Hopefully you've received one of these on your seats or on the way in.
If you haven't got one of those, then our ushers will be more than happy to bring one to you where you are.
Just a bit of an outline of where I'm heading this morning.
And as Sam has indicated, if you're a guest here today, you have helicoptered right in the middle of our vision series for us as a church.
And the big theme of the vision series is that if we have been the recipients of such radical, abundant generosity from God, what sort of lives does that lead to?
What does it mean for us?
What does it mean for the recipients?
And the bottom line is that it overflows from us into a life of radical generosity as we have received.
So we give and not just in terms, as I said last week, in terms of finance, although that is going to be what I'm going to land on today, is that it's much more than that.
It's emotional generosity.
It is generosity with your time.
It's generosity in every aspect of life.
When you are the recipient of abundant generosity, it overflows to a life of abundant generosity.
And as Sam also said, we are on this journey with Jesus.
It's said in chapter 9 of Luke, Jesus resolutely set his face to Jerusalem.
He's on the way there to die.
Again, it's his radical generosity towards us in that he's dying for the sins of humanity.
And he calls us to follow him, but to also acknowledge there's a cost that's associated with following him.
In chapter 9, verse 23, it says,
If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.
Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.
That is, because as a recipient of God's radical generosity, our whole life is just turned around and do totally different priorities of what they used to be.
This is a difficult journey for Jesus to make, but he calls us to walk it with him.
He's not just our substitute, which is what I've said all along, not just our substitute, but he is also our pace setter.
He sets the pace for us in life.
This is a radical call for us.
It's a radical call, but the basis of it is radical generosity, mercy, grace towards sinners.
And so what is the result is pervasive generosity, which includes money, which we're looking at here.
The issue of riches and wealth and money come up again and again as Jesus walks this road to Jerusalem.
As he teaches his disciples what it means to be a follower of him, what does it mean to be on the road with him.
And someone says here in verse 18, he gets asked this question.
He has a number of encounters with different individuals where he tells stories about rich people,
but here's one in the flesh right in front of him.
It says that this person is a ruler.
In verse 23, we are also told that he's rich.
And in Matthew and Mark's account of this incident, we are also told that he is young.
And so for centuries, this guy has been known as the rich young ruler.
Don't know what his name is.
Just know that he's the rich young ruler.
That's who he is.
And with this particular interaction with Jesus, there are three things that we can learn about money, wealth, possessions, and where they fit.
So firstly, the danger of wealth.
We see that right in the middle of the passage, verse 24, Jesus looks straight at this young man in the eyes.
And he says how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.
Indeed, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.
Now what Jesus is using here is a metaphor.
It's a metaphor of impossibility.
The camel was the biggest land animal that people knew of their time.
They didn't have elephants in the Palestine at that point.
And the eye of the needle was the smallest hole that they could kind of imagine.
And it's kind of a similar kind of metaphor that we might use nowadays.
Oh, you know, they've got a snowball's chance in hell.
It's that kind of a metaphor.
It's a metaphor of impossibility.
It is virtually impossible for the rich to get into heaven.
That's what Jesus is saying.
Now, I don't know if you saw the news this week, but Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon,
passed the $100 billion US mark in personal wealth.
Apparently, it's the second time it's ever happened.
Bill Gates hit the milestone very briefly in 1999.
So it's nearly 20 years since anyone's hit the $100 billion mark in personal wealth.
He's got more money than I've got.
That's another understatement thing.
However, I'm not on any BRW rich list or anything like that, not even close, but I am on the global rich list.
That's something that's more significant.
And you too are on the global rich list.
The global rich list is a website.
You go on the website.
You can load on your income or you can load on your assets.
And it will give you a position in the world of where you sit in terms of wealth.
And as it turns out, Nat and I are ranked in the top 6 million richest people in the world in terms of income.
Top 6 million people.
So if they had a BRW that went right down to 6 million, I'd be on the list.
Down the bottom, but I'd be on the list.
That means that I'm in the top 0.09% of the wealthiest people in the world.
And yet, as a financial advisor said to us recently, based on our incomes, he says,
Steve, you're a pastor, Nat, you're a teacher, you haven't given me much to work with here.
Did you know that even if you're a student in this country and you live off solely off the government to be a student,
which, let's be frank, most students do, or their parents,
you are in the top 16% of wealthiest people in the world.
So when Jesus is here speaking about rich people, he's talking about people like me.
Not Jeff, he's referring to Jeff as well, but people like me, people like you.
