What do I have to do to be saved? What do I have to do to make sure I have eternal life? People ask this question for many reasons. Some might want to make sure they are doing everything they need to do to be saved. Some might have no idea what salvation or eternal life are all about so are asking to get some direction. And some might be asking in order to make themselves look good because they see themselves as righteous and holy.
What must I do to be saved? It was a question that Jesus was asked and His encounter with the man who asked it has a lot to say to us today. The encounter is found in Luke 18:18-29
A certain ruler asked Jesus, “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, honor your father and mother.’”
“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.
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.”
When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “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.”
While we don’t know a lot about this man, we know two things for sure. First, he was a religious leader. Most likely he was a synagogue ruler which means he followed the rules. He did all he was supposed to do and when Jesus asked him if he followed the commandments and didn’t commit adultery, murder, steal, lie, and if he honored his parents, he said yes. He was a good man. Everyone knew him as a good man.
The second thing we know is that he was rich, actually he was very rich. In Jesus’ day, wealth was seen as a sign of God’s blessing. If you were rich, then you were favored by God, and if you were very rich then you were truly blessed by God. That he was very wealthy tells us that he and others saw him as a blessed man and child of God. In other words, he probably already knew he had eternal life. So why did he ask?
He may have asked to test Jesus, which is what many religious leaders did. He also may have asked to have Jesus recognize his righteousness and good life. Maybe he was looking for praise from Jesus. No matter what his motive was, Jesus turned the tables and challenged this man to dig deeper into his own faith and life.
Why this encounter is important for us to consider is because in many ways, we are all this man. We are all rich. I know that we aren’t rich like Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk. Most of us aren’t multi-millionaires, but compared to ¾ of the world, we are rich. While we might not see our wealth as a sign of God’s favor, or that God has chosen us and blessed us above others, our wealth is something that can keep us from a stronger faith. We will talk about that in a moment.
The other way we are like this man is that most of us would consider ourselves to be good. Compared to many others, we are good people and many times we think that our goodness is enough to get us into heaven. Being a good person is good, but being a good person is not what brings us eternal life, and that is one of the important lessons we learn from this encounter with Jesus.
Being good is NOT what saves us. Being good is not what opens the door to eternal life. Being good is good, we need to live a life that honors God and loves others, but salvation comes from only one place and that is Jesus. Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.
Salvation and the gift of eternal life does not come through our good deeds, it doesn’t come from working hard enough or being good enough. Salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ and even that is a gift of faith that comes because of God’s grace. The Bible is clear that we are all sinners who fall short of God’s glory. On our own we can’t live the perfect life needed to live in God’s kingdom forever. On our own we can’t even turn back to God.
On our own, we are like Adam and Eve who put ourselves first and end up separated from God. If God hadn’t gone out to find Adam and Eve, they would have remained forever alienated from God, but God reached out to them in their sin. It is God’s grace that softens our hearts and draws us to Jesus. It’s God’s grace that moves us to repent and ask for God’s forgiveness. It is God’s grace that allows us to see in Jesus all that we need for salvation. John Wesley calls this prevenient grace, and this is the grace of God that works in us before we are saved. It is God’s grace alone that helps us turn to God for salvation and everlasting life.
So God’s grace moves us to turn to Jesus where salvation comes from. Salvation comes from the work that Jesus did on the cross. On the cross, Jesus took on the punishment for our sin. He died our death. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, and the death that Jesus died was ours. He paid the price and when we trust in Jesus and what He did for us, we are not only forgiven but we are redeemed and restored into a right relationship with God.
We have eternal life. We don’t earn this by being good, it is a gift that was given to us when Jesus took up a cross.
In Jesus' last breath He said, It is finished. In Greek this is just one word, tetelestai, which means completed. This is a word that comes from the business community and means paid in full. When a bill was paid it was marked - tetelestai. So what Jesus did on the cross was to fully pay the price for our sin so that nothing more was needed. The work of salvation was done.
For the ruler who came to Jesus, religion was spelled DO. What must I DO to inherit eternal life? What must I DO to be saved? What commandments do I have to keep? What rules do I need to follow? How good do I have to be?
But Christianity isn’t spelled DO, it is spelled DONE. The work of salvation was DONE by Jesus. It was DONE once and for all. There is nothing more needed and there is nothing we can add to it, we just need to receive it. It is by grace we have been saved through faith, our faith in the work Jesus did for us on the cross.
If you want the assurance of salvation today, if you want to know that you have the gift of eternal life, accept what Jesus has done for you on the cross. Accept Jesus as your savior. Trust in the work He did for you and know that He paid the price for your sin and that Christ alone has opened the door to life everlasting.
Now let’s go back and look at the other way we are like this man, we are all rich. He believed his wealth was a sign of God’s favor and blessing which kept him from going deeper in his faith and while there is nothing wrong with being rich, wealth can often be a hindrance to faith.
Proverbs shows us that one of the problems with wealth is that it can give us a false sense of security and independence. Having a lot of money can fool us into thinking that we don’t need God.
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?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God. Proverbs 30:8-9
When we have all we need and then some, we don’t always see our need for God. We trust our bank accounts, pension funds, and investments to meet our needs instead of God. Wealth can hinder the development of our faith by telling us that we don’t need God.
