Sermon Tone Analysis
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What does it mean to follow Jesus?
To come to church on Sundays?
To go to community groups throughout the weeks?
To get up early and read and study your bible before work?
To have well behaved children? or a clean home?
To listen to Christian radio and read christian books?
You can do all of these things and not follow Jesus
To follow Jesus is to see Jesus as your true and only treasure
To have your entire life submitted to chasing after Jesus
That anything in your life that would keep you from your treasure would be given up and left behind.
To follow Jesus is to see Jesus as your treasure and to pursue him with every aspect of your life.
This view of following Jesus is not popular.
What is our true treasure?
Social standing?
Bank account?
Affirmation
Status
Reputation
This morning is the story of the rich young man found in Matt, Mark, and Luke.
Its the story of a young man who wanted eternal life, but did not want Jesus as his treasure.
Read the passage
The Rich Young Man
Who was the rich young man?
We don’t know how he made is money.
We don’t know any background information about this man.
What we can gather is that he he knew the law and lived his life as a faithful member of the covenant.
He respected Jesus as a teacher and wanted to learn from him
He desired to live a righteous life, and wanted eternal life
He was
The rich man wants to be part of the kingdom.
Look with me at 10:17
The man ran up and knelt before him
Shows humility, a posture of someone who wants to learn
Jesus and the disciples also would have seen that this man was wealthy.
He calls Jesus “good teacher”
He recognized that Jesus is not what the pharisees have been saying, but that Jesus is of God.
He asks, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
he sincerely wants to know how to be with God forever.
He wants to be part of the kingdom he wants to be in right standing with YHWH.
Perfect opportunity to share the gospel
Think about the financial security that he would bring to Jesus and the disciples if he joined up with them.
Think about the future affect he could have on generations if this young man was discipled and equipped to go out and spread the gospel.
Even apart from what this young man could add to Jesus ministry, this opportunity rarely comes when you have someone asking point blank how to have eternal life.
Jesus could have made it really easy for him.
Jesus could have said, follow me and i’ll show you what eternal life looks like.
Jesus could have had him pray a prayer - or say, “ you don’t have to do anything, just believe”
Even for those who get nervous about sharing your faith, this one right here is low hanging fruit.
So how does Jesus respond to the man?
Jesus withholds his answer.
Why didn’t he just answer the question, instead, Jesus responds with a question of his own
Why do you call me good?
It is helpful to know that in Judaism only God is characteristically called “good”.
Teachers or Rabbis had many different titles that they would haply accept, but only rarely was a rabbi addressed as “good teacher” for fear of blasphemy against God, who alone is good.
Perhaps the young man was trying to complement Jesus.
Trying to flatter Jesus, thinking that Jesus would take it as a complement.
We do this in our prayers or in our testimony.
we know the right vernacular
But Jesus sniffed his flattery right away and calls him on it.
“Why do you call me good?”
Now, the statement is more true than the man realized.
Jesus truly is the “good teacher”
But Jesus wants to find out if this man actually believed what he just said.
So Jesus goes on..
19-
Jesus calls the mans attention to the 10 commandments quoting commandments 5-9 and adding “do not defraud”
The command not to defraud is not found in the 10 commandments but may have been added because of its relevance to the rich man, since wealth is often gained by defrauding the poor.
To the prohibitions against murder, adultery, theft, false testimony, and dishonoring of parents, Jesus commands the man not to defraud the poor.
This commandment is not found in the Ten Commandments but may have been added because of its relevance to the rich man, since wealth is often gained at the expense of the poor
Notice that Jesus did not ask him about the first four - which we will see why in a little while.
How does the man respond?
The man is not trying to convince Jesus that he is somehow sinless by keeping the commandments.
He is not trying to argue a moral superiority over others
nor is he trying to say that God should accept him based off his works.
What the man is saying is that he has been a faithful covenant member from youth.
We often see in the bible the people of God state that they have kept the commandments in this sense,
Covenant faithfulness not sinless perfection
The psalmist walks in the commandments
I am blameless
I am righteous
I walk in your ways
I have kept your commands etc.
Luke talks about John the Baptist parents Zechariah and Elizabeth
Luke 1
This was a very jewish way of talking about those who live lives faithful to the covenant.
So with the rich young man we should not jump to the conclusion that this man claims to be perfect, but that he has been a faithful covenant member.
In the next verse we see Jesus’ love for this young man.
Jesus loved this young man, and therefore Jesus says the most loving thing he could have said.
“you lack one thing...”
Jesus tells this young man the hardest thing he has ever heard.
*so often we think that love is always affirming*
flattery is always affirming - love is not
You see what have misunderstood love for one another as affirmation for one another
A brother or sister in Christ
about to make an unwise decision
If you love me you will support me - Where true love is to say you don’t support the decision
wants to date an unbeliever
if you loved me you would want to see me happy
we think love means to affirm peoples emotional state, while at times the most loving thing you can do is to really upset someone.
This is the approach Jesus took with the rich young man.
He was not concerned about his emotions, he was concerned about his soul.
So Jesus tells the man out of love, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
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