodigal son being "impoverished" (Luke 15:14). He could not figure out what he lacked, so he presses Jesus to give him that one thing that he needs to do to grasp eternal life. What he lacked was his failure to come to grips with his sinfulness. He could not see how desperately dark he appeared before the light of God's holiness. But Jesus would show him by pinpointing the very root of his own idolatry and selfishness before God.

 

Could there be someone among us that is living in delusion? You've considered your life, and compared to many people in the world, you stack up rather well. Yet you know that something is missing in relationship to God. You have no assurance of eternal life; but you do not know why. "What am I still lacking?" you ask. Then consider Christ's instructions.

 

II. Christ's instructions

 

The fact that this young man came to Christ with his questions is admirable. But why did he do it? He called Jesus a Teacher, but was He no more than that? Jesus probed the young man by asking, "Why are you asking Me about what is good?" What brought him to Christ? He certainly saw something special in the insights of Jesus Christ. Maybe he had caught wind of how Christ had upstaged the Pharisees or how He had performed miracles. But the reality that he dared to consider himself capable of doing "good thing[s]" before the One who is infinitely good, helps us understand his delusion. We would think a person to be arrogant and a fool who would walk up to Michael Jordan and say, 'You know, I can play a pretty good game of basketball myself,' or to Bill Gates, 'I know something about making big bucks as well.' Much more so, how dare anyone that knows he is a sinner claim ability to do good things before the only one that is good? Jesus instructs this young man in three areas.

 

1. See God as He is

 

The first is very simple. This young man had a deluded view of God. It was evident by his thinking that he was able to do something good enough to measure up to God's divine standards for righteousness. If the nations are but a speck of dust on the scales, and less than nothing before God, then how did this man think that he could perform enough good things to secure God's favor? "There is only One who is good," Jesus told him. The implication, of course, is that God is good and the only one capable of wholly doing good. But this young man had reduced God to a mechanistic formula. He thought God could accept the best efforts of man as adequate payment for eternal life - a merchandiser in eternal destiny.

 

He is not alone. The frivolous way that multitudes of people joke about God or toss His holy name around as though it was a cheap exclamation for making a point, tells us that he was not alone. At least this young man had some measure of reverence, though his view of God lacked any grasp of divine holiness or righteousness. Had he really perceived the righteous character of God, he would not dared to have claimed any ability to appease the divine wrath through some good action. He gave no consideration to his enmity with God. He was content to purchase eternal life to secure his destiny after death, while living for himself in disregard of a true relationship with God. "Keep the commandments," Jesus told him. "Which ones?" he replied, as though relationship to God amounted to stroking God here and there with a little righteous behavior.

 

2. See yourself as you are

 

At the heart of his failure to see God was his failure to see himself as he really was. Jesus gave him a list of commandments, which he quickly asserted with perplexity, "All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?" Is that all? He seemed to ask. Well, I've done all of these things. What's missing in my life? Can you tell me, Jesus? Yes, Jesus did. "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."

 

The word "complete" implied "a completely righteous man" [C. Rogers, Linguistic Key, 43], a man who was now truly in covenant with God. But did he want to be "complete" or did he only want to escape the wrath of God? Jesus was letting him know that only by such completion could he be in God's presence.
 

Jesus had intentionally left one commandment out of His reciting of the second table of the law: you shall not covet. So he calls on him to go away and immediately sell his possessions, give the proceeds to the poor, and then follow after Christ. Like the Apostle Paul as he described his own struggle with thinking himself to be righteousness when he was not, it was "you shall not covet" that did him in (see Rom. 7). But unfortunately, this young man loved his possessions more than Christ. Rather than seeing his own covetous heart and repenting, this young man "went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property." The root of his life revealed a covetous heart. Paul tells us that covetousness (or greed) "amounts to idolatry" (Col. 3:5). Though religious, respected, and a man of high moral qualities outwardly, inwardly he served his own greed, setting it up as an idol before which he worshiped and sacrificed his affections. That was the whole point in Christ's seemingly severe command: to uproot the idolatry of his heart so that he might enter into kingdom life. John MacArthur put it well, "Salvation is for those who hate their sin" [MacArthur's NT Commentary: Matthew, III, 190]. This young man loved his greed more than Christ; he desired "things" more than forgiveness.