Wealth can also keep our eyes focused on this world and not God. When we have a lot of money it can be easy to focus on how to keep it, how to invest it, and how to get more. And that’s the danger, we will always think we need more. When people of every income bracket were asked how much money they needed to be secure and happy, they always said, just a little bit more. It’s crazy to think that millionaires and billionaires always think they need more in order to be happy and secure, but they do. Money is a false god. It can never make us happy or secure. We will always want and need more
The key to real happiness and security isn’t more money, it is more of Jesus. Look at the commandments Jesus asked this man if he followed. You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother. Did you notice which commandments He didn’t include?
He didn’t include anything that might focus on our relationship with God. He didn’t ask him if he had no other God in his life, or if loved God, or if he kept the Sabbath. It’s as if Jesus knew that money had become an idol and He wanted the man to see this on his own. Money had gotten in the way of his ability to truly love and follow God so when Jesus tells him to sell all he has and then follow Him, the man walks away sad. He can’t let go of what he has. .
As a final warning to His disciples about the dangers of wealth, Jesus says that it is harder for a rich man to enter heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. There has been a lot of discussion about what Jesus meant by this. Some people think that the eye of a needle is a small doorway that would have been part of a larger city gate. During the day gates would be open to allow all kinds of traffic, but at night, to keep the city safe, the gates would be closed and people would have to pass through a small doorway that could be easily monitored. The only way a camel would be able to get through that door would be to unload it and make it shimmy through on its knees. It would be difficult, but not impossible.
The Greek words used for the eye of the needle have nothing to do with gates and doors, and everything to do with the needles that a tailor would use. Jesus was talking about something that was impossible - and that was His point. If we are trusting in any of our wealth to save us, then we aren’t fully trusting in God. If we are trusting in any of our good deeds to save us, then we aren’t fully trusting in God. It is impossible to be saved by our wealth or good needs. It is impossible to earn our way into heaven. On our own it is impossible, but what is impossible for us, is possible with God.
Salvation is impossible on our own, but is possible with God. Salvation is never something we achieve on our own, it is a gift of God by grace through faith. So the key isn’t to be good, or to gain wealth; the key is to be faithful. Faithfulness is what counts, and this is a third take away from this encounter.
The disciples said to Jesus, we have been faithful. We have given up everything for you. Some of them left their homes and families. People like Matthew, the tax collector, gave up his job and any chance of going back to it. They gave up everything to be faithful and Jesus says that their faithfulness would be rewarded.
When I look at all the disciples gave up to follow Jesus, I realize that I have had to give up very little in order to be faithful. I haven’t had to give up family or friends, in fact my family and friends are supportive of my faith and ministry. While following Jesus doesn’t always mean giving up all we have and living a difficult and painful life, we need to ask ourselves what we have given up to follow Jesus?
Maybe we need to ask, what do I need to give up to follow Jesus?
Do we need to give up trusting in our money and make sure that we give to God first and then continue to give even during uncertain economic times? Do we need to give up some of our time so that we can share our gifts and talents and service with others? Can we give up a few Saturdays at home to help build a home for someone through Habitat for Humanity? Do we need to give up the idea that we are in control of our lives and really let God take control?
What can we give to more faithfully follow Jesus? But let me also ask us this, what have I gained by following Jesus? What I have gained by following Jesus is a life filled with more purpose. Being part of God’s church and working in people’s lives to share the love and power of God is incredibly rewarding. I feel more fulfilled, encouraged, and inspired working as part of the church, and that is something money can’t buy or provide.
I have also gained a family. Following Jesus, I have gained brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, who have all helped make my life complete. Once again, this is something that money and good works can’t buy. Faithfulness is what counts and when we are faithful, God honors us.
This encounter with Jesus is an important one for us to consider because in so many ways, we are this man. We live in a culture that tells us that being good is what religion is all about. Just be a good person and you will go to heaven. But it's not about being good enough, it’s not about what we do at all but what Jesus has done for us. It’s about placing our faith and trust in Christ alone. It’s about accepting what Jesus has done for us on the cross and then faithfully serving Jesus as our Lord in all the days to come.
This encounter reminds us that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone. If there is anything else we are trusting in, we need to surrender it today so that we can more fully and faithfully trust Jesus. Let go of everything and then come take hold of Jesus.
Next Steps
Encounters with Jesus - The Rich Man
Read Luke 18:18-29
● How would you answer the question, “what must I do to be saved?”
● What things do people trust in today for salvation instead of trusting in Jesus?
● Why do many people think that just living a “good” life is enough for eternal life?
Read Ephesians 2:8
● What is needed for salvation?
● What does it mean for you to place your faith and trust in Jesus?
● What is the work that Jesus has DONE for us?
● Why is God’s grace always needed for faith in Jesus?
To place your faith in Jesus, you can pray this prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin. Please forgive me. Come into my life. I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Now, help me to live for you the rest of this life. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Jesus asked the rich man to give up his wealth & follow Him.
● What have you given up to follow Jesus?
● What do you need to give up to follow Jesus?
● What have you gained by following Jesus?
Faithfulness is what counts.
● What one step can you take this week to be more faithful?
