Daily Devotional For Friday, June 21, 2024

Yahoo! It’s Friday all day. The weekend is almost here. Just a few more hours and then you’re on the home stretch to enjoy some needed rest, relaxation and recovery. We are looking at questions that are asked in the Bible. Some of them are asked by people and some by God. Today, we come to a question that every single person must wonder about and it is found in Luke 18:18, The question is asked by a religious ruler to Jesus Christ. ‘“A ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (ESV). 

As we begin, please read the words of pastor and author John MacArthur below:

“The central meaning of this story is clear. No matter what one may believe, no one enters the kingdom without humbly confessing his sinfulness and by faith submitting completely to the sovereign lordship of Jesus Christ. Salvation is more than merely believing the facts concerning the gospel; it involves what people believe concerning their own sinful natures and the Savior’s authority. Genuine salvation requires acknowledging that one can hold on to nothing in this temporal, passing world, but must be willing to let go of anything the sovereign Lord demands” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Luke,” p. 34).

First we are told this man is a ruler. This means he is a ruler over a local synagogue. To reach this status, one had to demonstrate that he was the most spiritually, morally, and religiously impressive man in that synagogue. This meant he beat out some others for this position. That tells you that he may have had some measure of self-righteousness, pride, legalism, etc. I say “may have” because we don’t know for sure. 

His question to Jesus implies some respect but not total recognition of who Jesus was and is. He called Jesus “Good teacher,” a title he would use with any rabbi or synagogue ruler. He did not call Jesus “Christ” - a title that recognizes Jesus as Messiah. “Good teacher” was a common proper salutary title of respect given to fellow rabbis.

If we can say anything good about him, he did acknowledge Jesus as being good and a teacher. This is why Jesus reminds this rich young synagogue ruler that no one is good except God. This rich young synagogue ruler was ready to accept that Jesus knew how to obtain eternal life, not that Jesus was the source of eternal life. HUGE difference again. This rich young ruler should have known that only God is good and to call Jesus “good.” Either this rich young ruler was connecting Jesus as God in human flesh, then the question is, if he was, was he willing to do or obey what Jesus told him to do?

This is why Jesus responded with the commandments in Luke 18:20, “You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother’” (ESV). And arrogantly and proudly the rich young ruler said in Luke 18:21, “All these I have kept from my youth” (ESV). Really? All the Ten Commandments? 

Some Bibles title this section of Scripture in Luke 18:18-30 as “The Rich Young Ruler.” The answer Jesus gives to this “rich young ruler” catches him off guard. Look at Luke 18:19-20, “And Jesus said to him, `Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. (20) You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother’” (ESV). 

What we know from the teachings of Rabbis in Jesus’ day is that what this rich young synagogue ruler was asking Jesus was about eternal life. BUT, in his day, Jewish people understood “eternal life” as a kind of quality of life rather than a quantity or duration of life. HUGE difference here! In other words, “Jesus, how do I make the quality of my life on this planet better before I die?”

Pastor and author John MacArthur writes this:

“Eternal life is to possess the life of God, and to have a deep knowledge of Him (John 17:3). Eternal life involves the love of God being poured out in the hearts of His people (Rom. 5:5), the light of the knowledge of God shining in the hearts of believers (2 Cor. 4:6), the peace of God that passes all understanding (Phil. 4:7), and the “joy inexpressible and full of glory” of which Peter wrote (1 Peter 1:8). It is marked by peace, blessing, confidence, assurance, tranquility, satisfaction, and hope. This man was keenly aware that he lacked those realities” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Luke,” p. 36).

From all appearances this rich young synagogue ruler was sincere. Mark’s Gospel tells us this in Mark 10:17,  “And as He was setting out on His journey, a man ran up and knelt before Him and asked Him, `Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’” (ESV). This man had come to the right source for the answer to his question. He was eager and ready and even understood his perceived need. But as I showed above, this rich young synagogue ruler was shown to be a superficial, illegitimate, self-centered false seeker. How do we know this? In his question to Jesus, he tried to box Jesus into giving him what he wanted to know, not what he needed to know or Who he should know.