 

If the doors to God's kingdom seem like brass to you, it may be that you have never come to terms with your own sinfulness. We don't mind talking about someone else's sinfulness but become very uncomfortable to consider our own. Yet apart from seeing yourself as having nothing to assuage God's wrath, no righteousness to commend you, but only the black darkness of sin filling your life, you can content yourself with avoiding the cross of Christ. But when you see yourself as you truly are, no one has to persuade you to run to Christ and cast yourself before Him in dependence upon His bloody death at the cross.

 

3. See salvation as radical devotion

 

"Come, follow Me," Jesus told the young man. Christ would be his treasure! But he could not serve two masters, so Jesus told him to discharge his other master. He called for repentance and radical devotion to Christ alone. What other master have you been following? Jesus will not share His throne. "Come, follow Me," calls for intentional following of Christ as a disciple. The test for this young man centered on his supreme love for his possessions. Your test might be different. John Broadus comments, "The principle involved is supreme devotion to Christ. The test of this is different for different people" [Selected Works: Matthew, 407]. The point Jesus makes is that nothing must take the place of radical, intentional devotion to Jesus Christ. What is a Christian anyway? He is a follower of Jesus Christ. He cannot follow Christ while being devoted to another master.

 

III. God's grace

 

There is something unsettling in this story. A young man that seemed to show great interest in eternal life finds the road too narrow for his baggage; so he abandons eternal life for temporal devotion to his possessions. "But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property." This was not what the disciples expected to see! In the Jewish mind, a man that owned much property and had good standing in the community had to be in God's favor. Or so they thought. On the contrary, unless one has turned from the idols of his heart and cast himself in dependence upon Jesus Christ crucified, he will not know eternal life.

 

1. Human impossibility

 

Jesus seeks to uproot the misperceptions of His disciples who equated possessions with divine blessing and favor. In their thinking, if anyone had an advantage in getting into the kingdom, it would have been a rich person who obviously was under God's blessing. "Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, 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." Stating it first in principle, that a rich man will have a hard time entering the kingdom due to setting his affections on his wealth, then follows with a comparison. How easy is it for a camel, the largest animal in that region of the world, to go through the eye of a needle? Why that's impossible, you say. That is precisely what Christ seeks to get across to all of us.

 

The young man came to Christ with the mentality that he was capable of doing something to satisfy God's righteousness and qualify himself to enter the kingdom. But Jesus wanted him to understand the absolute impossibility of what he sought to do. In spite of this and many other biblical examples, people still have the mind that they can do something to make themselves savable. The disciples grasped what Jesus was saying. "When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, 'Then who can be saved?'" "Then" drew their conclusion to Christ's argument. If this man could not qualify for the kingdom, then who could? No one. The human predicament is worse than we can imagine.

 

Here we see the thread of grace pulled through the whole story. The young man relied upon his abilities. Christ put him into a corner to see the folly and impossibility of achieving enough righteousness to put him into the kingdom. Until we see this, we will continue to rely upon our own abilities and miss the grace of God that is necessary for eternal life.

 

2. Divine ability

 

Jesus affirmed precisely what the disciples understood, "With people [men] this is impossible." As long as we think that we can have a hand in salvation by our own ability, then we will not come to know the Lord. So many are so close! They believe in Christ, believe that He died on the cross, but they do not believe that what Christ did was enough. They still cling to their own ability before God. Jesus Christ tells us that it is impossible, that man is incapable of doing anything toward improving his standing with God.

 

"But with God all things are possible," He alone is able and capable to deliver us from the kingdom of darkness into His own kingdom. And He does it through accepting the death of Christ on our behalf, and counting Christ's righteousness to be our very own. That is grace!

 

Conclusion

 

Are you trusting in the grace of God alone for your salvation? It is not you plus Christ that saves. It is Christ alone.

 

Is there an idol of the heart that continues to enslave you and keep you from Christ? Throw it down! God can give the grace to do so. Turn from it and turn to Christ as your Lord and King.

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