In Luke 18:18–30, Jesus meets the rich young ruler who wants to know what he must do to inherit eternal life, and while the man has kept all the commandments, Jesus exposes the real issue in his heart—his wealth has become his idol. Jesus tells him to sell everything and follow Him, showing that true discipleship means surrendering whatever we love more than God. Wealth itself isn’t condemned, but when anything—money, status, comfort, approval—sits on the throne of our hearts, it keeps us from fully following Jesus. The passage reminds us that salvation is impossible on our own but possible with God, and it challenges us to honestly ask what idols we need to lay down so that Christ can be first in our lives.

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Good morning, friends. It’s good to be with you on this Monday.
I hope you’re doing well and that you had a great weekend. We had a wonderful day at St. Matthew’s yesterday — Confirmation Sunday, baptisms, folks joining the church. God is truly blessing our church family, and I’m so thankful for all that He’s doing.

And can you believe we’re already getting close to Thanksgiving? Advent is right around the corner. In fact, this coming Sunday is the last Sunday of the Christian year — kind of like the church’s New Year’s Eve. We’ll have our Thanksgiving service Sunday night with our friends at St. Columb’s, and I’m excited about that. A lot of good things are coming our way.

But today, let’s turn back to Luke’s Gospel. We’re looking at another one of those well-known passages — not really a parable, but a familiar encounter Jesus has. And it’s one of those teachings that really makes us wrestle with ourselves a bit.

Let’s read Luke 18:18–30:

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“A certain ruler asked Him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’
Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but God alone.
You know the commandments: You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother.’

He replied, ‘I have kept all these since my youth.’

When Jesus heard this, He said to him, ‘There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow Me.’

But when he heard this, he became sad, for he was very rich.

Jesus looked at him and said, ‘How hard it is for those who have wealth 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 it said, ‘Then who can be saved?’

He replied, ‘What is impossible for mortals is possible with God.’

Then Peter said, ‘Look, we have left our homes and followed You.’

And He said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who will not get back much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.’”

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Now, let me start with a bigger thought about Scripture before we get into the specifics. Isn’t it interesting how we decide which passages to take literally and which ones to treat as allegory? We tend to take literally the verses that feel good — the ones that affirm us, the ones that fit neatly with the views we already have. But when Jesus says something that hits a little close to home… well, suddenly we want to soften it.

When Jesus tells this young man, “Sell all you have,” we say, “Well, He didn’t really mean all — just be willing to.”
And when He talks about the camel and the needle’s eye, we assume He must be speaking symbolically.

But the truth is, this passage pushes us. It asks us to confront the things we’d rather avoid.

Now, does Scripture condemn all wealth? No. We see wealthy people in Scripture who did great good with what they had — Nicodemus, the women who supported Jesus, believers who supported Paul. Wealth isn’t evil. Possessions aren’t evil. Money isn’t evil.

The danger is when those things take the throne of our hearts.

That’s what Jesus is getting at here.
The rich young ruler wasn’t worshiping God — he was worshiping his status and his security. And Jesus exposes it immediately.

The young man comes asking, “What must I do?” He’s looking for a checklist, something he can accomplish. But Jesus cuts straight to the heart:
“If you want to follow Me, you’ve got to tear down the idol that’s ruling your life.”

For him, it was wealth.
For us, it might be something else — approval, comfort, power, success, reputation, control.

The real question of this passage is simple:
Are we willing to smash our idols so Jesus can truly be first?

Jesus isn’t asking for part of our hearts.
He isn’t asking for one more priority added to the top of the list.
He’s asking for everything.

He wants to be the first love of our lives.

So as you head into your day, I encourage you to ask yourself:
“What am I tempted to love more than Jesus?”
And then ask the Lord for the strength to lay it down.

Thanks for being with me this morning, friends.
We’ll pick back up in Luke 18 tomorrow. God bless you.