He's saying it's easier for a camel to go through that little eye of a needle than it is for us to get into heaven,
to be part of his kingdom, to be friends with God.
So, is Jesus saying here that it's only possible for rich people to get into heaven,
but everyone else, holidays for everyone else?
I think that would be a problem, if that's what he was saying,
because a number of the great ones in the Bible were fabulously wealthy.
Job, for instance, in the Old Testament, fabulously wealthy, and yet they were saved.
See, notice the reaction of those who were listening to this incident, this little encounter.
Verse 26, they said, well, who then can be saved?
Who can be saved?
You see, the disciples are confused because in their culture,
they just assumed that the rich ones were the ones who God had blessed.
That's why they would say, well, that God had blessed them.
So if they can't be saved, then who can be saved?
But Jesus responds with, what is impossible with men is possible with God.
Jesus didn't say here, what is impossible for rich people is possible with God.
He says, what is impossible for all people is possible with God.
What he's saying there is that all salvation, all rescue is a miracle.
It's impossible that anyone can be saved because as Romans 3 says,
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
It's not possible for anyone to be part of God's kingdom,
part of his family, to be friends with God, to be saved,
except for God intervening and doing the impossible.
That's what Jesus is saying here.
So why does it appear that Jesus is picking on the rich guy?
I think it's because that the spiritual issues that create a problem for us
tend to be made worse by wealth.
The same thing that makes salvation impossible for all
is made worse by money, wealth, possessions.
That is, money has an incredible power for good,
but it also has an incredible power to make things even worse.
The Bible actually says a great deal of positive things about money,
but it also has a number of warnings.
The Old Testament book of Proverbs is a wisdom book
and it's primarily concerned about how to navigate life well
in God's world his way.
And it says a great deal about money,
a great deal of positive things about money.
But there are two really important things
that it says about the spiritual power of money.
Firstly, it says that money has the spiritual power
to distract us from what is really important in life.
That is, it says that money makes us very busy.
And I'm not sure if you've ever noticed
in another kind of word study here
how busyness and business are very similar words,
as you will know from Monday to Friday at least.
The making of money takes so much time.
It absorbs so much of our life to accumulate things.
And then when you do make it,
it gets you busy spending it.
It makes you busy getting it,
then it makes you busy getting even more of it
and maintaining it and sustaining it and spending it.
So busy, in fact, that we don't have time
to really ask the important questions of
what am I really here for?
What is my life about?
What is the trajectory of my life?
Is this world all that there is?
What am I really seeking to accomplish in life?
Nobody, and I mean nobody,
on their deathbed says,
I wish I'd spent more time in the office.
Nobody.
And Proverbs 11.4 says,
Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath,
but righteousness delivers from death.
Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath means
money can't help you when troubles hit.
It does attempt to give us the delusion
that that's what it can do for us when troubles hit.
It does try to give us the delusion
that we're safe when we've got it.
You know, for instance,
you get into sorts of legal troubles,
and if I've got money,
I can pay the best lawyers
who can get me an innocent verdict,
so then I've got a clear conscience.
The one thing God can give you,
money can provide,
apparently in this scenario.
Or if I get really sick,
I can have the best doctors to treat me,
and I can get healing,
and so on and so forth.
That's why Jesus says that money is the alternative God.
It gives me the delusion
that it can give me things
that only God can give me.
We're not safe.
We're not safe from grief,
from bereavement.
We're not safe from illness.
We're not safe from disaster,
and it doesn't matter how much money you've got,
you're never safe from financial ruin.
You're never safe from financial ruin.
No amount of money can stop those things happening to us.
Money can't stop death,
can't stop tragedy,
heartbreak,
and when they come,
it says in Proverbs,
you're not ready for it.
When it happens,
you're not ready for it.
In fact, right at the beginning of this journey
to Jerusalem,
Jesus told a story about a rich man
who accumulated more and more things
with the goal of having a safe,
and secure retirement
in ease and comfort.
And God said to him,
you fool,
you idiot,
you fool,
this very night your life will be demanded of you.
Then you will get,
who will get what you're prepared for yourself.
So busy,
distracted from what is really important.
Secondly,
Proverbs also says that money has the ability
to distort our understanding of ourselves.
It distorts our self-image.
Proverbs 38, 9 says,
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise,
I may have too much
and disown you and say,
who is the Lord?
I could extend on extensively with this one,
but as I think it was Bernadette Clairvaux said,
to see a person humbled under prosperity
is the greatest rarity in the world.
To see a person humbled under prosperity
is the greatest rarity in the world.
Wealth leads to pride.
It leads to independence,
self-confidence.
