Notes & thoughts from Sunday sermon by Pastor Mark Driscoll
http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/luke
Luke 18:18-30
Jesus is not JUST a good teacher. When the rich man called Jesus a good teacher, Jesus rebuked him. We need to realize that Jesus is not just the best amongst us. He is in His own category. He is the God-man. ONLY Him is Good! No one is good except God alone!
The rich man said he has followed the Commandments down to the T. However, Jesus' response implies that the rich man was only checking things off, that he did those things as a matter of following through the motion but not as a matter of the heart. The rich man may therefore APPEAR do all the "right" things, but when his heart is not in the right place, it doesn't matter if he follows all the Commandments down to the T! Because when one's heart is not with God, that can be argued to be the greatest sin of all! Did Jesus not advise us that the most important Commandment is to love God, our Father?
Thus, Jesus is changing the rich man's "God" because Jesus knew that the rich man worshipped the wrong God: the rich man worshipped money, a form of idolatry. The man could not let go of his idolatry of money and status. Jesus thus told him that salvation and eternal life is not about money or status but about the God who loves us all and who will give us eternal life.
Idolatry
1. It consumes our lives.
We get so attached to it, we can't think of doing anything else. For example, getting good grades, earning high dollars, buying million dollar homes, owning a Porsche, etc.
2. It makes people manipulate God to offer idolatry.
This resonates very well with Hal Lindsey's Bible study that I posted a few days back. Lindsey mentioned the rise of the Prosperity Gospel, where many people (including pastors!) are telling the world that if you believe in God, you will be rich; if you believe in God, you will succeed; if you believe in God, your loved ones will not die from cancer; if you believe in God, you will never be hurt. Etc., etc., etc.! Dear friends, if this is your view of Christianity, expect to be disappointed. We need to realize that God has a plan for all of us, and this plan has been foretold thousands of years ago by prophets such as Daniel, Isaiah, and John. We, as Christians, are here to do God's work but most importantly, to maintain an open dialogue with God and to remain faithful in Him. We are NOT here to have God work for us! To have God glorify our lives! Who are we to expect such things? Jesus, the perfect Son of God, had to die on the cross to atone for our sins so that we may be righteous again to enter the Kingdom of God. We are therefore here to glorify God, not the other way around!
3. Once we obtain the idolatry, we become consumed by the maintenance of the idolatry.
For example, getting good grades, having a baby, buying a dream home/car, etc. becomes our idolatry. We then pray to God to help us achieve those things. Instead of opening the ears to hear and the eyes to see, we get blinded by our own selfish wants and needs and start thinking those things are the treasures that we need to obtain in life. We thus become deaf and blind to the work of God, and it's just a slippery downhill slip from there.
4. If we lose our idols, we become destroyed and devastated. For example, parents who idolized their children. Here, don't think of idolizing as what teenagers do when they hang pictures of their favorite pop singers on their walls. Here, idolize means the parents allow their entire world to revolve around their children. They do everything they can to make sure they attend the best of schools and get the best of things. And when the children finally grows up and leaves the house, they get devastated. We hear about this as "empty nest syndrome." They become devastated because the leaving of their idol has left their heart empty. And because during all this time, the parents spent all their energy "idolizing" their children, they failed to maintain their relationship with one another, and so, it is not uncommon to see marriages fall apart once the children leave the "nest." Worse, because the parents have been so focused on their children, they failed to maintain their personal relationship with God.
When Jesus told the rich man to give up his riches, the rich man said he was grieved. Jesus said He was grieved, too, because Jesus was suppose to be the man's treasure! Not money!
Money
We don't have to be rich to have money as our idol. When our thoughts are consumed by money, money is our idol. Money is not the root of evil. The LOVE of money is the root of evil! And whatever comes between us and Jesus, that is our idol, and we need to get rid of it. The value of our lives should never be about the "stuff"! It should be all about our heart! We need to always remember the greater war between God and satan and the fall of mankind. Through Jesus, we are redeemed, and we have a choice to make: eternal life or death. So what do you choose? Love of stuff or Love for Jesus?
Humor
How did Jesus rebuke the rich man? Jesus used humor! Jesus said it would be easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle than to get the rich man to Heaven. Jesus is using this tactic to tell the rich man to lighten up, to stop taking himself so seriously. The riches that the rich man could not let go, those are just things! Riches don't go with us die! Jesus was telling the rich man, "Money is your idol. Let's face that, and help you through it!" Jesus teaches with love. He rebukes us with love. And often times, He uses humor to make hard truths easier to bear. So, we can certainly see here that Jesus is a great teacher. But, He is not JUST a great teacher. He is God.We should not make the same mistake as the rich man and deny Jesus' Godliness. It is not following the Commandments that will grant us salvation. Salvation is a Gift from God. It's already ours for the taking. But we need to take it, and to do so, our hearts need to be in Christ!
How do we figure out the idols in our lives?
When Jesus told the rich man to give up his riches, the rich man said he was grieved. Jesus said He was grieved, too, because Jesus was suppose to be the man's treasure! Not money!
Money
We don't have to be rich to have money as our idol. When our thoughts are consumed by money, money is our idol. Money is not the root of evil. The LOVE of money is the root of evil! And whatever comes between us and Jesus, that is our idol, and we need to get rid of it. The value of our lives should never be about the "stuff"! It should be all about our heart! We need to always remember the greater war between God and satan and the fall of mankind. Through Jesus, we are redeemed, and we have a choice to make: eternal life or death. So what do you choose? Love of stuff or Love for Jesus?
Humor
How did Jesus rebuke the rich man? Jesus used humor! Jesus said it would be easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle than to get the rich man to Heaven. Jesus is using this tactic to tell the rich man to lighten up, to stop taking himself so seriously. The riches that the rich man could not let go, those are just things! Riches don't go with us die! Jesus was telling the rich man, "Money is your idol. Let's face that, and help you through it!" Jesus teaches with love. He rebukes us with love. And often times, He uses humor to make hard truths easier to bear. So, we can certainly see here that Jesus is a great teacher. But, He is not JUST a great teacher. He is God.We should not make the same mistake as the rich man and deny Jesus' Godliness. It is not following the Commandments that will grant us salvation. Salvation is a Gift from God. It's already ours for the taking. But we need to take it, and to do so, our hearts need to be in Christ!
How do we figure out the idols in our lives?
1. Follow our money
2. Find what's not funny to us. (That is, things that when we are asked to let go, we get really uptight and can't even joke about it.)
The rich man had become a slave. He didn't own his riches. His riches owned him. And so, this story is not just about money. It is also about discovering one's own idol.
Is Jesus your treasure?
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