FOOD FOR YOUR JOURNEY

27 August

RICH MEN -3

 And a certain ruler asked Him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and mother. And he said, All these things have I kept from my youth up, Now when Jesus heard these things, He said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

Luke 18:18-23

What shall I do to inherit eternal life?

This is not a good question! Simply because eternal life is NOT inherited, and it is not obtained by doing good works or by obeying the ten commandments. Someone once said the 10 Commandments are so full of nots, that if they were planks, no timber merchant would stock them, and that men don’t only buy them, they make something of them that even God cannot make – and that is a way to Heaven.

THE GOAL OF THE RICH MAN

The rich man in this account was under the impression he could do something to assist him in obtaining eternal life, when in actual fact Eternal Life is a gift of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Even though he said he had kept and obeyed all five commandments that related to his duty toward other people since his youth, Jesus told him that he lacked the one thing that God required, and that was love.

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Matthew 22:37-39

What is clear from our text is that although the rich man had kept the commandments, he had little or no love for his fellow-man, and this was born out by his response when Jesus told him to sell all, give it to the poor and come and follow Him.

When he heard these things he became very sorrowful because he was very rich.

The message for us is loud and clear:

• It is impossible for a rich man to enter into Heaven if he makes his wealth his god.
• It is impossible for a rich man to enter into Heaven if he lets his wealth and possessions stand in the way of him repenting and receiving Christ into his life.
• If we love God we must also love our neighbour.

Tomorrow in RICH MEN -4 we will look at:

THE GUEST OF A CERTAIN RICH MAN