It puts us in a place
in our thinking
where we actually think
that because I'm a self-made individual
in a Western world,
it leads us to a view
that we're experts on everything.
It puts us in a place where we say,
who is God?
Why do I need him?
I've got myself.
So why then is wealth so dangerous?
Let's go back to the beginning of this passage.
Verse 18,
a certain ruler asked him,
good teacher,
what must I do to inherit eternal life?
Why do you call me good?
Jesus answered,
no one is good except God alone.
You know the commandments,
you shall not commit adultery,
you shall not murder,
you shall not steal,
you shall not give false testimony,
honour your father and your mother.
All these things I've kept
since I was a boy,
he said.
Now,
if you've been here
for the first few weeks
of this series,
you should be shocked
by that answer from Jesus.
You should be shocked
that the answer to the question,
what must I do
to inherit eternal life,
Jesus effectively says to this guy,
obey the Ten Commandments.
The implication is,
that's how you get eternal life.
And if you were here
a couple of weeks ago,
you should be shocked by that
because immediately,
in fact,
almost exactly immediately
before Jesus has this encounter
with this rich young ruler,
he has this story
of this Pharisee
and the tax collector.
And the Pharisee is proud
that he obeys the commandments.
He was sure
that he was right with God.
And the tax collector
instead knows he's rotten,
knows he's a sinner,
pleads for mercy.
And Jesus says,
it was that tax collector,
that rotten scoundrel tax collector,
the one who said,
who asked and pleaded
for grace and mercy,
forgiveness.
He was the one
who went home saved.
He was the one
who went home
with eternal life.
He was the one
who went home
right with God.
And the Pharisee
went home
not saved,
not justified,
not right with God.
That is the point back then
was you cannot get
a relationship
through good works.
You can't get a relationship
with God
through the obedience
to Ten Commandments.
Nobody can do it.
It's impossible.
So why does Jesus say here?
Why does he say that here?
Why does he not say
to this rich young ruler,
dude,
whatever your name is,
I'm on the way
to Jerusalem.
I'm going there
to die on a cross
to pay a ransom
for the sins of humanity,
to take the penalty
for the sins
that you deserve
upon myself.
And if you put
your trust in me
and walk with me,
you put your trust in me,
you will have eternal life.
I mean,
that would be consistent,
Jesus.
That'd be consistent
with everything you've said.
That'd be consistent
with the whole New Testament
if you did that.
I think the reason
why he doesn't do it
is because Jesus
is brilliant.
That's why he doesn't do it.
Jesus is so,
so perceptive.
When Jesus deals with people,
he's not working
from some script.
Don't forget,
you know,
someone comes to you
and asks me
about eternal life,
start at point one
and go down to point six.
He is amazing
in the way he deals
with people.
He is so perceptive
into the insights
of their hearts
and he penetrates
their hearts
every time.
To say,
I've come to die
for your sins
would have been
totally incomprehensible
to this man
in the same way
that it is
totally incomprehensible
to most people
in Sydney right now.
this man
like us
don't think
we've got a problem.
We don't think
we need a rescuer.
We don't need
someone to die for us.
In fact,
reading a journalist
early this week
from London
said that the most,
and this journalist
is not a friend
of Christianity
but said the most
offensive thing
about the Christian faith
is the fact
that we need
a rescuer.
Look what he says
in verse 21.
All this
I've kept
since I was a boy.
In other words,
I don't need a rescuer.
I'm a good person.
I might not be perfect
but I don't need
a rescuer.
And Jesus
is so perceptive here.
He's digging deep
into this young man's heart.
He projects,
this young man
projects a confidence
in his own righteousness,
his own goodness.
So you've got to ask
the question,
why is he even here?
Why is he even
in front of Jesus
at this point?
Because deep down,
take the surface off,
deep down in his heart
he must have been
feeling something.
He must have been
knowing something's
not quite right here.
There's got to be more.
Something's wrong.
Something's missing.
A doubt that in fact
he was not right.
Which of course,
if we think we can
get right with God
by being good,
it will always,
always deep down
result in a
lack of confidence.
It will always
dig down
in a sense of insecurity.
Am I really good enough?
Have I really
done enough?
Even those who project
an image that they've
got it all together,
on the outside,
on the inside
they know better.
There's always
things that we
would not want
to come to the surface,
things that we
would work hard
to hide.
Jesus seems to
jump on in
straight away.
He says this man
in verse 19,
he just jumps on him,
why do you
call me good?
It's like he
rebukes him straight away.
What do you
call me good for?