Jesus' response to him demonstrates this. First, we could congratulate him for recognizing his need. He was aware he did not have eternal life from God in his heart and nor did he have the promise of heaven after death. But what he sought was not “eternal life” as defined in the Bible. He wanted to know as a “rich” person what he was lacking in terms of possessions, materialism and positions that would fill his desire to know he had eternal life.

Since this rich young synagogue ruler would have believed that if you kept all of the Old Testament Law, you have salvation or eternal life. So, since he is bragging he has done that, why was he doubting if he had eternal life? This is why Jesus challenged him with obedience to the Law. But Jesus knew this was not true based on James 2:10, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it” (ESV). There is no way this rich young ruler had consistently loved God with his whole heart, soul, mind and strength and his neighbor as himself. 

To stumble or fail in one part of the Law was to fail in all the Law. But like most Jews in his day, he viewed the Law from his own interpretation and not from the truth it states. He viewed himself as being more righteous than God standing there in front of him knew he really was. He had done what Israel attempted to do in Romans 10:3, "For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness” (ESV). He had sought to establish his own definition of righteousness rather than what God’s Word defined as righteousness. This is exactly what Israel attempted to do.

We see the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3:4-6 talks about this in his own life:

“If others could be saved by what they are, certainly I could! (5) For I went through the Jewish initiation ceremony when I was eight days old, having been born into a pure-blooded Jewish home that was a branch of the old original Benjamin family. So I was a real Jew if there ever was one! What’s more, I was a member of the Pharisees who demand the strictest obedience to every Jewish law and custom. (6) And sincere? Yes, so much so that I greatly persecuted the Church; and I tried to obey every Jewish rule and regulation right down to the very last point” (TLB).

The Apostle Paul came to realize that salvation was not in keeping the Law. The Law reveals to you what is sin and that is why initially as Saul, he thought he was righteous and blameless. Jesus’ point is that no one is justified or saved or has eternal life simply by keeping the Law. Paul talks about this in Romans 7:7-11:

“Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.” (8) But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. (9) At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, (10) and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead. (11) Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me” (NLT).

What Paul says above is what Jesus was saying to this rich young ruler. Jesus knew this man was breaking the commandment that said, “Thou shalt not covet.” This is why Jesus told him to go sell all that he had and give it away to the poor (Luke 18:22). Jesus was not telling this man that works would save him, but acknowledging that Jesus is Lord and that  and only making Him Lord through obedience could he obtain salvation and eternal life.

This rich young synagogue ruler based eternal life on his wealth, his power, his position, his possessions and his prestige in his family and community. He though that just like with his wealth, eternal life is something you can inherit. The Bible says this of his response in Luke 18:23, “But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich” (ESV). He was sad but he did not have the kind of sadness that leads to godly sorrow and godly repentance. Look at 2 Corinthians 7:10,  “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death” (ESV). 

Questions To Consider

1. Would you say you put God first even if it meant sacrificing your worldly treasures?
2. Take a moment to review some of the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20. How well are you at not coveting  (Ex. 20:17)? How well are you at obeying having no idols (Ex. 20:4) ( i.e., idols do not have to be some physical or material idol or statue. They can be anything that comes between Jesus Christ and you)?
3. How well are you at obeying Jesus' words in Matthew 22:37 (based on Deut. 6:5) and Matthew 22:39 (based on Lev. 19:18)? Jesus said that the whole Old Testament can be summarized in these two Old Testament passages. How is that possible?
4. How would you answer this question to a non-believer, “How do I inherit eternal life?” And why? If you believe you have eternal life, how do you know for sure you do?

Scripture To Meditate On: Luke 6:46, “Why do you call me `Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (ESV).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, please help me to make You Lord of my life in every area of my life — especially my finances, possessions and material things. Jesus, I know I have some idols. Help me to get rid of them. Jesus, please help me not to define righteousness but to follow Your definition of it. I commit to call You Lord and I will do what You say. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside—Pastor Kelly