Get rid of the competition! A major reason we don’t have revival today is because of a heart problem.
In Luke 18:18, a rich ruler asks Jesus, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” In other words, how do I enter the Kingdom and reign with the Messiah?
The rich ruler says he keeps all the commandments. Jesus points out that the man still lacks something, and instructs him, “Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” In the Jewish culture, to sell everything did not mean the man had to make himself poverty-stricken but could keep a small amount to sustain his living. If the rich ruler did as Jesus said, he wouldn’t have been rich any longer.
The rich ruler needed to get his mind off his wealth and change his identity. The money itself wasn’t the problem; the problem was the rich ruler’s love of money! Jesus was offering him the opportunity to get rid of his lack (his need for more wealth), make his new identity in Jesus, and follow Him.
18 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: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall 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 very wealthy.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 someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”
27 Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
28 Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”
29 “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 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”
23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
Questions:
What’s your identity?
Do people identify you with Jesus?
God is jealous for your heart. Is there anything that’s taking up your heart?
07:03His mind is on his wealth. He needs to get rid of some of that wealth so that wealth is not his identity. His identity is Jesus, so keep just enough to follow Jesus.
10:09We need to get rid of everything that Jesus would have to compete with!
10:37You can love money and not have that much. You just wish you had more.
11:42As long as something you like is kept in its spot and not competing with Jesus, Jesus isn’t going to say get rid of it. If it gets too big, you have to get rid of it—because you lack that love for Jesus