No one is good
except God alone.
Now Jesus isn't
saying here that
he's not good,
he is however
responding to this
rich young ruler's
characterization of him.
This rich young ruler
walks up to Jesus
as Jesus is
walking to Jerusalem
and he calls him
teacher,
rabbi.
That's it.
you're a good
bloke,
Jesus.
You said some
amazing stuff.
But you are just
like any other man,
you're another man.
And Jesus is saying
here,
why are you
walking up to
someone who you
regard just merely
as another human
being and calling
him good?
Why are you doing
that?
If you think I'm
merely just another
human being,
why are you
calling me good?
Because there is
no person
is good,
only God
is good.
And so what
Jesus is doing
here in a roundabout
kind of way
is he's reminding
this young man
that his first
problem,
his foundational
problem,
his biggest
fundamental problem
is that he
in fact is not
good.
And Jesus
then goes on
to show him
where he's not
good.
Verse 22,
when Jesus
heard this,
he said to him,
you still lack
one thing,
sell everything
you have,
give to the
poor,
and then you
will come and
have treasure
in heaven,
then come
follow me.
Now Jesus
has never
suggested to
anyone else
that this is
the way to
be saved.
Never suggested
to anyone else
that you must
give away all
of your money.
John 4 with
the woman of
the world,
didn't say to
her,
give away all
your money.
Zacchaeus,
next chapter,
Zacchaeus is
welcomed by
Jesus,
so overwhelmed
by that,
he immediately
gives away
half of his
income,
half of his
resources,
just gives
it away.
Jesus doesn't
say,
we're going to
beat Zacchaeus,
that's only
halfway.
Zacchaeus,
that's fine,
good on you
Zacchaeus.
Good work
Zacchaeus.
So why
here?
Again,
Jesus is just
so brilliant.
He's doing it
because it's a
brilliant strategy
to help this
rich young
ruler to see
where he needs
rescuing.
Jesus targets
deep down in
his heart
the idol of
this man,
what he values
more than
anything else.
This is the
thing that he's
looking to,
to give him
what only God
can give him.
See,
money is not
just a tool
for him,
it is his
identity
scorecard,
it is his
security and
his hope,
and Jesus
is going
after it
because it
is the
thing in
his life
that is
squeezing
God out.
And when
Jesus presses
him on,
we see he
hasn't in
fact obeyed
the commandments
at all.
He's not
good.
Jesus
pushed him
to give
it all up
for the poor,
to give it
all away
for God,
to give it
all up
and follow
him.
And he
couldn't.
He wouldn't
do it.
Verse 23
says he
became very
sad.
It's a
strong word
that means
he was
deeply
grieved,
deeply
distressed.
His money
was just
too important
for him
to give
it up.
His money
to him
is what
money is
to many
of us
in a
Western
materialistic
world.
More
important
than
anything.
He
didn't want
God to
get in
the way
of what
was so
important
for him
and so
what Jesus
was showing
him,
dude,
you're not
good.
You're not
good.
You actually
haven't obeyed
the Ten
Commandments.
You,
in fact,
haven't even
got past the
First
Commandment
which says
you will
have no
other gods
but me.
He says
this money
is your
God.
We cannot
possibly get
eternal life
by obeying
the Ten
Commandments.
We need
a Saviour.
Money can
so easily
become the
pseudo-Saviour
for us,
the alternative
of God,
a false
Saviour,
and Jesus
sets it
up as
the
alternative
God
when he
says you
cannot
serve both
God and
money.
You're either
devoted to
the one
or to the
other but
you cannot
have both.
That is why
money is so
dangerous.
So how
do we
escape the
danger?
First
thing is
to assume
you're in
denial.
That's the
first thing.
Assume
everyone here
just work on
the assumption
you're in
denial.
Jesus is
pretty blunt
to this
guy.
It's like
why was
he so
blunt?
It's like
because Jesus
is slapping
him in the
face.
Wake up
dude.
Wake up
you're in
denial.
That's the
nature of
addiction.
The addiction
will say
I'm not
addicted.
I haven't
got a
problem.
So the
first thing
is to
assume we
are under
the influence.
Just humor me
with this
one.
Assume that
the amount
of money
you think
you need
is more
than what
you really
need.
Just assume
that.
Assume that
the amount
of money
you think
you need
is more
than what
you really
need.
And
assume also
the amount
of money
you think
you can
give away
is less
than what
you really
can give
away.
Assume it.
The Bible
says that
money makes
us blind.
Second thing
to escape
the danger
of money
is to
look to
the rich
young ruler.
