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Luke 18:18-30 A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" ¹⁹ "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good-- except God alone. ²⁰ You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'" ²¹ "All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said. ²² When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." ²³ When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. ²⁴ Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ Indeed, 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." ²⁶ Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?" ²⁷ Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God." ²⁸ Peter said to him, "We have left all we had to follow you!" ²⁹ "I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God ³⁰ will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life."

This has got to be one of the most frightening passages for many of you, with Jesus telling this man to sell everything he has and give it to the poor. I am sure that many of you would rather not wrestle with this command and whether or not Jesus would say it to you as well. My hope is that this is one of those sermons that leaves you with questions to wrestle with more than answers to satisfy you.

A certain ruler – a successful, religious man – comes to Jesus and asks him a simple question – what do I need to do to inherit eternal life? What steps do I take to get to heaven? What rules do I follow or what in order to be saved? What do you think, good teacher?

Good question. Maybe some of you are here this morning because you are asking the same question. What do I have to do to get to heaven? To know God? To be blessed? To find spiritual peace? To find fulfillment in my soul? What do I need to do? You’ve come to seek out the good teacher, Jesus, to hear his wisdom on how to live your life or to face the challenges you are facing, or to find inspiration.

How does Jesus handle this question? First, he throws him a curveball. “Why do you call me good?” No one is good – except God alone. Are you saying that I am God? And then he continues: “You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'"

And the ruler replies – “Great – I’ve kept these!” But then Jesus makes like Colombo – oh, just one more thing. Sell all you have and you will have treasures in heaven. Then come, follow me. And the man goes away sad, because he had great wealth.

What is going on here? There are three things I see that we need to learn from this passage about what it means to know and follow God: