SELL ALL THAT THOU HAST, AND DISTRIBUTE

This encounter between the Lord Jesus and a Jewish ruler was a sad one. This man may have been the only person in all of the gospels who came as a true enquirer and who left the Saviour’s presence without being blessed or saved. The man made a number of serious errors. He assumed eternal life could be inherited; he really did not appreciate Jesus as God; he admitted to the Saviour that he had kept ‘all these’ after Jesus had challenged him with the commands of the Law, but He had only mentioned six of the commands to him. The one thing missing in his life was what Jesus challenged him with: ‘Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor . .. and come, follow me’, v. 22 ESV.

What was wrong? He was worshipping the wrong god. He had put his wealth ahead of God and was most likely guilty of covetousness. Not willing to give up what he had gained in life, he lost eternally. He had acquired his portion of ‘the whole world’ but was in danger of losing his own soul.

Jesus was not offering this as a universal commandment for salvation. Scripture is replete with the truth that salvation and eternal life is given by grace, through faith in the work of Christ on the cross. It is not through our works, but, here, the Lord was testing this man. He knew his heart and what he valued most. This man wanted treasure in this life more than treasures in heaven, and this stood in his way and kept him from truly following Christ.

So often we fall into the world’s trap of materialism. Jesus taught His disciples, ‘Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth’, Luke 12. 15. Where is our treasure? For our heart is there also, Luke 12. 34. It is not a sin to be rich, but the love of wealth is sin. No matter how God has blessed us, it is all from Him and we must keep this in perspective, 1 Cor. 4. 7.

The final command from the Lord to this man was, ‘come, follow me’. It is much easier for us to do this for His glory when we are loosed from the love of this world’s things. May the Lord help us to prioritize our lives so that we can lay up treasure in heaven.