1. 10/10/15 Grace, Peace, and Joy be to you from God our Father and our Lord,
Jesus Christ,
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?” 18
And
Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good?No one is good except God
alone. 19
You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery,
Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and
mother.’” 20
And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my
youth.” 21
And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and 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.” 22
Disheartened by the saying, he went away
sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
It’s not uncommon for my students to come to me asking, “Mr. Riley, I’m
done. What do I do now?” They are confident that they have completed what I
gave them to do, and now they want to do more. They want something different.
My answer, however, is always somewhat disappointing to them. My answer is,
“How could you expand on what you’ve done? How could you make your writing,
or math problem solving or science display even better?” Basically, I tell them
they haven’t even finished the first task they attempted. They are eager to do
more, but don’thave a great desire to go deeper into their existing tasks.

2. The young man in our Gospelstory is the same way. He came humbly to
Jesus’ feet, asking, “Good Teacher, I’ve done what the Law asks me to do. What
else can I do to ensure that I will get my inheritance in God’s Kingdom?” We see
the young rich man coming eagerly to Jesus, wanting to do more. I can imagine
him genuinely asking what else he can do. He is seeking to do more, in order that
he might be considered good in God’seyes. There is a problem though in the way
he addresses Jesus. He calls Him good teacher. Is he coming to Jesus simply to
seek information from the teacher on how he, himself, can do more for God? Or is
he coming to Jesus acknowledging that he knows Jesus is God, becauseonly God
is good?
We can be fairly certain by the man’s silence as a responseto Jesus answer,
that the man was only coming to Christ as a wise teacher of the Law. What the
man did not realize was that he was functioning under the Law, which can only
condemn. The Law does not save. Only Jesus can save. The man thought that he
could do something to keep the Law of God, and therefore inherit the kingdom.
But an inheritance is a gift. There is nothing that anyone can do to earn an
inheritance. Someone must name you in their will and then die. There is nothing
anyone can DO to inherit something. The man’s sin is thinking he can do
something to gain eternal life with God.

3. We often think the same way as the young man, though, don’twe? We go
to church every Sunday, we study scripture, we pray before meals, we even give to
charity. We think, “I’ve done a lot of great things. I’m a good person. God will
see that and will honor me as his servant.” What the young man failed to see was
that it is not about what he must do. If it was up to him to gain salvation, he would
utterly fail.
Following God and His commands is not easy. In fact, it is impossible for
us to do. God gives us the Law, so that we see our sin and our need for him. The
young man did not see the need to give up his life of riches, in order to fully obey
God’s law. He was severely disappointed when that was Jesus’s answer. Jesus
answered that the young man should improve on what he is doing now, go further,
make it better. When we sing “A Mighty Fortress”we sing of giving up our lives,
our fame, fortune, and child. We give it all, in order that we might have the
treasures God has promised. That is a tough realization for the young man and for
us. We can do nothing to earn our place with God. We have to completely and
passively receive God’sgift.
It is at our lowest points of feeling inadequate, not good enough for God to
love us, hopeless in our efforts, that God delivers His Gospelthrough the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit reveals to what Christ has done on the cross, God’s
promising Word in our lives, and faith to trust in Jesus’ saving grace.

4. When we ask, “What must I do?” God says: [Romans 3:23] "All have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God." [Isaiah 64:6] "All our righteous deeds
are like a polluted garment." [Romans 3:10] "None is righteous, no, not
one." [Romans 3:20] "By works of the law no human being will be justified in his
sight." God makes it very clear that we cannot do it.
But when we finally submit to the reality that there is nothing we can do to
inherit the kingdom, becauseit has already been won for us, we hear God say:
[Ephesians 2:13] "In Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought
near by the blood of Christ." [1 John 1:7] "The blood of Jesus [God's]Son
cleanses us from all sin. "We are [Romans 3:24-25] justified by [God's]grace as a
gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a
propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. We are [Romans 3:28] justified
by faith apart from works of the law.
We are saved through what Christ has already done. We will inherit eternal
life with God, not by anything we have done or can do, but by what only Christ can
do and has so graciously done through His death. We receive that inheritance,
because, through baptism, we were written into Christ’s Will, and through His
death we were made righteous. When the end comes and we see Christ again, we
will rejoice in his resurrection, and know that he has done all that needs to be done

5. in order for us to live with Him forever. Praise be to him who has lived the life we
could not.
Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts
and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.