Why do
that when
this guy
doesn't do
the right
thing?
He walks
away sad,
he rejects
Jesus.
So why
look to
the rich
young
ruler?
Well,
there's
actually
two rich
young
rulers
in this
text.
Did you
notice
there's a
second one?
Jesus is
around 30
to 32
when he's
heading to
Jerusalem.
The Bible
says that he
existed with
God for
eternity.
He made
everything.
He rules
everything.
He sustains
everything.
And he
left that
aside,
came from
heaven to
identify with
the spiritual
poverty of the
human race.
And he is
on his way
here to
Jerusalem to
die on a
cross and
to at that
moment to
go into
deep, deep
poverty,
deeper poverty
than anyone
else has
ever experienced.
He will be
stripped of
everything of
his earthly
goods, which
is minimal.
Everything will
be taken away
from him.
And he will
be abandoned
by his
father and
he will lose
his life.
He will even
give away his
life.
And he
gave everything
for us,
for the
poor, the
spiritually
blind, the
spiritually
dead, the
ones who
need
rescuing.
2 Corinthians
8-9 puts
it in
economic
terms.
It says,
for you
know the
grace of
our Lord
Jesus
Christ,
that though
he was
rich, yet
for your
sakes he
became poor,
so that you
through his
poverty might
become rich.
He was
drained of
all of his
riches, so
that we,
though poor,
can receive
all of his
riches.
In Jesus, we
get adoption
into God's
family, forgiveness,
pardon, eternal
life.
It is the only
wealth that
makes you truly
secure, even
through and beyond
death.
And so we need
to look to the
true rich young
ruler in this
passage.
until we get
weepingly
excited,
weepingly
excited over
what he has
achieved for
us and what
he has gifted
us.
Look to the
glorious news
of God's
grace and
his riches
to us in
the Lord
Jesus until
it drains,
drains all
the power out
of money and
possessions.
until those
things just
become
currency.
Not
identity
markers, just
currency.
Just money
are no longer
our security
and our
self-esteem.
Third thing
to do is to
have a plan.
Step one,
this is getting
particular now in
terms of radical
generosity.
Step one,
investigate what
percentage of
your income
you are giving
away.
We in
Australia,
the more
money we
get, the
less we
give away.
I think the
latest thing
was around
2% or even
under 2%
that we give
away of
our income.
So work out
what percentage
of your income
you're giving
away.
How much of
that goes to
Christian
ministry?
How much of
that goes to
poor, needy,
outside your
own family?
Step two,
if it's not
10%, the
very least
amount the
disciples are
encouraged to
give away.
Work out how
you can
aggressively
move towards
10% this
year.
Step three,
figure out
what sacrifices
you are going
to make in
order to get
there.
If you don't
need to make
sacrifices in
order to give
10%, then you
aren't really
giving.
Sacrificial
giving is not
about a
percentage.
It's about a
standard of
living.
It's about a
standard of
living changing
in such a
way that we
feel the
loss.
That's what
generosity, we
start to feel
the loss.
Just let me
add here what
Jesus says at
the end of
these verses
when I talk
about loss.
Having seen
the rich young
man walk
away, Peter
pipes up.
Verse 28,
we've left all
we had to
follow you.
And Jesus
reassures the
disciples in
this moment that
though they
have made
sacrifices and
have sacrificed
many things,
they have left
many things,
they will not
fail to
receive many
more blessings
now and
forever.
Truly I say
to you,
Jesus said,
no one who
has left home
or wife or
brothers or
sisters or
parents or
children for
the sake of
the kingdom
of God will
fail to
receive many
times as
much in this
age and in
the age to
come eternal
life.
God's no
man debtor.
He's no
man's debtor.
Step four,
decide what
you're going to
give to,
wear and
follow through
with it.
That is make
yourself accountable.
That's why we
do pledging here
at St. Paul's.
Giving is a
spiritual issue
and like all
spiritual issues
we are accountable
for it.
To live
radically
generous,
to be
radically
generous with
our money,
our wealth,
our possessions.
We don't
need courage.
What we
need is
joy.
That's what we
really need.
We need joy.
We need to be
relaxed and at
peace and
secure enough
in order to
do this.
And the
only joy,
the only
security,
the only
peace that
comes to
us is when
we look at
the true,
rich,
young ruler
who lost
everything so
that we could
gain everything.
The more
we look to
him and
the riches
that we have
in him,
the more
free we
will be,
the more
free we
will live
a pervasively
generous life,
including giving
our money away
in eye-popping
proportions.