Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.
Today’s Gospel tells us about a man who came to Jesus for advice. He wanted something very good – eternal life. He thought he knew how to get eternal life, but he wanted some assurance, some sign that he was on the right trail. From all outward appearances, this man seemed to be an example of righteous living, but something was still nagging at him. Something about eternal life still left him uneasy. He wanted Jesus to tell him what was missing.
How many of us ask that same question that the rich young man asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Our society today has any number of answers to that question and the answer always involves us. It requires that we do something or that some sort of contribution on our part be made and then, if by magic, eternal life is ours. It’s one of those “If this, then that” equations. The equation reads, “If I do this, then I receive that.” It sounds good, doesn’t it? It sounds good that you do something to inherit eternal life. The problem is using the words “I do” with the word “inherit.” You do not inherit anything because of what you do. You inherit something because of what someone else did. You inherit something because someone else included you in their will. The heirs really have no say in the inheritance. The person who makes the will determines who inherits what.
The problem this man had was that he thought that if he dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s, he could force God to love him enough to put him in the heavenly will. This man felt he had done everything he was supposed to do, but he still felt uncertain. He wanted Jesus to assure him either that he had already done enough or tell him what sort of task or behavior he still needed to do to guarantee eternal life. Like many people, this man thought that he just needed some special knowledge or that he needed to do some special task. If he could just learn the secret, he could guarantee his place in eternity.
Herein lies the problem. There is nothing that we can do to inherit eternal life. To go back to the earlier equation, “If this, then that,” we need to fill in the variables to see how the equation works out. If we fill it in where it reads, “If I do this, then I inherit that,” what is the “that” that we inherit? The “that” that we inherit is hell, because there is nothing that we can do to inherit eternal life. Everything we do is tainted by sin and so we can do nothing to earn eternal life. The rich young man deceived himself into thinking that there was something that he could. In fact, he had done everything that Jesus had said. Jesus had laid out Commandments 4-10 as that which needed to be upheld. There is God’s Law clearly presented, something that none of us are capable of keeping. However, the rich young man is the exception, as he has kept them from his youth.
It must have been good to be this man, since he had done something that no one since before the Fall has done – keep God’s Law perfectly; in other words, not sin. When we properly understand the full meaning of these commands, the proper response is to realize that we have broken them all. When we understand that the Bible considers hatred to be a form of murder, we must admit that we are all murderers. When we realize that even the smallest lustful thought about someone who is not our spouse amounts to adultery, we must admit that we are all adulterers. The least bit of laziness makes us into thieves. Even if all we do is listen to gossip, we are liars. The number of ways that we can break these commands is limited only by our creativity. As God Himself said, “The intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”
The man in today’s Gospel did not understand that. For when he heard Jesus’ response, he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” The context of this passage leads us to believe that this man truly believed these words. Jesus had piled up a collection of commands that should have had this man begging for mercy. Instead, this man actually thought he had kept these commands.
It is at this point in the conversation that Jesus pointed out the man’s true failure. Jesus said to him, “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.” With these words, Jesus revealed the man’s heart. He did not fear, love, and trust in God above all things. Instead, his fear, love, and trust were all based on his money and possessions. In spite of all his good works, this young man had gold for a god.
When we come to the honest understanding that there is nothing that we can do, then we hear these words from God: “In Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” “The blood of Jesus [God’s] Son cleanses us from all sin.” We are justified by faith apart from works of the law. This is the central teaching of the Christian faith. All the doctrines of the Bible depend on the doctrine of justification. Everything in the Bible points to the fact that we do not inherit heaven based on what we do. Instead, we inherit heaven based on what God has already done.
Through that faith we constantly receive the forgiveness of our sins, God declares us holy in his eyes, and we inherit eternal life. We stop asking the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Instead, the Holy Spirit points us to Jesus and declares, “Look what God has done to give you eternal life.”
For us, the equation is and always will be “If Jesus died for us, then we inherit eternal life.” What we do know is that we – like the rich young man – have an empty place inside of us. We hunger for the assurance that we have eternal life. If we try to find that assurance on our own, we will fail. Only the Holy Spirit can fill that empty space inside of us. Only the Holy Spirit can give us the faith that receives the gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation that Jesus earned for us on the cross. He does this by convicting us of our sin with the Law and then comforting us with the good news of the Gospel. In this way, the Holy Spirit makes us children of God and heirs of eternal life.
For us, we don’t have to ask the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” because it’s the wrong thing to ask. For us, it’s not about what we must do, but it’s about what has been done for us, all because of Jesus. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.