How often do we need to be reminded that we can’t earn eternal life by our good works or our godly living? How often do we need to hear that Jesus Christ alone has earned eternal life for us with His good works and godly living and that He gives that life to us as a gift? Many of us may see today’s Gospel text as a lesson that’s meant for beginner Christians, Christians who have not graduated from the elementary teachings of the Christian faith. We seasoned Christians, on the other hand, are much too mature in the faith to hear yet again that we aren’t saved by our works but by God’s grace through faith in Jesus. And yet the lesson from today’s Gospel text goes beyond simply teaching us that we can’t earn eternal life. Not only did the rich young man in this account think that he was good enough to do so, but he also had a false god - his possessions. Now, while most of us know that we can’t inherit eternal life by anything that we do, all of us still have our pet gods that we trust in and cling to besides or instead of the one true God, who tells us that we are to have no other gods but Him. Consider how often you’ve worried, gotten stressed, or become afraid. You’ve fallen into these states, because something in which you found security had been threatened or taken away from you (maybe it was your jog, your money, your home, or your health). You became anxious, because what you were trusting in let you down. Suddenly, you realized that you hadn’t been building on the solid rock of Christ, but on the sinking sand of something or someone else.
And this is what Jesus, in His love for this rich young man, wanted him to see - that he had built his house upon the sinking sand of his possession, finding his security in them, so that when Jesus told him to go sell them and give the money to the poor, he couldn’t, because he had made them his god. What would your response be, if Jesus told you to sell everything you had and give it all to the poor? Rather than confess to Jesus that he was not good enough to inherit eternal life and that he had made his possessions his god, the man went away from Jesus sad. It’s not what Jesus had intended, but it’s where we end up if we insist on hanging onto our false gods and try to earn eternal life by our good works.
But Jesus exposes our false gods, so that we cease trusting in them and learn to trust in Him alone for our salvation. Jesus’ intention for this young man was to lead him into despair over his trust in his goodness and in his possessions, in order that he might look to Jesus alone for help. Jesus wants us to see just how useless and vain it is to try to work our way into heaven by our own efforts or to rely on anyone or anything else but Him to obtain eternal life. There is no one good but god alone. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Only Jesus, who is God in the flesh, is good. Since you aren’t God but a fallen sinful creature of His, you aren’t good, according to Jesus; therefore, nothing you do is good enough to inherit eternal life. And no false gods that you invent for yourself from your own corrupt imagination will be able to save you either. You too would have to leave Jesus sad, if you trusted in any of these things to inherit eternal life.
But eternal life is not a wage; it’s not earned, but given, given by Jesus, who was able to do all the good works necessary to earn that gift for you. To insist on a “do-it-yourself” salvation, whether you rely on your efforts in whole or in part, takes away from the glory of Christ and puts the burden of your salvation upon you rather than upon Him. It says that Jesus’ work, including His sacrificial death on the cross for your sins, wasn’t enough, that something more has to be added to it. To put your trust in someone or something other than Him for your salvation is to do away with Him altogether. The people of Israel often did these things in the O.T. And yet God spoke to them through the prophet Isaiah saying, “You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me, or is there any other rock? I know of none,” and “There is no other God besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except me.” The Apostle Peter echoes this when he proclaims concerning Jesus, “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.” As for trusting in our good works, the Apostle Paul makes it clear that no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the Law, since through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. Rather, we are declared righteous by faith in Jesus Christ, apart from the works of the Law.
Christians need to be reminded of these things, because we were born with the same sinful nature that all human beings have since the Fall into sin. By nature we think that we are good people, because we’ve done a fairly good job at keeping the 10 commandments, when all along we’ve had idols for our gods. This sinful nature of ours can’t be reformed. Jesus wasn’t telling this rich young man to just try harder. He wasn’t teaching him that he could in fact inherit eternal life, if he just sold all his possessions and gave the money to the poor. No, Jesus was showing this young man just how poor he was before God, and that the only way the treasures of heaven could become his was if they were given to him as a gift.
That gift comes by JEsus alone. He is the only one who can grant us that gift, and it is granted by His grace and mercy alone, not because we earn or deserve it. It is a gift that is given to the poor in spirit, to those who confess that they are sinners, that they have broken every one of God’s commandments, and that they have trusted in other gods. And in order for us to receive such a gift, Jesus must reveal these things to us. He must expose the gods we trust in, as He did with this young man, in order that we might repent of such idolatry and trust in Him alone. He must expose our tendency to rely on our own good works to inherit eternal life, so that we might repent of that, too, and trust in Him and His works alone as the al-sufficient price which He paid for our salvation. To trust in anyone or anything apart from Him alone will only bring you sadness in the end.
Jesus doesn’t want you to leave His presence in sadness, but to remain with Him rejoicing in His salvation now and forever. If you leave sad, you’ve really heard nothing but the Law. The Law brings condemnation. It shows how helpless you are before God and offers you no hope. All it can do is show you what God expects of you and then it threatens you with exile and punishment for not having lived up to those expectations perfectly. The Law demands everything, but gives nothing in return, offering salvation only to those whoa re perfect. The Gospel, on the other hand, demands nothing but gives everything. It doesn’t bring condemnation, but proclaims forgiveness. It points you to Jesus, your Savior, who’ done everything necessary for your salvation. Everything God demands in His Law has been met by His Son on your behalf, so that through faith in Him, His righteousness has become yours. Though you were made poor under the Law, you’re made rich under the Gospel, and the inheritance of life in the presence of the Lord forever is yours.
Here that inheritance is being given out to you. Here Jesus is enriching you with treasure that can never be taken away from you. Even if you should lose all your earthly possessions, you cannot lose the gift of eternal life in Jesus. You may discard it, but no one can take it from you. The Holy Spirit was given to you at your Baptism as a deposit guaranteeing this gift. And He tells you in His word how you can know that you have this gift. The Apostle John writes, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the Name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life.”
This is the greatest treasure you will ever possess. No earthly treasures can even come close to it. And so Jesus says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” With these words, Jesus is not saying that you can’t have earthly possessions. Just don’t set your heart on them. Don’t put your trust in them. Don’t treasure them above the treasure of Christ. In another place Jesus tells a parable of a man who’s heart was so set on his possessions that he said to himself, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to Him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” And Jesus concludes the parable with these words, “So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” One who seeks to inherit eternal life through his possessions, through his own righteousness, or through false gods has perishable treasure. Such a person will one day have to leave Christ’s presence in sadness with nothing. But those who trust in God’s promise of salvation for Christ’s sake will have joy and treasure in the Lord’s presence both now and for all eternity.
So, perhaps this has been a bit of a review for us seasoned Christians. But even seasoned Christians forget that God wants us to fear, love, and trust in Him above all things. He will not share His glory with another. He is a jealous God a God who is jealous for you, whom He has purchased for Himself with the blood of His Son shed on the cross at Calvary. Jesus alone has the words of eternal life and also the ability to deliver on that promise, as evidenced by His resurrection from the dead. On account of His work God forgives you your sins and has given you the treasure of heaven and the gift of eternal life. Guard yourselves from idols. Amen.